A Guide To ENC1101
Attention all writers from all backgrounds! At ENC1101, you learn lots of things about writing, rhetoric, and language. Most of all though, you will most definitely take something beneficial from this class. I've basically come up with four main points as a way to provide insight on what's to come and what to expect.
#1: Knowing how to start your writing is vital to be able to get somewhere and not get stuck on the same step
We've ALL been there. You need to write some paper, and all of a sudden you are just stuck. Overcome with the fear of writing that first draft where you just can't seem to get anywhere. Even I have had to deal with this.
Essentially, I've learned that once you understand the concept of starting your writing, you become a better writer. In class, I read an article called "Shitty First Drafts" by Anne Lamott. It helped me understand that you don't have to be perfect to start drafting. As Lamott says, "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts." Being able to let go of that fear you have and just start writing can have many benefits, such as getting good ideas out that you can edit later in case you don't like it. Another being that it can help you procrastinate less and get your work started and finished. This lesson was kind of like a lightbulb moment for me. Before reading this, it took me a long time to just put the pencil on the paper. After though, it seems a lot easier than it was before.
#2: Being able to build narratives on something you relate to is an important way to brush up on your writing in a creative way using language that pertains to you.
In this class, I learned about discourse communities. What is that exactly?
A discourse community, in plain terms, is basically a circle of people who share common interests. They have methods of communication and terms that only people in their discourse community would understand. After learning about this topic in class, we were told to think of a discourse community we were a part of, which, I chose my musicianship discourse community. I wrote a paper for my Literacy Narrative project that explains my journey on becoming a musician, and while this gave me insight on myself, it also showed me how it was warming me up to the college writing experience. I realized when you write something on a topic that a personal relatable experience it lets you revise and reflect on your writing skills. Also, it makes you think about the kinds of language and terms that pertains just to you, which lets you get creative with your writing skills. If it wasn't for this assignment, I wouldn't have thought that this was a skill that would benefit me regardless of what class I'm in.
#3: Understanding the style you're writing in is essential to know the importance of connecting to your audience, since when you understand your audience, you can reach them in ways that you couldn’t if you didn’t.
I've read lots of speeches for different classses many times. I've read the Gettysberg address, the Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death Speech, and most importantly, Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. This speech is obviously very famous. We all know this. But not everyone fully understands the choices made behind the speech. Calculated choices were made in this speech.
Why? Well, to understand this, I worked on the Rhetorical Analysis of ‘I Have a Dream' assignment. Here we took a close look at the speech to analyze rhetorical choices Dr.King makes in his speech. We analyzed things such as techniques he used and the language he used. Most importantly though, we asked the question of what did he do to help his audience understand his speech. This was to show how well Dr.King understood his audience, which we saw how. For example, King references a line from Shakespeare that shows the comparison of the relief felt from going from the seasons of winter going into summer. Instead however, King shifts this to the seasons of summer going to autumn, since he understands the fact that his audience wil find this more comforting instead.
This understanding of his audience is what makes the speech so effective. He was able to reaach out to them and REALLY make them understand his points and his frustrations because he KNEW they would understand him. I found this extremely fascinating, and it made me realize that if you know who your audience is, it's crucial that you connect with them and make them understand your points, whether that be shifting your language, rhetorical choices, or just being relatable.
#4: Code-switching is effective and necessary if you want to understand language to the maximum.
Code-switching in a nutshell is changing how you speak subconsciously or consciously based on your audience or who you're talking to. It's kind of like how you speak differently to your parents than how you speak to your friends. When I learned about this, I quickly got the concept since it was relatable and I understood why people do this. What I didn't see is how to apply it to my writing. I learned in class that code-switching can help you understand how to apply language under certain contexts to successfully convey your points better, which I learned doing the Language and Rhetorical Situation assignment.
This assignment showed me two real examples of people using the technique of code-swtiching.
I saw a story of an Appalachian person who lost their "twang", that being their accent, depending on who they were talking to. When they spoke to people outside their family, their accent appeared more normal and it seemed like they lost it. But, they tell the story that later, when speaking to their family, it came back easily.
The other story showed me the story of Jamila Lyiscott, who shows how she is a tri-tongued orator. She code-switches in three ways: one for her home, school, and friends and calls herself a tri-lingual orator. Her way of speaking is the way she identifies with herself. She considers herself being a tri-lingual orator who can switch her way of speaking when she needs to, whether that be at home, at school, or with friends.
These readings further locked in the concept of code-switching for me. After I read about it, saw other people's stories, and connected it with myself, I was confident to apply it to my writing. When I know how to switch my language when necessary, I now understand the best way to bring my points forward to any reader.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I've learned a lot from this class. I've learned how to start my writing, how to build narratives on something I relate to, how to understand my audience, and how to code-switch to better understand language. These skils are key to my future, whether it's writing or just simply speaking to people. I can take a lot from this class, as these are just four points, so I know the future of whoever takes ENC1101 will be benefiting greatly.
