FIAW Chapter 4 Blog

Chapter 4 of FIAW is like an addition to our lecture in English class on Wednesday. It teaches the reader how to detect the main purpose of a paper, whether it be reading a paper or writing one. The questions bullet-ed on the first page of this chapter help the reader or writer to ask themselves what the purpose or claim of the paper is. In order to find a point in a piece of writing, it is important that you ask yourself questions such as: "what are the situations motivating these people to write?"; "who will be interested in reading what I have to say?"; and "what kinds of evidence might persuade my readers?". And of course there are more questions that pertain to the point here, but I find those ones easier to understand what to look for in the writing. I find questions like the ones I have just mentioned very helpful when you are reading an article or writing a paper. When writing a paper, you often find yourself developing ideas and actually write words when you ask yourself, "so what?", "what's the point?", "what do I want my readers to understand here?". These are questions that can help you get to the point of your paper.

Just something cute I wanted to show you. =)

In order to answer these questions, you must identify and issue, understand the situation, and formulate a question. You can identify an issue in many different ways. One way is to draw on your personal experience. In our previous years of writing, we were taught to not use personal pronouns and you in our papers. But the fact is that "our personal experiences influence how we read, what we pay attention to, and what inference we draw" (67). We can see what the author sees if we have similar experiences. It is easier to relate to the paper if you fully understand the situation and such. And because we can actually reflect on what we read, we tend to pay more attention to what is interesting to us. Another way to identify an issue is to resist binary thinking. You should "try to tease out complexities that may not be immediately apparent" (68). Try and get rid of the information that does not seem to be an issue or a difficulty. Another way is to build on and extend the ideas of others. By doing this, you will find your ideas building up as you learn about the ideas of others'. It will give you a connection to other readings and ideas that will help you do a fine job in your writing. It is important to understand the main purpose and claim of something you read or write. The purpose of the paper gives your reader an idea of what it is you are trying to point out and why it matters. A paper would not mean much if there is no meaning or purpose to it.