Samit Datta  

May 20, 2019 

My Theory of Writing 

 

When I was introduced that we will be writing a theory of writing, I panicked a bit. As Mr. Peele jokingly talked about how computer science majors’ hates writing in the first week of the spring semester, I have to admit that it is kind of true. As a student who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in computer science, I don’t hate writing, but it is an obstacle that is hard for me to get over. Therefore, I had doubt that if I even have a theory of writing.

 

The concept of theory of writing is to reflect on your writings throughout the time and how we gotten to where we are now. From learning what the rhetorical situation is and using it to analyze articles, to writing our own paper and genres to show a understanding of the rhetorical situation, I believe that the two thing that I felt help me a lot in writing is being creative and the studying environment. 

 

Being creative is something everyone has a bit of but not everyone can use it due to the strict guideline that we have to follow to make a “perfect paper”. Yet, after playing around with the rhetorical situation and get a better understanding of it, I got to be creative in the Inquire Base Essay where we were told to write a research paper like what we choose for our model essay. I instantly chose writing in newspaper style. I love the concept of journalism, it’s easy to read and understandable and yet, it attracts a lot of people unlike in a regular formatted research paper. Of course, you can’t be too creative since we have rubric to follow, but just enough to show your interest in the topic and informing the readers about the issue. 

 

Speaking of the inquiry-based essay, the skill I took the most advantage of in writing is peer review. As you may have noticed, my main topic is about Child Labor and I wanted to target the audience around my age (18-26), that’s where peer review comes in. With the help of my classmates, I carefully read each feedback and prompt question such as “After reading the paper, do you feel like the author encouraging the audience to take a stand against child labor” or “If not,  what do you suggest me to add so it feels like you will be encourage to go against child labor?” After gathering my information, I revise my paper and go through the peer review process until it meets my audience target expectations. 

 

Another example of creativity helping me was when we did our Two Genres in Composition. When we talk briefly about the assignment, we were given example of how someone wrote a song about their topic as one of the genres. That gave me a inspiration to write a short story and a political cartoon because these genres are something I have experience with and I find it easier to communicate about the issue to the audience. 

 

The environment that I am in plays a important part in my writing. Coming from a loud family of 6 with a computer that I have to share with my siblings, I find it extremely hard to study and focus on my task. Therefore, every time I have a paper to write about, I wake up at 5:45 AM and head to the Cohen Library in NAC Building. The quiet surrounding not only does it helps me focus when writing my paper but also let me be open-minded and CCNY’s restricted WiFi also help me not get distracted with social media platforms. 

 

Food had played a role when I’m writing an assignment paper. Every time I experience a writer’s block, I grab my favorite snack, pretzel and hummus and munch on them until I regather my thoughts and strategize a possible outcome for my writing. Not only does food help regather my thoughts, it also re-energizes me and gives me confident to continue writing. 

 

When I join this class, I was extremely nervous at first. I took FIQWS before so I feared that whatever I did in the previous semester will happen here as well, but I was wrong. I learn a important skill, brought out my creative side and met some of my expectations. In fact, the things that I learn throughout this semester is one step close to beating my obstacle.