Diaz 1 Deanna Diaz Adam Padgett English 1101 18 November 2013 Good Writing Requires a Good Cconnection Have

you ever been handed a piece of writing and were told how amazing it was but then were left utterly disappointed? So disappointed that you were actually left sleeping within minutes? There has been far too many occasions when I was reading a novel assigned in class and could only think how on earth has this author managed to become as famous as they are and Why on earth is this a required reading when I could write better than this author. As the years of English class have gone on I have read multiple different types of books, essays, and articles; The main thing Ive learned from all the different reading I have done, is that no matter what, something I may think is amazing writing, there will be someone that completely disagrees. In my opinion good writing depends on the reader. A good writing connects to the reader, keeps them hooked all the way through, and has some kind of impact on them. Over my years of English classes, I was taught many different most important thing to remember about writing, every teacher seemed to have their own rules . It was like each year I had to relearn the what not to do rules in writing. In middle school , I had a teacher who had a whole list of words we werent allowed to use; tThen by high school I completely forgot about the list and didnt start using them again until I came across one high school teacher who had a very similar list of words. Ive always found it interesting that even English teachers always had different opinions on what was
Comment [AP3]: But in this example it sounds like at least two of them had similar ideas on good/bad writing. Comment [AP2]: I really like the narrative youre constructing. It is engaging and is a great device to move your reader through your conversation. Comment [AP1]: Okay, so it seems like youll be writing about the importance of audience awareness.

Diaz 2 important when it came to good writing. While the rules seemed to change just about every year, there was one consistent rule/tip that all my teachers seemed to agree was very important, know your audience. The idea of knowing your audience seems to be found in other places and not just in writing, but in music and theater as well. All through life you learn there are certain things you do and dont say at certain times and there are even certain tones you use when talking to certain people. Ive began to really respect this tip and make sure I keep it in mind even when writing emails when they are short. One of the first things I do before I start writing anything to make sure I know who exactly I am writing to and make sure I at least know what tone not to portray. For example when writing things like complaint letters the best thing to do is to make sure you sound professional and explain the problem you have without sounding offensive or rude. Here is an example of a letter I wrote to the owner of a restaurant I used to go to. In this letter I try to explain what happened in a situation that made me not want to go to this restaurant anymore: I am writing to inform you about my extremely upsetting visit to your restaurant. One Tuesday night a few friends and I heard about your wonderful Tuesday special for 25-cent wings, and we decided to try them after we got out of watching a basketball game around 9 pm. We ended up loving the wings and atmosphere of your restaurant and decided that we should make it a new tradition for every Tuesday night. The next week we walk in excited about sitting down and having well-priced, good quality wings. After waiting to be seated for almost thirty minutes we finally reached our booth in the very front and were ready to order. Shortly after we were seated the waitress came up to us and said that she was

Diaz 3 going to have to ask us to leave. We all sat their shocked especially being that we were probably the quietest table in the room. Neither of us had ever been that embarrassed and upset at a restaurant rule. The waitress then went on and told us that they do not allow anyone under the age of 21 in the restaurant after 5pm. In this complaint letter that I wrote in the beginning of the semester, I tried to be sure that I remained polite so that my complaint was being heard as valid, and was not taken offensively which made the information easier for the reader to take in instead of blowing it off. In this letter I was sure to use vocabulary and a tone of voice that made me sound even-tempered and mature. I wrote this complaint letter to get a good response, preferably one that would lead the manager to make an effort to fix this rule. Once you know your reader it is important to connect with them. When you are trying to socialize with someone isnt it easier when you find something you have in common to talk to them about? What about studying? Doesnt everything seem to stick in your head when connections are drawn from the material to something in your life or something you enjoy? Making a good connection seems to always be the best way to get someone to actually enjoy what you are telling them or writing about. Making a good connection means getting your reader engaged and to be able to relate the writing with themselves or something else in their lives, doing this increases the readers comprehension of your writing. In all my years of attempting to write essays and papers, I have discovered that my favorite part in writing, and even reading, is a good attention getter. There is nothing better than reading the first few sentences of an essay or article that gets you thinking right away or just leaves you wowed. Though, during school not all of my teachers
Comment [AP5]: I really like what you have to say here. You really do make this idea effable. Comment [AP4]: Point to specific vocabulary. I know youre talking about the passage above, but I dont know what specifically youre talking about.

Diaz 4 have found these first few sentences to be as important and powerful as I have grown to think of them. An attention getter is found in the first paragraph of a paper or story that just hooks you in. They are made to get you interested in what you are reading. Sometimes they are powerful statements, or sometimes engaging questions. I have seen people do a lot of different things for their attention getter. While attention getters are pretty impactful for a paper, some people just arent as good at them as others. I, personally have never thought of myself as being very good at attention getters: Have you ever been asked what you were going to do to be successful? Or even been told that you were going to be successful when you grow up? Before reading the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, I never thought too deeply into the word success. This was my attempt to use questions to draw the reader in and get them thinking. While it might have gotten the job done, I dont believe it was powerful enough. Thinking back on it now, it would have been more powerful if I quoted someone famous or went right in and told a story. Though in some cases using questions as attention getters can be very effective in getting a reader engaged and thinking. While attention getters are important it is also very important to keep the reader hooked. Once youve got them hooked , you learn it is not always easy to keep them reading. It is like watching a movie that has a very intense, dramatic beginning, but then slowly gets boring as it goes on. No one wants to read the best part of the writing to begin with and then have a million boring pages to read. My biggest fear in writing is boring the reader. I, myself am not a big fan of reading but if I find something that catches my attention I dont want to put down the reading
Comment [AP6]: Okay, why do you think that would have been better?

Diaz 5 until I get to the end, unless it gets boring. So Ive always been afraid to make my readers start reading only to make them want to put it down before they get the chance to finish. I have found that along with connecting to the reader and keeping them hooked, the third important thing to do in order to produce good writing is to make sure your writing has left some sort of impact on the reader. The thought of impacting someone sounds like it would be something incredibly challenging, but are you thinking about all the different ways you can impact someone? Impacting someone doesnt have to involve you changing their lives, As cool as that would be, it could just leave them thinking hey, that was interesting or even just get them thinking or even better lead them to suggest the reading to someone else. Not everything we end up writing about is really all that interesting, in fact the majority of the things Ive found myself having to write were of little interest to me personally. But with that in mind, not every topic I have read about I have been interested in yet sometimes I can find a reading or normally an opinion that I found interesting. Deanna, I really like the things you have to say here. You write with an honesty and an authenticity that really serves your writing well. I think your thesis about the importance of audience awareness is really good and I like the various discussion you have on the same topic. You stick with the thesis throughout the whole essay and this has really served this essay well. I would liked to have seen more specificity with respect to your examples and also I would liked to have seen a more detailed discussion on genre and how that affects audience awareness. I feel like if youre going to talk about audience you
Comment [AP7]: This transition/topic sentence feel a little contrived or too formulaic.

Diaz 6 almost need to discuss genre and how audiences can changes between genres. Otherwise, really good work here.

Diaz 7 Works Cited Diaz, Deanna M. Letter to Rudy's Pub and Grill Management. 10 Sept. 2013. Diaz, Deanna. Interpretive Essay: Outliers." Interpretation Essay for ENGL 1101. September 2013.