Erin Binnie 12/03/13 Portfolio MLA Word Count: 1187

Change in Writing Before taking this class I had a pre-conceived idea of what professional, college-level writing would be. Part of this was what I had been writing throughout high school, with the five paragraph essays being what I thought was the correct format. However, tone was also something that I thought was important in creating professional writing. I thought that it all had to be lofty and very professional sounding. I just figured that this was the way that I would be writing in college and in the professional world. What this course taught me is that there is no single correct form of writing. The tone and the format of writing all depend on who the audience is and where the writing will be displayed. So that means it could be less formal writing, or even something as different as writing for a graphic novel, as I learned from Project 4. I loved how we did a different form of writing for each project, and that they were all so different. I learned that in the real world the five paragraph essay isnt actually used all that much, and someones field really determines what kind of writing is necessary. So it was really great to try different types of writing that were actually more practical, and really truly professional writing, especially because I hadnt tried writing before in some of those formats. However, although writing doesnt always have to be formal, there is the issue of Standard Written English that we discussed with David Foster Wallaces essay. I believe that Standard Written English is complicated because of regional languages, as well as other factors like age differences, all being removed from writing in certain places like work and school. I like the idea of these aspects of personality coming out in writing, and so Standard Written English shouldnt be required. We really worked on having personality coming through in our writing in Project 3, so it shouldnt be kept out in professional writing. I do believe that formal writing should have a certain tone and language to it, to keep it professional, but as I have learned there is no set professional type of writing and to make Standard Written English required in all academic settings could be ineffective in some areas of writing. Another issue in writing we read about and discussed was Engfish, or as Ken Macrorie calls is phony, pretentious language of the schools. Often times what we think is formal writing, and what teachers want to read, is not at all what they want to read. So we had peer edits specifically with the intention of getting rid of any Engfish. Honestly, I had trouble with Engfish, and in the first peer edit Carl found several cases of language that sounded too Engfish-y. I suppose its just that for so long I had assumed that this voice was something that my teachers would appreciate and sound smart, but actually it isnt my voice at all and isnt very good at portraying a sincere tone. An example of this from my writing was a phrase I wrote about David Foster Wallace that said, he only specified that his strong feelings toward Standard Written English were aimed toward school and work (Draft 1, section 2) and Carl pointed out that this sounded Engfish-y because with my phrasing I had attempted to sound intellectual. However, this was the first essay we wrote in the semester, and so after this I learned that it was more important to write in my own voice and not in a fake tone. Since then I have learned to edit my

use of Engfish, and I let my own tone of voice appear in the later projects, and I definitely think it is present, especially in projects 2 and 3. I think that all the different types of writing presented in different ways is really interesting. It is all presented in a way to get a point across and to better reach the audience. For example its really interesting that David Foster Wallace talked about Standard Written English, while at the same time writing in a language with made up words and with comedic footnotes. He uses ridiculously large words such as I suggest to you that having the so-called correct subthoracic clothing for US males be pants instead of skirts is arbitrary. So in my profession, which will hopefully be some sort of media related writing, I wont necessarily have to write in the formal tone, for I will write in a way that will best fit the task. If I want to write some sort of news-related papers, or scripts, I will have to find the right voice. Thats probably the biggest take away from this class that Im leaving this semester with. Which is a pretty monumental concept when you think about it. When I came in this semester I honestly didnt consider that I would be able to write in all these different tones and languages and different formats. I truly thought that I would be writing in a formal essay tone in every professional setting. So it might seem ridiculous that I didnt know this, but I didnt and so its really exciting to me that I can write in all these different types of language and settings. I really love the fact that we did the graphic novel, and it was so different from anything I would have expected to do in a college writing class, but it absolutely is a type of writing. Even if I will never again write a graphic novel, it was a good experience to write in a different format and expand my options when it comes to writing formats. For maybe Ill right reviews, maybe Ill right human interest stories, who knows, but as a communications major there is definitely going to be some sort of writing in my future, and thinking about it, it probably wont be a five paragraph essay. Im really happy that this class gave me the opportunity to chose many options, such as what type of letter I wanted to write, and I did an OpEd, as well as what novel I wanted to write about for projects 2 through 4. Even the fact that I was able to turn my scene in the graphic novel into a scene with Harry Potter characters in Nineteen Eight-Four is so different, but Im very glad I had the opportunity to do. With all the discussions in the class I learned how brainstorm before beginning to take a stance or a direction in a piece of writing. With the office hours, it really gave me the chance to flesh out many different ideas, and it was really helpful. For the last two projects I had so many ideas before even going into the actual writing, and it was a great creative experience with how writing can be interesting and engaging. I definitely learned a lot about the real world application of writing, and how to go about it, so Im very pleased with my writing as a result.

Cited Sources Wallace, David Foster. "Tense Present." Harper's Magazine 1 Apr. 2001: n. page 49. Print Macrorie, Ken. "The Poisoned Fish." Web. 3 Dec. 2013.