Writing serves as one of the main channels of communication in our increasingly

interconnected world. Through E-mail, Tweet, status update, wall post, and text message,
the written language allows us to express what it is we are thinking about. There is no
limit or restriction on what we can communicate. On the internet, no topic is untouched,
and most topics have entire communities communicating their thoughts through writing
on a daily basis. The written language is important, and our world may become a more
rich place if we encourage people to write more fluently.
The internet has changed the face of writing. One needs only visit the comments
section of a popular YouTube video to discover that the discourse found there is less than
academic. Based on comment sections, one may think that writers need no more
sophistication than what is offered by the caps lock key. After comparing the comments
of YouTube with newspaper editorials, one could easily come to the conclusion that
language is flattening out and that the act of writing is evolving into something purely
utilitarian; we write to imitate speech, and most of what people say is pretty unrefined.
As writing teachers, it is our job to make certain that writing retains some air of craft.
Writing is tool capable of incredible specificity, and it would be a shame to see that tool
become rusty. This is not to say that we are to take on a stuffy attitude towards internet
discourse, or that we should lock ourselves in ivory towers to discuss the new theories
which the Modern Language Association has expounded. As writing instructors we need
to give people a reason to be passionate about expressing big ideas.
If the population at large is to write with some sophistication, they will benefit from
engaging in a composition process larger than a tweet. People dont need semicolons on
twitter; theres hardly enough space in a tweet for any form of literary convention. Larger
composition requires literary conventions because they facilitate understanding of the
authors message within a larger context. If the a writer wants to tell someone how stupid
their musical opinions are on YouTube, theyll be able to do a much more thorough job of
it with some compositional skills informing their well-structured assault.
The composition process has many facets. There is the idea for the composition, the
gradual realization of the composition, and finally an idea of what the composition could
look like if it was improved. Since there are always ways to change an essay, the mere
expression of an idea on paper should not be regarded as a complete paper. Composition
implies revision, and through the revision process, teachers can play a more active role in
writing instruction. For teachers, issuing an assignment is only the first pebble in the
avalanche of writing.
Teachers need to give good feedback for students to learn what good writing looks
like, feedback provides students with a rough sketch of what their fleshed out paper could
be. An author must be able to see the potential future of their work as they create it.

Depending on how closely the writer wishes to edit things, many hours can be spent on
the revising process. Each individual sentence of a work should interact synergistically,
and each sentence can be edited for clarity. In the end, it is the writers imagination which
dictates what their paper will be.
To steer this imagination, the author must care enough about the effect of their
creation to structure it in a way that it is persuasive and focused. In order to see how a
piece may effect the world, the author must also understand the world they are trying to
influence. This means that teachers must provide students with an audience which
assesses work in a constructive manner. Through revision, students not only fix the faults
in their work, but also change the tone of the work to differently impact the person who
reads it. Paying attention to audience as well as meaning in the revision stage will guide
students to an understanding of how to fix errors for future assignments. Composition is a
gradual dialog that the author slowly works out.
The world of writing will continue to change. Some day we may exist outside of
linear time, at which point our thoughts will be self edited to completion in some
inescapable ever-present moment. It is then that we may see the perfection imagined by
Plato in world of the forms. Until we realize true form in some vast singularity, or by
re-communing with nature and doing away with our technological distractions, it is
probably best that we view writing as the ultimate form of refineable thought-based
expression. Writers can find some comfort in this. We dont need some perfect
understanding of anything, we only need to come to a conclusion which satisfies our
audience in the ever changing present.