Benaim 1

Bianca Benaim

Mr. Lohr

English 101

21 September 2017

Bloom Summary

Lynn Z. Blooms article Good Enough Writing: What is Good Enough Writing,

Anyway? originally published in The Essay Connection in 2013 explains her views on the

structural writing process. Bloom, a well known scholarly writer targets teachers and their

methods on how they guide their students to write and how she defines good enough writing.

She states that some teachers hold students to higher standards than others, and some may grade

more harshly marking down or failing students who dont measure up (532). Bloom highlights

how this flawed system prevents students from growing as writers. She also mentions that young

writers lose a creative aspect of writing because writing has become less about quality and more

about what is considered correct. In Blooms view, each step in writing has specific rules and

failure to follow the rules will result in papers that are not good enough, no matter what other

virtues they exhibit (527). Bloom tells her audience that she disapproves of the notion that

students must follow particular rules with no guidance to a creative imagination, and this results

in teachers not setting the bar high enough for their students.

Finally, Bloom pushes her audience to see that there is always room for growth in the

writing process. She agrees that students should follow specific guidelines, however, she feels

that allowing students to go beyond a certain point can better their writing skills and add a little

something extra to it. Bloom claims that one single way of writing may not be the most effective
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in teaching students how to write well. She stresses that writing methods such as these remain

constant resulting in repetitiveness and blandness with no new ideas or thoughts being shared.

Bloom explains that this kind of structure may lead to good enough writing, but it surely does

not lead to the best writing. She concludes, stating that students should learn how to enhance and

rework the writing structure, enabling students to be more than good enough.