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Aly Troy

Brendan Hawkins

ENC 2135-0009

7 September 2017

Writing Definition #1

Writing is the expression of ones personal ideas and/or opinions on any subject. From

here, writing can be classified into two main areas, expressive and academic. In my own personal

definition of writing, the first area- expressive- encompasses all creative forms of writing and

writing for entertainment. The second area of my definition, academic, consists of any writing

for informative purposes.

Expressive writing is, in my opinion, the formation of ideas and thoughts in a unique, and

sometimes unorthodox, way. This area covers creativity, beauty, and entertainment. I believe

some genres of writing in this area to be poetry, prose, music, novels, and storytelling. My most

influential literacy sponsor in this area is my junior year English teacher. She taught AS Level

English Language and within two semesters she taught our class everything between prose and

the literary greats to analysis and creative writing. To illustrate, our first semester was dedicated

to this type of writing. One of her assignments was to write lyrics to a song. this assignment

wasnt required for the class but she wanted us to do something we found interesting. As a first

assignment, it sparked our creativity for the next assignments to come. Towards the end of this

segment, she assigned us to write a biography. My past was something that I rarely ever spoke

about, let alone write about. Ms. Barresi opened me up into a whole new form of writing, and

helped me talk about my past easier. I reworked this assignment into my college essay that
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opened new doors: FSU, UF, UGA, and Vanderbilt. From expressive writing, I learned how to

write to captivate.

Personally, Academic writing is the presentation of ideas and analysis. Within this, are

scientific and literary analyzations. Scientific articles are most obviously classified in this area,

but also current events and journalistic writings. In this area, my most influential teachers are Dr.

Crihfield. In Dr. Crihfields course- AS and A Level Global Perspectives she ingrained that our

opinions could never be wrong when we can provide evidence and articulated thoughts. In this

class, we academically wrote our ideas and opinions on individualized and personalized

researched topics in a multitude of genres. Dr. Crihfield shaped my writing just as much as Ms.

Barresi did, but in a different way. Dr. Crihfield laid the foundation for me to be able to write

extensively. She broke me out of the five paragraph essay, and into the 5,000 word paper. In

these courses, we wrote controversial pieces. I wrote a 10-minute speech on the possibility of

sexually exploited victims being rehabilitated back into society, a 2,000 word comparison of

hydroponics and aquaponics as a voiceover, and a 3,500 word paper about the effects of 21st

century technology on overfishing. From academic writing, I have learned how to professionally

present my own ideas.

This lead to my greatest accomplishment: a 5,000 word (sans quotes and citations) paper

named: How realistic are the prospects for reviving dying cities? This paper was the summation

of all the writing techniques Ive accumulated over my high school career. I used the story telling

techniques and analytical phrases I learned from Ms. Barresi to be able to write an interesting

take on my topic. I used my extensive research and evaluation skills that I learned from Dr.

Crihfield to be able to write a thesis and orally defend it to my AICE evaluators. This made me

very confident moving into college and having to write at higher levels.
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All these different expressions of ideas come together to create my own definition of

writing: opinions and ideas communicated through text.