This semester, I have had difficulty in finding my identity as a writer. Countless writing assignments have caused no internal recognition. Nonetheless, with the introduction of a self-portrait in Writing and Rhetoric, I was able to completely understand how I interact with a pen and paper. A self-portrait of a writer describes a fluid development of writing skill and writing process that culminates with a reflective point of view about one’s traits and style which separate the writer as an individual. A self-portrait is contextualized through different chronological stages in a writer’s development starting with their elementary years and building to describe their current writing process. In my case, my writing process is described by organization on a small scale, such as draft expectations and internal structure, algorithms on a large scale, such as a specific lexicon based on subject and a formula for planning and overall writing process, and by scholarly content, such as grammar and diction, while using resources.
One of the pillars of my own self portrait as a writer is my organization. Organization as a trait within my self-portrait is specific in that it is small scale and internal, as opposed to considering my entire thought process. For example, this includes my structure of papers that I write, and my expectations in the drafting process. In context, my organization has been shown throughout my writing career in History classes in high school, continuing into college. In past years, I was enrolled in history classes which demanded undivided attention to detail to promote success and effective writing strategies. For instance, with my learning of the Document Based Question, or DBQ, led to the forced inclusion of extremely organized thought in structure and in the drafting process of my writing. The DBQ, which is a medium-length essay that correlates or synthesizes historical events through documentation, while requiring contextualization and external historical supporting evidence, is gravely specific in its point system. Therefore, a strong background of small-scale organization is needed to fully draft an effective essay which includes all required elements in the small amount of time given for planning and writing. Without this sense of urgency and emphasis on organization, the vast majority of DBQ’s written by high school students would amount to messy, lacking essays. However, through this style of writing in my writing development timeline, I effectively learned strategies which I now attribute to main traits that I use when I write: small scale organization through internal structure and drafting process.
Another defining trait of my self-portrait of a writer is that of an algorithmic approach. Different from my organizational skills, this style is focused on the complete composition of the product from reading and understanding the prompt, to drafting and revising a final essay. For instance, this is shown through my ability in all types of writing to have a specific lexicon which I choose to use in order to effectively reach the audience. This changes based on genre of writing, audience, tone, and other factors, but occurs every time I write, deeming it part of my algorithmic strategy. Specifically, in a previous history paper I wrote, I stated, “religion significantly helped develop modern day Europe and aid it into the Neolithic [era].” (Cabell). This contrasts with a quote from one of my economic executive summaries in which I stated, “Three of its cars, the Ford Edge, the Ford Fusion, and the Ford F-150, all embody this market structure and reflect the principles of monopolistic competitive markets” (Cabell). Although I wrote both of these sections, I changed my diction in an algorithmic fashion to tailor the tone of each essay into a piece that would better reach the intended audience. Furthermore, I display algorithm in my writing self-process in my consistency of planning. Granted, I don’t spend as much time on planning as I should. However, each time I plan I am consistent and rarely stray from a specific checklist that is applicable to academic writings. I handwrite my thoughts on the question, write a 2-3 sentence condensed answer to the prompt, and then originate topics of discussion on which I continue to elaborate with potential body content. I complete this process every time I write an academic essay. In my self-portrait as a writer, the skill of consistent planning was internalized through peer reviewing other student’s papers, beginning around the 7th grade, and when I started to take planning as a concept more seriously in 9th grade. Peer reviewing papers, which I attribute to my middle school English class, helped me plan my own essays because as I thought about different essays I had reviewed from the same people, I noticed that their writings would be vastly different in structure and wouldn’t follow a specific pattern, which, from my point of view, was detrimental and likely due to a lack of planning. In high school, a second revelation about planning came with the introduction to serious planning strategies and types of diagrams useful for brainstorming and essay drafting. It caused me to understand the importance of planning. Currently, in Writing and Rhetoric, this notion is amplified as a study by Berkenkotter displays the time used to plan in college composition by publishing writers. A data table within the studydescribes this with a statistic indicating 56% of the time used in the writing process is dedicated to planning (Berkenkotter). Clearly shown by the figure, the importance of planning is essential as more than half of the time spent composing academic essays was used to plan. All three of these circumstances had an equal effect on my writing process, which caused me to plan in a diligent manner. Imprinting algorithmic large-scale writing processes through specific vocabulary, and consistent planning, is major portion of my writing self-portrait.
Finally, the third primary example of my self-portrait as a writer is my attempt to achieve a scholarly tone in all genres of academic writing. Scholarly, meaning the habitual effort to obtain credibility through use of sophisticated language and sentence structure. Essentially, my application of scholarly tone is achieved through my grammar, diction, and usage of resources. Grammar is extremely important to my self-portrait writing process because it quickly establishes credibility with the audience and sets apart a sophisticated idea from a well communicated, sophisticated idea. Diction is a tool that can be shifted and used fluidly to capture attention and describe specific thoughts or comments, keeping to a specific jargon in some cases. Diction helps me build scholarly essays because it doesn’t only establish credibility, but also denotes a careful composition, as effective words are plentiful, and it takes time to find words that fit into different locations. Usage of resources is perhaps the most important way I try to include sophistication in my essays. It explains the grammar tools, dictionaries, thesauruses, and even citation websites, which help me elaborate on writing that may be dull, but will quickly develop into colorful, rich, yet professional writing. A comprehensive example of the value of scholarly attitudes towards writing is shown through the writing development of my father. In my opinion, my father is very well spoken. He has a high level of vocabulary and is a grammar stickler. I believe this has helped him in his professional life, as his completely sophisticated and scholarly mannerism has only furthered his opportunities for jobs, and through the construction of his relationships. I try to model my own scholarly tone in my papers to imitate his sense of sophistication, so that I may reap the benefits that ensues such a practice. Contextualized, this development is shown through my initial introduction to writing coherent, 5 paragraph essays in elementary school, and continuing into using more sophisticated vocabulary words to better express ideas in my writing. Sophistication is extremely important to me in final drafts, as it invokes a sense of respect from the audience while maintaining a level of understanding between the author and their audience. I try to embody this concept in all of my academic writings, which is why I choose to emphasize scholarly tone and sophistication in my writing.
In conclusion, my self-portrait as a writer is the backbone of my compositional background, it helps me draft academic papers, understand potential blocks that could hinder my fluidity as a writer, and shows my growth from my past writing experiences. These experiences are the reason I write the way I do, and they provide the context for my development. Sophistication and scholarly tone, Algorithmic process on a large scale, and organization throughout the writing on a small level all describe my self-portrait and are the writing traits that are currently emphasized through my writing process. In the future, as my writing continues to change, these traits will shift in a reflective pattern to match my writing, embodying my fluid self-portrait.
Works Cited
Cabell, Nicholas, “Executive Summary”, Virginia Military Institute, 2019.
Cabell, Nicholas, “Religion in Paleolithic and Ancient Europe”, Virginia Military Institute, 2019.
Berkenkotter, “Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer”, Writing about Writing, 2019.
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