Theory of Writing

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Theory of Writing
Writing at the college level is a daunting task especially for those who are not native English speakers. Acquiring effective writing skills requires a great deal of effort and patience. My literary practices throughout this English course have helped me understand what writing entails and how to use written communication to express my ideas in a succinct manner at a college level. The class also provided me the opportunity to construct my own theory of writing that helps me chart, explore, and enrich my own writing. My specific theory of writing is that writing is a process that involves three primary components, which are, planning, drafting, and revising. Planning involves generating information through research, structuring the collected information, and setting writing objectives. Drafting entails rendering ideas into words.
My literary practices during the class has taught me that in academic writing, especially analytical writing, this second process requires grounding one’s writing on data and textual evidence and not on one’s opinion or sheer imagination. Facts, strategies, and examples are crucial to the structure of the essay. The third component is the revising process where one identifies problems in their essays such as grammar, spelling correctness, overall flow of ideas, and fluency of sentences. These elements are basic requirements of good writing and revision is therefore critical to academic writing.
My theory of writing has evolved greatly with each piece of composing. My first essay was a reflection of what writing entailed, my writing experiences, and what I hoped to gain from the course. I was a bit uncomfortable with this first task given my little writing experience. I lacked confidence in my ability to express my ideas or even in my writing style. However, my writing practices during class helped me construct my theory of writing that was particularly helpful in my narrative and persuasive essays. My writing and self-assurance had improved remarkably when I started by planning the outline of my essays. My effort to explore the whole rhetorical problem including topic, form, audience, as well as other task-specific objectives ensured that my essay outlines conformed to academic standards. For instance, in my narrative essay on how TV influenced my literacy development I started by choosing my formidable experience trying to understand what the actors in the show were talking about.
I then chose an outline that started by explaining how the experience made my essay matter before explaining my English deficiencies that led to the experience, the actual moment I began understanding what the show was all abo...