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Abbey Allen

Dr. Jan Rieman

Critical Interpretation

April 30, 2010

What Makes Writing Work

There are many different aspects of a paper that people need to think of when they sit

down to start writing. In Min-Zhan Lu and Bruce Horner’s chapter “Composing Our Composing

Processes,” they talk a lot about what writers need to think about when writing. They talk about

organization skills, language to use in a certain situations, and what materials can be helpful and

not helpful when writing.

I believe organization is one of the most important things to think about when starting to

write. Not only organization within the paper, organizations with yourself and making sure you

know what you need to accomplish. In chapter 1 Lu and Horner say, “It’s useful for writers to

pose a possible plan of action both before and during the actual process of writing so long as they

don’t use the plan to restrict their actions” (5). They are saying that writers need to have a plan

before they write about what they’re going to write and also have a plan while they’re writing

about how they can make what they’re writing appealing to the reader. I agree with what they’re

saying. Organization isn’t my strong point, but I think it needs to be something that everyone is

thinking. If there isn’t organization and a writer starts writing they will get stuck because they

don’t know what to do next.

When a writer starts planning what they are going to write, the writer has to think about

the audience they are writing to. A writer doesn’t want to write in an engineering way if their

reader is an English professor and vice versa. Language is different in different situations, so
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people have to think about the person they will be writing to. Lu and Horner said, “We use

English differently when interaction with different groups of people. For instance, we don’t read

and write in the same way with family members, e-mailing friends who share the same interest in

sports of music, or fulfilling an assignment in a biology lab, a history class, or a writing class”

(13). They are saying that language is different in every situation or subject. If your reader

doesn’t understand what you’re saying then they won’t enjoy reading what the writer has written.

It is important to me to write so they reader can understand what I’m trying to say, so I have to

think about what class I’m in when writing and what style of writing the teacher expects.

Along with planning and language planning when writing a paper, a writer has to

consider what different events and materials will affect the outcome of their paper. Writers need

to think about what’s going to affect their writing process. Will they have enough time to get the

assignment done? Will they be able to concentrate while writing or have the resources to get

things accomplished? Lu and Horner have many different ideas about what materials you need to

have in order to write a successful paper. They said, “… we also have to consider the kind of

time, space, and writing tools available to us” (17). It is also said, “What medium is available to

each writer also matters: Is the writer composing at a computer, with pen and paper, or using a

Dictaphone when composing?” (18). Lu and Horner make a good point about having enough

energy and time to write a paper, but I think they go a little far when they say it also depends on

what a writer uses to write. If a writer has planned what they want to say, it shouldn’t matter

what they use to write. Energy and time can affect the outcome because if you don’t have enough

of those, then you won’t get the assignment done and you’ll be exhausted.

Lu and Horner make good points about what is important when it comes to writing.

Writers need to have a plan to start with, writers need to think about the language they need to
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use, and writers need to think about what is going to help them succeed with the assignment.

There are many aspects to writing a paper that a writer needs to think about when starting out.

Each step to the writing process is important because if a step is missed, writing will be more

difficult and the end result won’t be as well written as if all steps were taken. Lu and Horner

have a lot to say about what it takes to be a good writer and I think it will help me a lot when I

write.

Works Cited

Lu, Min-Zhan and Horner, Bruce. Writing Conventions. Longman Publishing Group. December

2007.