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Jenna Busch

Professor Gardiakos

ENC1102

6 October 2020

Identities in Writing

In the third concept of Naming What We Know, it explained the concept of how writing

creates and enacts identities and ideologies. In this section of the book, the authors go over

how an author writing in a certain genre develops an identity based on various things such as

the genres and discourse communities they are writing toward.

The first claim that author Tony Scott in section 3.0 states that stood out to me reads,

"Vocabularies, genres, and language conventions are a part of what creates and distinguishes

social groups, and thus learning to write is always ongoing, situational, and involving cultural

and ideological immersion." This claim first states that vocabularies and the language we use

and understand are a very important part of social groups and the groups we write in. For

example, the language and vocabulary in a psychology paper about memory and how the brain

works would include very different language and vocabulary than say a musical paper about

modern music. This is an example of how identity is centered toward a genre or discourse

because the person writing will speak and understand different concepts than someone writing

in a different discourse.
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The second claim that stood out to me was stated by Kevin Roozen in section 3.1,

Writing is Linked to Identity. In this section, he states, "The act of writing, then, is not so much

about using a particular set of skills as it is about becoming a particular kind of person, about

developing a sense of who we are." This claim was very helpful in my understanding of this new

concept as this one states and analyzes the depth an author must go. This claim illustrates that

anyone can mimic words and vocabulary and write a paper about a certain subject or concept

but for it to be successful and stand out to the audience the author must develop the skills as a

person and identity. When writing, to become successful in the genre or community you are

speaking to, you need to develop an identity that they will understand and be able to relate to.

You can see this in the everyday world, not only in writing, that people, to be the most

successful in certain fields, must develop an identity of what they are jumping into. For

example, a leader or captain of a college sports team would strive for the characteristics and

ideologies of a leader and while the characteristics of a leader can be used in many different

ways in life it cannot always be shown. When being a leader cannot be shown, for example,

when you get a new job and don't quite know the ropes, you must look to other leaders in that

job community to help you become better. This claim helps to show how important it is to link

an identity to your writings and can also be seen in many different areas of life in general.

The third and final claim that stood out to me while reading this section was explained

by Andrea A. Lunsford in section 3.3, Writing is Informed by Prior Experience. She states,

"Writing is, first of all, always part of a larger network or conversation; all writing is in some

sense a response to other writing or symbolic action." This claim was so important to me

because it references an earlier concept of intertextuality but links it to the identity and history
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of every person which I found very interesting. This claim essentially states that everything a

person or author writes no matter what genre or discourse is a response to some other writing

and always has a connection to the author's past. This is where this concept touches on

intertextuality because when an author writes their experiences weigh in on their writing even

if they don't try to let them. For example, when a student is asked to write an essay, they use

their past experiences of writing to complete the task. This concept shows that writing is always

informed by the author's past experiences and is always linked to their past and identity by

default.

While my past of writing I'm sure has not always been positive, the positives of writing

have always stuck with me. While I never loved writing essays in high school for tests, I always

found them easy which made me feel indifferent to writing during my time as a high school

student. Outside of school is where my relationship with writing formed. When I was younger, I

wrote in journals from keeping track of my days to attempting to write songs that never turned

out good, at least I know that now. While I never thought I was a good writer I loved writing

stories that involved every random thing a child could think of. I specifically remember a story

from 5th grade that I wrote. While I do not quite remember the full concept, I remember my

teacher telling me he loved it. All that hard work that 5th grade me put into writing a story with

twists and turns and then to reach out to my teacher and ask what he thought of to then him

telling me he loved it. It made me want to write more. Now that was in 5th grade when I had a

lot more time on my hands so that hobby has left me but I still think of that when I think of my

relationship with writing. When I write only from my head with no constraints, I love it, when I

write for school, I am indifferent towards it given it is relatively easy for me to produce an
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essay. With that being said I do like the school assigned writings I have been doing recently

mostly because I get to talk about what I want.

While this might not be the most relevant identity I control and embrace, I believe my

identity when playing the game Among Us is very specific to that game, if I should be playing

with random people or my group of friends. If you do not know what the game Among Us is, it

is a very popular game (currently) that involves several normal "spacemen" and one imposter

(alien) that tries to kill everyone in the game without being caught as the alien. (Like Town of

Salem if you know what that is) When playing this game my total identity changes, but only

specifically to when I am the imposter/alien and I have to keep it under wraps. I think about

what I say more, I lie more (given I want to win), and I talk more or less given the people I'm

playing with. Inside of the close friends I play this game with I am the best imposter (I normally

win 3/5 games while they sometimes win 1/5) and I attribute this to the identity I develop when

I realize that I am the imposter. I move quicker, think quicker, and know what to say if someone

challenges me. Identities in this game are very important because if you act suspicious you will

get voted out even if it's not you.

The current major I am intending on completing is computer science, in hopes to

become some sort of software developer, game designer, or programmer. Inside this major,

there is a lot of writing, code writing. In the future and even currently I am a programmer writer

and this is my identity when completing an assignment assigned by my professor. In this

identity, I must think of the language I'm writing in weather is Java, C, or any of the other

numerous ones. When writing in this specific language I have to use the ideologies or rules that

it creates and write based on those. For example, when creating a function in Java you use what
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is called camel case and it looks like this: sampleFunction, and in the language C if you create a

function you use what is called snake case and it looks something like this: sample_function.

This is only one example of the numerous differences between languages in programming. In

the future, I will have to write based on the ideologies and identities of the language presented

to me. Also, in the future when I learn more languages, I will develop the values and practices

of understanding the difference between languages, why they are different, and knowing the

language in general.

Identities and an author's relationship with writing is very important and always present

in any sort of writing made whether it be a research paper or a program written to do some

sort of task. Depending on what genre or discourse you are writing to you must develop an

identity to that genre and get across to your audience by claiming to that identity.
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Works cited

Porter, J. E. (1986). Intertextuality and the discourse community. Rhetoric Review, 5(1), 48-58.