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Logan Lowery

Professor Dees

ENC 1101

7 November 2022

Major Assignment 1: Threshold Concepts 2.2 & 2.6

For my presentation, my group read and analyzed threshold concepts 2.2 and 2.6. These

sections proved very useful to me in explaining the thought processes that go into not only

writing, but also reading and understanding texts. First, allow me to summarize these two

sections, and analyze what makes them so applicable to my writing and the texts I read.

Section 2.2, Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers, is about what goes into a genre

and what determines the genre of a text. Hart-Davidson describes genres as “a form of discourse

recognizable as a common set of structural or thematic qualities.” (Hart-Davidson 39) These

qualities have and will keep developing over time, and act as a record of how writers use reader

expectations for a genre to help make their messages more meaningful and clear. The more

surprising realization from this section is that writers unconsciously write withing genres, like

how a novelist is so accustomed to their genre that they naturally write in a way that conforms to

their genre. This idea, that writers writing in a certain genre aren’t explicitly trying to write for

the genre, really opened my eyes to what genres really are. An ideal writer wouldn’t go out of

their way to try writing the best work in their genre. Writers should instead try to write the best

work they can, and allow their readers to decide what genre their work lands in. Writers that are

experienced with writing within a certain genre shouldn’t have to try to make their writing fit the
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genre, as their writing would naturally fit the genre which is best for their work. This realization

has helped me improve how I approach writing, and how I understand writing that I read.

The second threshold concept my group covered was concept 2.6, or the concept that

Texts get their Meaning from Other Texts. Roozen starts by dissecting the assumption that a

texts meaning comes purely from the text itself. Roozen goes to say that “This assumption,

though, overlooks the fact that whatever meaning a writer or reader makes of a particular text is

not a result of their engagements with that particular text alone.” (Roozen 44) He then goes on to

say that texts not only get their meaning from other texts, but also unwritten sources such as

pictures or videos. Roozen used the example of authors of children’s books using pictures as a

way to give early readers a better way to understand their writing. This idea has helped to inform

how I write to particular audiences, as it makes me realize how much of my writing depends on

prior knowledge. Knowing how much of what I write is dependent on prior knowledge helps to

remind me the importance of giving context in my writing. There’s no way to guarantee that

someone will take away the same meaning from reading your writing, but adding extra context

and definitions when necessary will help the readers of your text get closer to your original

message behind writing.

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Works Cited

Hart-Davidson, Bill. “Genres are Enacted by Writers and Readers.” Naming What We Know

Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth

Wardle, Utah State University Press, 2016, pp. 39-40.

Roozen, Kevin. “Texts get their Meaning from Other Texts.” Naming What We Know Threshold

Concepts of Writing Studies, edited by Linda Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Utah

State University Press, 2016, pp. 44-46.