Take a Deep Breath

WEPO has been my first English class in college. As a newly declared EWM major, I've always enjoyed English but never considered it as a possible major and future occupation. Through this WEPO course, I have learned many things that I never learned in a regular high school English class. Never had I heard of rhetoric or rhetorical situations. Egos, pathos, logos? What's that? Since the beginning of this class, my views on english and composing process have expanded so much. Below are some of the key terms that I find most crucial to the process of composition.

Audience:

In any form of composition, there will always be an audience. Whether the audience is a crowded room, a teacher, a small auditorium, or yourself, audience will always affect the way in which you compose. If you are writing a speech or paper for an audience of kindergarten students, your tone and vocabulary would be drastically different than if your audience happened to be a group of Army Veterans. Having a strong sense of your projected audience will help keep the attention of your readers or listeners and could ultimately make or break your composition.

Style:

Style is the personal flair and flavor that you put into your writing. Finding your own style will distinguish you as a writer and set you apart from others. This will also help with the delivery of your writing and speeches in order to convey a strong point and still give it pizzazz. Creating your own style is essential if you want to write as a career one day. Setting yourself apart with different ideas and creativity will make you stand out and give you new confidence as a writer.

Knowledge:

Knowledge is an essential part of composition. We must gain knowledge of the material we are writing/speaking about in order to give us a strong idea about what topics we are discussing. When you have knowledge, this gives your composition credibility and allows your audience to believe what you are saying. Along with knowledge comes memory. When you memorize your speech and have a firm grasp of the topics you are covering, it is very easy to convey your ideas to the audience. A major part of gaining knowledge is performing research on your topic. With facts to back up your opinions and points, you will easily persuade or convey your points to the audience.

Reflection:

Reflection is the process of sitting back and thinking about your paper. Personally, I reflect a lot before outlining and writing. This allows me to get all of my ideas out on paper and then I can organize them and make sense of everything before I start writing. After composing my entire paper, I have another time of reflection. I re-read and make sure my thoughts are clear enough and that I conveyed everything that I originally intended to. Reflection is a great way to make sure that what you are trying to say makes sense to both you and the audience. Reflecting allows you to piece your paper together before you write it, and to make any additional changes to it after you have completed it.

Editing/Revision:

Editing and revising, to me, are two of the most essential steps of composition. First, I like to revise my paper by taking out the unimportant or redundant parts. I’ll add in more details and more facts to really make sure my point is sold to the audience. Then, I will go through and fix all of my mechanical, structural, and grammatical mistakes while editing. Editing and revising (especially the latter) can tend to be a long process because we sometimes end up with less than we started with the more and more we revise and find errors of logic. However, revision is the time to recreate and reinvent your paper if there is anything that you do not like about it. Editing is the final step in which you clean up all the bells and whistles and make your composition a beautiful finished project.

Now for the final rundown...

Composition is a long process comprised of many small details. However, I feel that once you understand the concepts of audience, style, knowledge, reflection, and editing/revision, even the most inexperienced writer will be able to compose with success. Every writer has a different way of composing and, ultimately, we all end up in the same place, but the routes we take to get there differ from one author to another. I think that since the writing process is different for everyone, this allows there to be so many different styles and topics when it comes to composition. For me, however, the five key terms described above help me with my theory of composition because it helps me focus on the purpose and perfection of my writing.