Rough Draft 1

Malik Lawson

Professor Maxey

English Comp

8 February 2020

Rough Draft 1 

In Inventing the University the author goes into talking about writing and basic writing problems. It talks about how to write and what approach to go about writing. The writer when writing must feel as if they are one with the audience for the better piece because the audience is the one that’s going to be reading it. When it comes to writing there are two ways a writer can take while writing. The first way is the base prose. Base prose is the writer just writing for themselves to get what they are thinking down. The second way is based prose. Based prose is writing in the reader’s mind.

 A writer can get together what they have to say around what they and the reader shares.  The writer must connect with the reader and feel what they feel. They must connect with the reader and the audience to get a feel of what to write and how to write. He believes that based prose writers are better because of writers constructing what they have to say around the reader. He then goes into saying that writers must take on the position of being an insider because that being both inside an established and powerful discourse. The problem with students doing this is that it makes them deny what is reality and that is that the professor really has al the power in the classroom.

The overall purpose of him writing this text was for the reader who wants to become a better writer to learn and to know what to do to get to that point. It is also for high school to college students and is to help them. The article itself did affect me as a reader as it really gave me a big cheat code to writing, I say that because it was never known if my writing was good when I wrote it but now if I was to write from an Insider’s standpoint then it has to be good.

 In this text, the author goes into how to become a better writer. He goes into what makes a writer a good writer and what to do to get to that point. As in the text he talks about there being two types of writing which are base and based prose. To be a good writer one would have to be an insider, think of himself as the audience. I agree with the author in every way except where he was saying the teacher is in power. Really it’s the student who is in power as the student controls what grade they get. The teacher is the one the grades it but it is up to the student on what grade they get.

Throughout this article, the author has more of a calm, informal tone. He is just trying to get his information off. His tone really did support his point and what he was trying to get off as if he was obnoxious then I really wouldn’t have read it at all. He put it in a tone and used simple vocabulary for the most part so the reader could understand it. He puts himself in the reader’s viewpoint as writing this so that the reader’s would read it. 

In Inventing the Univesity, the author David Bartholomae uses Logos in this text as his evidence to back what he was saying. I say that because he goes more off of logic to convince the students in what he is writing about. When he goes in about how you have to put yourself in the shoes of a reader and have to be an insider to be a good writer, well that is kind of logic and common sense. Only because the readers are the ones that are going to be reading what you are writing, you have to take the view of a reader so it is readable.

What I learned from a close examination of Inventing the University was that the author was very right in what he was saying. At first, when I read this article, I did not agree with him at all as I thought that all you had to have was an imagination. It sounded like crap that you had to be an insider to become a better writer. But then as I analyze the text and actually took in what was being written it actually started to make sense and even help me a little bit. In order to be good at writing then I would have to put myself in the shoes of who was reading it, to see what they wanted.

Inventing the University really doesn’t relate to me as a student. When I am writing it is different as I have imagination and brains and with that, you can write and do anything. There is no limit to what can be done. The imagination part attracts the readers and the brains are what keep the reader as I don’t sound stupid and they know that I know what I am talking about. But reading this really did help me as it tells me what to do in order to get past this level and maybe on to the next. With the level that I am at now, I know that I will have to follow and use what David was saying in order to get past this current class that I am in. Not only does this apply to this current class but this applies to all my classes and coursework.

My professors aren’t really going to give me a good grade and want to read my work if I don’t put myself as an Insider of the professor’s mindpoint. If I do that then I will know what it is that they are looking for. I will also know how they look for it. If I know that then there is no question if I will pass these courses and there will be no question what I will pass it with. It is almost as if I am grading myself to a standpoint.