IWA: 1/25/13

Summary: In the article "Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources", Karen Rosenberg attempts to tell the reader how to comprehend and sit through scholarly journals and writings. She argues that it is necessary for readers to understand the type of audience the writer is writing for as well as the structure of their writing. In this way you will be able to better understand what it is they’re trying to say without having to stress yourself out over it.

Synthesis: Rosenberg’s writing reminds me a lot of Allen’s writing in that she explains to us that nobody is perfect at reading things they initially don’t care about (like her and academic journals) and Allen said nobody’s the perfect writer. I believe these two things go hand in hand. In addition Rosenberg’s writing was obviously written more at a “college level” because she uses examples college students would understand while avoiding “harder words”.

Afterthoughts: I think (and really hope) that Rosenberg’s article will help me dissect academic writing a lot easier in the future. Since this is my freshman year I’m certain things I will be dealing with a lot more scholarly readings in the near future. Based upon what I’ve read for this class, these readings are extremely dry and I can use all the advice I can get on reading them with more ease. I guess I found Rosenberg’s writing overall to be extremely helpful.
1. In the past I have paid attention to the title of an article because to me it gives a glimpse of how the author will write. For example, in "Shitty First Drafts" I was given an immediate thought that the article would be written a little less formally and would probably be a bit easier to understand. I would say putting the article into context in this way from the start is especially important. Honestly I wouldn't change the strategy in any way.
2. To me this goes hand in hand with the first question. When you read/write a title it's introducing your piece and how you will write. It's like making a first impression to somebody. Everything the person will feel about your article will be read in that first sentence much like in a conversation.
3. This piece has shown me that I need to take everything in my piece into consideration because every portion of it shows my writing style and can help give the reader an idea of what they're about to read. It has also proven to me to be cautious of my writing because it can give my reader an idea of what I'm writing if they have no clue.