Writing Matters' Reflection

Ternence 刘秋岑Phoebe 何琳English Writing25/02/2013Writing Matters and Its Author Do Help MeIt has always been said that writing, here referring to English writing especially, is a process that cultivates college students’ academic capabilities and stimulates their new ideas so as to perfect themselves, but most of the students seem to never get the hang of writing despite the guidance from teachers and handbooks on writing. I am not actually a good hand at English writing, so I turn to some writing handbooks at the request of my English writing teacher also. One guidebook that impresses me most is Writing Matters written by Peter G. Beidler, who is an excellent professor from a US university with years of English writing teaching experience. For the first time, I come to realize that writing can also be an exhilarating and rewarding experience because of the author’s being humorous, creative and insightful throughout the book.A person to be humorous is always attractive even if he is continuously lecturing on something dull or demanding, as everyone enjoys jokes and tends to learn things in a comparably relaxing atmosphere. And Pro. Beidler is a such one. First in Chapter 1,for example, I encounter with such phrases as “ what u r thinking”, “need 2”, “ I c what u mean”(4). Here, Pro. Beidler is trying to defend himself in a light tone. And when he is dealing with the students’ four common grumblings about writing in Chapter 2, at the end he mentions “ I can’t write because I don’t believe in myself”, the fifth one that he believes “might not be nonsense” (11) . Also in Chapter 23, he employs exaggeration to be humorous and emphatic as well, to remind that using short words in essays are preferred rather than obfuscating by “utilizing elongated terminological constructions” (137). For sure those humorous parts help relax me and lure me directly to the end of the book while learning writing skills.Besides being humorous, Pro. Beidler is also creative in developing his books and offering writing skills. First of all, not like other authors of writing handbooks, Pro. Beidler, believing that most commonly used writings are argumentative, does not directly provide a list of dos and don’ts , but makes each chapter a model essay that keeps to the principle that “an acceptable essay is a bold, clear, and well-developed argument presented in a unified,cohesive, and organized form” (12). Second, he simply applies less than 3000 words within most of the college students’ vocabulary limit to develop the essays, which eases the burdens onto the students when understanding the book. I still remember when I read other reference books, one of my most important jobs is to look up the meaning of a difficult word I encounter with in a dictionary, which, without doubt, is not efficient but frustrating. In addition to encouraging the readers to grasp the writing skills like getting ideas, strengthening ideas and getting hold of the writing structures demanded, Pro. Beidler is creative enough to invent a word “mephobia” when he finds that students are always afraid to have their own experiences and ideas written into their essays. In a word, with his creativity Pro. Beidler sets a good example to me, and to us all English writing learners to be creative.Having mentioned Pro. Beidler’s humour and creativity that are shown in the book, I would not mind showing my admiration for Pro. Beidler’s being insightful. Not only does he find that writings are mostly argumentative, he also believes that writing is a collaborative work as is mentioned in Chapter 18. He holds that writing is not simply a matter of writer’s writing, it needs feedbacks or criticisms from teachers and peers, and that it also deals with the opposition in which the writer should consider the counter-arguments or even talk or argue about the points with people around if possible. Apart from these, he manages to prove with surveys and statistics in Chapter 1 that writing is beyond colleges, instead it is badly needed and highly valued in professional world while the fact is that it is being greatly neglected as a professional skill. For this matter, he, at the very beginning of the book, attaches great importance not only to English writing in colleges among students, but also to the writing in the professional world among businesspeople like corporate executives. But thanks for his insightfulness, what he suggests is we find our own best writing process rather than indiscriminately imitate what he has done already.Having read the book carefully, I am sure I have learned something here and there to improve my English writing. And I must confess that reading it is a pleasant experience for Pro. Beidler’s humour, creativity and insightfulness, and that what he sticks to in writing has a great impact on me. With guidance that is helpful, experience that has been accumulated, and a process that is fit best for me, I can write good essays. And for sure Pro. Beidler would agree with me!。