In-Class Activity Two - Samantha Murphy

Looking at my word cloud, I see little to no representation of the terms I claimed encompassed writing. They appear so small in the mosaic and I can barely recognize them as important words. This shows me that my original thoughts about the defining terms may be different from what my writing tells me. The words that appeared the most within my journal were writing, ideas, emotions, words, work and connection. Only one word out of my original six reoccurred more than the one time I listed  it. That being said, I am going to change my list to ideas, expression, passion, communication, connection and emotions. I still feel that expression, passion, connection and communication are relevant to writing even though they appeared so infrequently throughout my journal. I believe that these terms have. profuse impact on writing as a whole. However, I did remove technique and broad. I felt that by the representation within my word cloud, they did not belong as much as I had hoped. There futility in writing is not as important as the other words I kept in my list of defining terms. Writing is a way of expressing and communicating one’s own ideas and emotions. It involves a passion for the art and a connection to yourself, your emotions, and your audience.

Talking to my group mates, we realized our word clouds did not accurately represent our original list. The words in the cloud were vague and basic rather than the complex words we chose to depict writing. But maybe thats what writing is; a complex idea with a simple product.

In conclusion, this activity was a lot more giving than I expected. I was extremely confused about how this activity would help us form our own theory of writing, but once I completed physicalizing the writing map, I realized that everyone's idea of writing is different. There is no one way to view the concept of writing. Each map had different way of expressing how someone viewed the writing process, and though many people stuck with a simple map, they were all different in there own ways. My idea of writing being a way of expressing and communicating one’s own ideas and emotions is correct, but so is Tori's idea of writing and Niko's idea of writing. There will be people who will disagree with my theory, and that is okay because it is my own truth and it holds true to me. The person disagreeing with my ideas may not be the type of writer that I identify as, which remains to be a poet. And if they do identify in that area, each writer has there own outlook on their specific discipline and not one outlook is the only way. I truly believe that writing comes from the heart and without passion for the writing you do, emotions vulnerable for your discipline, ideas to explore in your writing, communication with your audience, connection to your work and expression of all of these terms, writing would not be as enjoyable or as important as it is.

I see some words like soul, originality, and places and it reminds me of the two key terms I chose of imaginative and creative. I did not expect the word writing to pop and stand out as much as it did but what I really did not expect to see was how big the word meaningful was compared to the other normal words that I used in my journal. It was not huge but it also was not one of the tiny words that only are mentioned once. It really surprised me to have been able to notice meaningful right off the bat. I think it is important to see your key terms mirrored in your word cloud because it is sort of like a reminder that you stayed on track and shows you that the words you chose perfectly reflect the point you are trying to get across in your journal one. Looking at my word cloud just reaffirms me in the key terms I chose. I can not really draw any really intriguing conclusion from this exercise about writing because it just reaffirmed me in my own view about writing and exactly what it means to me as a writer.

My theory of writing is that it is a place for anyone to release their creative and imaginative potential. It is an activity anyone can do to free all those thoughts clogged and stuck inside your head. It’s a place to express your emotions and be who you are and a way to scream at the world without having to leave the comfort of your bed. No matter what kind of writing you do; it can even be letters randomly punched on the keyboard in frustration; it all has meaning to eat. The most elaborate and the most simple writing can both hold the same meaning.

I did not see very much of a connection between my word cloud and key terms. I did not expect to see a connection because I was only answering questions and not actually writing something like an essay. I was surprised to see the word “because” so many times. Looking at my word cloud does not make me think of any new key terms or rethink any of my current key terms. The most intriguing conclusion I can draw from this exercise about my ideas about  writing is that I now have a better understanding of my writing style.

My theory of writing would be that its main purpose is to clearly get ideas across to the reader, whomever it may be. The reader or audience can be anything from a student to a teacher. Writing should not be too complex or complicated to the point where the reader can’t understand what the author is trying to convey. For example, if a textbook was made for chemistry students then it should clearly have information describing chemistry, not something like art or english. I also believe that writing should have a certain style depending on what its content is. For example, if it’s a children's book then the writing should have an upbeat and cheerful style, but if it’s a serious novel then its style should be descriptive.

My theory of writing was somewhat similar to others that I saw today. For example, my theory is that writing should clearly and effectively get its point across to the reader and another theory was that writing should have a specific and definitive purpose. These theories are related in that a specific and definitive purpose can be to clearly and effectively get its point across to the reader. Having a theory of writing could be useful in way where it gives you an ultimate goal to focus on while writing. It can also be useful in that it can give your writing its own style. For example, if your theory is that writing should clearly get its point across then your writing style could be descriptive but concise. I can now say that because I’ve developed this theory of writing, it has made me realize that I have a distinct style of writing. This style of writing I have connects to my theory in way which I write things to be concise and to the point but am able to clearly get its purpose across to the reader. I would characterize myself as a factual writer.

Word Cloud  

The connection I saw between my word cloud and my key terms was that my key terms are some of the larger words in the cloud compared to others; the frequent use of the key terms (the reason for their larger appearance in the cloud) in my journal 1 reinforces the importance of these key terms. I did not expect to see "writing" as the largest word in my cloud, however it does make sense for the term to appear the most often since "writing" was the topic of my journal. It is important that my word cloud matches my key terms so that I know I stayed on task and focused on the topic rather than veering off course with it. The cloud made me rethink about including the key term "style" as it was one of the smaller words. This exercise helped me to critique one of my choices for one of my key terms; the exercise allows for a visual representation of one's writing. 

Writing is a complex, fluid subject. Familiarity is a comfort that if one can afford one should take advantage of in writing. Writing about a subject that is closer to home or more personal will lead to better writing. When writing about something unfamiliar there are numerous ways to bring in one's personal experiences or ideas that one could contribute to their final work. 

P5

Compared to my group members theory of writing my theory of writing could be more inclusive of other components of writing. While my theory covered one aspect of writing my groupmates focused on other areas; for example, one mentioned the importance of writing to the audience. A theory of writing is good because it provides one with a personal, basic outline out how to write or a code to follow when doing so. I think I have grown as a writer because I now better understand what a theory of writing is and how I could apply it to my writing. I connect with my theory because it is how I tend to write naturally; I find it easier to write often about events or information in my life that are more familiar to me. At the moment I would consider myself a scientific writer because I am more well-versed in that subject than any other, and my theory of writing is to follow what is familiar to you.