My first biggest takeaway from this chapter was that writing in proper form does not have to contradict creativity. The author explains that many schools, specifically elementary schools, have given up enforcing grammar rules with young students in favor of more creative methods of expression. The author explains that creativity and grammar can go hand in hand, as correct expression allows the writer to better get their ideas across, eliminating errors that may distract the reader from the creative message that the writer is trying to convey.
Another piece that I took away from this chapter was that while the Internet encourages more visual media than written, it also increased the need for professional writing in everyday life. Even with the general shift toward visual media online, the use of communications platforms like emails involve professional writing, which many people are unequipped for. So, while the internet has been detrimental to the integrity of writing, it has also widened its use and importance.
The two main points I want to highlight from the introduction are a. the importance of understanding the rules of English and b. not relying on spelling and grammar tools. The first point I want to emphasize is explained by the author in this quote: “Without a thorough knowledge and mastery of the rules underlying any discipline, creativity is impossible.” The author goes on to state that they believe that of all disciplines, the rules are most often ignored in English under the guise that ignoring those rules encourages creative freedom. This section of the reading made me think of Dr. Seuss — had he not understood the basics of English, he would not have been able to successfully create his own adjectives, nouns, etc. (ex: “murky-mooshy”). Having a strong understanding of language allowed Dr. Seuss to embrace creativity in his writing. The second part of the reading I want to address is that, as helpful as spelling and grammar tools are, we cannot and should not rely on them. Growing up surrounded by technology, I have used various AI writing tools, such as spellcheck and Grammarly. However, those tools have frequently suggested inaccurate changes to my writing. If someone is fully dependent on those platforms, they are prone to errors, which may be harder to catch than a more blatant human error (if they don’t have an understanding of the rules of English).
Two big points of the first chapter of the textbook are the importance of having the knowledge and ability to write with correct grammar, and how that knowledge and ability contributes to success in the professional world. The author of the textbook subscribes to the assumption that many primary education establishments no longer teach the fundamentals of English grammar, which has led to an endemic problem of Americans no longer understanding the basics of how to write with grammatical and syntactic accuracy.
The second big idea that the author communicates is why it is so important to master the fundamentals of English grammar and spelling. He posits that this is because a strong command of English grammar lends itself to credibility. Beyond this, he also communicates that grammatical mastery is important because it is among the most widely applicable, and therefore most universally useful, academic skills which we can learn to have at our disposals.
To provide a practical example of what the author is writing about, he uses an ad for a mechanic company that offers car rentals, however their advertisement is filled with grammatical errors. This example can be mapped onto practically almost any professional setting and is not limited to the automobile industry. To give another tangibly related example, we might think about an employee who has sent in a resume for a position that they are wholly qualified for. By all accounts, we could assume that this particular applicant is the best-suited candidate for the job. However, their resume is filled with grammatical errors, therefore a potential employer will overlook their application.
In the introduction to the text the importance of professional writing is emphasized because of the impression that excellent writing leaves on people. Writing is a huge form of communication, and it allows us to buy, sell, create relationships, maintain relationships, market, etc. The example in the text for the car rentals was representative of the trust issues created with a business using poor grammar making them look unprofessional. When trying to come off as trustworthy and professional, the use of clean and grammatically correct writing has a profound effect on the impression left on a consumer. If the language written in their advertisement would’ve been cleaner, the number of customers who are steered away will decrease. This is the same for any important document that is being seen or evaluated by a person of importance. Why should an employer hire a new person if their resume has multiple errors in its text. There is a fine line between informal ways of writing and flat-out incorrect grammar. The level at which someone communicates is often linked to how professional they are as a person. This is like the saying that “the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”
Two big points of this chapter are communication that can be written or spoken and taking the initiative to do well with high expectations. Communication is important because it can reflect who you are as a person, as well as your work. It can also tell a lot about us, good or bad. Having effective communication can lead to being successful and having a good reputation with others, whether that is at school or in the workplace. Written and spoken communication can help build a pathway to accomplishing something amazing. It is important to take the initiative to do well with high expectations since there are no letter grades once you get to the “real world” and your expectations are to always get an “A+” or higher, nothing lower. By taking the responsibility of your own work, you can learn to better yourself in your profession by proofreading and critiquing the grammar and spelling. Doing that can show that you care about what you are doing and that you take it seriously.
One important point I got from the introduction is that your writing is a reflection of your image. People can be very keen on detecting grammar or spelling errors, so one mishap could hurt your reputation. Reputation and who you know can arguably be the most influential factors in your career. You could be excellent at your job, but a poorly written company wide email could totally undermine your credibility. Good and effective writing skills are crucial, even where you think writing isn’t used. On page 16, it’s mentioned that engineers spend “20 to 40 percent of their work time” writing. Most people probably don’t think of engineering requiring much writing, which also goes to show how the emphasis on writing has shifted over the years. Physical, printed media has been largely replaced by digital, visual media.
Another important point is that technology cannot correct poor writing. This is especially relevant with the rise of AI. There have been many instances where Google docs tries to “correct” my spelling or grammar, but it turns out to be incorrect. Writing can be intimidating for a number of reasons, but with practice, you won’t need to rely on anything to spot mistakes. Spellcheck only looks for incorrectly spelt words, not taking into account the context/whole sentence. It’s best to learn how to comb through your writing and take note of mistakes that occur frequently rather than relying purely on imperfect technology.
Right off the bat, something I notice about the Introduction is actually towards the very beginning. The chapter mentions a common misconception that I indeed do see happen very often, and that is that learning the true basics of any subject, it is not just restricted to writing or any sort of artistic field, will not let you have a fully creative mind, and that taking an enormous amount of risks is the only way to gain knowledge that you can use to increase your creative mind. This however is not the full picture. It is important to know that you have to walk before you are able to run. You have to speak before you are able to yell. You can’t just jump into something you do not have a lot of prior knowledge about and expect to be good at it. Practice makes perfect, and learning the ropes is completely normal and will not make you seem less creative or less imaginative. Every single person working as a writer, as a technician, as a baker, as a graphic designer, as a real estate agent, everyone, had to learn the basics. I can tell you some very well known people recognized globally that came from nothing, learned the basics of their field, and have done so much good with it. It is actually shocking to learn that many school systems and other fields disagree with my view, and say that the basics are holding us back. It is important to understand the basics of anything, no matter who you are or what you do for a career, to help gain experience and knowledge about what you are doing. Everyone goes into something blind, but it is up to us to gain that experience to help push ourselves. It is important because in the grand scheme of writing and professional writing, it is how we help build our skill sets. Learning the basics is step one of crafting your resume before it even gets put to paper. Your resume, your life, your job starts the minute you take the time to learn about what you want to do, and by no circumstances, should you ever skip the basics.
This leads me to my second point from the introduction, which is that having a higher ability to write and communicate proficiently and in a timely manner will be one of your strongest skills in your academic career and in life in general. You are more likely to be hired at a company and more likely to have a higher paying salary if your writing skills are more proficient than others. It is important because it is the bulk of this class. We are all learning to write professionally, learn about technical strategies when communicating, use writing to aide in marketing and brand strategies, and it is also more practical and much more humane. To me, this is important because as someone that has been assumed to be illiterate by my handwriting not being the best, I am someone that thinks at the speed of light, and that causes me to write and even talk faster than I think. I am a very skilled writer, and I just wish people wouldn’t assume I need assistance from a computer to make that happen. I want people to learn that professional writing is not as easy as it looks, it requires patience and technicality, and you need to double-check all of your grammar and spelling, because a computer is not always going to be the most reliable thing.
One of the main lessons that we learn in this chapter is that our communication says something about us. Debating on how well you communicate, not just articulation of words, but through writing, will reflect onto you as an individual or company. Pretend you are emailing a company for a sponsorship. The loss of credibility will be prevalent if your work is riddled with grammatical errors. If you are working for a company and that said company is top-quality at their specialty, your trust could be taken away with poor writing undermining it. When communicating through a business, most of the time, you want to be persuasive. One’s first instinct is to resist that persuasion and a typo could make people give in to not purchasing.
There are no shortcuts to good writing. Spellcheck will not correct all of your errors correctly all of the time. Although it is great to run your work through a site like Grammarly, do not start to consider this a substitute for good grammar. Good grammar is important because when you start to substitute “grate” for “great” your message becomes a puzzle and readers will get a different meaning than what you originally intended.
Two points that stood out to me in this chapter are the importance of how we deliver our communication and how our writing reflects our credibility. For example, the delivery of communication represents who you are, what your marketing is, and more. When communicating in a professional or informal setting, being clear and correct with your words not only shows literacy but also awareness and reliability. These are valuable in the workplace because they show professionalism and competency as a worker. To represent the best version of ourselves, our writing should be well-written and thoughtful as communication is used in everyday life. This chapter explained that well-written texts provide confidence to those around us but can also be used persuasively. Whether that’s writing a resume, public speaking, or sending emails. The words we chose have meaning and should be used to convey our intent while demonstrating professionalism and getting the point across. The more we practice communication with proper context the easier it will become when using it frequently in the real world.
1. Writing is one of the only professions where experience allows you to build creativity rather than needing to know everything right off the bat before going into it. You can’t be a doctor without going through all the schooling and learning and the basics and important information; you can’t experiment and operate on someone and have no clue what you’re doing and learn as you go. Architects can’t randomly start designing things with no knowledge, they first need to learn the basics before they can get creative. Whereas for writing, beginners can be as creative as they want and make mistakes in the process of their creation and fix them without causing anyone any harm. Writers are free to be creative from the start and get more creative through the experience of their work.
2. Communication is a skill everyone needs to learn for work and outside of work. People need the basics of grammar and proper spelling. Sending emails, correctly words phrases in conversation, written works, etc. People used to have employees to write for them or to correct their works but now, no matter where you are whether it’s a higher or lower position, written communication will have to be written by that person even if it’s a small amount. Even though there are features now to correct spelling, it can autocorrect to being a different word which then in turn messes up the grammar and the sentence no longer makes sense. Bottom line is communication is important and everyone needs to understand the basics of grammar and spelling for effective communication.
10 thoughts on “JOURNAL # 1”
My first biggest takeaway from this chapter was that writing in proper form does not have to contradict creativity. The author explains that many schools, specifically elementary schools, have given up enforcing grammar rules with young students in favor of more creative methods of expression. The author explains that creativity and grammar can go hand in hand, as correct expression allows the writer to better get their ideas across, eliminating errors that may distract the reader from the creative message that the writer is trying to convey.
Another piece that I took away from this chapter was that while the Internet encourages more visual media than written, it also increased the need for professional writing in everyday life. Even with the general shift toward visual media online, the use of communications platforms like emails involve professional writing, which many people are unequipped for. So, while the internet has been detrimental to the integrity of writing, it has also widened its use and importance.
The two main points I want to highlight from the introduction are a. the importance of understanding the rules of English and b. not relying on spelling and grammar tools. The first point I want to emphasize is explained by the author in this quote: “Without a thorough knowledge and mastery of the rules underlying any discipline, creativity is impossible.” The author goes on to state that they believe that of all disciplines, the rules are most often ignored in English under the guise that ignoring those rules encourages creative freedom. This section of the reading made me think of Dr. Seuss — had he not understood the basics of English, he would not have been able to successfully create his own adjectives, nouns, etc. (ex: “murky-mooshy”). Having a strong understanding of language allowed Dr. Seuss to embrace creativity in his writing. The second part of the reading I want to address is that, as helpful as spelling and grammar tools are, we cannot and should not rely on them. Growing up surrounded by technology, I have used various AI writing tools, such as spellcheck and Grammarly. However, those tools have frequently suggested inaccurate changes to my writing. If someone is fully dependent on those platforms, they are prone to errors, which may be harder to catch than a more blatant human error (if they don’t have an understanding of the rules of English).
Two big points of the first chapter of the textbook are the importance of having the knowledge and ability to write with correct grammar, and how that knowledge and ability contributes to success in the professional world. The author of the textbook subscribes to the assumption that many primary education establishments no longer teach the fundamentals of English grammar, which has led to an endemic problem of Americans no longer understanding the basics of how to write with grammatical and syntactic accuracy.
The second big idea that the author communicates is why it is so important to master the fundamentals of English grammar and spelling. He posits that this is because a strong command of English grammar lends itself to credibility. Beyond this, he also communicates that grammatical mastery is important because it is among the most widely applicable, and therefore most universally useful, academic skills which we can learn to have at our disposals.
To provide a practical example of what the author is writing about, he uses an ad for a mechanic company that offers car rentals, however their advertisement is filled with grammatical errors. This example can be mapped onto practically almost any professional setting and is not limited to the automobile industry. To give another tangibly related example, we might think about an employee who has sent in a resume for a position that they are wholly qualified for. By all accounts, we could assume that this particular applicant is the best-suited candidate for the job. However, their resume is filled with grammatical errors, therefore a potential employer will overlook their application.
In the introduction to the text the importance of professional writing is emphasized because of the impression that excellent writing leaves on people. Writing is a huge form of communication, and it allows us to buy, sell, create relationships, maintain relationships, market, etc. The example in the text for the car rentals was representative of the trust issues created with a business using poor grammar making them look unprofessional. When trying to come off as trustworthy and professional, the use of clean and grammatically correct writing has a profound effect on the impression left on a consumer. If the language written in their advertisement would’ve been cleaner, the number of customers who are steered away will decrease. This is the same for any important document that is being seen or evaluated by a person of importance. Why should an employer hire a new person if their resume has multiple errors in its text. There is a fine line between informal ways of writing and flat-out incorrect grammar. The level at which someone communicates is often linked to how professional they are as a person. This is like the saying that “the way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”
Journal 1: Introduction
Two big points of this chapter are communication that can be written or spoken and taking the initiative to do well with high expectations. Communication is important because it can reflect who you are as a person, as well as your work. It can also tell a lot about us, good or bad. Having effective communication can lead to being successful and having a good reputation with others, whether that is at school or in the workplace. Written and spoken communication can help build a pathway to accomplishing something amazing. It is important to take the initiative to do well with high expectations since there are no letter grades once you get to the “real world” and your expectations are to always get an “A+” or higher, nothing lower. By taking the responsibility of your own work, you can learn to better yourself in your profession by proofreading and critiquing the grammar and spelling. Doing that can show that you care about what you are doing and that you take it seriously.
One important point I got from the introduction is that your writing is a reflection of your image. People can be very keen on detecting grammar or spelling errors, so one mishap could hurt your reputation. Reputation and who you know can arguably be the most influential factors in your career. You could be excellent at your job, but a poorly written company wide email could totally undermine your credibility. Good and effective writing skills are crucial, even where you think writing isn’t used. On page 16, it’s mentioned that engineers spend “20 to 40 percent of their work time” writing. Most people probably don’t think of engineering requiring much writing, which also goes to show how the emphasis on writing has shifted over the years. Physical, printed media has been largely replaced by digital, visual media.
Another important point is that technology cannot correct poor writing. This is especially relevant with the rise of AI. There have been many instances where Google docs tries to “correct” my spelling or grammar, but it turns out to be incorrect. Writing can be intimidating for a number of reasons, but with practice, you won’t need to rely on anything to spot mistakes. Spellcheck only looks for incorrectly spelt words, not taking into account the context/whole sentence. It’s best to learn how to comb through your writing and take note of mistakes that occur frequently rather than relying purely on imperfect technology.
Right off the bat, something I notice about the Introduction is actually towards the very beginning. The chapter mentions a common misconception that I indeed do see happen very often, and that is that learning the true basics of any subject, it is not just restricted to writing or any sort of artistic field, will not let you have a fully creative mind, and that taking an enormous amount of risks is the only way to gain knowledge that you can use to increase your creative mind. This however is not the full picture. It is important to know that you have to walk before you are able to run. You have to speak before you are able to yell. You can’t just jump into something you do not have a lot of prior knowledge about and expect to be good at it. Practice makes perfect, and learning the ropes is completely normal and will not make you seem less creative or less imaginative. Every single person working as a writer, as a technician, as a baker, as a graphic designer, as a real estate agent, everyone, had to learn the basics. I can tell you some very well known people recognized globally that came from nothing, learned the basics of their field, and have done so much good with it. It is actually shocking to learn that many school systems and other fields disagree with my view, and say that the basics are holding us back. It is important to understand the basics of anything, no matter who you are or what you do for a career, to help gain experience and knowledge about what you are doing. Everyone goes into something blind, but it is up to us to gain that experience to help push ourselves. It is important because in the grand scheme of writing and professional writing, it is how we help build our skill sets. Learning the basics is step one of crafting your resume before it even gets put to paper. Your resume, your life, your job starts the minute you take the time to learn about what you want to do, and by no circumstances, should you ever skip the basics.
This leads me to my second point from the introduction, which is that having a higher ability to write and communicate proficiently and in a timely manner will be one of your strongest skills in your academic career and in life in general. You are more likely to be hired at a company and more likely to have a higher paying salary if your writing skills are more proficient than others. It is important because it is the bulk of this class. We are all learning to write professionally, learn about technical strategies when communicating, use writing to aide in marketing and brand strategies, and it is also more practical and much more humane. To me, this is important because as someone that has been assumed to be illiterate by my handwriting not being the best, I am someone that thinks at the speed of light, and that causes me to write and even talk faster than I think. I am a very skilled writer, and I just wish people wouldn’t assume I need assistance from a computer to make that happen. I want people to learn that professional writing is not as easy as it looks, it requires patience and technicality, and you need to double-check all of your grammar and spelling, because a computer is not always going to be the most reliable thing.
One of the main lessons that we learn in this chapter is that our communication says something about us. Debating on how well you communicate, not just articulation of words, but through writing, will reflect onto you as an individual or company. Pretend you are emailing a company for a sponsorship. The loss of credibility will be prevalent if your work is riddled with grammatical errors. If you are working for a company and that said company is top-quality at their specialty, your trust could be taken away with poor writing undermining it. When communicating through a business, most of the time, you want to be persuasive. One’s first instinct is to resist that persuasion and a typo could make people give in to not purchasing.
There are no shortcuts to good writing. Spellcheck will not correct all of your errors correctly all of the time. Although it is great to run your work through a site like Grammarly, do not start to consider this a substitute for good grammar. Good grammar is important because when you start to substitute “grate” for “great” your message becomes a puzzle and readers will get a different meaning than what you originally intended.
Two points that stood out to me in this chapter are the importance of how we deliver our communication and how our writing reflects our credibility. For example, the delivery of communication represents who you are, what your marketing is, and more. When communicating in a professional or informal setting, being clear and correct with your words not only shows literacy but also awareness and reliability. These are valuable in the workplace because they show professionalism and competency as a worker. To represent the best version of ourselves, our writing should be well-written and thoughtful as communication is used in everyday life. This chapter explained that well-written texts provide confidence to those around us but can also be used persuasively. Whether that’s writing a resume, public speaking, or sending emails. The words we chose have meaning and should be used to convey our intent while demonstrating professionalism and getting the point across. The more we practice communication with proper context the easier it will become when using it frequently in the real world.
1. Writing is one of the only professions where experience allows you to build creativity rather than needing to know everything right off the bat before going into it. You can’t be a doctor without going through all the schooling and learning and the basics and important information; you can’t experiment and operate on someone and have no clue what you’re doing and learn as you go. Architects can’t randomly start designing things with no knowledge, they first need to learn the basics before they can get creative. Whereas for writing, beginners can be as creative as they want and make mistakes in the process of their creation and fix them without causing anyone any harm. Writers are free to be creative from the start and get more creative through the experience of their work.
2. Communication is a skill everyone needs to learn for work and outside of work. People need the basics of grammar and proper spelling. Sending emails, correctly words phrases in conversation, written works, etc. People used to have employees to write for them or to correct their works but now, no matter where you are whether it’s a higher or lower position, written communication will have to be written by that person even if it’s a small amount. Even though there are features now to correct spelling, it can autocorrect to being a different word which then in turn messes up the grammar and the sentence no longer makes sense. Bottom line is communication is important and everyone needs to understand the basics of grammar and spelling for effective communication.