Criticism of other's writings

I have noticed in many arguments and essay papers out there, there are many common fallacies in the arguments and claims people use. This tends to occur when there is no vast clear evidence to support their claims and they use fallacies because they sound convincing and true, when really they aren't. The logic isn't there in the writing, and often times makes the paper weaker in the end. I feel that many people suffer from this same tendency. We learn in English classes to be persuasive and use convincing language, but little stress is placed on the actual argument. So we train ourselves to argue in circles and reiterate a point in numerous different ways. I feel that with more emphasis on logic and reason we can learn to avoid fallacies in our arguments.

Criticism of my own writing

As I look back through my old essays that I have wrote for my other English classes, I notice a perpetual pattern of lack of support. I feel that I have good ideas and answer the question or topic at hand completely, but I have very few quotes to support my actual claims. I also notice that I am prone to only one way of citing quotes, which makes it harder for me to actually use quotes in my work. Also many of my sentences are overcomplicated rather than just a simple statement. In this manner I tend to lean towards fallacious arguments that sound convincing, but ultimately fall short.

Goals and Audience

I believe my audience is any writer looking for a little help with their writing abilities, or wishing to help out a fellow writer (me) with his own. I also believe that I am my own audience, and that this blog will ultimately help me fine tune my writing style and my capabilities. I will grow and learn from experiences of the many posts that will ultimately appear on this Blog. Metadiscourse is any and all things that have become small subconscious habits after numerous times of repeating the process. This word could apply to any and all facets of our lives. In the content of this post and this class, metadiscourse for writing would be the small things we do in our writings that we don't normally pay attention to, such as simple things like Capitalizing the first word of a sentence, or adding punctuations where they are necessary. It can also be applied to slightly more complex parts of writing, such as avoiding passive voice when necessary, or avoiding contractions such as don't for do not and won't for would not. Metadiscourse also delves into the way we originate our ideas for our topics, such as how we brainstorm (whether we make mind maps, do outlines, or freewrite). I hope to learn from this experience as well as train myself to be a better writer in all aspects of the writing process (brainstorming new topics, prewriting and drafting, editing and revising, and finally publishing it for an audience). One thing I have trouble doing is writing for a specific audience, rather than writing for myself. I hope to correct this, as well as many other problems that I have in my current writing styles. I hope everyone enjoys or gains something from viewing my blog, thank you and see you next time.