Reading and Writing Without Authority - Essay Example

The article of Penrose and Geisler entitled Reading and Writing Without Authority was about two individuals with different learning curves. The article illustrated that learning is not merely about the acquisition of knowledge and information but rather the understanding and development of such information and knowledge perpetually to make it a workable and useful to the beholder. This was illustrated in the two individual in the article, one is Roger, a doctorate student who is well verse in ethics and one is Janet, a freshman student who just started college.

Their compositions were compared and analyzed and the research revealed different learning patterns. A student develops writing with authority when he or she is already confident of the ability to process, analyze and dissect the text that is being read. Getting information through reading is not enough as attested in the method of Janet’s writing (known as information-transfer model) because it can sometimes conflict with the claim of the author especially if the information were not well understood.

I have to admit that I suffer the same predicament just like Janet’s. When I do a research, or even a simple paper, I just throw in information and data that I think is relevant in the paper without really appreciating what the texts are trying to say. This goes with class discussion where I blurt some information about a subject matter. I guess ever student has been through this awkward stage and eventually overcame it with efforts. I know that this kind of learning is not effective because my claims are sometimes conflicting not to mention that it can be logically unsound.

It is also susceptible to mistake and error. I have an idea what the author is trying to say about really understanding the subject of a research. There are subjects (video games for example), although unrelated to school curricula that I am confident with that I can write or talk about them with authority. The process of really understanding it is appreciating what the subject is really all about. Sometimes reading between the lines and being mindful of subtleties. This can work with academic writing.

Instead of merely getting information and throwing it in the paper, it would be better to understand and appreciate what the texts are really trying to say and enjoy it in the process. After the initial write, it would also be effective to check whether my claims are consistent after giving it a sleep and reading it anew with a fresher mind. I find this approach very effective because I see mistakes that I was not able to see before (perhaps I was tired already that my eyes and brain got lazy).

When I fully understand it, I can then put it in the paper the way I understood it and it would appear in the writing. Ideas will flow smoothly without awkward transitions not to mention that the final result of my composition reads great. I will also practice so that I can write just like Roger’s in Reading and Writing Without Authority.