The problem I want to look at is whether writing a text message and composing an academic writing are really that different. These are not two topics I have ever thought about together, but it poses and interesting research topic. I have also found that it has been a topic recently looked into and researched so that will make it a little easier for me. This interests me because I know not very many people text and think that maybe it helps their academic writing or that is has anything to do with it at all. I’ve certainly never considered it so I’m curious to see what I will find.
So the question I would like to explore is “what is the difference in composing a text and composing an academic writing?” Is there a difference? Does texting somehow actually have a way of helping us when it comes to writing academically? These are all questions I wonder about and want to look at. It could be a problem because professors/teachers look at texting in class as a disturbance or anytime for that matter because now- a-day’s people do it so much. People often wonder why the younger generation is constantly texting and often thinks it takes up too much of our time. To a certain extent I could see how texting could actually be helpful to academic writing.
I’m not very far along in research though I have started finding several sources. I think I have a decent plan on how to research this question. I think that recording myself texting and then observing it and comparing it is the best plan of action. I do not have a thesis statement yet but I expect to discover that although there are differences there are also so similarities to composing a text and composing an academic writing. I also expect to find that texting probably in some way helps us when it comes to the process of writing for school.
Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 301-04. Print.
In this article Lamott discusses shitty first drafts. She explains how people think that good writer’s just sit down and the words flow out of them. Then she goes on to tell us that’s not how it works, everyone must have a first draft that’s really not that great. She talks about her first drafts and how she’s scared someone will find it before she can fix it. Even though Lamott types shitty drafts, she goes back and edits and makes a good second draft then maybe a terrific third. This article helps me realize that it’s ok for your first draft to suck, just sit down and take the time to go back and make it better. This article will be helpful to me because I always type several drafts of a paper and sometimes I even go back and re-word or re-write a text message to sound better.
LMK, IDK: Texting Is Writing, Researcher Says.” PhysOrg.com. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.physorg.com/news203267108.html>.
In this little article Jeff Grabill does a study on first year writing student’s asking them “is texting writing?” A majority of them said yes, texting is writing. Jeff himself agrees and makes the point that this generation is one that actually writes the most out of all the others, between texting and internet websites such as facebook and twitter. A lot of our generation also write things such as poetry and songs in their free time. This source will be useful in getting me started with forming arguments for my paper even though it’s not very long or detailed. I think this article is biased because his opinion agrees with the research he’s doing but I also think its objective considering he took a survey of what the college students thought. This source will help me start to form arguments and it makes my opinion that texting is writing a little stronger.
MacGregor, Neil. “Writing and Texting.” » GoQ : Home of WordQ SpeakQ : Word Prediction, Spoken Feedback & Speech Recognition Software. GoQ Blog, 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.goqsoftware.com/uncategorized/writing-and-texting/>.
This blog will also be a good starting point for my research and ties along with Jeff Grabills research. Neil MacGregor makes the point that basically texting isn’t going away anytime soon so we might as well get used to it. Texting may have started out as a small form of communication, but now all some people do is text. It is writing it’s just a different form of writing. Neil also has some great analogies that I could possibly stick in my paper. This will help with my research and the goal of this blog is just to offer a view to this issue I wouldn’t say that it is biased even though it makes some valid points. This blog also strengthens my opinion a little more that texting is writing.
Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 191-215. Print.
Perl’s main argument in this article is that to date all of the writing process research has been done is on average writers and hasn’t included unskilled writers. So if it hasn’t been done on all types of writers how will it really help? So Perl conducts her own research on unskilled writers. She makes up a code, observes the unskilled writers during the process more than once, and then analyzes the data. This source will be useful because I want to observe myself writing, so it gives me some idea of how to go about doing that. I think Perl is being objective because even though she’s only studying unskilled writers, she’s doing it because other researchers studied what they call ‘average’ writers. This will definitely help with the research aspect of this project.
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