instructor: Jentery Sayers ~ classroom: smi 309 & ougl 101 ~ TTh: 9:30-11:20

Questions for Writers

As you write in English 121, ask yourself:

• What are my motives for writing?  That is, what am I trying to achieve and how do I expect the text I am writing to help me achieve it? 
• In what ways and how have I met my expectations for what I am trying to achieve? 
• What do readers expect from a writer of the text I am writing?  How do I want to be “invented” by my readers?  Does the writer I project match the one readers expect?  Why or why not?  What cues identify me or make me “visible” to my readers? 
• Who do I expect will read the text I am writing and for what purposes?  Have I given my readers what they need and expect?  How or why not? 
• What roles have I created for my audience?  What cues do I give my readers to help them adopt those roles? 
• What relationship have I created between me as a writer and my readers?
• What questions do I want readers to ask of my text?  How do I get them to ask the questions I consider important? 
• What conventions (level of formality, simple or complex sentences, specialized vocabulary, kinds of words, style, citations system, and so on) do writers of the sort of text that I am writing usually use?  In what ways does my text match these conventions?  If it does not match certain conventions, why doesn’t it?  And how do I help readers accept my text? 

The text on this page is based upon a handout by Anis Bawarshi, University of Washington Dept. of English.

   uw english | jentery at u.washington.edu