Module 5: Introduction

Introduction

"Writing consists of a series of choices."
—Mike Bunn, "How to Read Like a Writer"

When you read, you are actually learning to write. Think of all the things you have read in this course (student work and published work). Everything you read exposes you to "writerly techniques," and you have the choice of adopting those techniques (or not) for use in your own writing. This module is designed to help you investigate those choices.In this course, you have focused on personal expository writing—writing about events and places from your own perspective.  You have been participating as an active reader, examining published writings to inform your own writing. The process has been about learning rhetorical modes (narration and description), analyzing examples of the rhetorical modes (reading assignments), and then leveraging what you have learned to create personal essays in the rhetorical modes (the Narrative Essay and the Descriptive Essay).