Drowning In The Discourse Analysis

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11 December 2014 Drowning in the Discourse Julie Wildhaber says that “A strong, well-defined voice is the bridge between you and your audience: It helps your readers understand who you are, and it helps you engage them” (Wildhaber). For students in college, their audience will always be their professor. Along with expecting a strong voice, professors expect students, even first year students, to master and employ the many other writing skills that make up academic discourse. Most students tend to prioritize the more technical conventions of writing over the development of a distinguished and personalized voice. The conventions of college writing are very complex and if professors are more helpful and patient with first year students as they learn academic discourse, students will be better prepared for all future academic endeavors and they will have a better opportunity to strengthen and develop their voice. David Bartholomae, author of Inventing the University, is a professor who writes about the struggles that students face with transitioning into college level writing and learning to write with authority in academic discourse, all while maintaining a unique voice. I agree with Bartholomae’s views on the subject and his arguments are very valid because he speaks from the status and…show more content…
He says that much of this difficulty can be attributed to professors and the way that writing is taught to students, especially individuals who are newly entering the college setting (11). According to Bartholomae, students struggle with adapting to academic discourse and using the commonplaces of the discourse because they must be able to place themselves within the discourse rather than just imitating it, which is a hard thing to learn and an even harder thing to put into practice when most students have no previous experience with the discourse of academics
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