Analyzing the texts “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” by Karen Rosenberg and “How to Read Like a Writer,” by Mike Bunn was an enriching experience. I began by reading Rosenberg’s text because the introduction got my attention from the very beginning and kept it throughout. Rosenberg’s style of writing felt as if I were conversing with a peer, since the tone of the author’s writing leaned towards an informal and conversive manner. The aforementioned aspect is what I really enjoyed from the writing, and it made sense that the goal of Rosenberg’s essay was to guide and advise the reader on how to achieve “rhetorical reading”- term that is defined in the essay as deliberately looking for what the role and relationship is between the writer, reader, and text. Rhetorical reading is like you are having a conversation with the writer and their text, but how can you do that? Firstly, consider the audience the writer is addressing. One may not always be the intended audience, and actually that’s ok. Although there is no need for discouragement, one must understand that there will be references unbeknownst to us as the unintended audience. Therefore, other characteristics of the text will help us achieve our desired “rhetorical reading” without giving up on the text too easily. The following are points Rosenberg mentioned to look for in the text:

• Title
• Abstract (discusses main points of the text in the beginning)
• Introduction
• Section Headings
• Conclusion

These points may seem basic, but are indeed effective. As a brief example, if you skim through the introduction and ignore most of it, you may find that you missed the content that will help you connect the structure of the article to what you’ve read. The intro is sort of like a “road map,” states Rosenberg. Well, from what I’ve discussed so far, at least one takeaway from Rosenberg’s essay was how the simple techniques to “rhetorical reading” can lead to greater understanding of what may seem to be overly complicated scholarly articles, but truly can be read and enjoyed.

This was my second look at Mike Bunn’s essay, “How to Read Like a Writer.” His method, Read Like a Writer (RLW) can be broken down into the following points:

1. Look for the author’s purpose.
2. Know who the audience is. This will help you understand why the author chose certain techniques, words, or phrases.
3. Determine the genre of the piece of writing.
4. Be well informed of your expectations for the writing. You may be expecting a published article to be a great work of art, but also remember that no writing is perfect, since we can all improve in some area of our writing. Approaching the text without expecting a monumental masterpiece, but instead asking yourself why the author chose a certain technique and why it was a good option or what might have been a better option will be greatly effective to properly employ the RLW method.
5. This is probably the most reiterated point in Bunn’s essay: look for the techniques!
6. Ask yourself what decisions the author made in their writing and why.

I boiled down what seemed to me as the main points from Bunn’s essay. A takeaway from this reading that will help me improve is asking myself why the author chose a certain technique and if I would have done the same. Interestingly, Rosenberg’s advice to read like you’re having a conversation with the text ties to Bunn’s RLW method. If you ask yourself questions about the text and writer, you’ll understand their relationship to each other and to you. Consequently, your reading will become more enjoyable and you’ll be able to get the most out of it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Rosenberg’s style of an essay and the informal tone of voice in the author’s essay was probably the best choice in order to teach the reader such reading techniques.

1. A tip I took from “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” by Karen Rosenberg is to analyze a piece I am reading such as considering things like the audience, title, introduction, etc. She mentions“ Once you understand the different parts of the text and the writers main argument, use this information to see how and where you can enter the conversation.” I sometimes forget that reading is sort of like detective work where you’re on the lookout for clues as to what the writer’s main idea is. It’s really important to pay attention to small details because they can have the biggest impact.

         A couple tips I took from “How to Read Like a Writer,” by Mike Bunn is to question why the writer wrote their piece the way they did. Asking questions like“ What if the essay began with a quote from someone else?”, can help me as a writer see if I would want to try that technique in my writing. Bunn also mentions considering what effect the writing techniques I chose  have on the reader. Like would the quote I pick help the reader have a better grasp on the topic I am writing about.

    2. Rosenberg discusses the idea of “reading academic texts as entering a conversation” to me this implies that you are able to interact with the reading and create your own position on issues that really matter to you. You can have a conversation with a text by asking yourself questions in order to have a better understanding. Talking with professors and your peers also helps you engage with the conversation.

   3. According to Bunn, different ways that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin reading is to consider the context surrounding both the assignment and the text you are reading. Bunn explains, “Knowing why the piece was written and who it’s for can help explain why the author might have made certain choices…”. Looking at things like what genre the piece your reading is from can give you background information.

Bonus: Both Bunn and Rosenberg had a mix of formal and informal speaking. I actually enjoyed the variation as the informal parts were relatable and the formal parts helped me takeaway the writing tips.

After I had read “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn and “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources” by Karen Rosenberg, I immediately noticed something in both of their writing. I noticed that both author’s used a personal story to start off each of their writings. I thought this was interesting because it made the rest of the reading feel real as I feel it gave the writing authenticity. Mike Bunn had an interesting tip which was to continue to ask yourself questions as you read like a writer. I thought this was interesting because I feel that a lot of time when I am reading, I am taking in what is being said at face value and I do not put too much thought into a deeper meaning or motive. Sometimes I will find myself asking questions such as I wonder why the author decided to use a specific word or setting to describe a scene but those times are often few and far between.

In Karen Rosenberg’s article a tip that she gave that I thought was fantastic was that it is sometimes okay to judge a book by its cover. What she meant by this was that you would be able to tell who the target audiences are based on the type of publication that article has. As I read that line I was instantly reminded of my Pysch 1101 class last semester where every week I would read 1-2 articles that were cited in the fashion that Rosenberg had described with a volume number and an issue number. Those readings were painstakingly boring but I never would have put the articles citation and who the primary audience should be. I think that I can potentially use this to my advantage when reading so I know how to prepare myself.

In regards to how can you have a conversation with a text,  I believe the Rosenberg is saying that when we read a piece of text, it is almost like having a conversation with the author, the text is the author’s thoughts and the conversation being held is the thoughts and questions of the reader. But then she goes on and talks about using the texts to open up conversation with professors and peers to get a better understanding of the work.

Bunn kept reiterating in his article that a way to get context of a text before you begin reading it would be to ask questions such as “what is the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?”, and “who is the intended audience?”.

 

Both “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” by Karen Rosenberg and “How to Read Like a Writer,” by Mike Bunn enlightened me to some tips that I could benefit from. Karen Rosenberg mentions “…the introduction will not only summarize the whole piece, present the main idea, and tell us why we should care, but it will also often offer a road map for the rest of the article.” (Rosenberg 216) Like Rosenberg, I tend to “breeze through” the introduction which usually leads to me being confused with what the main idea of the article is. Reading the introduction builds a foundation for the rest of the article. Mike Bunn says “Reading like a writer can help you understand how the process of writing is a series of making choices, and in doing so, can help you recognize important decisions you might face and techniques you might want to use when working on your own writing.” (Bunn 75) The benefit of reading like a writer can help you improve your skills as a writer. One other tip that I picked up from Bunn’s article is that asking yourself the questions “What is the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?” (Bunn 76) and “Who is the intended audience?” (Bunn 76) can help you obtain the bigger picture of an article.

When Rosenberg writes about reading academic texts as entering a conversation, to me this means that academic texts allow you to converse with your professor and peers about the article. Academic texts are not based off inspiration of the writer but by issues and problems that people relate to similarly. You can have a conversation with a text by replying to the article with your own thoughts and opinions.

Bunn talks about different ways that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin to read. Finding out who is the intended audience and author’s purpose, asking questions, and knowing the genre of the text can help gain information about an article before you begin to read.

I felt like both of the writer’s voices were laid back and informal. I liked this because it felt more personal.

After reading “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn and “Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources,” by Karen Rosenberg, I learned a lot of good information/ tips. One unique tip I learned from “How to Read Like a Writer” is to look at how the author constructed the sentence or what the author wrote to make sure I was able to picture it in my head. Taking a deeper look into the author’s decision and consequences can help me become a better writer so that I can apply that same way. Another unique tip I learned was about always asking questions, instead of focusing on the meaning behind each word, taking the chance to ask questions about the genre, intended audience, the purpose of why the author wrote it that way, language, etc, can help me look in a different perspective. Taking my time and asking myself these questions can help me include the same attributes to my writing style. A takeaway from “Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources” is to think about the audience or whoever will read your writings. Considering the audience can help strengthen your purpose and make you question what your audience should know or what’s the important information you need to explain that will help make them better understand your writing.

Rosenberg writes in several places about reading academic texts as entering a conversation, what the author means by this is that you’re understanding the information from an academic text, where it has all the answers you are probably looking for. You can have a conversation with a text by being engaged and wanting to know more. According to Bunn, some of the different ways that you can learn about the context of a text before you begin reading is by looking at who the intended audiences are and the author’s purpose.