Writing Essay: The Importance Of Writing

📌Category: Education, Learning, Writing
📌Words: 579
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 21 January 2022

Reading and writing are art forms as old as history. Learning to read words on paper and then copying down the letters is the most elementary skill, but its importance cannot be underestimated. It is the start of the roadmap to becoming successful. A thriving society is one that is literate, and this is true for many reasons. An educated thinker can contribute to the marketplace of ideas, allowing for the most substantial thoughts to be valued highest. Subjecting one's writing to scrutiny and debate allows for the development of higher levels of critical thought for both parties. It is for this reason that post-secondary schools tend to favor teaching writing over reading. However, trying to write without further building one's reading ability can have dire consequences. It is essential that reading and writing are taught in tandem because it allows for each skill to build and reinforce the other. Reading allows a watchful student to spot familiar tropes in good writing and apply them to their works. When faced with a genre unknown to a fledgling college student, the best step towards comprehension is to read works from authors more experienced in that writing style.

When starting college, students are often introduced to topics and genres of writing that they have never consumed before. Therefore, if a professor were to assign a writing project on a foreign subject, it could leave behind a student body that feels incapable of completing it. Without a reference of what high-level writing should look like, it is natural for one not to know where to start. As stated by Ellen C. Carillo, author of Bad Ideas about Writing, "what is often neglected in these public debates about the best way to teach literacy at the college level is that reading and writing are connected practices and, as such, the best way to teach them is together. It is a bad idea to continue privileging writing at the expense of reading" (Carillo 38). Writing allows for the expression of the literate mind. It gives the writer unbounded freedom to express their ideas and gives home to words that otherwise would be left unspoken. However, the sanctuary of literacy is not guaranteed in each given populace. It requires a foundation built upon years of studying literature to truly capture the essence of what it means to be a writer.

Some argue that leisurely reading a book in one's spare time requires less intensive thought than writing. There is some weight to these claims, as reading can be done quickly without comprehension. Reading requires less critical thought upfront but can still be challenging. This is especially true if the material is scholarly or on a topic unfamiliar to the reader. To claim reading to be inessential for an educated mind would be akin to saying a pilot need not go through training to fly in the airlines. While reading can be done leisurely, it also allows a writer to become more proficient. A writer who cannot read is like a carpenter without tools, a surgeon without a scalpel, a house with no foundation. Reading is how a writer learns more robust vocabulary, sentence structure, and overall writing composition.

Reading is the garden where a true writer finds the seeds to create their own works. The importance of reading for a successful college student and a successful person cannot be understated. It gives a new student the confidence to know that they are capable of any writing assignment they are given, and therefore reading is the greatest asset to one willing to learn from it.

Works Cited

Carillo, Ellen C. “You Can Learn to Write in General.” Bad Ideas about Writing, edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries, 2017, pp. 38-43.

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