Reading and Writing: a Process

Reading and Writing: a Process
Mary Hamilton

In his introduction, Harris describes writing as an action or "social practice" as opposed to a set of rules. He divides the action of writing into five "moves." But most interestingly, he describes writing as a continuous stream of thoughts and ideas that are added to, detracted from, and shaped by people's writing. In other words, the writer takes from and contributes to other writers. "You move in tandem with or in response to others." He tends to show readers how to use texts to increase the value of their writing, taking from the stream of existing ideas and contributing to it.

Harris describes how to analyze writing by defining the writer's objective, noting keywords, or emphasizing the strengths and weaknesses of the piece. He repeatedly states that no one can read objectively. By recognizing this, the reader can use it to her or his advantage when she incorporates someone else's text into her writing.

Harris defines writing as a process or a journey, not a fixed position or stance. Reading is similar. He encourages his readers to view writing through different lenses: the writer's, the reader's, other sides of arguments. In this sense, Sullivan's definition of reading and writing and Harris' definition correlate. Both Sullivan and Harris describe reading and writing as an ever-changing process. Whereas Sullivan explains how his blog posts and the comments made on them morph and mold his writing, Harris explains how past writing morphs and molds future writers. Although blogging and academic writing are two different processes, Sullivan and Harris share the same perspective on writing.