Read and Remix Blog #3: Bedford Book of Genres Chapter 5

Being in an honors ENC 2135 class my first semester of college has been my greatest insecurity in regards to academics. I love reading, for pleasure, but have always struggled with my writing skills. Whether it be creating grammatically fluent sentences that rival those of my peers, or supporting my arguments and claims with specific quotations from books and pieces we’ve discussed in class, I nearly always doubt my writing, which I think stems from my lack of passion about most of my past work, or on the contrary, my desire to write so much that it lacks clear focus on one strong topic. Reading chapter 5 of the Bedford Book of Genres has truly carved a path for me to take on my future writing endeavors. It stressed doing some research on a broad range of topics, and narrowing it down from there based on what you are most passionate about writing and which topics present the most sources to reference in your text. While these suggestions may seem simple, the various ways in which the book presented examples and strategies really emphasized that combining good background research with specific examples to support your ideas is the key to success. Another helpful tip proposed in the book was to create short drafts of thoughts and ideas about each potential topic, which reminded me of our first blog response to “Shitty First Drafts.” Having seen this tip mentioned multiple times, including in class last week, it has already proven extremely beneficial in many of the courses I am taking. This chapter of Bedford Book of Genres has cleared a path that will relieve my doubts about my writing abilities and encourage successful, engaging writing skills that I can apply to my future writing endeavors.