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Analysis Of How To Read Like A Writer By Mike Bunn

772 Words4 Pages

In “How to Read Like a Writer,” the author Mike Bunn gives various suggestions to help first-year English college students become better at writing their own works by examining texts by other writers.

Bunn opens this article by telling a story about his time spent at a loud, dark, and noisy theater in London. He mentions that he would read in the back of the theatre through the loud sounds on stage, which caused him to put some thought into the way he was reading. He would have to read step-by-step and reread sections of his book because of the constant interruptions. Bunn then pointed out that reading in a piece-by-piece type of mindset can be beneficial to the way that students choose to write (71-72).

In each section of this article, Bunn poses a question as the header of the section and answers that question within the body paragraph. Firstly, Bunn defines reading like a writer as looking deeper into a text and finding out what can be identified and adopted into a student writer’s own works. Bunn suggests that the purpose of reading like a writer …show more content…

This allows them to better understand what they are reading and how it can help on their journey of becoming better at reading like a writer. In the first section, Bunn uses quotes from his former students on the topic of effective reading and reading like a writer. Many students mentioned context (76). Bunn and his students suggest that understanding the purpose and audience of a writing gives readers a better understanding of what they are reading and helps them decide if they should take tips from that writing. Next, Bunn speaks on the importance of understanding when writing is appropriate and/or effective while reading. Acknowledging this helps writers know when to adopt certain styles. Formality, intended audience, and subject matter are just a few of the aspects that readers should question

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