Why do we write?


We write every day. I do. I know you do. But why do we write?

Writing to communicate–or what James Britton calls “transactional writing”–means writing to accomplish something, to inform, instruct, or persuade. . . . Writing to learn is different. We write to ourselves as well as talk with others to objectify our perceptions of reality; the primary function of this “expressive” language is not to communicate, but to order and represent experience to our own understanding. In this sense language provides us with a unique way of knowing and becomes a tool for discovering, for shaping meaning, and for reaching understanding. Fulwiler and Young,Language Connections: Writing and Reading across the Curriculum


But there is a practical and powerful reason for us to write. Writing is one of the very practical ways we develop our thinking. We learn when we write and we learn how to write well, when we do it every day.The writing project has been established to help you become a better learner, clearer thinker and stronger writer.  

6 thoughts on “Why do we write?

  1. In my opinion, writing is an efficient method to practise expressing an individual’s personal emotions. By writing, one can explore how to put their ideas together before saying them, hence vastly improve one’s verbal communication skills.

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  2. Writing can be a good way to express someone's emotion. It shows a personal idea from someone to an issue. Writing is always a good method for communication and sharing feeling with others to explore more ideas.

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  3. I agree with Boris’ idea. Also, in my opinion, writing can help us to refresh our memories, and keep things in record. Like reading diaries to help us to remember all the silly things we have done in our childhood.

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  4. We can understand the topics more deeply and develop our thinking when we are writing. Also, leaning the writing skills really helps with our studies in every subject.

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  5. The reason makes me write is because it is also a task that we have to finish on time. I never think it is my own wish to write every article. But I agree that writing can improve our skills and show our opinions to others. and in order to write well, I think we should do it everyday and it has nothing bad for our study.

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