Joining a Conversation

Almost every day, we engage in conversations with others, from a simple hello, to long talks and debates. Understanding how to join a conversation is important because if you can provide solid information that is relevant to the conversation, then you can apply that to writing papers and books. Because writing is just like a conversation where your readers are the people you’re talking to and your writing is simply just your input on a specific topic, which is backed by the information you have heard, read, or seen.

Once you understand the basics of a conversation, you can adopt different roles in your writing, kind of like "A similar form or role-playing- and shifting- takes place in written conversations." (Palmquest, 11). This is useful to writers because it helps the writer get their opinion across to their readers, so writers usually adopt multiple roles. The six roles vary from an observer, reporter, and interpreters to evaluators, problem solvers, and advocates. The writer adopts multiple roles because everyone’s opinions are shaped from "their needs, interests, and backgrounds" (Palmquest, 13). So for one part of an issue they might be more of an advocate, and for the other part more of an evaluator. So when you think of writing as just a simple conversation, then the idea of shifting roles in your writing becomes easier to comprehend.

Writing for me is difficult, but when I think about writing as just a formal conversation that I am just writing down, it seems much easier to understand. Because if you take a step back and think about what writing is, it is really just the writer having a conversation to you about the subject of his book, except instead of him actually talking to you it’s in the form of writing. I also like Palmquest's idea of the six different roles in writing which is simply just six the different opinions and points of view you can have on a specific topic. This is much easier to understand than just telling someone to write in a different opinion because each of the roles has a specific definition of what that particular roles opinion is. So I’d like to think that I have improved as a writer because now I understand how writing is just like a conversation and also how much work it must be for writers to relate their writing to their readers because every reader opinions are different based on their past and present situation.