Dear Future Students,

Welcome to my theory of writing! I believe writing relies on one’s personal experiences and knowledge more than formal construction of composition. This means focusing more globally on the content of papers than deep dissection of grammatical mistakes. What I am far more interested in is finding overall patterns of error and working to correct those each round of every assignment.

Personally, this theory of writing comes from writing (and reading) always being a source of survival for me as a student, and I know it will be for some of you as well. What made me want to pursue writing — particularly creative writing — more actively were specific teachers I had along my academic career; their fervor for the craft and dedication to my writing has been the biggest contribution to my theory of the craft. These teachers did this by creating writing assignments that my classmates and I could identify and connect with rather than something large and vague, like a general research paper. Particularly, I remember my freshmen composition adjunct, Paul X. Rutz, coming up with assignments to drive these points home, such as having us create products we’d use in our present-day lives. Doing so helped build that learning connection. Therefore, I will be working to incorporate your personal interests to drive the very vehicle that can help instill composition craft knowledge that can then be used in other academic circles and in your post-college jobs.

In most professions, content takes precedent over grammar or other formalities of composition. This is because for so many career people, personal experience and expression surpass the formal rules when it comes to daily writing. Those formal conventions can be learned and memorized in a relatively short period of time, but conveying yourself clearly takes more time and can connect you more with the art of writing itself. Here lies why I believe this theory of writing will be most beneficial to you.

Most of this theory is what pushed me in my first years of college to produce and want to learn. And you should know, this theory is rather flexible; it can be applied to any writing situation. It’s essential to exorcising the truest expression within a person and then continue by crafting the language and grammar from there. If you have any more questions about my theory, please reach out to me through email or during office hours.

All the best,

KRISTINE ESSER SLENTZ