Talking Fish

A picture of talking fish relating to my title.

Stanley Fish writes an article about what first year college writing classes should teach. He believes that it should be a narrowly focused class whose sole purpose is to teach how to create proper sentences. Be that as it may, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I do agree that focus on how to properly create sentences can really strengthen a persons writing. But on the other hand I'm not so sure that sentences are the only thing that strengthens ones writing. Personally I believe there are many things that go into creating a great paper, however, the most important concept is that of organization. Organization is key to the success of a paper because it allows for fluidity and structure with in your writing, it creates a focus on your claim, as well as having well-structured and placed sentences that properly build on to one’s paper. Now Fish states that a lot of writing skills should be covered in high school but aren't. I disagree I think that for the most part high schools are doing a good job teaching the basics to writing skills; but that's just it they just teach the basics. So I believe that teachers should spend more time on teaching students on the specifics of organization within each persons writing.

First off, being able to create good sentences is important to know how to do but you also need to be ale to move between them so that they flow well together by organizing your information. When creating a paper, or any type of writing really, it is important that you transition between sentences in order to keep the attention of your reader. Because if what you are saying does not line up with each other it can confuse your reader and force them to think harder upon the meaning of your work is.

Second, it doesn't matter how well written your sentences are if they don't relate to the topic on hand. If all of your information does not relate back to your thesis, then there is no point in even writing it in the first place.

And finally, structuring your paper well and placing your information well is probably the most important aspect to organization. If you jump around in your writing your reader will get lost in whatever your trying to get across and lose interest in reading your work. You should structure your information in a way that is recognizable and makes sense such as an introduction, body, and conclusion.


Photo of a faucet explained in paragraph 5.

The photo to the right represents the organization of a paper. Similar to this faucet a paper has several parts to it. This faucet has several knobs to it and must be turned on correctly in the right order to allow for the water to flow through; much like how a paper has many points to it and they must be well written and put in the right order to create a flow throughout your paper.

So saying that sentences are the only thing that first year writing college professors should teach is definitely not the way to go. There is so much more to writing than just well written sentences. Now is that important, sure it is but there is so much more to learn that is all so important that focusing an entire semester on just sentences is just wasteful.