Week One, Post Two (Synthesis & Connection)

When being taught the role that professional writing has on everyday individual's understanding of current events and issues, it becomes obvious small details and inflections that are prominent throughout one's work can have large effects on what the reader takes away from the work. For that reason, a few things must be done to guarantee that the writing being produced is the best it can be. First, writing on a daily basis, or even just 3-5 times a week has a tremendous impact on overall quality writing. The more one writes, the more comfortable they are with their writing style and familiar they become with the type of writing that they wish to improve or focus upon. Second, one must understand the importance of vocabulary, which is done in two different ways. First, one has active vocab or vocab that they use every day and are comfortable with, and passive vocab, which consists of words that can be understood in context, such as in a book, but are not on command and are not used in general writing and conversation. To become a better writer one must work to turn passive vocab into active vocab in order to gain a larger command over the language in which they are writing. Second, the other way that one must work to improve vocab for writing is through understanding the importance of a word or phrase choice. The concept of using proper and respectful terminology is delved into in the lecture written by The NO Project, which is a global education system that works to educate youth on the dangerous world of commercial sexual exploitation. In this specific lecture, they focus on the importance of understanding how word choice affects both the people reading the writing and the people being written about, and can often times give a wrong impression or give the wrong people being written about the power over the story and situation. This all boils down to one idea - oftentimes, when writing about social justice, while the story that is being written is most likely about others, the way that it is written can make or break it’s reach, message, and overall impact on society.  

The concepts behind word choice and the importance of terminology used throughout writing relates directly back to the overarching theme of justice, by vocalizing the fact that in order for true justice to come to fruition, then one must write about the issue or topic in a way that brings positive light onto the topics and actually facilitates real, productive change. Due to the fact that writing is such a significant way in which people learn about crucial issues through their communities, it is very important to have a solid grasp on how to write effectively so that it can have the impact that it is intended to have.