Summary of Inventing the University

In the paper titled Inventing the University written by David Bartholomae the author speaks about the difficult situation’s a student may have during writing. Bartholomae talks about when a student was given the task of explaining the meaning of inventing the university that they struggled with trying to get a definition because they didn’t know much about the topic. The student has to learn techniques that are used by expert writers, such as a new language that we normally would not use in our day to day conversations. Bartholomae goes into showing an essay written by a freshman college student and points out many mistakes that the student has made but is commonly made by lots of basic writers such as students. One of the major differences between the two writers is being able to detect their audience, such as who is going to be reading their work. A basic writer such as the freshman is not going to be as worried as to who their audience is going to be versus an expert writer who takes the time to think out who their audience is reading their work. The problem with basic writers is that they often fail at trying to send the message clearly without even knowing it. Basic writers may think that the message in their writing is clear but to the readers it may not be. Expert writers have more experience with this problem, and they know how to convey the message and make it clearer to the reader.