Delaney Worrix
Johnathan Maxey
English 1001
10, February 2020
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.
I believe this article is to inform. It is to inform professors and young writers to become better at what they do by giving them tips and helpful hints on how to improve their writing. The message in the text is not very clear, you have to pick and choose from the text to figure out the actual message made out. The author is wanting young writers to become successful with their writing but also wants to help by giving out tips on how to become successful. I believe the audience intended for this would be college students and college professors.
The problems addressed in the article is that students don’t know really what they are doing when they are writing. They kind of just get an assignment and do the assignments as they are told. Bartholomae gives out tips on how they can progress as writers such as expanding their vocabulary and their writing styles. Some of the key moments in the text is when Bartholomae talks about giving the students advice on how they can improve their writing habits. He also gives out some writing exercises that the students can do to help improve to meet their goals as a writer but also to have the readers understand the context as well.
I believe the structure the author used for this article is classical. The audience is getting something they need from the author, the author is very direct and gets to the point. The information the author is giving to the audience is helping them succeeded to become a better writer by giving out helpful tips and exercises they can do. I would say the authors tone in this article is academic. The tone is somewhat hard to understand the writing just because its different from what we are used to hearing in our everyday readings. The wordings used in the article differs from our normal vocabulary. The vocabulary is hard to understand because It’s not what we are normally using in our everyday conversations.
I believe Bartholomae is using ethos. I think it is ethos because he is gaining credibility by showing us examples of students writing and is reviewing it in an academic manor. Bartholomae also brings in other authors such as Linda Flower and Aristotle to back up the information that he is giving out. By bringing some of these other authors in he is proving that he is not the only one with these theories. Bartholomae is using these authors to provide facts and detailed examples that will be supporting his claims that are being stated in the text. One of the detailed examples that Bartholomae uses is the student essays, he shows how students misinterpret the phrase inventing the university. Then he goes on to show how the students can correct their writing.
From analyzing this article for serval weeks my overall thoughts on it are pretty good. From reading this article over and over it has taught me a few things. One thing it has taught me is to pay close attention to who my audience is going to be while I am writing, also it has taught me to widen my vocabulary while writing. I believe this article was very informational and gave out some good tips to professors and students. The only thing I disliked about this article is how hard it was to understand some of the language used in it because it was written more for professors rather than students, also it was published about forty years ago and since then our style of writing and vocabulary has changed juristically.
This related to me because I am just starting out in college writing and don’t have much experience. This article really showed me some great tips on how to improve on my writing skills and the language I use to write papers. It has opened my eyes up and showed me that I really need to keep in mind on who my audience is going to be as I am writing out my papers. In my course work I plan on using some of the exercises that Bartholomae has provided in the text.
Works Cited Page
Bartholomae, David. “Inventing the University.” Writing on the Margins, 2005, pp. 60–85., doi:10.1007/978-1-4039-8439-5_4.
Delaneys Writing English 1001 
Introduction:
¨ Summary
1.) Yes, the opening sentence provides a clear indication of the author’s name and the title of the text being reviewed. She begins her sentence off with who is writing what piece.
2.) The first paragraph contains a summary of “Inventing the University”.
3.) Yes, the author refrains from personal opinions about the text in the introductory paragraph. The author mentioned Bartholomae’s purpose and main points. Mentioning his name more in the text would have made it a bit clearer.
4.) The final sentence of the introductory paragraph contained a thesis that clearly explains what content will discussed in the essay.
5.) The summary is very clear to understand and gets straight to the point. It gives an idea of what “Inventing the University” is about.
Body:
¨ Purpose/Audience
1.) The first paragraph examines the purpose of “Inventing the University”. It explains why he is writing the article and what can be accomplished after the article is read.
2.) The author examines the audience of the article. There is enough detail to understand who the audience is.
3.) There are a couple small grammatical errors. Otherwise, it is good.
¨ Content Analysis
1.) The second paragraph highlights that Bartholomae offered tips and advice so that students can better their writing. More details can be added.
2.) Examples can be added of what advice and exercises Bartholomae offered in the article in specific. Maybe even add what were some of the things that students were doing wrong in their writing before being taught how to do it properly.
3.) It is good work but could use a few examples and quotes/in-text citations.
¨ Organization, Language, and Style
1.) The organization is examined in the third paragraph. Describe where it is apparent that structure is academic.
2.) The tone and vocabulary are examined within the third paragraph. Show an example of how the tone is difficult to understand.
3.) The author included what kind of language is being used
4.) Show an example of how the tone is difficult to understand. Add what style is used.
¨ Evidence
1.) Evidence is shown in the writing.
2.) The author mentions another author’s opinion that proves his purpose.
3.) Citations, examples, and quotes can be added.
¨ Close Examination (Bartholomae)
1.) The fifth paragraph examines the conclusion.
2.) More evidence can be provided such as in-text citation.
Conclusion
1.) The author showed in their conclusion how it related to them and how the tips can help them as a student.
2.) It is clearly explained how “Inventing the University” can be applied to their future coursework. They plan to use the exercises Bartholomae provided to improve writing skills and language used.
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