Great Course - Analysis and Critique

I just finished another excellent "Great Course."  The title:

Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write about Anything

Taught By Professor Dorsey Armstrong, Purdue University [Ph.D., Duke University]

Please take note of the full title of the course.  If the course did not have its subtitle, I would not have looked twice at it.  I would have seen "Analysis and Critique" and figured "I don't want to learn how to analyze; I don't want to learn to be a critic; I want to learn how to write better."

The subtitle is the key, and the subtitle does an excellent job of advertising what you will get from this course.

While laying the foundation by classifying writing into five major genres -- poetry, drama, prose, essay and autobiography -- Dr. Armstrong shows us how aspects of each of these genres can be helpful as we write anything from a college application essay to a letter to the editor to an obituary.   More directly to the point for me, I could easily see how to apply these lessons to writing blogs, fiction and even game scenarios.  Furthermore, the lessons motivated me to do actual writing, which is a big step for most of us who believe we could be writers, if only we got started.

What did I learn?  What lessons does Dr. Armstrong deliver?  Many.  Here are a couple of the big ones.

One of the most important lessons I got from this first time through the course -- oh, yes, I expect to listen to it again -- is the emphasis on understanding who your audience will be and writing with an intent to affect that audience.  As soon as I heard the first lecture which mentioned this idea, I started writing differently.  While I have certainly "considered the audience" before, these lectures helped me focus more keenly on the tone I should take to be more effective -- whether I am trying to persuade, to educate or to entertain.  The lectures also pointed out that I too frequently focus on myself and my own feelings toward a topic.  Admittedly, much of what I write these days might be classified as "personal essay."  In that subgenre, personal reflection is important.  But more important in holding an audience's attention, is to ensure that the words I write will affect that audience.

Another key set of lectures dealt with the actual process of writing -- from getting started to researching to editing.  Again, as soon as I heard them, my writing changed.  My next blog for work was decidedly better than it otherwise would have been.  I can state this pretty categorically, because I had written the piece, but had not sent it for publication.  I knew the Great Course was about to teach me something new, so I wrote the blog, then set it aside to revise after a few lectures. I wanted to see the effects.  They were dramatic.

I hope I can keep the lessons learned from this course in my head for future writing.  I intend to.  However, as I mentioned, I am already planning to listen to the course again -- probably this autumn -- to help inspire me to continue to write, as well as to help me solidify this knowledge.