For the Audience

I don't agree with everything Bartholomae is saying, let me get that out there before anyone burns me at the stake, but some of the points he is making have purpose. When writing academically we must acknowledge who our audience is going to be, and speak to them. There has to be vocabulary and formatting which is generally accepted by an establishment if that establishment falls out of the realm of creativity. The questions which have been raised in order to write the paper must be answered in a full and thoughtful way, otherwise, it is not enjoyable to read. How can we deny that writing a scientific article would be much different than writing a poem?

These established principals mean that writing for academia must be inherently academic. While a writer may not have all of the tools to express an idea without having the knowledge first, the idea must be presented in a comprehensible way. One of the examples spoke of plumbers and how they could have missed a leak to which a student wrote a creative story about always needing to watch your back. It didn't answer the question, and it didn't show promise of being able to better express a solution to the problem after knowledge was acquired. This knowledge is not just isolated to academic writing either. There are many tools and strategies creative writers can use which will undoubtedly improve their writing. Very few people naturally possess the toolbox of someone who has years of postgraduate study under their belt.

However, this isn't to say that just because a writer doesn't possess the same level of knowledge means that they are "basic" (I interpret this as calling someone a bad writer). Many writers with years of education and training will never be great writers. There seems to be a dash of talent one must possess first. Perhaps not the most popular opinion, but I think there has to be a foundation to build off of or the building will never quite stand up straight.

This isn't to say that I am with the "gatekeepers". It isn't to say that I think someone with extensive education is better than someone who doesn't. I'm merely saying that we must consider our audience with any piece we intend to be read by one. We must acknowledge (and in some ways this goes hand in hand with respect) the subject matter, the audience, and clarity of ideas when we write.