So what? Who Cares?

Great question!  love to write and I do love to read, but I never have enjoyed analyzing word for word, sentence for sentence, and why the writer did what he/she may have done. I just like to do it and enjoy it and be in "flow" when I write or read. But that is not what academic disciplines are about always, and that is okay and I am okay with that. And I am enjoying the process and learning about it, even though it is not what I am use to. So I am getting out of my comfort zone, and maybe I am just a tad bit stubborn, and I am working on it. But I do want to be a better writer and reader. I truly do enjoy analyzing things, it is one of my favorite things to do, but maybe more character analysis, but again I am learning a lot and moving out of my comfort zone, which is really great and I know I will be happier and grateful that I have done it.

This week’s article, So What? Who Cares?" answers why should I care? When we write anything we need to make it clear to the audience, why they should care about what they are reading. For example, why should I care about reading like a writer, or why should I care about the legalization or decriminalization of drugs? So how do I make people care about what I am writing? What moves could I make to as a writer to make people care about my thesis? The author writes, “ To gain greater authority as a writer, it can help to name specific people or groups who have a stake in your claims and to go into some detail about their view” (p.95).So writing about people and to the people who are invested in the argument and who are involved in the issue at hand. As a writer you want to the reader to be invested in the argument or claim, so they continue to read and feel interested in what you are attempting to tell them. The author writes, “The best way to answer such questions about the larger consequences of your claims is to appeal to something that your audience already figures to care about. Whereas the ‘who cares?’ question asks you to identify an interested person or group, the ‘so what?’ question asks you to link your argument to some larger matter that readers already deem important”(p.97). Making the argument broad and and specific at the same time, can be tricky, but it can be done. Appeal to the audience with what they already care about and tell them why they should care and how it can affect and help them personally. When you make a claim or argument personal people automatically care more, so make the claim broad enough, yet personal at the same time, so “everyone is effected by this issue, ‘even you’ and this is why you should care”.