In a section of Naming What We Know titled “Writing Is a Social and Rhetorical Activity”, Kevin Roozen asserts that writing is not an activity performed as an individual. Roozen provides evidence for this by explaining two main points about writing.
Roozen’s first point is that writing is always purposeful and carries a message that intends to address the needs of a specific audience. Writers always want to have a reason for communicating and a connection to the receiver, and having a connection justifies the purpose of the writer’s message and helps make the message clear.
Roozen’s second point is that writing is always connected to and influenced by other people. One’s perception of the world is a product of all the ideas and experiences that they are exposed to from others by reading, listening, and so on. All the development of knowledge and innovation on writing from the past leads up to the present moment of writing. Roozen closes his article by explaining how understanding these two fundamental truths of writing will help us learn to be more effective communicators. We can consider our audiences and purposes and grasp the reality of our social connection with the world at large.
Kevin Roozen says “Writers are engaged in the work of making meaning for particular audiences and purposes, and writers are always connected to other people.” Because writing inextricably involves other people in a communicative relationship, that also means that we have to make ethical decisions on what kind of readers and writers we are. Making ethical choices is not to imply that writers can necessarily be judged on the quality of their morals and ethics by their work, but that they can be on the human values and virtues presented in how they communicate.
Writing and reading, like real-life relationships, is a two-way street that requires trust and clear communication on both ends to work. As such, we all have ethical responsibilities to connect with one another and be the best possible writers and readers we can. This way, we will be the most receptive to each other’s thoughts and feelings and learn from each other.
Three ethical responsibilities we have as writers:
- Be honest
- Be accurate
- Be fair
Writing should reflect the truth so readers can trust what you have to say and rely on you to communicate real ideas. In presentation, the writer should be appearing to express their authentic self so their text does not come off as deceitful or fake. In order to be honest, writers should check that what they are saying is accurate and acknowledge other perspectives to prove they are truthful.
Accuracy goes in hand with honesty, as it is essential for absolute clarity and specificity in what is being conveyed. This will keep the reader’s interest and help them fully understand what is being said. The reader should be able to walk along your thought process and get where you are coming from. Accuracy shows effort and that your ideas are worth consideration.
Fairness also lends to honesty and accuracy. It gives the reader a balanced and wide, less biased perspective to consider everything. Everyone can make their own opinionated claims, but this gives them further reason to believe in the validity of your writing and the greater context it lies in.
All of these qualities keep the reader engaged with your writing in a healthy way, where they are interested in considering your ideas and conversing with them openly.
Three ethical responsibilities we have as readers:
- Be open minded
- Be respectful
- Be considerate
Both the writer’s and reader’s ethical responsibilities all connect and feed into each other. Open-mindedness is an important part of the relationship to meet the writer halfway. The reader must be open in order to learn new perspectives that they can attain value from and to engage with the written material on its level. Just as the writer should be respectful to the reader, the reader should also be respectful to maintain a balanced relationship. To be disrespectful is to close oneself off to the conversation and taint it.
Being considerate means that the reader is intently taking in the writer’s work and understanding and extrapolating it on a deep level, which feeds into the conversation and strengthens the value being pulled from it. Being attentive and giving a fair assessment is necessary for accurately interacting with it.
By following our ethical responsibilities in both our roles of writing and reading, the writer’s message will be considered seriously and given thoughtful feedback, and the reader will actively engage with the ideas being conveyed and get something out of their consumption. This feedback loop will continue our Great Conversation and make us healthily learn and grow as a people.
