Allyn & Bacon Summary 1-3

I was assigned to read the first 3 chapters in a book titled The Allyn & Bacon Guide To Writing.  As you can imagine by the exciting title, this book is not exactly something I would read in my spare time.  Despite the fact that I had difficulty keeping my eyes open while reading, I did manage to learn a thing or two that will hopefully help me with my future papers I will have to write.  Apart from the basics of writing, and all that boring stuff, there were a few things that stood out to me.  The first of which was a quote that can be found on page 5 of the book. The quote read said that good writers are "question askers and problem posers."  This concept really stood out because I always thought of writing as a way of answering questions or solving problems.  After thinking about this statement I realized that every good writing I have read left me wondering.  I think that the idea of leaving the reader intrigued and wondering is something that I would much like to accomplish in my own works of writings. This is something that I probably need a lot of work on but I feel like it is definitely necessary in every piece of good writing so I need to focus on doing so.  The book then goes on to talk about developing a good thesis statement which I know sounds like loads of fun but despite how I felt about reading the text, I again read something that stood out to me.  "An essay's thesis statement is actually the writer's answer to the writer's question."(p12)  This is something I had never thought of before and something that I, and everyone writing a paper, should keep in mind when writing.  Other than the whole question posing idea the main thing I feel I need to keep in mind when writing is purpose. I need to think hard about what I am trying to say and how I can best express that without being confusing.  Thinking about the audience, genre, and angle of vision (the books words for point of view) are also important but  I feel confident that if I can pose a good question or two and really focus on my purpose then my writing will greatly improve. Hopefully you as a reader will see the changes in my writing as well.