Good and Bad Writing

The distinction between good and bad writing is more than just a matter of subjective preference. There are objective standards that are applied to judge whether prose is good or bad, or at least effective and ineffective. Our assessment of prose follows two tracks: content and style.

The content of the prose needs to be informed and accurate. It needs to avoid "truisms" that are self-evident claims requiring no explanation. The content needs to be reasonably original and the writer needs to have something worthwhile to say about the topic.

How the writer expresses his/her opinion is a matter of style. Certainly grammatical accuracy, correct spelling, and word usage are important aspects of style. If the reader can't follow your meaning because of poor use of the language, your prose is ineffective. Even so, style is more than correct usage. Some experts express style as a matter of using the "right words in the right place." This awareness of what is "right" grows from exposure to a wide range of writing styles, knowledge and use of rhetorical devices (e.g., metaphor, simile), and careful study of objective rules and principles. John Ciardi writes that a student's awareness of what constitutes good and bad writing in their reading and their own writing will unfold at something like the same rate. Such is our goal in this first unit.

Follow the links to Seven Types of Bad Writing and review the principles. Next, follow the links to Samples of Good & Bad Writing (note that there are 3 separate examples of bad writing although they are not clearly labelled so).

On your response blog, explain why the samples are labelled "good" and "bad" using the criteria from Seven Types of Bad Writing. To what extent is the concept of audience the most decisive and difficult factor in the assessment of good and bad writing?