P9 Taking an Approach

In the most simplistic definition, Harris defines “taking an approach” as “working in the mode of another writer” (Harris 74). When taking an approach it is necessary to change the way you think, you must transform your ideas. If you don’t, you are not correctly taking an approach; you are just “applying ideas to examples.” The idea of taking an approach is applying new ideas to an existing theory, which is sort of similar to forwarding, in that you are creating new ideas. However, one way these two methods differ is that taking an approach derives from an authors writing style or sense, not just the written text.

           

            Harris describes three methods to use the styles of other writers in your own writing, they are: acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity. Acknowledging influences is pretty self-explanatory that is, recognizing authors who you’ve model for your own writing. Turning an approach on itself means asking the same questions as the original author. I interpret reflexivity to mean recognizing the mode in which you have written in.

            The idea of taking an approach is rewriting because you are using something that is already there and making it your own, just like forwarding and countering. In this example, you are taking another writer’s mode or methods of writing and practicing them in your own writing.

            I think the idea of taking an approach is visible in the New York Times and Huffington Post by the way the newspaper and websites are modeled. The editors have done research and know what works visually and want people want to read. I’m sure they have looked at past newspapers and blogs and studied why one fails and another succeeds. They take the strategies of the successful ones and apply them to their own paper in hopes that they too will succeed.