After reading the identified chapters from the book entitled Style written by Joseph M. Williams, I am hereby identifying my personal experience and reflections and would thereby recommend that it be used, in conjunction with other equally authoritative but more recently updated sources.
Chapter 3 on Cohesion was most helpful as it provided the conceptual and theoretical framework needed for advanced writers to focus on consistency and in structuring the arrangements of arguments in a form that is most understandable. Chapters 5 and 6 were likewise relevant in terms of expounding on the subject of Cohesion. Thus, these three chapters, taken together, would be beneficial in terms of appreciating and understanding principles behind writing cohesive paragraphs, in their entirety or as a unified collaboration to the whole literary discourse. As Chapter 3 provided the basic framework for understanding the two principles needed to shape the readers’ points of views, then, its relevance could be seen in terms of recognizing the information that would most provoke or catch the attention of readers at the beginning of one’s writing: the topic and the characters.
Likewise, Chapter 5 was most appreciated in terms of the author’s ability to explain the topic and thematic strings that contribute to coherence; as well as providing guidance for locating an effective introduction to a new topic. Concurrently, Chapter 6 provided guiding principles to identify the point sentences, either at the beginning or the end of the paragraph; as well as some useful notes while writing a draft.
Finally, Chapter 7 was also deemed useful in terms of the provision of principles that would assist in writing accurate and concise discourses through guidelines and straightforward tips. The author has clearly identified complex wordiness and redundancies through vivid examples.
Thus, actually, all the assigned chapters from the book were beneficial to students who aspire to develop advanced skills in writing. Through the provision of principles, guidelines, and the use of clear examples, the author was able to illumine the readers on crucial points that need to be effectively considered when writing.
Honestly, one initially thought that the book was more verbose than needed since the author obviously used some vocabularies that could not be immediately appreciated by beginners or students who regard English as their second language. With more students in contemporary universities coming from different cultural orientations, this book could prove to be a bit difficult to digest. Otherwise, for advanced students who have had previous writing experiences and need to take advanced courses or pursue higher writing course modules to develop a more professional style in writing, as the title of the book is aptly designed, this indeed is a most helpful and beneficial source that remains true to its purpose: to provide lessons in clarity and grace.
Personal Opinion on Applications of Concepts
Given that the theoretical frameworks and guiding principles were most aptly provided in the book; the only improvement one could think of in putting them into practice is through integrating the concepts to contemporary scenarios. As one could deduce, the examples provided by Williams were particularly structured within the time context of his writing, more updated examples could be used for the greater appreciation of contemporary students. Thus, to practice on the concepts of cohesion and concision, for instance, students could be made to write based on what is commonly read from online social networking sites or internet sources and determine which require the needed revisions according to the guidelines and principles learned from these chapters.
