In this chapter of "They Say I Say" the author discusses the importance of including why the topic your writing about is important and why people should care in your writing. People won't give your writing the time of day if you don't give them a reason on why what you have to say is important. You can do this by including other authors who are also writing about your topic in your writing and adding to what they have to say. You can also include people who should care about your writing. For example if you're writing about a new finding in the cure for diabetes, you should probably mention what past scientists have said about diabetes. Now that you've established who should care, you have to establish why others who are not scientists should care. To do this, you must link your argument to a larger conversation. For example, if you're writing about standardized testing in public schools, you should link that topic back to how standardized testing affects students in the future.
Quote #1: "If you take it for granted that readers will some how intuit the answers to "so what?" and "who cares?" on their own, you may make your work seem less interesting than it actually is"
(Pg. 100).
I have a tendency to do this in my writing. I believe that everyone reading my work shares the same interest in the topic as I. By believing in this, I forget to mention the reasons behind talking about this topic and simply list out a bunch of facts and view points. Letting people know why they should care will make my writing more interesting and easier to understand and relate to.
Question #1: How specifically should I tell my readers why my writing is so important?
Question #2: If I don't mention who should care, will my readers lose interest?
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