Taking an Approach...

Reading Harris’ “Taking an approach” was actually quite interesting to me. In rewriting, taking an approach doesn’t simply means rework others’ works or some old materials in a similar way. It focuses more on transforming or reshaping other’s opinion into your own new theories. As Harris reveals in this chapter, “When you take on the approach of another writer both of your thinking and theirs need to change…to transfer is to reshape, not to replace or rebut. The original does not go away but is remade into something new” (Harris p74). Corresponding to Harris’ discussion in rewriting before, taking an approach is the last step writers want to do in their written essay after coming to terms, forwarding and countering. By combing all the previous steps, creative artists transform the original text into news works of their own. So the approach is closely related to forwarding and countering.

In New York Times, the reports usually are reported along with different people’s opinions and statements. The reporters try to find and use different resources to illustrate the new event from different aspects. They do not change the original texts, but rework on them by adding the new things. Critics may also do what we called taking an approach for the news, because they acknowledge its influence, turn the approach on themselves and do reflexivity. As for comments, maybe they are too short to be essays; however, they can also be considered as approached taken by readers who are really concerned about the news. Actually, blog can reflect it much more clearly. Though the news and blogs may not be written in an academic style, they do include almost everything Harris mentioned in his book.

Admittedly, the works in Harris’s book are much more serious. As we can see in Harry Braverman’s example, he was struggling with his book for several years, concerning many things we would not ever think about when writing blogs, which may contribute to a difference.