RESPONSE TO WILL

"When writing a serious paper, a reader should not see what the writer is feeling by visuals. Instead, the writer should paint a picture with words."

I understand what Will is saying here, and I do agree with the argument he is making: good writing shows the reader what the writer is trying to convey, not tells. Being too vague with words is boring to read and creates a certain kind of disconnect between the reader and the moment or feeling that they are reading about; it is far more powerful to transport them to the event or to make them feel the emotion for themselves. However, I do not agree that writers shouldn't include visuals, as this is very much a part of "showing, not telling." I also feel that visuals are an important part of metaphors, which are incredibly successful at conveying feelings.

"The more professional a paper looks, the easier it is to follow because the reader is less distracted by color or font or how the paper is formatted. Society has set these rules and by not following them, one can become outcast and less accepted."

I find it true that professionalism and creativity do not always necessarily go hand in hand (though of course, sometimes they do). Everything has an appropriate outlet for its use, and quite often creative elements such as color choices or image use seem inappropriate when applied to academic writing. Hot pink cursive font against a pitch black background may be bold, but does not necessarily create a sense of seriousness when used for a carefully researched paper. Tempering too much with stylistic elements can seem childish and therefore diminishes the credibility of the work. The simplicity of the MLA format, while perhaps not as visually amusing as a Kandinsky painting, does possess a certain kind of beauty in its ability to allow the reader to see only the words on the page; questions like "why is the word 'sunrise' green? Do 'green' and 'sunrise' mean something together?" seem trivial and don't help the writer convey any illusive meaning. Academic writing can do without bells and whistles; good writing is simply good writing. A writer's creativity should be gauged by the strength of their work, and just that.