Affiliation Between Direction and Writing

Looking at disciplines through a lens which is derived from the concept of “up” gives a said subject a whole new, much more interestingly amalgamated meaning with new angles to look at the topic from and connotations to investigate. One discipline the concept of up is constantly recurs in is writing, whether it be creative writing or simply scientific writing.

In class, we described the concept of up as one which exudes control, power and a sense of being finished whereas down was noted to exemplify a feeling of being subjected to control, having a loss of power, or being in an unfinished state. These unofficial definitions are reinstated by examples in writing.

How many times have you heard your science teacher tell you to make sure you complete a write up? After finishing an experiment, it is expected the scientist follow a structured write up, very clearly and completely depicting the process.

In addition to this term, a commonly known and used term is write down. In fact, Susan Sontag, a well established author, even stated, “I write when I have time to because the pressure builds up and I feel enough confidence that something has matured in my head and I can write it down!” Barbara Kingsolver also informs that when her head becomes too full of words she must to scurry to her desk  and, “start dumping them into a file!” Both examples use the concept of down whether it be the literal word or a synonym such as “dump” to explain their processes of writing (or rather brainstorming), whereas when writing is associated with the term up it has an entirely juxtaposed connotation.

Writing something up and writing something down sound similar yet have contrasting implications. For starters, one can direct their attention to the official definitions of either phrase. Dictionary.com defines the term write up as, “putting something into writing, especially in full detail,” where write down is defined as a taking, “record or note”. Hence, it is easy to assert that writing something up has a structured, detailed, finished implication whereas writing down has a more informal, unfinished, somewhat scattered undertone.

In lecture, we defined “up” as having control, power, and a more finished feeling. This can be seen in the term write up as it is definite and finished. After a lab, one writes down definite findings and procedures in very methodical means having a great deal of formality which highlights the powerful feeling we associated with “up”.

“Down” was affiliated with being of lesser status, having loss of power, or being unfinished. When you write something down it is, more likely than not, an unfinished, scattered thought you want to later remember. These jottings are quick and aren’t of much prestige as they are more reminders for the self rather than intended to be utilized for an educational purpose by an intellectual audience.

The concept of “up” and “down” are easily found in writing through the two terms writing up and writing down. “Up” or writing up is formal, complete, detailed and procedural whereas “down” or writing down is informal, unfinished, scattered, and random.