Socelor – Science of Writing

What makes the Socelor method so effective

What is the science behind our claims to be able to improve your writing ability? We don’t do things like other entities. As our students have said – prepare for different. What we do is founded on solid science which is why we can be so certain that your writing will improve.

So, what is it that we rely on? There is an effect that has been reported in the learning literature: The Audience Effect. The way that Socelor uses the audience effect is made up of two components.

The audience effect is basically that the audience that you are writing for makes a significant difference in how well you write. When you are writing for an audience of peers, your writing takes on a much different quality.

When students write for grades, the typical situation is writing for a single person to make an evaluation. Students get used to receiving a grade within a particular range and that is how things go.

Often, in an effort to boost grades on written work, students will enroll in a writing skills class. Although this will help with grammar and (occasionally) style, neither of these things, necessarily effects writing ability. Remember, grammar is about language, it is not language itself.

Writing ability is broader than either style or rules. The leading portrait painter of his day, John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925) said about painters: “The conventionalities of portrait painting are only tolerable in one who is a good painter — if he is only a good portrait painter he is nobody. Try to become a painter first and then apply your knowledge to a special branch — but do not begin by learning what is required for a special branch, or you will become a mannerist.” The same can be said about writing. Learning to write for academia is a specific style. Learn to write, and then learn to write for academia.

The way we use the audience effect at Socelor is to draw on the power of active social interaction while providing a method to use your imitation drive to improve.

When individuals are out of step with where they want to be when compared to others, the urge to catch up, or fit in, is activated. There are areas of the brain associated with this urge. The first is heightened activity in the rostral cingulate zone, an area of the brain associated with feelings of discomfort until activation is reduced. The second area is depressed activity in the nucleus acumbens, one of the brain’s reward centers. As a result, when we see ourselves as being out of step with others, we find ourselves feeling a bit uncomfortable. With the Socleor method of improving your writing abilities, you will find that you will work to reduce the feelings of slight discomfort by matching the standard of writing that is expected by a group. A powerful force that changes behaviours, including writing ability.The other aspect to improving your writing is our instinctual abilities to imitate. There are those who would claim that imitation is unique to humans. This has been found to be untrue, but the drive to imitate is orders of magnitude more powerful in humans than in any other animals. Some think that the power to imitate is the basis of society itself. The creativity needed to realize, design, and assemble something as complicated as a bow and arrow is immense. However, the ability to copy (imitate) that method to hunt for food is one of the hallmarks of being human. No other animal imitates to the extent that we do. From art and music to sports and engineering, imitation lies at the heart of who we are.

At Socelor, we provide a model of learning that combines the force of active social learning and the opportunity of peer imitation to massively improve your writing ability. Something that to my knowledge, is not available anywhere else.

Come see for yourself at Socelor.com. You won’t be sorry.