Good Writing

What is good writing? This question was posed last class. We were required to look over a sample student’s paper discussing the legalization of drugs and assess it. I did not want to go into the assignment nit-picking at every misspelled word and trivial mistakes. However after reading through the entire paper, despite the syntax and spelling errors, the last paragraph (in my opinion) could have constituted as “good writing.”

Consider a paper with good syntax, without grammatical errors, etc. Now compare it to a paper with misspelled words subject verb disagreement, but this paper is concise, cogent, and answers the prompt with supporting evidence. Which of the two should be considered good writing? Are both of them good examples or just one paper superior?

In essence I cannot really say which paper is “good writing.” To me (as far as grading) the teacher determines if something is good writing, after all they administer the grade. Although in terms of the academe peers, superiors, audiences, and critics alike have different opinions.

So in my opinion, despite the cosmetics (spelling and other things), if writing that can convey the author’s message/ opinion/ point to the reader is good writing. Rarely, is the author of the writing present to be asked questions. If the reader can clearly understand the writing then it can constitute as “good writing.”