There’s difference of when one writes with a sense of authority over a topic vs. when one doesn’t. When one feels comfortable in a topic they’re providing insight on, they sound confident being able to provide real examples based on their topic. They can express their own ideas among others and as well as provide opinions, countering and challenging others. They are knowledgable, however in contrast to those who encounter topic without authority it is the opposite. They rely on defining the subject, telling and explaining others ideas, without being able to provide much standard insight of their own into the conversation. Writing without authority is just relaying standard, general information.
When observing the difference between Roger and Janet, this was an example of someone who holds authority vs someone who doesn’t. From just looking at the introductions of their works alone, Janet had relied on defining the topic first thing, while Roger had described a scenario, that could be an example to define the topic. The comfort and authority Roger holds in the topic as well as holding his credentials in the subject matter, he was able to directly start with an example. Confident enough to even use as introduction. In contrast, as Janet had a more general “standard” intro, she did what most who don’t hold much prior knowledge to a topic, and define it.
Holding authority over your subject matter is very important in order to provide insightful knowledgable information. As it could be assumed that if the topic Janet was writing about was of her particular interest, she would have been able to display the same sense of confidence entering the topic as Roger did.
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