Thlog 9

This week Zack really helped us with our WP 3s. I was pretty confused when I first read the assignment and when I started to brainstorm, but the work that we did this week really helped me see my way through it. I had a lot of trouble coming up with ideas for my translations and when Zack showed us the examples on Monday it really helped get my mind on the right track.

I believe that the peer review was incredibly helpful and that I noticed quite a few weak points in my analysis and translations. The feedback that I received was insightful and allowed me to see my own work through another pair of eyes. I was told where things were unclear and where I needed to fix some stuff up, but I was also told where I was doing well. Such as in my TV analysis my peers thought that it was not quite there, but they thought the live-tweet was pretty good. I thought about my approach to each one and realized that I just need to go about each translation in the same manner, by looking at examples. To do this I watched a few more TV intros and I think I was able to really improve my work as a whole. I also heavily edited my self-analysis to make it more clear what I was saying and to incorporate more of the course readings. As always I got excellent feedback and was able to really improve my WP as a whole.

WP3 - Translations

Description Of Article

Mike Bunn’s Motivation and Connection: Teaching Reading (and Writing) in the Composition Classroom is all about how to motivate students to write. He basically places the blame on the instructor, writing that creating motivation starts from the beginning of the writing process - with the initial reading of the prompt and course readings. The truth is that most students do not enjoy the writing process, but that at a college level students value the ability to write and realize that it is an essential skill in life. So it is easier to motivate college students, but to further motivate them you have to give them an incentive to write from the very beginning. One way to motivate writers is to make explicit connections between the readings and the writing prompts. Bunn explains that it’s important to think about your own writing style while reading the writing prompt to write more effectively. The best way to read is to think about the techniques the writer is using and how you can apply that to your own writing as well as reading the text as an example of how you should be writing. Bunn claims that reading is one of the best ways to improve your writing, but only if the reading is directly applicable to what it is you are writing about. All in all the best way to motivate students to write is to get them interested in what they are reading and then give assignments that directly draw from that reading.

Self-Analysis

For my piece intended for a younger audience I decided to do something similar to an episode recap at the beginning of a TV show, such as in The Walking Dead the narrator begins with “Previously on The Walking Dead” and then shows scenes from previous episodes. The way that I came up with this was actually through doing some procrastination and watching some TV. I had it in the back of my head that I still needed to come up the ideas for my genre transformation and as I was watching the show The Walking Dead and listening to the intro I thought that I could use the intro to a TV show as my transformation for a younger audience. I figured that a lot of young people watch more TV than people who are older and don’t have as much time to watch TV. To make it applicable to my target audience, someone who is younger than me, I decided it would be a good idea to make the TV show an educational show about writing that airs on PBS.

The way that I went about doing translating the article, is I treated the article as if it was a TV show and I recapped some early concepts in the article as if they were presented last week or earlier on the TV show. The show is titled Motivation and Connection and is played on PBS and is an educational TV show about how to be motivated about writing. It is intended for kids middle school to high school age who want to improve their writing skills (or kids whose parents are forcing them to watch so they can learn to be a better writer).

I think that some of the main conventions and moves of this genre are to orient the viewer/listener so that if they missed something from the last segment or previous week that they can still feel caught up; since it is educational and not suspenseful I think that it is important to give a brief overview of what the current episode will go over just to introduce the audience to the concepts; emphasis of certain words/phrases; and not being overly wordy to the point where I could lose the audience’s attention. To do this I covered the “appropriate and effective” aspects of the article (Bunn, 90). Some of these topics were the ideas Bunn had to motivate students, the research that he conducted, and how to think about the writing process while reading the prompt. While the original purpose of the article was to inform teachers, I adjusted the wording and put it in a way that it would be relatable to students. To do this I had to really think about Bunn’s initial purpose as an author and think about how I could transform that purpose without transforming the information (Bunn, 91).

For my older audience I chose to create a fake live-tweet from a teaching convention that I have dubbed teacher con. I thought of this after I saw a series of ESPN live-tweets of a basketball game. The person whose account I will be tweeting from is Luke Johnson, your average-Joe teacher who is just totally stoked to learn about writing. In fact, he’s so stoked that he thinks he needs to share his favorite presenter, Mike Bunn, with anyone who wasn’t able to attend the conference. I decided that the presentation would be 45 minutes long with Luke tweeting about every 3-5 minutes so that there would be some time for him to actually listen to what the presenter has to say in between tweets. I attempted to get down the main points of the article through the tweets and I figured that I would throw in a general comment every now and then like when he tweeted “only FIVE minutes left…” to make him seem more human.

This was actually a very easy genre to translate to. Tweets tend to be very short and to-the-point because of the 140 character limit, which in some cases made it difficult to fit everything I had to say into one tweet. For this genre I payed attention to my rhetoric and how it would create my tone, because as Janey Boyd puts it how you use rhetoric creates your tone (Boyd, 72). Rhetoric was especially important to attend to in this piece because each tweet is so short that each word carries more impact than if each tweet was an entire paragraph. Some of the conventions I tried to follow were the unwarranted use of hashtags in just about every tweet; adding a timestamp to each tweet to give the reader a sense of the order of how everything went down; in many instances skipping out on certain diction choices and writing in incomplete sentences; that rhetoric is what helped create the casual, but informative tone of the tweets (Boyd, 72).

In each of these pieces I followed Richard Straub’s advice to making a mental checklist of what I was searching for before I even began reading. This made it much easier to follow the prompt because I thought about things like what “the writer [wanted] to accomplish” and then was able to put it into a whole new genre, but still accomplish the writer’s original goals (Straub, 59). While Straub was referring to responding to a peer’s writing it was still applicable in this situation, because I had to find what Bunn’s purpose in the article was to translate it well into a new genre. In writing each piece I did my best to be aware of all the influences going into my writing, whether it be from the tone of the genre I used, the diction, or the format; each one affects how a reader/listener interprets the message I, as a writer, was sending them (Losh, 6). I believe that this in turn helped the framing and overall composition of my piece I had to pay much attention to how I was going to “show” the information to my audience in a different way than Bunn had (Losh, 14).

TV Intro

Previously on Motivation and Connection with Mike Bunn... Mike told us all about how students see writing as a chore, but that it is a necessary skill to learn. Writing is a “necessary evil” to reach your goals in life. While you might not enjoy writing very much or the writing classes that you are in, you will enjoy the benefits of being a great writer. Last week’s guest-host Dana Driscoll told us that writing is a lifelong skill that you will always be working on. That’s right folks, writing isn’t something you’ll just be working on in school. It’s going to stick with you for the rest of your life, so pay attention!

Mike explained to us that one of the most important ways in which you learn and engage in the writing process is how you listen to your teacher; you need to be engaged in the material, not just the subject. By doing this you will make yourself a better writer!

Mike also told us how readers construct reading by bringing their past experiences with them. This led into how reading is like an unspoken conversation between the reader and the writer. Meaning on the page and meaning in your mind interact with each other as you read to create a new, shared meaning. We called this “negotiated meaning.” To make that more relatable to you youngsters think about how your perception of a park is affected by your memories or lack of memories at that park.

Today Mike is going to explain connection between the reading and writing process, the good things that will come of knowing this connection, and how to look at example texts and mold your writing to be like the examples you see.

Live Tweet

“This is Luke Johnson signing on to live-tweet Mike Bunn @ #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 2:50 PM

“T-minus 5 minutes until Bunn takes the stage #stoked #writing #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 2:55 PM

“Tune in now for updates on Bunn’s presentation 3:00-3:45 #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 2:59 PM

“And here is ladies and gentlemen pic.twitter.com/H9cm4q893NFa #Bunn #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:01 PM

“Bunn tells it how it is ‘college students see writing courses as a chore’ #brilliant #Teachercon2016“ 2/28/16 3:03 PM

“Just because students aren’t enjoying writing doesn’t mean they don’t value it says Bunn #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:09 PM

“Bunn blames teachers for not engaging students in reading/writing process ‘motivate them to read in our classes’ #deep #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:11 PM

“‘It’s not always the case that good readers are good writers it’s our job as teachers to show them the way #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:19 PM

“The best way to teach a reading/writing connection is to make explicit connections between assigned reading and writing assignments #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:24 PM

“Halfway done and I already feel like I’ve gained a lot from this brilliant man @mikebunn #beast #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:25 PM

“Last 15 minutes if you’re just tuning in now! #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:30 PM

“Bunn says it’s important to teach students to read prompts ‘with an eye toward their own writing’ #neverthoughtofthat #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:32 PM

(this tweet is in response to the one above)

“@writerluke 82% of students agree that this helps improve their writing #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:33 PM

“Model teacher Tawnya gives writing assignments with #dualpurpose reading for techniques and reading the text as an example #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:38 PM

“there is an ‘apparent need for instructors to teach reading-writing connections’ if we want to improve the writing of our youth #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:40 PM

“Only FIVE minutes left, tune in now if you want to hear @mikebunn closing and conclusion! #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:40 PM

“to increase student success in reading and writing you have to #motivate them #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:43 PM

“Reading improves writing make sure that you are #teaching in a way that you are #motivating students to read and write well #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:45 PM

“Such a wonderful speech! So many insightful comments and suggestions! Can’t wait to see what's in store for the rest of #Teachercon2016” 2/28/16 3:47

“@writerluke signing off now. Glad I could share my experience with all my beautiful followers #Teachercon2016”

Works Cited

Boyd, Janet. "Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)." Goleta, CA: SB Printer, 2016. 64-77. Print.

Bunn, Mike. "How To Read Like A Writer." Goleta, CA: SB Printer, 2016. 80-94. Print.

Losh, Eliabeth. "Spaces For Writing." Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. Ed. Jonathan Alexander. Goleta, CA: SB Printer, 2016. 4-15. Print.

Straub, Richard. "Responding - Really Responding - to Other Students' Writing." Goleta, CA: SB Printer, 2016. 58-62. Print.

Thlog 8

This week really helped me understand how to go about writing WP3. When we read the assignment I felt totally confused and had no idea where to go with the prompt, but after this past week I realized I just had to sit down and really think about what genres people use. After brainstorming for a while and with the push from class I was able to come up with two really good ideas to use for the project and I think that the words will just flow out. I think this project is the most important one in learning how to write in genres, because the last few writing projects we have simply been picking apart what makes genres. For this project we are actually writing in a new genre, which takes a true talent to be able to dissect a genre and be able to write in it.

I think that by learning what conventions create genre my writing has improved all around, I have even noticed that my writing has greatly improved this quarter in my other classes that I have had to write essays for. While this class may not have been the most enjoyable (simply because writing is not that fun) I have truly learned a lot about how to be a better writer. This week's exercises really helped me notice that because as Zack was asking the journal questions I was able to get out some long, full answers, whereas at the beginning of the quarter I was having trouble being able to jot down just one sentence. Now I feel as if I can express my ideas more fully and clearly to a reader. I am actively thinking about how a reader will be interpreting my writing, how each decision I make affects tone, credibility, clarity, etc…, and how to tie every paragraph to my thesis statement.

PB 3A

For my writing project I will be translating Mike Bunn’s Motivation and Connection: Teaching Reading (and Writing) In the Composition Classroom into two different genres. One genre will be something that is viewed by a younger audience than myself and one that is viewed by an older audience than myself. For the genre that is viewed by someone who is younger than myself I am going to write the opening script to a television show. For example at the beginning of an episode the narrator says “Previously on The Walking Dead…” but instead I will be writing as if the show is educational show for younger children on PBS or a similar channel. I will begin with “Previously on Motivation and Connection with Mike Bunn, we discussed how most students believe that writing is one of the most essential skills to learn, that writing is a lifelong skill that takes practice…” I will write 2-3 of these depending on how long each one turns out. I will not only go over what was previously covered on the fictitious show, but also give a short preview of what to expect in the new show; for example: “Today you will be learning about how teaching practices affect writing, how readers construct reading…” In each of the openings I will cover some of the main concepts of the article and attempt to do so in a simple and understandable manner, since it is intended for a younger audience.

As for the piece that is going to be read by someone who is older than myself I plan to do a live-tweet as if Mike Bunn is reading this essay at a teaching conference. I will compose several tweets that will cover most of the main points of the article. I will begin with something like “Only 15 more minutes until Bunn takes the stage! #Teachercon2016” and continue in such a manner until Bunn has actually arrived on stage. Then I will make fake tweets as if he is reading a speech for instance “Bunn says students believe writing is important but don’t like it so teachers have to make it more interesting #Brilliant #Teachercon2016” I will do all of this and still stay within the 140 character limit of twitter, even if I have to chain responses to get a full thought out. As of right now, I am not sure how many tweets I will compose because I am not sure how much information I can fit into just 140 characters. I plan on using conventions from each of these genres such as the opening of the TV show starting with “Previously on…” and foreshadowing; as well as hashtags and emoticons in tweets.

The TV show opening I believe is a good example of something someone younger than me would see because kids are always watching TV and an educational program about writing is something that a strict parent might force their child to watch to improve his/her writing. The live tweet works well for an audience older than myself because even though Twitter is mainly used by the millennial generation the people typically looking at live-tweets from something like teachercon would be teachers older than me (especially because I am still a student). I plan on using each of these to display how I can pick apart multiple genres and apply the concepts of this class to not only dissecting, but creating genre as well.

Thlog 7

I think the peer review this week improved my WP2 in a major way. Before the review I thought that my paper was just about finished, but afterwards I realized that there were some major revisions that needed to be made. Such as including more detail on my sources, having a more present argument in all of my paragraphs, and based on my feedback it was unclear where and what my thesis was. After receiving that feedback I was able to go back and restructure my argument without very much work. Just adding a sentence here and there to make my argument clearer to the reader and deleting a few redundant sentences to prevent the reader from getting sidetracked. I believe that all of this greatly improved my writing and I think that this version of peer reviewing was much more effective than the last time around. I was able to ask questions about aspects that I was unsure of, but also got feedback on aspects that I thought were fine but really weren’t. By having such a diverse amount of feedback I was able to improve my project much more than I was able to after the last peer review.

Thlog 6

This week we took a look at what it is that makes a move. I think doing that really helped me identify my own moves and exactly what my intentions are behind them. Now that I am consciously thinking about the moves that I am making in my writing and how they add to the work as a whole I think that I am more effectively using these moves. Such as instead of using “says” to quote a writer using another adjective like writes, proves, or states. This is a move to be more articulate and by consciously thinking about that move instead of just writing away in the future I will be able to come up with a more descriptive word than just “says.”

Another useful tip that Zach gave us this week was how to effectively use hedged language. Hedged language allows you to make generalizations that may not completely support your argument, but cover you if what you are saying is only speculation. Like writing “Conner is happy when he plays video games” as opposed to “Conner seems to be happy when he plays video games.” This is going to be especially useful in WP 2 because we will be analyzing an article that could be from a social science which tend to theorize about what people think, and when stating what people think it is important to use hedges because you could always be wrong.

PB 2B

Every author makes “moves” to get their point across. Moves are devices that either keep the reader engaged or present information in a clear, concise manner. By “reading like a writer” it is easy to notice the moves a writer makes as you read and you can even name them. Some moves are more common among writers, and others are unique to certain writers.

• “Introducing Standardized Views:” Bringing a standardized view into your writing to bring extra credibility to your argument. By introducing an idea the reader that they are already familiar with, and hopefully accept, you force them to entertain your argument. Mike Bunn consistently uses standardized views to do this in Reading Like a Writer to increase the strength of his argument. For example, when he writes “instead of reading for content or to better understand the ideas in writing…” he is stating a pretty standard view on how most students read assigned text. By stating this commonly held way of reading Bunn is contrasting it to his way of reading and attempting to tell the reader why his way is better.
• “Making What They Say Something You Say:” When you take something someone else has said and make it part of your argument to create validity. When you make someone else’s words into your own you are using their argument to strengthen your own. Such as when Bunn puts in examples of his students writing and uses that as support for his main argument. For Instance, in one of the student’s quotations she writes “how did the writer get me to feel…” Bunn goes on to talk tell ways to look for what devices and moves a writer uses to make a reader feel.
• “Capturing Authorial Action:” A move that writers use to emphasize or point out a move that an author has made. Bunn utilizes this move by using a quotations; in one instance, “see the choices the writer has made… how the writer has coped with the consequences of those choices…” Bunn captures the actions the author uses and you cannot only easily relay them to your reader, but you can also learn to develop those actions into your own arguments.
• “Introducing Quotations:” Gives credibility to your argument. Using a quotation is like saying “Here is someone who is published and has the same argument/opinion as me.” By using quotations you show your reader that not only are you knowledgeable and have researched your topic but that there is validity to what you are saying because someone who has been published has voiced the same argument/opinion as you. Bunn uses this move often by quoting student responses/essays that support his ideas.
• “Explaining Quotations:” This normally directly follows a quotation. By explaining a quotation you are giving your reader a more understandable interpretation of that quote. Sometimes quotations include a lot of heavy information so by explaining what that all means you can make it more understandable to your reader and in doing so also tie the quote into your argument. Bunn does this after every student quotation he uses; he presents a quote and then uses points the quote brings up as his argument or to build upon it.
• “Bullets:” The use of bullets to display important information. Bunn uses bullet points to separate his more important ideas from the main text. As an illustration, in one of the bullets Bunn writes “do you know the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?” in another he writes, “Do you know who the intended audience is for this piece of writing?” These are some of the main points throughout Bunn’s article and he emphasizes them by separating them from the main text.
• “Headers:” Bunn gives each of his sections headers that are in bold such as “What are some questions to ask before you start reading?” or “Why learn to read like a writer?” By using a header Bunn is showing his reader what to look for in his own writing. This gives the reader a sense of direction and prevents them from being distracted by the less important aspects of each section.
• “Relatable Sources:” In Bunn’s article he uses quotations from other students to create familiarity and understanding to his article. By using student quotations Bunn is presenting the information in a way that is relatable to his audience. When using this move it is important to take into account context, because it would be inappropriate to use a student quote in a research essay because a student is not credible to a professor.
• “Reader Shoutout:” In the article Bunn consistently calls the reader “you” and by doing so makes you, the reader, familiar with him. This move makes the writing seem almost like a conversation and sets an easygoing tone. This move is effective especially in Bunn’s article because he is trying to reach out to an easygoing college student who is probably taking a mandatory writing class, and he wants to maintain their interest.
• “Personal Anecdote:” This is another technique to relate to the reader. Bunn begins the article with a short story about how he learned what it meant to “read like a writer.” He begins by writing that he was a “recent college graduate” and goes on to tell his experience. This is an obvious effort to relate to the reader, since the intended audience is college students. By using this move of relating to the audience you can bring a sense of closeness or even friendliness with your reader and hopefully earn their attention.

Thlog 5

This week was all about moves. What is a move exactly? It’s a technique or trick that someone repeats, whether it’s MJ making a move to the hoop or Janet Boyd addressing the reader as “you.” Some of my moves are: I usually find a way to state the main idea of my first two or three paragraphs into my thesis; I try to work in quotes in a way that it flows with the sentence; I like to use semicolons when bringing up an example; and I tend to insert important vocabulary words and phrases when I can, but not so much that it becomes repetitive. These are some of the “moves” I make when I am writing. I make a conscious decision to make these “moves” because I think that it strengthens my writing. Moves are what makes my writing unique to myself and separates me from other writers, and I make my argument by using specific moves whether it is a research essay or a writing project. Obviously I use different moves in each of those pieces of writing because I am writing for a different purpose. Context determines what moves I use; for example, I can address you, the reader, with the phrase “you,” but in a research essay I would never use the word “you,” instead I would write “one” or “someone.” In a sense writing in different contexts requires different moves to create the tone of your writing.

Thlog 4

This week was all about self-editing. It really helped me notice where my paper needed improvement, especially the highlighting and poem exercises. Where the highlighting exercises allowed me to see how I threaded my argument the poem exercise allowed me to see where my sentences were weak and where they were strong and if I needed to restructure them how to do so. In the highlighting exercise I was really able to notice where my argument was lacking either due to poor textual evidence, poor support from the articles, or poor commentary. When I reviewed my highlighted paper I was able to bring in new textual evidence and support from the articles themselves. By doing this I was able to strengthen the overall argument of my paper not only because I had reworded some sentences but because I had brought in more support and evidence to actually prove what I was saying. The poem exercise was equally helpful. I went home and broke up each paragraph in the same way we had in class and was able to see which sentences were lacking, where sentences need to be moved around, or where I needed to add a sentence or two to make my argument more conclusive and understandable to a reader. I think that by doing these exercises and extending I was able to improve my writing a lot. I look forward to applying these concepts to PB2A and seeing how my writing improves as the class goes on.

PB2A

Rhetoric is the use of language and how it enhances speech and writing. We all employ rhetoric in our everyday lives; talking to your friends you will use slang, in section for a major specific class you will use jagons specific to that class, or even the actual diction you use in your speech. An academic research paper will make use of different rhetorical devices than an email that you send to your TA. The rhetorical devices that you use will determine the flow of your writing and either strengthen or detract from your argument.

In a publication by The Journal of Business Communication about how large-group writing occurs there are rhetorical devices that can be noticed right off the bat, such as tone, diction, and a thesis. Each of these serves its own purpose and builds upon the other rhetorical devices employed to establish how the article is written. The writer establishes a serious tone by starting off with to-the-point information. The intro, or abstract, to the piece is simply a description of the research methods used with no “fluff” inserted to add length or create an air of sophistication. The first sentence orients the reader and after that jumps right into a description of the study, “This study is based on a five-year ethnographic study…” This tone continues after the abstract as the writer explains what he is studying. Once again there is no added fluff and he uses language that strictly lies within the constricts of academic writing, which brings up the next important rhetorical device: diction.

Diction is one of the most important rhetorical devices that a writer has in his arsenal. Everything spoken or written has diction, and it is diction that determines tone and clarity. To establish this academic tone the writer chooses powerful diction with word choices like “process-focused management” or “many credit checks were conducted.” In each of those instances the writer could have changed his diction to sound more colloquial. In the first instance he could have written “on-task management” or “competent management;” in the second scenario the writer could have written “credit checks were made” or “there was a credit check on all customers.” By using less colloquial diction the writer was paying attention to who his audience would be: an academic. This knowledge of the audience influences a writer’s decision making whether it be with diction, how he creates his tone, or a thesis statement.

Another important rhetorical device present in any kind of academic writing is the thesis statement. In an academic setting a thesis is more than likely the most important aspect of one’s writing. The thesis is what the writer centers his argument around, in this case the writer’s thesis is posed as a question of whether or not groups tasked with writing together will follow the functional group perspective model of communication. The thesis is normally restated in a sense in the conclusion, in the case of an academic journal where the thesis is a question rather than a statement the thesis is answered in the conclusion and its tendrils can be noticed throughout the piece. In this case the writer states that architecture, or how each group structured their work (another example of diction choice), had a great impact on how the teams were able to complete their work. The way the thesis works in this piece is by presenting a question the writer thinks needs to be answered, then written account of how he answered that question, and finally what his findings from the research performed were and an answer to his original thesis question.

One conveys meaning through rhetoric whether it is academically or personally. Some of the most important rhetorical devices are tone, diction, and a thesis. It is easy to tell that these are so essential because they are present in almost every form of language there is. When you have an argument with your friend you choose a specific tone to reach them, you use diction to display you are learned on the topic, and you have a thesis that you are trying to argue for or against. When you write a paper the tone you choose changes how your audience reads the paper, the diction influences how intelligent your reader perceives you to be, and your thesis is a brief summation of your argument. Without the use of these devices one cannot argue, or write coherently.

Thlog 3

So I guess I’m a little late getting to this thlog, Zack was right about the “Thlogging Thursdays” it’s definitely a good way to make sure you get your thlog done on time. Last week we read about how to peer review writing. Some of the main points were to not only praise the writer, but also to provide helpful constructive criticism. The way to do this is to take a step back as a reader and think about what is effective and what isn’t about what you are reading. You want to make note of what is working by underlining certain phrases and commenting something like “I really like how you used textual evidence to back up your claims.” At the same time you also want to point out the less effective parts of the paper and to do that you might comment something like “That is a fair point, but I think you need textual evidence to back up that claim and validate it.” The best way to peer review is to clearly state what isn’t working and why it isn’t working, but also to point out when something is working very well.

We spent a lot of time in class working on the writing process and what it takes to get your paper out of your brain and onto a document. I concluded that the best way to write is to first outline all of the ideas that you want to write about with no particular order. I then categorize those ideas into similarities and that is what I will form my paragraphs out of. Then from those fragmented ideas I begin to write out full sentences that follow a train of thought. After writing one or two paragraphs like this I take a look at what I have written and the rest of my outline and see where I am going to take my writing. I then write my introduction with a thesis that reflects the main idea of what I want to say. After that I finish writing the rest of my paper then go back and begin the revision process.

Thlog 2

So this week we started off by reading “So What? Who Cares?” which was an in depth explanation of how to keep a reader interested in your writing. The author tells us to question ourselves as we are writing, this questioning of your own writing will develop clarity in your paper. It is especially relevant to our first project, WP 1, in which we must choose a genre and dissect it. By asking questions of yourself such as so what? or who cares? it creates a sense  of direction - you are asking yourself why you are writing and by doing that you can better relate to your reader. By describing the so what aspect in writing you are telling the reader why the information is pertinent and keep the reader’s attention. When answering the who cares question you are telling the reader the actual relevance of your writing and its application in the real world. By asking yourself so what and who cares as you write or as you revise you will create a more cohesive work and keep the reader’s interest longer.

This week we also spent time on argumentation. With the example of listing off the best restaurants in IV it became apparent that to correctly argue you must include as many specific facts as possible. This is because the things that are actually going to sway people’s opinions the most are facts and appealing to logos. To summarize, the most effective argument will include all kinds of specific details and facts which give the reader/listener a reason to listen to what you are saying and you may actually end up changing someone’s opinion.

PB 1B

An excellent way to understand genre is by using a “plug’ ‘n ‘chug” genre generator. These generators are great way to identify the conventions of a genre. By using a genre generator I was able to pick out the conventions of comic strips, memes, computer science research essays, and political rhetoric. By using a genre generator I was able to see many different versions of each of these genres and establish certain recurring conventions within each genre.

An interesting and entertaining genre is the comic strip which in itself is incredibly unique from other genre’s. Some of the more obvious conventions are comic bubbles, easy-to-read font, and their hand-drawn appearance. The purpose of the comic bubbles is to display what the characters are thinking or saying, a thought will often be in italics and in a differently shaped bubble than that of the non-italicized speech. Without comic bubbles the reader would have no way of knowing what was going on in the comic besides what the pictures depicted. An easy-to-read font makes a comic seem more approachable because the most common comic reader is either reading them out of boredom or during breakfast. The appearance that comic strips are hand-drawn adds to the leisurely look of them. A few of the less obvious comic strip conventions are; the use of exaggerated facial expressions to show emotion or the simplistic three segment plot-line. Comic strips often use exaggerated facial expressions to show emotion since the speech bubbles often carry little dialogue, so the facial expressions are used to show the reader what emotion(s) the character is feeling. Comic strips tend to follow an uncomplicated three-segment plot line; this plot-line is made up of an opening, a punch line, and a conclusion. In this comic strip each panel represents one of these three segments. While the comic strip may seem like a simpler genre than others it’s roots and conventions are complex and require understanding to write a good comic strip.

Memes are a modern day genre that most everyone sees every day, but have you ever thought about what goes into making a meme? Just like any other genre it has conventions that apply to most of its pieces. Some of these conventions are the requirement of pop-culture knowledge, the inclusion of irony, and many have depictions of animals. Most memes are poking fun at something in modern popular culture such as this meme of Chuck Norris which plays on the overused joke that Chuck Norris is the greatest human being that ever lived. Pop culture memes can range anywhere from Chuck Norris jokes to making fun of Steve Harvey for announcing the wrong Ms. Universe winner. Many memes also include irony which is a common theme in comedy, most people enjoy a good dose of irony in their memes. Another recurring theme in memes is animals, many memes use animals as their main subject to gerner attention. The depiction of animals can range from an upset looking cat like Grumpy Cat to a koala eating eucalyptus with it’s jaw dropped.

A genre that we all probably have a lot of experience with is research essays. Research essays are different than the previous two genres because they have a much stricter set of conventions that they must conform to since they are academic. A few of the conventions of a research essay are the inclusion of an abstract, a reference list, statistical evidence that supports the claims of the essay, and a conclusion of the ideas and facts presented in the essay. The purpose of the abstract is to orient the reader on what they are about to read and to state the intent of the research presented in the essay. The reference list, which always appears at the end of the essay, is a mere formality so that whomever is reading may research the legitimacy of what has been written in the essay. Statistical support is arguably the most important factor of any research essay, because without that evidence there is no way to confirm the declarations that the essay makes. Without statistical evidence a research essay is simply an unproven theory. All of these factors are parts of a research essay, but research essays are unique in that all of these are actually required to write a research paper. For example if one turned in a research essay with no reference list the professor would more than likely consider it cheating and plagiarism since one would be using other’s work as the basis for their argument.

A genre that we should all be familiar with going into election season is political rhetoric. Politicians use rhetoric to sway voters opinions and state their own views. Some recurring conventions in political speeches are claims of what they will do after taking office, attacks on political opponents, and vows to protect the American Dream. One thing many political candidates will do to earn votes is to make claims of what they will do after taking office to make this country a better or safer place. For example Donald Trump plans to build a wall between the United States and Mexico to keep out immigrants after he is elected (which hopefully will never happen). Politicians will often attack their opponents and challenge their views that they differ on, this is to isolate the two candidates and force the voter to make a decision between the two. Often times the candidate performing the attack will place the other in a negative light. Something that every major political candidate will do at some point in their career is to profess that they are protecting the American Dream. They do this by promising to create more jobs, lower taxes, raise minimum wage, or anything else that they think will impress voters. Political rhetoric is a very interesting form of speech to break down and look at why candidates are saying what they do. Every word a candidate says has been carefully thought out and has specific meaning behind it.

Genre generators are a great way of understanding how to write well. With a genre generator one can look at many different works within a genre and by doing that discern exactly what it is that makes up that specific genre. By understanding what conventions make up a genre it makes writing within that genre much easier. Before writing anything one should research the genre they are attempting to write in, break it down into its conventions, and then begin writing.

PB 1A

A genre that we all see everyday is a course textbook. While textbooks may be for different subjects, and different lengths they all follow a specific set of conventions. Yet it is not only conventions, but rhetoric too that creates the genre. While a textbook normally includes statistical evidence to support its claims, in depth examples, pictorial examples, personal anecdotes by the author or even made up stories as examples. These conventions and rhetoric are pieces of the textbook genre, but there are still textbooks which will not use all of these, or possibly any of these conventions.

One of the main points that Carrol brings up in “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Towards Rhetorical analysis” is the exigence of whatever it is one is reading or writing. Exigence is the requirement of action to fix or make something right. In the case of the textbook the exigence is the textbook teaching one material within the subject matter of the course. To solve this exigence the textbook must take into account the audience because it is them, in fact, that are solving this exigence. In the case of a textbook the problem needing to be made right is the learning of material which is solved by further reading which brings greater understanding of the subject. To solve this issue of exigence the textbook must employ one of the three kinds of logic taught by Aristotle: ethos, pathos, and logos. It would not make sense for a textbook to use ethos, an appeal to the audience’s ego, but there still may be a textbook that employs it to solve this exigence. It would also be unreasonable to expect pathos, an appeal to the audience’s emotions, to be a major convention of textbooks simply because academic writing is normally very factually based. That is why logos, an appeal to the audience’s intellect, is a major convention of textbooks since the goal is to teach.

Some of the more important elements to pay attention to in a textbook are style and tone. Most textbooks have a very similar style; they have multiple authors, they tend to be larger than novels as well as longer, the content is split up into sections which are further divided into chapters, there is a table of contents, and an appendix. The tone of a textbook tends to be very serious and the language very academic. This is because of the audience, the writers of the book know exactly whom they are writing for. Unlike a fiction writer who can use any language they want whether it be Old English, American English, or English slang because their publication is for the general public. A textbook is written with the idea that students and professors will read it, so the language used is catered to those two groups.

It is clear that genre is a very important subject matter of writing and that to write well one must have a clear understanding of it. To understand a genre one must break it down to its core elements and discover why they are inherent to the genre. To write in a new genre one must first analyze it and understand it.

Thlog 1

This week, in writing 2 we focused on genre. I thought that I knew what a genre was and how to pick out genres, but after this week’s lessons I now have an even deeper understanding. Genres are like moods; for example when you feel happy you can be happy for different reasons such as winning a baseball game or finding out that you have just won a scholarship. While in each scenario you feel happy there are different contributing factors that have made you happy, just like there are many different conventions that create a genre. Both winning a baseball game and winning a scholarship will make you happy, but for different reasons. Just like how the conventions of a superhero movie can include: a main character that doesn’t know his origin, police chases, or a bad guy that is friends with the hero. Yet all of these conventions do not need to be present for the movie to fit within the genre of a superhero movie.

We also learned about first and second order thinking. They are very different from each other, nevertheless they are both required for strong writing. First order thinking is the uncensored word-vomit that we start with and second order thinking is the conscious revision of this content. Used together they can be effective in writing. First order thinking should be used in writing a rough draft or outline, first order thinking is what gets the ball rolling and can is actually where a majority of your content and inspiration will come from. Second order thinking is a review of that content, an editing process. These are two different styles of writing; first order thinking is the fantastic writing and second order thinking is the rule-bound kind of writing that we have been talking about in class. When employed together the two thinking processes can create a great research paper, email, text message, movie script, novel, or any other writing genre.