Read and Response for April 27th

Ecology of Genre

By: Anis Bawarshi

“We use language to construct rhetorical environments in which we exist, interact with one another, and enact social actions.  We are constantly in the process of reproducing our contexts as we communicate within them, speaking and writing about our realities and ourselves to the extent that discourse and reality cannot be separated. Within these rhetorical constructs, we assume different rhetorical identities and perform different social activities as we negotiate our way from one environment to the next, often balancing multiple identities and activities at the same time.” (Bawarshi, 71)

            I thought that this passage was important because it talks about how genre can be a rhetorical ecosystem and the reasons why.  I agree that we are constantly shaping our own environment with our experiences and our actions.  Our world is constantly evolving and our language is the same way and this is what this passage is basically saying.  Our environment reflects who we are because we are in the environment and everything we do or say can change that environment.  Everywhere we go we experience an environment created by people as well as nature; however, in today’s world there is nothing but advertisements and shopping malls which directly affect the environment and how people act in it.

The Rhetorical Situation of the Scientific Paper and the “Appearance” of Objectivity

By: Matthew Allen

“What is most interesting about the rhetorical situation of the scientific paper is that the writer persuades his or her audience largely through the appearance of objectivity.  Many people, as Charles Bazerman points out, think that writing based on scientific premises is not really writing at all, that it is an unbiased vessel for transmitting truth.” (Allen, 94)

            I thought that this passage was important because it tells the reader what the author is arguing against.  He explains that people think just because scientific writing is more based on fact, that it is not a form of writing at all.  I think that is completely untrue because in any form of writing whether it’s scientific or not, your going to have the point of view of the author somehow incorporated into that work.  I do agree that sometimes scientific writing is for the most part objective but that still doesn’t mean that it isn’t a form of writing.  The purpose of any writing is to persuade your audience to believe or think what you do, and for scientific writing you are still doing that to an extent, it is just more on an informational basis.

Young Scholars in First-Year Writing, College Admissions Essays: A Genre of Masculinity

By: Sarah-Kate Magee

“There is no awareness of the expectation solely to highlight achievements in college admissions essays, a style of composition Flynn describes as masculine.  Such awareness needs to exist to allow for a wider range of experiences to write about in a successful essay.  The unintentional bias in the college admissions essays genre only furthers and perpetuates the suppression of womens’s own ways of thinking and composing.” (Magee, 121)

            I thought that this passage was very important because it basically states what the problem is in college admissions essays according to the author.  She debates whether there is an intellectual difference between men and women.  She thinks that a lot of college admissions essays are based around masculine ways of writing.  The argument is if there is a difference between a way a woman writes and the way a man writes.  Personally, I think that both women and men have similar writing and when it comes to admissions essays it is not whether it is masculine or feminine but rather is it what the admissions office is looking for or not.

Read and Response for April 25th

Teaching Critical Genre Awareness

By: Amy Devitt

“All genre pedagogies appear to share the same larger goal: to give students access to language, structures, and institutions that are important for their individual, academic, and professional development.” (Devitt, 342)

            I thought that this passage was important because it is explaining the overall purpose of genre.  The basic function of genre is to classify according to certain characteristics in order to create a model for future works.  As a reader, when you know what genre the work your reading is, you can gather some expectations based solely because of the specific genre it is.  It allows students to better understand whatever it is they are reading when they know what to expect and prepare their techniques for reading before they actually start.  Genre creates a shared idea about literature for groups of people and creates social structure because they all agree on the characteristics that make up each genre.  However, there are no set in stone characteristics that need to be present to make it a certain genre and there is room for interpretation, but there are definitely characteristics that stick out that allows you to classify literature in certain genres.

Navigating Genres

By: Kerry Dirk

“In other words, Bitzer is saying that when something new happens that requires a response, someone must create that first response. Then when that situation happens again, another person uses the first response as a basis for the second, and eventually everyone who encounters this situation is basing his/her response on the previous ones, resulting in the creation of a new genre.” (Dirk, 252)

            I thought this was a very interesting way to look at genre.  It really makes sense and gives the reader a good idea of how genre started and how it’s developed over time.  It basically means that genre is still evolving with every work that is created and will still evolve in time as works are made in the future.  They give a great example in the text which said that George Washington, being the first person to be president and address the Union, he had complete freedom when he was trying to think of the content on which to cover.  After then, each President based their content on the person before them.  Dirk talks about how genre is more than just something that is used for academics but is a huge part of our everyday lives, while Devitt talked about genre being best used for teaching and learning for students.  I think for me, I think genre is more of an academic things and I never really thought to use genre in anything else but literature.  However, after reading both these articles I can see how genre can be mixed in with certain things in everyday life.  I just never really thought of social action as something that can be classified into a genre.

Read and Response for April 20th

Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice: Membership, Conflict, and Diversity

By: Ann M. Johns

“It has been suggested that people can join communities at will and remain affiliated at levels of their own choosing.  For a number of reasons, this is not entirely accurate.  In some cases people are excluded from communities because they lack social standing, talent, or money, or because they live in the wrong part of town.  In other cases, community membership requires a long initiatory process, and even then there is no guarantee of success.” (Johns, 511)

            I thought that this passage was important because it is a counter argument to what every other article that we’ve read has said.  The passage is the main idea that the writer is trying to get to the reader: that it is not as easy to join a community as people make it out to be.  There are several factors that people take into account when you are trying to join an established group.  It is up to that group whether they want to accept you or not and it comes down to whether you have the necessary attributes that the community is looking for.  For example, if you wanted to join some kind of political community, it is most likely that you and your family are well off and have some kind of role in the community already.  What the basic message is in this passage is that there are factors beyond a person’s control that affect their success in anything they do.

The Idea of Community in the Study of Writing

By: Joseph Harris

“The troubles of many student writers, Bartholomae suggests, begin with their inability to imagine such a position of privilege, to define their views against some “common” way of talking about their subject.  Instead, they simply repeat in their writing “what everybody knows” or what their professor has told them in their lectures.” (Harris, 587)

            I thought that this passage was very important because I found it to be very true in my eyes.  I feel like so many people are programmed to write what the professor wants to hear or what they think is factually right.  When talking about a subject in a community, people tend to have the same thing to say about it because that is the social consensus on the matter.  It is important for people to have their own opinion on things and when people are constantly telling you what to do and how to do it, it tends to shape the way you do things in a way that makes your work the same as everyone else’s.  Both Johns and Harris challenged the idea of discourse communities by pointing out the flaws in a discourse community and some of the problems people could run into when trying to become a part of one of these communities.  You get the idea the both writers are trying to make the point that being in a discourse community is not as easy and as beneficial as some of the past readings indicated them to be.  I think that being in a discourse community could be both beneficial and detrimental because it does provide a good social network for people to be in and broadens someone’s experience with others but also could be bad because of all the restrictions and standards that could possibly take away from someone’s individuality.

Read and Response for April 18th

Finding Harmony in Disharmony: Engineering and English Studies

By: Ruth Johnson, Beth Clark, and Mario Burton

“Since our goal is to help bridge the gap between engineering and writing, which is usually associated with English courses, we must establish some background on writing in the field of engineering and define the gap between the two disciplines.” (Johnson, 64)

I thought that this passage was very important because it is basically the thesis for the whole article.  This passage shows how you must associate engineering with writing in order to see the relationship between the two.  Writing allows an engineer to put down his thoughts into writing which makes it easier for him or her to visualize and develop their idea.  The article talks a lot about the importance of writing skills to an engineer and the advantages having great writing skills can provide.  The article brings up the lack of writing preparation that most engineers receive during their schooling and that there needs to be added stress on writing skills for all types of students.

Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces

By: Elizabeth Wardle

“Learning to write in and for new situations and workplaces is complex in ways that go far beyond texts and cognitive abilities.” (Wardle, 521)

            I thought that this passage was important not only because it is taken out of the reading and quoted already, but it is the whole argument of the article.  It says that people can’t just know how to write in their new workplace just from process of thought, but has to learn and experience the new techniques needed to do the appropriate writing in that workplace.  People in new workplaces have to apply the things they already know and rethink their techniques after they are given some kind of direction.  You must follow the new workplaces standards and techniques in order to come out with the appropriate writing.  Wardle’s ideas related to the discourse communities because both talk about how you must adapt to your surroundings in order to achieve the desired outcome.  This suggests that you must learn and change what is needed in order to develop the skills required to do the best work possible in the profession that your in.

Engineering Writing/Writing Engineering

By: Dorothy A. Windsor

“Knowledge is not found ready-made in nature. Instead, knowledge is constructed in the interplay between nature and the symbol systems we use to structure and interpret it.” (Windsor, 58)

            I thought that this passage was most important because it was literally the first sentence of the article and it caught my attention right away.  I thought that this passage was very deep and it was an interesting way to look at knowledge.  It means that knowledge is a mixture between the things that occur in nature and the systems we as humans use to examine and record that knowledge.  However it talks about in some cases, such as engineering, where knowledge is gained solely on physical objects rather than in writing.  The article goes on to try explain how the gap between engineering and writing can be narrowed.

Read and Response for April 13th

The Ecology of Writing

By: Marilyn Cooper

“The metaphor for writing suggested by the ecological model is that of a web, in which anything that affects one strand of the web vibrates throughout the whole.” (Cooper, 370)

            I thought that this passage was very important because I thought that the author used a great metaphor to explain the ecological model of writing.  It states that writing is like a web and any little change can affect the web as a whole.  I completely agree with this statement because writing is a very delicate process and your writing as a whole can be affected by the smallest change in detail.  Cooper also talks about how writing can be put into a model in order to organize the writing and make sure everything is correct and in the right place.

Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)

By: Janet Boyd

“Herein we might find our definition of genre, which by necessity remains perpetually loose: when the traits or attributes considered normal to or typical of a particular kind of creative piece, such as in literature, film, or music, make it that kind and not another.” (Boyd, 97)

            I thought that this was important because it explains how we classify genres by their attributes and that is important for us to recognize the things that make up a piece and place them in the right category.  In this piece, Boyd does an exercise with her class that is suppose to be comparative to writing.  She makes them solve a murder case by investigating and finding out facts that can help them solve the mystery.  She relates this to writing because you have to really examine the writing and have certain techniques in order to be the best writer and reader.  She also uses the exercise to explain how to find out the genre of a work and the ways in which to do it.

Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics

By: James Paul Gee

“At any moment we are using language we must say or write the right thing in the right way while playing the right social role and appearing to hold the right values, beliefs, and attitudes.  Thus, what is important is not language and surely not grammar, but saying (writing)- doing- being- valuing – believing combinations.” (Gee, 6)

            This passage is talking about the combinations which Gee calls discourses.  I completely agree with this passage because when you are talking to someone, you do want to have good grammar but it’s more what you say that is more important.  You can have the best grammar in the world but if you don’t know how to use the language then it is pointless.  I think you had us read these articles together because all of them talk about the underlying techniques to look at writing and all articles talk about the things you can do to make you a better writer.  It is important to not just look at writing as just something you do, but you have to really think about and study writing before you can be good at it.  Rhetorical situations can be related to discourses because rhetorical situations are ways of using your head and imagination to simulate something in order to make a point or figure out some kind of information while discourses are your thoughts in your head such as your beliefs and values that are used for the same reason.

Read and Response for April 11th

Resume Article Response

By: T. Shane Peagler and Kathleen Blake Yancey

“ To illustrate this argument, he briefly outlines the resume as a genre of social action, arguing that the key is to balance the impulse for personal expression with the needs of a socially constructed world.  It is useful to think of writing not as entirely socially or individually motivated, but as a mode of discourse particularly suited to learning how to manage information, ideas, conventions, and intentions.” (Peagler & Yancey, 153)

I thought that passage was very interesting because it provides a thoughtful prospective on writing.  It says that writing is not just motivated by people but is a way to keep a record everything that goes on in the world.  By learning how to write we learn the basic skill that the majority of our country uses for communication which is essential to a person’s success in life.  A resume is one of the most important forms of communication and writing a person can do   because it determines whether that person is going to get a job or not and be able to support themselves.  We use our resumes to manage our information on background in relation to work and education and communicate that to the employer in such a way that is most appealing to them.  In regards to the first portion of this passage, it says that the key is to balance the impulse for personal expression with the needs of a socially constructed world.  I thought that this meant that our personal expression is only limited by ourselves and the way we perceive what is except able in the world around us.  We tailor our writing to what is socially appealing to make our readers more into whatever it is we are trying to get across.  Especially in regards to writing a resume, we must take in account our reader and what they want out of their possible employee.

Read and Response for April 6th

Beyond Black and White: Document Design and Formatting in the Writing Classroom

By: Michael Klein and Kristi Shackelford

“This consistency allows readers to become accustomed to certain conven­tions and increases readability. When a professor reviews multiple pa­pers formatted in the same way, for example, she can easily find the author’s name and class section on all of the papers (Klein & Shackelford 343).”

I thought that this passage from the reading was one of the most important because this portion of the reading explains why we use particular design with our writing.  As a student, almost every teacher has a preferred way for their students to write papers and this passage clarifies why the teachers have certain formats.  It makes life easier for not only the teachers when they are grading the assignment but also helps the students when they are revising and writing the paper.  I thought of a somewhat interesting comparison to use when talking about formatting with your papers.  I went to a catholic grade school when I was younger and we were forced to wear uniforms to school.  Now at the time I thought that it was a big pain in the butt to have to wear the same thing every day to school and not be able to pick out what you want to wear.  However, when I started high school I attending a public school where no uniform was required.  I realized that having a set uniform to wear was actually convenient because there was never a question or concern about what I was going to wear to school that day.  In a public school where there is no dress code you have to make decisions about what you are going to wear or if your clothes are dirty which makes life a little harder on you.  In relation to writing, if you have a set style such as MLA format, you don’t really have to think about setting your format or choosing how you are going to format your paper which makes things a lot easier.

Klein and Shackelford argue that we should think about design in all our texts; do you agree? 

            I strongly agree with both writers about thinking about your design in all texts.  For anything you write, there is a purpose behind it whether it’s a paper for school, a memo to a fellow worker, or just plain fun writing for your own entertainment.  In all these cases, before you start writing you want to think about whose going to be reading your writing and what is the acceptable format to use for it.  The design of your writing is the key to writing something that is easy to read, looks properly put together for the situation, and is getting the point you want to make across to your reader.

Having studied a little design now, what is the rhetorical effect of MLA style formatting?

            The rhetorical effect of MLA style formatting is having a format style that is pounded into student’s heads enough where it becomes second nature.  Almost like even if the teacher didn’t ask for your assignment to be in MLA format, you still do it by habit.  MLA style formatting creates a basic standard for writing which makes sure everything is properly placed on your page and makes sure your writing is easily read and understood.  Having this format makes things easier for both the student and the teacher when they are reading through or looking for a specific thing in the writing.

Read and Response for April 4th

Response to the First Six Chapters from our Design Book

“The result (from aligning the page) is similar to what happens when you (or your dog) pick up all the dog toys that were strewn around the living room floor and put them all into one toy box (Williams 50).”

I chose this passage because it stood out to me the most after the first six chapters of reading.  I thought it was important because it uses a great analogy that is easy to understand too explain the role and effects of aligning the page.  The passage means that by putting all the text (being the dog toys in the passage) in a specific place on the page (being the toy box) it makes everything unified and easy read.  If the words on a page aren’t somewhat aligned then the page would just look like a big mess.  Creating a specific spot where the words begin and end gives your page order and ties the related text together.  Even when text is aligned it can still be separated by changing proximity of the words.  The purpose of alignment is to tell the reader that all these words belong to a whole.  I thought this passage did a great job at simply explaining the concept to the reader and also did it in a unique fun way.

Why do you think we are studying a book on design in a writing in professions class?

            I think we are studying a book about design in our class because it is important to know how to use simple concepts such as proximity, alignment, repetition, and contrast to catch your reader’s attention and to successfully portray your text in the way you are intending to.  Looking at ways to group words together correctly so that your work is as organized and easy to read as possible is important for any writer in any profession.  For me, I feel like a lot of these concepts were introduced to us several years ago and with our technology today we don’t really need to pay attention to some of these concepts because computers do it for us.  However, I think it is good for me being a student to read about these concepts to get a better understanding about why we do the things we do in writing.

How might visual design be important in your profession?

            Visual design might be important in your profession because it each profession the way you design your writing may be different.  In any profession, there will be a standard of writing you must know basic design for writing before you can be a successful writer in your profession.  For example, if your profession involves writing memos then all factors including alignment and proximity of words are keys to a well written memo.  Another example of a profession where design is important is a job where people make flyers and use the concepts of visual design to catch people’s eye when they walk past.  For any profession, having your writings being more visually appealing is never a bad thing and knowing these concepts makes sure you do the things to make sure your work as appealing as possible.  My major is restaurant, hotel, tourism and visual design could be helpful in several things like writing a menu, advertisements for hotels, and anything that is going to be written for your customers.  For designing a menu in a restaurant, a writer uses concepts of alignment, proximity, and contrast to separate different dishes and different types of meals such as appetizers, entrees, etc.