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.