As we briefly discussed in class the first day, key terms give you a vocabulary by which you can begin to understand writing, create a writing identity, and learn new knowledge about writing. In this in-class assignment, you are going to begin to investigate key terms. Begin by defining the key terms audience, genre, rhetorical situation and reflection in your own words (if you are unsure of how to define something, say that you are unsure but go ahead and attempt to define the term).Next explore their relationships within the context of writing, specifically good writing. Think back to what you did in WRIT 1122 in terms of how you might define good writing. Draw from those initial impressions. Then create your own set of key terms for writing and research. What key terms do you think about before beginning to write? Before beginning to research? Conclude by issuing a decree: what do you believe is important about writing and where do you believe this belief came from? Next think about yourself as a writer and as a researcher. After today's show and tell, define who you are as a writer. Define who you are as a researcher. How do these two identities overlap?
And finally bring it all together: begin to theorize about writing. Generate a one sentence theory about writing.
Your response should be as long as it needs to be, but I'm guessing it's going to take more than 500 words to complete this. Don't rush through. Think. Muse. Reflect.
Audience: The intended group of people that the piece is written for
ReplyDeleteGenre: The context of the event for which the piece is being written for
Rhetorical Situation: The event that the piece is being written about
Reflection: The process of personal understanding of learning
Good writing is writing that connects with the audience in the appropriate genre. Good writing is created through a process of reflection and revision that allows personal understanding of the subject matter and how much is actually understood individually. Without the critical look at personal ability and understanding writing become stagnant, boring, and becomes poor because there was no time spent on focusing on strengths and weaknesses and how to overcome and conquer those weaknesses.
Before I began to write I think about the topic, transferred knowledge, sources, genre, and context of the piece. The topic gives me a foundation to the base an idea on. The topic also provides a subject matter to draw previous knowledge from and to learn new knowledge about. Thinking about new knowledge causes me to ponder the types of sources that will be reliable and useful for more knowledge of the specific topic. Finally I look at the style in which the piece needs to be written. An article, for a popular audience, is so much different than a scholarly column or report.
I declare and I decree that in order to write well the consideration of rhetorical situation, audience, genre, and identification of transferred knowledge are mandatory. Then it is mandatory to reflect over the initial piece in order to obtain information on understanding and struggle.
As a writer I am very transparent and relatable. I am able to be filled with information, experience, and opinion then mix all that up to create a piece that engages me intended audience. I am able to pour a fresh outlook on those who are looking for a perspective on the rhetorical situation.
As a researcher I like to hook and connect the previous knowledge I had about the rhetorical situation with new knowledge from other points of view and scholarly sources. I then figure out how to combine the researched information into terms that are understandable by the intended audience.
Writing is taking the rhetorical situation and creating a piece that will engage the intended audience for the specific genre for which the rhetorical situation is addressing, by using transferred knowledge as well as new researched information.
ReplyDeleteAudience is the person or group of people reading what was written. This means that the writer should have the target audience in mind while creating the work. An example of this is newspapers using vocabulary that an eighth grader would understand to be optimize the amount of people who can read and interpret what was written. The genre of writing follows the conventions of what was done prior within a specific type of writing. This would be like meter within poetry or having a clear thesis for a research paper. The rhetorical situation basically relates to why the writing was produced and what it is trying to accomplish. Our boy Bitzer talked about how the preconceived notion was the rhetoric was only used by politicians to manipulate people whereas the rhetorical situation is used in every type of writing. Reflection is used throughout the entire writing process to convey thoughts, arguments, and evidence clearly and understandably. When it comes to good writing, all four of these terms are used because without them the writing would be misguided and confusing. For example if the target audience was a kindergarten class and the genre was a kids book, if the author were to use lots of intricate vocabulary and not write logically, the book would fail and the kids wouldn’t be able to follow.
When it comes to research, some key terms that come to mind are argument, evidence, support, thesis and logic. All of these terms are incorporated in ethos, pathos, and logos. Without these three things in a research paper, the paper would be flawed and impossible to follow. A poor grade would probably follow as well. Before beginning to research, it is also important to have an idea of what research will need to be conducted. Even if this idea is vague or rough, it helps to even Wikipedia the topic ahead of time to know what sources and views to pull from when researching and writing. When it comes to writing, it is important to have a strong argument that causes the audience to think about a topic in a different way.
Even though the audience of this blog is my teacher, I’m still going to say that when it comes to my writing, I am irrevocably a good grade seeker. This, just like last quarter, is because I have only ever written papers for teachers, my parents or people who could possibly help me in some way. When it comes to things I am passionate about, I have always preferred talking face to face because one can express ideas that cannot be fully conveyed through words. As a researcher, I am a clear minded researching machine. This is because I have been doing research essentially my whole schooling career. Since 6th grade, I have found it very hard to pay attention in class and take notes. This has caused me to have to research various topics to successfully complete my homework. This shortcoming has actually made me a smarter person because I don’t really learn in a classroom setting but more by myself without distraction.
Writing is used to convey your ideas to another person convincingly and effectively.
I like your honesty about being a good grade seeker, but I feel like writing is so much more then that and once you learn to look at your audience and write for them it will become less about pleasing the professor and more about connecting and engaging the intended audience.
DeleteKey Terms Definitions:
ReplyDeleteAudience: This is the group of people that you believe are going to read and be interested in what you are writing.
Genre: This is the specific style and topic of writing that you as an author are engaging in
Rhetorical Situation: I am not completely sure about this one but I think that all writing has a rhetorical situation. Each piece of writing has a different rhetorical situation. I think it is when all parts of the writing come together- the writing itself, the author, and the audience.
Reflection: This is usually done after the specific event. It is when a person thinks about what happened, the situation, their actions, and how they could have changed or done better. It discusses outcomes and what the person has learned throughout the specific event.
Within the context of writing, the majority of these key terms are all thought about at the beginning of the process. It is important to focus on a specific audience and genre in the writing in order to obtain research that is relevant and molds together. All four of these key terms help to enhance the writing piece. Good writing really focuses on creating unity within these four terms.
My Key Terms:
Content: This is what is going to be used within the writing. It is the specific information that makes up the writers position or argument.
Research: How an author gathers together information in order to make a cohesive writing piece. It can be done in many different styles including on the internet, books, or talking to other people. It is combining information, statistics, facts, and evidence that all fall under a common mold.
Theme: It is very important to make sure that the writing does not stray far from the chosen topic. The theme is the general idea that holds the piece together. A theme should be chosen before research has finished to make sure that the evidence fits together so the reader does not get lost.
Voice: This is how the author’s personality and personal identity comes through in the writing. Writing that has a strong voice I feel is more engaging and interesting to read.
My Decree:
I believe that the most important aspect of writing is cohesiveness. It is evident in my key terms that I believe it is important to have writing that does not stray far from the main point. A written paper must all stay within the same idea to keep the reader focused and interested. I think I have this belief because the majority of my writing teachers have stressed the importance of structure. Also, the majority of the writing I have done has had very rigid guidelines and a strict format. Due to this I have come to value writing that is easy to follow and cohesively written.
Identities:
As a researcher, I like to be very organized. I always start by a broad google search of my topic so that I can get a general understanding of what it is. Then, after reading some short summaries I can decide what my focus will be. I like to keep narrowing my focus as I do more research until I have created a thesis.
As a writer, I like to have structure and organization. I do much better when the guidelines are clear and I have a specific format or idea to follow. I end up writing better when I stay on topic and organized throughout the assignment.
These overlap because in both I have a specific method and I value organization. By starting off researching in a broad manner then gradually narrowing my focus, I ensure that my writing can be easily organized because everything is within the same theme.
Theory about writing:
Writing is when words are combined in a cohesive and organized manner to display an overall idea.
Audience is the object at which an author directs a piece of writing. Audience can be a person, an animal, a tree, an idea or anything else, as long as it is being spoken to or addressed in a piece of writing. Genre is the style of a piece of writing. It is not concerned with the tone of voice or vocabulary, but more geared toward the message and subject of a piece of writing. Rhetorical situation is the way in which a piece of writing is presented. This device is more geared toward the technical aspect of writing. Different ways of arguing, different structures and different methods of presenting the text could be examples of rhetorical situation. There is not just one factor that makes up a text’s rhetorical situation; rather, a text’s rhetorical situation is comprised of many different devices and aspects to the writing. Reflection is the moment of personal influence in a piece of writing. It is not necessarily moments of “I believe,” but instances where writing goes beyond just facts. It does not even have to be opinion – it can be the moment when an argument is made and a direction is taken in the text. These four aspects of writing – audience, genre, rhetorical situation, and reflection – all tie into each other and contribute to making a piece of writing at its final stages. Just as not one device solely creates the rhetorical situation of a text, not just one of these aspects creates a piece of writing, or an incomplete collection of these aspects; they are all present.
ReplyDeleteBeyond these four aspects, I believe there are other components to consider, especially when considering research. Focus is a critical aspect, where there is a clear idea of what is being talked about. This is more specifically manifested in the subject of a text. Something that I generally think about before researching is direction. Though often times my direction shifts midway through my research, I always like to have a goal that I strive for. In most of my research, this direction is presented in the form of my argument. This is different, to me, from the subject/focus, of my research. Direction/argument is more oriented toward the specific points I plan to raise and the ultimate conclusion I plan to propose. Stemming from my previous writing and research experiences, I believe that focus, direction and audience are the primary points of concern when researching and writing. The other aspects are important, but they are secondary. In starting a project, these three things are critical.
I have always had an affinity to more concrete matters of knowledge and education, math primarily, and so I have never considered myself much of a writer. Looking back at the progression of my writing skills, I can say that I have certainly grown into some identity as a writer, and can say that I am a fairly decent writer, but I do not particularly enjoy writing. It is not my favorite aspect of academics at least. As far as research goes, I attach a similar notion of identity – or lack thereof – but research is more ‘up my alley.’ I have always had an appreciation for knowledge and analyzing situations, so when asked to find information about some topic, I have some natural, or at least more natural, identity as a researcher. In the growth of my identity as a writer and as a researcher, I have realized the importance of the two skills and how they overlap. Even if not working on a research paper, there is always some sense of research in a piece of writing – in the lease a writer researches within the depths of his or her own ideas to formulate some argument or topic upon which to write.
Though my more critically oriented mind would rather not bring my fingers to type these words, writing is important – invaluable, even. And on that, my theory… Writing is the process of translating one’s ideas from abstract thoughts to concrete messages that allows for the transmission of knowledge and identity across time.
Within writing the key terms of utmost importance are Audience, Genre, Rhetorical Situation, and Reflection. In my first assignment I described the first three as the Ge (Genre) A (Audience) RS (Rhetorical Situation) or the GeARS of writing. These three work together as the how, who, and why of writing; Genre is how one shapes their writing format to fit the specific conventions of the material. Audience is who is receiving the message, genre works within audience because the genre must relate to the conventions of the situation and the audience. The rhetorical situation surrounds the two small gears because it explains why we write, what begins the desire to create a discourse and what starts the argument as a whole. Reflection is what occurs throughout the entire process; instead of gears imagine someone watching over the other gears making sure they are all working smoothly. If something goes wrong, the reflection-in-process can catch this mistake and go over to fix what was broken.
ReplyDeleteWithin good writing all 3 of the pieces and the fourth over watching eye must work together to produce good writing. Good writing must fit the specific genre so that its medium is most appropriate to its audience. The rhetorical situation will specify just what kind of message or discourse must be given so that the audience can be changed. If the discourse is strong enough then perhaps the audience can be shifted in their position. No writing is perfect, that is why reflection is something that is always happening, mistakes are made and it is up to the reflection process to catch these mistakes in order to strengthen the argument. Before I write a few terms go through my head in a checklist manner to make sure I possess the materials capable of giving me the ability to write. These terms are knowledge, purpose, and adaptability. Before I write and argument I require the knowledge of my topic, a purpose or something that has given me a reason to write, and the ability to make sure my writing responds to what is asked of me, if it is not it must be capable of being morphed to what is required. These 3 terms are the same for when doing research, though they are different in their interpretations. I obviously require research, or knowledge, about the topic I am speaking of. I need passion, or purpose, I have found that research papers are about 100 times more difficult to complete when one lacks all passion in the topic. Just by reading the words one should be able to feel the passion within the words. Lastly, is adaptability, a research paper will be reflected upon and rewritten several times over to make sure it is perfect, this reflection, or adaptability, will be needed when the finishing touches are being put on.
What makes writing important most of all is passion; it is what gives writing and writers a voice, without this voice they lack not only passion, they give much less ethos, they are no longer persuasive and they are no longer enticing to the audience. This is something I have always believed writing needs, it is amazing how much writing projects are finished when I have much more passion on the topic, it gives me a reason to keep writing till my hands cramp or my fingers can no longer keep up with all the thoughts rushing through my brain.
I as a writer put myself into a state of existence in which my mind is focused solely on the topic. I block out all things around me and relieve my mind such that I am able to create something from all the information I have. If I don’t reach this “state” of writing then the assignment becomes a hassle and painful to take care of. As a researcher I am almost the opposite as I look through and pay attention to all around me such that I can gather what is most important to my topic at hand.
Writing is like a model of living words that someone speaks, it must have knowledge and a powerful voice to reach beyond its limitations, but it must also be something that can be morphed and changed by the swift movement of a few muscles.
Audience- The group of people who the writer intends to read his or her piece.
ReplyDeleteGenre- The general topic that the writer is writing about
Rhetorical context- the context of topic the writer is writing about
Reflection- looking back your own writing and analyzing its rhetoric.
When writing, good writers consider audience, genre, rhetorical context, and use reflection. After choosing their topic, good writers consider their audience. Different people can be very different from each other, what appeals to one person may not appeal to everyone. Therefore, in order to get a message across in an effective way, writers must consider WHO he or she is writing to. After considering audience, the writer must consider the rhetorical context. They need to make sure that what their writing is appropriate, and relevant. The genre affects rhetorical context and audience. There are different contexts surrounding different genres, and different genres attract different audiences. After completing a piece in which audience, genre, and rhetorical context were considered during the writing process, good writers use reflection. They look back on their writings and analyze their own rhetoric. By doing so they hope to find ineffective writing within their work, so they can eliminate it.
Some key terms for writing and research that I see as important are audience, rhetorical context, and purpose. In writing, it is most important to keep purpose in mind. The Consideration of audience, rhetorical context, genre and the use of reflection are all tools for accomplishing a purpose. Good writers implicitly use these tools when they keep purpose in mind.
As a writer I am very creative. I like to use unusual paragraph structures and evidence to lead readers to understand my message, which is often a very unexpected one. As a researched, I am inexperienced but eager. I often find myself compiling massive lists of news articles, most of which are useless. When the two are put together, my research writing is often a jumbled, confusing mess of strange evidence and even stranger conclusions.
Writing is most effective when the writer carefully considers their purpose for writing.
Key terms give us an idea or a hint of something we want to define and in writing, many key terms are useful for a writer to know because they help him understand what writing is all about. A writer is always writing to an audience and audience means either the writer himself or any other group of people or individuals that he’s trying to write to, affect and persuade. If the writer wants to convince the audience, he needs to use a specific type of appropriate Genre so that he could get his point across to the audience in the most clear way possible, therefore, genre in writing is the type of approach that a writer uses in his writer and that includes style and structure. Every writer writes to respond to a situation, whatever that situation may be but for that situation and writing to be rhetorical, it needs to be able to affect the audience in any way that would change their opinions either negatively or positively, therefore, a rhetorical situation includes many components such as context, discourse, audience, exigence and constraints and the discourse should be able to affect the audience. Writing needs a process called reflection, which corrects the mistakes that the writer did or even shed light on new depths of a certain topic that the writer is writing about. Thus, reflection is a process that helps the writer take a step back and review his work or even a number of his writings just to get a more clear view of his ideas and what to write next. Reflection is also a process that could help a writer understand and acknowledge new things or new knowledge more deeply than just of a shallow understanding.
ReplyDeleteAll these key terms are related strongly to good writing, and in my opinion, good writing is a piece of writing that is constructed in an appropriate manner and that does what it needs to do, in other words, convince the audience with what the writer wants. And so, a writer is always using these key terms to write and he thinks about those key terms when he writes for his writing to make sense using suitable genre for its appropriate audience while using the aspects of the rhetorical situation and after that, or even during, he reflects upon this whole process of writing.
Key Terms:
Knowledge - Investigation – Exploration – Courage – Rhetorical Situation – Genre – Audience – Reflection – Structure – Clear – Accuracy –
Before I write, I think of the key terms “Knowledge – Rhetorical Situation – Genre – Audience – Structure - Reflection”, because they help me understand what I’m writing about and how to write it so that it would make sense. And before I research, I think about “ Investigation – Exploration – Accuracy – Knowledge – Structure – Reflection.”
The most important thing about writing is making it understandable and persuasive so that it affects the audience and the basis of this belief is my own belief of why people write, responding to a situation so that they would ultimately change it, and the only way to do that is to affect the audience in the way they want to.
As a writer, I see myself as more of a technical writer, answering specific question and not doing so well if I’m asked to write about anything I want, question give me a sense of what I need to do and how it’s going to be done and that gives me the strength to write better. As a researcher, if I’m given a specific question, I start to think about it at first and see what different aspects could it have and also, ask myself more questions about the same topic that would extend the topic and my understanding as well, then I start to research and explore any medium I know that I think would give me the results I need, those mediums are usually the internet or any books related to the topic. Those to definitions of myself overlap mostly at the beginning because I usually need something to be given to me so I could define it as my starting point and work from there, but honestly, I’ve never got the chance to do my own extensive research of a specific topic and I believe that would be a useful challenge for me and myself as a writer and as a researcher. Moreover, I see my type as a writer to be helpful with research because of the structure that research needs and how my writing is usually technical and not so free, and I see that as a second overlapping point.
DeleteMy theory of writing is that whenever a situation occurs, I choose a correct genre to express my discourse to my audience using all my skills to persuade and convince them of my argument.
But I believe that this theory will now be changed throughout this course because I’m doing more research than just trying to create an argument and supporting it.
Before I dive into attempting to explain our key terms, I will give a brief summary of what I covered in my last writing class. We did not read “The Rhetorical Situation” by Bitzer. I have a vague understanding of what the overall rhetorical situation is because we had one paper where we were asked to examine and analyze the rhetorical situation. The first key term, “audience”, refers to who your paper is trying to reach. When thinking about audience you have to take into consideration if they are reading your work for pleasure, to learn something new, to be persuaded and so on. Genre ties into audience a little because all of the key terms connect in some way. Genre is the actual type of writing you are doing whether it is a fiction story, non-fiction article, persuasive essay etc. The rhetorical situation to me refers to context. It basically encompasses who your audience is, what has already been said about your topic, the time in which you are entering the conversation and how you are approaching your topic. Reflection is the time that you spend reviewing a piece of work and examining what you did vs. what you could have done better. All these terms, as I have mentioned connect in some way. Within good writing, all key terms need to be present and clear. In WRIT 1122, the only piece of writing I truly analyzed was a national geographic article. It was fairly simple writing with a general audience, but I did consider it good writing because of how clear the overall context was.
ReplyDeleteMy Key Terms
• Structure: The structure, specifically how I am going to breakdown the content of what I would like to say in each paragraph, is the first thing I think of. I am a very organized person and I need to figure this out first.
• Focus: The focus is how much of the conversation you want to enter when writing a paper and the amount of information you would like to explore. I need to figure this out before I start writing because my focus is usually too broad and general.
• Analysis: For writing or research, there needs to be a stage where you analyze your own work in order to figure out what it is you are trying to say, or what it is the research is telling you.
Decree: I believe the most important thing about writing is making it personal which comes from the way that I first began writing, as well as the fact that I believe students many times lose their personal writing style in order to please the teacher or professor who is grading it.
As a writer, I can be creative and write in my own personal style. I can also be adaptable and try to write to what I think the professor wants. This is good to a certain extent, but I think all writers need to keep their voice. As a researcher, I am curious and ambitious. I enjoy research as long as I really want to know more about the topic. With topics that I don’t 100% love, I am indifferent as a researcher. The work is not painful or awful, but just not anything I care for. These two sides of me overlap when it comes to how much I am interested in the paper I am writing or research I am doing. My work in both areas is significantly more creative and noticeably my voice when I enjoy what I am writing. Otherwise, the work might lose my voice all together.
As I begin to theorize about writing, I still feel lost. I believe writing can be personal and enlightening many times. As a student, though, I also see writing as a chore. I believe writing can be a very useful tool to figure out yourself as well as anything else you decide to research, but it is very much a tool that only puts out as much as you put in.
After completing WRIT 1122, I believe I have better grasp on rhetorical situations and appeals. Although I did not read the article by Lloyd Bitzer, I believe I can accurately define the key terms of writing. Audience can be defined as those the rhetor is attempting to appeal to. Your audience will control in which ways the rhetor uses the rhetorical appeals in order to connect to his/her audience. Genre is the type or form of writing the author is using. This can either be persuasive, narrative, or expository. The rhetorical situation includes three constituents. The first being the exigence or problem. The second is the audience. Third being the constraints. This constituent focuses on the three types of appeals: ethos, pathos, and logos. All of these terms are instrumental in “good writing.” It is important to know who the writer’s audience is before beginning a paper. If the audience is not know, the appeals will not be used correctly, and will result in a paper that does not relate to their perspective and ideals. Genre is important because different styles of writing elicit different emotions and ideas from the people who read them. While an extremely descriptive, narrative may focus more on pathos and one’s ability to relate to the audience on an emotional level, and expository will relate to the audience from a more logistical standpoint. The rhetorical situation is fundamental in one’s ability to create “good writing.” The three constituents allow the rhetor to clearly explain the problem they are researching, identify their audience, and to effectively utilize all three rhetorical appeals to create writing that will successfully relay their purpose. Reflection is the process of reviewing one’s work. In this process the author recognizes their faults, where improvements could have been made, and what his/her strengths were. This process is vital in creating a challenging and progressive learning environment.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking WRIT 1122 some of the key terms that I use when writing include: appeal, description, credibility, and flow. Appeal can be defined as one’s ability to connect to the reader and allow them to take a similar standpoint on the issue that you are presenting. Description is the use of the five senses in order to depict what the setting is and present to the audience the environment that you are describing. Description is a key element in appealing to the audiences’ emotions, as it elicits feelings of joy, sadness, desolation, wonder, etc. Credibility is important in writing because if the rhetor can establish their credibility then the audience will be more likely to believe in their opinions and beliefs. If the rhetor is knowledgeable or uses sources that are well renowned for their reliability, the audience will support those ideals as well. The last term is flow. This word is important, as it creates a paper that is well organized and clear. If there is clarity in one’s writing the audience will be better able to follow along with story or research and understand it in a logical and comprehensive fashion.
“Good writing” has the ability to appeal to one’s audience in a way that clearly relays the purpose and effectively interconnects multiple perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThis decree stems from my belief that if one’s audience is not engrossed in the writing, then the goal of the paper was not accomplished. Also, it is not enough to only pull ideas from one perspective. In order to create a paper that effectively relates to a broad spectrum of people, multiple perspectives must be taken into account.
My writing focuses on description, when the style of the paper is fitting. I am a firm believe in using the senses to relay certain situations to the reader. I believe description is an effective way of eliciting powerful emotions from one’s audience. My writing also takes into account multiple perspectives. I do not focus solely on one viewpoint. I am proud of my ability to incorporate multiple perspectives so as to better relate to multiple people. I also attempt to establish credibility in my writing. It is important for the audience to know that the rhetor is reliable and can ne trusted that they are knowledgeable in the subject matter he/she is discussing. Because research and writing are interconnected, I am similar in the research aspect of the writing process. I enjoy going into the field and collecting data, so as to obtain multiple perspectives on an issue. These two identities overlap in that my research takes into account multiple ideals, as does my research basis.
Writing creates and atmosphere that draws from research, personal experience, and knowledge in order to appeal to a certain audience and relay a certain ideal.
Next explore their relationships within the context of writing, specifically good writing. Think back to what you did in WRIT 1122 in terms of how you might define good writing. Draw from those initial impressions. Then create your own set of key terms for writing and research. What key terms do you think about before beginning to write? Before beginning to research? Conclude by issuing a decree: what do you believe is important about writing and where do you believe this belief came from?
ReplyDeleteThe first key term is purpose & audience, what is the purpose of the piece of writing, what is it trying to get across to the reader. For each writing assignment this is always different. So after answering these two questions to myself, about the purpose of the writing and who the audience is I can begin to think of my thesis. Over the years I had learned the importance of a strong thesis and how it can make or break your paper. The next term is organize and sort, where I take the information or evidence and figure out how they are related and how to connect it to the thesis to create a strong paper. I learned this from high school humanities where I often did not get good grades on my work. This was because it was often unorganized and scattered, despite fallowing all the directions of what the essay needed to include.
For research the key terms are; validity, a critical mind, and persistence. When one first starts researching they need to look for many sources and look through many articles to find out what information they are looking for and what information best supports the thesis. Than after looking through a vast amount of sources you will be able to weed out the not credible and less helpful sources. This leads to the critical stage where as a researcher one needs to be picky and only choose the sources that are both creditable, accurate, and supportive to the points you are making in your paper. Then in the end one needs to be persistent because researching can take a long time in order to find the most beneficial sources. I have learned this in my high school US history course where we had to write a long research paper at the end of the term and all three of these terms became very important and involved.
Next think about yourself as a writer and as a researcher. After today's show and tell, define who you are as a writer. Define who you are as a researcher. How do these two identities overlap?
As a writer the first and most important step, which I often struggle with, is understanding the purpose and exactly how to start the paper. Without a lot of structure I find it hard to write, unless it is fictional. So in order for me to be successful if there is not a clear outline or what I need to talk about in the paper I have to create and outline or at least talk about it with another person to really grasp the idea before writing. If not my paper will end up more scattered and less organized which will make it less effective.
As a researcher I often just start with googling and reading a few articles to get an idea of key terms and certain topics that I want to discuss in my paper. I often look for more simple and easy to read sources, because of my dyslexia and not being able to read and comprehend as well. Then once I have a better grasp and understand the basics I then move on to more credible and specific sources that give more details. By doing this process I am able to understand the subject and overall idea better and provide credible and helpful evidence.
And finally bring it all together: begin to theorize about writing. Generate a one sentence theory about writing.
Writing is a way of pictorially communicating by organizing words in certain order to portray, emotion, logic, and reasoning.
I do not consider myself a Webster Dictionary, but for the purposes of this blog assignment I suppose personally defining the terms audience, genre, rhetorical situation, and reflection would be useful. Audience refers to the people who access a particular piece of literature. The audience accesses literature either by reading, viewing, or listening to it. Genre indicates the category with which a piece of literature identifies. Many genres exist, such as historical nonfiction, autobiographical, drama, or romance fiction. A rhetorical situation includes the author, the author’s text, and the audience of the text, and it portrays how the each actor interacts with one another. The commonly used rhetorical triangle helps explain the rhetorical situation. The word “reflection” takes many definitions, however, in terms of writing I define reflection as the process of reviewing a particular text and personally analyzing its effects.
ReplyDeleteThe terms defined above all relate to writing in a very specific way. Audience relates to writing because all pieces of literature need an audience. The audience varies drastically. It can refer simply to the professor grading a student’s paper or it can refer to the millions of people who bought Steve Job’s biography. A well-written piece of literature targets a specific audience, and the author will make certain to address the interests of their proposed audience in their writing. All writing requires a genre as well. A strong writer defines the genre of their writing before beginning their work. This may seem obvious, and although the author may not explicitly say to themselves prior to writing, “today my writing genre is informational,” they implicitly know their works’ genre. Rhetorical situation relates to writing because it lays the groundwork for showing how the audience, author, and text interact. The rhetorical situation is important for good literature because it organizes the writing and defines its purposes, effects, and influences. Finally, reflection is necessary for a solid piece of writing because it shows what the text has effectively accomplished. Hopefully the purpose of a piece of writing is replicated in the reflection.
Before I begin to write I think about two specific key terms: audience and purpose. It is important to define who my audience will be and what I want my writing to accomplish. Before embarking on research I think about evidence and relation. The key term evidence reminds me that solid evidence necessitates successful research. Relation reminds me that despite the plethora of information available, I must limit research to the information that best relates to my writing. Using these terms I issue this writing decree: the most important thing about writing is its ability to interact with the audience based on its purpose-driven text. This belief came from my former WRIT 1122 class where Professor Eric Leake emphasized the interactive abilities of writing.
As a writer I prefer receiving feedback throughout the writing process. I believe in the power of using other people’s perspectives. As a researcher I spend time sorting through material to find the most applicable information. These identities come together and allow me to theorize that writing is a process of gathering information and advice from numerous sources and putting it forth in one’s own words.
Definitions of key terms:
ReplyDeleteAudience- the people targeted by a piece of work, specifically those who will (hopefully) be informed or influenced by it
Genre- the category into which a piece of work falls
Rhetorical Situation- an issue, an audience, and a set of constraints which contextualize a rhetorical work
Reflection- a critical, after-the-fact review which determines the effectiveness and relative success of one’s own work
In the context of good writing, these terms cannot just be considered at the beginning, or serve as a sort of jumping off point. Rather, they must be constantly revisited. It’s easy to get caught up in the writing process and forget the real purpose behind it all, so in order to yield effective results, staying on top of these terms is key.
In my own writing and research, I find the following terms most essential:
Purpose (What am I trying to convey? What is my goal? Why does it matter?)
Voice/Form (Does my presentation style match the rhetorical situation in which I’m working? Will people want to read it?)
Narrative (Have I used effective examples to solidify my points? Will people remember them?)
Opposition (What are possible arguments against my claims and accounts? If necessary, have I properly refuted them?)
Concluding Self-Criticism (Have I really accomplished all of the above? Is this writing worthy of other people’s time and consideration?)
Decree:
Overall, I believe that good writing conveys an idea clearly (concisely, yet fully) and in a way which captivates its audience. “Infotainment,” as it’s been so fondly named, is what I think really makes a piece of writing worthwhile. It should invoke critical thought and encourage understanding, but it should also be lush enough that its absorption is enjoyable.
This belief is deeply rooted in my journalistic background. Especially coming from a high school where the school newspaper isn’t widely appreciated by the student body, I always challenged myself to create stories people would want to read. Whether this means utilizing wit, humor, or just clever approaches to cliché subjects, I’ve found that there’s no reason for a piece of writing, even in a formal sense, to be dull.
Who am I as a writer?
I am someone who wants to articulate ideas in ways which really captivate my audiences. Reading poorly written works is painful and an utter waste of time, so I want to be sure that what I’m producing is worthy of others’ attention. In past efforts to accomplish this, I’ve found that using a more casual, conversational style of writing is key. But that being said, it’s all about the fine balance between clarity and complexity, conciseness and fullness. Oversimplification is no more ideal than convolution.
Who am I as a researcher?
I am someone who wants to change things. I want the world to be different because I was here. For this reason, I tend to gravitate toward more human interest and human rights types of inquiries. Topics of identity (sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, etc.) and hegemony are specific research interests of mine. Such humanistic subject matter can be easily mirrored in interpersonal research methods; I often seek out conversations with experts who can either discuss things with me or suggest other resources for my inquiries.
These identities overlap in their people-oriented natures. I like my reading to be for people, about people.
Once sentence theory:
Writing is all about charisma; if an idea is really going to resonate with people, it must be presented with style and finesse.
There are many key terms which are extremely important to how effective a work of writing is. Audience is the person or larger group the author is trying to reach through his or her particular piece of writing. When I think about audience I generally think of the bigger picture. For example many authors create their works for a national audience such as a writer for the New York Times. In an effective piece of writing the author must use tone and voice which the intended audience can understand and connect with. Genre is the particular style of a piece of writing. Genre is focused on the theme and overall picture of the message. This usually involved the subject the author is writing about. Rhetorical Situation is the context in which the work is presented to the audience. Rhetorical Situation is also concerned with the medium in which the work is presented such as through text or verbal communication. This can also contain two different ideas or thoughts between different groups or people. Reflection is thinking about the piece of writing really focusing on more than just what was said but how it was said and portrayed to the audience. These four key terms play a major role in effective writing. Each one is an important component of the authors overall work and they need to work together to make the writing effective. One of these key terms should not overpower any other key term because they all need to be present in a quality piece of writing. A work of good writing must be ethically done and for this to happen the author must use these key terms and more to his or her advantage.
ReplyDeleteThere are many more key terms authors use than just these four aspects. When thinking about writing and researching I believe flow is extremely important. The piece of writing has to make sense as it goes from one point to the next and this needs to be done in a logical manner for the piece to be effective. Another important aspect of writing is staying focused. An effective piece of writing must stay on track from beginning to end in order to keep the audience engaged. If the audience is not engaged they will either forget what has been written or stop reading all together. Finish is another important term when thinking about writing. It is important that while planning and writing anything to consider how to leave the audience at the end. When finishing essays or longer pieces of writing it is imperative to leave the audience thinking and reflecting upon your piece of writing. The ending is what the audience tends to remember the most. I believe connectivity is important about writing because if you can’t connect your audience then your piece of work really has no meaning to the intended audience.
As a writer I am rather clear cut and to the point with my work. I try my best not to “fluff up” my work with a lot of unimportant material because this usually not helpful to my overall theme. Aside from this, I am not the most comfortable writer because I struggle getting my thoughts out of my head and actually onto paper. Besides this point, I also struggle with beginning any piece of writing because I believe the start to any work should capture its intended audience and make them interested in reading the rest but I have failed to do this over and over again in the past. Overall as a writer I think I am fairly average in my writing ability but there is always room for improvement. As a researcher I usually fail to get past a simple Google search when looking for information on my topic. I like to learn about the topic in which I am researching but I rarely am able to do so. I would say that my research ability is worse than my writing ability mostly because I have not had much research experience in the past. These two should overlap in all aspects because the ability to write and research a topic effectively should go hand in hand with each other.
Writing is getting conceptual ideas out of your head and on to paper while effectively connecting to the audience.
Audience in the context of writing, is the target of the piece being written. The audience are generally the readers and the people who have an interest in the topic. The genre of a piece of writing is referring to the different types of styles and categories the piece falls under. This also includes different types of techniques used when writing. A rhetorical situation is something that is composed of three different aspects. The first being the topic or focus that is being written about. The second is the audience or who you are writing for, in the case of writing the audience can also be thought of as the reader. The final aspect of a rhetorical situation is the writer, the writer must take the topic of the piece and convey it to the audience in a way they can understand. Reflection is looking back t what you have done and seeing how your thoughts or ideas may have changed during the writing process. This also allows us to see what we were thinking while writing the piece and can give a unique perspective on thought process.
ReplyDeleteIn my own writing process, the key terms that I think about before beginning to write are structure, vocabulary, and style. It is important to structure your paper in order for the information to be clearly presented to the audience. Depending on the type of paper being written, the structure of that paper will vary. Some papers, like lab reports, have a rigid structure that do not allow for people to creatively voice their opinions. While others like a short story or piece of friction allow for creativity and freedom. Vocabulary is also a great tool because not only does it reflect well on the writer's intelligence, but it also allows the writer to be more descriptive. One way to examine the style of a writer is by looking at their sentence structure. Before beginning research, some key terms I think about are main idea, credibility, and bias. The main idea is the primary focus of the research, all other sub- topics branch from this. It is always important to keep your main idea in mind. Credibility play's a major role in research because the internet allows for anyone to post information regardless of validity. Since everyone has their own opinions and a writer's voice is reflected in their writing it is important to be careful and recognize the bias present in order to be objective. What I think is important about writing is the connection between the writer and the audience. The best way to write a paper is to put yourself in the position of the audience and see how well you have presented the information.
As a writer I tend to be factual and to the point. Sometimes when I write, I focus too much on what my paper needs instead of what I want to write on the subject. I am also persistent on making sure I get my point across clearly. As a researcher, I consider myself to be thorough and effective. I like to branch off of the main idea in order to look at all aspects of a topic in order to get a fair representation of every side.
Writing is more than just the author and his style, it is also about the audience the piece is speaking to and the topic of the piece.
There are many key terms that can be used to describe writing. Audience means the people that a specific piece of writing was targeting. Audience greatly affects the tone of a piece of writing. A post on Facebook and an essay for a college class sound completely different because they are for two completely different audiences. Genre is what kind of topic it's about. Genre affects writing by changing the audience. The type of people that read websites about technology is different from those that read websites about fashion. While there may be some people that read both, they would expect completely different types of writing from the two. I think a rhetorical situation is the circumstances surrounding a piece of rhetorical writing. A rhetorical situation includes the audience, the writings that came before it, and the viewpoint of the author who is writing. Reflection is the act of looking at oneself an analyzing your own works and thoughts critically. Often mediocre writing uses reflection to conclude the paper, but good writing incorporates reflection into itself throughout.
ReplyDeleteWhen I write, I think about a few key terms. The first one I think of is audience. I’ve already mentioned audience, but it’s one of the first things I look at before I start putting words to pages. Then, I think about my thesis. A thesis is what stance on a topic you are going to assert on a persuasive paper, and what it is you are trying to learn exactly for an informative paper. A persuasive paper tries to argue one side of a topic, while an informative paper states pertinent information about as many takes on a topic as it can. I believe that the most important thing in writing is making your audience think. I’m not sure where I got this belief, but I do know that when reading other people’s work, I try to find this element in their writing.
I’ve only recently felt like I had a grasp of the type of writer I am. I tend to write much in the same way I talk. The best way I write is as a stream-of-consciousness. Voice and organization have been two aspects about my writing that I’ve heard praised. While some structure (like the five-paragraph form) can help my writing by helping me outline what I need to say in my writing, too many constraints limits the flow of my stream-of-consciousness style writing, and often ends up with me writing poorly.
When trying to define myself as a researcher, I find that I don’t really have a good idea about how I best research. While I can usually do good research, I tend not to do effective research. Because I tend to look at the ideas and concepts more than the wording and validity, I have a hard time doing quotes and citations. This is something I hope to improve about myself with this course.
Back in my WRIT 1122 class, we had to define reading and writing at one point. “Reading is the act of taking in literary text and bringing it into your thoughts. Writing is the act of taking those thoughts and putting them into text.” (http://nosimplepost.blogspot.com/2013/01/reading-and-writing.html) While I still think this definition is accurate, I don’t think it does a good job of explaining writings’ importance. If I were to rewrite this now, I would say, “Writing is taking a topic and creating text that incorporates your own thoughts with the topic.”