As part of your conference day, you need to complete this blog by 10:00 pm or you will be considered absent.
Essentially, you have thought about your theory of writing at least once in the blog post "investigating key terms." Other blogs have hinted at your theory without being so direct. You are going to continue your thinking, musing, and defining of your theory of writing for this post. This is meant to be reflective in nature, so it's good to revisit some of your old blogs and see what you said.
Questions to springboard your thinking:
Questions to springboard your thinking:
(1) Key Terms for Writing
What are your key terms for writing? How does it expand your writing practices to understand these key terms? How do these key terms connect to your research? Why is it important that you write in different genres of writing (so far, you've experienced the following genres: blog, proposal, report, lit review, outline/brainstorming, reflection)?
(2) Writerly Identity
Who are you as a writer? A researcher? How does considering key terms contribute to the development of your writerly identity? How do you think research, especially inquiry-based research that you're doing right now, contributes to your writerly identity?
(3) Prior Knowledge and Experiences
(3) Prior Knowledge and Experiences
How is writing this quarter similar or different to what you've done in the past? What are you learning that you might carry forward to future assignments, in this class or in others? Will understanding the key terms help you in future?
(4) Theory of Writing
Dr. Seuss known for his witty and oddly inspiring quotes sets the tone for your conclusion of this post. In one-two sentences, write your theory of writing in Dr. Seuss style.
350-500 words. Engage with others (there's at least one or two of you not doing this--you can't receive a check plus without engaging with others...).
When it comes to writing, my key terms are analysis, voice, genre, context, audience and purpose. Without these six components, writing tends to be flat and either boring to read or pointless. To understand these key terms is to have written for long enough as to know what the reader (or audience) is looking for in any type of writing. For example, in a Thank You Card, one must begin by knowing who they are writing to, use the correct language for the given context and audience and say/ convey why they are thankful and how thoughtful the gesture was.
ReplyDeleteThese key terms haven’t yet come into play with my research but provide perspective for where my research needs to go. My topic of research is ADHD specifically it’s legitimacy and its presence within the adolescent community. If I were to only research information that touches on one area of ADHD, my final essay would not have the topic fully analyzed and thus lack purpose.
It is important to have a basic understanding of a variety of genres when it comes to writing because it teaches the writer different ways of thinking. When writing a blog post, the writer is allowed to be less formal and almost type exclusively what they think whereas in a research proposal, a writer must follow the genre and conventions to appeal to their audience that in our case was Professor T.
As a writer I try to be a concise, easy to understand writer whereas in reality this might not be the case. When I write lab reports, short answer essay questions and blog posts, I usually am too concise to the point where my answers are not long enough. This makes me have to go back and add fluff to meet the required length in some cases. When I consider my key terms under my writer’s identity, I contribute most of them to my mentality that I aim to please with my writing. Research contributes to my writer’s identity by providing perspective. Even with assignments that do not require research, having perspective provided by other writer’s opinions on things allows for a different thought process. This allows for writings to be easier to follow by the reader and more concise.
As a researcher I am a thorough researching machine. I try to incorporate as many sources as I can while including multiple different perspectives and experiences. In terms of my research, my three popular sources include an article about teachers advising ADHD, parents and their children having ADHD and lastly a video that talks about the relation of ADHD with video games and standardized testing.
Writing this quarter is similar to how I’ve written in the past because often times the genres are the same. For example, I’ve completed a inquiry-based research paper my junior year of high school where my question had to do with Patrice Lumumba and his role in the Congo. Something that I’ve learned these past two quarters in writing has been to know who the audience is and what are the conventions of a given genre. Remembering these things will lead to better initial drafts and a better understanding of what is expected throughout my college and writing career.
This genre is hard, I don’t like it at all, Dr. Seuss was a genius, writing for all!
Paul-
DeleteIt is interesting that you say: "Writing this quarter is similar to how I’ve written in the past because often times the genres are the same." Indeed, the genres of writing may be the same, but I bet the products of these same genres are much different! Through learning about writing, key terms, and by defining a personal writing theory, I would guess that your writing style has changed....for the better :)
Paul, since I have seen you so much as an engineer, it's interesting to see how you think of yourself as a writer. It sounds like you think pretty highly of yourself as a researcher, being a machine. I associate closely with your style as a writer. Also you have nice theory for writing, I like that you rhymed all with all.
DeleteFor Paul:
DeleteIn my defense the Dr. Suess rhyme sounded better in my head.
Paul,
DeleteI think its great that you are concise in your writing! Often times I find myself rambling on and getting off the topic or just adding unnecessary fluff. I am definitely jealous that conciseness comes so easy to you and I think that, in a lot of cases, your writing would be better without the added fluff because it could take away from what you are really trying to say. Thats just my opinion though and obviously I'm not the grader haha.
I think it would be really interesting if you went back and re read some of your high school writing and compared it to now because I bet there are differences! Just a thought...
Paul-
DeleteI think it is really interesting how you don't think your writing hasn't changed much since we have covered so many different topics and ideas in this class. I know I have learned a bunch. I also enjoyed when you said that you were a fairly concise and easy to understand. I totally see this in your writing and maybe this has to do with your major being engineering? I enjoyed your post!
Paul, I really admire you're style of writing and the amount of vocal that you have, because I lack that. This Genre is hard but it's also fun and enjoyable, especially if you're researching something you love. Go Engineers!
DeleteThe engineering aspect of writing seems pretty interesting! I've read some engineering reports which were very dry, factual, and to the point. Do you think that's how they should be? I get cutting out the useless fluff, but I feel like math/science writings could use a little "dressing up" sometimes.
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe complexities of writing boggle my mind. I have engaged in the process of writing since the age of seven, but obviously my thoughts regarding writing have dramatically changed. Most recently my beliefs about writing incorporate a new set of key terms based on the knowledge I gained in WRIT 1122 and WRIT 1133. I wish to highlight three key terms that I feel necessitates an effective theory of writing. My first term, audience, refers to the people who receive the literature I produce. Whenever I put pen to paper, whether I journal my thoughts in my precious diary that does not exist or I slave my way through a research paper, I must always remember who will read my writing. Likewise, I base my writing on my perceived audience. I will not compose a text message the same way I compose a formal paper because my audiences differ greatly between the two. I also based my writing on what I believe possesses exigency. Exigency, my second key term, plays a vital role in my theory of writing because the content of my writing reflects that which is important to me. Take, for example, the research paper Dr. KT assigned. I will research enormous amounts of data and conduct interviews, surveys, and observations on the effects of abortion in the United States. I chose to research this topic because it is important to me, the rhetor. The role of the rhetor constitutes another vital component to my writing theory. Like I mentioned before, the rhetor writes that which they believe has exigency. Therefore the audience receives the literature written by the rhetor who shapes their argument on what they personally believe has exigency.
I would like to highlight two additional key terms: forwarding and countering. Joseph Harris coined these terms in his book titled Rewriting. According to Harris, all writers engage in forwarding by taking the ideas and thoughts of others and infusing it into their own writing. People know what they know because others present ideas, information, and thoughts to them. The concept of forwarding relates to the law of conservation of mass. (I am not a science geek but I think this is the correct law). Everything comes from something; I will never have the ability to snap my fingers and make a goat appear. While forwarding allows a writer to harmoniously draw on the works of others to advance his or her position, countering disagrees with the work of other writers and uses that disagreement as a way to “open up new lines of inquiry.” Countering plays an important role in writing because rhetors often make arguments against the ideas of others.
To wrap up this blog post I will *attempt* to form a “Dr. Seuss-y” theory of writing based on my key terms. Here it goes: I write what I want; I write what my audience wants; I write what others write; I write in argument against what others write; I am the rhetor.
While I like your paragraph on countering and forwarding, I would argue that in a way we already have these key terms, but in different forms. In Vatz's article we learned of interpretation and salience. Interpretation is taking data and evidence from something presented, or other people's words, and then reshaping these mass amounts of words in a way that speaks what the rhetor wants to speak. Salience is choosing what to make present and what to ignore, or even shoot down. This is the countering side, because the rhetor chooses to dismiss things they find invalid. You seemed to be working off a Vatz model because you chose the rhetor as one of the key terms, so I simply thought of these two terms when you mentioned the rhetor.
DeleteOh also, on a side note. Yes you did use the correct term with Law of Conservation of Matter in that it means matter can neither be destroyed or created. The goat example was perfect :)
DJ-
DeleteThank you for making this connection between interpretation/forwarding and salience/countering. While you make a good argument in connecting the two terms, I chose to separate them for the following reasons. Interpretation is the act of perceiving others' rhetoric while forwarding takes the interpretations and presents them in a new body of writing. Also a rhetor chooses to counter a piece of writing based on how they interpret it. Ultimately, the rhetor will choose to forward and counter that which they perceive as salient.
P.S. Thank you for confirming my correct usage of the Law of Conservation of Matter/Mass :)
My key terms of writing are audience, purpose, exigence, and knowledge. My practice of writing revolves around these four terms because each have their own part to play in the field of writing. When an exigence occurs, it calls me and my writing into action. I then must have the knowledge and skills required to deliver my message to the audience. The fourth term I neglected to mention is purpose; the reason is because I believe that purpose is something within the entire writing context. If a person has no drive or will to deliver this message to the audience, then the message is seen as lacking passion. As two people to explain to you a movie, one person that loves the movie, and one person that is neutral about the movie and was simply asked to tell you the story; more than likely the discourse delivered by the person who loves the movie will persuade you more. That is why I believe purpose and passion to be a large part of writing, either love what you are writing about or find something else to write about. By writing in different genres I have been able to expand these terms and customize them to see which of the terms makes it through the test of genre.
ReplyDeleteMy identity is something I have struggled with because I have been told in years of English courses to keep my personal tone and voice out of my writing. I as a writer have been trying to develop a voice, but it has been difficult. As a researcher I tend to keep a neutral tone in that I see research reports as something that is only meant to report, the only thing that should be persuading your audience is your data. I actually think inquiry-based research does not contribute to one’s identity because one’s identity should not be brought into research. Research is supposed to be something that speaks in a neutral tone and does not take sides by opinion, but sides by fact. A researcher’s job is to present the facts and results found, the audience’s job is to then take these facts and interpret them as the data speaks.
From this class I have gained more knowledge on the research process and how it works, I recall that in my first quarter here in college I was sitting at my desk wondering how in the world one even begins a research paper. Now it is something that I understand and can handle given the appropriate amount of time and effort. Though I may not be consciously aware of it, the terms I have developed now will benefit me in the future as each has their own specific reason for being there. Whether they be there to keep my mind on the task at hand, or whether they constantly remind me of my end goal as I work toward it, each have their own reason and purpose.
Dr. Seuss’s style is a very interesting one that I believe has its own theme to it. His writing is childish and works in the kind of a way that a child understands, however behind this childish exterior is a deeper meaning that even an elder can understand. His writing is meant to be something that a child can read and learn, but an adult can understand and remember.
Just so everyone knows, I misperceived the final piece of this blog. I thought at first we were supposed to write Dr. Seuss's theory of writing, not our own. So yea, that is why my last paragraph makes no sense in comparison to the question. My apologies.
Deletehahaha I personally think Dr. Seuss is one of the most important writers of all time though... he deserves his own part in this blog lol
DeleteGood point Emily, my childhood would not have been the same without those keystone books such as: Green Eggs and Ham or the notorious Oh, the Places You'll Go! I can also catch myself re-reading Go Dogs Go! from time to time, classic novels. To get back to the actual content of this blog post, I thought your terms were well thought out DJ. I completely agree with writing about a topic you are passionate about. With passion or love for the topic the audience suffers as much as the writer. However, as I believe it said in one of our earlier readings it is not always about the topic but the perspective you view it from. Any topic can become one you enjoy by viewing it from a different angle. I believe this is imperative to writing, without it, writing would not be able to appeal to so many different audiences. Great work!
DeleteBy the way, that is supposed to read, "WithOUT passion or love for the topic"
DeleteI like your key terms, especially your description of purpose. Really the only time I like to write, which I am assuming is the same for many others, is when I have a passion for the subject. And without passion for the topic, the writing will really never be as good as it could be. I didn't mention purpose of passion in my post, but I see passion as imperative to the writing process.
DeleteI also like your key terms. I also agree with what you have learned from the research process, at first I felt the same way as if having no idea how to start it. However after the process we have gone through it has making it alot easier to understand. Lastly doctor seuss writing style exhibits a mastery of writing to any type of audience, which is what makes him such an amazing writing. Also were we suppose to write something like he did? or did I do that wrong?
DeleteDuring this class we have learned many different key terms that previous authors have used and thought were important. I believe that the most important term is audience. This is because the audience for your writing is one of the main influencers of how you will write. Every single day we write in different modes, we text, post status updates, write reviews, write papers, take notes etc. If we did not think about audience, all of these different types of writing would make no sense. Our friends would be a bit freaked out if we messaged them saying, “Therefore, due to the high probability of laughter and amusement, it is pertinent that Philly’s on the agenda for this upcoming weekend”. We would never compose a text message like this (my attempt to sound formal on the spot) because it is not how we address that specific audience. Audience, aside from everything else is the most important term to incorporate into my writing that I have learned so far.
ReplyDeleteWriting in Writ 1133 is different than what I have done in the past, especially high school, because I have never focused so much on “why” we write. In high school, all of my writing teachers were not the best. They taught us writing by assigning us a lot of reading and hoped that we would take something away from that. During this class, I have enjoyed learning why/how to write in different styles and genres. In this class I have learned the importance of changing my writing in order to fit the situation. I no longer have a generic voice that I use in every type of writing. In future assignments and classes, I think I can apply what I have learned in this class quite easily. I will always be writing for a different audience and the skills I developed in this class will definitely carry over. I will have a much easier time identifying who the audience is and how I can best change the style of my writing in order to appeal to them.
As a writer, I have struggled to find my own voice in my writing. The majority of writing I have done prior to this class has been very formal- it was all research and history papers. Through this class though I think I have grown as a writer and I have always tried to convey a sense of passion in my writing. I personally do not like writing very much, but when I can write about something I enjoy it makes it a little bit easier. I try to find topics and issues that pertain to my life or that I take interest in so that the whole process is not boring. I hope that this is conveyed in my inquiry based research paper because I tried to pick something that I am passionate about.
Here goes for my Dr. Seuss rhyme! When I write, I write what I like! I write about bikes, and hikes, and tykes alike! I don’t write to bore or make you snore, I write so we can all fly and soar!
Danielle I completely agree with you about how teachers never told us "why" we write. I focused on how I feel a writer's voice is lost through the education process because the grade is more important but purpose can also be lost! I definitely think that's something we have focused on it this class. And I LOVE your little Dr. Seuss poem... very clever :)
DeleteYour comment about Facebook is quite clever, and I completely agree. Audience is a HUGE deal, it is who you aim to please, inform, and interact with. Just like the ridiculous idea of typing a formal Facebook status, it also can be said the other way. Our inquiry based essays should definitely have a level of formality that is similar to wedding attire in terms of writing.
DeleteI love this, Danielle! The Facebook part is funny, but also very true. And your rhyme is amazing.
DeleteI feel like everyone pretty much knows what the key terms are for this class are (or I hope we do by now!). I think each person’s individual key terms are going to be different, though. Personally, I consider my key terms to be voice, audience, purpose, genre and context. I chose these terms because they are what I have in mind when I write. Through these blog posts I have been trying to find my distinct voice, so that is the number one thing on my mind. Audience is something I have never thought about honestly. I always figured a good paper is a good paper. In this class I have used those two key terms as well as the others as what I personally need to focus on to guide my writing. It is these key terms that have also helped me write in different genres. All writing should be slightly different. It is these key terms that help you distinguish between one genre or another. A blog should be casual and directed towards a wide general audience or in our case a small group of blog contributors. A proposal of any sort is usually a slightly more formal voice directed towards one person. In our case it was Dr. KT. Those are just two examples because I don’t want to take up my whole blog talking about this even though I could!
ReplyDeleteMy writing identity has honestly been discovered mainly through these blogs. I used to write more like this but after years of conforming into a very structured generic writer in order to get a good grade; I lost a lot of this. I focus more on just getting my thoughts out first instead of thinking about answering the question, sticking to a prompt, or making sure all of my conventions are perfect. The inquiry based research we are doing now has helped me further my writing identity because the paper as a whole shows a part of me. The subject I am doing is very much a part of me so I think that comes out in my writing.
Ever since about 7th or 8th grade, I think my teachers stopped caring about personal voice in a paper an started trying to teach us the conventions of different papers. This class is different for me personally because it has brought a writers voice back into the spotlight again and I am so glad it has.
Without purpose, how would you know the reasons for which the author writes? Without context, how would you understand the stories that which the author cites? Without audience, it is insignificant that which the author conveys, but without voice, this author goes away.
Well people, the snow has almost completely stopped. I am finally in the right mindset to respond to this blog, I was a bit too depressed the rest of the day.
ReplyDeleteMoving on, the key terms that I find most useful and effective in my writing are: Purpose, Appeals, Audience, and Situation. Honestly, before coming to college I was unsure of the significance of these words in any genre of writing. After applying them in both WRIT 1122 and 1133 I believe I grasp their “salience” in my own writing theory. It is imperative that any genre of writing begin with exigency or purpose. Without a focus for the paper, article, email, text message, etc. the audience will become disengaged and the writing will lack a sense of direction. Speaking of audience, I now understand that if I do not speak to a specific audience in my writing it will not be effective. Establishing an audience provides a framework for the appeals that will be used in the writing. The way in which the rhetor uses the appeals is completely dependent upon the audience. The appeals (ethos, pathos, and logos) can sway the opinion of the audience and effectively relay the rhetor’s purpose. Finally creating a rhetorical situation is extremely important. Determining the situation provides the guidelines for what audience to appeal to, what to make salient, and how to use the appeals. It is important to use different genres of writing as not every form can be applied to each situation. Just as I would not send my friend a formal message over text, I would not submit an essay to my Writing professor with the same tone and genre that I write a text message in.
As a writer I enjoy utilizing descriptive writing to get my point across. I have always been in tune with emotional appeal. I can connect with an audience by eliciting certain emotions from them, and getting them to associate certain feelings with a specific topic or perspective. I am also able to write from numerous perspectives. My writing is never one sided, it provides information regarding different ends of the writing spectrum. Research-inquiry relates to my identity in that I strive to garner more information. I am hungry for more knowledge and once I begin research on a topic I become an expert. I allow myself to become fully engrossed in my research and to delve deeper into the interpretation of the information.
Writing this quarter and last quarter has definitely been a learning experience. Although I was introduced to the rhetorical appeals in high school, I was unsure how to apply them. Also, I did not understand the importance of writing in a genre that suits the situation. Audience was also a foreign concept to me. I wrote for my professor alone, now I am better able to establish an audience and appeal to them specifically. Moving forward, I will use the tools I have learned in WRIT 1122 and 1133 in virtually every class. Writing applies to all facets of our lives and now that I know the different genres, I will be prepared for any writing situation that I am faced with.
And now, for my “Dr. Suess” theory of writing… “I like to write, yes I do. I like to write, you should too. When writing I like an audience and using appeals, while writing I like to enjoy tasty meals. Writing should have a purpose, writing makes me nervous!”
Throughout this course so far, I have begun to develop my own key terms for writing. I say I have just now begun to develop them, but, in reality, I am just now identifying them – they have always been a part of my writing without me knowing it. Genre is more or less what I am writing about, involving style and general topic. The rhetor is me, the person creating the rhetorical situation. Exigence is the existence of a problem which I seek to explain or answer, going back to the topic of my writing. Salience is what I choose to make the most important, to give the most attention in my writing. Audience is who I am writing for, and has a huge influence in my writing. Most notably, the audience influences my tone, but it also influences the subject, my argument, my word choice, and so on. Though I believe the rhetor has more influence in the writing, audience certainly plays a huge role. Finally, there is direction/focus, or where I take my paper. This follows the flow of my arguments and shapes how my writing develops. My writing process is expanded by knowing these key terms because I make a more conscious effort to consider them all. The biggest change I have noticed is in being more aware of my audience, which seems to shape my writing more when I think about it. I believe it is important to write in different genres in order to diversify one’s personal writing skills and because certain genres are more appropriate for certain issues.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, and as a researcher, I am still a student. I do not claim to have any excellent skill at either of these – I am still learning – but I have certainly improved over time. Doing research helps me develop my writerly identity because it exposes me to all difference kinds of writing and shows me different styles that I can pick up and add to my own writing repertoire.
This quarter is much different from my writing in the past. Before this, I mainly wrote solely for academic purposes, in a “scholarly tone,” and did not diversify my writing portfolio. Even with the research paper, I have never taken an approach to it like this. This more step by step process with research reports and lit reviews has allowed me to better understand my research and compose, hopefully, a better piece than I would have before.
I write it for you, I write it for all. The rhetor, they say, is by what I am called.
My key terms for this class at this point are rhetorical situation, audience and salience. I find these three key works the most important to my writing. I actually didn’t learn the importance of either rhetorical situation or salience in my WRIT 1122 class (I did learn how importance audience was) but since being in the WRIT 1133 class, it has shown me the importance of not only these few keys terms but many others as well. I picked these three because I find them most important to my own writing process. During my entire writing/researching process I get to make the decisions on what words, statistics and points I make salient or important in my work. This greatly influences how the audience interprets my writings. I can pick and choose depending on who the audience is I am writing for. Rhetorical Situation is probably my most important key term for this class. I chose this word because it seems to be the overarching idea through most of our activities and writings for WRIT 1133. How does the Situation affect the rhetorical situation or how the rhetor (me in this case) perceives things to be important.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer I am very straightforward and to the point. In my writings there are not a lot of extra words because they take away from the actual meaning I am trying to get across to my audience. This WRIT 1133 class has taught me a lot about myself and even more about my writing styles, both of which I believe have gotten better so far. As a researcher, especially conducting the inquiry based research essay, has shown me how to ethically gather the information for my paper through many different ways than just the typical “Google” search. The observation, interview and survey are all ways that I had never had to gather information from in the past, but I see this as a learning and growing experience for my writing. Since I have to conduct these other ways of getting information, I can further decide what I want to give salience to and how to portray that to my targeted audience for them to interpret.
WRIT 1133 has definitely been a helpful class for me this quarter. This had been the most useful writing class I have taken in the past few years because it has taught me so much about how to write an effective paper. Rhetorical Situation was the key term that I have learned the most about this year. I knew absolutely nothing of this idea before I stepped foot into the classroom 6 weeks ago. I also think it is very interesting that there two very different definitions (Vatz and Bitzer) which helps me make sense of rhetorical situation.
I’m going to try this… Writing is like a lengthy journey, but no I am no attorney. Writing takes lots of work and sometimes I just want to go berserk.
If I had to think about the key terms that best fit me as a writer I’d say audience and genre, I think they are closely tied, and rhetor. I have always been someone who enjoys writing but often get frustrated when I have to write in a style that constricts my creative nature. I love to write on tangents and essays analyzing classic texts because you get to infer a lot. When stuck with something like our current research essay, I have to strap down a bit and get into a mode of writing I normally am not into. This is because the genre needs to be respected. As a writer and from this class, I’m learning to that the well-rounded writers are those who can transcend genre boundaries. Rhetor is important due to this as well because I need to display my message throughout genres so that it can be appropriate for my particular audience.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, like I talked about earlier, is creatively based. I want to a preparatory school where the biggest thing I took away from my schooling was how to write essays. Mostly essays for English classes but overall I learned how to analyze texts well. The thing is, I was able to skip WRIT 1122 so I’ve been kind of thrown into the waters with this class. My writing skills have faded a bit but I’m starting to get it back. The thing I’ve enjoyed about 1133 is that it’s shown me what I need to do to take my writing to another level. I need to think more critically and really be careful in my choices for what I put into papers. As a researcher, I am somewhat inexperienced. I typed several research papers for science and history classes but never inquiry based. I’m excited to involve observation and interviews into my writing and see what that looks like.
Overall, this class has been a great experience. It gives me a break from the monotony of my Daniels required classes and lets me see a different side of school instead of study, study, study, test, study…
My stab at Dr. Suess…With writing you can go, to places unknown, sharing the idears that you never knew could appear.
Writing was not something I liked doing for most of my life. There are still times where I struggle to write. I have known for a while why I have trouble writing most of the time, engagement. If I can’t engage with my writing assignment, the writing is scattered and doesn’t read well. Once I got into the zone with my lit review and just spend a few hours straight writing, I produced some of the best writing I have done this quarter. I know I write best as a stream-of-consciousness, and when I engage with the subject and I know what I want to say, the words just flow.
ReplyDeleteI, personally, don’t like the idea of key terms. I know I’m taking a contrary opinion to most people in this class, but it true. I don’t like them for two reasons. One, they put too much emphasis on the words themselves. While many of the concepts discussed in this class are useful, calling them “key terms” makes it such that the concepts themselves are not the important part. The problem with words is the way semantics works. If we say that the word is the important part, then we are not addressing our differing definitions of these words. Also, when we try to define the importance of key terms, we get further away from the concepts they are supposed to represent. It’s not that any one concept is more “important” than others, but instead it’s how these all interact together that’s important.
I will say that this class is both more of the same, while at the same time being completely different. I had many classes in high school where we did research papers, and a lot of the same ideas are there. There are, however, many more reasons why this is different. In addition to the more obvious, such as using APA and requiring more widespread sources, this class has a different focus from what I’ve been used to. While all the classes I took in high school wildly varied in focus, they never did a lot of the things we do in this class. I had never heard of a lit review before this point. I think this is because most (but not all) of the papers I’ve done previously were more about one thing, such as analysis of a single book or article. Being able to branch out and use wildly varying sources is something that I think is important that I am learning how to do it effectively in this class.
It doesn’t matter how you write,
As long as you try.
So go and just do it.
Just write, good-bye.
I’ve grown quite a bit since I took WRIT 1122 and the range of key terms that I’ve gained has become wider and wider. My key terms now are Connection, analysis, genre, audience, rhetoric, rhetorical analysis, reflection and transfer. I’ve realized day after day that when I understand those key terms further in class discussions and through various assignments, my writing tends to become of better content. What I mean by content is everything I include in my writing; organization, flow, ideas, hooks etc.
ReplyDeleteThese key terms connect to my research strongly, especially connection. I’ve noticed that connection is the key to everything and it gives many people a solution to create a very strong and connected piece of writing. This relates to my research as to where I have to argue an idea and find connections between sources as well as find connection between my the topic and real life examples. The other key terms help me define and create the final draft of this research through structure and interesting style.
My identity as a writer is changing as I go through these writing classes or simply put, as I write more. This kind of Genre of writing, research, is introducing me to a whole new level and whole new world of writing. I used to think of my writing style as simply reporting or answering the question. Now, I’m digging through databases and finding sources. Furthermore, I’m finding connections deep within those sources and I’m analyzing this information, not just reporting it.
Therefore, I can say that writing this quarter helped me understand writing more than before. In WRIT 1122, I learned how to write and why, I learned the idea of writing and how it comes into existence. Now I’ve learned how to create more developed pieces of writing where I contribute to my piece of writing with new information that I created due to the analysis of the body of research I have at hand.
I can’t put it as simple and beautiful as Dr. Seuss has but I’ll try. My theory of writing is “gain, be amazed, write!,” where gain would stand for any kind of information I gain throughout my life, then, if I become astounded by it, I’ll definitely write about it.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this class we have been doing different activities and different assignments that make us think about the different aspects of writing in order to help develop our own theory of writing. Over the past 5 weeks, the terms that have had the most significant meaning to me are audience, purpose, choice, and context. When I think about these terms, I feel as though they have the most relation to the voice of my paper. Depending on the different types of audience, content, choice, and purpose, one paper can be drastically different from another. For something like an email, the audience is whoever you are sending it to, this could be a formal email to a professor or a quick message to a friend. The terms reflection is just as important as my other terms, but are not related like the other terms seem to be. So far in my research these terms have not played a major role. I am still in the research/ lit review stage of my paper and these terms apply more to the writing aspect. Although as I am conducting my research, I am making sure to keep these in mind so I will have a better idea of where I want to go when I sit down to write. Practicing writing in different genre’s is important for many reasons, in relation with my terms, my audience, purpose, and context are most likely going to vary between different genres. This is so important because it gives us experience writing in a completely different style and broadens or skills as writers. Another benefit of writing different genres of papers is that it better prepares us to write in a new genre that we have not experienced very much. Being able to adjust your writing style is essential in order to be a good writer.
As a writer, I consider myself to be someone that likes to fit the prompt. I generally have a more difficult time taking an idea and elaborating on it. In most of the writing that I do, like lab reports and emails, I try to be straight and to the point. Until more recently, this was very apparent in the length of many of my papers. Although working on different types of writing has helped me to focus more on writing what I feel, as opposed to trying to have the right answer. As a researcher, I am often more focused on looking for specific information which is not necessarily the best way to go about research. I am working on letting my research guide me instead of the other way around. Considering my key terms also impacts me as a writer. My key terms all drastically impact the style of the paper that I am writing, the terms have helped me to look at all the different aspects that shape my paper and adjust my writing accordingly. Research also contributes to my identity as a writer because it exposes me to papers with different audiences, choice, purpose, and context. All of the different scholarly articles I have been though let me see a new style that I may think is effective and apply in my own writing.
The writing that I have done this quarter is much different than the writing I have done in the past. In previous years, the majority of my papers were summaries or analyses of a book or movie. So far this class has had me exploring my own thoughts and has helped me to grow as a writer. Learning to write different genres is a skill that I can apply whenever I need to write in a new style.
Dr. suess was pretty cool, I forgot to turn this in on time, please give me credit
Way to turn it in 52 minutes late Bro.
DeleteLOL Paul, are you waiting to see when everybody turns the blog in?
DeleteConference Day Blog
ReplyDeleteFor me, my key terms are; audience, purpose, situation, and context. Without using these key terms it is nearly impossible to write anything with meaning or that conveys anything. I know this is a very strong statement, however truly try to come up with a sentence that does not convey meaning, without using any of these terms. These four terms are always considered and used in any piece of writing.
All of these terms connect to my research; first I will discuss audience, audience is considered throughout my whole paper and is the reason for writing it. My audience is the university of Denver board. The purpose of my paper is not notify the school of the benefits and drawbacks of the current use of the climbing wall, and what they can do to improve it. The Situation is that the climbing wall at DU is currently under utilized by the student body. And lastly the context of the paper is in door climbing walls and the effects it has on students and the university.
I believe it to be important that we write in different genres so that when we go into the work force and out of school we are experienced in writing to all different audiences.
I view myself as a writer with a purpose of conveying a message, meaning, or in ordering to convince my audience of a certain view or idea. As a researcher I like to use electronic sources over actual paper or books, because I am a dyslexic learner and it makes it easy for me to use electrical files. This way I can have the material red to me and better understand. I am also able to take notes and have sections read back to me over and over if I don’t understand them. Lastly when I have all my sources in one place, my computer, I am able to better organize my sources therefore creating a stronger paper in general. When considering key terms it makes you think as a writer in a deeper sense and actually brake down how you write, which will in turn make you an even better writer. The research I am conducting adds to my identity as a writer, because every new piece of writing one creates is another layer adding to your specific writing style.
What I have learned from this class, in research in specific is that even if you choose a topic that is not highly researched or studied you can still conduct meaningful and interesting research. I believe that constantly reassessing ones key terms for writing will help one constantly improve their skills and grow.
The more that you write
The more things you will understand
The more that you improve
The more success will flow
I think it's really good that you're coming up with suggestions for the wall's improvement. Considering the audience, this piece could come across as whiny, but it sounds like you're going to kill it!
DeleteMy key terms:
ReplyDelete-Purpose (Why write at all? If there’s no real motivation, goal, or general purpose, I might as well not waste my time. Of course, a purpose doesn’t have to be grand and sparkly; it could just be that I need to practice, formulate an idea, or get out some feelings. But unless I know why I’m writing, it’s worthless.)
-Voice/Form (Does my style match my audience? topic?)
-Narrative (Have I told a story, or at least made my points memorable? What will the audience take away? Will they feel like reading my work was worthwhile?)
-Opposition (What could people say against my claims? What would my harshest critics say about my work?)
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Who am I as a writer?
In general, I write as a means of connecting with people.
My high school writing career was spent on the newspaper staff, so I have a solid background in writing short (400-word) pieces which are highly accessible. I wanted anyone to be able to pick up my writing and understand it-- anything to get kids to actually read the paper! I was known for fiery opinion pieces and editorials which bashed school policies... sometimes even the administration. But hey, teachers and other students loved it!
Even in my academic writing courses, I tried to emphasize the connectivity of writing. I always tried to make my points very easy to follow, even if they covered complex ideas. This has stretched into my college writing career too. I’ve written TONS of reflective essays, especially for culture classes. I think the trick for my research/inquiry essay will be trying to leave myself out of the mix. I’m so used to conversational tones and discussing my own opinions and experiences that it’ll be hard to be so acutely academic. I think that constantly revisiting my key terms (specifically purpose and narrative) will help me past this. I hope.
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Theory of writing-- Dr. Seuss Style:
You have brains in your head; there is nothing to dread.
Write what you write and your thoughts won’t be dead.
The words must be heard; do not be deterred.
This world is too comfy; it needs to be stirred.