Thlog 8

After an eventful week, there were various things that stood out to me. First off, we watched some videos of a fella named Bob Ross. He was an old school painter who I thought was not going to be much help to us at all – but I was wrong. By watching and listening to Bob Ross explain his own painting moves, we learned how to apply those same explanations to many things like our final working project. Some things he explained were the reasons for including it in his artwork and what each piece or drawing meant to him. The next video we watched involved four Disney painters who – like Bob Ross – took the time to explain their own moves. Each individual painted the same tree but each finished with a completely different product because they took their very own path/approach to painting the tree. Like Bob Ross, they also explained their painting moves, provided their personal choices, and included any reasoning behind their methods.

Another thing that stood out to me was the frame theory. By zooming on one specific part of the classroom, we all looked at the same thing but with a different frame and a different point of view. Likewise photographers and even authors do the same thing. With framing, there can be aspects that are intentionally left out and others that are emphasized.

The Bob Ross videos, the Disney videos, and the frame theory will help us create our WP3. We can use the frame theory to emphasize one specific aspect in our actual genre creation. By using the painters as guides, we can explain the moves we used in our genre creation in the analysis part of the working project. Overall, the creativity that goes along with this WP is a pleasant change to what we have been doing all this time. I look forward to next class.  

thlog 7

Why is it week 8? Is it just me or is this quarter going by faster than usual. Even if it’s it true there was still a lot of valuable information thrown around in our one class this past week.

 To start things off, we were introduced to two helpful tips. One being “Know what you write” and the other being “Attack the page”. “Know what you write” to me sounds like the very first rule of writing. I really don’t think anyone completely b.s. a paper without having some knowledge or expertise. This helps us look at our writing through two different perspectives and such. I feel like knowing what you write goes farther with confidence. Most of my writings I have written thinking I was the worst writer in the world. But a while I got over and got the assignment done without inhibitions, maybe this plays into “know what you write.” Even though I haven’t tried “attacking my paper“ yet, I feel like this is very useful. In sports, a coach always preaches the “attacking” mentality almost all the time. Attacking a paper would probably boost our performance like an athlete.

After these tips, we jumped straight into business with our peer review. Like before, I always found this time extremely beneficial. I learned that I should focus more on the readings and incorporate them more. Long story short, I still have some work to do and I wouldn’t have known this if it weren’t for peer review.

It just looked at my calendar to make sure, it is week 8 of winter quarter. Our time may be ending but there’s still work to do. I look forward to class this week. 

Thlog 6

There were many little things that I found interesting and helpful from this past week. To start things off, I thought the finding a better word for “says” was really beneficial, especially for me. I’ve fallen victim to using “says” over the course of my entire writing career - I will be first to admit that. “Says” is very limited word. Anyone can “say” anything. Usually, I use that word when I am trying to use a quote in my paragraph and it sounds like “In Article A, author John Doe says…” This type of sentences I feel like I overused and only limited to what I was trying to say. There are many other words that can replace that word such as argues, illustrates, states, interrogates, counters and so on. By choosing a specific word rather than using “says” we can create a better understanding for the reader. Honestly, it just sounds better and adds variety.

Another really helpful tip was “Parallelism” or the similarity in a structure within a series. I have had my trouble with parallelism before but I found this writing tip extremely helpful. Having effective parallelism is easy on the eyes and simply helps the reader remain engaged. The biggest takeaway I got from the weekly tip was to keep the same tense all throughout the series. This is something I will lookout for in the future in my writing.  

As for this upcoming week our WP2 drafts will be due. I look forward to incorporating these tips into my assignment. I also look forward to the feedback from my fellow classmates.  

Pb2b

Five moves from the appendix:

1. Adding Metacommentary/Common used Transitions:

·       Navigating Genres - “In other words, Miller is saying that all genres matter because they shape our everyday lives.” (22). Dirk uses this to break down hard concepts and ideas. He simplifies what the original definition making it easier for the reader to understand.  

2. Signaling who’s saying what:

·       Navigating Genres – “Devitt points out, ‘Different grocery stores make for different grocery lists…Location is surely among the situational elements that lead to expected genres and adaptations of the particular situations.’ (Transferability 218)”. (23). Instead of following the old “Blah, blah, blah” – Author format, Dirk uses a different way to introduce the quote. Breaking from the norm keeps the reader interested and on their toes.

3. Capturing Authorial Action:

·       Navigating Genres –  “Carolyn Miller, a leading professor in the field of technical communication, argues…” (25). Dirk follows the authorial action structure, so he is able to cite an expert. Bringing in an expert gives his article more credibility by having a known name appear. Then we are more inclined to trust the reader and his arguments.

4. Introducing Standard Views:

·       Backpacks vs Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis – Laura Carrol starts her paragraph with, “Imagine the first day of class…at your university. The moment your professor walked in the room, you likely began analyzing her.” (56) This drops the reader into a relatable situation. It creates familiarity and allows the reader to feel comfortable making it an easy read.

5. Commonly Used Transitions:

·       Backpacks vs Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis – “Take, for example, a commercial for men’s deodorant that tells you that you’ll be irresistible to women if you use their product.” (57). Using examples and placing them into paragraphs helps, not only the reader, but the author as well. The author can elaborate and go more into depth by using examples. The reader also gets another understanding to build on.

Five moves I noticed:

1. The other Comma (Parenthesis):

·       Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking) – “In writing up the case (whoops, I have given you a clue), you may add…” (84). Janet Boyd uses parenthesis all throughout her article and even in the title. She mainly uses parenthesis when she goes off topic or wants to mention something unrelated. The extra information is beneficial to the reader since it would give us a better understanding on what she is trying to write.

2. The Ice Breaker:

·       Navigating Genres: “Q: What do you get when you rewind a country song? A: You get your wife back, your job back, your dog back…” Kerry Dirk starts off with humor. This creates a sense of casualness in the reading (breaks the ice). There can also be more humor here and there throughout the paper giving the reader something to look out for. 

3. The You

·       How to Read Like a Writer – “You are reading to learn about writing.” (108) “You could make yourself a list.” (109) Mike Bunn puts the situation on you where he gives you tips and instruction. It is direct and almost like a conversation that helps the reader improve.

4. The Cool Guy Font

·       How to Read Like a Writer – “And here is where we get to the most important part: Would you want to try this technique in your own writing?” (109). I don’t think Mike Bunn uses comic sans but he does use a different font from the rest of his writings. He does this to highlight the important things he tries to emphasize. By doing this, the reader will remember and retain the information.

5. The S-Bomb

·       Shitty First Drafts – “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts.” (75). Annie Lamott uses the word ‘shitty’ to describe a really rough draft. She does this to give the reader some relaxed feeling. By using the word shitty, Lamott makes us think but not an academic way. This encourages our first order thinking while reading and understanding. 

Thlog

For this past week, we talked about a whole lot of moves. At first, I was just kind of lost and even asked myself, “How can a writer have a move?” I didn’t see that connection but after some thought and a helpful People’s Elbow video, I understand what the whole point of the class was. An author’s move can tell us many things like who is the targeted audience, the author’s motives and intentions, and any hidden meanings within the text. Over the course of our lives we have read several books and written so many papers. We may not see it, but those readings from long ago have probably shaped our writings. Basically what im trying to say is that we are probably using another author’s moves right now in our writings and we don’t even know it.

 This idea of moves carried over to the reading of Reading like a Writer. It was actually a pleasant read that helped me identify other people’s moves. By looking at his examples, we can develop and learn moves other writers and use and apply them to our own. We can create and start a new move all by ourselves.

 Overall, this past week opened my eyes to something bigger. I mentioned before about how I want to improve as a writer, I feel like understanding moves would be greatly beneficial to my growth as a writer. I can’t wait to see what moves come next class. 

Pb2A

I decided to do my PB2A on the scholarly article “Immortality and Boredom” by John Martin Fischer and Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin of UC Riverside. After messing around with the library search, I put down some interesting words in the search bar and got an amazing result. Now, I don’t want to live forever nor do I have an obsession with eternal youth or something. But this was a topic that got my attention. By being engaged in the actual reading, I’ll probably do a better job analyzing it. By observing the rhetorical features and conventions, we can answer the questions posed and how concepts were operationalized.

First off, from a quick glance at the scholarly article, we can see some common conventions that can be seen in almost any academic article. There is a big bold title, an abstract, keywords, an introduction, long and multiple paragraphs, a conclusion, and several references. In the abstract and intro we get a sense of what the article will be about. The authors tone is scholarly as well as playful. From the last sentence of the intro the author throws in a short joke, “We hope that this exercise will be illuminating and we also dare to hope that it will not be entirely boring for the reader!” This actually made smile and made me want to keep reading, I was not expecting this especially from a scholarly article. The article itself was not solely on what immortality is and how to obtain it rather it was about what comes with it, which was boredom. From the last sentence the author includes irony that engages the audience and was executed nicely.

After reading a few pages of the article, we can see how the author structured his arguments and evidence to support his thoughts. He included both sides on why it would be boring to be immortal and why it would not be. This inclusion helped the audience essentially choose a side. His pros and cons can help us understand the topic clearly.

The author also posed several questions. For example, some of first questions he posed was, “What kinds of boredom can be seen through immortality?” “Is boredom the same for every immortal individual?” These were the types of questions that brought life to the article. The questions ultimately got the paper to be created and published. By questioning the claims of other philosophers and writers, the authors provided and added their own ideas to the bigger question of immortality. I thought the very important parts of the articles were these ideas of the authors. Where they looked at other works and reacted or responded to them. Their own thoughts have even caused me to wonder about something as abstract as immortality. Encouraging others to raise their own questions leads to new material being created and even published.

Overall, the scholarly article of Immortality and Boredom was an interesting genre. A genre that was quite different from the other types of works we looked at such as, comics, memes, reviews, and letters. From what I saw, there isn’t much separating the two aside from the obvious. Each one had a specific reason to reach an audience. To think, to persuade, or to entertain, are some of the concepts they had in common.

 Immortality and Boredom:

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=34&sid=31be01e9-e938-4c33-8207-bce879cb5a1a%40sessionmgr102&hid=106 

Thlog 4

Week 4 has come and gone really quickly. For this past week, there were many little things that I found especially helpful. One part I really liked was looking at writing and dissecting it, like dissecting a pig. By grabbing a paragraph, we looked for the most important parts of it. Writing basically came down to higher order issues (thesis, evidence, and analysis) and lower order issues (grammar, spelling, and sentences). These two might seem totally different but there are many things in between like tone, flow, and structure. Writing is made up of many things but these are just a few that came off the top of my head. Dissecting is a process much like writing. Another fun activity from last week was the “Murder!” rhetoric activity. In groups, we took on the role of police officers, coroners, and tenants. We assembled stories and pieces by identifying the conventions and genres that came along. We saw how something simple as word choice impacted who we thought wrote the piece. None of us may have been coroners or police officers but we still knew what a police report or a news report looked like. That is because of genre conventions and our growth of using and identifying them.

While it may not seem as much, we actually learned a whole lot of stuff through simple things. I can’t wait to see what’s next in class.