Thlog 7

This week we only had class on Monday so there isn't quite as much to talk about.  We continued our work towards WP3 and finished the PB3's.  I found PB3A to be fairly easy to write while brainstorming for it was the real work.  I think the ideas I came up with were very solid but I am still a little intimidated at the size of the project.  In particular I am still trying to figure out how I'll put together the younger genre.  I have the idea in my head but actually making the book seems like it could take some work. Nevertheless, I'm excited to get a little more creative than I was able to in the last two WP's.  I found comments from my classmates and Zach to be very helpful in taking my WP3 to the next level.  Zach's comment about being more specific with my older genre type was helpful and actually forced me to think deeper about the conventions.  I'm looking forward to this WP and hope it turns out as planned!

PB3A

In WP3 we are putting our knowledge of genres and their conventions to the test.  The idea is to take a scholarly article and translate it into two different pieces; one geared towards older people, and the other geared towards younger people. With that said, it is obviously important that we keep the rhetorical features of each genre, specifically audience, in mind.  We need to take the information from the scholarly article, and translate it so that it can be interesting to and understood by our new audience.

For my scholarly article I decided on the topic of exercise.  I chose this topic because I believe it is something very relevant for both younger and older people.  It makes more sense to present a topic that these audiences would normally be interested in to begin with.  After searching the UCSB library I decided on the peer-reviewed article “Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise,” by J Vina, F Sanchis-Gomar, V Martinez-Bello and MC Gomez-Cabrera from the Department of Physiology at the University of Valencia.  This article postulates the idea that exercise can be considered a drug based on its effects on the brain.  It also says that exercise, like any drug, has a proper dosage to create the most beneficial results.  Now, the task before us is to take this information and transform it into something that would be both interesting and appropriate for our new audiences.

For our younger audience, I hope to create a children’s book.  This is a textual genre intended for much younger audiences.  To create something like this, we must understand the conventions of the genre and change our current article to fit those conventions.  The first thing that comes to mind when you think of a picture book is the large, often colorful and cartoony pictures.  These are there to keep a young child interested and help them to view the content in a way that is simple and easy to understand.  Another convention of children’s books it the small, simple sentences that accompany these pictures.  When it comes to children, the simpler the information is presented, the more they will understand and maintain interest.  This is where we will put most of the information from the scholarly article in a much simpler presentation.  Big fonts and colors are also a common convention found in children's’ books.  The large and colorful presentation makes it easier for kids to read and stay interested.  Most children’s books have the purpose of teaching a valuable lesson to young developing children.  In this particular case we will be teaching children the importance of exercise and how it can be helpful to their health as well as exciting.

For our older audience, I will create an online mainstream news article.  This is a genre geared towards an audience that is old enough to use the internet and be interested in reading the news.  One convention of this genre is the use of a big hook of a title.  The title is often the link that interests the reader and gets them to look further into the article.  Another convention of this genre is the use of smaller professional pictures or visual aids that relate or add something to the information being presented.  These types of articles are often intended to be informative and use higher level but informal vocabulary.  The information needs to be given in way that is appropriate for adults, but not be as dry as a scholarly article would be to the general public.  Comments at the end of the article are also a big convention of this genre.  This determines how the public perceives the article and sparks further discussion and clarification of the ideas in the article.

These are the general ideas I have decided on for these two translations.  The details are still in the works but the key for planning this project is to outline the conventions of each genre.  If I can create a sort of skeleton or template for both transformed genres, I can tailor the information from the scholarly articles to fit.

Thlog 6

This week was a little different.  First of all we finished up working on our WP2's.  I was pretty worried about this project but as I got into it, things sort of fell into place and I found the writing came relatively easy.  I got some good advice from talking to Zack after class and it really helped me to narrow down my focus.  I found it helpful when I created specific question for myself using all the questions in the prompt.  I am pretty happy with the result of the WP and Zack's comments will definitely help me to improve more so on the next one.  I think this WP went far better than the last and that is obvious in the grade.  Another thing different about this week was that we had an online class.  I was pretty excited for this because I would be able to do my work from the comfort of my dorm.  However, I found the communication with the class was a little difficult.  The class was effective and I believe we got most things done, but I think it would have been just as, if not more effective had it taken place in the classroom.  Nevertheless, it was an interesting experience and I wouldn't mind doing it again from time to time.  Zack tells us that the hard part is over and now the fun part is beginning with WP3.  I hope he's right!

Artist's Moves

• What are some "moves" you see in these videos? 

The artists clearly describe what they are doing as they do it so that the audience understands.  Everything is very step by step and basically holds the audience's hand through the process. The artists all also describe their thoughts and have constant stream of consciousness that makes the audience aware of everything that is happening. 

• How do these artists describe what they’re doing?  What do the artists refer to while they describe their work?  What do they talk about?  What do they direct our attention towards?  

The artists all describe exactly what, how and why they are doing.  They provide their thoughts to the audience to make it clear.  They refer to the object they are painting and how they view it throughout the process.  The main focus is on the process itself.  Each artist is constantly referring to the steps and actions that they are taking. Almost as though they are giving instructions for someone who is painting for the first time.

• How would you characterize each artist's style, and what impact does their style have on you (a viewer/audience member)?  How have these artists chosen to portray their subject matter?  

All the artists approach their work differently.  They each compare the tree to something different.  By describing what they believe the tree to be similar to, they give the audience an idea of their style. They present these different styles, however, in the same manner.  Each has a step by step, methodical way of explaining exactly what is going on.

Journal Responses 11/4

Q1. So, in the end, how’d your WP2 paper go? What were you happy with? What weren’t you? Why? Be specific! (Remember: this is fodder for your end-of-quarter metacognitive reflection)

Overall I was happy with the way the paper turned out, but I felt like I really had to struggle through this one.  It felt a bit tedious giving example after example and I felt I was repeating myself at times.  I was happy with the way I was able to incorporate quotes from the sources and course readings to introduce and reinforce my main points.

Q2. Which 2 or 3 comments that you received yesterday were the most helpful for you? Why?

One comment told me to be more specific in my thesis and it helped me to go back and edit it which as a result changed my entire essay.  Another comment told me I needed to bring in more quotes from the course readings and it made me go back and look through the book which not only gave me some solid quotes, but also gave me more ideas about what I should write about.

Thlog 5

This week we continued to prepare for WP 2.  I was pretty happy with how my PB2B turned out.  I found that the examples came easily and flowed but it was a bit tedious and drawn out to use so many.  Approaching WP2 I am a little concerned about the prompt.  If I only had to compare publications from two disciplines it wouldn't be too hard, but I am worried throwing that third source in there may make things a little more difficult.  I am also concerned that the amount of parts to the prompt will make my essay a little convoluted because there is not one specific question for me to answer.  I found the in class discussion about disciplines to be helpful and thought it was interesting the way different departments approach the same issue.  I'm still struggling to connect the topics in class to my life and as a result I am still with a lack of interest.  This can make writing fairly difficult for me but hopefully I can pull it together for WP2 and get some work done.

PB2B- Show Me Your Moves

When you read a book, what is your goal? If you haven’t given the question much thought, your answer is more than likely along the lines of “to gain knowledge of the information written within it.”  However, there is another reason we may want to read.  This reason is to become a better writer.  Mike Bunn discusses this in his essay “How to Read Like a Writer”.  In the essay he describes how instead of reading to understand content, we can read to analyze why the author does what he does.  “Reading this way becomes an opportunity to think and learn about writing (Bunn 74).”  When we read this way, we start to notice things about writers’ strategies.  Many times these strategies that the writer incorporates are called moves. Every written piece is full of moves, whether the author is conscious of it or not, and if we analyze moves from others, we can begin to develop moves of our own.

On the topic of moves, there is a book titled They Say / I Say, in which the authors, Gerald Graff, Kathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst, discuss specific moves and how these moves can influence a reader.  One example of a move discussed in this book is “Introducing Quotations”.  Kerry Dirk uses this move in her essay “Navigating Genres” when she says, “Carolyn Miller, a leading professor in the field of technical communication, argues that “a rhetorically sound definition of genre must be centered… (Dirk 252)”.  While this move may seem suddle at first, it is actually a very deliberate strategy used by the author.  Dirk is using her introduction of a quote to establish credibility by mentioning her quote’s credentials, as well as stating the quotes purpose by using the action word “argue”.  Another move Dirk uses from the book They Say / I Say is “Adding Metacommentary”.  She says, “In other words, knowing what a genre is used for can help people to accomplish goals, whether that goal be getting a job… (Dirk 253)”.  In this particular move, Dirk is using a transition phrase to explain a quote in terms that the reader can understand.  Metacommentary isn’t the only way to explain a quote.  In fact, “Explaining Quotations” is a move of its own in They Say / I Say.  Dirk uses this when she says, “You can see that this letter does several things… (Dirk 260)”.  By using this move, Dirk addresses her audience on a personal level, as well as sets herself up to explain the quote.  Another example of a move from They Say / I Say is “Capturing Authorial Action”.  In “Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis”, Laura Carroll uses this move when she says “The PSA is responding directly to the fact that kids are not getting enough arts education (Carroll 50).”  By using this move, Carroll is able to identify exactly who is doing what in a quote given before.  Another great move given in They Say / I Say is “Introducing Standard Views.”  In the essay “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott writes, “People tend to look at successful writers who are getting their books published and maybe even doing well… (Lamott 75)”.  In this quote, the author is identifying a widely held view, and now has the opportunity to reinforce or differ from it.

While They Say / I Say gives some great examples of moves, it is most certainly an incomplete list.  Moves are not always so clear cut.  Moves can be almost anything an author does that influences the reader or changes the writing.  One can look at a page, pick a sentence, and identify a move based on how that sentence is used.  For example, looking back at “Navigating Genres”, there is a sentence where Dirk says “I will admit that the word genre… (Dirk 251)”.  We can call this move “Conceding”, because Dirk is conceding the idea that something adverse to her argument may be true.  While this move hurts her argument slightly, it actually helps it in the long run because it shows that the author is honest and presents both sides of the argument, creating credibility.  Another move we can find Dirk using is what we can call “Stepping Back”.  She uses this move when she says “By this point you might realize that… (Dirk 253)”.  We call this move “Stepping Back” because the author uses a phrase that shows the piece being read like a timeline, and helps the reader realize how much they've read, and what they should have gained from that reading.  It is an effective move because it gives the reader a second to pause and think back to what they have read, ensuring that they have comprehended the material.  Another move I found in the course readings is what we will call “Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself”.  Peter Elbow uses this move in “The Learning Process” when he says, “As a teacher, it helps… (Elbow 60)”.  This move is intended to re-establish the authors credibility and remind the reader that they know what they are talking about.  This is effective because it convinces the reader that what they are hearing isn’t a bunch of nonsense from someone uneducated.  Another move used by Laura Carroll in “Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis” is what we will call “Wrap it Up”.  She writes, “Finally, you might want to think… (Carroll 50)”.  By using the word “finally”, Carroll is effectively transitioning to what will be her last point.  This move is also effective for summing an idea up when the transition word is changed to something like “In conclusion”.  Looking back at “Navigating Genres”, Dirk uses another move called “My Thoughts”.  She writes “I think it’s time to try our hand at… (Dirk 256)”.  Although this is a clearly planned out essay, she writes as though she is thinking out loud to give the appearance that it was a spontaneous thought.  This is an effective move because it keeps the reader interested by making the reading seem less formal and boring.

Moves come in all different forms.  Moves don’t have to be distinct and set like those found in They Say / I Say.  A move can be anything an author does, whether they realize it or not, that affects the reader.  If we start asking ourselves why those moves affect us like they do, we can begin to develop our own moves and improve our writing.

Thlog 4

Week 4 has come to pass and we have finished up the first part of PB2.  I have found myself struggling to find motivation and inspiration in my writing this year.  Ordinarily I find writing easy and it just flows, but as we continue to write about textual genres and conventions, I find my lack of interest in the topic hinders my writing.  Regardless of how hard I try to convince myself that there is something useful to be gained from this topic, I find myself spending a long time sitting in front of my computer struggling to put what I want into words.  Hopefully if I work on starting my papers with first order thinking and return to revise it with second order, things will flow a little better for me.  I found the reading this week, "How to Read Like a Writer" by Mike Bunn, to be particularly interesting.  The main idea that I got from this reading is that I should begin to ask myself what specifically the author did to make me feel a certain way or reach a certain conclusion.  This ties in well to our current lesson of "moves".  Mike Bunn's reading is telling us that we can gain knowledge for our own writing by trying to determine what moves the author of our reading makes, and how those moves affect us.

PB2A- SCIgen is a bunch of nonsense

The random computer science paper generator “SCIgen” is intended to create works that appear to be complex research papers.  The randomly generated papers all abide by a set of conventions that make them similar, but the content is mostly a bunch of words thrown together.  When a paper from SCIgen, “Trica: Replicated Symmetries”, is put up against an actual scholarly publication,  “Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisements”, it is interesting to compare and contrast.  From the start, it is clear that the SCIgen paper is laid out to imitate an actual scholarly paper. Both are very similar in structure in the way they have abstracts, results, discussion, and other characteristics of a real research paper.  At first glance, you could be led to believe that a paper from SCIgen has all the conventions of a scholarly paper, but there are some very notable differences when it comes to a full rhetorical analysis.  The biggest key difference is the purpose of the papers.  The purpose of a scholarly paper is to contribute something new to the field it is written for.  In the case of “Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisements”, the publication is meant to add to the study Economics and Business.  Given this information, the content of the paper must be thoroughly thought out and peer-reviewed before it can ever become published.  The SCIgen paper, on the other hand, does not have such a serious or meaningful purpose.  These papers instead are intended to fool the reader into thinking it is legitimate, when in reality they are a bunch of meaningless words thrown together.  These purposes are clearly tailored to different audiences.  While the SCIgen paper is obviously just written to impress someone who only skims over it and reads a few complex words, the scholarly paper is written for educated readers who intend to actually learn something in the field of economics and business and will read the publication in depth to gain a better understanding.

Looking at the scholarly publication ‘Who does Red Bull give wings to? Sensation seeking moderates sensitivity to subliminal advertisements”, it is clear that the paper emphasizes credibility.  It is apparent that what gives this paper such power is the fact that everything is backed up.  To start, the paper is peer-reviewed.  This means it has been proofread and and edited by countless other individuals, all of them with their own credibility.  Names are listed on the side of the paper to show exactly who has done what to make this paper what it is. Not only is the paper peer-reviewed, but every claim, fact, and data point given in the paper is backed up by a number of references or sources all listed at the bottom of the page.  These are all strategies to create an underlying ethos appeal that makes the reader believe what they are reading is accurate.  Another thing that strikes me as important in this piece is the organization.  Everything in this paper is rigidly structured, from the way they introduce the topic, give data and results, analyze the data, and tie it all together in a conclusion.  The organization of the paper provides more credibility by giving it a professional appearance, as well as creates an underlying logos appeal by giving information in a clear, step by step method.  This allows the reader to better understand the information and reach the same conclusions as the author.

Thlog #3

This week we continued to finish up our work on WP #1.  After revising my draft and turning in the final, I am pretty happy with my work, but I know there is much I can do to improve on future WP's.  I am continuing to try to use Elbow's writings to help me be more creative.  Keeping the idea of first order thinking in my head to start has really allowed me to get more ideas down onto paper and let my writing flow.  I hope this is a skill I will be able to develop further throughout the quarter.  This weekend was great to have a bit of a break and I'm ready to get back to work on the next WP.

Thlog 2

This week in writing 2 was mostly a continuation of the work we have been doing thus far. We continued our focus on textual genres and the conventions that define them.  I have definitely improved my understanding of these genres and that understanding has helped me with PB1A and B. Our next task is to construct WP #1.  In WP #1 we are supposed to analyze the rhetorical features and conventions of a genre and demonstrate how they represent that genre.  As I approach the assignment, I am trying to find a genre that will give me lots of examples so that I can go into depth with my rhetorical analysis. The task looks fairly difficult and time consuming so I will be sure to spend a solid amount of time researching and writing. I am looking forward to the next week in writing 2 and am interested in what new topics we will discuss.

PB1B- Understanding Genre

Identifying a literary genre is not difficult.  It is easy to read something and categorize it as one thing or another without actually thinking very hard.  However, if we examine the topic further and try to describe why it fits in that category the task becomes slightly more difficult.  The question then becomes, “What makes a genre a genre?”  The answer is not as simple as it would seem.  Genres are defined by the conventions or common traits of the works within them.

Online there are several “genre generator” websites that randomly produce literary works within a specific genre based on computer science.  Examining these generator websites can allow someone to better understand what a genre actually is.  To create these generator programs, the programmers must set some guidelines.  These guidelines are the conventions that make a genre what it is.  The programs must allow for random selection of content, but still maintain the basic structure that makes it fit the genre.

An example of one of these genre generators is the website pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen. This website randomly produces complete research papers designed to fit the conventions of the genre.  In this particular case, the works produced must have a very strict structure.  The genre is characterized by the title, abstract, introduction, design, sources, and several other sections that make up the paper as a whole.  Upon examining the papers produced by this generator it is easy to tell the the conventions of the genre by comparing similarities between the randomly produced pieces.  Since the conventions of this genre are so apparent, one can categorize one of these works without even understanding the content.

Another example of a genre generator is the website pandyland.net/random.  This website also is programmed to produce random works of a specific literary genre.  In this particular case, the genre is comic book strips.  When it comes to comic book strips, the genre is defined by its appearance.  In a comic strip, there are squares lined up next to each other, each depicting a scene.  Generally these scenes have drawings along with dialogue and interactions between characters.  If you were to generate new strips on this website continuously, you would begin to notice that these are the things that stay consistent regardless of the content.  This is because they are the conventions that make up the genre. By examining how conventions are consistent throughout the genre on this website, a viewer can grasp a better understanding of what genre is.

The third website we have that generates works within a literary genre is memegenerator.net.  This website is meant to provide a platform for people to create their own memes, a form of satire commonly found on the internet.  This website makes it very easy to identify the conventions of the genre because it provides a structure for the user to fill in the blanks.  The structure provided is exactly what makes a meme a meme.  It is characterized by a picture background with a two part caption involving writing at the top and bottom.  It is a simple design, but it does an excellent job of displaying how a genre is defined by conventions, and if someone were to view the process of creating a meme they would gain a better understanding of genre as a whole.

All of these websites are an example of how works fit into a genre based on their conventions and by using those conventions we can make anything fit a particular genre.  If someone wanted to gain a better understanding of what genre actually is, playing around with these websites would show them exactly this point.  Defining genre is not an easy thing to do but the key is to comprehend how genre is defined by conventions.

PB1A

It is often questioned how a literary genre is defined.  Many genres do not necessarily have strict rules, but rather a set of conventions or guidelines that works tend to follow to fall into that category. There are many obvious genres like novels, articles, and essays, but genres can be much smaller and more specific.  For example, religious scriptures can be classified as their own literary genre.  This is one of the oldest literary genres in the world and is referenced very often.  The most well known books and scriptures in the world fit into this genre and include the Bible, the Quran, the Book of Mormon an many more.  This genre is special because of its ability to influence people and cultures. People base their entire lives off of books from this genre and dedicate their time to studying and memorizing their content.  There are not set in stone rules of how writings of this genre should be constructed but the key idea is that all writings in this category are based off of a religion's history and ideas.  As for syntax, many works of this genre follow a fairly specific set of conventions.  Generally, works of this genre are composed of many different books and chapters, sometimes from different authors, all brought together to form one big piece of literature.  Within these books and chapters are often found verses.  This makes it easy to reference specific parts when necessary.  For example, when someone wants to reference a particular part of the New Testament, they could write John 3:16.  This is the proper way of denoting a book, chapter, and verse of the Bible.  Another convention commonly found in religious scriptures is an abnormal use of outdated language.  Many famous religious scriptures were written long ago and in the language customary to that particular religion or geographical region.  Religious groups try to stay as true to the original texts as possible, and as a result, translations are often difficult to understand or outdated.  For example, many of the texts contained in the Old Testament and Torah were originally written in Hebrew as per their regions of origin, but it has since been translated so many times that many verses take on new forms and meanings when translated to other languages.  It is for this reason that many religions encourage their followers to study their original languages so they can have a better understanding of their religious texts. Another important convention of this genre is that they are usually written by a person of significance in the founding of the religion.  For instance, the Book of Mormon was written by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism and passed on to his followers.  These are all common conventions of religious scriptures, but they are not entirely necessary for a literary work to fall into this genre.  There are many ways to approach a literary genre and often times the way a genre is defined is changed by the works made for them.

Thlog #1

This thlog is meant to reflect upon my first week in writing 2, and so far I can say I am enjoying the class.  We have begun with an analysis of genres and conventions, and I have found the discussion of what actually makes up a genre to be very interesting.  I found the writings of Peter Elbow to particularly interesting.  Elbow discussed how writing can promote both first and second order thinking.  He defined first order thinking as unrestricted and creative while second order is very critical and analyzed.  In the particular excerpt, Elbow asserted that the best approach to writing is a combination of both first and second order thinking.  He claimed that first order thinking is useful to produce new and creative ideas, while second order thinking is useful for refining those ideas and making them come together.  As I applied this reasoning to my own work and thought about my writing I realized I have gotten into the habit of relying on second order thinking.  Often times I am far too critical of my ideas before they even reach the paper.  This results in a lack of creativity in my writing and I feel I have to force words into a paper. After thinking about this concept of combining the two forms of thinking I plan to use this method in my future writing.  It is my goal for writing 2 this year to become better at utilizing this technique in order to improve the flow and creativity of my writing while still maintaining structure and intelligent thought.

About Me

Hello everyone. My name is Andrew Taylor but I prefer the name Andy.  I am a first year undergrad with an undeclared major but I plan on declaring Financial Mathematics and Statistics before the winter quarter. I am from Vista, California, which is located in North County, San Diego.  I chose to attend UCSB because I love southern California too much to leave.  I spend my time playing all types of sports and exploring the outdoors.  I love the beach and plan on spending a lot of my time there during college.  I am still uncertain on what I want to pursue as a career but I hope to go into business and am considering attending postgraduate school to acquire an MBA.