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.