Bawarshi; Allen; Magee: Genre Continued

The first article about genre was by Bawarshi regarding the ecology of genre. The authors opening paragraphs are quite interesting where he describes the relation of the writer and his environment as being symbiotic, much like the inhabitants of an ecosystem. The problem he states is that we perceive our selves and our social environments as being separate from one another, two different entities engaging with one another and overlapping. I really like where he states that the writer and their environment constantly reproduce one another, and that the environment becomes a critical part of the writers actions. As writers there is a give and take relationship between what we write and where we are writing or what we are writing for. As writers we construct new environments with our practices, but at the same time we are shaped by the pre-existing environments in which we belong. Our individual discourses and reality are not necessarily separate, but we take on new identities as we assimilate to new ecologies or discourses that often overlap or interact with our other existing identities.

The next article was by Allen and was about rhetorical situations and the 'appearance' of objectivity. The author looks at the writing of scientific papers as engaging in a rhetorical situation, though many people would argue that there is little place for rhetoric in science. His argument is that the writer persuades the audience by the appearance of objectivity. The point of scientific writing is supposed to be about providing unbiased truths or info, he argues that in actuality the 'writer creates an exigence and addresses it through rhetorical strategies that lead to the appearance of objectivity. I found this interesting because scientific writings are meant to provide the public with unbiased scientific data, but it would logically follow that whoever wrote the article is a subjective being. As humans we are unable to entirely separate from our subjectivity when trying to appear objective. I like the quote he uses that says "There is no such thing as unprejudiced observation. Every act of observation we make is biased. What we see or otherwise sense is a function of what we have seen or sensed in the past." I found this to be a very accurate statement. As humans we base everything we encounter on what we know or have previously experienced. When discovering or articulating new findings or data we use our preexisting knowledge of things, our biases, to make sense of it. I think the main point that the author makes in the article is that scientific writings are based on individual interpretation and not necessarily unbiased objective findings.

The last article was by Magee and was about young scholars and college essays. Her focus is on gender and masculinity in college admission essays. Her goal was to examine differences in gender as they correlate to differences in writing. What she found upon examining her and other females admission essays was that the genre of the admission essay seems to be more masculine, even for female writers. It seems that the genre in which we are writing will affect or determine our intended writing style. While gender is an important part of writing, social environment is equally if not more important. She examines the presumption that female writers tend to write about emotions and connections with people while men tend to write about self accomplishments and strengths. She found thought that the essays written by women werent like that at all, they were more 'masculine' in appearance. She claims that this is because the point of the essay is to show why an individual is a good candidate for college and that we individuals know what the college expects of us. So it seems that gender can play an important role in individuality, but when it comes to writing in particular genres we are able to put aside gender differences and create what is neutrally expected of us.

Dirk; Devitt: Genre

The first article was by Dirk and was about approaching or 'navigating' genres. Genre used to refer to a formulaic notion of method, by which someone would creating something that follows a basic template, a rubric for design. The problem with that is genre is much more complex than that, and is in no way completely formulaic. While genres may have specific guidelines and conventions that must be adhered to in order to classify them as a specific genre, not everything is written exactly the same. Genres are designed to effectively make communication more efficient, but communication is unique and often spontaneous therefore cant be exactly the same each time. Genres are designed by their respective users, the people utilizing them, and can change to meet the changing needs and expectations of the community.
Dirk also points out that genres help people accomplish goals, but that they are more of a suggestion and not an assured formula for success. As users of multiple genres we experience overlap between them, where there are even more similarities but nothing is exact or perfect. I liked this article because it made an important distinction that genres act as a framework, not necessarily a strict guideline. They shape our social actions while allowing us to effectively communicate new ideas and conventions.

The other article we read was by Devitt and was also about genre, but more specifically about teaching/learning about critical genre awareness.

Wardle; Johnson, Clark and Burton; Windsor.

The first article by Wardle is about establishing and recognizing identity and authority in the workplace. "Wardle is interested in how people learn to write, not as children but as adults moving among different discourse communities." Her article is about a new employee in the workplace that is trying to establish communication and failing miserably. The importance of establishing identity when in a new workplace stems from the need to establish ones credentials and to begin to sublimate into the conforms of the workplaces conventions. As a person takes on the responsibilities and practices of the particular work community they will also take on a new identity showing that they belong. "Joining a new workplace community is not simply a matter of learning new skills but also fielding new calls for identity construction." Establishing strong relations in the work place is essential, and one of the ways we do that is with our writing and communication.
The establishment of authority is also crucial in the workplace, and is best understood as " the effect of a posited, perceived or institutionally prescribed asymmetry between speaker and audience that permits certain speakers to command not just the attention but the confidence respect and trust of their audience..." Authority is essential in all forms of communication and is especially important in the work environment. Authority allows us to communicate effectively our ideas and goals and see that they are understood and met. Sometimes however our identity that we have created outside of the workplace may conflict with the needs of authority, but in order to 'get along' we have to conform to the established identity of the workplace and submit to the demands of the authority.
These roles of identity and authority are very important to writing in our respective discourse communities. When establishing an identity with our writing it is important to mold that identity to conform with the needs of the workplace. We must often take on a new identity in the workplace, separate from our social identity. When writing we must know what authority we are able to command, and know what is appropriate.

The next article by Johnson, Clark and Burton is about writing in the field of engineering. The article is written by students and is study of the role of writing in engineering with the goal of bridging the gap between engineering and writing. As students their paper is very approachable and easy to read. It is clearly defined and informative with their authority made present from the beginning. "To analyze how consultants interact with engineering and English students we recorded and transcribed four half-hour consultations." Their points are clearly outlined and addressed and they constantly reaffirm their authority on the experience by saying 'we' referring directly to the fact that the article is written by the three individuals who performed the study.

The other article about writing in engineering is by Windsor, and is substantially more academic. The paper starts with a rather profound quote to quickly establish the authors identity as a knowledgeable authority in the field. The author uses the very general term 'we' and 'our' referring to other respective authorities in the field. The author than continues to establish authority on the subject by prescribing formulaic outlines for writing. The information that is presented throughout the article is presented as fact based on the authority of the author and other scholars like her.

Rhetoric and Discourse readings

For this class period we had to read a couple articles regarding rhetoric and discourse. I liked the article by Gee about discourse because it mainly had to do with language and linguistics, a field that I am very interested in. Unfortunately this is a very old article that we had to read and many of the ideas or hopes that Gee had have are ready come about and are explicitly known. In the beginning of the article Gee suggests a new field of applied linguistics which he calls “literacy studies” but we know it today as psycholinguistics; the study of human and non-human languages from an interactive psychological and social approach. When Gee finally gets around to discussing discourses he makes a lot of comparisons with second language acquisition. Gee’s idea is that a discourse can’t simply be joined or understood, it is a process of assimilation that is practiced and naturally acquired over a great period of time. Gee then goes on to attempt to distinguish between ‘discourse’ and ‘Discourse’ which I found to be irritatingly superfluous, like most of his article which is overly pedantic. But he does eventually get to say that “discourses are a way of being in the world...integrating words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes.” He claims that a ‘Discourse’ is a sort of “identity kit” which I found to be an amusing analogy. What I think he is actually describing is a particular facet of a certain culture and their sub-cultures. I feel that all of the things he explains to be a ‘Discourse’ are actually the things that make up human cultures, groups of similar people that are intrinsically connected.

The second article which was by Boyd was about rhetoric. I think one of the most important things she says is right in the beginning of the article, “choosing how to express your meaning is every bit as important as the message itself.” This really stuck out to me because the obvious point of rhetoric is to make effective and persuasive communication, utilizing figures of speech, metaphors, euphemisms, colloquialisms and other compositional techniques. The idea behind rhetoric is persuasion, and more importantly being able to impress your audience enough to make them take your side on matter. She rather thoroughly explains that the effective use of rhetoric will enable a speaker, or writer, to be able to appeal to an audience on any level whether its logical reason, an appeal to their beliefs, or effectively speaking to their emotions.

I think the importance of reading these articles together is that in order to become a part of Gee’s ‘Discourse’, or as I prefer to call it ‘culture’ or ‘community’, is an effective use of rhetoric along with the facade that you are indeed a member of that group. Effective use of rhetoric can appeal to all sorts of communities, thereby making the orator an accepted member. I don’t think that these communities are as hard to join as Gee would have readers believe. What it really takes is knowledge and experience, passion and dedication, networking and respect. If you can prove that you have these qualities to the particular community of interest they will gladly accept you. People like being with like-minded people, and I don’t think that rhetoric is necessary to appeal to all people or to be a part of their community. I think appropriate manners and a good understanding of the society is the best way to join a community, not rhetoric.

My Resume and Cover Letter

a link to my resume

a link to my cover letter

Resume Article

The reading for this class was about the importance of resume building, and articulated the idea of the resume as a genre. The idea behind this is that resumes are a means of social action that should effectively balance the needs of the writer with the needs of the reader. Resumes are utilized to outline and organize social information in an easily understood format. The article discusses an assignment similar to the one we are doing in class for our resumes. The idea behind the assignment in the article and in class is to teach/learn a method of writing for a specific genre that will help students to understand the importance of the specific genre and also to provide the basic principles applied to writing for the specific medium. This is very important because even though as students we may feel we have had plenty of exposure to a topic and that we understand all there is to know about it, but in doing an assignment like this we are able to construct and analyze our techniques and critique them all while learning new methods. The importance of this taking place in the classroom as an assignment is that there are no real life repercussions to be had. It is a learning and evolving experience in which we are able to present something as if it is reality (in this case an application for a job) and examine it almost as a template or draft assignment, allowing us to gain further insight into the mechanics of our own writing and its effectiveness and to gain insightful advice in regards to any corrections that may need to be made. I believe it is important that this takes place in class because we are free to experiment with our writing and our resume to see what works best, without the worry of real world consequences such as the threat of failure or being ostracized.

Hey. Here is my Linked In page

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=112474812&trk=tab_pro

alright so here is a link to my linkedin professional profile page. Im not really sure what to do here, maybe somebody can give me some advice or some helpful tips.

Williams chapters 8-10 & Klein and Shackelford readings

The readings for this week were a combination of the Robin William’s Design Handbook and an article on Document Design by Klein and Shackelford. The reading for today from the book was about tips and tricks to consider when designing visual items such as business or post cards, articles, brochures, websites and virtually any other piece that could stand some good visual elements. I personally found the section about business cards to be the most important for me in my career. In the media industry many things rely heavily on proper networking and lasting connections. First appearances and impressions are critical moments and it is crucial that you don't do anything to make yourself look bad. One of the best aids in first appearances is a well designed business card. Business cards provide key insights into a person and their line of work. The book stresses the importance of a well organized and interestingly designed business card because it is a representation of who you are, and for potential contacts or employers a proper business card will help to ensure that they will want to get ahold of you. A proper business card needs to be designed so that it is appealing and draws the clients attention, and well organized so that they only need to glance at it to understand everything presented.

The second section that I found to be very important from the Design Handbook was about website design. Website design is also very important in the media field, once a potential employer or client had your business card they need someplace to go to examine your work and background. A proper website is a major asset in media and entertainment and can often draw in clients that you haven’t actually met in person. A well designed website for a media professional should include a brief introduction to welcome the viewer and give them some insight as to who you are. A good media website will also contain a portfolio of works and projects so that potential clients can see exactly what you have worked on and are offered samples of what you are capable of doing. Another good section for a professional website is a list of qualifications or awards that show they quality and passion of your work. All of this should be presented in a clear and easily readable format. It is important that a professional website be easy to navigate and be relatively simple in layout because you want viewers to be able to experience all of it without having difficulty engaging in the website.

The article reading by Klein and Shackleford seemed to elaborate on many of the ideas of basic design principles brought up by Robin Williams in her design manual. They too stress the importance of basic structural and visual elements such as contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity but they seem to strive to apply that to every piece of writing, rather than just mainly for formal or professional projects, or even just for sake of creativity. Klein and Shackelford seem much more strict in their approach, stressing precision and formulaic repetition of guidelines whereas the Williams book outlines those ideas but continuously stresses the idea of individual creativity. Klein and Shackelford would have us write everything in a very strict and regulated way, utilizing MLA above all else. I think that this is extremely limiting in that not every thing is written for the same purpose or to the same end. What matters more than anything is context and an appropriate choice in design based on that context. I personally do not use the MLA format for anything, when I use citations I utilize the Chicago Style which I find much more effective and a lot less distracting to my readers.

Response to Willams 1-6

The reading for today was from Robin William’s Non-Designer’s Design Handbook chapters 1-6. The first chapter when over some basic principles that are very important to keep in mind when designing the appearance or layout of a visual document. The four basic principles that were highlighted were contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. All of these elements are interconnected and are used together to make up the easy to remember acronym CRAP.

Contrast is a very important visual element because the use of contrasting elements is what initially draws our eyes to the details. The main purpose is to create initial interest in whats being presented. Contrast is also a very effective way of organizing information, assuming that the contrasting elements are unique and meant to be separate from one another. Contrast can be implemented in a number of different ways including changing typeface, font size, color or a variety of other methods.

The use of repetition in visual design is also very useful and effectively strengthens or unifies the main ideas. The main idea being repetition is consistency, so that things that are related appear related and the overall flow or design of a piece doesn’t seem scattered and arbitrary. Repetition of key elements on a page effectively unifies those ideas, connecting them by their importance.

Alignment can be a very useful tool in visual design by creating a visual connection between seemingly unconnected data. The idea of unity is very important in visual design and utilizing effective alignment can connect various elements on a page making them more organized and of seemingly greater importance. The main goal of alignment is effective organization of related materials, while continuing to create contrast between unrelated materials.

The last basic principle that was discussed was the importance of proximity. The idea behind proximity is that elements that are in close proximity to one another become representative of a larger picture or idea, rather than being small individual elements. Items that are related or are of equal importance should be grouped in proximity to each other so that the info is quickly expressed and readily understood. A lack of proximity between related objects can cause confusion and a sense of disorganization. The idea is to organize related elements so that they can be quickly visualized as a whole and more readily understood.

I think that it is important to consider the design of something when creating a document or a visual piece because the difference between something that is well designed and something that isn’t could be the difference between your piece being interesting and understandable, or boring and confusing. I think that when it comes to professional writing design is even more important because often the information that you are trying to get across is of greater importance or significance. In my field of audio production and music design is extremely important because I am often trying to expose people to something that is unfamiliar, and if it doesn’t appear interesting or understandable then people wont take the time to process or understand it.