Thlog 10

            I really appreciated the way the course ended. First, I like the idea of the google docathon. It was interesting being able to see what other problems people had with their writing throughout the course. Being able to lend my own insight and see how I have learned throughout the course was really cool to see. I have been checking back to see how people have responded to my own questions and I really liked getting specific feedback from my peers. Something I really liked about this course is how involved our peers are with our work. Learning from people who are going through the same experience as us who are in the same position in school is really beneficial because we are often having the same gaps in understanding.

            I really found it helpful how we went through some of the portfolio processes and how to build a website. I appreciated Zack giving us directions on some of the trickier steps of building the website and now I have notes on those parts so my time creating the site will be a lot easier. I think that the portfolios in general will also be cool to see and I am glad that we have the opportunity to see how we have improved over the course.

            I am sad that this is my last thlog. This class has been so unlike any other that I have encountered in college so far. Even just knowing the names of my classmates has been something that I have not had in other sections. I loved the atmosphere and the energy that was held. I strived to be up to date on the material so I could contribute to conversations and make sure that I was an active participant. I will always remember this class and especially Zack and cannot express how thankful I am to have had the opportunity to go through this course.

Thlog 9

This past week has been so busy for Writing 2! I cannot believe that we are really nearing the end with the course, it flew by. I had to finish WP3 early because I was out of town this weekend so it was interesting not being able to see other people's examples before turning mine in. I missed being able to compare mine to my peers' so I now really appreciate that aspect of the blogs. WP3 was my favorite project of the WPs. I really liked being able to think outside the box and get creative with how I presented the information. I am frustrated with the turnout of the project though. In the end, I now realize that I really should have stuck with my gut. Although my article did have some good information to apply to this project, I really did not have a lot to work with. Compared to other articles, the one I had was very bland. Looking back, I really wish I had tried to switch my article because although I tried my best with what the article provided, my performance still fell flat and I was unimpressed with the grade I received. On a positive note, I really enjoyed the docathon activity that we started in class today. Being able to give feedback on topics that are related to material that we learned throughout the course really made me feel comfortable with how much I learned over the quarter. I also really think that the portfolio is a great part of the class. Being able to reflect and improve upon our work with what we learned is really going to teach me how to better my weaknesses. Although this course has a lot of work involved, I do not think I have improved so much over the course of a few weeks. I am excited to use the skills I have learned and apply them to the rest of my writing endeavors.

WP3- An Unfortunate Death of the Research Paper

Jessica Smith

Writing 2

De Piero

1 March 2016

WP3

            No matter what area of school you end up in, you remember the first research paper you were assigned and searching through books to find information for your report to write down on index cards.  While this type of writing is still important to the academic fields of writing, some argue that the genre is too broad to be characterized. In the article “The Research Paper, and Why We Should Still Care” Doug Brent argues the importance of research papers in today’s society.

To help address the concerns of critics of the genre, Brent suggests a switch in name of genre. He believes that “writing with sources” better address the elements of the research paper and can help students better understand the purpose of the genre. Brent discusses how students and educators often differ in their expectations for papers of this sort, but with this new name, the gap in differences of understanding of the topic will narrow. He also explains his beliefs that this genre is still very important to academic writing and should not be any less relevant today.  The focus stays on how this genre will be significant forever and that with the changes he suggests that those interacting with it will better like the genre.

Younger Audience 

A few options to get to the project:

**Recommended: 1. go to http://jessicansmith03.wix.com/mysite 

2.Click on Shop

3. Compare the products "Writing with Sources" Snuggly Bear! and Research Paper Bear 1988

4. Review the information on both pages for the project!

Option 2:

Check out the pdf versions of the webpages here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hsGGwyHSbmGxMCsU6fXVuVmQ7-3kQb-DubuKLTbRMB4/edit?usp=sharing

Older Audience

Check out this piece: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nOlyBg-xcLQTehw6uiosD3kmuKXh4XUrITW2qWKcXts/edit?usp=sharing

Refer to the far right column of the project for specific content related. 

Analysis

            What catches a younger person’s eye more than toys do?! I decided to choose a toy review on a fictional website “Literary Bear” to explain why the genre research papers were being booted from the system because the attraction of toys will draw the younger audience in. I aimed this review at a 5^th- 6^th grade audience. This age group can fully navigate a website and is interested in making choices for themselves, including which gifts they want to receive. Once the reader sees that there are two options of toys, they are wondering what the differences are of both, which is why the features are included. I chose to make a short features list for each in order to share information about the two different teddy bears for sale, Research Paper Bear and Writing From Sources Snuggly Bear. Keeping the list of features concise and informative helps give across great descriptions of the different genres and used tone to “engage [the] audience in a way that will invite them to be receptive to [the] message” (Losh, 150). Instead of getting super detailed oriented, I took the approach of short and sweet gets the point across. I did this because I thought that for an audience with a smaller attention span, they really just want the nitty-gritty to make a snap judgment of which to buy.  I also chose one very appealing picture for the newer genre Writing From Sources, than I did for Research Paper and “[rendered] the characters, objects and environments in those frames clearly” (McLoud, 156). I think one of the biggest selling points for Writing From Sources is that the idea is new and fresh. I picked a modern looking teddy bear full of color to show that it looks current with vibrant colors and these features immediately draw in a younger audience.  Also, I strategically priced this bear much cheaper than the Research Paper bear because the lower price would appeal to the young audience.

I believe that the basis of the appeal of this new genre is going to be shining a negative light on Research Paper bear. The new genre is extremely similar to the old- it really is just a rebrand of the classic idea. A new, younger audience does not understand and appreciate concepts in the same way as other generations. For example, because of technology, younger children are far less accustomed to going to a library to get information for research papers from the books on the shelves, but instead hop onto the internet for their information and find a Google answer in less than a minute. Research Papers, for generations without technology, were less complex in essence with the process at hand. Although it took longer to find some information, there was only one way of getting information so the process seemed simpler. I believe that the advancements in technology that have contributed to the way in which people research can be attributed to how and why the genre was pushed to become more complex. The image choice and price for Research Bear are the initial factors that are meant to turn off customers to the product, especially when compared to the other newer, cheaper and raved about product.

The purpose of the research paper has become lost over the years. While it once was very clear that one finds information on a topic and then compiles it together in an organized fashion to create a piece, students and teachers now see a disconnect. When being assigned just a research paper, students often think that they are just informing a reader without any argumentation and educators are expecting more than just informative. The switch to the new genre of Writing From Sources, in Brent’s eyes, makes the intended purpose of being informative yet opinionated, like in most other papers, more clear to students. I attempted to show these ideas mostly through the product reviews included on the webpages. I used very positive feedback from the teachers for the Writing with Sources and more negative for the Research Paper. Although the reviews are more intended for an older audience I wanted to include them because although the intended audience is young, some students of that age would be interested in the product reviews. Since the website itself is aimed at the younger audience, I used simple language that is understandable in case the younger audience did use the reviews to choose a product. Additionally, I chose teachers as the reviewers because at that late elementary age, students really look up to and admire their teachers and would follow their advice.

For the older audience, I chose an obituary because I thought that it was a profound way of telling the main point that research papers are no longer “alive” and I saw the importance in “knowing how to effectively communicate with different communities,” and believed this fit this audience well (Losh, 144). Obituaries share information in a concise way and I thought that I was able to give the right amount of detail to still tell the story of what Brent shares in his article. I chose to make the name of the deceased Re. Surch Payper for a little comedic effect, but also to make the idea see more humanized. The main point is that this genre no longer is going to exist and this reasoning is because the purpose was too difficult for students to understand. I tried to best fit the genre of obituaries to the topic and even included other example obituaries to show that the information was similar for the research paper as well. Although some information seems silly because it is not applying to an actual person, I think that the understanding is still evident.

Immediately obituaries initiate an emotional response in people. It is obvious to people reading it who are familiar with the genre that this is about death. One may be confused as to why this genre of writing is chosen to describe research papers but Brent is trying to in essence kill the genre and give life to Writing With Sources.

I focused the end of the obituary on the new genre Writing With Sources. I think that creating a “memorial fund” that would donate to this new genre is very indicative of what Brent is trying to do. In his piece, he explains that the genre of research paper is no longer the best option for students to understand how these papers are supposed to be written. Writing With Sources is a more specific genre that helps writers view the paper from a different viewpoint. In the past, research papers have been seen as only including information from other resources and then organizing that information to get across a story. This new title for the genre helps writers better orient themselves with the style.

Works Cited

Losh, Elizabeth M., Jonathan Alexander, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon.

Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing. Print.

"Obituaries." Legacy.com. Legacy.com. Web.

PB3A- The New and Improved Research Paper

            This assignment for WP3 has gotten me the most excited for an assignment all year! I love having creative freedom when working with a topic and this assignment definitely allows creativity. Over the course of the quarter we have learned so much about genres and their conventions. Understanding a genre and which audiences they are intended for has become something of great importance over the last few weeks. For this assignment, I will be using the article “The Research Paper, and Why We Should Still Care” by Doug Brent and will be converting the material into an appealing way for a younger audience and then another option that would appeal to an older audience and use my own moves in doing so.

            The article itself focuses on why the research paper is still important in today’s world. When I read through the article tonight, something that stuck out to me was how people were disputing the name “research paper”. People argue that this term is too broad and it does not well define the genre. Instead, a name that people think is better suited for the genre is “reading to write” or “writing from sources”. The article focuses on evidence as to why these terms may better suit the genre and would appeal to those writing. I came up with a very abstract idea to appeal to an older audience. I thought of creating an obituary for the term research paper. In this obituary, I would use the traditional set-up of an obituary to include an announcement of death, biographical sketch, family, service times, special messages and maybe incorporate some type of photos. I would make up some details to fit some of the descriptions but would focus on incorporating history of the research paper that is spread throughout the article. In addition, I would really focus on backing up this information with the transition to the new type of research paper which is considered “writing from sources”. I would make “writing from sources” the new generation, or children, or the formerly known research paper and give more information about this genre and how and why this is different. Although it is abstract, I think that it is unique and would definitely appeal to an older audience while still sharing the information that is included in this article!

            Again, for the genre for a younger audience, this is an extremely abstract idea. I am thinking of doing a product review of the well-known toy “research paper”. This toy has awesome features (all the features of a research paper which I will explain in kid-friendly tones) but unfortunately it is not a great review. This toy is being compared to “writing from sources”, the new toy that hit the block this spring. Both of these toys will be on Amazon.com and will be set up to seem like the customer is trying to decide which to choose. The features of the “toys”, really how these papers are defined differently, will be the main product description for each. I will compare how they are the same and different and make it very realistic with customer reviews and ratings. I think that this idea of toys will be appealing to a younger audience and the comparison between the two definitions will really shine through.

            I really appreciate the amount of creativity we have with this project and I cannot wait to see how it turns out as well as everyone else’s!

Thlog #8

Although I was only in class for one of the days this week, unfortunately, I thought that I learned a lot of material. I thought it was interesting learning about how the rest of the quarter is going to be set up. I really like that for the portfolio we will be able to edit our work and learn from our mistake. In writing classes especially, I think the best way to learn is learning by doing. This course is no exception. Everything that we have learned so far through all the journals and interactive activities really bring light to the material that we are learning. As far as yesterday went, I enjoyed the summarizing activity that we did for the last reading assignment. I liked hearing Zack's more professional summary and seeing how someone who has studied writing for a long time would pick out of the subject. It was interesting to see what my classmates had to say as well. I also enjoyed talking in depth about WP3. I like the assignment a lot. In the beginning of high school I did a similar assignment when I was reading To Kill A Mockingbird in my honors English class. We were supposed to create a different medium to share the story in a way that would be appealing to other people our own age. I decided to make a Facebook page that would share the story and made accounts for the different characters to comment on different posts to give more depth to the material. It was one of my favorite projects to this day and I hope to be doing something as creative and similar for this assignment. I think the trickiest part of the assignment is going to stem from the specificity of the articles. While we are learning about writing and should have a lot to say about it, I feel like I may feel limited in my creativity but I am excited to see what I come up with!

Thlog

This week has been another rough one personally so I am very sorry that this is a day late! I really enjoyed this week of class, although it was short. I continue to be very excited about the level of engagement in this class and this week was no exception. I really enjoyed the peer editing process this week. Seeing other people's work, as well as getting constructive criticism on my own writing, really helps me improve as a writer. In high school I was surrounded by writing and really enjoyed this process, so I am super excited about getting to be editing again. In these peer edits I really liked how we had to comment with questions only. I think that this strategy can really help people improve their writing because they are forced to think deeper about the topic. I have never used this strategy before but I think that it will be very beneficial as I go back and do my drafts again. WP2 has been more tricky for me then I once expected. Although we were warned that this was going to be the most difficult of the three, I again was confused on the structure and content that would be best included for the drafts. I think after time I was able to create a structure that I felt comfortable with, but I was unsure of how to incorporate the moves, mainly. Also, figuring out how to get course readings in the paper was difficult with the amount of readings that were available, but I liked the challenge and will continue to work on the incorporation. I tried my best to do the reverse outlining and really incorporate all of the tips that we have learned throughout the weeks. I think that I am really improving as a writer and I am excited to see how my draft finalizes.

It's All About the Moves- PB2B

            The idea of a “move” is an interesting one. I like to think of moves as actions that people take in order to get closer to accomplishing a goal. These moves can be seen in a wide variety of complexes, but writing is an easy way to see these moves. Every author has individual elements to their writing. These elements are unique actions that they take in their writing, and can be referred to as moves. These moves are very important to differentiating writing from one another. In all of the articles that we have read so far this quarter, all of the authors have distinct qualities within their writing. In the They Say, I Say appendix, several of the moves that they discuss can be seen in these articles that we have read in our class.

·      Introducing Standard Views: In this move, authors try to make claims using the information that appeals to the general public. The wording is general and attempts to keep the playing field level. These are mostly general claims that are assumed as common knowledge. In Navigating Genres, Dirk says that “It is well known that Bob is one of the wealthiest people in Cash City” (256). In this example, Dirk uses the standard view in assuming that this face of Bob’s wealth is commonly known. Many writers incorporate the use of the “standard view”.

·      Introducing Quotations: Many authors supplement their writing with quotations from other sources. These sources could be other people or other research studies that could potentially further their argument. In order to incorporate a quote, one must use a specific format to do so. Using the specific format to incorporate quotations ensures that it is clear to the reader which words are not the author’s own. In Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching, Peter Elbow uses examples in quotations. Elbow uses correct formatting in this example: As a teacher, it helps me to have these two clear goals in mind when I come across a student about whom I must say, “She clearly is a smart person but why is she so often wrong?” (60). The quote is introduced in the middle of a sentence, so a comma is put in place before the quotations and the end punctuation is inside of the quotations.

·      Capturing Authorial Action: When writing many pieces, it is important to clearly define who is saying what. This often can be accomplished with quotation marks, but in other circumstances, when giving examples of other author’s ideas, authors use particular wording to capture authorial action.  In the “So what, who cares?” piece that we have studied this quarter, there are examples of authorial action. In one of the sentences, it states; “Notice how Grady’s writing reflects the central advice we give in this book…” (94). The wording used clearly demonstrates that Grady is responsible for this concept of the central advice given and that if anyone were to dispute this information, Grady would be responsible.

·      Establishing Why Your Claims Matter: In my opinion, this is probably the most important move. For any argument, it is important to back up your claim with evidence, and then further analyze that claim as to why it is important to your argument. This move is crucial to any well-written piece, because without explaining the importance of your claims, you have very little credibility. Elbow discusses in his piece how it is important to wait in time to revise and backs up his claim by saying that “but if we hold off criticism or revising for a while, we can build a safe place for generative thinking” (61). Elbow elaborates on his reasoning as to why he believes what he does which is crucial to his argument.

·      Adding Metacommentary: This move is used to help the writer be clear in what he or she is trying to say. As mentioned in other moves, the author must distinguish what he or she is saying from other people and must do so in the clearest way possible. Adding metacommentary further clarifies what is happening in writing. A common phrase that is used to clarify in this technique is “In other words,” which Dirk uses in his piece (252). Adding in these phrases keeps the reader on a clear path to understanding the author.

There are several other moves that are used throughout the articles that we have read through. Below I will name some of the moves that I have come up with for these articles.

·      The Bro: In some pieces, authors choose to be extremely informal in their writing style. Dirk often refers to the reader as “you,” which creates a more friendly tone for the reader to understand.

·      What If: Some writers decide to engage the reader by asking them to think of a hypothetical situation so that he or she has a further connection to the writer. Dirk does this when he asks the reader to “think about a time when you were asked to write a research paper” (255).

·      Just Not on Time: Authors sometimes use the technique of delaying a thought to add emphasis. Elbow starts a second paragraph to further a point that he has that he is not content with merely asserting a link (33). He waits to give this information in a separate section so that it is further emphasized.

·      On Display: There are many times when authors put examples on display to further emphasize them. They will take the example and put them in the middle of the paragraph but then create spaces between the top and bottom so that it is clearly distinguishable from the words. This can be seen in the “So What, Who Cares” article.

·      Boom Boom: As certain examples, authors sometimes include bulleted lists of examples or information. These lists help to supplement an authors point and are stated as a list to be more clear and concise rather than writing flowery which would confuse the reader.

Works Cited

Dirk, Kerry. "Navigating Genres." Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. Vol. 1. Parlor.

Print.

Elbow, Peter. Embracing Contraries: Explorations in Learning and Teaching. New York:

Oxford U Press. 1986.