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!
Dear Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI really love the article you picked for this project, as a “research paper” can come in different forms such as graphs and drawing models. For your adult audience, I really love your proposal of an obituary; it is very mysterious and serious at the same time. I think think some creative spin you can put onto this transformation is the context around it. Remember the one lesson we had about writing about the death of a person through different perspective? You can maybe write your research paper from a detective point of view, or perhaps a journalist that is reporting on a death of a celebrity. Since you haven’t really defined your specific person yet, there are a lot of ways you can put a spin on it to make it awesome :) For your younger audience, I really like your idea because a lot of products in the market are always being compared to each other. Although I’m not really up to date with current toys, but I think you can do a pro vs con for each of the toys you are doing for the product review and in the end, give your own opinion on which product to recommend like many consumers that write reviews on Yelp and Amazon. Overall, great job!
J-Smith,
ReplyDeleteI literally just GASPED (a good, happy, holy shit, “Eureka!” gasp) when I read your idea to create “an obituary for the term research paper.” W-o-w! Now we’re talking! I’m juiced up. What a fantastic idea that certainly fits in with Brent’s larger claims-that is, the “research paper” is an insufficient way of accurately describing how research + writing fit together in college. You pinpointed many conventions of obituaries—“announcement of death, biographical sketch, family, service times, special messages and maybe incorporate some type of photos”—so take a long, hard look at what’s going to work for you and make deliberate connections back to the Brent piece. One additional suggestion: sometime last year, a computer programmer died and his family wrote his obituary as if he were a computer. It hit the national news cycle, and I remember hearing that it had something like “he had a handsome interface” and “his core processor bit-chip (or something) expired” and it was super-creative and very touching. Consider giving that a look for ideas.
And… I just gasped again, although this one wasn’t quite as loud. A product review for “RESEARCH PAPER” THE TOY!?!?!? ARE YOU SERIOUS?! This is the best day of my life. Love it, love it. What you need to think now is: OK, what “reviewable” qualities are there in the Brent/research paper piece? And what’s the connection going to be between the toy and research? Will academic research play a part in the production of the toy, in the review itself? Will research that young children need to do (like finding out information in the local SoCal Missions?) be a part of it? Or is none of this necessary? Also: who is reviewing the toy, and why? What publication/site will be featured in (and why?)? How does this reviewer’s review compare to other folks’ reviews? (Is he/she giving it a more favorable rating or a lower rating than the current average, and whY?)
I’m so happy that you’re “going for it” here and thinking (ridiculously) creatively. Very, very cool, J-Smith.
Z
Hey Jessica!
ReplyDeleteI really like that you thought outside of the box when thinking about the genres you were considering to transform this research paper into. I think that these are some great ideas! Having abstract ideas seems difficult to execute. Be sure to use moves and stay focused on the audiences you are trying to reach and the concepts you are trying to get across in order to effectively get your message across! With these ideas, the analysis/write-up will also be crucial in understanding the decisions you made regarding your transformations. Great ideas and good luck with the WP3!