I have come to the realization that my writing was elementary and I needed to correct it. When this course started in January I was not prepared for it. My level of writing at best was the most basic there is. I have been out of school for 9 years so obviously I haven’t been challenged with writing for nearly a decade. Mr. Grgan showed me how to improve my weaknesses with interpretation of readings and critical writing skills. I have learned rhetoric’s are essential when writing. Rhetorical concepts helped me with my writings. I now feel that I have improved at interpreting difficult readings and I have excelled in writing.
One new tool I have been in more depth with since response five is mastering basic writing concepts. I knew little about targeting an audience. In project 4 and 5 I wrote about abortion being inhumane. Before I actually learned how to target an audience I would have wrote gibberish about abortion being unhealthy, unethical, morally wrong, etc. Writing about every issue that deals with abortion has a huge drawback; a dozen topics dealing with one issue can make a reader confused or simply lose interest. I have learned to zero in on a specific audience, instead of writing just about abortion, I learned to write a specific topic with abortion such as abortion being inhumane. If abortion being inhumane didn’t intrigue me there are also other topics to write about abortion; being unethical, illegal, religious views, physical health of a woman, mental health of a woman. I now know if I am going to write about a topic my thesis needs to target one issue with it.
Another tip I have learned is synecdoche. This helps with writing because it lays guide lines to follow. First is scoping; finding an issue that is manageable, let’s say pollution. Next is layering, one issue that is connected with larger scale. For example the first layer would be small such as throwing a gum wrapper out of a window doesn’t seem harmful. A second layer is more litter is thrown out of vehicles on roads because a gum wrapper seemed accepted, we are now polluting mother earth. Third layer it is now illegal to throw garbage out of cars and because of concerns of littering. Final layer we now have earth day. Last is framework; how we frame our writings of pollution. Who pollutes? Rhetoric’s of polluting. Who opposes polluting? Politics of pollution. Going green, etc. Synecdoche is my favorite tool in the tool box, it helps with writing by making it easier to figure out how to begin your paper and see where you’re going to go with it.
Analytical and critical strategies I have found to be helpful are just as I have posted in response five ‘They say/I say has helpful tips to analyzing an article. If an author is repeating some words over and over, they must be important to him/her. I have also learned to be able to understand some difficult readings; a good way to understand them is to break down every paragraph and write side notes explaining what each individual one is stating.” This technique still works. Interpreting what the author claims in every paragraph is a great and efficient way to understand what it going on while getting through the book with no confusion. I feel comfortable in carrying out analytical and critical strategies for reading difficult texts.
Reading for content is also essential to effectively comprehending writing. This is another key skill I have learned. It teaches you to understand the argument the author is writing about. Although every author has their own style of writing, we must be able to see what point the author is trying to get across. For example my project two was reading a novel “The Strongest Tribe” by Bing West. This text argues that after all the hiccups the U.S. has after invading Iraq; commanders state side finally get their act together when they begin listening to the generals in Iraq. Here Bing West is stating that commanders not fighting the war should probably listen to the ground troops who know what’s going on. Being able to understand this material was easy, but being able to understand it is the main point of reading for content.
Writing is a process for me. First I have to find a topic to write about that has interested me. This is very important; I feel that if you do not care for the topic you’re writing about, your text will reflect just that, a dull paper. To start this we need to think of a strong thesis, something that says how you feel about an issue that you will be discussing throughout your paper. It should also be an attention gainer that will keep the audience your targeting interested as well. Background information about the topic should be addressed as well in the beginning of the paper. Organization of a paper is important, if paper is jumping issues six paragraphs apart from each other, it makes a very confusing text. Next every subordinate topic should be addressed in its own paragraph. Discussing two or three issues in the same paragraph is confusing.
Research I have used includes Google Scholar, Google, Wikipedia, WSU Libraries (J-STOR). These sources of information are extremely helpful when looking for information on a topic. I have found many of the same arguments on my project 4/5. Abortion is a huge issue and a lot of authors have written about it. Finding all of those readings helped me understand the arguments for and against abortion, and also the process on which abortion is carried out. Research questions I used were; what is abortion? What is pro-choice? What is pro-life? How are abortions administered? Is abortion inhumane? Statements I typed in Google Scholar consisted of; History of abortion, medical effects of abortion, and more questions I cannot remember at this time. Asking these questions are somewhat different from using the databases in J-STOR, it was just a little difficult to figure out what questions to ask versus just typing in abortion inhumane in J-STOR. Although both sources provided me with the information I needed. Research for me hasn’t changed much after this course; it seems basic when you find the right questions.
Integrating research into my writing plays an important step. One method I used was writing questions down and trying to figure out the answer to them. Claiming abortion is inhumane simply isn’t enough. Two questions’ I asked myself were “well how do you know it’s inhumane? What’s your evidence? I needed to do research and find out why it might be inhumane. I found that fetuses are diced with a razor on a long cable, and then they sucked out through a vacuum. I find this to be cruel and unusual. Doing this research was fun but also tiresome, but in the end it supported what I claimed. Therefore I can comfortably say research is the backbone of my persuasion.
Analytical and argumentative genres, I feel I have written some clear and distinct definitions of topics I have discussed. For example abortion project 4/5 definition is “Abortion is the choice to end/terminate a pregnancy, by law this choice the act must be carried out within the first trimester of pregnancy.” I understand that to be able to write about an issue we must be able to understand it and define first. My theses however I feel are still weak and need some work. I think I do a great job of organizing content and reasoning.
Utilizing the wiki page is an excellent way of learning and submitting our work. The collaboration of students giving us a peer review and our instructor grading our projects is all in the same spot. Our instructor can give us feedback on our papers repeatedly. If we forget what was discussed in class we can go to the wiki page at home, the instructions for writing are always there. Having this media at our finger tips in class helps us in writing our paper faster than having to go home or the library and do it. The down side for the wiki is anyone can edit your work, but this did not happen in our class. This class was fun, but most importantly it was educating.
One new tool I have been in more depth with since response five is mastering basic writing concepts. I knew little about targeting an audience. In project 4 and 5 I wrote about abortion being inhumane. Before I actually learned how to target an audience I would have wrote gibberish about abortion being unhealthy, unethical, morally wrong, etc. Writing about every issue that deals with abortion has a huge drawback; a dozen topics dealing with one issue can make a reader confused or simply lose interest. I have learned to zero in on a specific audience, instead of writing just about abortion, I learned to write a specific topic with abortion such as abortion being inhumane. If abortion being inhumane didn’t intrigue me there are also other topics to write about abortion; being unethical, illegal, religious views, physical health of a woman, mental health of a woman. I now know if I am going to write about a topic my thesis needs to target one issue with it.
Another tip I have learned is synecdoche. This helps with writing because it lays guide lines to follow. First is scoping; finding an issue that is manageable, let’s say pollution. Next is layering, one issue that is connected with larger scale. For example the first layer would be small such as throwing a gum wrapper out of a window doesn’t seem harmful. A second layer is more litter is thrown out of vehicles on roads because a gum wrapper seemed accepted, we are now polluting mother earth. Third layer it is now illegal to throw garbage out of cars and because of concerns of littering. Final layer we now have earth day. Last is framework; how we frame our writings of pollution. Who pollutes? Rhetoric’s of polluting. Who opposes polluting? Politics of pollution. Going green, etc. Synecdoche is my favorite tool in the tool box, it helps with writing by making it easier to figure out how to begin your paper and see where you’re going to go with it.
Analytical and critical strategies I have found to be helpful are just as I have posted in response five ‘They say/I say has helpful tips to analyzing an article. If an author is repeating some words over and over, they must be important to him/her. I have also learned to be able to understand some difficult readings; a good way to understand them is to break down every paragraph and write side notes explaining what each individual one is stating.” This technique still works. Interpreting what the author claims in every paragraph is a great and efficient way to understand what it going on while getting through the book with no confusion. I feel comfortable in carrying out analytical and critical strategies for reading difficult texts.
Reading for content is also essential to effectively comprehending writing. This is another key skill I have learned. It teaches you to understand the argument the author is writing about. Although every author has their own style of writing, we must be able to see what point the author is trying to get across. For example my project two was reading a novel “The Strongest Tribe” by Bing West. This text argues that after all the hiccups the U.S. has after invading Iraq; commanders state side finally get their act together when they begin listening to the generals in Iraq. Here Bing West is stating that commanders not fighting the war should probably listen to the ground troops who know what’s going on. Being able to understand this material was easy, but being able to understand it is the main point of reading for content.
Writing is a process for me. First I have to find a topic to write about that has interested me. This is very important; I feel that if you do not care for the topic you’re writing about, your text will reflect just that, a dull paper. To start this we need to think of a strong thesis, something that says how you feel about an issue that you will be discussing throughout your paper. It should also be an attention gainer that will keep the audience your targeting interested as well. Background information about the topic should be addressed as well in the beginning of the paper. Organization of a paper is important, if paper is jumping issues six paragraphs apart from each other, it makes a very confusing text. Next every subordinate topic should be addressed in its own paragraph. Discussing two or three issues in the same paragraph is confusing.
Research I have used includes Google Scholar, Google, Wikipedia, WSU Libraries (J-STOR). These sources of information are extremely helpful when looking for information on a topic. I have found many of the same arguments on my project 4/5. Abortion is a huge issue and a lot of authors have written about it. Finding all of those readings helped me understand the arguments for and against abortion, and also the process on which abortion is carried out. Research questions I used were; what is abortion? What is pro-choice? What is pro-life? How are abortions administered? Is abortion inhumane? Statements I typed in Google Scholar consisted of; History of abortion, medical effects of abortion, and more questions I cannot remember at this time. Asking these questions are somewhat different from using the databases in J-STOR, it was just a little difficult to figure out what questions to ask versus just typing in abortion inhumane in J-STOR. Although both sources provided me with the information I needed. Research for me hasn’t changed much after this course; it seems basic when you find the right questions.
Integrating research into my writing plays an important step. One method I used was writing questions down and trying to figure out the answer to them. Claiming abortion is inhumane simply isn’t enough. Two questions’ I asked myself were “well how do you know it’s inhumane? What’s your evidence? I needed to do research and find out why it might be inhumane. I found that fetuses are diced with a razor on a long cable, and then they sucked out through a vacuum. I find this to be cruel and unusual. Doing this research was fun but also tiresome, but in the end it supported what I claimed. Therefore I can comfortably say research is the backbone of my persuasion.
Analytical and argumentative genres, I feel I have written some clear and distinct definitions of topics I have discussed. For example abortion project 4/5 definition is “Abortion is the choice to end/terminate a pregnancy, by law this choice the act must be carried out within the first trimester of pregnancy.” I understand that to be able to write about an issue we must be able to understand it and define first. My theses however I feel are still weak and need some work. I think I do a great job of organizing content and reasoning.
Utilizing the wiki page is an excellent way of learning and submitting our work. The collaboration of students giving us a peer review and our instructor grading our projects is all in the same spot. Our instructor can give us feedback on our papers repeatedly. If we forget what was discussed in class we can go to the wiki page at home, the instructions for writing are always there. Having this media at our finger tips in class helps us in writing our paper faster than having to go home or the library and do it. The down side for the wiki is anyone can edit your work, but this did not happen in our class. This class was fun, but most importantly it was educating.
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