It's coming along...

This week this class has taken away my fear. Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen I no longer fear essays…. As much. I love writing, but essays for some reason used to bring me a lot more paranoia.

Now when I heard about the essays I have coming up in my classes, I noticed that instead of freaking about the deadline or what the hell could I possibly say or how it’s going to be graded. Instead, I began to plan it in my head like, “how should the paragraphs be separated? What is the point I am trying to say? Is it a research paper?” It is such a relief. My English teacher senior year helped me get over this fear and this class has taken a little more away, who knows maybe by the end I won’t be afraid at all. How dandy would that be.

Also I loved the activity where we defined a term the way we felt necessary to prove a point, I thought it was very insightful because it’s so strange to see how many different concepts we can use to help out a piece of writing. I also think that that was the purpose of Thursday’s class to learn how even the smallest of details can help to make our writing piece better. We are really learning how to read like writers. Did you see what I did there?

I haven’t chosen a topic for the paper quite yet, but in all honesty I already feel more prepared and confident about this essay. Actually seeing your improvement and progress is one of my favorite things in the world, it’s pretty exciting. I know this is essay will be challenging, but simply noticing how I am not freaking out about it as much as I would of a couple months ago gives me a lot of hope.

I also think this class is helping my non-academic, personal writing. I have noticed that in my little excerpts and free verses that I pay a lot more close attention to detail and it’s not even elaborating deeper into it, it’s more like just knowing what needs more detail. Where would details be most effective? Which is so great because I feel like I am actually letting out my emotions more effectively.

So if you were to ask me “Hey Amy, how’s your life concerning writing going?” I would say “It’s better than ever, thank you for asking!”

Make a Move

“Moves” big or small are meant to ignite some kind of emotion or reaction to the audience. It is made to persuade the audience, it helps the author further make their point. Contrary, to a likely assumption these “moves” do not have to be big and bold, they can be anything the author does that will cause a reaction.In the “They Say, I Say” appendix there is a number of moves that are quite popular, our course readings show countless examples of these moves to, again, try to get a very particular response from the audience.

Towards the end of the  “So What? Who Cares?” article, the author makes the concession that in some cases the readers already know why it matter, however, the author stands their ground by stating that “when you are careful to explain who cares and why, it’s a little like bringing a cheerleading squad into your text.” The author is pushing their point, by giving it more grounds. The author wants to say that even if your audience knows, you should remind them.

            Alex Reid also uses one of the popular “moves” as well, Making what something they say, you say. He states this popular belief between people and the discovery made by Malcolm Gladwell, that it takes “10,000 hours of dedication” to be an expert of something. This allows Reid to already have a strong argument because he shows that there are already people who agree with him. To name a new move, he also uses Ease into it. He used that fact to ease into his topic of blogging can help students become experts in writing. This move helped beause the fact could supirse reader how much work it take to become an expert, but there is blogging to help students be expert writers.

            Establishing why your Claims Matter is used in Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing. The author wants to prove that both first order and second order thinking are essential to writing and the ways it can even make it easier. To do this the author states “by writing down our thoughts we can put them aside and come back to them with renewed critical energy and a fresh point of view.” This helps readers see that this is a very helpful tip, because the author elaborated on why these types of thinking are important to writing.

            Ironically, the article “So what? Who cares?” uses the move of Indicating Who Cares. The article begins by discussing how statements are only there and does not elaborate why any of it matters. The author elaborates on how this happens “because writers and speakers assume that audiences will know the answers already or will figure them out on their own.” The author goes on by stating that this why students leave lectures feeling they have learned nothing, so this why people should care about what the article is talking about, to be more effective in what they say or due.

            Introducing Objections Informally is seen in Shitty First Drafts as she argues that “all good writers write them,” stating something that not everyone believes because writers should just naturally always need to write brilliantly. The description also explains the argument. This “move” allows a strong response from the audience because it grabs the attention of the reader because of the manner in which it disagrees and the reader wants to know why.

            However, there are other moves that are also very effective, that are not stated in the book. For example, in “Shitty First Drafts” one of the most prominent moves is something named Inside the Head of a Professional, in which a professional, in this case an author, is telling you something about their field. Lamott lets the reader inside her thoughts of how she would start “by writing a really shitty first draft” and “say, no one is going to see this.” This gives the reader a lot reassurance, which is achieving her goal of convincing people that shitty first drafts are essential and are more than okay to have when in the writing process. This is significant to readers because she is a professional so it does persuade readers it works because it works for her, an author.

            Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing uses Point Connection. In point connection the author is taking two ideas, so in this case “First Order Thinking” and “Second Order Thinking,” and connects the two to make a more broad point. In the article first and second order thinking are explained sepreately and then the author connects the two types of thinking and discusses why they compliment each other and then why they make your writing better, the ultimate point. This allows the reader to be convinced because of the grounds it has crafted.

            In the article “Backpacks vs. Breifcases” the author use Let’s Have a Connection. The author starts off with a personal anecdote to connect with the reader. Carroll knows that his audience is mostly students so he talks about a first day of school. This grabs the reader’s attention and allows them to want to know about the reasoning behind his point. Connecting to the reader and talking to them gives the audience a feel of connection between them and the author.

            The “So what? Who Cares?” article uses a plethora of diverse syntax. The author does this to organize their thoughts so it will have a good flow, and their readers will also not get bored with the same types of sentences. It is another way to keep the reader interested. It also gives the author a good flow and organization.

Better Writer

I cannot believe how much this class has already helped me. Earlier this week while writing an essay for my Communications class I noticed how much I was using the concepts I have learned in this class so far. I found myself going back and reassuring that I was using exigence and I was constantly checking my thesis to assure that every paragraph was making a consistent point.

Oh! I also did a shitty first draft. I just got all my ideas and went with it. Of course it made little to no sense but I feel like it made writing it a heck of a lot easier, and I felt really good about the end result. I guess I used first and second order thinking while writing this paper. Look at me go!

Furthermore, the comments on paper gave me a lot of perspective so I intend to use those to my advantage. On a separate note, grammar help is always cool because sometimes I totally convinced that I know everything there is to know about a grammar rule, and then I come to find out “Wait… There’s more.” Which is always a good experience!

The whole moves discussion helped a lot too, because I totally thought it was going to be specifically big moves, so I am really looking forward to dissecting more of those, because once you starting reading with intention of finding “moves” you could learn how to use them in your writing, which is what our assigned reading was getting at. To be a good writer you must read like the wind. Because I have already learned so much, I can’t wait to see what this next writing project will add to our writing knowledge.

An Easy to Follow Scholarly Article

Because SCIgen attempts to imitate the style and form of scholarly work, the conventions are very similar. However, when directly comparing it to one specific scholarly article, “Considering Culturally Responsive Teaching, Children, and Place in the Music Room” by: Wiens, Kimberly Friesen, some differences are brought to the surface.

Simply by looking at the articles without yet reading them the structure and form are very similar both articles are separated into section of about a paragraph long and each is labeled to inform the read what will be discussed. Furthermore, SCIgen imitates the labeled Introduction, Conclusion, and References in the article as well, this done to demonstrate to the reader the point of the author is well introduced in the introduction, proven in the conclusion, and researched seen in he references. The structure is very important because it should look professional and the structure should correlate with the purpose of the article; because the article is made to introduce a discovery, show proof, and conclude with tying it all together, the article labels it throughout to show which point will be proven there to make the greater idea proven farther and finally concluded in the end.

            Although the structure between the two articles is similar, SCIgen does add a few diagrams and drafts which is its version of presenting data adding ethos to their piece by implementing credibility because of the usage of graphs used from outside references.  In contrast, the Music Room article does not have a lot of graphs but its paragraphs are significantly longer than those of the SCIgen article, showing possibly the more elaborated information that it has in comparison to the SCIgen article.

            Considering that the articles are suppose to be proving a point not only should the structure correlate it, but the style should as well.  Both articles contain a didactic tone, because the articles are teaching the audience its discovery and should come off as knowledgeable. Additionally, both articles almost immediately introduce the idea they want to prove, with little to no “fluff,” because their topic is straightforward and research based there may not be need for it, it should be straight to the point. Being a researched based article it does not feel the need to sound persuasive, but it wants to sound informative which further explains the little to no fluff aspect.

            Because they are scholarly pieces or are imitating one, it is aimed at audience that already has quite a bit of knowledge of the discipline. With this said, both articles contain jargon of their discipline, to compliment their credibility and didactic knowledgeable tone. However, the Music Room article does also try to use a lot of everyday vocabulary as well, which definitely makes it easier to read even though it is directed at music teachers. In contrast, the SCIgen article is even hard to finish, and contains so much jargon that it can be nearly impossible to finish or get through because after all it is imitating a scholarly piece, but because the Music Room piece is a legitimate academic piece it is directed at a certain audience but does not make it too difficult to read if the person is not included in the directed audience.

            Both of course are trying to prove a discovery, however, being the SCIgen is not really a good source the reader can recognize that it is actually trying to be nearly impossible to read in an attempt to make a full affect. In contrast to the Music Room article that is point is proven that teachers should not just teach students but teachers should learn from them. They should learn if they play instrument from a different culture, they should learn different learning skills, and how students like to learn, alone vs. group, in silence vs. with noise, etc. The article was basically trying to reach out to not just music teachers but all teachers that it is important to be sure that students are learning in an environment that is courtesy to their needs, and this point can be seen whether the reader is a music teacher or not. On the other hand, it is really difficult to point out the SCIgen article because it made no attempts to simplify or breakdown its point even the introduction was difficult to follow. Therefore, the Music Room article definitely had a more poignant even if it didn’t “sound” as “scholarly.”

The Rest of My Life

This week was a big week concerning this class. Although scary, I love the way I am being pushed out of my comfort zone. I feel okay about the essay, but still a bit nervous, but that’s okay I think that is a sign that I’m actually learning something very valuable.

High school made you follow such a strict structure of how to write an essay, which I always found a bit annoying. Even if a teacher wanted you to have more freedom, you really couldn’t because to according to state standards and AP standards you had to be taught a certain away.

Still, I use to think that having all those restriction made my essays worse, but now that I was given so much freedom, I have to admit that I was intimidated. It was strange to not be told exactly what to do and exactly in what format. It was definitely quite the experience.

With the essay I figured out how important it was to answer the “So What?” in essays, the “So What?” is an essential part of the essay because it explains why everything you are saying in this whole paper that you have probably spent hours on is important. It explains why everyone needs to read your paper, not just your professor.

I feel like this concept will help me for the rest of my college career. Also, “Shitty First Drafts” gave me a lot of peace of mind. Bless that article, seriously, I will probably use that for the rest of my life.