Thlog 4

This week’s class was all about preparing for PB2. The class was introduced to academic genres and how they differ based on something common like major. A humanities academic genre will have different content than that of a hard science. The different major activity we did in class was also helpful to get an idea on how I could tell the difference between each academic genre.  For example, if the academic genre was a hard science I would look for context involving chemistry, engineering, graphs, or biology. As oppose to if the academic genre was a social science, then I would look for content that discusses current research that it is mostly factual.

The murder activity was a boost of hands on experience. We all had to represent a certain genre for the murder assignment, and as much as I thought it was going to be easy it was not. All I thought we had to do was follow the conventions that we had the assignment on. After reading my fellow classmates responses however, I realized that academic genres can have similar conventions. For example, a local newspaper vs. a national one has similar conventions and are very hard to tell apart. For this reason, it is very important to focus on the voice of the writer and the syntax of the writing piece. Focusing on the voice of the writer helps the reader decide what type of tone they are trying to use, and therefore decide what the purpose is. A writing piece with a calm apologetic voice will not be the same as a writing piece with a factual, emotionless tone of voice. With pieces that have similar voice, syntax comes in handy. For example with the local newspaper and national newspaper, syntax is the one thing that set them apart. You could not tell the difference between them unless the reader focused on their word choice and who it was directed to. While one would mention community another would mention nation that little difference would be the key to figuring out what type of newspaper it is.

PB2A

For my scholarly article I searched up kidnapping and its psychological effects. Out of all the results I decided to go with Holding on to Clarity: Reconciling the Federal Kidnapping Statute with Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

After browsing this scholarly article, I realized that the format of this article is very similar to that of a research paper. This article begins like any other paper with a title and authors name. The interesting part however, is that there is a brief italicized paragraph providing background information about the subject at hand. This helps the audience get a better understanding of the subject, and its content before digging through the actual paper. As a reader, I know this small paragraph will also limit confusion throughout the article. For example, if I did not know what the protection act was I would not enjoy nor understand reading this article, but luckily this author provides information about the protection act in his first small paragraph. Following the background paragraph, there is another unique piece not seen in many essays or articles – which is a table of contents.  The table of contents is separated into three specific parts the topic and subtopics of the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  Each main theme is attached to a roman numeral to differentiate them from the sub topics which are attached to a letter. They are all also then given a number to make it easier for the reader to find specific information he/she is interested in. Finally, the article goes into depth about each theme and its subtopic in the appropriate category. The article follows the table of contents and organizes the article according to the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.  Last but not least, after each paragraph this article has footnotes of all the sources used to create this article. Which is helpful to prevent plagiarism, and to establish credibility amongst the readers.

After taking a closer look at this article there is one particular thing that strikes me as odd. The first thing is the footnotes. I understand the purpose and why they are necessary – especially in a scholarly article like this one− however, it confuses me to see the footnotes at the end of an unfinished paragraph. It distracts me while I am reading, and pushes back my understanding of the article. Are footnotes simply supposed to go at the end of a page regardless if the current paragraph is finished or not? In the other hand, the organization of the content is very easy to understand. The author made the topics of each paragraph very clear. Mostly, by providing the same roman numerals and letters as in the table of contents throughout the article. Which helps the reader separate the main topic of the paragraph and the evidence or support of the paragraph.  For example, in the introduction the author gives the reader a little summary or preview of what the entire article is going to discuss in depth. Right as the reader gets to the first body paragraph, there is a very visible roman numeral 1 with a short title description for the paragraph. After the end of the first paragraph, there is then a letter A to present the sub topic, and a small description of the sub topic as well. In this specific article this looks something like: 1. The Ongoing Effort To Combat Human Trafficking, and then at the end of this paragraph the reader sees, A. The Prevalence of Human Trafficking in the United States. This goes on throughout the entire article most likely to help both that reader and the author stay on track.

In the end, this article was very organized and overall formatted in a way that made it easier for readers to understand and follow along. Out of all the information in this article I would have to say the beginning background information is the most important. Without this piece of information, the average reader would be confused through the entire article unless they did research on the case discussed and the protection act− and really who wants to do that.

Thlog 3

In Monday’s class we focused on preparing for WP1 and learned a few tricks along the way. We discussed the use of dashes and hyphens in writing, which was very educational. I have actually used hyphens a lot in my writing, but I have never used a dash. Monday’s class was actually the first time I have heard about using dashes in writing. The differences that it could make in just one paragraph in comparison to a comma is remarkable. I actually attempted to use both hyphens and dashes in my WP1, and realized that using dashes made my essay look slightly better. It was not confusing, and it separated the important from the extra without changing the meaning of the sentence. That is of course if I used them correctly.

In Wednesday’s class we went over our WP1 drafts and received additional help from our peers. From our journal, I realized that most students were having the same difficulties as I was. ID 14 said, “I found myself struggling with writing my intro. I spent hours trying to figure out how to start my first paragraph.” Like ID 14, I also have trouble with my introduction, and wasted a lot of time thinking of ways to begin my first paragraph. I have this really bad habit of overthinking my introduction. Which makes it really difficult for me to complete essay assignments, because I cannot move forward with my paper unless I have an introduction. However, I think I am starting to get better. For the wp1 draft, I took forever to get an introduction on paper, and it wasn’t even that great. However for my final paper, I completely changed my introduction, and took less than half the time it took me the first time. I think the reason for this improvement was my draft. From the draft, I knew where I was trying to go with my essay, which made it easier to write an intro to my paper. 

Thlog 2

While I was writing PB1B, I realized that it was coming along a lot easier than PB1A. I noticed that in this PB, I was considering the advice my classmates provided in their journals. For example, ID 6 said that his/her writing process includes brainstorming for a bit before he/she writes. For PB1B, I decided to brainstorm an outline of how I wanted the structure of my PB1B to look, which ended up cutting my writing time in half.

I was also very intrigued to learn about the effects of visual literacy. At first, I thought that visual literacy referred to the details embedded in a paper that provides a visual image to the reader. For me, it was about how to show the reader instead of just telling him/her.  However, now I know that visual literacy refers to actual images and how they represent a story. I learned the each image is specific to what the author is trying to say, and any alter in an image can drastically change the meaning of the image.

One thing however, that I am still confused about is exigence. Our classmates stated that exigence is the thing that caused the piece of communication that you’re writing. I feel like I am confusing exigence with purpose. When I read, “what caused the piece of communication you’re writing,” I thought of the reason that I am writing this piece of paper. However, I know in class Zack said that exigence and purpose are different, but I am having trouble differentiating these two words. Our class mates also said, that exigence helps you understand the purpose of the writing. Which confirms to me that exigence and purpose are different, but I just do not know how. If anyone has a good example to help me understand exigence, and how it is different from purpose please leave it in the comments below. 

PB1B

As of now, we have learned that a genre is a broad category of literature, composition, etc, and that each genre has its own set of conventions. Using these genre generators helped me get a closer look at the uniqueness of each genre.

While using the computer science research paper genre generator, I noticed a particular pattern that resided with in all of my generated examples. All of the CS research papers I received, had similar formats. They all began with an introduction, had some sort of body, had a results paragraph, and had a conclusion as an ending. The topics discussed in the CS research papers, were also very similar. They all incorporated a relation to mathematics or science in their body or results paragraph. The majority also included a graph to further explain their research, or as evidence to support their research. Another common element displayed by the generator was a reference page. Each reference page had a list of the sources used on the research paper, to give the reader a better understanding of where the information came from, and to establish credibility for the author. Overall, this generator aids the user to establish their own conventions on CS research papers. By providing the user with multiple examples, the user is forced to produce their own patterns, and make their own analysis of what makes this generated example a CS research paper. However, not all generators had the same results.

The comic strip generator was a bit confusing to me at first. At the start, I thought that the purpose of this generator was going to be similar to the previous generator. I was expecting to see a lot of comic book examples, and then decipher the patterns I saw into conventions. However, there was a lack of variety in this generator. The only bits that actually changed were the positions of the comics. Which then made me think of visual literacy. Although, each comic section repeated multiple times, the positions of each did switch. The comic square that was first in the previous strip was now on the third, and so on. This helped me contemplate about the grand effect of each comic square, and how changing one square to a different side changes the entire story behind the strip. Even though, the main concept grabbed from this comic strip generator was the topic of visual literacy, I did find that because of the repetitiveness the user could still interpret a comic’s conventions. Based on the comic strips provided, it was easy to assume that the conventions of a comic strip rely on images and think bubbles. Each comic is highly represented by a cartoony effect as an image. The effect of a comic would change drastically if the images presented were more visually realistic. For the most part, no matter what the comic’s topic is about, the images and think bubbles are what makes a comic book an enjoyable literature.  

Another generator that I used was the meme generator. This meme generator was very similar to the CS research paper generator. They both focused on generated multiple examples of a specific genre, which assisted the user in deciphering its conventions. While I was reading the memes on this meme generator, I caught myself laughing at most of the memes. Which, made humor my first convention of memes. Most of the memes focused on something comical, sarcastic, or “punny.” All categories that result in a laughter, smirk, or giggle. This meme generator also depicted a majority of causal, laid back memes. Almost, nothing related to politics, research, school, or government. From this meme generator, I was also able to notice that like in comics image is everything. For every meme, there is a precise photo that goes perfectly with the text. Whether it is the facial expression on the photo, or what a media character represents in the image, both have a close relation to what the text is trying to communicate.

               For my own generator, I decided to use a mystery novel generator from generatorland.com. This generator is unique in itself, but most common with the comic strip generator. It did not provide the user with multiple examples of mystery novels, but instead it provided multiple examples of what a theme of a mystery novel could be based on. For example, one of them read “unfaithful spouse, December 26, Pipe wrench Anger.”  This sentence lets the user assume that the story in the mystery novel occurred December 26, and is focused on an unfaithful spouse that may have been hurt or may have hurt someone with a pipe wrench. Based on the multiple topics or storylines that are provided by this generator, the user could come up with some conventions. From this meme generator, I got that mystery novels have an unanswered question that readers solve while reading. They also rely on themes of murder, tragedy, kidnappings, and the supernatural. This meme generator shows that in a broad genre like mystery novels, there are mini genres within, that have their own conventions. For example, all the themes are a specific kind of mystery that have different conventions from each other.

               After playing around with all these generators, I noticed that each generator works in different ways depending on the genre. Each generator’s priority was to focus on the best way to get the user to understand the genre as a whole, and then they focused on how creating patterns within their examples to help with conventions. 

PB1A

Love has been around for ages, but the ways in which one expresses love has drastically change. What used to be a simple concept, has now evolved to people saying “oh, you have time to go on snap chat, but I can’t even get a text back.” Let us release ourselves from this stress, and go back to a simpler time. A time where there were no texts, no text-back stress, just love letters.

            Love letters are a one of a kind experience. Who knew, that a piece of paper could bring so much joy to a person’s life. The receiver will read it, then re-read it, and somehow never get tired of it. So, what is it about this specific piece of paper that brings someone such grand joy?

Well, there are a few things that distinguish a love letter from a normal letter. Like any letter, a love letter has a beginning, middle, and end. However in a love a letter the focus of the topic is love. The sender’s priority is to concentrate on being romantic and attempt to emotionally impact the receiver in some way. To do so, the sender’s love letter may start with an intriguing greeting like darling or dear beautiful. The beginning, will also introduce the reasons for the love letter. For example, the sender might say, “I am writing this to you to tell you that you’re beautiful”, or “you and I have not talked very much, but I just wanted to let you that I think you’re amazing,” etc. When the sender adds a clear reason for writing the letter, it helps guide the receiver to a specific response.

Another component that helps influence the receiver’s response is the component of cheesiness. The sender may sometimes exaggerate certain emotions and say, “you make me feel alive again.” These type of sentences tend to be cheesy because of their lack of authenticity and their overload of corniness. However, these cheesy comments do help create a strong love letter. The cheesy comments sway the receiver to feel special, wanted, and adored. All, which are criteria needed to make an emotional impact on the receiver.

In addition, a love letter also includes a word vomit of compliments to the receiver. This allows the sender to emphasize his feelings by making it blatantly obvious that the receiver is the only topic of conversation. During this period in the love letter, the sender will begin to mention all the reasons why he/she likes the receiver. This goes back to the word vomit of compliments. For example, the sender will mention what he/she likes about the receiver’s physical appearance or personality. Almost mimicking the pattern of a list.

            The one thing that is most commonly seen in a love letter is a love poem. Most love letters mimic the style of a love poem. These types of love letters however, lack to conclude what they want from the receiver. Instead, they concentrate on rhymes and secret meanings. By the end of the love letter, the receiver knows that the sender has an interest in him/her, but the receiver does not know the reason for the love letter. Whether the sender wants a relationship, date, or phone number. For this reason, using a love poem as your love letter is quite impersonal, and may not give you the response you desire from your special someone.  

Thlog (Week 1)

Today in class we learned about genres, and the components of genres. We focused on how to specifically identify the components of a genre in detail. As well as, how to minimize a broad component into a more concise one.

To do so, we analyzed Dirk’s Navigating Genres in our free write to get a better understanding of how to separate a genre into components. We also had to contribute in practice activities to get some hands on experience. In which, I learned about textual genres that I would have never categorized as textual genres. For example, in our free write ID 13 mentioned that text and notes are textual genres. Whenever I heard the word textual genres my mind would always go to books, articles, etc. I never thought to open up my mind to common everyday things that we write.  For this reason, I personally really enjoyed receiving a few moments to attempt the in class activities alone. Besides allowing me to learn new things from my peers, it also helped me realize what I understood, and what I need further help on. In doing the practice problems I realized that I need to practice getting to the grain of the component, instead of writing down broad components of a genre.

In addition, we also learned about Elbow’s first and second-order thinking. Which I think could not only be related to school activities, but also everyday activities. Elbow’s first and second-order thinking is such a broad spectrum that it can even apply to how someone learns or plays sports. For example, in dance it is important to first use first-order thinking to get comfortable and learn the choreography, but it is also important to then use second-order thinking to clean up the dance and be performance ready. That is one of the main reasons why I enjoyed Elbow’s reading. It did not only relate to writing, but also everyday life.