Draft of Open Letter

This blog post will have a link to my open letter.

NOTE: This is going to be really really rough. I had my laptop stolen from my car Tuesday night of Thanksgiving and have been unable to access a computer until Saturday (11/24). I'm behind in a lot of classes because of this, and I'll be doing my best to progress in this class. Because I didn't really know the specific conventions of a semi-formal letter, I copied a "rubric" I found online and wrote within those sections so I could feel more clear in how to write. I didn't have much time to quote myself or anything so be honest and specific but also a little sympathetic maybe? :)

Bosner, Richard "Winter Sunset in Tucson" December 29th, 2005
Non Commericial Generic 

Access my draft HERE

Reflecting More on My Writing Experiences

This blog post will review some more reflection about my writing process this semester.

1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?

It's always a little difficult transitioning to a new teacher, especially because they all have different expectations and guidelines for what level they believe their students to be writing at. I feel as though in high school I was writing more to the bare minimum expected for the teachers, but rarely really pushed my writing. I feel as though being challenged with new forms of writing was probably the biggest challenge this semester.

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time managment, writing and editorial skills?

Overall, I feel as though I've actually been fairly successful in time management.  I was concerned that I would continue the habit of awful procrastination from high school, but I've actually done quite well at keeping on top of my work (excepting this week, which was not as relaxing as a break as I had hoped). As I said in this blog post, I've enjoyed getting things done early. However it does seem as though I taper off in motivation as soon as winter rolls around. I also think my writing has improved. I spend a lot more time preparing drafts and researching than I used to, and I think that's really improved my writing. In conferences regarding papers, they've generally been more nit-pit-picky rather than have an overall negative tone.

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.

It's always sort of been difficult for me to identify a "genre". I used to think that a paper is a paper, and that it seemed kind of silly to have to identify a genre rather than just have the conventions placed in front of me. As college has progressed, it's made more sense to me that you're not always going to have a rubric or something that'll be straight forward for writing. Working by looking at genres in depth and picking them apart by convention has helped me learn how to understand and learn about genres.

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?

Helping to understand how to write for a genre, learning how to adjust writing for different teachers, learning how to write and research for myself as well as for school, etc.

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H?

I would say that writing the last paper was an effective moment for me. It was a culmination of all the different skills I have picked up on this year. I had an very well written draft, was very well researched, and spent a long time writing a paper I was quite proud of. I feel like this was just a good moment for me, even if the paper isn't perfect.

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H?

I would probably say the first paper. It felt like a research paper but it wasn't, I wanted to write in my high school sort of style and it didn't match, I didn't always understand the QRG genre and everything that it entailed. I felt frustrated and while I still feel like the paper came out okay, I still wish I had been more flexible in considering the writing.

Revising my Writing Process

This blog post will look over how my writing process and time management skills have evolved over the course of this first semester.

Alan, "Sleepy Time for the Ein Puppy", December 19, 2009
Attribution no-derivs, generic.

In blog posts 1.10, I wrote that I most considered myself a Heavy Reviser. I'd still say this is true, as a large chunk of my writing gets devoted to reading, re-reading, and editing my papers until I'm satisfied with them. I also said I wanted to be more of a Heavy Planner. I think I actually did become more of a Planner this year as well. As our blog posts typically require quite a bit of structure, I've noticed my rough drafts and outlines becoming more progressively outlined and detailed over time. I'm actually pretty happy with this, because it's made the transition from outline to full paper much easier. The clearest example would be project 3, where my outline was really intensely detailed and writing my paper was fairly smooth.

 In post 1.12, I said I was only going to have a couple free hours a day max. It ended up being more than I realized. Admittedly, I do spend quite a lot of time on homework, but have still managed to earn free time. I don't have as much time as I'd like to meet up with friends but I still manage to go out and get coffee with them from time to time, be a bum watching Netflix, and get some physical activity weekly (though my gym schedule is shall I say...nonexistent?). I've been really pretty good about not procrastinating this semester for the most part. I think the weekly structure of the posts helped a lot with that; I enjoy getting them done early because it's a large chunk of time I dedicate, and I like to enjoy my weekends (after I'm done working, of course). I'm pretty proud of myself actually in the fact that I get things done mostly early or at least on time.

Reflection on Project 3

This blog post will provide answers to a short list of bulleted questions provided in Writing Public Lives, page 520. It will also be a reflection on the final project that was just published and submitted (yay!).

Waits, Chris "Tuckered Out," May 7th, 2011
Generic License 

1) What was specifically revised from one draft to another? 
Between drafts I did general revisions. Fixing irregular quotations, general grammatical errors, smoothing out some of the more choppy writing. I re-wrote the subheading under the title, narrowed my focus more specifically to Rome and Pompeii in my introduction, and added more opinionated commentary to ensure my paper clearly made an argument.

2) How did you reconsider your thesis or organization?
I didn't necessarily change my thesis, but I narrowed down what I would be more specifically discussing as examples. This meant I narrowed down some pieces of my organization and expanded further on other pieces of evidence.

3) What led to these changes?
Partially my own revisions where I realized there were some areas that my ideas were not clear, but mostly from peer reviews and conference meetings. As a writer, you can maybe get attached to a work you've written and miss some flaws within it. Speaking and hearing comments from other writers helped me see the areas that needed work.

4) How do these changes effect your credibility as an author?
 I believe they make me more credible. The more feedback I get on a paper, the more aware of the flaws that may exist. Even when looking over several papers. If the same sort of comments generally re-appear, then I have a consistent flaw in my  writing that needs to be addressed and make me a better writer.

5) How will these changes better address the audience?
Laurence, in his comments on my draft, actually suggested a stronger appeal to my audience. I carefully tried to appeal to the generally upper middle-class and intelligent audience without seeming too preachy. There was one point where it felt as though I was pressuring the audience to donate to the sites, and I was unsure if this was the tone I wanted.

6)How did you consider sentence structure or style?
I tried to make sure my language was generally formal and made it more or less structured in my revisions. I tried to vary the structure of my sentences a little more, but I mostly did general edits for my paper.

7)How will these changes assist your audience in understanding purpose?
The more clear my writing is, the better my audience is going to understand my argument. Revisions are helpful to do that and allows me as the author to help clarify to my audience what exactly I am arguing.

8) Did you have to reconsider the conventions of your genre?
In all of my revisions and edits from other people, my conventions were described as generally in line. It had the right amount of photos, about the right length, and had the appropriate formality in writing. I adjusted the size of the photos a little, but otherwise I did not reconsider my conventions.

9)How does reflection help you consider your identity as a writer? 
Revision is an important part of the writing process, and helps authors learn about who they are as writers as well. Seeing your strengths and weaknesses pointed out can help an author really grow and figure out how they write. Reflecting upon how your revision process works can see where you should be revising more and what you revised successfully. It's an important part of the process.

Publishing Public Argument

The last project is done! I am linking it to right HERE for viewing purposes! Enjoy :)
The rest of this blog post will be a personal analysis of how I did on this paper, and what rhetoric I used to strengthen it.

Before Issue 

                                                                 X

←----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

After Argument

                   X

←----------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

      

         ____X__ My public argument clarifies the causes for a problem that is being debated.

4. Briefly explain how your public argument doesn’t simply restate information from other sources, but provides original context and insight into the situation:

--My argument was a little tricky, due to my genre's requirement of fact-heavy writing that generally remains fairly neutral. However, I added personal commentary to the information I presented. I argued that Italy had failed to do something specific and then gave X,Y, and Z reasons why my argument should be believed. Rather than just create a time line of things progressing in my issue,  argued reasons why things have gotten the way they are. 

5. Identify the specific rhetorical appeals you believe you've employed in your public argument below:

Ethical or credibility-establishing appeals

                

                    __X__ Referring to credible sources (established journalism, credentialed experts, etc.)

                    __X__ Employing carefully chosen key words or phrases that demonstrate you are credible (proper terminology, strong but clear vocabulary, etc.)

                    __X__ Adopting a tone that is inviting and trustworthy rather than distancing or alienating

                    __X__ Arranging visual elements properly (not employing watermarked images, cropping images carefully, avoiding sloppy presentation)

                    _____ Openly acknowledging counterarguments and refuting them intelligently

                    

                  

Emotional appeals

                   

                    ___X__ Employing the repetition of key words or phrases that create an appropriate emotional impact

                    ___X__ Employing an appropriate level of formality for the subject matter (through appearance, formatting, style of language, etc.)

                    _____ Appropriate use of humor for subject matter, platform/website, audience

                    ___X__ Use of “shocking” statistics in order to underline a specific point

                    __X__ Use of imagery to create an appropriate emotional impact for the debate

                    ___X_ Employing an engaging and appropriate tone of voice for the debate

                    

Logical or rational appeals

                    __X___ Using historical records from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    ___X__ Using statistics from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

                    ___X__ Using interviews from stakeholders that help affirm your stance or position

                    ___X__ Using expert opinions that help affirm your stance or position

                    ___X__ Effective organization of elements, images, text, etc.

                    ___X__ Clear transitions between different sections of the argument (by using title cards, interstitial music, voiceover, etc.)

                    ___X__ Crafted sequencing of images/text/content in order to make linear arguments

                    ___X__ Intentional emphasis on specific images/text/content in order to strengthen argument

6. Examples of the genre

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3 

                 

Reflection of Project 3 Draft

For this blog post I will be reflecting the two peer reviews for my draft I have received, as well as linking my own peer reviews. I have attached the peer review sheet I used for each draft.  One was Isaak's paper on obesity and the other was Chelsea's on geo engineering. 

Petful, "Easter Bunny Puppy", February 25th, 2007
Generic License 

1. Who reviewed your Project 3 rough draft?
Both Laurence and Chelsea reviewed my project three draft. You can find Laurence's review here and Chelsea's here.

2. What did you think and/or feel about the feedback you received? Be explicit and clear. Tell me what helped or what confused you about the feedback you got.
I feel like both of their reviews were very helpful! They generally had the same sort of comments on my draft. Chelsea specifically recommended I re-word my title and to review my paper for general errors (I was sure I had my paper in 'comment' mode but I she said I didn't! oops). She also recommended I revise some quotation because I used too many ellipses, and I agreed and changed it to a paraphrase. Laurence also recommended general revisions for clarity and to maybe more strongly appeal to my audience. I agree a revisions of the draft is probably a good idea.

3. What aspects of Project 3 need to most work going forward [Audience, Purpose, Argumentation, or Genre]? How do you plan on addressing these areas? 
Based on these peer reviews, I would probably say addressing my audience. Laurence said I was perhaps making a jab at the likely wealthier audience I would have to donate to my cause. I'm deciding if this is something I want to come across, since this is more of a "causal" argument than a "call to action" piece of writing. Just adjusting a little of my writing to appeal to my audience would do.

4. How are you feeling overall about the direction of your project after peer review and/or instructor conferences this week?
After conferences and the peer review, I'm feeling pretty strong about my project! The general consensus is to do a general revision to put some polish on the paper. I tend to review a few times before I submit a final project anyway, so I feel confident about how my project is turning out. 

Draft of Public Argument

Here is my first draft of my public argument! Please feel free to compare it to examples I have provided previous to this and make lots of comments. Clarity, sentence structure, presentation of images, etc. I also feel as though my conclusion is weak and was unsure how to tie in the elements I wanted to discuss without making the paper too long. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Stockman, Daniel "Corgi Puppies 36" March 12, 2011
Attribution Share Alike

Access the draft right HERE and here is an article you can compare it to XXX

Considering Visual Elements

This post will help my consider the visual aspects on my project based on the bulleted questions in Writing Public Lives.

Stockman, Daniel. "Corgi Puppies 28" March 2nd, 2013
Attribution Share Alike

What color choice best fits the rhetorical tone?

-I would like say a simple color scheme would be most appropriate. In the magazine I am basing my my article off of (Smithsonian Mag), the basic colors are black and white. Titles are frequently in black and grey.

If my project has a background, what color is most appropriate or visually engaging?

-This alternates between black text on white background or white text on a black background. I'll likely stick with black on white, seeing as it is more traditional and professional. However, I am still considering the white on black, since it is frequently seen in their articles and it is an engaging color choice. Maybe I will do a little bit of both. 

If your project contains large blocks of text, could they be broken up more effectively using text boxes, lines, headings, or images?

-Large sections or chunks of text are found often. Different topics in each section tend to be broken up by lines or images. I'll replicate this in my own project for sure. 

Does the text of headings need to stand out?

-There's generally one major heading and that's it, but it is extremely large compared to the rest of the text. I will likely also just have the one major heading that stands out and the rest will simply be divided by lines or, like how the Smithsonian does, a row of asterisks. ***************

Do too many visual images make your text busy or disorganized?

-Absolutely. There should be about 4 images per online article (though they often have options to click on other images that are less prominently displayed). The actual magazine will tend to have more, likely an upwards on 10 or so images. However, the format for these different forms of publication are fairly different. I will need to determine the format I absolutely want, and then make sure the images aren't a major distraction from the text. 

Does the image inform or emphasize my argument?

-Yes. They should be a direct illustration of what I am discussing. 

Is the theme or association that the images produces relevant to the theme of my argument?

-Yes. Like I said up above, it should be a literal image of what I am discussing in the text. 

If the image is a graph or chart, does it clearly support a major point of my argument?

-Graphs are fairly unlikely to be used in my project. If I do end up using them it needs to be in an exact fashion so that they are directly related and support my argument.

Project 3 Outline

In this post, I will provide a detailed outline in preparation for this next project. Pages 415-421 of Writing Public Lives will guide my outline.

wplynn "Macintosh the Pembroke Welsh Corgi", November 5th, 2006
Attribution no derivs

It ended up being a bit lengthy, so I created a Google doc available HERE

Reflection:

 I read Evan's  post on visual elements. Like my genre, his requires little to no images, and if it does they need to be very persuasive and placed carefully. He wrote more about what his genre was setting out to accomplish than the specific visual elements of the paper, so it was interesting to learn more about what he was trying to accomplish. I also read Chelsea's visual elements post. Chelsea thought more in-depth about the color choices she could utilize to get the best effect from her paper, and her images are already pre-selected to make the best effect. She seems more organized in considering her draft which makes me think I need to work on mine more for sure.

Analyzing My Genre

In this blog post, I will provide 5 examples of my planned genre and then will answer the bulleted questions provided below. 

Hallye Becker, Screenshot from my Computer, November 5th 2015

Social Context

• The genre is typically set in an actual  magazine, or posted through that magazine's website. All of my examples come from smithsonianmag.com specifically. 
• The specific subject is of all my examples are varied, but all pertain to history, archaeology, or art. (Look at examples to see varied ranges of topics)
• People in this genre are generally reporting on new information relating to their subject. They will present their topic usually fairly in-depth, but magazines have limitations on generally how long their articles are. Writers are usually given (xx) amount of pages or words as a requirement that they have to fill. For the Smithsonian, most of them are professional and well respected authors or journalists. 
• This genre is used a source of worldly information for casual and professional readers alike. It informs subscribers to the magazine (aka those who tend to care about these sort of topics) and presents them with news that pertains to the educated world. This includes revelations in science, history, art, travel, and new innovations.  

Rhetorical Patterns

• Most articles tend to stick to the "who, what, when, where, how" sort of questions. Typically, this content is mostly informational. There is little extraneous information, and opinion pieces for magazines such as the Smithsonian are fairly uncommon. Even when opinion pieces do exist, they're very level-headed and fair. 
• It could be argued that all three appeals are used. They need to present information and develop an argument, which means they need to appear credible and professional, but also need to appeal to their audience and create an emotional connection. Sometimes a logical argument serves an piece of news better than an emotional one, and vice versa. By carefully balancing all three appeals, an article can have lasting power with a reader.
• Most articles tend to open with a hook that simultaneously serves to introduce the topic at hand. For example, in Example 2, the article opens with the tale of an exposed CIA intelligence officer. This serves to introduce the article about spy betrayal, while also creating a hook to draw the reader in. The conclusion is not always a perfect wrap up of the information. While it does serve to really accentuate the argument provided, it can also be open-ended, as a lot of the information provided is still open-ended.
• The sentences are usually of varied structure, as good writing is supposed to be. They are professional and have a smooth flow, as magazine articles need to be easily and highly readable. They usually are presenting information, so question marks and exclamation points are typically reserved for extreme emphasis and quotations. 
• Magazine articles have a very wide range of word choice, depending on the magazine. For the more specific genre I have chosen, the word choice is formal because it has a more scientific/academic focus. 

Analyzing Patterns

• The genre is fairly inclusive. Whoever can afford a subscription to the magazine or chooses to read the articles online are part of the genre. For the place I would be writing my article, the audience is typically well educated and well-off financially. They have an interest in the world around them on a scientific level and can filter down to a more specific part of their interests by article. 
• The genre encourages interaction and education between the writers and readers. Writers present the information and ideas, and readers can choose how to react to them in any multitude of ways. Since there isn't a ton of persuasion in fact based articles, it's mostly just presenting facts the audience can choose to interpret. 
• It can be assumed they have an academic or scientific set of interests, and value research and learning new things about the world. 
• Facts, studies, research, and well documented information is likely considered to be the "most valuable" content. Overly opinionated or "tabloid" pieces will be considered less valuable.

*********

Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
Example 4
Example 5


Reflection

 I read Swati's genre post first. Swati chose a more science-based genre than I, and mine will likely read in a more academic manner. Mine is based off of a magazine article while the hers is more based off a science-article website. While our audiences and genres are different, we do have similar approaches though. We both will use logical appeals, and have an assumption that out audiences will have a pre-existing interest in the genre.
I also read Chloe's post. Chloe is using the New York Times as the reference for her genre, which is similar to me choosing the New York Times. Her genre is really similar to mine then, and we had similar approaches to considering our audience and how we're going to write the paper. I would say that her analysis needs a little more depth, but otherwise everything is well organized and matches up with my own sort of genre.