Research and Writing in Context

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Enc1102 Does Have A Purpose

When I was asked about what my theory of writing was, I wasn’t too sure how to answer it. I had never been asked that question so I started to think. If you were to ask me in January I would have had no clue what a theory of writing was but now I have a clear vision of what I believe mine is. I believe that writing should include a u d i e n c e, g e n r e, and r h e t o r i c a l s i t u a t i o n. I say these three terms because I find them evident in any form of writing.

The reason for writing is to effectively reach your audience and if you can’t do this then there is no point in writing. With identifying your audience, it guides the way you write. You will need to also make your writing appropriate for the audience, in the language you use and the way you structure your sentences. “There are things such as demographics, gender, ethnicity, and even intelligence to keep in mind when writing.” (Biggs) For example in my research paper about the Psychology of Single Parent, my target audience was the age group from around 20’s to 50’s. Once that was established I kept that in mind as I wrote. Because my audience was an older, more mature crowd I decided to use some clinical words and more complex idea and thoughts. This put my paper on a direct path. As you keep the audience in mind the next logical step is genres.

Genre is the form of writing you are going to use to reach your audience. As an author your goal is to get your ideas out and understood. Like I said in our first major assignment “Certain genres appeal more to certain audiences, for example your grandparents wouldn’t want to watch a gory horror film but our generation really enjoys them.” The genre in which you write is crucial. With the three genres composition I choose to work in was internet, article and photo journal. Picking these three things was based off my audience, the age group of 20’s to 30’s. I wanted to do something that would be most relatable; the internet is something that has become the mainstream for information and the photo journal worked because most people don’t want to read a lengthy article. When picking a genre remember audience and choose one that seems most applicable to them.

Once you have the more technical things out of the way, the next thing I think about is the rhetorical situation. There is always some inspiration or purpose for your writing. I used this example, “Each reader probably can recall a specific time and place when there was opportunity to speak on some urgent matter, and after the opportunity was gone he created in private thought the speech he should have uttered earlier in the situation.” (Bitzer 2) Sometimes you could think you are just free writing but the rhetorical situation is the expression of your feelings or ideas. This took me a while to grasp the concept but once I did it made my paper that much better. It gave it a direction and I was surprised as to how each paper got easier to compose. These three things have become the things I lean on when I’m planning to write. Instead of the paper being daunting, it flows once you have these three things identified.

A u d i e n c e, g e n r e and r h e t o r i c a l s i t u a t i o n make one cohesive paper. You can’t have one of these without the other or you will have an incomplete paper, which is probably why I struggled on my first paper in this class. I had no plan for my writing but now I know exactly where to start, a recipe that will never fail. By developing my theory of writing I have also developed a respect for writing. I am very sequential so having steps to begin writing helped my papers not be word on an paper but writing has become an expression of my thoughts, something I have come to enjoy.

At the beginning of the semester, you asked us “What is Good Writing?” and I did not know what good writing was. However, being in this ENC1102 class has helped me figure out what good writing is, and help me find my theory of writing.

A theory of writing is not determined right away. It develops over a period of time. “My theory of writing is complex. I mean I always think about the audience and the genre and of course the topic of the paper but it’s just complex” (Beth Parker). My theory of writing is made from the terms audience, genre, and passion. When I say passion, I mean a gratification and craze for writing. And unlike most people in any English Composition class around the world, I am probably one of the only people who enjoy writing. A few of my friends have confirmed it. “Writing to me is a way to express yourself and how you’re feeling. It’s an opportunity to let your feelings go and be able to write them all down in a blog or diary or what have you. Writing should be about what you feel at that exact moment and be able to not hold back” (Parker).

The genre is the form that the author’s work wants to appear in, such as a blog, essay, or speech. Knowing who the audience is going to help figure out what the genre should be. “Different genres pertain to different audiences” (Parker). For example, using a speech for a graduation is acceptable for an audience of graduating seniors. An author wouldn’t use a genre that wouldn’t relate to the audience.

The audience is a group of people that the writer is writing to. The audience can be different ages and certain demographics. In the first assignment I had written, “the author needs to connect with the audience and make sure that what they say in their writing has something that they can take away from it. After figuring out the audience is, will ultimately help lead into knowing what genre the author wants to use when writing the selection” (Parker).

The last component of my theory is passion. And not passion in an R-rated content. I mean passion as a craze and warm feeling for writing. I enjoy writing unlike most people my age. I have a blog, and the writing I do on that is a way for me to tell the world what I’m thinking and feeling at that moment. People have to be able to enjoy writing to be able to succeed in the subject. People need to be able to put emotion into their writing to make it more real but only enough to show that they care about the subject. “Although, I couldn’t put my opinion in the inquiry-based paper, I did put emotion into it, enough so that it would not seem that the paper was biased. The information and research I put into that paper will stick with me forever and will make me think of it when I look at my Uncle Jamie and his boyfriend George. They were my inspiration for the research paper” (Parker).

I thought I would express my theory of writing in a way that I write best, a blog post. I’ve been writing blogs since last summer and it’s one of the best ways to write in my opinion. I used different colors and pictures that went along with the key terms to create a better assignment. Using the knowledge I had before coming into ENC1102 about blogs has helped me tremendously throughout the entire semester also.

I know that my theory of writing contains genre, audience, and passion. But I know if I keep writing throughout my life, that more components will be added into the mix. My theory is not complete and it may never be completed. But as long as I keep writing and I know that I will still enjoy it years down the road, then I will be happy. And that’s what I want. It’s like the saying, “When I’m gone, and my friends think about the memories we had together and they smile; then I know I made an impact in their life.” I want to be able to make someone smile and have an impact on them with my writing. That’s how serious and passionate I am about writing.

Works Cited!

"Genres." Bing. Web. 21 Apr 2011.

"Passion and Golf." Bing. Web. 21 Apr 2011.

"Rainbow Audience." Bing. Web. 21 Apr 2011.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Definition of MY Theory of Writing

My theory of writing is made up of the terms

audience, genre, rhetorical situation, and reflection.

Audience

Audience is who the author is writing for. Defining this term further the audience is who the writer is trying to capture, influence, and inform. The audience can be different age groups, sexes, and social classes. As I said in the first essay we were assigned, “The first step a writer should take is to grasp the concept of who will be reading their piece of literature. Knowing who the audience is, is imperative because one must strive to relate to their reader in order to keep their interest. Audience in relation to writing is the answer to many questions; such as what tone the writer should use, what the subject matter should be, how formal or informal to write, the structure of sentences, the use of humor, and the amount of creativity to use. What type of language, dictation, and the degree of vocabulary to use is all influenced by the audience as well... After answering these questions, a clear-cut idea of who the audience is will arise and therefore the author is now ready to begin writing.”

Genre

Genre is the way in which the writer displays their message, whether that be through a poem, essay or blog post. Another point I pulled from the original first assignment is where I said that “Genre can be defined by many characteristics, one main point being length. Common genres with contrasting lengths of writing include brochures, reviews, and instructions.” Length is an important aspect because readers may lose interest if a genre takes too long to make its’ point. Working within the correct genre is imperative in order to capture your intended audience. I learned this even further while working with our last genre assignment. In the rationale I wrote that, “In order to communicate my message in the best way possible I will use genres that will capture the attention of a younger audience by relaying the importance of marriage in a more modern way. I plan on grabbing their attention through the three genres of an advertisement, photo essay, and a short featured video. Teenagers and young adults alike will easily relate to these three more up-to-date genres. By being able to connect to these pieces, the audience will be able to grasp the message more clearly and may even be able to retain the information far greater than if I were to use other genres, such as a scholarly article or poem.”

Rhetorical Situation

Rhetorical Situation is defined by Blitzer as having three parts. The audience, exigencies, and constraints. The rhetorical situation is the obstacles that stand in the way of the author writing. As I stated in the first essay we were assigned, “Expanding on these three terms collectively is the need to, “respond appropriately to the situation.” (Rhetorical Situation, 5) We know the meaning of audience already but in the case of rhetorical situation audience has a deeper meaning. The audience must not merely be just, “hearers or readers” (Rhetorical Situation, 8) but they must be able to be influenced by discussion and be mediators of change." Exigences and constraints are two new terms that we must explore.

Exigence

I defined the term of exigence in the first assignment as well. I claimed that “An exigence is, “imperfection marked by urgency.” (Rhetorical Situation, 6) An example Bitzer uses to describe rhetorical exigences is the pollution of our air because its modification is positive. The reduction of pollution is imperative in preserving our world as we know it therefore public awareness is in order. Marking a situation with urgency is needed to create interest in the audience through the subject matter. Writing without exigency is simply not effective.

Constraints

Constraints, this may be a person, object, or event that restricts a writer. The relationship between these three aspects is important to take note of as well because they too can be obstacles in writing. In the first essay I wrote for ENC1102 I declared that other barriers that specify as constraints include “... documents, facts, traditions, beliefs, attitudes, interests, images, and motives.” All writing must have rhetorical situation. Once the rhetorical situation has been outlined and established the writer is now able to begin writing.

Reflection

Reflection to me means looking back on the past and analyzing what, how, and why an action was done. The end product of reflection is meant to better ones self. In the blog post of an “On-line Class Day: Digital Journal,” I wrote about the word reflection. I declared that “Reflection is imperative not only in life but writing as well which is something that I learned through ENC1102. I choose this word because through the reflection process I believe I was able to improve my writing significantly. I was able to take the qualities that I liked, did not like, was good at and not so well at from previous assignments and I was able to apply them to the next. Making each draft better and therefore boosting the grade as well.” Without reflection I know for a fact that I simply would not have learned as much because through this process I was able to see not only for myself by for my peers the qualities of good writing.

Main questions that I have learned to ask myself when reflecting on writing are...

- How do I feel about the writing progress? Pleased, satisfied, disappointed?

- How have I improved? Thinking of specifics, especially anything that makes me proud.

- Do I do anything differently now when I write than I did before?

- What are my goals for writing?

- What will I do differently the next time I write?

- What are my strengths and weaknesses in writing? What do I need to work on?

- How do you I feel about writing? How do I use the writing process?

I leave you with these questions in hopes that you too find reflecting as significant as I do. I aspire that you apply the term of reflection to your future in all aspects of life but most importantly in writing.

My theory of writing is made up of the terms

audience, genre, rhetorical situation, and reflection.

There should be no surprise in that the first assignment of defining the writing terms, audience, genre, and rhetorical situation, affected my theory of writing the most. These terms were words that I had never focused on before in my writing past. I even expressed in the very same essay that “When I think of genre I immediately think of different types of music such as rap, country or the blues. I then begin to picture scenes from movies; chick flicks, horror or comedies. I tend to over look the fact that genre exists in writing as well.” That is a prime example of how ENC1102 has educated me. I now know exactly what these terms mean and could not imagine composing a theory of writing without them.

I choose the genre of an embedded genre blog post because I felt this was a more creative approach compared to displaying writing in other choices such as a letter or an essay. The more creativity I can put into an assignment the easier it is for me to express facts and how I feel in order to do a job well done. I wanted to be able to show an illustration of my theory of writing, not only through words but pictures as well. The coloring, bolding, underlining, and italicized of words enhances this project even further. I choose this idea from a previous assignment we worked with in which I wrote about the musical artist Wiz Khalifa.

Works Cited

Bitzer, Lloyd F. Arts. Pennsylvania State University. 1968. “The

Rhetorical Situation.” 1 Feb. 2011.

Bitzer, Lloyd F., Campbell, George. “The Philosophy of Rhetoric.”

Photograph. Bibliovault. The University of Chicago Press. 27 Aug.

2009. Web. 19 April 2011.

Clonlara, Clare. “Tree, Reflection in Water.” Photograph. PanRamio.

Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. 14 March 2010.

Web. 19 April 2011.

Eddie, Fast. “The Daylight Savings Time Warp.” Photograph. Fast

Eddie. Blog at WordPress.com. 2 July 2008. Web. 19 April 2011.

“Fiction Writing.” Photograph. Writing A Novel. Writerbookie.com. 3

Jan. 2010. Web. 19 April 2011.

“The Most Popular Performance Show Times On Broadway.”

Photograph. New York Show Tickets. New York Show Tickets Inc.

10 July 2008. Web. 19 April 2011.

Theo, Albert. “Medicaid abuse routinely ignored by sociocrats.”

Photograph. Dakota Voice. Dakota Voice. 30 July 2009. Web. 19

April 2011.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Procrastination

was my specialty.

waiting to the last minute was my habit.

cramming was a necessity.

doing averagely seemed to work.

High School

was my play ground.

no work was serious.

writing a paper the night before was normal.

studying was optional.

Florida State

opposite of every study habit i had.

reading entire books was normal.

hours in the library became routine.

writing paper in advanced was smart.

waking up for my 8am proved to be difficult.

Present

waking up became a part of my week.

study habits were changed.

working a head of time paid off.

remembering assignments was beneficial.

preparation for class was a necessity.

This class has not only helped me in english but is has also helped me become a better student. With this class i was responsible for remembering what was due and that held me accountable. I was challenged to not work at the last minute became writing is a process and you cant rush that. I learned that there is a process that is almost the same with anything you are writing. You have to sit down and think of the target audience, what you write in, and why you are writing. With identifying these you will have a better peice. This class has challenged me to be a better writer with every paper i turn in.

I am

I am the one who learns

Learns the true meaning of composition

From the transition of admission

To a higher institute

I am the one that learns to write acute

I am the one who listens

Listens to my audience

Who gives them a chance to be heard

Is careful with every chosen word

To express them truly and justly

I pick the genre for my community

From article poem to essay

I pick the write one in which to convey

Ideas, thoughts, questions, and answers

I am the one who strongly dislikes

And strikes out when it comes to writing

And might not find time

To make my paper just fine

But when I finish I finish strong

I am the one who reflects

Reflects on the path chosen when struck by the fork

And with courage I walk out with the lighted Torch

A+

The evolution of a writer

In the beginning there was a young man his potential unknown to the world, so they watched, waited, and nurtured until he grew old enough to begin proving himself.....

This young man began a journey into college bringing with him nothing but the basic skills he had spent his life honing

After 2 years of schooling the young man had developed a writing process he was comfortable with, until one day he hit a ROAD BLOCK!

After two years college he thought most of his writing was behind forgetting he needed another English course to further his college career

The young man began he course thinking it should be a synch because it was a course for entry level college students….

So the young man was tested and faced with the first challenge

Due to a poor flight plan he crashed and burned!!!

He told himself he would do better next time….

A few weeks later the second challenge and the results were almost identical, he knew something had to be done.

This young had to have his theory of writing broken, to learn what writing was all about….

His process was then reshaped and reformed

After a semester of hard work and awakening a new writer was born!

(Chuck Norris approves this message!)

fin.

Perhaps it is staying up late into the wee hours of the night that allows my pen to flow. Or rather, in this case, my fingers to tap. Or perhaps it is my love. My joy in written language. My joy in language at all. Who I am as a writer? Well I can't completely answer that question. I am simply what I am, as is my writing. And my writing will change, I'm sure. I hope. I hope everything develops. I could write and read written words or letters to me for much time. I enjoy writing, and have learned. Learned that writing is not always this way or that. But just how you like it. A great fear of mine is to wake up one day and realize that the world is in the year 1984, that language is diminished and therefore so is freedom. This fear is my Room 101 in a way. To me, reading, writing, and thinking are the jobs of superheroes. Without contemplation and debate about metaphors and references to great pieces of work and joy in language, in literature, there is little as far as great knowledge of society goes. And so, who I am as a writer, is one trying to challenge the norm to reach beyond into greater works of literature and greater levels of thinking.