Thlog 5

    A tool I learned this week that can be useful in enhancing my writing is the italic.  Normally I would use italics for only titles because I didn't quite know where to put them and thought they had little use, but it turns out they can be used to “bring a dash of color” to my writing.  Also, I learned that they have another practical use, being that they can be used when referring to specific words.

    This week we also took a closer look at how different disciplines of study can study the same subject in totally different ways.  For example, when studying music, a historian can study the history of music, the economist can study the music industry, and the psychologist can study what effects music has on the brain, all while the philosopher studies what is music.  Also, I noticed there was a lot of bleeding over, like how psychology might study what certain chemicals in the brain do while biology might study what certain chemicals in the brain are.  I thought this was a very interesting how you can take almost anything and have several ways of studying it.  

    Something else we examined in class is “imrad.”  “Imrad” is a logical structure that almost all academic papers follow. This form takes the reader through the introduction, introduces the method, displays the results, analyses those results, and then discusses them, leaving the study open ended.  Academic writers often make this move because it works.  I think I can apply this to my own writing by taking the idea that form follows function, and making sure my essays and articles have a form that is logical for what I am trying to convey.

Another concept I learned about this week is the concept of “making moves.”  A definition that I think describes moves well is ‘something someone does to do something.’  the move made is the something that someone does, and the something they do is the motive to why the person of interest did the thing.  Knowing this, I realized articles and papers are full of moves writers specifically make, and that I, too, make moves of my own in my writing.  Also, when studying moves, it was interesting to see how moves have their own set of smaller moves that make up the move.  For example, the michael Jordan flying layup thing had its own moves, like getting the ball and jumping, that build into one big move.  Without those smaller moves, the layup would not be the same.

   

PB2A

   

    Big wave surfing-an extreme sport-is attractive to those looking for a healthy dose of adrenaline.  But why would one choose to surf big waves and not find the rush somewhere else?  Why would one subject themselves to the pulverizing power of big waves, the rock hard reef at the bottom, and the dangerous creatures that lurk below?  A team of sport psychologists in the California State University set out to learn what was going on in the minds of big wave surfers at the notorious Northern California big wave surf spot of Mavericks.  The paper that resulted had conventions that made it one of an academic nature.

    The first high-order concern and convention of an academic paper is the abstract.  An abstract is a paragraph at the top of the paper that serves to let the reader know what the paper is about, what was done, and why it was done.  The abstract helps a reader, much like myself looking for a paper on which to write a paper, to know if this is the type of paper they are looking for and if so, provides background so the reader knows what they are reading.  The abstract serves as the purpose of this paper as it directly says “The purpose of this study...” directly in the abstract.  It doesn't get any more obvious than that.  Also, the abstract serves as a way for the target audience to know if this is the paper for them.  Without the abstract, a knowledge-seeker might have to read the entire paper, which can sometimes be lengthy, to determine if this is the type of paper they were or weren't looking for.  The abstract also lays out the structure of the paper, in this case separating it into the “psychology related to various stages of: big-wave surfing, including pre surf, in the lineup, catching the wave, riding the wave, wiping out, and postsurf.”  In this way, the abstract separates the parts of the study, distinguishing them as different from the steps of big wave surfing that come before and after the step in question.  

    Another higher order concern and convention of a research paper is the Thesis statement.  The thesis statement is the researcher or writer’s argument that the entire paper is molded around.  Since an academic paper is primarily composed of evidence and analysis backing up a claim, there must be a claim made to back up.  For example, a summary of the thesis statement of the academic paper being dissected is “big wave surfing is less about the risk, and more about developing positive life skills.”  The thesis statement not only poses an argument, but helps the writer stay on track with what they are trying to prove and is what the analysis will always end up leading back to.

    After the paper is introduced and an argument is formed, the paper is then broken up into sections that have their own subsections.  This higher order concern of breaking up the paper into paragraphs and putting them in a certain order is a choice the writer makes that he/she feels makes the most sense and helps the reader follow along with the study, and therefore a convention of this paper.  The first section is the “Method” of the experiment.  In this section the writer lays out the who and the how of the study, then followed by a quick analysis of these two aspects and an excerpt describing the study’s trustworthiness/validity.  This is important because it lays out who was involved in this study and how they were incorporated into it so the reader gains a better understanding of the group of people being studied and how they were being studied.  The next section of the paper is the “Results” section.  In this section, the researcher lays out their findings for each part of the surf.  In the results section, the researcher organizes their findings, separating them into the parts of surfing a big wave.  This is key because the thoughts and feelings of being in the lineup are completely different from the psychology of a surfer while on the wave, so if they weren't separated, the paper would lose some sense of purpose as it exists to describe the psychology at different stages.  Closely following The results is the “Discussion” section.  In this dense part of the paper, the researcher sums up the results, explains them, analyses them, and then directs the findings back to the thesis in support of it.  This is the part of the paper where the writer does the majority of their point proving.  The discussion section also serves as a type of conclusion as it wraps up the paper towards the end by restating the thesis with what was found through the study.  Lastly, there is a “Reference” section that is a list of the referred sources the writer used, helping to back the validity of the paper.

    This academic paper didn’t specifically pose a question, but rather made a statement that related to the findings of the paper.  Before the researcher conducted the experiment, however, the question they wanted to answer could have been a broad “what is the psychology in big wave surfing athletes?”  To answer this question and create a thesis, the paper relies on the data and quotes from the athletes so analysis can be made and turned into an argument.  Without the data and findings, there is nothing learned, nothing to base analysis on, and therefore no argument with any validity, therefore making the findings the most important part of the paper.

   

Thlog Week 4

Something extremely helpful that I learned this week on monday was the concept of the reverse outline.  The first time I have ever heard of such a thing was when it was first brought up in class.  I thought to myself “I don’t usually use outlines so why would I use a reverse outline?”  It turns out, when Zack made us use them on our own papers I found several connective issues with my paper and found that there were certain things I needed to add to make it flow better, and that I needed to separate some topics into their own paragraphs.  This also helped because it helped me adjust my paper so that I accomplished what I set out to do.  The most important thing that the reverse outline helped me with was my thesis.  My thesis wasn’t bad but I made some points and arguments in my paper that wouldn't have been relevant if I didn't adjust my thesis.  I like the reverse outline because it helped me mold my paper into something better than it ever could have been without viewing it at this angle.

    Another activity we did on monday was the highlighting activity.  This activity helped me see if my claims were backed by the text and then to see if I provided analysis on my citations.  This activity also saved me because I forgot to include aspects from the course reader which is a significant part of my paper grade.  I noticed that when I quoted Dirk and then re read my paper, it appeared stronger because I used Dirk-an established writer and thinker-to validate my claims and analysis.

    In today’s class (wednesday) we dissected the conventions of the three disciplines of the university- hard science, soft/social science, and the humanities-and assigned subjects into one of the three categories based on their own conventions.  It was interesting to see how people categorized different subjects and what their arguments for their choices were.  The ones that were obvious were the hard sciences like physics chem and bio under hard science and philosophy under humanities, but there were also some subjects that were harder to classify because they have characteristics of both.  For example, psychology was labeled as a hard science by some and a hard science by others because it was based on studies and labs and had some hard science components to it, but it also had a social science element to it because it is the study of human reaction and interaction and how we work and think.

    Another activity we did in class that I found particularly interesting was the murder activity.  Several different groups each got a genre that they had to use the given information to write what they were given.  For example there were police reports, letters, emails to parking patrons and so forth.  It was interesting because even though we all had the same base information, our purpose and sometimes our audience were different and it was easy for the most part to guess what each group was supposed to be mimicking.  After reading up on what WP2 is about, I can see how this activity was crucial and will go a long way into how I think about and write WP2.

Thlog3

This week I learned about a bunch of things but first I wanted to touch on the idea of rereading my work and looking for mistakes.  Usually when revisiting my work I just skim it but since I’ve been scrutinizing my work, especially in what I wrote in my rough draft, I found mistakes that if I had left them they would have made me look very, very uneducated and sad.  This also helped me because as I re-read what I wrote, I thought of more ideas that I could include and add to my argument or statement.  This has helped me in my writing because I no longer look dumb because I let a silly mistake slide.  Another thing I learned about this week was how useful of a tool dashes can be.  We learned about hyphens, and why we use them, but to me the dashes seem more important.  Dashes allow the writer to insert information when they don't want the info to be too separate by using parenthesis or confuse the reader with a plethora of commas.  Another bit of information I learned this week, quite possibly the most important, is the technique of building a good argument.  A good argument is persuasive.  It has evidence that supports its claim as to why it’s valid and why it is correct.  An example if a bad argument is one I encountered earlier this evening.  A friend of mine came up to me and was like “Hey Gary let’s go to this concert this sunday night.”  This friend of mine didn’t give any other reason as to why I should go besides the “you’ll have fun” aspect.  They failed to address the negatives of me going to the concert, like not doing my homework and not getting sleep, therefore making the argument weaker..  Although this was a bad argument because said friend didn’t address all the aspects of me going to the concert, for some reason I went and am now writing this at 1am on a sunday night.  As you can tell I’m stoked.  Another thing I learned this week that applies directly to me was the rejection of the “one shot shebang” angle when writing an important paper.  I’ll admit it, I sat down and wrote my first draft in one sitting.  Did the process suck? Yes. I recommend not doing the one shot shebag because it makes writing so much harder than it needs to be.  I sat down, straining, trying to think of what I wanted to say which only stressed me out.  The one shot shebang was a technique I used mainly because I didn’t have time because I procrastinated and had to do it then and now.  I probably won’t do this again.  Lastly, I wanted to discuss the working vs final thesis statement.  This concept has been a part of my writing for a while now, but I never identified it as a step in the creation of my final piece because when I altered my thesis statement, I kinda felt like I was cheating and tailoring my statement to fit what I wrote and thought about.  I now realize this is helpful because it helps my paper actually make sense which is kinda cool.

Thlog Week 2

            This week I learned a lot about rhetorical analysis and other vocab that has affiliation with rhetoric.  Previously I thought rhetorical analysis only occurred when one was reading a piece of rhetoric.  This of course made little sense to me because when I thought more about it I didn’t really know what rhetoric was.  I couldn’t define it or give an example.  When searching the internet, the simple definition of “a piece of literature using persuasive language or images” was helpful in learning what rhetoric is in literature, but the main thing I took away from class this week is the idea that rhetoric is everywhere.  Billboards, the school senate political ad outside my window right now, the layout of a building, the pattern in which the trees are planted, they all have a meaning in why they are what they are.  We are constantly analyzing these characteristics throughout the day whether we realize it or not.  For example, on the first day of class, when I walked in I saw Zack, saw what he was wearing, noticed his long hair and immediately thought to myself “this guy is chill.” In no way did I think I was rhetorically analyzing Zack, but Monday’s class proved this to be true.  Also, I learned that rhetorical analysis kind of has its own conventions of a genre of thinking, using ethos, logos, and pathos to use rhetorical analysis tools like exigence to analyze things we come across. 

            Also, something that helped me tremendously on my PB1B were the ideas of rewriting a sentence that didn’t sound quite right a few times to get something that makes sense and has less confusing syntax, and also leaving a blank when I’m drawing a blank.  The first one helped me because I noticed some of my sentences were getting complex and sometimes they didn’t make sense or were a little confusing.  Leaving the blank space helped me because when I knew what I wanted to say but didn’t know how to write it, which happens to me more often than I’d like, I could just move on and tie the next part of what I was writing to the idea that will be put into words later.  I didn’t previously do this because I though I’d lose what I was thinking which happened to me a little bit, so I just put the blank with a few key words to remind me of the thoughts brewing for that specific place.  This was also helpful when rewriting sentences as I would sometimes just write the ugly sounding sentence and then go back to it with a clearer mind or look at it from a new angle.  These two ideas, simple in nature were tremendously helpful in improving my writing in my opinion.  My opinion of myself and my work is slightly subjective so we will see what Zack thinks.

PB1B

    When dissecting research papers for their conventions using the SCI generator, I came to the conclusion that either research papers can only be about Decoupling Sensor Networks from Rasterization in Congestion Control, or that the SCI generator was not working properly.  Since I am a person with some level of coherence, I determined the reality to be the latter of the two options and decided to search different types of research papers and think back to the papers that I have read or written during my academic career.  While conducting my own research on research, I found that research papers have a specific set of conventions, but also that different types of research papers have their very own conventions that set them apart from the rest as specificity increases, much like the nesting dolls where the smaller dolls of their own traits build to make the final, large, all encompassing doll.  The conventions that make a research paper a research paper generally have to do with gathering data or facts, analyzing them, and then answering a question, proving a point, or confirming/rejecting a hypothesis.  Research papers have titles that relate to the topic at hand, a brief introduction so the reader knows what the paper is about, quantitative data, graphs, tables, analysis, a conclusion, and finally a list of references if it is not experimental research done by the author him/herself.  Research papers are dry.  They contain no interesting diction or syntax, lack style, and are straightforward and to the point.  They are soulless. When one reads a research paper, the individual is doing so to learn about something that someone else has figured out and decided to make public or gain insight.  To classify research papers into separate sub genres, variables like subject, topic, and purpose come into play that can distinguish an experimental research paper on chemical bonding from the mating patterns of male pufferfish off the coast of Japan. .

    Comic strips are easy to spot.  Immediately when looking at a comic strip the viewer can identify it, but what makes it easily identifiable is its set conventions.  Comic strips are short animations with a small number of characters and tend to have simple detailing.  They have little writing on the strip and what is there generally takes the form of dialogue either from character to character or character to self.  They also contain onomatopoeias to give the comic an auditory angle even though no sound is actually being produced and somewhat take the form of a short still frame movie, with each animation being progressive building off the previous scene.  Comic strips serve a purpose that is to evoke emotion, provide entertainment, or prove a point.  The most prevalent type of comic that one might see today or have seen in the past are political comics.  The authors of these comics try to sway your opinion or point out flaws in their less favored candidate using wit and humor while being brief.  Comics can be an effective platform to persuade and to evoke emotion because they are visually appealing, entertaining, and take only a moment for the viewer to comprehend the purpose of the comic if it has one besides that of pure entertainment.  

    The basic conventions of memes are much like those of comic strips.  They are visuals, being either an animation or a picture with writing on the top and bottom of the picture.  Memes spread ideas, provide advice, are a source of humor throughout the internet primarily on social media, and are used for a person to express themselves.  What a person wants to express determines the picture for the meme they will create and in this sense, each meme is its own genre as each picture has a form and a function that the creator must follow unless they want the collective weight of the social media users of the internet to bear down on them.  For example, the meme with Gene Walder from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1971) is used to display sarcasm and therefore be humorous.  On the other hand, the meme of the duck on a pond, commonly referred to as actual advice mallard, is used for users of the internet to provide advice that is not commonly recognized among the audience viewing the meme.  Each meme has a genre and therefore a text subject that corresponds to the accepted form of the particular meme.

    A generator I found for an interesting genre was a joke generator.  As everyone knows, jokes are intended to make people laugh.  They contain a setup that can vary from only a sentence or two, to an entire story.  They also contain a punchline which tends to be brief which is that part that sets the joke into motion and evokes the response, like pulling that last risky block on a shaky jenga tower that sends it all tumbling to the ground.  Jokes have their own set of genres, such as animal jokes, dirty jokes, racist jokes (unfortunately), blonde jokes (fortunately), walks into a bar jokes, etc. that they can be classified into based on their conventions.  Jokes are easy to filter into genres because they usually only depend on the subject of the joke, whether it's animals, blondes, or jokes about teachers.

Thlog Week One

This week in writing two we began to look at genres and what makes up a genre.  Genres are made up of conventions which is a concept that I found to be interesting because previously when I thought about a genre, I never really thought about specific pieces that when put together can be classified into a certain category.  I really enjoyed this because I usually wouldn't think about the specific conventions that makes a thing that thing.  I think I would always do this subconsciously, but when I actually tried to determine the conventions for a genre, it proved to be harder than I thought and I felt like I couldn’t put it in words (see PB1A).

I think that subconsciously classifying things into genres is similar to first order thinking while actually analyzing genres for their conventions is similar to second order thinking.  Also, I’ve noticed that almost everything has a genre that is belongs to and conventions that make it belong to that genre.  I’m not talking about just literature or music here, but other things like academic subjects or architecture.  For example, conventions like tall marble columns help distinguish Greek architecture from high ceiling domes that characterize Italian architecture.

    We are also learning about first order and second order thinking which is another topic that I find to be particularly interesting.  After reading about first and second order thinking, I realized that I am more of a second order thinker as I have taken course loads heavy in the math and science departments and therefore have been less conditioned when it comes to first order thinking.  I think this is why it’s hard for me to answer those quick freewrite questions in class, because I overthink them.  I thought of an analogy that I think can be applicable to first and second order thinking.  First order thinking is like a river.  It is for the most part free flowing and does what it wants.  It is guided by who we are, our experiences, things we’ve read and people we’ve talked to.  Second order thinking is like the dam in a river.  It stops it, controls it, and determines what passes through and is let to continue to flow in a more orderly fashion.  Thlogs I think can be representative of first order thinking.

Dramatic Genre of Greek Tragedies

A textual genre that we have not discussed in class is the dramatic genre of ancient Greek tragedies written by famed poets and tragic playwrights such as Euripides, Homer, Sophocles, etc.  Conventions that can be found in almost all Greek tragedies include gods, kings, magic, hubris, adultery and a setting of somewhere in ancient Greece like Athens or Corinth.  Other conventions found in these works include love, loss, and pride which either help build to the tragic event, or are a product of it.

            Greek tragedies were written with a lesson for the entire Greek population as the simple plays convey messages and lessons warning against certain acts and thoughts that a person of any social stature was susceptible to. These plays generally warned against hubris (not paying homage, disrespecting, or doubting a god) and adultery or exhibited the fact that prophecies always came true.  When warning against hubris and adultery, a Greek play generally follows a cause and effect style way of going about teaching its lessons.  This can be seen in Euripides’ Bacchae where, in short, a king didn’t recognize the god Dionysus so he was eventually killed in an ironic and extravagant way and the city was in disarray. These tragedies often were about hubris and adultery because it was a common problem among the ancient Greek community that writers sought to combat.

            Greek tragedies were simply written, as they had to be acted out in front of citizens of all types of social, economical, and educational backgrounds.  They contain simple words and plots that were easily understood, as well as asides and soliloquys so someone watching the play rather than reading it can understand what a certain character is thinking and feeling.  Also, because these writings were written to be acted out, they had to be entertaining.  Tools used to this effect include humor, irony, and exaggeration to keep the audience enticed and involved.

            Stylistic elements that characterize a Greek tragedy include dialogue and a chorus.  Most literature that tells a story includes dialogue, but what sets a play or tragedy apart from the rest is that the play is almost all dialogue between the characters.  Because of this, choruses are written into plays.  The author includes a chorus because when the play is acted out, it provides some form of entertainment as well as background information that might not have been able to be integrated into the normal text.  The chorus often explains the setting and describes events and provides information that is crucial for the audience to be able to follow along. 

            Ultimately, an ancient Greek tragedy has many elements that distinguish it from other pieces of literature.  Irony, satire, and asides are characteristics of plays, but heroes, gods, and Greek cities are all conventions that separate Greek plays from the rest.  Greek tragedies, however, have certain conventions that distinguish them from comedies or satyrs, much like the nesting doll that is one smaller.  Death and destruction as an effect of offensive or proud behavior in a Greek setting is a key convention that sets tragedies apart from other pieces of drama.