Readers Response #6

In “The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer,” Sarah Allen discusses the differences between the inspired writer versus what we do when we write. Allen states that even professional writers have experiences with “slogging’ through their own writing processes. She also mentions good strategies on revising your paper and who to go to for such revisions.

It’s hard for me to really connect Allen’s piece to a previous reading. I think what makes her article different than the ones I have read is that most of the time the articles I have read are ideas I have never even thought about. Her article was very clear to me, and didn’t make me think like the ones we have read.

 Before You Read:

1. When I think about professionals writing I imagine it to be very time consuming and all over the place. I don’t think there experiences are any easier than the rest of us. I believe everyone has a different writing process, expert or not.

QD:

1. The myth of the inspirational writer is a familiar one. You have a writer that gets an inspiration and literally can’t stop writing and comes up with an amazing piece. This discourages students that don’t feel the same way. It makes students think because it doesn’t come so naturally that it can’t be as amazing. The reality is that many good pieces come from people who aren’t inspired writers and most of the time from people who have worked really hard.

3. I am guilty of some form of conclusion. In high school writing so many essays for acceptances one of my teachers actually edited my piece by rewriting almost every sentence. I didn’t realize that was a form of plagiarism until reading it in the text now. I think conclusion doesn’t always have to be a form of plagiarism. I think revision is an important step in the writing process. I believe there can be minor and major cases when it comes to conclusion.

AE:

1. I can’t recall ever using imitation in a piece of writing. I have realized that I love the style a writer has used but never decided to try it out for myself. I think this would be appropriate when you’re establishing your style. Wanting to imitate how a writer writes isn’t technically plagiarism.

MM:

1. I have never really had an experience with an inspired writer. I have felt a little discouraged when writing didn’t come as easy. I think my experience will be better when it comes to my struggles, I will have a more broad view on how many people feel the same way as me. It will make my writing easier by not giving up as quickly.

I really liked Allen’s article “The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer”. I think it helped me gain more confidence with my writing. It was an easier piece to read and I definitely understood it a lot more clear than other pieces I have read in the past.

Reading Response #1

In the article “Argument as Conversation” by Stuart Greene he attempts to explain to the audience the differences and similarities of a scholarly discussion and an argument. He discusses the principles of how issues and situations contribute to framing a disagreement in a different way.

Before You Read

1.  I would define an arugment as two people disagreeing on a topic in a angerly manner. Arguments can be thought of as differences, so in everyday conversation you will find that not everyone has the same view as you. In an academic setting I would refer to it as a debate. I think the difference is being loud and angry or just having a debate about different views.

QD

2. Greene quotes Kenneth Burke yet again to stress the importance that every argument is connected to another. Whether or not you just entered the debate no one has the knowledge to retrace all the actual steps of the discussion at hand, because it has been present long before any had got there. The extended metaphor about his passage is that no matter what time you enter the conversation you will always have to exit while still so heated. When writing an argument you can position yourself in many other different ways. This depends on three things, which arguments you share from previous occasions, which arguments you want to argue against, and what new information or personal opinions you will bring to the table. You can challenge it by forming important issues that haven given enough thought.

3. Framing is a strategy to help include different views in advancing an argument. A metaphor associated with framing is a camera lens. The way a photographer focuses on one piece of a picture with the lens rather than another is the same as framing as a writer. Framing is a strategy writer’s use in developing arguments. It forces you to name your position, offer a definition and description of the foundation of which your argument develops, specifies your argument, and helps organize thoughts.

AE

2. Greene’s article represents a conversation itself with the readers. He frames his argument by bringing different and conflicting voices to light. I believe in his article he has practiced what he preaches about "argument as conversation" by presenting the many different ideas of writing through his writing.

I personally thought that the passage on “Argument as Conversation” was very interesting to me. I find it very hard to decipher deeper meanings of arguments and never seen it in such ways presented in the text. I think having a broader view on argument could be helpful to me in the future, to be more open minded. I think these ideas will help me be more informed in future debates.

Readers Response #5

John Bergers “Ways of Seeing” helps us understand the way that men and women are portrayed in classical paintings. He includes that women are very stereotyped on how they are seen by other people from their actions.  Berger compares this identity with how people view men by their actions to be manly or powerful. To support this Berger studies nude paintings that portray women as objects for men. He also forced us to think if there is really a difference from how people saw artwork back then to how spectators see it today.

Berger’s article was a lot different than any article we have touched base on this year. I think the comparison this article has with anything else would be modern life today. You can see how time has changed how we view men and women but you can also tell the similarities it still has in todays world. Advertising uses women as sexual objects just like they did in the oil paintings.

 

Before You Read

1.       A women in a classical art portrait and a women in a modern day magazine have many similarities but many differences as well. Some things they have in common are nudity. Both women are portrayed with fewer clothes. But the differences with that are that women that were nude in a classical art portrait are seen as just beautiful art. Versus now a days women are portrayed in a way that tries to seduce other men or be portrayed as sexy.

2.       Men are depicted a lot different than women in the celebrity world. Seeing a picture of a women celebrity you notice the need to wear a lot of makeup and they are portrayed a lot more sexual than men are.

QD:

2. You can see similar images of women in magazines today. These images are very like the ones that Berger has mentioned in his article. “...naked is to simply be without clothes, whereas the nude is a form of art.” (Berger 210) I think our view of women in social media has changed. When people see naked women the last thing that they think of it is art. When in reality it can be seen as a form of art, just like with classical portraits of nude women.

3. I think the assumptions that Berger makes about culture are similar to today’s world. Many people judge women on how the dress or what they say to be there character. When it comes to mean they associate their actions to how “manly” they are or how much power they possess.

AE:

      2. There are ways that we apply Berger’s ideas to texts that we read. There is a clear relationship between the author and the reader. This results in relation to the ideas and thoughts being passed through from the author to the reader.

    4. Humor defines people on how lightly they can take a situation. You can always take a horrible situation or thought and turn it into something humorous if you were that kind of person. Humor can be used to much advantage, to lighten a situation or make it a little less tense.  Humor can be seen as a compensation for some conflicts. I think that humor does not fall into gender. It depends mostly on your character rather than your gender.

MM: I think it is important to think about the similarities and differences between nude, nakedness, spectator, viewer, art and advertisement in this article because you need to understand how  people view classical art. I think this article is more connected to audience. If you are of a different audience you will probably question if nudity is classified as art.

I liked Berger’s article. I thought it was really easy to relate to. It is very clear the relations that the oil paintings have in present day magazines. I also liked the comparison of the actions women take today effect a lot on what that says about their character and how men’s actions portray how manly they really are.

Readers Response #4

Scott McCloud in “Vocabulary of Comics” demonstrates symbols and the connection they have to humans. Uniquely he showed us his views on such a topic by comics instead of traditionally writing about it. By using a comic strip it made his ideas a lot more clear. I could actually understand and connect to his concept of how we view ourselves in a less detailed drawing. It is easier to see yourself as that comic if it wasn’t so specific to an actual person.

McCloud reminded me of almost all the previous reading I have done in the past. They all manage to really get me thinking about concepts and ideas that never even crossed my mind. He was also portraying his message through framing. Greene has defined what framing was and how writers use it. McCloud made his reading dialog directly for the reader.

Before You Read:

1.       When I think of my favorite old time cartoon I think of the Power Puff Girls. Most of every girl my age could relate to Bubbles, Blossom, or Buttercup. The makers of the cartoon had made these three girls so different that while a child you at least related to one or had a favorite. The features that made the connection so strong were the hair color. Bubbles was a blonde, Blossom was a read-head, and Buttercup was a brunette.

2.       After drawing a picture of myself and then of a friend and not being the best artist I noticed that a big detail that set us apart was hair color as mentioned in the first question. My friend, being blonde and me being a brunette you could tell that most details beside that fact was mainly similar.

QD:

1.       I think adults like the simplicity of cartoons because they make you feel like a kid again. It doesn’t make you think a lot, you can automatically relate to the cartoon because its audience is so wide. I personally don’t think a cartoon can ever have an age limit. In the world we live in today there are even cartoons made specifically for adults. I think McCloud would agree with there being no age limit on cartoons. He knows the power one simple image has on drawing someone in and the power it has on relating to a wide audience.

2.       I think McCloud used the comic strip format to further express how true his argument really is. It’s a lot easier to get your point across sometimes by actually demonstrating it and he did that very well. I think by writing his points down we wouldn’t actually relate to it so well. It would be much harder for us to put ourselves in his shoes or see his point of view.

AE:

1.       I definitely think that more teaching strategies should contain visual imagery on helping to understand the piece that much more. Many people in today’s world learn better by seeing an image. They are more visual learners. I think you can get your point across by using visual images and it would help the reader see what you are seeing.

3. I think many adults give up on the idea of cartoons because they think that they are growing out of being able to relate. Little do they know that they encounter some of the same symbols in everyday life.

 

I loved everything about “Vocabulary of Comics”. I thought it was a very great way to express ideas by using examples through explaining it. I also love the fact that all of the readings require you to think about something that never even crossed your mind before. This piece really got me thinking about all the everyday symbols that we encounter every day and don’t even notice.

Research Tools Summary

In the first tutorial it demonstrates how to find scholarly/full text articles by using article plus. A scholarly article, also known as a peer reviewed or academic articles, are made up of 7 parts: a title, authors, abstract, introduction, article text, conclusions and references. After typing an article keyword into the search bar you can further narrow it down to a scholarly article and full text.

In the next tutorial it demonstrates how to find a full text article when all you have is the citation. You can first look in the citation and identify the author, title of the journal, and year of publication. Furthermore you will click on the ALICE tab on the home page of the library, change the search to periodical title, and type in the title of the journal. After you receive your results, you click on the one with the specific year and volume and there you find your article. If you find that the article is unavailable you can request it to be sent to Alden Library for free.

You will find in the next tutorial how to request a book through OhioLINK. If you type in a book in the search bar and see that it is not available on campus all you have to do is hit request OhioLINK and it will be sent to you within 3-5 business days.

Project #1: Topic Proposal

One construct that I am most interested about is plagiarism. This construct is most visible in paraphrasing and research. Schools and universities have very strict policies on plagiarism, so strict that it could change your life in the scholarly world. We try to rephrase a sentence or fact to avoid plagiarism in a way that we don’t change the meaning of the sentence. Plagiarism directs us to sometimes move around words and sentences in a way that defers the meaning or point of the sentence. Our concept of good writing when it comes to plagiarism is working around it, coming up with similar but different words to put in place of the ones already being used.  In reality I believe that you can look at plagiarism as something unavoidable. Somewhere someone has used the same words as you have in a sentence so does that mean you are responsible for plagiarism?

Key Words:

Plagiarism
Originality
Research
Claims

Reader's Response #3

In the article, “Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively” by Margaret Kantz she points out that writing and reading are not about receiving and transferring information, but that certain texts don’t mean the same to you as it would the next reader. As readers we try to relate and put ourselves into the text and try to draw meaning from their context. She states that the intended audience has a lot to do with how you will personally view the facts.

 

I think that Kantz article is a lot like Kleines “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One- and How Can We Get Students To Join Us?” They both get you to really think about what you are reading when collecting facts for a research paper. Like Kleine, Kantz presents the idea that not only students can help with writing problems but that teachers have to guide them in the right direction to do so.

 Before You Read:
1. Most of the time having a factual argument is simply resolved. Look up the fact on the internet and there you have it. Most of the time seeing it in bold print must mean its true, so the argument ends at that.

QD:

1.       Shirley doesn’t have much of a broad horizon when it comes to facts, opinions, and arguments. Kantz contends that facts are something that cannot be seen from different viewpoints or be debated. Facts can be backed up and proven. On the other hand opinions can be viewed as a fact. Facts about certain topics and for certain audiences can be viewed very differently depending on the reader. And arguments are just conversations, not always raised voices. Arguments can be viewed as differences in opinions.

2.       Kantz says students lack or don’t know that:

-          Composite derived from public research

-          Misunderstand sources because they read them like stories

-          Expect their sources to tell the truth

-          Facts are a kind of claim and often used persuasively in objective writing to create an impression

-          Misread texts as narrative

-          Expect factual texts to tell the truth, instead of arguments

I think Kantz is correct on what she thinks the students are doing wrong. Sometimes I find myself viewing facts as something that is set in stone while in reality it is merely how someone is viewing the topic. I feel like I understand almost everything that she says students don’t know. I am very open to trying to open up my understanding on facts and sources.

AE:

1.       Although I haven’t had any college writing assignments at this point I can relate to my high school teachers not being clear about what they expect in a paper. I have had many teachers give me a project or writing assignments with a main topic but no details on the points they expect us to hit. I think well written directions and not so well written directions for an assignment have one thing in common and that’s providing the topic. They both state what the paper or writing assignment would be about but more detail explains what the teacher specifically wants from it. I think including all the main points of what the teacher wants to get back in a paper is very important in getting a good grade, and making them feel more knowledgeable.

MM:

Kantz is trying to analyze the different views people have on certain events that can change how the readers view the facts presented. Audience plays a huge role on the angle the author is going to go with and exploring many different facts on the subject can be helpful on declaring what stand you take on the topic. This would be useful when trying to understand the answers to your questions when writing. It also can help you think more constructively and have a broader stance on a certain subject.

 

I thought that the article was very interesting. It really made me realize how different audiences in different situations can exaggerate facts for their own benefit. I like how every text we read is similar to the last and they sort of connect to each other. I also feel like I am a very good audience for the articles I have read and they can make me a better writer.