"Future Writing"

While I was writing the research writing assignment, I realized that I knew a lot more than what I thought I did. I was capable of taking all of my knowledge and writing a 1500 word essay with mostly my thoughts and my research. This type of writing will definitely be used in my field of work. Psychologists have to collect their own research from their studies and sessions on patients, analyze the results from a doctor's visit and use what they have learned from other sources to compile a summarization of the patient and what needs to be done to help the patient. This field is all about research and writing. A psychologist must perform speeches, give presentations and also provide written novels on their research and what they have discovered in their line of work. They conduct their own research for their own work and writings. We used sources in our paper of course, but most psychologists learn their information from other psychologists either by experience, reading another psychologist's book, or going to a lecture from another psychologist. They would also have to cite certain content because some of it is based on certain books, articles or lectures that are not theirs. Psychologists have to conduct experiments or methods to find a way to specifically help that client. This is exactly what we did in our paper. We interviewed people, found out what the problem was, and then we summarized all of our findings and gave an opinion or method on how to resolve the problem. We also gave a picture of how we could better our research for next time. Psychologists go through this same cycle every day with their patients. They may not write 1500 words on every single patient, but they do give a summary and conclude from their research on what to do and it contains research to back that method up from other psychologists. I have learned so much from this paper. It has given me a taste of what I will be doing in the future. I am glad that one of my classes has finally given me a taste of what it will truly be like in the psychology world. When I realized that it was the same process that a psychologist uses, I wanted to do more because it is practice for me. During my internship for psychology after graduating with a bachelor's degree, I will enter an internship that requires these types of skills from me. I am thankful that I got to do this writing assignment. It enlightened me on many things that I did not know about my career and what's coming up next during my college career. 

"Martin"

        In Brian Martin's "Plagiarism: A Misplaced Emphasis," he is describing the different kinds of plagiarism, what each level of writing , and what are the standards on plagiarism for each level of writing. In an education that is placed at a higher level, plagiarism is "grievous sin." In every high school and university, students are warned about the consequences of plagiarism, and teachers, whether at a high school or college level, have a way of detecting plagiarism, but there are no perfect methods of noticing plagiarism (Martin, 448). "Undoubtedly no more than a small fraction of student plagiarism is ever detected and, of that which is detected, serious penalties are imposed on only a minority of offenders," says Brian Martin, but what about community and government leaders (Martin, 448). A student may be punished for plagiarism, but what about the consequences that need to be given to our political leaders. Martin Kuther King Jr. is an example. The plagiarism that Martin Luther King Jr. committed never became a hindrance as a preacher or leader in the civil rights movements of his time. Incidents, such as these, have causes many academics and scientists to hide one's ideas because of "unscrupulous competitiors" who are willing to steal (Martin, 449). To share ideas in this world is absolutely unheard of now due to the dangers of plagiarism. Now, there is also institutionalized plagiarism. This type of plagiarism is when someone else is hired to write for another person. Institutionalized plagiarism is mostly required for the press. When it comes to a politician, sports figure, business executive or movie star, "the actual writing is done by someone else" (Martin, 450). The people that write for these specific types of people are clled ghostwriters because they are either acknowledged in small print, or not at all. Brian Martin calls this "plagiarism of authorship." There are a variety of types of ghost writing plagiarisms from honorary plagiarism which is in scientific research, and political speechwriting which refers to politicians and their speeches. 

        Many argue whether plagiarim laws should be enforced or not. Many scholars and academcs believe that it is a way for students to get ahead without working for it or without the student or person learning anything. Some think that many people plagiarize due to the fact of inexperience. Brian Martin commented that, "In many cases, plagiarism is carried out by undoubtedly talented and experienced people, as in the case of D.H. Lawrence  plagiarizing from various women." Brian Martin believes that plagiarism has been given more attention that what it truly deserves and has caused more distress and turmoil. "Most cases should be dealt with as matters of etiquette rather than "theft"" (Martin, 456).

"Winsor"

        This study is about novice engineer students on whether or not the students have learned how to write by model or mentoring. During her studies, she found that 53% of the students use models. Models are a standard, imitiation or comparison. Some of the students received advice/editing, or mentoring. Mentoring means to advise or train someone. 38% of the novice engineers were given advice/editing from a supervisor. 24% got advice from their co-workers, 14% were placed into a writing technical class that was required, high school training was 7%, classes at work were 5%, and work evaluations were 5%. Some of the descriptions written by the students were more like a sink-or-swim experience. Most students would agree that these methods used are not helpful compared to the other citing methods. In contrast, the students like the experience of models and mentoring because most learn from the interactions that come along with experts as most productive when they are receiving responses and practice.

        In Winsor's article, she receives comments from students that go into detail about the statistics. They have a specific learning pattern that is typical between most of the students; this is to use models by going to a co-worker and seeking advice on their drafts, submitting them to some type of supervisor and then reading and listening to the responses, from the supervisor, so that they can revise their work correctly. This model gives them the ability to choose a format and style for their work. They see formatting as a matter of local convention. There is always a better way to do something but they do not want to hear about it because that specific company has a set of guidelines that they go by. 

        Some students read models over and over again until they get to a better understanding, they take earlier reports and use that as a basis for their analysis, or they use models to know what is expected to be presented on the report format. Many students use the model in different ways, but they know one thing for sure. Communication skills and a students style of writing are learned by experience in the workplace. Overall, most students made the comment that they need to drive instead of watching someone drive. One student commented, "School can show us the reins but we won't really learn to control the horse until we ride it." 

Word Count: 398

        

"Writing, Technology, and Teens: Summary of Findings"

There are many elements that help teenagers, or college students write today and it varies between each of them. Technology is a big help when it comes to writing a paper, especially if a teacher is not there to help us correct our mistakes and to show us why. Teenagers and college students also would like more interesting and appealing topics. Most teenagers , especially, would want to choose their own topic. It makes it more appealing to the student and it motivates them to actually put forth effort and make it a good paper which in turn, gets tgem a good grade. This changes the outcome of the student. It gives them confidence in their writing and to do better in school. it may reveal a skill for them that they never thought they had. A lot of teens have trouble with in-school writing because they are not interested in the topic, or that they do not have the resources to research the topic. That is why technology expands our knowledge and can help us with our writing. If we did not have computers, we would not know half of the things that we know today, but we would be fine without it even though it is very helpful. With technology, I don't think that it has affected how we speak, but how we spell. The one thing that I did not see with instant text messaging is that some people type out every word and do use correct grammer and spelling skills. This includes myself, so I believe that technology has not affected how we talk or spell. Talking in general is not correct. We communicate with people that do not use correct grammer as they are talking and that is what they have grown up around and when someone speaks incorrectly, this will change a person's writing. This has happened before the inventions of technology, and therefore technology is not making it worse. Technology is giving us a choice to better ourselves or to not better ourselves. It gives us that opportunity to learn and to obtain knowledge and if a person does not do that, then that is their choice. They cause themselves to miss out on knowledge that they need in life and opportunities that it could give to them.

"N. Baron & Cullington" pg. 719

"Instant Messaging and the Future of Language"

Mrs. Naomi Baron is describing how computer-mediated communication (CMC) and instant messages (IM) can influence younger audiences by giving them an opportunity to interact with other people and to be social. She focuses on a particular question, "Are email, instant messaging (IM), and text messaging on cell phones degrading the language?" Mrs. Baron tells us that many things that are here in the United States, but are not an issue in Europe or any other country. "Computer-based IM is relatively recent phenomenon to Europe." During the time of Beowulf, there were many different shifts in writing patterns. Shakespeare even spelt his name many different ways, probably around six times, in his time. While the Vietnam War was going on, people did not know how to use a semicolon or how to spell. So, with that being said, many of these problems dissolved with the help and guidance of teachers, parents and professionals. She explains how these worries and problems end up being the conversations and debates between professionals and also a parent and their teenage child. This could cause problems when teenagers replace words with abbreviations of that word like brb, be right back, and U for the actual word you. Mrs. Baron says that they are not any different from "like" or "totally" which are very common in the United States. She compares the abbreviations that adolescents use to contractions like "don't" rather than do not. Mrs. Baron tells us that contractions are only used two-thirds of the time and spelling out the words go to the other third, and she also says, "females are significantly more likely to type full forms than males."

She also proved that instant messages weren't always instant and not all messages are abbreviated, incorrectly spelled, or have grammer errors. Mrs. Baron believes that it can be tolerated and that their is no harm in using technology, but that "traditional writing conventions" be taught as well. She knows that a CMC style is empowering. "However, if today's teenagers are also to master more formal written language style, their parents and teachers must provide good models and, if necessary, even gentle sticks." She wants us to use technology and take advantage of the advancements in our society, but she does not want adolescents to forget and not learn older traditional writing styles, grammer skills, and spelling skills.

"From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies"

Baron Dennis describes writing as a technology today and that it has always been a technology. In the article, he says, "The development of writing itself illustrates the stages of technological spread." He is telling us that writing is deeply rooted into technology because it all started with writing. In the 1560's, John Thoreau and Company developed and distributed wooden pencils to a variety of people such as cabinet-makers, artists, note-takers, and many more. Baron Dennis says, "A tool so universally employed for writing that we seldom give it any thought." Even though Thoreau did not like the invention of the telegraph, he still thought that it was an improvement to techology but it was also an improvement to writing. He is correct in every way. Most people do not see writing as a technology, but it has developed with technology a lot. Everything that we have in technology today was in some form of writing at one point in time before computers, tablets and phones. We had all kinds of writing.We had different utensils that we used to write with, but the pencil, which had a piece of graphite, not lead, encased in wood, was not a writing utensil. It did not become that until the 1560's. The pencil was mostly used by joiners, woodworkers that specialized in making furniture which used the pencil to scribe measurements into the wood. At that time, pencils did not leave permanent dents in the wood. By the time Gesner became familiar with the pencil, it became widely used as a means to sketch, write, or take measurements by note-takers, natural scientists, and others. Then, the telephone came along, which did not go so well when Alexander Graham Bell was trying to sell his product. Samuel F. B. Morse was convinced that no one would want the telephone, Baron Dennis says, "It was unable to provide an permanent record of a conversation." It took a long while for people to find out what the telephone could truly do and accomplish. Once the telephone became established, it was a huge hit. News, and sports broadcasts were mostly passed over through the phone. The phone was a very useful invention. As technology became bigger, the computer came to reality. This opened up a whole new life for writing even though it wasn's meant for that purpose. Baron Dennis is trying to help us realize that even though writing wasn't the first thought when people invented these things, but writing became a huge part of that and that writing grew with the inventions of this world. 

"Comparing Writing Processes"

How does your partner's writing process differ from your own?

My writing process and Gabrielle's are quite the same. The only difference that I have seen is that I spend a lot more time revising and editing than I do actually writing the paper. Usually, all of the words fall into place for me as I am writing and while I edit and revise as I go. Gabrielle also writes a pretty basic outline. My outline is detailed. It covers every topic and almost every idea and thought that I put into my paper, so, it is more like a rough draft and an outline. Other than those two things, Gabrielle's writing process is similar to mine in that we both do not spend a lot of time on our actual paper. It sounds like we throw our paper together, but we do not. We plan our outline so well that when we go to write our papers, we do not have to do much editing, proofreading, or revising. This is more of a non-blocker writing process. I may have more of a blocker's writing process than Gabrielle does, because I take more time on the outline. More than most people would. Some people do not write an outline, but it is very helpful when they have one. An outline helps me stay focused and organized on what I am writing. Gabrielle thinks that if she has a good outline, she can skip around if she gets stuck. We have a few differences but there are a lot of similarities as well. 

"Murray-2"

"Murray-2"

Read "Response of a Laboratory Rat- or, Being Protocoled" (WaW 592-609)

Questions for Discussing and Journaling 1, 3, 4 (WaW 608)

QDJ 1, 3, 4 (WaW 608)

1. What was your impression of Murray's writing processes as they're described here? How do they compare to yours? What do you do the same or differently?

- Murray was very particular in the way he wrote. He would revise and check his paper over and over again. I, on the other hand, do not revise my paper which comes after I've written it. I edit and revise my paper as I go. I only read over my paper at the end. I never change anything at the end unless I have missed a significant mistake which normally doesn't happen because I check while I'm writing. It is a lot easier for me to change certain things about my paper as I'm writing it.

3. How did the study change Berkenkotter's understanding of writing processes, particularly planning and revision?

- Her study revealed that more time was needed to be put into what is normally put in for revising, at the end of a paper, and planning, which is before the paper like an outline. Every person has a different revising process and it can take thirty minutes or it can take two hours.

4. What problems with existing methods for studying writing process does Berkenkotter identify? If you read Perl, did you notice any of these problems in her methods? What do you think they might mean for Perl's findings? In what ways is Berkenkotter's newer approach to studying writing processes able to solve the weaknesses in other method's? Do any weaknesses remain?

- The time management of writing a paper. It specifically targets the revising and editing of the paper. Perl did point out significant problems with editing, and he says that a person may need to put more effort or time in on editing the paper, but many people won't follow this because they don't agree with that approach. Some people, like myself, don't take a lot of time out for editing because they do it as they are writing.

"My Writing Process"

     My writing process is not a drawn out or detailed, complex process. It is a lot simpler than what people actually think. I am a detailed person but I don't go overboard, especially on the outline and how I write my paper. I let most of my words flow.

     I begin with  choosing my topic or I may already have the topic chosen by my teacher which I usually do, so I will start with that. When my teacher gives me the writing assignment, I research articles, or newspaper clippings or just opinions from other people that I can find to mold an idea for my paper. The opinions give me an idea of which direction I'm going to follow throughout my paper. Say it was an argumental essay. I would have to decide whether I am going to go against or go with what the person is trying to defend or offend. After I have decided what direction I am going to take, I look for more concrete details and facts for my paper in books or articles that are written by more reliable people than before because I want my information to be correct. As I am doing this, I write all of my sources down and I put down small comments telling me something about this source and what his/her main point is and how it is relevant to my paper. Also, if a word or phrase sticks out to me, then I will write that down in the comments as well, so that I remember to insert it into my paper.

     During my thinking time or when I brainstorm, I interview people like friends, family, and even past teachers or professors that I have today. This helps me because I get real experiences and get a person's true opinion on something or I may learn something that would be applicable to my paper in some way, shape, or form. As I actually start to brainstorm ideas, I begin to write in paragraphs. This helps me to organize my thoughts and put certain facts, that are relevant to each other, together. If it does not fit, I try to fit it into another paragraph and if that does not work, then I simply throw it out. This way I remember what it actually mean and how I'm trying to interpret the concept of the paper instead of how the actually person that wrote it is trying to reflect onto the audience.

     This is where structure comes into my sentences and paragraphs. I begin by going through each sentence, one by one, through one paragraph and then I read the whole paragraph all together. As I am reading, if I find errors, I will correct them then because when I do not, I forget the mistake is even there, especially smaller mistakes that are really easy to miss while I am typing like commas, or apostrophes.

     After going through everything and I finish proofreading my paper of grammatical and spelling errors, I read through its entirety one more time, and I'm done. I do not go through every step that the writing process tells me to go through. I always have made my own path for writing, especially when it comes to my thoughts and opinions.

     

     

Read "Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analaysis of Writer's Block" (WaW 533-46)

Questions for Discussion and Journaling 1, 2, 4 (WaW 545)

QDJ 1, 2, 4 (WaW 545)

1. Create a list of rules that, according to Rose, interfere with the "blockers' " writing.What rules, if any, do you find yourself forced to follow that seem to get in the way of your writing?

• Always catch the audience that will read the paper.
• Write grammatically
• Do one paragraph at a time and stay on that specific paragraph until it is done.
• uncomplementary injunctions

- In school, especially high school, there are many set rules in writing from grammer to spelling, certain words that a person needs to use or does not need to use, what order to put a paper in, how long the paragraphs are, how many words are in the paper, if it sounds formal or professional, are the sources correct, does it sound exciting, the thesis statement needs to catch the reader's attention, etc, There are many things that a person has to remember and think about while writing a paper. It is very stressful, confusing, and it restricts the mind from using those actual writing skills. When a person has a lot of guidelines to follow, their ability to write the paper starts to fade because they are either rushed or too focused on rules to even think about how the paper actually sounds. The imagination and where a person could take a paper is cut off by so many rules being thrown at them at one time. There are hundreds of rules and regulations. This is when a person cannot even focus on the actual purpose of the paper. Most of the time, I am focusing on how to write the paper and what is wrong with the grammer that I get caught up in it. I forget what I am actually writing about and I lose focus on the paper. At that point, I might as well start over because my paper does not clearly say anything about my topic.

2. Describe the difference between the rules that blockers in Rose's study were following and those that non-blockers were following. What accounts for the difference?

- Many of the non-blockers took the paper out of context because they focused way too hard on everything. They focused in on one aspect of the paper and expected the rest of the paper to come together. It is like Ruth in Rose's article. She would always focus her attention on grabbing the reader's attention, or if her sentences were not grammatically correct that the sentence was not useful to the paper. Martha focuses so much on her outline that it becomes too complex and most things get thrown out because they are not clear or are not relevant. With non-blockers, they are very laid back with planning and outline and how they write a paper. Like Ellen for example, she always has a general outline in her mind, but she does not go overboard with the outline like Martha. Ellen does not complicate things with her outline. They are also less restricting by keeping things in mind instead of forcing themselves to do it exactly as the rules say. If it does not sound sensible to what they have experienced in their life then they do not use the rule.

4. Based on Rose's study and descriptions of writers and their rules, write a "rule" explaining what makes a rule good for writers, and what makes a rule bad for writers. You'll get bonus points if you can tell whether your rule is an algorithm or a heuristic.

- If a rule is restricting the fluency of your writing then do not use this rule. If it is a rule that does not make sense, but it helps in writing your paper, then it is a bad rule that you should follow. This rule is heuristic.

"Writing Process of Famous Author"

Jodi Picoult

Jodi is my favorite writer of all time. Her books are very detailed and they are filled with so many emotions and feelings. They have great, solid plots, but there are twists and turns everywhere and the reader can never know what is going to happen. She has told some journalists that she has never really had a writing process because, most of the time, she never knows what is going to happen in her books either. Jodi mentioned times that she was typing and her character comes to life on its own. "I love the moments when my characters get up and walk off on their own two feet." She recollects a story of her talking to her mother on the phone and telling her mother that she would not believe what is happening to Ellie, which lead to her hanging up on Jodi. Her she was scared because Jodi Picoult has never really had a writing process that can be put into an outline, especially with her daily, weekly and even monthly schedules with tours, spending time with her children and her husband. She says that writing can be like riding a bike down a hill with a smooth, and cool breeze, but sometimes it is like riding a bike through mud. In her alone time, she will write in the attic just to get one more scene in before dinner, which apparently turns into three because she cannot take her eyes off of the page when she is typing her stories. With some of her stories, she thinks of them and starts to type but with some, she actually goes out and experiences them for herself. In Plain Truth a lawyer, after a newborn baby was found dead in an Amish family's barn, has to stay with them for a couple of weeks until their trial is over. Jodi Picoult went to stay at an Amish families house for a week before writing her book. She milked cows at four thirty in the morning, helped cook meals, participated in bible study, and got to know the people for who they really are. For Change at Heart, she visited Death Row in Arizona, and interviewed many people there, including guards and officers. Her writing process is going our before she writes and taking real life stories, and bringing them to life in her books with different characters. She  rarely ever sits at home and writes a whole book. Jodi gets her inspiration and writing process from the real world, and not from her imagination.

Homework: September 23rd

Read "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" (WaW 576-89)

QDJ 1, 3, 5, and 7 (WaW 587-88)

Read "The Maker's Eye: Revising Your Own  Manuscripts" (WaW 610-14)

Questions for Discussing and Journaling

p. 610-14 1, 3, 5, and 7

1. Sommers says that the language students use to describe revision is about vocabulary, suggesting that they "understand the revision process as a rewording activity" (para. 9). How is that different from the way she argues that revision should be understood?

-Revision is rewording because it is the afterthought after the writing process, and it should be understood because if a person does not know what revision is then they do not know that there is an afterthought. The theories that she has listed all conclude to it being an ending stage to the writing process. That is what it is understood as, but Sommers thinks otherwise. Revision is an afterthought in speech just like it being distinct in the linear models or else, it is counterproductive.

3. In her introduction and in analyzing students' description of revision, Sommers focuses quite a lot on the difference between speech and writing. In other words, what is she saying that difference is between two, and why is this difference relevant to how we understand revision?

- Revision is the afterthought. Well, when you are giving a speech, there is an afterthought that cannot be said, but with writing, it can be put into the paper since you have time to let revision happen. Revising is going back and changing words, "Rewording", or it is changing a phrase statement.

5. What do you think Sommers means when she says that for experienced writers, revision is based on a non-linear theory in which a sense of the whole writing both precedes and grows out of an examination of the parts? What does she mean by "the whole writing"? What does it mean for writing processes to be non-linear (not a straight line of progress from beginning to end)? And why do you think that experienced writers see writing as non-linear but student writers tend to see writing as linear (pre-write_write_edit)?

- Non-linear writings do not have a sense of direction. They are usually everywhere, and linear has more distinct stages and steps to go by. This is why student writers know a linear way of writing more than they do a writing based upon non-linear. Students have always been taught the same writing process. First there is the outline, then the draft and the student may write that multiple times. Then, the final draft comes. Most students think that it is easier to write inside of an outline because it keeps the person on topic and inside the lines of what the teacher wants or asks for.

7. Sommer's research, she says, makes her believe that student revision practices don't reflect a lack of engagement, "but rather that they do what they have been taught to do in a consistently narrow and predictable way." Where do you think students got the idea that they should see writing as transcribing and revising as changing words? Does this match what you have been taught about writing and revising? If not, what has been different in your experience?

- It has definitely been matched to what I have been taught. Most teachers would read my final draft and tell me to change many words in my writings because they were not professional or formal enough to present or that the paper does not fall in the guidelines of the topic or of the outline that we had received from them. We had to do the same thing in every paper that we had written and it was predictable. We were taught to make an outline, start writing out a rough draft, a final rough draft, a final draft, then a typed out final draft to turn in. This would always keep us inside the guidelines that we had to follow. It was also based upon the rules for writing. Our teachers would read this book on writing, and that is what the teachers would follow as there daily lesson plan when we were writing out our outlines and drafts. My teachers have never talked about revision, but we did have to go back and change certain things in our papers due to the rules of writing.

"Prior"

Questions on Discussion and Journaling 2, 3, 4, 5, & 7 (WaW 526)

QDJ 2, 3, 4, 5, & 7

2. Adding up the various aspects of the process Prior writes about, make a list of everything involved with tracing the writing process. (Hint: Your list probably should include most of the terms  and ideas Prior uses as headings throughout the part of the chapter called "Methods and Applied Analysis.")

- Collecting and Keeping Track of the Textual inscriptions themselves.
- Analyze how the Text Itself is Related
- Trace Intertextual Relations between Talk and Text
- Relating Text to an Initiating Text
- Relating Text to Source Texts
- Intertextual Analysis

• Participant Accounts
• Concurrent Acounts (Think loud Protocols) - Reading aloud, Vocalizing the Words You Write, Saying Aloud What You Are Thinking About.

- Retrospective Accounts of Writing

• Conventionalization
• Simplification

- Using Naturalistic Accounts

• autobiographical or biographical narratives or in interviews

- Process Logs

- Semi-Structured Interviewing

• Semi-structured interviews move between scripted questions and open-ended conversations

- Stimulated Elicitation Interviewing

• external stimulus
• some object that can trigger and support memory as well as serving as a source for new reflection.
• Text-based interviewing 
• Discourse-based interviewing 
• Ask writers to draw their writing process and contexts
• Using videotaped or audiotaped records of the composing as a basis for interviewing 

- Observation of Writing

• Participation Observation
• Field notes and photography 
• Recording events- videotaped recording of participants writing, settings where people have to collaborate on their writing

- Integrating Data from Multiple Sources

- Conclusion- understand where texts come from (authorship and social contexts), careful tracing of history.

                  

3. Using your own words, explain the difference between composition and inscription. Does  one always or usually seem to come first?

- Writers not only inscribe their writings but they also go back multiple times at different times to revise their paper by reading their notes, rough drafts that they have written or materials from the sources that they have found. There are also times when they do not know what to type or write, so they stop to think and plan what they are going to write next. There is no placing one before the other because they happen at different times during the writing process.

4. Why is it important to distinguish different kinds of authorship as Prior does with animator, author, and principal?

- These roles are divided, not fused. An animator actually writes the words down. The author selects those words that the animator laid out, and the principal is represented by its position in the words that the author chose.

5. What does Prior mean when he argues that to trace process you have to trace the structure of participation in a text? What sorts of participation in creating the text does he include?

- 

7. Summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the several kinds of writer accounts Prior discusses (concurrent, retrospective, naturalistic, process logs, and semi-structured and stimulated-elicitation interviewing). In reading about them, do you find you have a favorite?

- Concurrents are closed off because you cannot tell what they are thinking, reading, or composing. This is for more writers that want to be alone. They do not think out loud. Retrospective counts deal with a person's memory. Some people cannot recollect moment-to-moment thinking and actions. The naturalistic at times, appears in autobiographical or biographical narratives or in interviews. A process log is a log or journal where a person writes all of their writing processes in which the writer discusses the processes, and how it relates to other writings in the class. Semi-structured interviews are planned out questions in advance of the interview but also leaving the script. Stimulated elicitation interviewing is based on semi-stimulated interviews, but it deals with a trigger that can support the memory instead of completely going off of memory alone.

" Review of Literacy Narrative"

     There are many mistakes in the paper that I see now that I did not pay attention to before I turned the paper in like transitions between paragraphs, making sure I stayed in the correct tense, making sure that my grammar was correct, but I would have also went into more detail with my stories. I made myself a copy of my paper before I turned it in. When I looked back at my paper, I realized that some of my smallest mistakes, I missed but they made a significant difference in my paper when I read it. Especially the details that I had left out in some of my stories which would have made them more interesting.

     Sometimes during transitions, I do not know the particular word that needs to be used. There are many transition words that a person can use like, first, second, third, then, in conclusion, etc, but these words are simple and I do not think that they are appropriate in a higher English course. That is what I have been taught. Especially during senior year when we were writing our research papers. In many cases, the teacher would tell me to use different transitions at the beginnings of my paragraphs because they were too simple and I never understood what to use and how to use transition words. I never use first, second, third, next, or then to transition. I may use now ever so often, but it is only when I have to. Now, I take what I was explaining or describing in the last sentence of the paragraph before, and apply it or try to connect it with the paragraph I am working on, so that it stays on subject and flows throughout the paper smoothly, and if I do that, I will hopefully succeed in good transitions between paragraphs. 

     Another thing that I had issues with was staying in the same tense. I do not have a lot of trouble with this all the time, but I will slip into a different tense without even noticing that I did, and then slip back into the correct tense. Even when I go back to read it, I still do not see the mistake sometimes. I need to learn how to proofread my paper better, and as I'm reading be able to notice that it does not sound correct when I do slip in and out of different tenses.

     I also needed to add more details to my stories. I felt that I could have specified more on certain ones so that the reader could understand and feel more from my stories. I needed to show more, not tell. I tried to apply that in my experiences, but I have trouble going into details about things that I really can not remember. The younger stories that impacted me the most, I only know the basics of those, which is understandable. The ones that I did not specify on that happened when I was much older and could remember a lot of the details, I should have put more into those stories to fill them out, and I should have told more stories in general because I have many stories. I held back a lot in that department for some reason.

     

Portraying Expressions and Feelings/ Autobiographies

Read "Writing What Matters: A Student's Struggle to Bridge the Academic/Personal Divide"
(WaW 199-205)

QDJ 1, 2, & 3 (WaW 205)/QDJ 2, 5, & 6 (WaW 75)

pg. 205 1, 2, & 3

1. Strasser writes that "The devices of grammer and rhetoric remain superficial skills until a   writer employs them to express important and powerful feelings, thoughts, and ideas" Why? And do you agree?

-  In most English classes today, we focus on grammar and how we write, but have we ever focused on what we are writing and what types of emotions and backgrounds we are putting into our papers. I agree with Emily. She knows that learning all of the grammer skills that have to be comprehended and applied to a paper are not the most important skills in any type of writing that we do. It's expressing our opinions, feelings and experiences. It is much more than just writing facts down and having correct sentence and grammer structure in the papers that we write. It is about taking what we have experienced and felt as individuals and protraying it into our writings.

2. What seems to be an issue for Strasser is creating "personally meaningful writing" in response to school assignments. Is there actually anything in Stanley Fish's advocacy of a writing course that teaches reasoning which would seem to rule out such personally meaningful writing? In other words, is Strasser right to assume that Fish's insistence on writing in order to exercize one's grammar will actually lead to meaningless writing?

-  Some schools require teaching grammar skills only or more grammar than writing skills. Now teachers have a core curriculum, especially in high schools that they have to follow to the letter. This may affect what teachers think is important and why. Emily Strasser may be correct about personal writings, but you also have to have some grammer and spelling skills. If you do not have sentence structure, no one would comprehend what you were saying. I agree that you need grammer to write papers but I also think that it should not be strictly grammer based when teaching. I think that it is very important for a student to express their feelings and experiences, not just showing you how well their grammar skills are when they are writing an essay.

3. In your experience, does school create a separation of mind, body, and spirit that Strasser quotes bell hooks as identifying?

-  Yes. Most schools believe in hard work and no play, but there needs to be a balance. If you work all the time, it takes a physical and mental toll on your body. Your brain and your body are connected and when one is tired, it affects the other. A good balance of fun and hard work is good, but overworking yourself is not, especially when you really need to focus and listen to what is being said in your classes. When you lose sleep or when you are working all the time, it causes you to stress and to have anxiety bc you are trying to pull energy from your body that you do not have, and your brain is the same way. It is a muscle just like the ones that you have in your arms and legs. You need a release, especially in college, with life coming at you in all directions.
High school was very stressful for me because I would have loads of homework almost every night so I would have to stay up until three or four oclock in the morning which was very rough on my body and I barely ever had enough energy to get myself through the day. I will never fall back into that strategy of working way too hard.


p. 75 2, 5, & 6

2. In what ways, according to Murray, is writing autobiography? Can you categorize the ways that Murray believes writing is autobiography?

-  I completely agree. In every paper, the creator of that paper leaves a footprint, so to speak. No one else would have chosen the exact words, or the way that you wrote it and in the order that you did. Every paper has one person that wrote it and its unique to them because no one else is going to write it exactly like them. That is why Murray calls every paper an autobiography and to understand, you have to know his definition of an autobiography when it comes to his writings.

5. Consider the implications of Murray's arguments: If he's right, how do his ideas change the way you think about writing? Would they encourage you to write any differently than you currently do?

-  It has helped me realize that every one has a specific writing style. I have never thought about it being personal, even when you are writing a research paper.
I do not think it will change my writing in any way, but I am aware now that every paper has a personal aspect to it because everyone is different when it comes to the way people think.


6.Consider the last few texts that you have written, whether for school, work, or personal reasons. Consider the ways that these texts are, or are not, autobiography in the sense that Murray describes.

-  These past few papers have truly been about me and even in the past I have tried to incorporate myself into all of my papers without saying "I", but other times I may be writing a research paper, or an essay and I relate to the paper in every aspect and I did not even notice it or intentionally write it in that way. I see myself in my papers.

"Childhood Reading"

  As a child, my favorite animated character was Winnie the Pooh, so of course my favorite books were Winnie the Pooh. Now, there are three hundred and forty-seven Winnie the Pooh books and I'm certain that I did not read all of them, but I do have my favorites. The ones that are, at this point, almost falling apart because I read them so many times and even slept with them in my Winnie the Pooh tent and chair. Maybe way too much. My favorite out of every Winnie the Pooh book ever written was "Oh Bother, Someone is Afraid of the Dark." Winnie the Pooh goes to Piglet's house to spend the night and realizes that Piglet is afraid of the dark and what is in the darkness. Piglet thinks that there are Heffalumps under his bed, so Winnie the Pooh, with every bit of patience and understanding that he can muster, tries to convince Piglet that Heffalumps are not real and that the darkness can be beautiful. In the end, Winnie the Pooh and the friends that came to help, succeeded in helping piglet overcome his fear of darkness.

     All Winnie the Pooh books focus on childhood issues. This one was specifically about being afraid of the dark. I was terrified of the dark when I was very young. The only difference from Piglet's fear was that mine was of the closet and the boogeyman. I always thought that the boogeyman was going to pop out of the closet and take me away. My parents would read this book to me almost every night and on the nights that they were not able to read the book, I could not sleep. I would run into my parents room with tears rolling down my face begging them to read the story to me. This always melted their hearts and so they would roll out of bed and read the story. 

     "Oh Bother, Someone is Afraid of the Dark," was an inspiration and a motivation to control my fear of being in the dark. If Piglet overcame his fear of Heffalumps, then I could conquer my fear of the boogeyman. It is very surprising how much this book influenced me as a child. It not only helped me to defeat my fear of the darkness, but it also showed me that any fear that I have in life, I can overcome that fear with the help of friends, family, and maybe even a book.

Villanueva

"Questions for Discussion and Journaling"      

  p.117 1, 2, 3, & 4

1. This account shifts back and forth between the first person ("I") and the third person ("Victor",
    "he"). What effects does that shifting create? Does it break any rules you've been taught?

2. How does Villanueva define rhetoric? What else does he say that studying rhetoric helps you
    study?

3. Have you ever tried observing and imitating the writing moves that other writers make, as
    Villanueva describes doing with his English teachers ("Professor Discourse Analysis")? If so,
    what was your experience doing so? If not, what would you need to look for in order to do the
    kind of imitation Villanueva describes?

4. In paragraph 6, Villanueva describes his college writing process as, "The night before a paper
    was due, he'd gather a pen and pad, and stare. Clean the dishes. Stare. Watch an 'I Love Lucy'
    rerun. Stare. Then sometime in the night the words would come." (A few more sentences finish his
    description.) What elements of this process resemble your own? How is yours different?

"Villanueva"

     

1. This has the effect of confusion. Any reader, including myself, is asking the question, " Who is talking?". It also causes emotional confusion in his articles due to it being very detached and unaffected, but then switching over to being personal and intimate with the reader. During my time in high school, a student was never allowed to use two points of view in one single essay or research paper. I definitely would have received a zero if it appeared repeatedly in the paper. It appears that he does not understand the meanings between first person, and third person point of view.

2. Rhetoric means the conscious use of language for Villanueva. He believes that everything is conveyed through language: philosophy, history, psychology,sociology, anthropology, literature, and politics. He calls it our "primary symbol system". It is said that learning new languages is biologically transmitted, and that it is apart of who we are. He reveals that if you study language, you must study humans. Villanueva says that it is, "the study of the ways in which peoples have accomplished all that has been accomplished beyond the instinctual." So, we are not only studying language but we are studying mankind.

3. No, I have not.
I would need to find what my professors have written. Maybe a novel or short story that would help me to understand what kind of writing style that they expect from me. This also gives me an idea of the level of formality, tone, and voice that my professor would like to see written throughout my papers. Then as a last resort, I would try to ask my professors how certain essays need to be written as they are assigned because many professors will broaden your writing by making you write in certain view points or by assigning a creative essay or a research paper.

4. My process is very different from Villanueva. I start out with writing a thesis statement and the outline of the paper, which Villanueva never did. Then, I would start typing out my essay and type out every thought even if it did not sound professional or formal. After I have all of my thoughts put together, I go back to critique and correct all errors. I begin by correcting the professionalism and formality of the paper, then I correct all grammar and spelling errors.(390)

     In many of my papers that I have written and discussed in a classroom have been difficult for me in many ways throughout the writing process. There were obstacles that stopped me from getting past a certain point. Many of these things are as simple as starting the paper, revising and editing, grammer and spelling, or even knowing what I am writing about and how to interpret it. 

     Starting out, it is finding and understanding the purpose, audience and genre of the book that I am writing an essay or research paper on. Some authors can become very confusing in their novels or short stories. At times, they will mix many different genres together and try to target a variety of audiences and there can be many purposes to these types of books. I struggle with finding the meaning of the book and how it should present itself to the reader.
     Once I begin interpreting it into my own writing, I have to generate and plan the paper. Planning the paper  requires writing a thesis statement and an outline which helps me write the paper in order, but completing the outline is difficult because of the thesis statement. This one sentence draws that person in to read the paper and it tells a little about what the topic of the paper is about. It is difficult to put all of my thoughts into one sentence that would interest almost anyone. After my thesis statement is written, I start on my introduction and body paragraphs which have to uphold to my thesis statement throughout the paper. Everything has to stay interesting to keep the reader interested. It is very arduous trying to keep the paper focused and interesting.
     To keep the reader focused on my writing, I must have grammer and spelling skills. As I write my papers, it is very hard for me to remember the rules of grammer. There are many that have been discussed in class over a twelve year period. Grammer and spelling are significant because they help the reader understand the paper. If the grammer is incorrect, it can mean different things and it is to be read and comprehended differently. This is also the same for spelling skills since there are some words that sound the same but are spelled differently and have individual meanings. It helps the reader stay focused on the topic of the paper and what I wrote about instead of them paying attention to how the grammer and spelling are in the paper. I need to go over my grammer rules to try and remember some of the most significant ones. Especially the rules that are hard for me to comprehend and apply to the paper. My grammer and spelling skills need to be applied more to my research papers and essays.
     After my grammer and spelling are corrected, I have to work on the tone, voice and formality of my paper. For me, this is probably the hardest skill to maintain because I write differently from the way that I talk everyday. Most people do not talk in a formal way all the time. With a paper, I get to critique it and make it sound professional before a person reads it. When I am talking to someone, I do not write everything that I say down and critique it before I say it, so I have a difficult time writing my papers in a formal and professional way with a good tone and voice due to me not speaking in a dignified way on a daily basis.
     Last but not least is critiquing my paper. This consists of revising, editing, and proofreading my paper. I am constantly editing my paper as I'm writing but I still fall short of catching many of the errors because I have written something wrong that I believe is to be correct. This goes back to my grammer skills. When I am proofreading any type of paper, and I come across something that is wrong, but I don't recognize or know that it is wrong, I will not know what to correct or how to correct the error. I need to work on looking at a paper and recognizing the grammatical errors.
     These are many of the things that I struggle to apply in my writings. Some of these issues are easy to install and others are a lot more difficult to remember and to understand. I am always getting closer to resolving these problems. The more I write, the better I become with my writing skills. (755)