Reading Response #11

Summary: In her article "Sponsors of Literacy," Deborah Brandt discusses the idea literacy is an acquired skill. She talks about how sponsorship directly links literacy learning and systems of opportunity and access. She argues that people are influenced by other people around them so they can't learn to become literate on their own.

Synthesis:

I can correlate Dawkins article on "Teaching punctuation as a rhetorical tool" to this article because in Dawkins article he discusses the mechanics of writing and how writing can be done. In Brandt's article, she discusses the influences that are involved in literacy which is kind of like how someone would write a paper. Therefore, the influences that the literacy sponsors have on a writer has all the difference in the way that the paper is written mechanically.


Before you read:

1. When comparing notes with my one roommate about our personal literacy experiences, we both agreed that our schools encouraged us to read challenging books or books, compared to books that are an easy read.  Some activities that supported the readings would be things like group discussion or activities describing the character.

Questions for discussion and journaling:

1. Brandt defines literacy sponsors as older relatives, teachers, priests, supervisors, or anything that influences a way someone acquires literacy. Some characteristics of a literacy sponsor would be someone who serves as a leader or someone who understands more of something and able to help shape the way that someone understands literacy.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

2. I have had literacy sponsors who have withheld certain kinds of literacies from me in the fact that we weren't allowed to read certain kinds of books for some English projects. I was then indeed able to find other sufficient sources to read that were more complex and had more information for me to cover for said projects.

Opinion:

I liked Brandt's article because I never really thought about the way that other people influence the way that someone understands literacy. I thought that it was a really good point when she was talking about the way that literacy is learned and the impacts of people that you would have not of normally thought would have impacted you have.

Reading Response #10

Summary:

 In his article "Good English and Bad," Bill Bryson discusses the idea of grammar and punctuation in writing. He starts off by telling the reader about the complexity of the English language and the Latin origin. In addition to the background, he also tells the audience the roles of a grammarian and why they play such a significant role.


Synthesis:

These two articles, (Bryson and Dawkins) talk about the same thing in relation to their importance to a paper. In Dawkin's article, he talks about how crucial it is to have good punctuation because of the role it plays in a sentence. At the same time, Bryson's article discusses the ideas of grammar and how important that is as well. Punctuation and grammar are both important to a writer when they are trying to get a message across to a reader.

Before you read:

I believe technology has changed the way we we speak to each other. Most teens/adults are talking with slang now, and aren't even speaking correctly. It doesn't affect the way I understand them because I know I do the same sometimes, and I am use to the way we talk now of days. I can't think of any new examples right now.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

3.  Prescriptive in the context of teaching grammar would mean that the teacher would be giving directions to the students in a way where the teacher would be telling them how it should be done. Descriptive in the context of teaching grammar would mean that the teacher would just be describing to the students how something is done without giving a position on whether something is right or wrong. In the past I have definitively been taught in a descriptive manner. My teachers would explain something one way and just expect us to believe it to be true.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

What Bryson saying is that the English language is always changing, and everyone is different so it will be different when spoken. When the English language is placed in a different context it is going to change.

Meta Moment:

When i made my list I really realized that I don't consciously think about how to structure my words, or to make sure i don't have any fragments, and that all my punctuations are correct. Yes, I did learn them since I was young, and I've learned all the way up to high school. Yes knowing the parts of speech and grammatical terms can make you a better writer because you know what sounds good, and what other readers are going to want to read, and stay interested in.

Opinions:

My favorite out of the two articles would be Dawkin's article. He was definitely more thorough on the information he was trying to convey. His article was also easier to understand than Bryson's because his language wasn't as complex

Project 1 Intro/Conversation

Where do we draw the line?

 

 

Benjamin Franklin once said, “There is a difference between imitating a man, and counterfeiting him.” Many people would agree with this statement. The problem being, that the same people agreeing with this statement would have different opinions defining the two. This concept goes along the lines of plagiarism. People can define plagiarism in several different ways.  What comes to mind when people think of plagiarism? Well, the first definition that comes to mind is a piece of writing or other work reflecting such unauthorized use or imitation of another authors writing. Merriman states, “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own use...without crediting the
source."  The real question is, “Which definition is the correct one?” 

 Using another’s published work without attribution is unethical and infringes on the rights of the author and the publication in which the original material appeared. Merriman also states, "Some cases of plagiarism may arise because the author simply does not understand publication ethics, which are
rarely taught in most professional academic programs." 

 In the article “Intertextuality and the Discourse Community”, James Porter, a scholar of writing, states intertextuality-that is, the idea that all texts contain "traces" of other texts and that there can be no text that does not draw on some ideas from some other texts." Porter is saying that people are always getting ideas from other peoples texts that people have seen or read. So with this being said, do we always plagiarize?  In the article, "Plagiarism:What's the Big Deal?," Hansen states in our academic culture, plagiarism is considered to be a form of cheating and therefore unethical." There are so many different definitions that explain what plagiarism really is. 

Ron Scollon takes a closer look at this topic when he writes in scholarly article “Language in Society.” He believes “that the concept of plagiarism implies a number of things – about the nature of discourse, the nature of the person who undertakes to communicate, and concepts of the ownership of discourse as individual or personal property.” In comparison, Julianne East argues that the person judging the reading has the power to determine whether or not it is plagiarized. Scollon would disagree with this because he believes that there should be a universal set of standards for defining plagiarism. 

In the article,"Fraudulent Practices: Academic Misrepresentations of Plagiarism In The Name Of Good Pedagogy," Anson states "these cases represent varying textual practices based on social, economic, and educational purposes that often subvert the simplistic notion that every text is written by a specific author who deserves credit for what he or she has written." It's the way people were brought up, and how their schooling was when they learn about plagiarism. Plagiarism is getting more and more advanced, and new technologies are coming out to stop preventing it. Some people don't even know what plagiarism is, and how this construct is unethical to writing, and just not fair.

Refernces (Articles from internet): 

Merriman, Joyce. "Plagiarism - What Is It? How To Avoid It." American Family Physician 82.12 (2010): 1428. MEDLINE with Full Text. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.

 Hansen, Brittney, Danica Stith, and Lee S. Tesdell. "Plagiarism: What’S The Big Deal?." Business Communication Quarterly 74.2 (2011): 188-191. Business Source Complete. Web. 20 Sept. 2012

Anson, Chris M. "Fraudulent Practices: Academic Misrepresentations Of Plagiarism In The Name Of Good Pedagogy." Composition Studies 39.2 (2011): 29-43. ERIC. Web. 20 Sept. 2012.

Reading Response #9

Summary:

In his article, "Seeing the Text," Bernhardt discusses the idea of how text is seen and the importance of text placement and spacing. He starts off by talking about the differences in visual informative texts and non-visual informative texts. He argues that you can get your point across to the audience in a variety of ways. He tells us that as a writer it is important to know who your audience is. Knowing this, you are then able to set up and appealing structure for introducing your ideas.

Synthesis:

When reading this article, I was reminded of the article we read by Peter Elbow. Elbow's ideas were about voice and the way that the audience perceives your writing. Voice goes along with what Bernhardt is saying. If you set up your article in a non-visual way and your audience is the general public then it wouldn't be very appealing and people wouldn't be as attracted to it.

Before you read:

The rest of my classes don't really make me do lab reports because none of them have to do with biology. But for my POLS 1500 class we had to match up 3 pictures to their authors for a pop quiz. It wasn't very hard. The different visual cues emphasize my writings because i could be thinking of something to write but write something completely different. I'm not to sure of how else it emphasizes my writing, I am a little confused. 

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

3. I wouldn't say that I feel like I am writing the same paper over and over again, but I would say that i feel like I am using the same structure for papers, which can get boring. It think the reason for this is because throughout high school I was taught one specific structure for writing papers. I can stop the repetition by adding visual cues by changing  my format. Bernhardt would recommend I do this by, knowing my audience and what would be most appealing to them.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

 The website I often visit is outlook.com. I always look at my e-mail before going to class and just to see whats going on in the campus. The website is very interactive, you can type e-mails, delete them, move them to where you want the mail to go, and everything is how you want it. It is very easy to get use too. You can customize your own layout for the background and stuff. You are always interacting with this site.

After You Read:

McCloud would represent what Bernhardt is saying by representing pictures of what he is trying to let the reader better understand his points. I would prefer his McCloud's way of writing because I am a more visual learner. 

Meta Moment:

 Project two will probably include the most visual thinking of text because it will include other elements than just text. Mostly books, newspapers, comics, and sometimes the internet are all just texts.
Thoughts:

I thought that this reading was interesting. I never thought about the set up of a text until I read this article. I completely agree with what Bernhardt is saying because the "appeal factor" really does come into play when I am deciding whether or not to read something. I am definitely going to keep these ideas in mind whenever I am writing something.

Readinag Response #8

Summary:

In his article "Intertextuality and The Discourse Community," James E. Porter attempts to explain to the reader the concept of Intertextuality. He starts off by explaining to us how Thomas Jefferson used intertextuality to write The Declaration of Independence. He argues that in order to produce an original piece of work you can not have any traces of other works in it.

Synthesis:

The reading that this is similar to would be Kleine's article because in his article he talks about how you have to do research to back up your point. In doing so, that would lead into the article about intertextuality because intertextuality deals with having a point that leaves traces from other works.

Before you read:

1. The difference between and author and a writer would be that a writer is someone who comes up with a completely original idea while an author is someone who uses someone else's idea to make something different. You would choose the term author to describe someone who leaves traces of other people's work, while a writer would not.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

4. The way Porter argues the way writing is evaluating writing should be "acceptability" is not really different from the way I evaluate  writing. His reasons to me seem very clear, and accurate to me and how I write. In my past writings I have evaluated is that I pick about what I want to write about and what interests me. I feel like I am always questioning myself when I write to make sure my writing has meaning, clear citation, and its originality just like Porter.

5. I believe Porter is just stating facts, and yes it does relfect-or fail to reflect- the principles he is writing about. He is talking about how people can be original with how the reader and writer originally perceives  the reading. 

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
 
2. A commercial that I have recently watched would be an Audi commercial. In the commercial it was about these group of people who looked like they were having a party but were vampires so they were drinking blood instead of alcohol. Then this guy driving an audi came up and the lights on the car were so bright that all of the vampires disappeared. The texts I found represented in it were that of Twilight or any vampire movies in general. The cultural intertext I found represented in it would be the fad of Vampires. Lately, there has been a rise in the interest of vampires. With the Twilight series out, and the TV shows like True Blood, there has been a lot of things related to vampires.

Meta Moment:

Porter's study changed the way that I imagine writers and writing because he talks about how writers take ideas from other writers to create something new and that is a completely different look on how I pictured writers before I read this article. Adopting his notion of writers and writing would change the way I write because I would be more likely inclined to get ideas from other people and making it my own.

Reading Response #7

Summary: In his article "Voice in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries," Peter Elbow attempts help us learn to adopt contrary stances toward voice. He argues that voice is very powerful and that it is a hard concept to grasp when writing. He also talks about how readers are more likely to be drawn to read a specific writing if the voice is audible because it makes the text easier to understand.

Synthesis:

This article compares to Margret Kantz article, "Helping Student Use Textual Sources Persuasively" because they are interconnected. Kantz's article discusses the idea of writing persuasively and getting the point across to the reader. Elbow's article then talks about how important voice is and how writing with good voice gets the message across better to the reader. Therefore, by using good voice when writing persuasively you are able to more easily get the reader to understand what you are trying to say.

Before you read:
My writing would be different if you were able to use the first-person within this assignment because then I could use more of my own voice. Just like we just read we that it is hard to concept to grasp when writing. Writing in first person can be advantage to some people it just depends on their voice and how they like to write. 

Questions for Discussion and Analyzing:

1. When you listen to a passage rather than reading it is that it is easier to get a sense of what the author wants you to understand. This is because by listening to the words rather than reading them you understand the tone of voice better. "Ear training" has affected my comprehension of something in the past because during high school, my class read a book called "The Heart of Darkness." That book was very hard to read with big words and hard concepts. When we listened to the tapes it was a lot easier to understand, not because of the content for which they were reading, but the way it was being read. Based on this, I do believe that it is a tool you should use when struggling with hard concepts to read about.

2. Within Elbow's strategy of arguing, he is playing his "doubting and believing game." The effect of giving a full airing of each side of debate is that the reader gets a better feel of voice in the argument. He thinks it is good to not completely resolve the tension because it gives the reader a chance to decide for themselves.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

1.I am a better reader when i read things aloud just how Elbow says. "Ear Training" has effected me in a positive way, I am a visual learner, and I like to be hands on and hearing a textbook out loud can help me better understand what I am reading. I think it is a tool you should use because it can really benefit you and help you better understand. You should use this all the time when you are reading, if you don't like this technique then find a different one that will help you learn better and make you smarter. 

2. I am struggling with this question, and this shows that with my writing I need to find a technique that helps me and lets me know what to do. A one sentence definition is hard and there could be many different meanings to resonance and sincerity.

Meta Moment:

I believe you just have to compromise and see what technique works best for you. It will be difficult and it may not be possible because you have to find it, and for some people it will be hard to find.  

Thoughts:

I thought this article was very interesting but made me a very confused about my voice at the same time. I don't quite understand what he is trying to pull off. I do agree with him that reading aloud to another person does help me understand what I am reading better.
 

Reading Response #6

Summary:

In her article "Decisions and revisions," Berkenkotter attempts to explain to the audience her findings on her research on planning and revising strategies of a highly skilled and verbal writer. She used a three step method to collect data from her subject. She argues that her subject's planning activities consisted of two different types. The first one was the stating of the "process goals" and the second was the stating of rhetorical goals.


Synthesis:

Allen and Berkenkotter's articles relate to each other because they both question how people go about writing. In Allen's writing she discusses the outside perspective and how you have to work in order to improve your writing. Then in Berkenkotter's writing she talks about how you go about practicing your writing.

 Discussion Questions:

1. My interpretation of Murray's writing process was that Murray had a distinct way of doing things. He  had his own process for collecting his ideas and putting it down on paper. Like Murray, I also keep something like a day journal where I collect my thoughts and ideas when I am trying to write. I like doing so because it is easy for me to remember the train of thought I had when I was writing down the idea instead of forgetting, like I often times do. Some things I do differently though, would be that I usually have an idea of who I am talking to before I start coming up with things instead of just coming up with the idea and then picking out the language and things last.

3.This study changed Berkenkotter's understanding of writing process because she realized there was not a cold cut and dry process for great writing and that every writer has their own different process of doing things. That is why it was difficult for her to understand some of Murray's processes because she couldn't understand his way of thinking.

Applying and Exploring ideas:

1. I spend my time coming up with ideas and and brainstorming. Life Murray, I too have a journal type thing where I write all of my ideas down. I usually start by coming up with my map points and go from there. Once I have my main idea and points to back up I argument I go from there. I characterize my level of writing experience as moderate because I would have to write a decent amount of papers every year during high school. I think my level of experience relates to the amount of time I spend on various parts of the writing process because the more I write correlates to the amount of time I spend preparing for my writing.

Meta Moment:

One thing that I have learned from the Berkenkotter and Murray readings that I could use to help me write more is to have someone help me. Murray has his wife there to help him write what exactly he is trying to say, and i think that if I had someone to talk to about my writing I would be able to get my ideas across more clearly.

Opinion:

I really liked the article that Berkenkotter wrote because she really talked about inside the mind of a true writer. This intrigued me because I never really thought about the process of writing before. I liked how Berkenkotter explained to the audience that everyone has their own different styles of writing.

Reading Response #5 (Berger)

Summary:

Comparative Readings:

I think McCloud's reading compares to Berger's reading because some of Berger's paintings were very visualized and is like McCloud because he drew what he was trying to protray. I know it is different but to me it kind of seems the same because they are both being unique. 

Pre-reading Exercise:

I chose pick the one male celebrity and one female celebrity and discuss the way they are depicted. The celebrities I chose are Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift. They both are artists, song writes, young, and very good looking. One difference I notice is the type of music, she sings country, and he sings pop/ hip-hop. They are very fashionable, but are with different designers. 

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1. I think that artists did know not know what they were creating when painting because they were just doing something that they loved to do. They just wanted to make art, and express themselves or something they believe to be interesting. I think Berger would agree with me. 

3.I do not think Berger’s assumptions today are any different than they were in the 70’s.  Women today hold positions of power more so than they did in the 70’s but not as much as men. Men tend to be working more now of days but woman will or have worked just as hard as men.  

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

When we read texts we should try and understand them from multiple perspectives, not just the readers.  I am an avid reader and it’s always very easy for me in the types of books that I read on families to place myself in the text and consider what it must be like to be in different situations I read about.

Humor defines a person because it is a personality trait, and are people who are carefree and want people to be always happy. Yes because some people use humor to hide their true feelings, and escape the real world. Everyone can be humorous, and i don't think it falls in the gender lines because anyone can be humorous, and can use it an escape from reality. 

Personal Response:

I thought the article was interesting because he discusses gender roles and to say that society is so superficial based on looks and other humans instincts. I really think that girls shouldn't dress a certain way and think they are "objects". I found this article very interesting, and want to do more research. 

Meta Moment:

Yes i think you need to read an article like that because you need to see what other people are thinking and what they are trying to portray to others, and diverse. These concepts can be put in writing and audience because when you put something out there everyone and anyone can see what they are trying to portray in there writing or to the audience.