Blog 13A: Outline

Title: Learning to Write

1.   Introduction: Writing is a developmental process.

a.   Thesis: Through education, people are taught the five fundamental steps in the writing process and rhetorical tools one can use to create a well-rounded paper that reaches an audience.

2.   Body: 5 steps of writing and tools

a.   Prewriting- brainstorming

b.   Drafting- writing

c.   Revising-rearrange, remove or add parts, replace overused or unclear words, and read it aloud to chaeck for other mistakes such as flow

d.   Proofreading- correct grammatical errors

e.   Publishing- finalize the paper (turn it in)

f.     Classification/ Division- organizational tool where you take a whole, divide it into parts, and arrange in an order of importance

g.   Definitions- explanations, two types (formal-general, extended- detailed)

h.   Description- subjective /objective detail, compare/ contrast, visual aid added

i.     Cause/ effect- reveals a continuous pattern, used to organize events

3.   Conclusion: Making a story last such as Romeo and Juliet.

a.   Mutability/ Plasticity- the quality of being capable of change to coincide with a generation

b.   Piecemeal- short scenes

c.   Windows of Opportunity- new perspectives perceived by an audience from the original version

d.   Open- ended closures- author tells audience there is more to the story, but they must go find it on their own

e.   Last Sentence: Even though one learns he five stages of the writing process as a child, throughout time and more education an author learns more and more techniques and tools that create a well-written paper, or even book that may become as famous as the Harry Potter or Twilight series.

Blog 11B

Blog 11B

            English 1010 has been beneficial to me and my writing. I have found that the most helpful elements of writing that I have learned over the semester are learning the different types of rhetoric and the tools I can use to improve each essay. I especially thought that the articles, even the ones that made my eyes bleed, were helpful in understanding each type of rhetoric and its importance.

            The types of rhetoric that I have learned are narratives, descriptions, and definitions. Narratives include story grammars. That means characters, a plot, a theme, setting, and resolution. Narratives are very different for each person because we each have a different imagination and our own personal stories. Descriptions help the audience to visualize something. As if they can really see it. Descriptions can be aided by the use of an actual visual, or picture, to help the audience fully grasp the concept. Definition rhetoric usually focuses on explaining or describing a certain subject to inform the audience completely. This type usually does include descriptions and can be broken down into many parts such as formal (short definition), extended (complex definition), and process (how something is done).

            With each rhetoric an author can include compare and contrast or cause and effect in each easy. This is when the author describes something to the audience by showing the similarities and differences; or with cause and effect, shows how a sequence of events were each sparked by its prior event. An author can include many of each type of rhetoric or tool in a single essay. The purpose behind these tools is to help the audience understand and grasp the meaning of the paper, and to being fully informed.

Blog 11A

We have been taught for many years that any essay should be based around the 3 elements (introduction, body, and conclusion).  But, is this enough information to form a fully informative essay? I think not. I do agree that the these three elements are the basic foundation for all essays, but in order to establish a higher order thinking for the audience, there should be more information.

To start an essay, the writer should know and find out a few things such as: what they are writing about, establish what the audience knows, needs to know, and decide what tools they are going to use in order to reach a desired audience. After gathering the needed information, it is essential to discover the thesis behind the paper. In my opinion, it is the most important aspect in any paper. The thesis decodes the purpose of the writing and informs the audience of the information they will find in the paper.  

The most common methodology used to write my blogs is first a rough draft. It mainly includes the body of the essay and the most information. It is important to get the information you already know out. Second, add a conclusion. This is when you summarize the body of the paper and normally includes a call to action and a restatement of the thesis. After adding an introduction, revisions are the next step. Draft after draft help to improve the essay. Also, peer reviews are important to any paper. Critiques help make any paper better.

Blog 9A

Classification and Division is a tool used when writing definition rhetoric. With classification and division, the author can explain the key elements in a more organized way and put them in an order of importance, making the purpose and meaning more clear for the audience.

Classification is the act of deciding what something is and putting the parts into categories. Division is the process of taking the individual parts and putting them in an order that the author decides. By breaking a large group of ideas and scattered thoughts into small groups, the author can then put them in an order that will make audience identify and recognize similarities and differences.  Comparing and contrasting the small groups, the audience can gain a better understanding of the item as a whole.

An example of classification and division that is seen by many people every single day would be newspapers. Newspapers are dividing into sections (news, sport, comics, etc.) and put in an order that makes things easy to find for the readers.

Classification and division is a great tool for writers to use when explaining a long process, or trying to define an item with many complicated parts. The writer must be prepared to plan the rhetoric ahead of time, but it makes for clear, concise paper where the readers can gain a full understanding.

Blog 8B: Extended Definitions

Authors often include extended definitions in their rhetorical writings for better audience comprehension. Extended definitions are more complex and give the essence of a word or its nature. It can be broken down into description of subjective and objective detail, compare/contrast, and process. Process is the one I will be describing because it is involved in my article. Process is when the author defines how something is done in great detail. Processes can be put with a visual aid to help the audience understand more about what is being done.

In my article, there are three examples where process is being used.

1)      “Micrographia”: the process, or condition, where someone’s handwriting  is legible at first, but shortly become illegible and very small; the effects of this condition can be lessoned when intense, physical activity has taken place, causing the muscles to contract often

2)      “Scientists have known for some time that in lab animals, forced and voluntary exercise can lead to different outcomes.” : Lab mice voluntarily run on the running wheel when one is placed in their cages. If you place the rat on the treadmill and force it to keep the same pace for a period of time with electric shocks then the activity becomes involuntary. This forced exercise proved that this form of activity can cause better results on the cognitive tests and an increase number in brain cells being formed. This experiment helps prove Dr. Alberts theory that intense workout helps motor control.

3)      “This is not a cure…”: Dr. Alberts wants to verify that patients and families of Parkinson’s should not believe that this forced activity will completely stop the tremors caused by this neurological disease. But rather, just lesson them for some time. He wants his patients to believe that they can involve themselves in everyday activities and be ashamed of their disease.

Blog 8A: Defintions

            Definitions are very important when trying to give the audience a better understanding of the writing. Especially if the writer includes something from a specific culture such as “Pioneer Days” if the writer was from Utah, someone from Georgia would not understand what that means. We use definitions everyday to explain and inform the audience. There are two types, formal and extended. Formal is simple, short, and straight to the point. Extended shows the nature of the word, what about the word is essential. A writer can include exemplification, compare and contrast, process, description of objective and subjective, or classification and division in their writings. I will not go over all of these because then I will be giving you a long essay.  However, I will explain process because it is used as an example in the next paragraph. Process shows just how something is done in complex detail, and images can be used.

            In the New York Times, there is an article called “What Parkinson’s Teaches Us about the Brain” by Gretchen Reynolds. In this article, she is providing an extended definition of the process of how bicycling can help Parkinson’s patients lose their tremors for awhile. The doctor being interviewed says that for this experiment, they cannot get the same results on the lab rats, which leads to more explanation and definition process from the author of the article as to why this is. The author uses many definitions to explain how bicycling controls the nervous system and why this form of exercise can help the Parkinson’s patients.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/what-parkinsons-teaches-us-about-the-brain/

Blog 7A

          Visual, compare and contrast, and description are a few types of subject specific rhetorics. By using these types of rhetorical terms for your paper, the audience gains a clearer pathway through the paper. It allows for more comprehension and the audience may even gain meaning from the text. Adding a visual aid is always a good idea. Our culture is visual based; everyone has to see it to believe it. The writer of an effective paper will reach a desired audience very easily by using one or many of the subject specific rhetorical terms and by using visual persuasion. Visual persuasion is a how so many companies, authors, and artists are gaining recognition. Everywhere we go, no matter what country, people get charmed by the visual imagery every day.

          A few rhetorical tools are subjective/ objective detail, flashbacks, gazes, purpose, and propaganda. Subjective and objective detail is used when describing something or someone. Subjective is used to describe the intangible aspects such as a characteristic, personality trait, or a memory. Objective detail is used to describe the stuff that one could touch such as the color hair, the color of clothing, and the description of the background. Flashbacks is tool used in texts that takes the narrative back in time. There is a change in verb tense making it very clear for the audience to see. Flashbacks are used by authors to create a mood, setting, or to set up a feeling or emotion for the audience. Gazes are used by the rhetor to show their opinions and are mainly used to convince an audience to feel or act in a certain way. Purpose is the reason behind writing the text. The purpose could be to reflect, inform, persuade, or evaluate. Propaganda is a type of rhetoric that can mostly be found in time of war, when there is one side trying to gain more supporters. Propaganda is usually a short text that is aided by a visual that draws the attention. There are many rhetorical tools and terms that can be used in many forms of writing.