February 2021

Reading Journal Kahn

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page

Seth Kahn. “Putting Ethnographic Writing in Context .” Writing Spaces: Reading in Writing, Volume 2, 2011, 192.

Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words

The author of this article makes Ethnographic writing the main topic of this article. Khan states that Ethnographic writing will allow the writer to “generate, collect, analyze, synthesize more material.” Khan then lists the steps to ethnographic writing. These steps consist of first reflecting in peer writing, forms and notes, keeping a journal, and then finally a draft revision. Khan explains an experience that happened to him in his college class. Khan includes this experience in the article to allow the audience to understand the thoughts and consequences that go beyond the paper they are writing. This article allowed me to learn more about a different kind of writing I had never heard of before.

Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.

Ethnographic- “Ethnographic writing challenges you to consider everything that’s interesting and difficult about the writing.”

How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

This article relates to all of the other articles we have read in class because it contributes to our writing process and allows our writing to get better.

Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.

Did you know about ethnographic writing before reading this article?

 

Letter to the Reader/ Reflection for MP2

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There are a couple of steps I need to take for the major project #2 to make my paper the best it can be. First I need to come up with my research questions about my discourse community. I am going to need to do more research about my discourse community and talk to the person I am interviewing to learn more about the discourse community. After that I should be able to come up with my three research questions. I will also conduct a timeline for my story. I will start by writing down the timeline for my essay and then incorporate it into my essay. I am also going to find visual and audio to make the story visually interesting. I will try to find these components when I am doing my research. All of these steps will allow my major project to support my claim for the discourse community I have chosen.

Critical Thinking Reflection 1

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In my rough draft for my major project one there was certain details and information I had to include in my paper. I decided what information was necessary in my rough draft by figuring out which facts helped my claim and supported it the best. I decided to leave out certain information because I thought that it was not necessary for my rough draft and did not made it any stronger. I made these rhetorical decisions by looking at all the facts and establishing which ones fit best in my rough draft. The steps in my research were to first figure out all the background information of my discourse community. After that I then went to their website and gathered all the facts about the community. The assumptions I brought to my research was the fact that RebelThon raises a lot of money for the kids. I checked this assumption by looking at how much they have made over the past years as a whole and also the amount per year. I worked with the facts about how much RebelThon has raised over the years to support my claim and argue that it is a very good discourse community. I am still looking for more background information how the people who created RebelThon and why they created it.

Driscoll Reading Journal

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page

Dana Lynn Driscoll. “Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews.” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing, Volume 2, 2011, 174.

Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words

In the article Driscoll projects the importance of primary research. Primary research is research that a person finds through observations to benefit their writing and make their claim stronger. Driscoll explains that there is a process for finding primary research. First, you have to have background information. Second, you have to collect data through observations. After that you have to conduct surveys and interviews to test your claim. In the article Driscoll also explains the typical format for a research paper. This format is introduction/ background, methods, results, discussions, then the conclusion. This format allows the paper to flow smoothly and make sense about why you think your claim is correct.

Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.

Heinous- “… caused patients undue mental and physical trauma, and even in some cases death  (155).”

How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

This connects to other articles because it influences our writing skills and allows us to make our writing stronger.

Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.

When did you first learn about primary research within writing?

 

Reading Journal: Warrington, Kovalyova, King

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page Kate Warrington, Natasha Kovalyova, and Cindy King. “Assessing Source Credibility for Crafting a Well-Informed Argument.” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing, Volume 3, 2020, 203. 
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words This article focuses on teaching writers how to use critical reading strategies to select their sources for their writing.  The article also helps writers understand how reading assignments in the past have prepared them to choose which source they can use in their own writing. These authors also use the teachings of pathos, ethos, and logos to teach the overall effect of the sources. The author also includes 7 questions to help the writer connect their sources with the use of persuasive techniques to help make the writing stronger. This article made me think of all the sources I have used in my past writings and made me wonder if they were helping my writing. 
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author. Nonsensical: “… by claiming that these arguments are uninformed or nonsensical.”
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

 

 This reading connects to all of the other articles we have read in class because it is from the same book that the others have come from and each article we read contributes to making our writing better. 
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion. How do you choose your sources for your writing? 

Giles reading journal

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page Sandra L. Giles. “Reflective Writing and Revision Process: What were you thinking?” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing, Volume 1, 2010, 204. 
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words This essay emphasizes the importance of your own thoughts and the revision process within your writing. This helps the students reach their full potential in their writing and allows them to succeed at it. These activities will not only help them in writing class but will also allow them to perfect their writing in other classes too. Reading this article makes me think about my writing process and how I go about it. It has allowed me to focus a lot more on my revision process and my thoughts when I am writing. I also like how the author included questions for the reader to think about while reading this article.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author. Self-evaluate- “… we discussed each of our essays from the semester and recorded our learning and insight about writing.”
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

 

 This reading connects to other readings from class because it is explaining how to revise your writing to make it reach its full potential, just as many of our other readings have done.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion. How often do you complete the revision process in your writing?

Blog student essays

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In the first student’s essay the sentences used in the introduction are hard to understand. The sentences should be rearranged so that it is easier for the reader to comprehend. One of the strong points in the first essay was the paragraph that explains the powerpoint and how it allows the people attending to stay focused on the topic at hand. The first paper is organized in topics such as introduction, Tuesday Knights, GroupMe vs. social media, and then the conclusion. The sources used in the first essay would be Facebook, Powerpoint, GroupMe, Instagram, and Twitter. The second student’s essay was much stronger than the first essay. Although I am not sure you are suppose to incorporate pictures in an essay it did allow the reader the chance to connect more with the reading because there is an example of their source. Overall I didn’t find any weak points in this essay. The paper is organized starting with the introduction, then it is explained how to join the discourse community, then explained the genre of the community, after that they explain how social media helps inform others about their community, and then they conclude the essay. The sources used in the second essay are Instagram, WhatsApp, and FaceBook.

Letter to my #selfie

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When it comes to me being a writer I would say I am a pretty good one. My writing is very strong when I am free writing or when I am writing on a topic I am passionate about. A time I felt successful in my writing would be last year when I was writing a paper on why cheer should be a sport. The topic was very meaningful to me which allowed me to become more passionate in my writing and allow it to reach its full potential. It also helps when I know a lot about the topic of my writing. I’d like to work on being able to make my writing flow better because sometimes that is a challenge for me. I would also like to enhance my writing skills to make my writing better no matter the class. I hope my writing teacher can allow me to become more confident in my writing. I am the type of student that learns by examples and seeing exactly what they did.

Melzer reading journal

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page Dan Melzer. “Understanding Discourse Communities.” Writing Spaces: Reading on Writing, Volume 3, 2020, 115. 
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words There are many characteristics when it comes to a discourse community. One of the most important one the article talks about is genre. Genre allows these discourse communities to be able to have something in common and build off of that. These genres help people in their writing also especially in college writing. It can help you understand the assignments your teachers are giving you and can also explain why there are different genres for different classes in different fields. This allows me to be aware about all the different genres I read about in my classes, which then leads me to think about the discourse community of the topic. 
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author. Discourse- “can mean any type of communication…”
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?

 

 This connects to the last article we read in class because they both have the main idea of discourse communities and how they help writing skills. 
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion. Why do they not start to teach the importance of genres and discourse community at earlier ages in school?