Genre Analysis 

The structure of the first genre I have chosen is a list and supporting comments. The first genre I picked was the constitution and by laws of the mock trial competition. This genre is what people should look at after they have decided that they want to join a mock trial team. It gives all of the specifics for each team member and officer, ect. It is definitely something that would confuse the people who didn’t know anything about mock trials. And the second genre I decided to look at was Instagram. This Instagram account had only a few posts on it but it was definitely helpful to look at. I think by looking at the page it allowed me to see that really the only thing they do have that helps with the understanding of what a mock trial team is, is their post on the UM Forum. This is good for us students who go to the University of Mississippi, but for those who are thinking of coming here and don’t know about the forum may look to Instagram first. Which then could lead to them not wanting to eventually join because they were turned off due to either the lack of information on the Instagram page or the lack of posts and excitement. 

The constitution is used to make sure that there is a list of set rules for those on the team and those who are helping with the team to follow. And if anyone gets confused you can always look back to the constitution and end up with the same result every time. These are also to make sure that if someone is ever confused about anything they will be able to find the answer and it will always be the same answer every time an answer is needed. The University Mock Trial Instagram’s use is probably more for the younger people who are thinking about joining the community but only know of one way to look for the information. The Instagram is a great way to reach out to the greater population because it is a more widespread media that anybody would be able to see. 

The constitution has more of a formal tone to it. It reads very professional and educational, whereas the instagram posts have more of an approachable relaxed text. This just shows these two genres read exactly how they are supposed to. I would recommend anyone to go to the forum first and then go look at the instagram page and then if they really do want to continue to read more about it they should go to the constitution and by laws. That process will help the reader slowly understand more about the mock trial and what being involved really entails. 

With the instagram page there isn’t really a cited source that anyone could go and look at to make sure everything said there was correct information. And since it just posts mainly about what competition the team was at recently and what they got at that competition, there doesn’t really need to be another source. The constitution doesn’t have a cited source either but the things on the constitution have been voted upon and supported by all of the people involved in the mock trial teams.

 

Reading Journal

 

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys … wac.colostate.edu/books/writingspaces2/driscoll–introduction-to-primary-research.pdf.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	This article talks about what primary research is and how it is explained in many different aspects. It also talks about how there are many different types of primary research for different fields of work. And how in college we will be focusing on how to collect the certain type of research for our future job. It also gives us examples and a thorough explanation of that example. It includes picture graphs for those who learn and understand things better through a more visual way. The article also explains how to come up with hypotheses and discussion questions. Reading this article was very helpful because I have to write a research speech for one of my online classes so this is perfect and is answering a lot of questions that have come up so far.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	deductive reasoning, where re- searchers start with a hypothesis or general conclusion and then collect specific data to support or refute their hypothesis inductive reasoning, where researchers start with a question and collect information that eventually leads to a conclusion.
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	So far this article has related to some of the work that I have been doing in my classes. For one, it has helped me get ideas on how to further my research for my future major projects, and it has also allowed me to come up with more ideas for a research project I am doing in my speech class.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	What was one thing you learned while reading the article that will help you further your research for you Major Projects?

 

 

1. 1. I am not a fantastic writer. But I have obviously gotten better over the years. I wished I could say that I like writing. But that is definitely not something I enjoy doing. I wish I could be able to sit down and free write, but when given the opportunity to free write my mind goes blank. And it makes me mad then from there it is a downward spiral.
   2. Junior year of high school I was able  to write twelve poems. There was no strict genre that I needed to stick with. When I was finished I felt so good because I was able to say that after three weeks I was able to present my teacher with 12 poems that I was so proud of.
   3. I would really like to work on getting to the point. Stop using and, so, at the beginning of the sentence. and Maybe even in text citations. I have always struggled with them and when ever I try to look it up for help there are always many different ways to do it.
   4. Getting to the point and making sure there are supporting factors but not a lot of pillow fluff.
   5. I am a hands on learner. Which for writing isn’t very easy to do because there is nothing really hands on about it. I guess printing out articles and hand writing the essays and such is the easiest way to finish things for me.

In the essay written about S.P.I.T. there are many simple mistakes. Like missing capitalization, and to me it is just a bit of a mouth full. This essay from the start is almost boring because of the amount of information it supplies the reader with. But to counter that the information is also useful to the reader to truly understand the point which is trying to be made. The first essay was organized by subtitles that listed what we were about to read. This essay used the two articles that we have read previously in the weeks. In the nest essay as I read the conclusion I was kind of left on a cliffhanger. I would had liked at least another sentence or two. But the paper is organized with some subtitles but also transition sentences. This paper also had picture evidence which allowed us readers to in a way take a break between reading the paragraphs which was nice. This essay used the same two articles plus two more. And pictures, but what was nice was they attached a letter from the writing center showing that he had really tried and spent time on this paper.

Reading Journal

 

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Melzer, Dan. “Melzer-Understanding-Discourse-Communities.pdf – Understanding Discourse Communities Dan Melzer This Essay Is a Chapter in Writing Spaces Readings on: Course Hero.” Melzer-Understanding-Discourse-Communities.pdf – Understanding Discourse Communities Dan Melzer This Essay Is a Chapter in Writing Spaces Readings on | Course Hero, www.coursehero.com/file/65182523/melzer-understanding-discourse-communitiespdf/
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	While reading this article it got me thinking about when I wanted to start a new competition team at my high school. I knew that eventually I would be good at what I was doing but i needed people to come and compete with me. So from there we had to study over 300 plants and tools and a bunch of other technical things for this competition. With that I was able to sit and memorize with a group of people trying to get the same thing done. This article was able to show me that without knowing it I just made myself apart of a discourse community but I was also the one to create it in a way.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Discourse Community:  A broadly agreed upon set of common public goals 2. Mechanisms of intercommunication among members 3. Use of these communication mechanisms to provide information and feedback 4. One or more genres that help further the goals of the discourse community 5. A specific lexis (specialized language) 6. A threshold level of expert members
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	It connected to the reading we did from Johns about the discourse communities. I have been able to really understand more about them and where I can be placed while breaking them down into finer more specific groups.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	What is a new thing you learned about discourse communities and where you may be placed?

 

Reading Journal

 

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Parlor Press, 2012, wac.colostate.edu/books/writingspaces1/dirk–navigating-genres.pdf.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	While reading this article it makes you think about everything you’ve written. And if the way you wrote it was in the right genre that it needed to be. And with that you can really tell how we know how to write in more ways than we thought. I never really took the time to sit down and reread my papers to make sure they fit the “genre” of what it needed to be. I would always write to answer the prompt given and never think twice as to if my writing was in the right genre. Dirk also states that once we are able to familiarize ourselves with the genres we are most familiar with it will be easier for us to see the genres that others are writing in and how it is supposed to make us feel.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	“Learning about genres and how they function is more important than mastering one particular genre; it is this knowledge that helps us to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to different situations—that is, knowing what particular genre is called for in a particular situation.” I know this isn’t a new word and definition but to me it is a new way of thinking about genres. I have always just thought about them with just a simple meaning. And after reading this article it has given me insight into how much more complex they really are.
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	In ways you could say this relates to our last reading. DasBender spent time to give us insight into how important critical  thinking is when reading and writing. And I think this article goes hand in hand with that thought. Because to really critical think about something you are going to need to know what genre and how the genre affects the way of writing.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	What is the most used genre of writing in the US?

 

Reading Journal

 

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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	DasBender, Gita. “Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academic.” Selected Readings for FirstYear Composition, pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/comp1sample/chapter/critical-thinking-in-college-writing-from-the-personal-to-the-academic/.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	While reading this article I have begun to think about the way I write and how my writing comes across for those reading it. And if it is as complicated to understand as it is complicated for me to write. In the article the author explains that she has found herself more interested in reading things that are more meaningful than what is on the page. I have really been able to understand what he/she is meaning while reading because when I see the words “critical thinking” I get intimidated and do everything in my power to stall. But if it is something I am interested in and am really willing to think about then I will take my time and go through it.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	“Animals (like the weasel) live in “necessity,” which means that their only goal in life is to survive.”  When I think about necessity I think about things that are important for survival or of what every is needed to perform a task. Not necessarily just to live strictly to survive.
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	I have read a few articles in the past talking about how people are less likely to continue to read something that is “too hard” to read when they first look at it. And reading this article just allowed my mind to think about really taking the time to read things and understand them and not give up because the article seems to be intimidating.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	What is one strategy that you use when breaking down articles in the sense of another meaning behind the page?

Today we were assigned a reading about different types of communities of people. And how you can go from a super broad community that many people could be considered to be under and then from there you can see how many people are divided into other communities, that are some what related to your community but have different aspects. For example, I am a student of the School of Applied Sciences. Now you can think of that as an umbrella. We can take that and divide it into an Applied Gerontology, Communication Sciences & Disorders, Criminal Justice & Legal Studies, Health, Exercise Sci & Recreation Mgmt, Nutrition & Hospitality Management, Social Work. But with those there are so many other Majors that can come from those specific titles.

There are three major communities that I fall into currently. The three A’s. Artists, Academics and Athletes. Under the artists, I would be under performing arts, and then dancer. When I was younger I danced for a good five years and then I did dance for two years in high school along with our high school cheer team. Under academics I would fall under a social sciences and then political science I believe. I am a Law major so I would more than likely fall under that wing of an umbrella. And then the athlete I could go for both the Team and Individual sport section. I played golf, basketball, softball, volleyball, and cheer. So technically that wouldn’t really help.

Free Write Exercise

So lately I have been really unmotivated to do school work. But I have also been so excited that I am able to be back on campus and to be back with my homies. I have always been one to love going to class because I get to sit and broken my brain. And now with this whole stupid corona thing being in person is not really possible. Which super sucks because I was so excited to be able to sit in a big lecture hall and listen to a professor speak about something they are passionate about. And now we are sitting in our beds in our PJ’s not really interacting with any of our class mates or teachers and just barely sliding through the semesters. I am not excited for next year if the world goes back to sort of a normal. And we have to go and sit in classes again. It will be just like we are freshman again even though we have been at this school for a year already. But I will be very excited to sit in person and meet more people.

Also I just ordered a delivery robot that has my food in it and I am so excited. I don’t have these robots where I am from, although they just got some at a grocery store that is probably twenty minutes down the street from my house. They don’t deliver that far but it is always fun to go over there and see them crossing the big streets. I have also always wanted to ride one of the robots to see if it could cary me. They seem pretty stable because they have fallen down several flights of stairs and still been fine. So maybe one day I will get the courage to try and ride it. If you see me riding one.. no you didn’t. (LOL). Anyways I really have no idea what else to put down here. But there is this one frat guy who I fancy. He’s really tall too and that helps a lot. But its not even like I’m really tall, I am literally 5’5″. But I just like the thought of a big height difference. Once again have no idea how much longer I have to write but I definitely don’t know what to say now.

One of the questions that was asked in our assessment was about whether or not I would be willing to change my mind on a subject if there was other information provided. And I put a lower number on this one because I am not very easily convinced that other opinions are correct. Which I know is a bad trait of mine and I’ve been trying to work on it but I hav always been like that and it has killed me when people don’t respect my opinion. I am not saying that I don’t respect others opinions, because I do. And so that is part of the reason why I hate when others try to change my mind because I am not trying to prove them wrong, I think what I think and I respect what you think.