January 2021

Reading Journal

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Dirk. “Navigating Genres.” Writing in Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 1, 2010, pages 249-262.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	Genres are a major part of writing. Just as major as choosing a specific genre of music. It has a lot to do with your audience, purpose and location of writing. It is an influence to the structure of whatever you may be writing. Genre is important to know so you wouldn’t shift from your thesis or confuse your audience. You wouldn’t write a comedic letter to your boss about a business venture coming up. Genre is part of a writer’s guide.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	“I would surmise with near certainty that at least one of these headlines made you laugh.” “Every genre they acquire,then, expands their genre repertoire and simultaneously shapes how they might view new situations.” Surmise-to guess Repertoire- collections/ stock of something
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	This reading connects with the knowledge writers are supposed to obtain before entering college. Many students are taught to write with a specific purpose in mind, as well as a specific audience. Students are also taught to have a thesis that draws in your audience. Before entering your junior year of high school ,teachers never really mention a specific genre in writing, it seems to be something that’s automatically understood.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	How does a genre of a writing differ from the purpose of the writing?

 

Reading Journal

 

 

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	DasBender. “Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academic” Writing Spaces:Readings on Writing Volume 2, 2011, pgs.35-51.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	Critical thinking is the premise for writing.It is the mold to help further understand a piece of writing as well as make a response exceptional. “Criticism is the process of responding and evaluating ideas,” knowing that criticism isn’t just a judgement it’s perspective. It’s more of an experience that the reader encounters with writing. In reference to “Living Like Weasels” I thought it was quite easy to see the author was saying to be free from the body is to be free from the mind. A mindlessness that humans overlook. An attentive reader being able to have an open mind, being able to have your critical thinking criticized. Listing important ideas, ideas that grasped your attention, ideas that give understanding to the main idea.Create an understanding of key terms or quotes and finally reflect on the writing.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	“ I have learned through my years of education that what ultimately engages me, keeps me enthralled, is not just grammatically pristine, fluent writing but writing that forces me to think beyond the page.” Enthralled-captivate Pristine-clean and fresh as if new
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	This reading in comparison to “Finding your way in: Invention as Inquiry based learning in first year writing.” helps give insight on how to become a better writer. These two articles give insight on things first year writers did well and some things those writers might have feared. They both mention asking questions, as well as a reflection.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	Is there a proper way to reflect on writing?

 

A discourse community is a community with shared values, identities, or ways of communicating. In the reading there is various examples/ characteristics as to what a discourse community is. Some of them being: “a broadly agreed set of common public goals, mechanism of intercommunication among its member (newsletters/journals), utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims, etc.”Communities in a discourse community are: professional, social, nonacademic, and recreational communities. In an academic community , practices of that community seemed to be more complex. It was more of an idea that students should have a better intellectual understanding of writing and reading ,when they first enter college. The idea is so that students can challenge what they already know and enhance their knowledge.

Some of the discourse communities I am apart of are: Christianity, the FasTrack community( with-in the community of ole miss) and, a student at the University of Mississippi.

“Exercise #1-freewriting”

I find things to be hard, maybe because people or I tend to overthink. Overthinking is the only logical reason as to why we face challenges that could be avoided. Often times it seems we failed at something, other times it seems we over-achieved. But where is the in-between? what balances life between success and failure? Is it the amount of time we put into things or is it the amount of effort? There seems to be no balance ,because you either try or you don’t. Success and failure are the things that push us in life but never have us grounded. If you succeed you have to continue to work to feel successful. If you fail you just continue to exist. Nothing really has a middle ground or balance. Everything has to be worked towards or it has a lack of work. Nothing seems balanced. How will life ever be balanced if your at the middle of a balance beam walking towards success or failure?

While completing the critical thinking assessment, I felt more neutral about more of the statements. I think with writing ,everyone has their own specific way of writing. When it comes down to understanding a way someone particularly writes, I find it easier to understand someone else’s writing more so than my own writing. I find it rather easy to see someone’s point of view more clearly. With writing an argument ,for me, it becomes harder because I see the point that has to be argued ,but I can sometimes agree with a counterargument more than the actual argument. A problem that I encountered in writ 101 was using primary and secondary sources. It becomes a challenge ,when writing about a specific topic, which sources will be credible and help your writing. After completing the assessment, I realized that writing has more context to it than just being a way to express things, it’s more than just retaining/understanding written information.