Thlog #5

Before reading the essay “Read like a Writer” Zack told us that this would be one of the most important readings we would do in this class. With this info I wanted to make sure I put more effort into understanding what I was reading rather than just doing the reading and not really attempting to grasp the information. I wouldn’t say that I have difficulty pulling information from a text–except for papers on writing. I think this is because the tools they share in the work can’t be used right away, unlike other readings you can take notes and refer to it later as a block of knowledge/fact. Writing tips that are extracted from papers can’t really be used until you write making it difficult for me to remember them or even want to use them since most papers I write, I write to just get them over with. The tools found in the reading are relevant to this class though because this is time and place to try out and adjust the styles we find in the papers.

Anyways, when I was reading the essay I tried to take my time to be more selective in what I chose to highlight. I did this by reading the essay and then going back and highlighting only one or two important points in each. I also tried to annotate while reading. This was harder for me because I have never “officially” annotated anything; I don’t even really know how to do it. I annotated by jotting down any questions I had when I was reading. I also tried to rephrase the information I was highlighting. At first when I was taking my time and breaking down the paper I thought that it was going to take me F-O-R-E-V-E-R, but then I thought how when I usually read I stop and get distracted because I get bored reading. Being more engaged while reading didn’t take less time, but it did make the process more interesting and I was not getting as lost in the text or caught up in my daydreams.

            During the activity we did in class when we shared the “moves” the author made in the piece I was keeping track of the ones I had noticed that other people we sharing, I noticed that I had a lot of the same ones. Although this piece seemed simple in deciphering the moves I felt like some of the more precise moves people were pointing out I had too, usually I only find the blatant ones. This was kind of my moment of realization that just taking my time and being engaged with the text, regardless of the subject, will make pulling out information easier and makes it stick in my brain better. 

PB2A- Scholarly Sources

Scholarly Sources: Makeup

The scholarly article I chose was a research paper for an experiment on the Influence of eye make-up on the perception of gaze direction. Just from reading the abstract one will find that the study was conducted to see if makeup has an alternative role besides from enhancing attractiveness.

Some of the conventions of a research paper include an abstract, synopsis, introduction, method, results, discussion, and references. What is interesting about the entire research paper is that is pretty much laid out exactly like the abstract. The abstract gives a preview of the paper itself by including the following things. The synopsis is at the beginning because it serves as a thesis statement; it is direct and tells the reader the purpose of the experiment. It would not make sense to have this type of information anywhere else in the abstract. The hypothesis follows the synopsis because it is the actual question that directed the experiment. After the hypothesis there are these statements that predict the outcome, the statements contradict each other. “Eye make-up might make an individual's gaze more recognizable by emphasizing the contrast of the eyes. Or make-up might make gaze less recognizable by transforming eyes to unnatural shapes.” While reading I thought the abstract showed credibility (ethos) in the experimenter because it did not come off as being biased towards any one outcome. After the theoretic part of the abstract ,there is the evidence and coding that was used. The rest of the research paper follows, going in depth for each of the sections of the paper.

The perception of different types of gazing is being operationalized in this study, but it does not give a definition of what gazing actually is. The only information about the type of gaze is “same direction” or “different direction”. Another concept that is being operationalized is recognition; there are different ways of recognizing something that needs to be narrowed down for the experiment to become more reliable. The amount of makeup defined as “light or heavy” is operationalized by having the faces wear “no eyeliner, thin eyeliner, or thick eyeliner”. The experimenters further operationalized this by giving the exact width and length of each category of eyeliner type. Although the paper mentions facial attractiveness as one of the roles of make-up it is not the main purpose of this experiment, but attractiveness would need to be operationalized.

In the discussion section of the paper, the main question that is addressed is “How might we explain the influence of eyeliner makeup on observers’ perception of gaze direction?” This question is different from the one mentioned in the abstract because it based off the result of the study. The researchers created this question because their result showed significance but having significance does not tell the research why there is such. I thought this was cool because they could have just ended with a conclusion of their results but they decided to question their own experiment, almost as if it was leading them into their next experiment. This relates to a reading I did in Writing 1 about how conclusions should be starting points for the next piece of writing, it is interesting to see this even in a research paper.

Overall, the abstract entirely is the most important part of a research paper, each section of the abstracts adds to its purpose. If you were to take out any part of the abstract it would not be an abstract, but the most valuable information in an abstract is probably the results of the study. Most people reading the abstract need the results for something else. The procedural part of the paper is important as well because it tells how the experiment was run. This is important because if the experiment was not conducted ethically or has multiple variables not addressed, the results could become unreliable or incorrect. If the results are suspicious one could review the procedure part and determine if the right criteria were met when performing the experiment.  

Thlog #4

Going back and reading Journal 4.2 I thought about why the class was labeling questions the way they did. It is pretty clear what people thought were STEM major questions versus the Sociology/Communication majors. This is kind of like the Genre activity; there are conventions to how majors think that is reflected in their questions. Person #4 questions were similar to many other peoples, but they were the one person to be classified as History/English. This intrigued me so I kept reading their response to figure out what “gave away” their major. I realized that it was their style of writing, their answer being written in complete sentences and in a paragraph structure, which lead the person to think they were English major. This stood out to me because I thought it was interesting that someone made a judgment about someone, not from their content, but from its form and style.

Analyzing decisions people make is actually something I do more often than I should; this is why these activities are so interesting to me. I do it because I like to reason, I want to create reasons for everything. Don’t ask me why, but I have always been an “overthinker” (even though I don’t think that is a real thing). I enjoy thinking about the cause and effects of pretty much everything, which is very similar to rhetoric. I just didn’t know that it had a name or an academic purpose. I think that my habits are a little excessive but this class is making me feel a less crazy because it has shown me that this is just another way of thinking. Writing about this stuff is making me a better writer because it has taken away the fear that I am writing about the wrong stuff so now I can focus on the writing itself.

Thlog #3

                Let’s be honest, why did week #3 feel like post-midterms week #6. . . I know for me part of this feeling comes from this writing project. I don’t want to come off as a complainer because I really have enjoyed analyzing genre and critically thinking about why genre and conventions are important. It is always good to take a step back and question things that have become habitual.

The hard part about this project is figuring out if I’m doing it right or wrong, I know I know there are no “rules” in writing but I find that I second guess myself on every… single…thing (yes, it’s exhausting.) This constant second guessing led me to rewrite a whole new essay. I absolutely hated the draft I turned in and after the disastrous feedback I got in peer/reader review I felt the needed to rewrite it.

Peer review was unsuccessful for because my group did not give me much feedback in the first place and the feedback I did get back was very generic overall it just felt very unauthentic. Some of the comments were helpful, they showed me there was confusion in my paper, they could not figure out what I was writing about. All these things made me want to restart my paper, which I did. Before restarting my essay I looked over our Journal 3.1 to get some inspiration from others as to what they were writing about. I really liked the party invitation idea, but I did not want to copy someone else’s idea so I stuck with Snickerdoodle recipes. My new draft seems a lot better than my old one, I am happier with it compared to the feeling I had the first time I wrote it. Hopefully peer review on Monday will go more smoothly and I will get some feedback that will enhance my paper rather than making me want to rip it to shreds.  

Thlog #2 (4/8/16)

From the reading on First and Second Order thinking I created this idea in my head that the creative and undirected First Order thinking was the “right way” to write, but after doing my PB1a I realized that writing is a combination of both as well as the writers personal preference. I have written a couple of papers First Orderly and I have been successful in writing them, they were even relatively easier to write compared to my usually long and disastrous writing process.

PB1a was different though because although I did not create an outline for what I was writing I followed the questions in the prompt line for line, like an outline. Once I got to the specific question, for example explaining the purpose of my genre, I used First Order thinking to project all my ideas for that topic, so everything that came to my mind relating to the purpose I wrote it down. Its relieving knowing that Second Order thinking doesn’t have to happen second, even if its effectiveness would probably be better. I think that using Second Order thinking can be helpful when someone is stuck or needs to make a guideline to push them along in writing.

 Honestly, I don’t think I would be able to have done PB1a without the guiding questions. If we had been asked to write a 2-page rhetorical analysis, based on what we have learned so far, on a genre of one’s choice my PB1a would have been complete garbage and BS. Reading #14 journal response and how their process was more self-directed kind of shocked me because of what I said one the guidance I had when writing PB1a. They described their thoughts on about how they would write a birthday card (their genre) and who they were writing for, they did this before actually answering the prompt. When I wrote my PB1a I would read a question with a genre in mind and see what kind of material I could generate, the one that I had the most input on is the one I ended up writing the whole piece on.

 The coolest thing that I got out of this week is that everyone brainstorms and writes in different ways. The way in which people think and act as either First Order or Second Order is irrelevant, but switching between the two and combining them in writing and other aspects of life can benefit people. 

PB1B- Generating Genre

Looking at the research papers from the generator I found that some of the conventions of a research paper had their own conventions within them. For example, the convention of an abstract within a research had its own convention. Abstracts appear to be short and contain a brief explanation of the experiment and its purpose. Research paper then has a Table of Content; within that Table of Content there is an Introduction, Related Works, Architecture, Implementation, Results, Conclusion, and References. The introduction has conventions of being medium sized. It also is where one will find the hypothesis that set up the experiment. Results also have conventions within them such as, containing graphs and charts, as well as an explanation of the results in relation to the hypothesis. The conclusion seems to be relatively short and is very similar to the Abstract. Conventions of the References would be that it is very standard and orderly and follows guidelines for a particular style to cite other’s work.

Comic conventions seemed like they would be the easiest because everyone would be able to point to the comic if asked if it were presented in a line up style interrogation. It was actually a lot harder trying to identify what makes a comic a comic.  Some of the conventions I found were illustrations/cartoons, dialogue is short, to distinguish who is speaking there is a bubble around that characters words, comics are light hearted and humorous, more than one character, scenes are separated by boxes. The particular comic generator we viewed was purely for entertainment, but some comics can be political. Some comics could even be seen as an entertaining new sources if they were written with informative intentions.

Memes’ conventions were also difficult to pin point because they are so simple. Some conventions of memes include large white font, usually at the top and/or bottom of the image. The images that are being written on come from screenshots of videos, movies, and TV shows. The images’ action or facial expression of character within the image relates, to some extent, to the message/joke of the text. Memes are funny; it is rare to see one with a serious message. Or at least the message is perceived as less serious if presented as a meme. Memes also tend to make fun of someone/something. The meme could be making fun of the person that the meme is of, the viewer, or some other person that is mentioned in the text.

Sticking with the same concept as my PB1A I looked up “Romance Novel Plot generator”. I wanted to see if the list of conventions followed the same blueprint as the generators. Many of my conventions did fit with those of the generator. One of the conventions for the plot of a romance novel was the MULTIPLE use of adjectives. Every time I generated a new plot there was na introduction of how the protagonist met their lover, then a problem is created by the antagonist (often in love with the same person the protagonist), then finally the solution where the protagonist succeeds and wins over their lover. The conflict of someone coming between the lovers is also a convention within itself.

To understand genre is to understand patterns as well as an understanding how the patterns are use. These patterns are then used to classify and create a particular type of writing into a category.  Genre can be better understood with the used of genre generating websites because the websites show the patterns within each genre.  The websites developed a structure that mimicked the basic collection of conventions within the particular genre. By deciphering which components of a genre are reused over and over again within the same genre one finds the patterns which are the conventions. It is helpful to see what conventions are used repeatedly in the generators because it gives one insight as to what makes up that genre as well as hinting at why that convention is important for that genre. For example, the convention of being funny is found in both memes and comics, but why they are both funny can be inferred from other conventions within their genre. Memes can be funny because of their convention of making fun of someone/something where as comics can be funny because of their convention of having illustrations/cartoons. 

PB1A- Romance Novels

Currently, I am reading the novel, “How to be Single”, I would classify its genre as a romance/comedy but when I tried to look up it was actually only labeled as “women’s fiction”. The conventions of a “romance novel” are more appropriate for this book rather than the broad description of “women’s fiction”. Some of the conventions used are woman/women with a broken heart(s), cheating men, one woman with the perfect relationship, married couples, exclusively dating couples, lack-luster dates vs. phenomenal dates, point of view is from a woman, comparing the female narrator's life with that of other women, woman pining over a particular guy, man makes incredible gesture to win over the woman that he is in love with, and of course the detailed sexual experiences.

The audience for romance/comedy is woman, but there is a certain type of woman who specifically read romance novels. The most obvious convention for this genre is a woman looking for love, that is the type of woman that are most likely going to be reading these types of books. Other types of women that could be reading these books are women that are in love but don’t receive the same type of affection and attention that is glamorized in romance novels.

The convention that in the end man and woman, regardless of the struggle that was presented throughout the book, will still end up being together and even more so in love is the message the author wants one to receive. They want all the women reading their book to remember that love will find them eventually. Not giving up on love and one’s enduring search for it will one day solve their problem of not having love. The purpose authors have for romance novels is that they want women to believe romance and love still exist.

Context could be that the idea of love is related to happiness and this idea is especially directly at woman from a young age. Love is important for both genders, but the importance of finding one’s soul mate is emphasized more towards women. This makes the conditions relating to love more appealing to women and because the idea of falling in love is important in our culture. Another context within romance novels is that women don’t want to feel like they are the only one’s experiencing things so by reading these novels they can identify some aspect of themselves in the characters of the story.

The style of a romance novel could be considered one of its conventions. Romance novels are often written with fluffed up and extremely detailed descriptions. The description of just the bedroom could be an entire paragraph. The style also includes portraying the entire atmosphere that is surrounding the event as well as reporting what the character is doing externally and their feelings internally. Having the story be told in the point of view of a woman is also a characteristic of style.

Overall the tone of a romance novel is optimistic. Women do not want to read a “romance” novel if the girl does not get the guy, there are other genres of books if one wants to read that. The attitude of romance novels is to build anticipation until the girl and guy can meet again, finally be together, or until the guy makes his grand gesture that everyone has been waiting for. There can be moments of the novel where things look bleak or are sad but the main tone of the genre comes predominantly from the ending where everything seems to work itself out.

A romance novel is a romance novel because it describes romantic encounters and relationships that woman wishes they would see in their real lives. The events are fictional and overly drawn out but that is what makes them appealing because these events would be very uncommon to see in one’s daily life. Romance novels always have a happy ending where the girl ends up falling in love whether it is with a man, her job, her family, or even learning to love herself. 

"Thlog" #1 Genre and Rhetoric

Rhetoric has always been a difficult concept for me to understand and grasp. The assigned reading “Backpacks vs. Briefcases” really helped me get a clearer idea of how to identify rhetoric in an organized and procedural manner. The questions provided in the text were the most useful to me. I like having this reference to use when I am analyzing pieces in the future.

 Before I begin actually analyzing in our writing project, I feel as though the activity we have been doing in class about identifying conventions within genres will help tremendously in breaking down the actual rhetoric. I had done a previous rhetorical analysis, in the beginning, I just dove into the “rhetorical situation, purpose and argument. I did not stop and separate the elements of the piece I was analyzing if I would have stopped to think about the “what’s” first then the “why’s” and “how’s” it would have been a lot easier to write the essay.

 In class when we shared our knowledge of textual genres, person #7 explained the conventions of a romance novel. While reading their answer I found myself agreeing with their conventions and believed they had accurately labeled the genre of a romance novel. After reading “Backpacks vs. Briefcase” and having reviewed their answers again, I realized I was analyzing WHY these were the conventions used in romance novels.

When I looked back at my responses it was more difficult for me to identify why certain conventions were used in the genre I picked.  It made me what to do two things. First, was to go back through my list of conventions and test them to an actual piece. I wanted to do this because I wanted to make sure my list was correct. I know that a convention may not always fit into an example of that genre, but I wanted to see if for the most part my ideas fit into this genre.  Two, I wanted to research why some of these conventions were used since I could not figure some of them out for myself.