Blog Post # 6 - Reaching Back, Looking Forward

Throughout the course, I've gained knowledge and new-found insight on writing and what it entails. The more profound takeaways that stuck out the most to me were Bitzer’s three elements, the different genres, and the tools available to create different works.

Bitzer’s three elements are an important thing that I have learned because it allows me to process and interpret something with new questions to strengthen my analysis. Aristotles and Bitzers elements are somewhat similar, but differ slightly, being able to provide a different analysis approach.

Learning about different genres amazed me. I didn't know that writing was categorized as so many different works and is very ubiquitous. This was also shown at the end of the course when we are told to research our future career and the role of writing within. My research showed me genres; I never would've considered as writing for my career and proved that I will always need it.

When beginning a few of my assignments, I needed different tools and such to effectively research and then publish my final product. For my research essay, I became familiar with scholarly sources and where and how to search for them. This helped me find the noteworthy and credible sources on the internet while discerning the popular ones. When starting my genre assignment, I came across several websites consisting of easy templates to create unique and personal works out of. I chose a website creation website which I probably would’ve never even considered using if I was never told about it.

In summation, I’ve gained a lot from the course in terms of knowledge and broadening how I can now approach writing in the future.

Blog Post #5 - Distribution, Circulation, Templates

The different genres that I created for my topic of dancers with eating disorders can be distributed electronically through several platforms. 

Of course the all-knowing hash-tag has a great effect on finding something related to a specific tag or group that one chooses for their work. Hashtags have surfaced increasingly over the past couple of years and I don’t think will ever die down. My topic is found all over twitter, Instagram, tumblr, and other platforms through tags such as: #ana, #anorexia, #ed, #eatingdisorders, #dance, and many more. This helps my genre get distributed in the sense that someone looking for work like mine will type in a hashtag like above and will show relevant works that fall under that category.

QR codes are coming of age, too. Smart phone sales are on the rise and with the click of a button taking a picture of a black and white square, the phone is redirected automatically to a webpage or an app. This could be beneficial for my brochure. My brochure has common questions about eating disorders on the inside pages and a helpline on the back. The helpline is provided from a website concerning eating disorders. Under the phone number I could provide a QR code for the website, so those looking for help can get directed to the website for other methods of contact immediately.

These are only two examples of the array of distribution technologies created and being created for the use of distribution and circulation to help spread information and works, in addition to helping people find the relevant information and works when searching.

Nowadays, technology is the way to go with any kind of marketing or distribution or getting the word out there. With different platforms it’s easier now more than ever to circulate works, such as the ones that I have done for my English class. 

Blog Post #4 - What is Genre ?

Genre surrounds us in everything we do, and we come in contact with it on a daily basis.

One form of genre found in writing that I am most familiar with is an Autobiography. I , myself, keep a journal up to date with everything going on in my life, good or bad, from my sophomore year of high school.

I do not have an audience set in stone just yet. My sole purpose in beginning this journal was because my mom doesn't relate much to me and understand me and what I go through mentally on a daily basis. I started writing because when I am older and I have kids, I would love to relate to them and have a sense of where they are coming from and what they are going through in that exact time in their life. So this would make me the author and audience. In addition to that, the only other audience for this genre of mine is my future kids, so they can learn from mistakes I have made and learn what I went through so they know I know what’s going on.

Expectations and constraints are minimal; I express everything and anything with no limitations. Others can have constraints and limitations depending on who their audience is. If an autobiography is being looked at by young students, it may be censored.

This genre relates to other genres and sub-genres by being somewhat of a monologue. It gives the freedom of writing about oneself and talking to themselves in a way. 

Blog Post #3 - Knowledge and Belief

The meanings of the words knowledge and belief intertwine in the sense that we believe what we know, and know what we believe.

That is a simple, yet powerful statement.

When looking at controversial topics, you can gain every bit of knowledge from all sides of the issue, but only one or some stick out because you believe in them.

Knowledge of anything and everything can be gained but beliefs may limit how well we try to keep that knowledge in our minds. Beliefs are strong and could deteriorate us away from true, useful knowledge because of stubborn ideas we may undertake.

Knowledge is accepted by everyone, whereas beliefs are what you hold to be true.

Rhetoric allows us to dig deeper into a topic and explore new perspectives all while gaining knowledge. This is because we engage in research to investigate into other people’s mindsets, beliefs, and their prior knowledge. This exchange develops what we come to know about any given topic making our understanding truly infinite.

Knowledge is both constructed and discovered because we can build on what we already know, and discover new ideas that we can later build onto.

Beliefs can be restricting when trying to gain new insight on a subject. In the book The Curious Researcher, they state that “… many beliefs have some truth to them. Other beliefs, however, may need to be unlearned…”

Plato toyed with this subject during his lifetime as a Greek Philosopher trying to explain what things are and why they are that way. Shown in the table below is Plato’s view on what knowledge and opinion, or belief, means and what they identify with.

Epistemology		Ontology		Source of Being and Intelligibility
Knowledge	Pure reason (grasped mathematically)	The Forms	The Intelligible World	The Good
	Understanding (subsuming the particular under the general)	Concepts
Opinion (conjecture)	Belief, sense experience	Particular sensible objects	The Visible World	The Sun
	Imagination, Hearsay	Images, Shadows, Reflections

Daniel, Stephen H. "Plato Notes." Plato Notes. Texas A&M University, n.d. Web. The graph looks further into the meaning and uses of knowledge and opinion.

Ballenger, Bruce. "Introduction / Rethinking the Research Paper - Learning and Unlearning." The Curious Researcher. 4th ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 4. Print. Florida State University.

"Plato Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 

Blog Post #2 - Deploying Writing

I submitted my own interpretation of "Same Love" by Macklemore on RapGenius.com. I chose one verse in particular that I felt I best analyzed in my Rhetorical Analysis paper. The website is visited often when trying to find out the artists meaning and explanation behind their music.

I wrote:

“And you can be cured with some treatment and religion” challenges the idea that religion can change who you are which is how some people think. Macklemore disagrees and uses the logos appeal to negate that myth. This is further explained in the next line stating  “man-made, rewiring of a pre-disposition, playing god” meaning that being gay is not a choice; it’s an innate characteristic and people think they can try and “rewire”, or fix, homosexuals.

Giving feedback and submissions to open-ended interpretations can help the reader learn more about the subject matter and see what others have to say and gather from it. Analysis' can help the reader approach the subject from a different perspective and gain knowledge.

While writing my rhetorical analysis paper, I often looked at what others had to say about the lyrics and what their approach to breaking down the words was. It helped me come up with a strong argument for persuasion. Also it gave me more detail for my analysis to help describe my take on the song.

Perhaps a freshman taking an ENC1102 class with the same assignment and idea for the paper will come across my commentary and use it to their advantage either by referencing, quoting, or gaining inspiration from it.

Blog Post #1 - What is writing?

Asking "what is writing?" is a very vague question with a multitude of different responses. Everyone has a different outlook on what writing is because some people love it some people dread it. I'm someone that gets absolutely no thrill out of writing.

Throughout schooling, I've been given so many different prompts, some I like and can relate to, and some I can't even start. Even if I like the prompt, I still don't enjoy writing the essay that follows. How am I supposed to structure an entire 5 paragraph essay? How do I reach 2000 words? 8 pages?! That's crazy! Give me a prompt; I'll give you a sentence to respond back with no issue. So, I guess I can say my least favorite thing is writing for a prompt and having to expand my points on it. Writing should be for fun, not a requirement, or at least not a requirement for a hard topic.

I'm that weird kid that loved math in school, the subject everyone else despises. I suppose they feel as strongly about math as I do with English and writing classes.

So I'm a math whiz heading towards a business major in Finance and Accounting. All numbers, no words. Writing isn't in my future too much unless I was to write business letters which isn't a useless prompt with a paragraph, word, or page count. I like to write only for what I need to write, not for a grade.

I've written professional letters before for my dance studio. That interests me, because it benefits me.

So in summation, I write for me, not for fun, and unhappily for a grade.

P.s.
This is a prompt, I had a little fun venting (not going to lie), and I'm praying for a good grade.