 |
| United States Navy. "US Navy". 5-28-10 via Wikipedia. Public Domain. |
And with that, au revoir.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Victory Lap
We made it! Finally. Now on to a great Fall semester.
Final Project
August 12, 2015
Dear Professor Bottai and Classmates:
I've taken some pretty good English/composition classes in my life so I definitely already understood a lot of the ideas about writing that were emphasized in this course. However, I think this course had a much bigger focus on the technical components of writing as well as rhetorical analysis, neither of which I've really ever focused on in great detail.
During this course, I've learned more about paying attention to the details of writing, which weren't necessarily a big concern for me before. I think that's twofold because I learned about technical details but also about paying attention to the genre and my audience and what I want them to get out of my writing. Most of this learning happened in my blog posts like Analyzing My Audience and QRGs: The Genre. As a reader, I think I'm more conscious of the writer's intentions when I'm reading other people's works. That's really interesting because it feels almost like I'm double conscious; I'm reading the work and getting something from it, but I'm also cognizant of what I'm supposed to get from it and I'm actively assessing that as I'm reading it.
Being aware of these things as a reader has definitely helped me to be more conscious as a writer. For instance, in Questions About Controversy preparing for Project 3, I really started to understand the process of choosing a topic. Brainstorming 25 question was easy because I just started spouting things off to myself about the gender gap and what I might want to know. But then in the blog post Narrowing My Focus, it was a tough process trying to boil that 25 question list down to just 3 things but doing so helped me see how laser focused writing really is. I mean out of all of those 25 questions, I picked three and that was enough to keep me researching and writing for hours. The good part about it was that when it came time to craft a thesis statement, I knew which questions I was answering and so it was easy for me to take those questions and come up with a thesis statement about them.
Another thing that really allowed me to grow during this course was the peer review process. I think the peer review process for this class was difficult for me because it wasn't face to face. It's hard to convey my ideas about a piece by writing about it, and similarly, it's a little harder to understand what people are trying to do with their writing when they're not there to read it to me. I think that second point might have been a good thing though because it made it easier for me to identify parts of people's pieces where the language was unclear and where they could have tweaked a couple things to make it easier to understand. I never really recognized that peer reviews did anything for me until I had to write blog posts reflecting on my drafts and how the peer reviews had helped.
Outside of this course, I actually talked to a lot of my friends about the gender gap and what it means while researching and writing Project 3, which was really cool because it showed me that my writing doesn't have to stay on the page. If I can write about real things that actually matter, then writing becomes a vehicle that helps me reach new levels of understanding. This was doubly helpful because they often gave me unofficial peer reviews and suggested things that I could do better to improve my writing, which was super helpful during revisions.
I don’t always like revising my writing, and I was forced to approach the revision process for each essay. But once I started, I realized I was actually getting a lot of value out of it. The revision questions that I had to answer for blog posts reflecting on my drafts for Project #1, Project #2 and Project #3, really made me stop and think about what I was doing in my writing and whether or not it was what I wanted to be doing. Questions like "what was the purpose and audience or your original paper? how did it achieve that purpose or reach that audience?" were really new to me and I think that considering these things after I had finished a draft really helped me identify what changes I needed to make to improve my writing based on factors like audience and genre.
I definitely never gave thought to the fact that reading and writing in different genres are completely unique things. It really surprised me how much changes when genre changes: audience, tone, purpose, language and even format. After having gone through this course I think I'm much better equipped to assess what genre I'm working within and then read/write accordingly.
But even though I’m better equipped to be a good writer, I still have to work on getting my pieces done in a timely matter. I think that if I were to take another composition course, I would try to write my pieces sooner. Instead of waiting until the deadline was approaching to start getting things down on paper, I think it would make more sense and make me more successful to start early and get all of my ideas down into a piece of writing and then from there I could tweak it and alter it until it was really quality college writing.
College writing fits into my life now because I'm in college and college students have to write a lot of things. Later, I think writing will play a pretty big role in my life because I'll have to communicate my ideas to a lot of people and it can't all be face to face. Especially in being a business major, language is really crucial to the things I'll be involved in and effective writing will help me to express my ideas clearly to my associates. In order to get really good at this, I need to remember to pay attention to the details.
I learned to pay more attention to the details through reading about them in this course. Much of this knowledge came from the Clarity #1, Clarity #2, Punctuation #1, and Punctuation #2 assignments, where I had to read chapters from Rules For Writers and reflect on the way I could take the technical things I had just read about and apply them to my writing. It really opened my eyes to all of the little nuanced things that can be done to make a really good piece. I had always thought that some people were just naturally awesome writers and others weren't.. and that still might be true, but now I know there's a guide for those of us who aren't as naturally talented.
I don’t know if I’m exactly talented, but I’m sure that my writing is better when I put more time into it. Going through this course really reminded me that I do procrastinate a lot, which isn't necessarily a great thing at all, but it's true and I've started to find some good ways to work with (although the best way is to just do things earlier). Even more than that, my experiences in this course showed me that writing can be improved, just like anything else, with some time and some focus. I think when my work doesn’t meet standards, it’s because I rushed through it and didn't take the time to reflect on the experience or the process that I went through. This happens from time to time and I've come to accept it, but I know that I should really work on allotting sufficient time for myself so that I can really produce some good work.
Having completed this course, I definitely am better equipped to analyze texts through close reading and critical thinking while considering their purposes, audiences, and contexts. I can write essays that develop analyses with evidence drawn from texts I've read, although I think I still have a lot of room for improvement in that section. I've definitely learned to research, read, write, and revise writing in a variety of different areas, which will be helpful as I go on to work in courses outside of first-year composition. I don't think I've really mastered the conventions of scholarly research. Scholarly research to me just seems really overly formal and it doesn't always yield pertinent information. For instance, all of the scholarly articles I found about the gender gap were from over 40 years ago, so those could only help me so much when I'm writing about the gender gap in 2015. But finally, I'm definitely able to create multiple, meaningful revisions of writing, and I think that's really what matters. As long as I can take something I've written and find ways to make it better, I think I'll be alright.
Sincerely,
Tripp Twyman
Reflection on Open Letter Draft
This is where the magic happens...
I reviewed Brandon's Draft and Mark's Draft.
Who specifically, is going to be reading this essay? Or who am I trying to reach with my argument? (My instructor, my classmates, members of my academic community, members of the local community, etc.)
My professor and my classmates will be reading this essay. Although there isn't really an argument, it's more of an assessment of my writing and the way that it has progressed. With this in mind, I think I can avoid going into too much detail about the assignments that I worked on in this course and instead focus more on my actual writing.
What biases might my readers have? Am I respecting their opinions while also achieving my own purpose?
I don't think they have any major biases. Some of them might think that the class was significantly easier than I thought it was, others might think the opposite. So I think as long as I make sure to emphasize that everything I'm saying is my own than I should be okay with respecting their opinions.
What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
I think they all value English to some extent so I should make sure not to completely insult English composition and rhetorical analysis, but other than that I don't think they'll come in with many expectations besides wanting to understand my writing experience a little better. With that in mind, it shouldn't be too difficult to meet those expectations because I've already put a good amount of work into getting content for my draft, and now it's just a matter of turning that draft into an actual letter.
How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
I don't think I need to give them much information about the course, but they'll probably need some background information describing my experiences as a writer leading up to this course and how they've changed upon the course's completion. I don't think background on my personal experiences would insult their expertise at all, but too much background about this specific course could definitely leave them feeling belittled.
What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
I think I can be pretty casual. My classmates are all college students so they shouldn't be expecting some super formal letter, and then my professor does have the right to expect a little bit more formality but again, it's a letter. With that said I'm going to try not to be exceedingly casual, although I definitely want the letter to have a calm, relaxed feel when they read it.
What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
Casual. A casual tone is definitely the way to go and I plan on using it throughout the letter. I also want to make sure that my writing is descriptive so that they really get a good idea of what I'm saying, but it should be descriptive in a pleasantly informative sense.
Reviewing Mark and Brandon's letters really helped me to see what I wanted to convey and what format would be good. I was debating having it be a really long paragraph, but after reading through Mark's draft and being able to jump from paragraph to paragraph so easily, I knew that the shorter style would be the best way to go.
 |
| Wesley Nitsckie. "A Thinking Man". 3-3-11 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
Who specifically, is going to be reading this essay? Or who am I trying to reach with my argument? (My instructor, my classmates, members of my academic community, members of the local community, etc.)
My professor and my classmates will be reading this essay. Although there isn't really an argument, it's more of an assessment of my writing and the way that it has progressed. With this in mind, I think I can avoid going into too much detail about the assignments that I worked on in this course and instead focus more on my actual writing.
What biases might my readers have? Am I respecting their opinions while also achieving my own purpose?
I don't think they have any major biases. Some of them might think that the class was significantly easier than I thought it was, others might think the opposite. So I think as long as I make sure to emphasize that everything I'm saying is my own than I should be okay with respecting their opinions.
What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?
I think they all value English to some extent so I should make sure not to completely insult English composition and rhetorical analysis, but other than that I don't think they'll come in with many expectations besides wanting to understand my writing experience a little better. With that in mind, it shouldn't be too difficult to meet those expectations because I've already put a good amount of work into getting content for my draft, and now it's just a matter of turning that draft into an actual letter.
How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information or context should I provide for them without insulting their expertise?
I don't think I need to give them much information about the course, but they'll probably need some background information describing my experiences as a writer leading up to this course and how they've changed upon the course's completion. I don't think background on my personal experiences would insult their expertise at all, but too much background about this specific course could definitely leave them feeling belittled.
What kind of language is suitable for this audience?
I think I can be pretty casual. My classmates are all college students so they shouldn't be expecting some super formal letter, and then my professor does have the right to expect a little bit more formality but again, it's a letter. With that said I'm going to try not to be exceedingly casual, although I definitely want the letter to have a calm, relaxed feel when they read it.
What tone should I use with my audience? Do I use this tone consistently throughout my draft?
Casual. A casual tone is definitely the way to go and I plan on using it throughout the letter. I also want to make sure that my writing is descriptive so that they really get a good idea of what I'm saying, but it should be descriptive in a pleasantly informative sense.
Reviewing Mark and Brandon's letters really helped me to see what I wanted to convey and what format would be good. I was debating having it be a really long paragraph, but after reading through Mark's draft and being able to jump from paragraph to paragraph so easily, I knew that the shorter style would be the best way to go.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Draft of Open Letter
It's time!! Here's my first copy of the letter.
BEFORE YOU READ IT, you should know that it's a very rough draft. I'm still looking for some more specific examples from my own writing that I could either quote or hyperlink to but other than that I think it's pretty straight forward. I left this draft pretty much in the same format as the Reflection on My Writing Experience post because it seemed really fluid. I'm still reading over it to see if I might rearrange some of the statements or add transitions to make it flow better as a letter. How do you feel about the length? I feel like if it's a letter then it might be a little shorter, although I recently saw Lupe Fiasco's Open Letter to White Supremacy and it's pretty long so I guess length isn't actually a big concern. Questions? Comments? Affirmations?
Here it is. I hope you like it!
BEFORE YOU READ IT, you should know that it's a very rough draft. I'm still looking for some more specific examples from my own writing that I could either quote or hyperlink to but other than that I think it's pretty straight forward. I left this draft pretty much in the same format as the Reflection on My Writing Experience post because it seemed really fluid. I'm still reading over it to see if I might rearrange some of the statements or add transitions to make it flow better as a letter. How do you feel about the length? I feel like if it's a letter then it might be a little shorter, although I recently saw Lupe Fiasco's Open Letter to White Supremacy and it's pretty long so I guess length isn't actually a big concern. Questions? Comments? Affirmations?
 |
| Eliot Fintushel. "Einstein Letter". 12-23-07 via Wikipedia. CC A-SA 3.0. |
Here it is. I hope you like it!
Considering Types
Looking at the five types of argument explained in Writing Public Lives, I can see how some would work well for my project and others would not.
Position
I don't think this would work because I'm not really "defend[ing] a specific policy, position, or idea in a controversial debate"; if anything, I'm trying to make the gender gap a controversial debate so that more gets done about it. Maybe in a few years, once it's a bigger deal and there are actually more parties involved, I could write a position argument defending my favorite point of view, but I think for now to write a position piece would be to assume more people are interested than there actually are.
Casual
I believe this is the way to go. I hope to highlight "one set of causes for a particular problem" in my project and I think that the casual argument will allow me to do that without taking too much time and energy to address other things. Especially since there isn't really a widespread active opposition to the movement for equality, I think that a casual argument would allow me to make my point without making a fuss.
Evaluative
I think this could be an effective form of argument for my project because I could definitely "evaluate specific public policies and proposed solutions" in my description of the gender gap and how it is affecting our society. Title IX would be one of those policies/solutions that I would reference, but I think I want to make more of a statement than an evaluative argument would make.
Proposal
I'm not proposing anything in this piece. I was thinking about proposing a solution to the gender gap but I changed that and now I'm more worried about the gap itself and spreading awareness. With that purpose, the proposal (if any) is that people should tell their friends and family about the gap and how they're worried about what will happen if it continues to exist.
Refutation
I definitely don't think refutation is the way to go because I'm not refuting anything. If anything, I'm describing the problem and providing evidence for why we should work towards change. In a refutation I would have to bring up "harmful public effects", but I only want to focus on the gender gap and the way it is holding us back.
 |
| Found Animals Foundation. "Cat Argument 3". 8-29-11 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
I don't think this would work because I'm not really "defend[ing] a specific policy, position, or idea in a controversial debate"; if anything, I'm trying to make the gender gap a controversial debate so that more gets done about it. Maybe in a few years, once it's a bigger deal and there are actually more parties involved, I could write a position argument defending my favorite point of view, but I think for now to write a position piece would be to assume more people are interested than there actually are.
Casual
I believe this is the way to go. I hope to highlight "one set of causes for a particular problem" in my project and I think that the casual argument will allow me to do that without taking too much time and energy to address other things. Especially since there isn't really a widespread active opposition to the movement for equality, I think that a casual argument would allow me to make my point without making a fuss.
Evaluative
I think this could be an effective form of argument for my project because I could definitely "evaluate specific public policies and proposed solutions" in my description of the gender gap and how it is affecting our society. Title IX would be one of those policies/solutions that I would reference, but I think I want to make more of a statement than an evaluative argument would make.
Proposal
I'm not proposing anything in this piece. I was thinking about proposing a solution to the gender gap but I changed that and now I'm more worried about the gap itself and spreading awareness. With that purpose, the proposal (if any) is that people should tell their friends and family about the gap and how they're worried about what will happen if it continues to exist.
Refutation
I definitely don't think refutation is the way to go because I'm not refuting anything. If anything, I'm describing the problem and providing evidence for why we should work towards change. In a refutation I would have to bring up "harmful public effects", but I only want to focus on the gender gap and the way it is holding us back.
Reflecting on My Writing Experiences
Reflection reflection reflection. That's the name of the game. This time I'll be thinking about my own writing experiences.
Reflect on:
1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year composition courses...
I've taken some pretty good English/composition classes in my life so I definitely already understood a lot of the ideas about writing that were emphasized in this course. However, I think this course had a much bigger focus on the technical components of writing as well as rhetorical analysis, neither of which I've really ever focused on in great detail. But other than that, I pretty much had the same assumptions and ideas about writing.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year composition courses...
I think (as I mentioned in #1) that I've learned a lot more about paying attention to the details of writing, which weren't necessarily a big concern for me before. But again, I think that's twofold because I learned about technical details but also about paying attention to genre and my audience and what I want them to get out of my writing. As a reader, I think I'm more conscious of the writer's intentions when I'm reading other people's works. That's really interesting to me because it feels almost like I'm double conscious; I'm reading the work and getting something from it, but I'm also cognizant of what I'm supposed to get from it and I'm actively assessing that as I'm reading it.
3. The ways you brainstormed, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements...
In the blog post preparing for Project 3, when I was thinking of questions to answer in my writing, I really started to understand the process of choosing a topic. Brainstorming 25 question was easy because I just started spouting things off to myself about the gender gap and what I might want to know. But then in the blog post "Narrowing My Focus", it was a tough process trying to boil that 25 question list down to just 3 things but doing so helped me see how laser focused writing really is. I mean out of all of those 25 questions, I picked three and that was enough to keep me researching and writing for hours. The good part about it was that when it came time to craft a thesis statement, I knew which questions I was answering and so it was easy for me to take those questions and come up with a thesis statement about them.
4. The peer-review process, including what you offered and what you received...
I think the peer review process for this class was difficult for me because it wasn't face to face. It's hard to convey my ideas about a piece by writing about it, and similarly, it's a little harder to understand what people are trying to do with their writing when they're not there to read it to me. I think that second point might have been a good thing though because it made it easier for me to identify parts of people's pieces where the language was unclear and where they could have tweaked a couple things to make it easier to understand.
5. Individual or small-group process, including what you offered and what you received...
We didn't have any small-group processes that I can remember, outside of the peer review groups but I already wrote about that. However, I think we all offered a lot (some of us with different timing than others) and we all got a lot of value out of it at the same time.
6. The discussions you had about your paper with people who were not in your class...
I actually talked to a lot of my friends about the gender gap and what it means while researching and writing Project 3, which was really cool because it showed me that my writing doesn't have to stay on the page. If I can write about real things that actually matter, then writing becomes a vehicle that helps me reach new levels of understanding.
7. How you approached the revision process for each essay....
I was forced to approach the revision process for each essay. But once I started, I realized I was actually getting a lot of value out of it. The revision questions that I had to answer for the revision blog posts really made me stop and think about what I was doing in my writing and whether or not it was what I wanted to be doing. Questions like "what was the purpose and audience or your original paper? how did it achieve that purpose or reach that audience?" were really new to me and I think that considering these things after I had finished a draft really helped me identify what changes I needed to make to improve my writing.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres...
I definitely never gave thought to the fact that reading and writing in different genres are completely unique things. It really surprised me how much changes when genre changes: audience, tone, purpose, language and even format. After having gone through this course I think I'm much better equipped to assess what genre I'm working within and then read/write accordingly.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take you first-year composition courses again...
I would try to write my pieces sooner. Instead of waiting until the deadline was approaching to start getting things down on paper, I think it would make more sense and make me more successful to start early and get all of my ideas down into a piece of writing and then from there I could tweak it and alter it until it was really something good.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career...
College writing fits into my life now because I'm in college and college students have to write a lot of things. Later, I think writing will play a pretty big role in my life because I'll have to communicate my ideas to a lot of people and it can't all be face to face. Especially in being a business major, language is really crucial to the things I'll be involved in and effective writing will help me to express my ideas clearly to my associates.
11. What did you learn (from a specific writing assignment, from a specific experience, or from the semester as a whole?
I learned to pay more attention to the details. Much of this knowledge came from the Clarity and Punctuation assignments, where I had to read chapters from Rules For Writers and reflect on the way I could take the technical things I had just read about and apply them to my writing. It really opened my eyes to all of the little nuanced things that can be done to make a really good piece. I had always thought that some people were just naturally awesome writers and others weren't.. and that still might be true, but now I know there's a guide for those of us who aren't as naturally talented.
12. Did the choices you made, or writing experiences you had, reinforce something you already knew about yourself or about writing?
They reinforced the fact that I procrastinate a lot. Which isn't necessarily a great thing at all, but it's true and I've started to find some good ways to work with (although the best way is to just do things earlier). But even more than that, my experiences in this course showed me that writing can be improved, just like anything else, with some time and some focus.
13. If you did not gain as much from a particular project as you had hoped, what are the possible reasons for that and what might you do differently the next time?
I think it would be because I rushed through it and didn't take the time to reflect on the experience or the process that I went through. This happens from time to time and I've come to accept it, but I know that I should really work on allotting sufficient time for myself so that I can really produce some good work.
14. Think about the course objectives listed on your syllabus as you consider your success in the class. What course objectives did you meet? What objectives are you still working on?
The course objectives are as follows.... students will be able to:
I think after completing this course, I definitely am better equipped to analyze texts through close reading and critical thinking while considering their purposes, audiences, and contexts. I can write essays that develop analyses with evidence drawn from texts I've read, although I think I still have a lot of room for improvement in that section. I've definitely learned to research, read, write, and revise writing in a variety of different areas, which will be helpful as I go on to work in courses outside of first-year composition. I don't think I've really mastered the conventions of scholarly research. Scholarly research to me just seems really overly formal and it doesn't always yield pertinent information. For instance, all of the scholarly articles I found about the gender gap were from over 40 years ago, so those could only help me so much when I'm writing about the gender gap in 2015. But finally, I'm definitely able to create multiple, meaningful revisions of writing, and I think that's really what matters. As long as I can take something I've written and find ways to make it better, I think I'll be alright.
 |
| Brocken Inagloy. "Total Internal Reflection". 12-31-07 via Wikipedia. CC A 2.0. |
1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year composition courses...
I've taken some pretty good English/composition classes in my life so I definitely already understood a lot of the ideas about writing that were emphasized in this course. However, I think this course had a much bigger focus on the technical components of writing as well as rhetorical analysis, neither of which I've really ever focused on in great detail. But other than that, I pretty much had the same assumptions and ideas about writing.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year composition courses...
I think (as I mentioned in #1) that I've learned a lot more about paying attention to the details of writing, which weren't necessarily a big concern for me before. But again, I think that's twofold because I learned about technical details but also about paying attention to genre and my audience and what I want them to get out of my writing. As a reader, I think I'm more conscious of the writer's intentions when I'm reading other people's works. That's really interesting to me because it feels almost like I'm double conscious; I'm reading the work and getting something from it, but I'm also cognizant of what I'm supposed to get from it and I'm actively assessing that as I'm reading it.
3. The ways you brainstormed, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements...
In the blog post preparing for Project 3, when I was thinking of questions to answer in my writing, I really started to understand the process of choosing a topic. Brainstorming 25 question was easy because I just started spouting things off to myself about the gender gap and what I might want to know. But then in the blog post "Narrowing My Focus", it was a tough process trying to boil that 25 question list down to just 3 things but doing so helped me see how laser focused writing really is. I mean out of all of those 25 questions, I picked three and that was enough to keep me researching and writing for hours. The good part about it was that when it came time to craft a thesis statement, I knew which questions I was answering and so it was easy for me to take those questions and come up with a thesis statement about them.
4. The peer-review process, including what you offered and what you received...
I think the peer review process for this class was difficult for me because it wasn't face to face. It's hard to convey my ideas about a piece by writing about it, and similarly, it's a little harder to understand what people are trying to do with their writing when they're not there to read it to me. I think that second point might have been a good thing though because it made it easier for me to identify parts of people's pieces where the language was unclear and where they could have tweaked a couple things to make it easier to understand.
5. Individual or small-group process, including what you offered and what you received...
We didn't have any small-group processes that I can remember, outside of the peer review groups but I already wrote about that. However, I think we all offered a lot (some of us with different timing than others) and we all got a lot of value out of it at the same time.
6. The discussions you had about your paper with people who were not in your class...
I actually talked to a lot of my friends about the gender gap and what it means while researching and writing Project 3, which was really cool because it showed me that my writing doesn't have to stay on the page. If I can write about real things that actually matter, then writing becomes a vehicle that helps me reach new levels of understanding.
7. How you approached the revision process for each essay....
I was forced to approach the revision process for each essay. But once I started, I realized I was actually getting a lot of value out of it. The revision questions that I had to answer for the revision blog posts really made me stop and think about what I was doing in my writing and whether or not it was what I wanted to be doing. Questions like "what was the purpose and audience or your original paper? how did it achieve that purpose or reach that audience?" were really new to me and I think that considering these things after I had finished a draft really helped me identify what changes I needed to make to improve my writing.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres...
I definitely never gave thought to the fact that reading and writing in different genres are completely unique things. It really surprised me how much changes when genre changes: audience, tone, purpose, language and even format. After having gone through this course I think I'm much better equipped to assess what genre I'm working within and then read/write accordingly.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take you first-year composition courses again...
I would try to write my pieces sooner. Instead of waiting until the deadline was approaching to start getting things down on paper, I think it would make more sense and make me more successful to start early and get all of my ideas down into a piece of writing and then from there I could tweak it and alter it until it was really something good.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career...
College writing fits into my life now because I'm in college and college students have to write a lot of things. Later, I think writing will play a pretty big role in my life because I'll have to communicate my ideas to a lot of people and it can't all be face to face. Especially in being a business major, language is really crucial to the things I'll be involved in and effective writing will help me to express my ideas clearly to my associates.
11. What did you learn (from a specific writing assignment, from a specific experience, or from the semester as a whole?
I learned to pay more attention to the details. Much of this knowledge came from the Clarity and Punctuation assignments, where I had to read chapters from Rules For Writers and reflect on the way I could take the technical things I had just read about and apply them to my writing. It really opened my eyes to all of the little nuanced things that can be done to make a really good piece. I had always thought that some people were just naturally awesome writers and others weren't.. and that still might be true, but now I know there's a guide for those of us who aren't as naturally talented.
12. Did the choices you made, or writing experiences you had, reinforce something you already knew about yourself or about writing?
They reinforced the fact that I procrastinate a lot. Which isn't necessarily a great thing at all, but it's true and I've started to find some good ways to work with (although the best way is to just do things earlier). But even more than that, my experiences in this course showed me that writing can be improved, just like anything else, with some time and some focus.
13. If you did not gain as much from a particular project as you had hoped, what are the possible reasons for that and what might you do differently the next time?
I think it would be because I rushed through it and didn't take the time to reflect on the experience or the process that I went through. This happens from time to time and I've come to accept it, but I know that I should really work on allotting sufficient time for myself so that I can really produce some good work.
14. Think about the course objectives listed on your syllabus as you consider your success in the class. What course objectives did you meet? What objectives are you still working on?
The course objectives are as follows.... students will be able to:
- Analyze texts through close reading and critical thinking.
- Deploy strategies to analyze texts considering their purposes, audiences, and contexts.
- Write essays that develop analyses with evidence drawn from the texts you read.
- Practice research, reading, writing, and revision strategies that can be applied to work in other courses and in different professions.
- Use the conventions of scholarly research, analysis, and documentation to practice research as a process.
- Create multiple, meaningful revisions of writing and suggest useful revision to other writers.
I think after completing this course, I definitely am better equipped to analyze texts through close reading and critical thinking while considering their purposes, audiences, and contexts. I can write essays that develop analyses with evidence drawn from texts I've read, although I think I still have a lot of room for improvement in that section. I've definitely learned to research, read, write, and revise writing in a variety of different areas, which will be helpful as I go on to work in courses outside of first-year composition. I don't think I've really mastered the conventions of scholarly research. Scholarly research to me just seems really overly formal and it doesn't always yield pertinent information. For instance, all of the scholarly articles I found about the gender gap were from over 40 years ago, so those could only help me so much when I'm writing about the gender gap in 2015. But finally, I'm definitely able to create multiple, meaningful revisions of writing, and I think that's really what matters. As long as I can take something I've written and find ways to make it better, I think I'll be alright.
Revisiting My Writing Process
After going through this whole course, it's time to look back and see how my writing process has changed.
After looking back at what I said about my writing process in the beginning of this course, I think I'd still agree with most of what I described. I'm definitely a procrastinator, but I do see the value in starting early and I've definitely seen how getting an early start can make the workload much more manageable. But I do think I've learned a few things about my writing process over the past few weeks.
I've learned that I don't always know what I want to say right when I sit down to write. Sometimes I even have to write out an entire piece focusing on the wrong thing before I figure out what I should really be writing about. I think this is good; it's a process. But what I need to remember is that if I wait until the last minute, I'm clipping my own wings. But regardless, I really do think that the best way to me to get all of my ideas out is to just come up with something and then start writing because most of my best papers started as one thing and then transformed as I put them into words.
Another thing I learned about my own writing process is that I produce more under stress, but I also produce much better final drafts after I've had time to sit down to reread and revise my work. With that said, I think I want to find a way to put myself under some sort of artificial stress so I can produce something early on in the time I have to work on a project. That way I'll have the rest of the days to relax and tweak things until it's just right.
I think in the next couple years of college, I want to get really good at finishing pieces of writing well before they're due. If I can handle that, then I'll be able to touch them up as needed to make sure that they're all great, but first I have to get good at creating them in a timely fashion. I think the reason that I'm not so great at that right now is because I tend to fill my schedule to the brim with classes and jobs and other commitments and so there's always something more pressing than working on writing (until the very last minute), but if I could find a way to change that (hopefully this semester) then I think all of my writing will go a lot smoother.
I don't actually plan on working in a profession that will require a lot of writing, unless I go into law. So I need to make sure I can communicate quickly, efficiently, and effectively through my writing.
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| Ken Whytock. "21st Century Writing Processes". 6-1-11 via Flickr. CC A-NC 2.0. |
After looking back at what I said about my writing process in the beginning of this course, I think I'd still agree with most of what I described. I'm definitely a procrastinator, but I do see the value in starting early and I've definitely seen how getting an early start can make the workload much more manageable. But I do think I've learned a few things about my writing process over the past few weeks.
I've learned that I don't always know what I want to say right when I sit down to write. Sometimes I even have to write out an entire piece focusing on the wrong thing before I figure out what I should really be writing about. I think this is good; it's a process. But what I need to remember is that if I wait until the last minute, I'm clipping my own wings. But regardless, I really do think that the best way to me to get all of my ideas out is to just come up with something and then start writing because most of my best papers started as one thing and then transformed as I put them into words.
Another thing I learned about my own writing process is that I produce more under stress, but I also produce much better final drafts after I've had time to sit down to reread and revise my work. With that said, I think I want to find a way to put myself under some sort of artificial stress so I can produce something early on in the time I have to work on a project. That way I'll have the rest of the days to relax and tweak things until it's just right.
I think in the next couple years of college, I want to get really good at finishing pieces of writing well before they're due. If I can handle that, then I'll be able to touch them up as needed to make sure that they're all great, but first I have to get good at creating them in a timely fashion. I think the reason that I'm not so great at that right now is because I tend to fill my schedule to the brim with classes and jobs and other commitments and so there's always something more pressing than working on writing (until the very last minute), but if I could find a way to change that (hopefully this semester) then I think all of my writing will go a lot smoother.
I don't actually plan on working in a profession that will require a lot of writing, unless I go into law. So I need to make sure I can communicate quickly, efficiently, and effectively through my writing.
Reflection on Project #3 Draft
Reflecting is good for the soul.. :) Here is my draft of Project #3
What was the purpose and audience of your original paper? How successfully did it achieve that purpose and reach that audience?
The audience is the group of people that agree that the gender gap is a problem but haven't necessarily started taking action in an attempt to deal with it. The purpose of the piece is to outline for my audience the steps they can take to effectively deal with the gender gap and start helping women achieve more in hour society without being held back based on gender biases. I think it was fairly successful in conveying that purpose and reaching that audience; however, I feel like I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that they already know the gender gap is a big deal.
Why are you revising this paper?
I'm revising this paper because it needs to be better. I also need to figure out what I want to say, because if I can't stop talking about why the gender gap is a big deal for the majority of my paper, I might as well make that my purpose and speak to a different audience.
Whom are you revising for? Get solid answer to the Questions of Audience Awareness
I'm revising for my readers, I think that if they're going to get the most out of my paper I need to be able to tailor it to them specifically. Right now I'm not doing a great job with that, so I'll either need to change the paper or change the audience. I'm not sure which one of those I want to do yet, but I'm feeling like it'll end up being the audience because I can't help but talk about why the gender gap is a big deal, I think I'm just really passionate about informing people about it.
How will the following aspects of your paper change?
Length
If I am discussing why the gap is a big deal, my paper might get longer because there have been numerous studies done about the gap but at the same time, I might try to shorten it because if I'm attempting to convince my audience that the gender gap is a real issue, I don't want to make them take too much time reading my piece because they might get bored and stop (or never start).
Format
Right now it's in a paper format and I feel like it'll stay that way, although shorter and more concise might be the way to go.
Appearance
I want to make sure it doesn't look too daunting. I think I'll try to accomplish that by breaking it up into many smaller paragraphs to that each one is bite size and easy to digest.
Use of Evidence
I'll definitely be using a lot more evidence when trying to convince them that the gender gap is a real problem because there have been so many documented effects and trends. However, it has to be a tasteful amount because I definitely don't want my readers to get bored or even overwhelmed by all the numbers that I'm throwing at them.
Introduction and Conclusion
The introduction should be friendly and interesting, and the conclusion should be serious and bring a sense of urgency. I want the intro to make my readers feel comfortable with wherever they stand on the issue as the enter the piece, but by the end hopefully they'll be on my side and the conclusion will bring home the idea that it's serious and that something needs to be done as soon as possible.
Structure of your Argument
I haven't figured out the structure of the new argument or how it will change. I think I'll start by introducing a little bit of the history of the gender gap, and then I'll start talking more about how things have changed over the years for different groups and how much better society is because of it. Then once I've created that need for equality and demonstrated, with facts, how women are still being oppressed, I'll highlight a number of things that would improve very quickly if we'd all agree to make this a priority.
Depth of your Argument
I don't want to go too in depth because this isn't supposed to be a research paper but a persuasive one. It's almost like a QRG in that my readers don't need to finish the piece and have a complete understanding of everything about the gender gap, but they do need to recognize that it's a problem and know a little bit about why it matters.
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| Paul Reynolds. "Kitten and partial reflection in mirror". 5-13-06 via Wikipedia. CC A 2.0. |
The audience is the group of people that agree that the gender gap is a problem but haven't necessarily started taking action in an attempt to deal with it. The purpose of the piece is to outline for my audience the steps they can take to effectively deal with the gender gap and start helping women achieve more in hour society without being held back based on gender biases. I think it was fairly successful in conveying that purpose and reaching that audience; however, I feel like I'm having a hard time accepting the fact that they already know the gender gap is a big deal.
Why are you revising this paper?
I'm revising this paper because it needs to be better. I also need to figure out what I want to say, because if I can't stop talking about why the gender gap is a big deal for the majority of my paper, I might as well make that my purpose and speak to a different audience.
Whom are you revising for? Get solid answer to the Questions of Audience Awareness
I'm revising for my readers, I think that if they're going to get the most out of my paper I need to be able to tailor it to them specifically. Right now I'm not doing a great job with that, so I'll either need to change the paper or change the audience. I'm not sure which one of those I want to do yet, but I'm feeling like it'll end up being the audience because I can't help but talk about why the gender gap is a big deal, I think I'm just really passionate about informing people about it.
How will the following aspects of your paper change?
Length
If I am discussing why the gap is a big deal, my paper might get longer because there have been numerous studies done about the gap but at the same time, I might try to shorten it because if I'm attempting to convince my audience that the gender gap is a real issue, I don't want to make them take too much time reading my piece because they might get bored and stop (or never start).
Format
Right now it's in a paper format and I feel like it'll stay that way, although shorter and more concise might be the way to go.
Appearance
I want to make sure it doesn't look too daunting. I think I'll try to accomplish that by breaking it up into many smaller paragraphs to that each one is bite size and easy to digest.
Use of Evidence
I'll definitely be using a lot more evidence when trying to convince them that the gender gap is a real problem because there have been so many documented effects and trends. However, it has to be a tasteful amount because I definitely don't want my readers to get bored or even overwhelmed by all the numbers that I'm throwing at them.
Introduction and Conclusion
The introduction should be friendly and interesting, and the conclusion should be serious and bring a sense of urgency. I want the intro to make my readers feel comfortable with wherever they stand on the issue as the enter the piece, but by the end hopefully they'll be on my side and the conclusion will bring home the idea that it's serious and that something needs to be done as soon as possible.
Structure of your Argument
I haven't figured out the structure of the new argument or how it will change. I think I'll start by introducing a little bit of the history of the gender gap, and then I'll start talking more about how things have changed over the years for different groups and how much better society is because of it. Then once I've created that need for equality and demonstrated, with facts, how women are still being oppressed, I'll highlight a number of things that would improve very quickly if we'd all agree to make this a priority.
Depth of your Argument
I don't want to go too in depth because this isn't supposed to be a research paper but a persuasive one. It's almost like a QRG in that my readers don't need to finish the piece and have a complete understanding of everything about the gender gap, but they do need to recognize that it's a problem and know a little bit about why it matters.
Reflection on Project #3
My last project reflection of the course! So I think some good thoughts are coming.
Here is MY PROJECT #3, the piece that I'll be reflecting on.
What was specifically revised from one draft to another?
Definitely the language I was using changed from one draft to another. But I think the biggest shifts occurred as I went through the paper and realized that I actually wanted to argue something else. Originally, the intent was to provide methods for increasing gender equality in the workplace and to show how the different methods would improve everybody's quality of life. But then I found myself starting to shift away from that and emphasizing more how the gender gap is a real issue that must be addressed. Although I had originally intended on writing to an audience that already believes the gender gap is a problem that we as a society need to confront, it seemed almost natural in my writing to place more emphasis on convincing people of that fact since I know there are millions of powerful people in the United States alone that don't believe the gender gap is an actual problem.
Point to global changes: how did you reconsider your thesis and organization?
I'm still debating changing my format from a paper to a powerpoint. I think the pros of that change would be that I can more easily split up information into chunks and then present the facts concisely. However, part of me feels like a paper is the better way to go (but I can't necessarily pinpoint why). From a personal development perspective, I want to improve my essay writing but I've been working on that for the past ten years. I think I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of making a powerpoint as a big project like this but at the same time, I think I would be able to grow more trying to work in a different format than I'm used to. The thesis has still stayed the same (after shifting from ways to help to why the gender gap is a problem) but this organizational dilemma is definitely what I'm thinking about most right now.
What led you to these changes? A reconsideration of audience? A shift in purpose?
I don't think a reconsideration of audience was necessarily the reason for these changes, but a shift in purpose might be. After deciding that I wanted to demonstrate why the gender gap matters instead of how we can fix it, I think that changed the way I would want to present the information. If I'm trying to convince my readers that the gender gap is a real issue, then it's pretty safe to assume that they don't care too much about it already. That's fine, but it means that they're not likely to pick up a five page paper about the gender gap and read through the whole thing. However, I think they would be pretty likely to click through a presentation that describes the gender gap and illustrates quickly and effectively why it needs to be dealt with.
How do these changes affect your credibility as an author?
I don't actually think they affect my credibility at all. Authors revise their work, don't they?
How will these changes better address the audience or venue?
I don't think the changes are necessarily audience specific. However I do think that they will make the piece much either to follow and hopefully increase clarity.
Point to local changes: how did you reconsider sentence structure and style?
I went through each sentence and read it to myself to make sure it sounded right. I made a number of changes but I think I also left a good amount of it as is. I know I should have paid more attention to the specific names (from the clarity section) for the things that I was changing, but honestly the changes I was making felt more natural and I didn't worry about their technical terms.
How will these changes assist your audience in understanding your purpose?
When sentences are easier to read, they're easier to understand. So changing the language around will help my readers get a feel for what I'm actually saying and that should make the whole piece more impactful.
Did you have to reconsider the conventions in the particular genre in which you are writing?
No. Not really. I don't think there are any conventions (since my audience is really just a collection of regular people) that I was supposed to consider so I'm not sure this question is entirely relevant.
Finally, how does the process of reflection help you reconsider your identify as a writer?
It helps me to actually think about what I'm doing in my writing and the ways I can improve. Sometimes I just write and turn things in and without the reflection time, I don't think there's really any growth occurring. But even the reflection in this blog post has helped me consider the ways that I revise my work and how that is making me a better writer. Like I've never considered how my revisions actually affect my audience and the way they're understanding my message, so that was super cool.
Here is MY PROJECT #3, the piece that I'll be reflecting on.
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| Ekamanganese. "Pond Reflection". 2-11-08 via Deviant Art. CC A-NC SA 3.0. |
Definitely the language I was using changed from one draft to another. But I think the biggest shifts occurred as I went through the paper and realized that I actually wanted to argue something else. Originally, the intent was to provide methods for increasing gender equality in the workplace and to show how the different methods would improve everybody's quality of life. But then I found myself starting to shift away from that and emphasizing more how the gender gap is a real issue that must be addressed. Although I had originally intended on writing to an audience that already believes the gender gap is a problem that we as a society need to confront, it seemed almost natural in my writing to place more emphasis on convincing people of that fact since I know there are millions of powerful people in the United States alone that don't believe the gender gap is an actual problem.
Point to global changes: how did you reconsider your thesis and organization?
I'm still debating changing my format from a paper to a powerpoint. I think the pros of that change would be that I can more easily split up information into chunks and then present the facts concisely. However, part of me feels like a paper is the better way to go (but I can't necessarily pinpoint why). From a personal development perspective, I want to improve my essay writing but I've been working on that for the past ten years. I think I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of making a powerpoint as a big project like this but at the same time, I think I would be able to grow more trying to work in a different format than I'm used to. The thesis has still stayed the same (after shifting from ways to help to why the gender gap is a problem) but this organizational dilemma is definitely what I'm thinking about most right now.
What led you to these changes? A reconsideration of audience? A shift in purpose?
I don't think a reconsideration of audience was necessarily the reason for these changes, but a shift in purpose might be. After deciding that I wanted to demonstrate why the gender gap matters instead of how we can fix it, I think that changed the way I would want to present the information. If I'm trying to convince my readers that the gender gap is a real issue, then it's pretty safe to assume that they don't care too much about it already. That's fine, but it means that they're not likely to pick up a five page paper about the gender gap and read through the whole thing. However, I think they would be pretty likely to click through a presentation that describes the gender gap and illustrates quickly and effectively why it needs to be dealt with.
How do these changes affect your credibility as an author?
I don't actually think they affect my credibility at all. Authors revise their work, don't they?
How will these changes better address the audience or venue?
I don't think the changes are necessarily audience specific. However I do think that they will make the piece much either to follow and hopefully increase clarity.
Point to local changes: how did you reconsider sentence structure and style?
I went through each sentence and read it to myself to make sure it sounded right. I made a number of changes but I think I also left a good amount of it as is. I know I should have paid more attention to the specific names (from the clarity section) for the things that I was changing, but honestly the changes I was making felt more natural and I didn't worry about their technical terms.
How will these changes assist your audience in understanding your purpose?
When sentences are easier to read, they're easier to understand. So changing the language around will help my readers get a feel for what I'm actually saying and that should make the whole piece more impactful.
Did you have to reconsider the conventions in the particular genre in which you are writing?
No. Not really. I don't think there are any conventions (since my audience is really just a collection of regular people) that I was supposed to consider so I'm not sure this question is entirely relevant.
Finally, how does the process of reflection help you reconsider your identify as a writer?
It helps me to actually think about what I'm doing in my writing and the ways I can improve. Sometimes I just write and turn things in and without the reflection time, I don't think there's really any growth occurring. But even the reflection in this blog post has helped me consider the ways that I revise my work and how that is making me a better writer. Like I've never considered how my revisions actually affect my audience and the way they're understanding my message, so that was super cool.
Punctuation, Part 2
In this post, I'll focus on some other aspects of punctuation that I didn't get to cover in the last post.
This time through, I chose to pay attention to semicolons, quotation marks, and end punctuation.
The Semicolon
I think this could be one of the most under appreciated forms of punctuation. Before reading this section, I had a pretty vague understanding of what a semicolon is and how it is used. But now I recognize that it might actually be the coolest thing ever. One use (the only one I was familiar with) is to connect two closely related independent clauses. However, I also learned that you can use a transitional expression to glue two ideas together with a semicolon. Even cooler, you can use a semicolon to make a list if the items within the list have their own punctation! This really blew my mind because there have been a few occasions when I was listing things and didn't how to incorporate all the commas I thought I needed in any reasonable fashion, the answer is the semicolon. I'm going to start using these so much more now.
*There actually aren't any semicolons in my draft yet but I'm working on adding them.
Quotation Marks
Quotes are important. They help to demonstrate that you're not the only one arguing what you're arguing, which ultimately makes you a lot more credible. But the weird thing is nobody really teaches you how to use quotation marks, you're just sort of supposed to throw them around the quote and leave it at that. One thing this section really cleared up for me is where to put other punctation (periods, commas, semicolons) when you use it in combination with quotes. Although it doesn't seem like a huge deal, it's the little things that make the difference and this chapter really cleared up a lot of things that were problems for me.
*Malcolm X was once quoted saying that “if you stick a knife into my back and pull it out 3 inches, that is not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasn’t even begun to pull out the knife.”
^this is a rather long quote, I debated it formatting it differently from the rest of the text but it didn't seem necessary and RFW didn't say anything about that.
End Punctuation
The period, the question mark, the exclamation point. Three pieces of punctuation that are so simple people often overlook them and nobody ever learns anything more than that you put them at the end of clauses. I decided to read this section because I was curious about what else I might have been missing. I learned that question marks in a series don't actually have to follow complete sentences. Did you know that? Isn't it cool? How cool? The coolest ever? I know. And then I learned that you should be careful not to overuse exclamation points. I've heard that from many many teachers in my time (I've even had a few just tell me flat out to never use them ever), and I suppose that makes sense because they're kind of weird..
*Wouldn’t it make sense then to have women advertise to women as a means of advertising more effectively?
^rhetorical question, obviously the answer is yes.
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| Julie Sweeney. "punctuation_capitalization". 4-11-13 via Flickr. CC A-NC 2.0. |
This time through, I chose to pay attention to semicolons, quotation marks, and end punctuation.
The Semicolon
I think this could be one of the most under appreciated forms of punctuation. Before reading this section, I had a pretty vague understanding of what a semicolon is and how it is used. But now I recognize that it might actually be the coolest thing ever. One use (the only one I was familiar with) is to connect two closely related independent clauses. However, I also learned that you can use a transitional expression to glue two ideas together with a semicolon. Even cooler, you can use a semicolon to make a list if the items within the list have their own punctation! This really blew my mind because there have been a few occasions when I was listing things and didn't how to incorporate all the commas I thought I needed in any reasonable fashion, the answer is the semicolon. I'm going to start using these so much more now.
*There actually aren't any semicolons in my draft yet but I'm working on adding them.
Quotation Marks
Quotes are important. They help to demonstrate that you're not the only one arguing what you're arguing, which ultimately makes you a lot more credible. But the weird thing is nobody really teaches you how to use quotation marks, you're just sort of supposed to throw them around the quote and leave it at that. One thing this section really cleared up for me is where to put other punctation (periods, commas, semicolons) when you use it in combination with quotes. Although it doesn't seem like a huge deal, it's the little things that make the difference and this chapter really cleared up a lot of things that were problems for me.
*Malcolm X was once quoted saying that “if you stick a knife into my back and pull it out 3 inches, that is not progress. Even if you pull it all the way out, that is not progress. Progress is healing the wound, and America hasn’t even begun to pull out the knife.”
^this is a rather long quote, I debated it formatting it differently from the rest of the text but it didn't seem necessary and RFW didn't say anything about that.
End Punctuation
The period, the question mark, the exclamation point. Three pieces of punctuation that are so simple people often overlook them and nobody ever learns anything more than that you put them at the end of clauses. I decided to read this section because I was curious about what else I might have been missing. I learned that question marks in a series don't actually have to follow complete sentences. Did you know that? Isn't it cool? How cool? The coolest ever? I know. And then I learned that you should be careful not to overuse exclamation points. I've heard that from many many teachers in my time (I've even had a few just tell me flat out to never use them ever), and I suppose that makes sense because they're kind of weird..
*Wouldn’t it make sense then to have women advertise to women as a means of advertising more effectively?
^rhetorical question, obviously the answer is yes.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Draft of Public Argument
This is my Draft of Project #3...
I'm debating changing the format from an essay to a powerpoint. I know there are pros and cons to that but I think it would be easier for me to illustrate my point through graphs and statistics if they were in slides instead of trying to weave them into text. I also think using a powerpoint would give me the opportunity to be more concise, and then hit more points without worrying about connecting them smoothly with my transitions. More to come..
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| Enokson. "DRAFT rubber stamp". 5-2-13 via Flickr. CC A-NC 2.0. |
I'm debating changing the format from an essay to a powerpoint. I know there are pros and cons to that but I think it would be easier for me to illustrate my point through graphs and statistics if they were in slides instead of trying to weave them into text. I also think using a powerpoint would give me the opportunity to be more concise, and then hit more points without worrying about connecting them smoothly with my transitions. More to come..
Sunday, August 9, 2015
Punctuation, Part 1
Punctuation is key, as countless examples have shown us.
The first section I read is the Comma section, because they're definitely the form of punctuation that I use most and I really don't even know the official rules. After reading the section, I recognize that I've been taught most of this before but in my writing I definitely don't live by all of the rules. I do, however, try to use commas in order to separate clauses that may have a confusing meaning if the comma isn't there. One new thing I learned was about the use of commas on unrestrictive clauses. I definitely knew that people do this and it makes sense, but I never realized there was a name for it and enough information to include it in a book about writing.
Next, I read the Unnecessary Commas section because it made sense to learn about what commas I don't need to include after learning about the ones that I do. This was really cool and I found out that I definitely overuse commas. Instead of listing all the instances I found where I shouldn't actually be using commas, I'll just say that my comma usage is going to be one of the new focuses of my writing and hopefully theres a notable difference.
The Colon. This section was liberating in a way because I feel like I never use colons, and it's because I didn't fully understand where they're acceptable and/or necessary. Fortunately, now I have a whole list of situations when a colon is necessary and so I can start using them more without fear of being mistaken. The most surprising thing was how easily they can fit into normal sentences; I never thought it would be that simple.
Finally I read the section that discusses the Apostrophe. Similar to commas, I think apostrophes start getting thrown around a lot to express plurality but I wasn't sure if that was really allowed. I found out that it's allowed in some instances and not in others. The surprising thing was that there are actually rules about when to use an apostrophe to indicate that there are many of something, and now I have a reference whenever I end up in one of those situations.
REFLECTION
After reviewing Brandon and Mark's projects, I noticed how they both used punctuation in different ways to construct their argument. Because their projects were in a powerpoint and Prezi, I feel like the punctuation was less relevant because of the formatting. If formatting can be considered a form of punctuation then I'd definitely point out that they both formatted their presentations in a way that made the material easy to understand. I tried to think about how I could take that same style of easy-to-read formatting and apply it to my own writing, but because I'm doing it in the form of a paper I feel like the lucidity of the piece is based on the diction and punctuation more than the formatting.
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| Daren McClure. "Punctuation Saves Lives!". 9-30-11 via Flickr. CC A 2.0. |
The first section I read is the Comma section, because they're definitely the form of punctuation that I use most and I really don't even know the official rules. After reading the section, I recognize that I've been taught most of this before but in my writing I definitely don't live by all of the rules. I do, however, try to use commas in order to separate clauses that may have a confusing meaning if the comma isn't there. One new thing I learned was about the use of commas on unrestrictive clauses. I definitely knew that people do this and it makes sense, but I never realized there was a name for it and enough information to include it in a book about writing.
Next, I read the Unnecessary Commas section because it made sense to learn about what commas I don't need to include after learning about the ones that I do. This was really cool and I found out that I definitely overuse commas. Instead of listing all the instances I found where I shouldn't actually be using commas, I'll just say that my comma usage is going to be one of the new focuses of my writing and hopefully theres a notable difference.
The Colon. This section was liberating in a way because I feel like I never use colons, and it's because I didn't fully understand where they're acceptable and/or necessary. Fortunately, now I have a whole list of situations when a colon is necessary and so I can start using them more without fear of being mistaken. The most surprising thing was how easily they can fit into normal sentences; I never thought it would be that simple.
Finally I read the section that discusses the Apostrophe. Similar to commas, I think apostrophes start getting thrown around a lot to express plurality but I wasn't sure if that was really allowed. I found out that it's allowed in some instances and not in others. The surprising thing was that there are actually rules about when to use an apostrophe to indicate that there are many of something, and now I have a reference whenever I end up in one of those situations.
REFLECTION
After reviewing Brandon and Mark's projects, I noticed how they both used punctuation in different ways to construct their argument. Because their projects were in a powerpoint and Prezi, I feel like the punctuation was less relevant because of the formatting. If formatting can be considered a form of punctuation then I'd definitely point out that they both formatted their presentations in a way that made the material easy to understand. I tried to think about how I could take that same style of easy-to-read formatting and apply it to my own writing, but because I'm doing it in the form of a paper I feel like the lucidity of the piece is based on the diction and punctuation more than the formatting.
Outlining My Public Argument
It's time to organize my ideas!
INTRO
I think for my Intro I'll try to connect this issue to my readers' world view, and then try to get them to consider the consequences (or opportunity cost) of leaving things the way they are. Maybe I'll conclude by narrowing the problem but at the same time, I'm not sure I want to do that too early because I feel like it would take emphasis away from the complete/big picture problem.
SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS
Title IX. Women are equals. Statistics/degrees/studies/numbers. Common sense.
Women aren't as good. Men run most companies. Emotional/maternity.
In 1972 a federal law called Title IX was introduced to provide a comprehensive solution to gender based discrimination in the United States.
A number of professional institutions have even conducted studies on gender based differences in managerial competence and capability.
It just makes sense.
Some individuals argue that men run the vast majority of successful companies and the predominantly male system has proven to be effective in the past.
One common misconception is that women should work primarily in the domestic sphere and that is why they get paid less, but in actuality that reasoning explains about 10% of the pay gap.
CONCLUDING
It's up to us to do something about the gender gap. The longer we tolerate it, the longer we're disempowering and disenfranchising our women. Although that may not seem like a big deal because the men are still running the companies, it's taking opportunity away from half of our community and that is just wrong. By ensuring equal pay for men and women, we will create the perfect environment for merit based incentive pay and as a result everyone will start performing better in order to make the cut.
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| *arabic*. "Thinking Man". 11-24-07 via Wikipedia. CC A-SA 4.0. |
I think for my Intro I'll try to connect this issue to my readers' world view, and then try to get them to consider the consequences (or opportunity cost) of leaving things the way they are. Maybe I'll conclude by narrowing the problem but at the same time, I'm not sure I want to do that too early because I feel like it would take emphasis away from the complete/big picture problem.
SUPPORTING PARAGRAPHS
Title IX. Women are equals. Statistics/degrees/studies/numbers. Common sense.
Women aren't as good. Men run most companies. Emotional/maternity.
In 1972 a federal law called Title IX was introduced to provide a comprehensive solution to gender based discrimination in the United States.
A number of professional institutions have even conducted studies on gender based differences in managerial competence and capability.
It just makes sense.
Some individuals argue that men run the vast majority of successful companies and the predominantly male system has proven to be effective in the past.
One common misconception is that women should work primarily in the domestic sphere and that is why they get paid less, but in actuality that reasoning explains about 10% of the pay gap.
CONCLUDING
It's up to us to do something about the gender gap. The longer we tolerate it, the longer we're disempowering and disenfranchising our women. Although that may not seem like a big deal because the men are still running the companies, it's taking opportunity away from half of our community and that is just wrong. By ensuring equal pay for men and women, we will create the perfect environment for merit based incentive pay and as a result everyone will start performing better in order to make the cut.
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Paraphrasing A Source
Paraphrasing is easily one of the most valuable skills you can have.
Original Source
"What accounts for the difference in earnings between men and women? According to the literature, observable factors that affect pay—such as education, job experience, hours of work, and so on—explain no more than 50 percent of the wage gap. The most recent studies, as reported in a review by economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn (2000), found that the fraction explained is now even lower, about 33 percent. The reason is that the decrease in the gender gap in earnings was largely due to an increase in the productive attributes of women relative to men. The remainder of the gap—termed the residual—is the part that cannot be explained by observable factors. This residual could result from workers’ choices or, alternatively, from economic discrimination. Surprisingly, the differing occupations of men and women explain only 10–33 percent of the difference in male and female earnings. The rest is due to differences within occupations, and part of that is due to the observable factors. In just about any year chosen, the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings decreases with age and rises with education. Most telling is that the ratio is higher for single than for married individuals, particularly for those without children. Family responsibilities have been an important factor in slowing women’s occupational advancement over the life cycle."
My Paraphrase
Why is there a difference in pay between men and women? Published texts say that education, job experience, and time spent working among other observable details are less than half of the cause. Recently the gap has gotten smaller because women have become more skilled, and the remaining part of the gap is the part we can't explain by observation. Even the occupation that attract different genders explain less than a third of the gap. It's also notable that the gap gets smaller when women are more educated and worry less about their family.
| Nic McPhee. "Editing A Paper". 1-26-08 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
"What accounts for the difference in earnings between men and women? According to the literature, observable factors that affect pay—such as education, job experience, hours of work, and so on—explain no more than 50 percent of the wage gap. The most recent studies, as reported in a review by economists Francine Blau and Lawrence Kahn (2000), found that the fraction explained is now even lower, about 33 percent. The reason is that the decrease in the gender gap in earnings was largely due to an increase in the productive attributes of women relative to men. The remainder of the gap—termed the residual—is the part that cannot be explained by observable factors. This residual could result from workers’ choices or, alternatively, from economic discrimination. Surprisingly, the differing occupations of men and women explain only 10–33 percent of the difference in male and female earnings. The rest is due to differences within occupations, and part of that is due to the observable factors. In just about any year chosen, the ratio of women’s to men’s earnings decreases with age and rises with education. Most telling is that the ratio is higher for single than for married individuals, particularly for those without children. Family responsibilities have been an important factor in slowing women’s occupational advancement over the life cycle."
My Paraphrase
Why is there a difference in pay between men and women? Published texts say that education, job experience, and time spent working among other observable details are less than half of the cause. Recently the gap has gotten smaller because women have become more skilled, and the remaining part of the gap is the part we can't explain by observation. Even the occupation that attract different genders explain less than a third of the gap. It's also notable that the gap gets smaller when women are more educated and worry less about their family.
My Rhetorical Action Plan
A plan is only as good as those who see it through..
Audience...
I think my audience will know something about the topic, or will at least have heard of it before. However, I don't think many of them will have a complete understanding of its significance or depth. I'm confident that many of the members of my audience will want to make the situation better because they were raised to believe in doing the right thing. But again, I think some of my audience (specifically the women) will be more inclined to make this change happen since they are the ones directly affected by the gender gap. I think the most persuasive research will demonstrate that the gender gap is indeed a real problem and then illustrate its magnitude through statistics. The hope is that these numbers will be impressive enough that my audience recognizes the fact that change is absolutely necessary. Graphs will definitely be useful in showing how the gender gap has developed and explaining how progress has been made but we haven't ever really reached equality. The overall purpose here is that my audience is reading to get a better understanding of the gender gap, it's progression over time, and what can be done to stop it.
Genre...
I think my piece will be a persuasive essay mixed with research. My goal is to start out with the research part to show what the gender gap is and why is matters, and then the persuasive part will take over when I try and express why and how we should work to change it. I think it will be fairly easy to hit all three rhetorical appeals because this issue affects us in almost every way. Ethos is already there because ethically, gender equality is the right thing and there are arguments everywhere that I can pull from. Pathos is also fairly easy to hit because I can tell a story about someone that my readers will empathize with, maybe a mother figure working hard that is missing out on tens of thousands of dollars a year because of the gender gap. Finally, my appeal to logos will be that closing the gender gap will help everybody make more money and live a happier life. I think graphs fit nicely within the research genre so that's what I'll probably go for.
Responses/Actions...
After reading my piece, what I really want is for my audience to start having conversations about the gender gap with the people they know. It sounds simple, but awareness is the first step when it comes to solving complicated problems like these because people won't try to solve a problem that they don't know about. Additionally, if they hear that their friends care about this as well then that will make everyone more likely to get on board and start taking the necessary steps to solving the problem. Unfortunately there isn't some magic button that someone decides to press that will immediately raise women's pay. But what we can do, as a society, is show that the gender gap isn't something we support, and then patronize more and more businesses that give women a fair shake. In a perfect world, that's what would happen after people read my piece.
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| Alejandro Escamilla. "Left handed person writing while wearing a wrist watch". 5-19-13 via Wikipedia. Public Domain. |
I think my audience will know something about the topic, or will at least have heard of it before. However, I don't think many of them will have a complete understanding of its significance or depth. I'm confident that many of the members of my audience will want to make the situation better because they were raised to believe in doing the right thing. But again, I think some of my audience (specifically the women) will be more inclined to make this change happen since they are the ones directly affected by the gender gap. I think the most persuasive research will demonstrate that the gender gap is indeed a real problem and then illustrate its magnitude through statistics. The hope is that these numbers will be impressive enough that my audience recognizes the fact that change is absolutely necessary. Graphs will definitely be useful in showing how the gender gap has developed and explaining how progress has been made but we haven't ever really reached equality. The overall purpose here is that my audience is reading to get a better understanding of the gender gap, it's progression over time, and what can be done to stop it.
Genre...
I think my piece will be a persuasive essay mixed with research. My goal is to start out with the research part to show what the gender gap is and why is matters, and then the persuasive part will take over when I try and express why and how we should work to change it. I think it will be fairly easy to hit all three rhetorical appeals because this issue affects us in almost every way. Ethos is already there because ethically, gender equality is the right thing and there are arguments everywhere that I can pull from. Pathos is also fairly easy to hit because I can tell a story about someone that my readers will empathize with, maybe a mother figure working hard that is missing out on tens of thousands of dollars a year because of the gender gap. Finally, my appeal to logos will be that closing the gender gap will help everybody make more money and live a happier life. I think graphs fit nicely within the research genre so that's what I'll probably go for.
Responses/Actions...
After reading my piece, what I really want is for my audience to start having conversations about the gender gap with the people they know. It sounds simple, but awareness is the first step when it comes to solving complicated problems like these because people won't try to solve a problem that they don't know about. Additionally, if they hear that their friends care about this as well then that will make everyone more likely to get on board and start taking the necessary steps to solving the problem. Unfortunately there isn't some magic button that someone decides to press that will immediately raise women's pay. But what we can do, as a society, is show that the gender gap isn't something we support, and then patronize more and more businesses that give women a fair shake. In a perfect world, that's what would happen after people read my piece.
Extended Annotated Bibliography
More sources more sources more sources!!!
Source #1: Library of Economics and Liberty
URL: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GenderGap.html
Citation:
Goldin, Claudia. "Gender Gap." : The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: I think this article is really helpful because it clearly outlines what the gender gap is and why it is relevant, in economic terms without a heavy social bias. Additionally, the article was written by the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard, which means she is very credible and one of the best in the world at understanding and interpreting this issue. One thing I would use from this article include her graph demonstrating the ratio of women's pay to men's pay increasing steadily but never even reaching 1:1.
Source #2: AAUW: The Simple Truth
URL: http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Citation:
Hill, Catherine, Ph.D. "The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (Spring 2015)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. American Association of University Women, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This article is a great resource because it provides references to a number of other important texts. I think one of the biggest focuses of this article is intersectionality, which is huge to recognize because a lot of times we only look at an issue from one angle and we forget that sometimes people have more than one identity that puts them at an advantage or a disadvantage.
Source #3: Girls Education
URL:http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/02/girls-education-will-only-make-the-grade-when-intuition-gives-way-to-information
Citation:
Julia Bunting. "Girls' Education Will Only Make the Grade When Intuition Gives Way to Information." The Guardian. N.p., 7 July 2015. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This focuses on education, which is an important topic to touch on because education is a huge indicator of success/ability and if girls aren't receiving the same education as men then they simply won't be prepared to be competitive later in life.
Source #4: Pay Gap is because of Gender, Not Jobs
URL:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/upshot/the-pay-gap-is-because-of-gender-not-jobs.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0
Citation:
Miller, Claire Cain. "Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: Some people that don't believe that the gender gap is real argue that women gravitate towards lower paying jobs and that is why they make less money, however this article handles that objection very well with rhetoric and evidence.
Source #5: Gender Equality: Why Women Are Still Held Back
URL: http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/dec/06/gender-equality-women-stereotypes-stop-progress
Citation:
Player, Abigail. "Gender Equality: Why Women Are Still Held Back." The Guardian. The Guardian, 6 Dec. 2013. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This article is really helpful because it actually provides reasons for why we should be fighting the gender gap instead of simply analyzing how it got started and how it's progressed over the years.
Source #6: Fact Sheet: The Women's Leadership Gap
URL: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/03/07/85457/fact-sheet-the-womens-leadership-gap/
Citation:
Warner, Judith. "Fact Sheet: The Women's Leadership Gap." Center For American Progress. Center For American Progress, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 6 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This seems to be a great resource because it provides a list of statistics that I can reference. I'll definitely want to include this in my piece because they provide a pretty good representation of what the issues are and why they're important.
 |
| Alexandre Duret-Lutz. "Bibliography". 12-11-06 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
URL: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GenderGap.html
Citation:
Goldin, Claudia. "Gender Gap." : The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: I think this article is really helpful because it clearly outlines what the gender gap is and why it is relevant, in economic terms without a heavy social bias. Additionally, the article was written by the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard, which means she is very credible and one of the best in the world at understanding and interpreting this issue. One thing I would use from this article include her graph demonstrating the ratio of women's pay to men's pay increasing steadily but never even reaching 1:1.
Source #2: AAUW: The Simple Truth
URL: http://www.aauw.org/research/the-simple-truth-about-the-gender-pay-gap/
Citation:
Hill, Catherine, Ph.D. "The Simple Truth about the Gender Pay Gap (Spring 2015)." AAUW: Empowering Women Since 1881. American Association of University Women, n.d. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This article is a great resource because it provides references to a number of other important texts. I think one of the biggest focuses of this article is intersectionality, which is huge to recognize because a lot of times we only look at an issue from one angle and we forget that sometimes people have more than one identity that puts them at an advantage or a disadvantage.
Source #3: Girls Education
URL:http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/02/girls-education-will-only-make-the-grade-when-intuition-gives-way-to-information
Citation:
Julia Bunting. "Girls' Education Will Only Make the Grade When Intuition Gives Way to Information." The Guardian. N.p., 7 July 2015. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This focuses on education, which is an important topic to touch on because education is a huge indicator of success/ability and if girls aren't receiving the same education as men then they simply won't be prepared to be competitive later in life.
Source #4: Pay Gap is because of Gender, Not Jobs
URL:http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/upshot/the-pay-gap-is-because-of-gender-not-jobs.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=0
Citation:
Miller, Claire Cain. "Pay Gap Is Because of Gender, Not Jobs." The New York Times. The New York Times, 23 Apr. 2014. Web. 08 Aug. 2015.
Notes: Some people that don't believe that the gender gap is real argue that women gravitate towards lower paying jobs and that is why they make less money, however this article handles that objection very well with rhetoric and evidence.
Source #5: Gender Equality: Why Women Are Still Held Back
URL: http://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2013/dec/06/gender-equality-women-stereotypes-stop-progress
Citation:
Player, Abigail. "Gender Equality: Why Women Are Still Held Back." The Guardian. The Guardian, 6 Dec. 2013. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This article is really helpful because it actually provides reasons for why we should be fighting the gender gap instead of simply analyzing how it got started and how it's progressed over the years.
Source #6: Fact Sheet: The Women's Leadership Gap
URL: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/report/2014/03/07/85457/fact-sheet-the-womens-leadership-gap/
Citation:
Warner, Judith. "Fact Sheet: The Women's Leadership Gap." Center For American Progress. Center For American Progress, 7 Mar. 2014. Web. 6 Aug. 2015.
Notes: This seems to be a great resource because it provides a list of statistics that I can reference. I'll definitely want to include this in my piece because they provide a pretty good representation of what the issues are and why they're important.
Audience and Genre
So who am I even writing this to...?
It seems pretty obvious that most of the people interested in the gender gap and gender bias as a whole would be women. However I've found that there are a large number of men that also take interest in the gender gap and want to learn more about it. I believe that both parties are interested in this information because they recognize that the gender gap is a problem and a form of oppression, and so they want to take action and find ways that they can do something to make the situation better for everyone involved. Once they have the answers to the questions I'm asking (and more), they'll be better equipped to understand the gender gap and analyze its roots, which means they'll be more effective in finding solutions.
I think the best place to public a text like this would be on a blog or other publication that targets working women. Although it would be good to target people who identify as feminists, that would be preaching to the choir and I'm not sure it would create the same additional momentum because those individuals are already working to oppose the gender gap. With that said, I think the best group to target would be working women because they are directly affected and many of them may not be aware of the root of the issue or the resources available to them. One blog I found where this information would be useful is Young, Polished, and Professional, and it clearly targets young people and has a good emphasis on gender equality. The Working Women blog has similar characteristics and would also be good place to put my article and have it viewed by working women.
Besides working women, I think the next best group to target would be the general male population. Women are about half of the population and to ignore non-women when discussing women's issues is a surefire way to make no progress. Any major public space would be a good place to reach the general male population and with that information, I think they would be able to recognize why the gender gap directly affects them and them hopefully move them to make changes. To reach the broader audience, I think The Job Blog would be a good place to reach out to a lot of people at one time, although it might be a little harder to make my article relevant since they don't seem to focus on social justice a lot (if at all). The Just Four Guys blog also might be a good place to reach an overwhelmingly male audience, although I think that I'd have to work hard to make my article extra pertinent to them in illustrating how the gender gap is putting them at a disadvantage as well.
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| Tara Hunt. "Audience". 9-9-13 via Flickr. CC A-SA 2.0. |
I think the best place to public a text like this would be on a blog or other publication that targets working women. Although it would be good to target people who identify as feminists, that would be preaching to the choir and I'm not sure it would create the same additional momentum because those individuals are already working to oppose the gender gap. With that said, I think the best group to target would be working women because they are directly affected and many of them may not be aware of the root of the issue or the resources available to them. One blog I found where this information would be useful is Young, Polished, and Professional, and it clearly targets young people and has a good emphasis on gender equality. The Working Women blog has similar characteristics and would also be good place to put my article and have it viewed by working women.
Besides working women, I think the next best group to target would be the general male population. Women are about half of the population and to ignore non-women when discussing women's issues is a surefire way to make no progress. Any major public space would be a good place to reach the general male population and with that information, I think they would be able to recognize why the gender gap directly affects them and them hopefully move them to make changes. To reach the broader audience, I think The Job Blog would be a good place to reach out to a lot of people at one time, although it might be a little harder to make my article relevant since they don't seem to focus on social justice a lot (if at all). The Just Four Guys blog also might be a good place to reach an overwhelmingly male audience, although I think that I'd have to work hard to make my article extra pertinent to them in illustrating how the gender gap is putting them at a disadvantage as well.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Analyzing Context
"For me context is the key - from that comes the understanding of everything." - Kenneth Noland
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| Bryan Derksen. "Profiles/vase". 3-2-07 via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. |
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What are the key perspectives or schools of thought?
There are different levels of understanding and advocating against the gender gap. Many people only understand it in terms of 'women have it worse than men', and although this is accurate, this really downplays the magnitude of the gap and the way it hurts those affected. One of the most popular statistics to throw around is that on average women make $.77 for every dollar a man earns in the same position. This is a double edged statistic because it represents cisgender heterosexual white women, and although it may raise awareness about the gap, it doesn't accurately depict the struggles of people of color and people who identity under the LGBTQ umbrella. Although their are varying levels of understanding about the gap, there are also perspectives or groups of people that simply disregard it and don't think it's even a real thing. Finally, there are also a number of people that support the gap and still believe that women are actually less qualified than men to do these jobs.
What are the major points of contention or major disagreements among these perspectives?
The major points of contention between these perspectives are twofold. The first is between the different advocates for women, and it brings into question how much they understand the gap and the different ways it intersects with other identities. The major point of contention between all three larger groups (opposers of the gap, neutral, and supporters) is whether or not that gender gap is really something that we should be spending time and energy trying to resolve.
What are the possible points of agreement, or the possible common ground between these perspectives?
The possible points of agreement between the perspectives are that the gap is definitely a real thing, and that everybody wants the best outcome possible. If we could all step back and realize that we all want what's best for our society and that really we just have different ideas about what that is, then the groups could hopefully work together to find a solution.
What are the ideological differences, if any, between these perspectives?
Some of the people that believe women are actually less qualified believe that because that's how they were raised. Generations ago, that was the way the world worked and so now the older men that have put themselves in positions of power are still holding on to that antiquated world view. Because this is more of a generational divide in ideology rather than two different ideologies being present at the same time, it's much harder to try and change their mind about the issue.
What specific actions do these perspectives or texts ask their audiences to take?
The advocates for gender equality ask their audiences to take a number of steps to promote equality and try to reduce the gap. A few of these steps include supporting women at rallies, giving them equal opportunities for advancement in the workplace, raising pay rates for women, and I've even read some articles that asked men to take pay cuts so that everybody would be making the same amount. The neutral party doesn't ask their audience to do anything because they seen no need. Then the more conservative, gap supporting party asks their audience to stay strong and fight the feminists.
What perspectives are useful in supporting your own arguments about the issue? Why did you choose these?
The gender equality perspective is very useful in supporting my own arguments about the gap because that's essentially the side that I'm on. I chose these arguments because it's what I believe in, and I don't see the point in writing if I'm not writing about something that I care about. With that said, I also chose to focus on intersectionality because it's something that many people are unaware of but it has a huge impact on the way you view social justice issues and the impact things have on individuals.
What perspectives do you think will be the greatest threat to your argument? Why so?
There are different levels of understanding and advocating against the gender gap. Many people only understand it in terms of 'women have it worse than men', and although this is accurate, this really downplays the magnitude of the gap and the way it hurts those affected. One of the most popular statistics to throw around is that on average women make $.77 for every dollar a man earns in the same position. This is a double edged statistic because it represents cisgender heterosexual white women, and although it may raise awareness about the gap, it doesn't accurately depict the struggles of people of color and people who identity under the LGBTQ umbrella. Although their are varying levels of understanding about the gap, there are also perspectives or groups of people that simply disregard it and don't think it's even a real thing. Finally, there are also a number of people that support the gap and still believe that women are actually less qualified than men to do these jobs.
What are the major points of contention or major disagreements among these perspectives?
The major points of contention between these perspectives are twofold. The first is between the different advocates for women, and it brings into question how much they understand the gap and the different ways it intersects with other identities. The major point of contention between all three larger groups (opposers of the gap, neutral, and supporters) is whether or not that gender gap is really something that we should be spending time and energy trying to resolve.
What are the possible points of agreement, or the possible common ground between these perspectives?
The possible points of agreement between the perspectives are that the gap is definitely a real thing, and that everybody wants the best outcome possible. If we could all step back and realize that we all want what's best for our society and that really we just have different ideas about what that is, then the groups could hopefully work together to find a solution.
What are the ideological differences, if any, between these perspectives?
Some of the people that believe women are actually less qualified believe that because that's how they were raised. Generations ago, that was the way the world worked and so now the older men that have put themselves in positions of power are still holding on to that antiquated world view. Because this is more of a generational divide in ideology rather than two different ideologies being present at the same time, it's much harder to try and change their mind about the issue.
What specific actions do these perspectives or texts ask their audiences to take?
The advocates for gender equality ask their audiences to take a number of steps to promote equality and try to reduce the gap. A few of these steps include supporting women at rallies, giving them equal opportunities for advancement in the workplace, raising pay rates for women, and I've even read some articles that asked men to take pay cuts so that everybody would be making the same amount. The neutral party doesn't ask their audience to do anything because they seen no need. Then the more conservative, gap supporting party asks their audience to stay strong and fight the feminists.
What perspectives are useful in supporting your own arguments about the issue? Why did you choose these?
The gender equality perspective is very useful in supporting my own arguments about the gap because that's essentially the side that I'm on. I chose these arguments because it's what I believe in, and I don't see the point in writing if I'm not writing about something that I care about. With that said, I also chose to focus on intersectionality because it's something that many people are unaware of but it has a huge impact on the way you view social justice issues and the impact things have on individuals.
What perspectives do you think will be the greatest threat to your argument? Why so?
I think the neutral perspective will be the biggest threat because they're effectively the swing vote. I wan't them to get off of the fence and decide which side of history they're on, but that also carries the risk of them 'voting' against me and supporting the gap. Although this would be unfortunate, I'd still rather everybody be educated and have more people against me than have to deal with ignorant people that don't have anything to say about something this important.
Analyzing Purpose
What is anything without purpose?
Freewrite about the goal... What do you want your readers to ____ after reading it?
I think after reading my piece, I want my readers to know a little bit more about the gender gap and why it's important to do something about it. I also really want them to understand the concept of intersectionality and how different identities in combination can lead people to feel even more oppressed than we realized. They should also feel some type of way about what they just read. I don't care if they read it and end up supporting the gender gap or if they get angry or sad or what, but I want my piece to evoke some type of emotional response from them because that's how change starts to come about. I want my readers to want to help the situation after reading this piece, but more than anything I just want them to understand the situation as a whole.
Now compare likely and unlikely reactions to the piece..
Likely:
Unlikely:
Consider a plausible reaction to the piece and figure out what actions might come from it..
If the reader feels angry and wants change, hopefully they'll go out and make changes. I think the actions that could stem from this reaction to the piece could vary from the reader going out and becoming an active ally, to telling their friends about how outraged they are and getting them on board, to joining a group that fights the gap, to even just reading more about it themselves and working on their own personal knowledge of the situation.
Who are the audiences you'd want to address? Who is most likely to advance your cause?
I think I would want to address males with female family members or significant others that work in the tech, engineering, and startup industries. I think this is the group that I should impact most because the women are (or should be) familiar with the gap already because they live it, and men with no connection to the women affected by this gap my simply not care. However, if the men care about the women then they'll care about what the women are going through, like how they have to deal with this gender gap in all of their professional endeavors. With this new understanding of what women go through, hopefully more men will stand up and be active allies and supporters.
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| Chris Lofqvist. "My life has no purpose". 3-29-13 via Flickr. CC-A-NC-ND. |
I think after reading my piece, I want my readers to know a little bit more about the gender gap and why it's important to do something about it. I also really want them to understand the concept of intersectionality and how different identities in combination can lead people to feel even more oppressed than we realized. They should also feel some type of way about what they just read. I don't care if they read it and end up supporting the gender gap or if they get angry or sad or what, but I want my piece to evoke some type of emotional response from them because that's how change starts to come about. I want my readers to want to help the situation after reading this piece, but more than anything I just want them to understand the situation as a whole.
Now compare likely and unlikely reactions to the piece..
Likely:
- reader feels angry and wants change
- reader feels sad, sympathetic, because they understand the severity of the situation
- reader feels confused about why this is even a big deal
- reader feels well informed
- reader was already familiar with the gap but learned about intersectionality
Unlikely:
- reader decides to support the gender gap
- reader is confused about what the gender gap is
- reader doesn't feel like they've learned anything new
Consider a plausible reaction to the piece and figure out what actions might come from it..
If the reader feels angry and wants change, hopefully they'll go out and make changes. I think the actions that could stem from this reaction to the piece could vary from the reader going out and becoming an active ally, to telling their friends about how outraged they are and getting them on board, to joining a group that fights the gap, to even just reading more about it themselves and working on their own personal knowledge of the situation.
Who are the audiences you'd want to address? Who is most likely to advance your cause?
I think I would want to address males with female family members or significant others that work in the tech, engineering, and startup industries. I think this is the group that I should impact most because the women are (or should be) familiar with the gap already because they live it, and men with no connection to the women affected by this gap my simply not care. However, if the men care about the women then they'll care about what the women are going through, like how they have to deal with this gender gap in all of their professional endeavors. With this new understanding of what women go through, hopefully more men will stand up and be active allies and supporters.
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