Response 4/11/11

Today Im choosing to discuss a paragraph that begins at the bottom of page 154 of the reading and ends at the top of page 155. At this point in the article the authors are discussing resumes as a specific genre and how they are introducing these concepts to students in their English 102 class.  I especially liked how they said they had students collect resumes for themselves and try and figure out what may be wrong with them, or what could be done better, so that way the critique comes from their own knowledge. Through this approach the students are able to formulate their own thoughts as to why resumes are not just simple documents you can plug information into. As the author said, “because students themselves gathered the materials of the exercise and conducted the work, the insights likewise belonged to them.” The author goes on to describe how they then had students formulate their own unique ideas as to how to create a resume, in turn defining their own genre of resume. By defining your own genre of resume you allow yourself to not see it as simply a plug-in document, (as the author feels most young people do) but rather a document that can be manipulated through creativity to serve many purposes and be tailored towards specific objectives (ie. jobs or internships). 

By seeing a resume as its own genre you can allow yourself to use many different conventions to create a resume that can be unique for you. Many different opportunities may create different priorities for a resume. Rather than just plugging information into a specific spot, you can manipulate the location of said information to create emphasis on a certain aspect of your resume. If for example the call for application which you are responding to emphasizes a need for someone with experience, and you have a great deal of experience in the given area, you may want to rearrange your resume to put your experience at the top, so that it is the first thing that catches the readers eye. Many people may not think to do this because the template they downloaded had experience as the third slot of information, so that was where they kept it. By seeing a resume as a unique genre which has many different elements available for manipulation you can create one that is more suited for you and the profession in which you are seeking employment

Response 4/6/11

“An often-overlooked element of design is the visual treatment of text itself. In this definition of text, text does not include your word choice or the structure of your argument. Instead, it refers to the look of the words on the page. Are all the fonts the same? Are key ideas written in a text larger than other text? Are some words in bold? All of these choices influence the way your document looks and is perceived by your readers. Depending on the type of paper your instructor has assigned and the preparation rules or style guide required, subtle varia- tions in text might be your only design option.”   - From pg. 334 of Klein and Shackelford

            I liked this particular paragraph because it represents what Klein and Shackelford put a lot of their emphasis on. Unlike Williams, I felt Klein and Shackelford focused more on the smaller details of design within writing, such as font size and lead size, whereas Williams focused more on the design of a document as a whole. I felt Klein and Shackelford’s article was more technical based and they seemed to come from a more academic point of view rather than strictly a design point of view.  Klein and Shackelford also seem to emphasize structure a bit more than Williams.  Both articles do share similar points of emphasis as well, such as Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity. Overall they both cover very similar topics within their articles, but Klein and Shackelford seem to emphasize more strict guidelines, which may or may not be applicable (in my opinion) depending on the type of writing your doing. Williams clearly puts a stronger emphasis on creativity, which I think can help a writer express their thoughts more freely, rather than being tied down to stricter guidelines.  I definitely agree that we should think about design in all our texts, as both articles emphasized this.  Regardless of how each article differed, the main points they were trying to get across involved the design of your writing, and how you can use different elements of design to make your writing better. 

            I think the rhetorical effect of MLA style is that it makes your writing look more professional.  Whether or not what your writing is valid or of good enough quality to be a finished product and serve the purpose for which you are writing it, MLA at least makes it appear like it is a professional piece of writing. This could be very helpful in business situations or when creating a piece of writing which you want the reader to take seriously and allow them to believe that you as a writer put serious thought and time into the piece.   

Response 4/4/11

The passage from the reading that I would like to discuss comes from the bottom of page 80 in Robin Williams, “The Non-Designer’s Handbook.” This passage comes from the review section of chapter 5, which is a summary of contrast.  He begins the paragraph by simply saying, “don’t be a whimp.” I think this is a very strong message to begin a paragraph with, and goes along with his overall strong message that you can’t be afraid to use contrast, and the stronger the contrast the better.  The third sentence states, “avoid contrasting brown text with black headlines.” I think this is a good example of not using strong enough contrast. As he states many times in the reading, if your going to contrast, make it a strong contrast, otherwise its almost not worth doing. Contrasting brown with black is very weak and would appear barely noticeable on paper. Rather than brown you could contrast black with any bright colors, such as red, which was also an example Williams stated in the reading.

            This principle doesn’t just apply to color, he goes on to state, “Avoid using two or more typefaces that are similar.”  If your going to use two different type faces, then you should use two that are drastically different. Doing this allows the reader to easily differentiate between the two sections and draws more interest from one to the other.  This leads into his final sentence, which states, “If the items are not exactly the same, make them different!” This is a pretty good summary of his idea of contrast as a whole. Making things different really distinguishes between two sections of a reading, which is an indication that the two sections or headings contain varying or different topics, before the reader actually begins to read the selection. 

            Next I would like to respond to the discussion question. I think we are studying design in a class about writing in the professions because if you want to look professional, your writing must have good design. It’s the same as saying if you want to look professional, you must dress the part. No one is going to take someone serious in the professional world if they are underdressed or don’t appear well kept, this is the same with writing.  If you submit a memo or piece of writing to a boss that doesn’t appear professional then it’s going to appear that either you didn’t care or your not proficient enough to be doing your job.  The more professional the design of the writing, the more serious your boss will take your writing, even before he’s actually engaged himself into the content. 

            My intended profession of record production will most likely include a lot of idea proposals to my boss, whether it be for a prospective band, marketing idea, or record idea.  If I want my boss to seriously consider any of my ideas, and know that I put time and effort into my thoughts, then my writing must have good design.  How is he suppose to take my writing seriously if it doesn’t appear that I took it seriously? This is incredibly crucial for nearly anyone preparing to enter the workforce.  One time at my former job I was asked by my boss to submit any ideas I had which could improve our valet program. I rushed myself through the proposal and didn’t take much time to account for the design of the document and in turn none of my ideas were taken into consideration. This wasn’t because the ideas were bad, but because the reading never grabbed the attention of my boss as much as other documents, and over the course of a busy work day, some times a manager may have to disregard information that doesn’t immediately grab his attention. 

Response 3/30/11

            The part of Bunn’s article that I would like to discuss comes from the bottom of page 73.  I found his whole last paragraph to be very interesting, as it basically sums up everything that was included in his introduction of his article.  He was introducing his discussion on how to read like a writer, and how you can utilize this tactic in future writing. He followed a quote by Wendy Bishop when writing the paragraph I’m discussing (which was a strategy he discussed in his intro.) At the beginning Bunn mentioned recording certain ideas and tactics that writers use so you can attempt to reuse them in your own writing. What I like most about this paragraph is that he takes it a step further to discussing what about those strategies lead readers to a certain reaction or to feel a certain emotion.  Rather than focusing on reusing ideas from past things you have read, its better to understand what about those ideas made them effective, so you better understand how to use them, or even create your own tactics within your own writing. Also I feel this is a great section because Bunn doesn’t just leave the idea at reusing other writers’ strategies but rather its best to understand those strategies first, otherwise your own writing may not flow as well. 

            After reading these texts I definitely think that reading is an important part of writing. I look at it from this perspective, as a musician I am constantly listening to others musicians works. Those songs often evoke certain emotions within me, and make me feel a certain way. Over the years I’ve begun to analyze some of my favorite artists songs and how they created those songs, and through this tried to apply some of their own strategies to my own songs. I think its no coincidence that I have become a much better songwriter (at least in my opinion). I think this same exact strategy can be extremely helpful, especially since these are both forms of art that clearly require creativity.

            I think other things I can do to work on my own reading is one thing that Bunn mentioned in his introduction when he discussed his job in a opera theatre. “It’s not easy trying to read in the dim light of a theatre—flashlight or no flashlight—and it’s even tougher with shrieks and shouts and gunshots coming from the stage. I had to focus intently on each and every word, often rereading a single sentence several times. Sometimes I got distracted and had to re-read entire paragraphs.” Probably about half the time I read I find that I’ve gone at least a paragraph, or maybe even a page or two, and can’t recall much of what I read. For whatever reason the focus of my attention was someplace else and not on what was in front of me. Bunn mentioned how he use to find himself re-reading sentences or even paragraphs at a time in order to fully grasp what he was reading. This is a tactic I would definitely like to employ in my own reading, especially when it’s something that isn’t of particular interest to me. There’s a big difference for me when I’m reading something out of choice or because it’s required. Most often required reading is not something that I would personally choose to read, so I need to spend more time focusing on particular sentences or points that I may normally overlook. 

            Another tactic that I think could help my reading would be to summarize pages or sections once I’ve finished them.  This may not even require actually writing out a summary, but rather summarizing what I’ve just read in my mind.  This will hopefully cement the information or main points in my head a little more so than just reading. Also by taking a break to do this I may retain information that I may otherwise forget because I’m not taking in a huge amount of information in at once.