5/11/11 Response

"As these examples suggest, however, rhetorical reading is not a magical technique for producing sophisticated arguments. Even when students read their sources rhetorically, they tend merely to report the results of this analysis in their essays. Such writing appears to be a college-level version of the knowledge-telling strategy."

This selection from Kantz article stood out to me because it highlights something that many of us in the class may be experiencing without realizing. I think what the author is getting at is just reading sources rhetorically doesn't make our writing and those use of those sources any better if we still just merely report their facts and opinions. Instead we have to be able to interpret those sources and incorporate them into our writing in a way that makes sense and even possibly fits the genre we are looking to work within. By doing this our sources will make more sense and flow better within the writing, making it easier on the reader and making a stronger case for whatever argument you are trying to get across. It is much more effective to better incorporate your sources within your context than to simply report them, it can definitely make your writing much easier to understand for the reader.

5/9 Response

"But in my experience, I find that teachers do a disservice when we fail to alert students to the kind of things that some readers might be annoyed at—however illogical these things sometimes seem. People are often unreasonably picky, and writers have to deal with that—which they do by trying to anticipate and preemptively fix whatever might annoy a broad range of readers. Plus, the more effectively you anticipate that pickiness, the more likely it is that readers will interpret your quota- tions and paraphrases in the way you want them to—critically or acceptingly, depending on your writing context."

This quote can be found at the bottom of the second page of Stedman's article, about halfway through the last paragraph. I really like the second half of the first sentence when Stedman includes the bit, "however illogical these things sometimes seem." I think often times there are things that may annoy some readers but not all, and they might be for reasons that the author doesn't find logical. Regardless of whether or not the author thinks its logical, he doesn't want to confuse or annoy his readers, because it will be much tougher for them to be able to engage themselves in the reading if this is the case. I also thought it was important that the author mentioned anticipating this pickiness before publishing a piece of work, because your almost never going to get a second chance from a reader if the first article they read by you confused them. Most times you get one chance and that's it, so if you confuse them the first time you can't simply go back and re-write an article a different way in hopes of regaining their attention, which is why it's so important to be aware of the conventions you may be using and how they can confuse or annoy certain readers. And or course, if your writing is too confusing, the reader may not be able to follow your writing at all, and not really able to make sense of what your trying to get across, which would be almost a total failure.

My Genre Analysis (Sorry for posting so late!)

Anyone who thinks they can perfectly define a genre is most likely wrong, because genres to me seems like an ever evolving structure or set of conventions that is constantly being influenced by the environment it pertains to. The music industry has seen as much change to its overall profit model as any industry in the past decade. From the day Sean Fanning invented Napster in his dorm room record companies have been in a constant scramble to attempt to preserve their position as the ones controlling the distribution of popular music, and therefore the ones who benefit the most financially. As the attempt to control free trading of music has failed to maintain sales revenues, record companies and musicians have seen that revenue from live performances has become more crucial than ever. This has likely lead to changes and more importance being placed on the use of proper booking agreements and performance contracts, along with other aspects of the music industry. 

A music contract can be very powerful and often times dictate in which ways a musical artist’s career can go. For my essay I would like to focus directly on the use of performance contracts, or booking agreements, which are often formed between an artist and venue, or for larger productions an artist and a live music producer, such as Live Nation. Maria La France and Brett Trout do a great job of discussing the important elements of a booking agreement. At the beginning of her article, titled “Performance Contracts” Maria states “It never hurts to review and improve even a contract you've been using for years.” I like that she wants the reader to be aware of potential changes and how they affect contracts, but think that there should be more importance placed on this. You could go as far as saying that with the evolving importance being placed on revenues from live performances that you should constantly be evaluating your booking agreements and looking for ways to improve them.

In general, booking agreements contain mostly formal types of writing, with hardly any emotion, and are straight to the point. The content is the most meaningful aspect, and the less amount of time and space it takes to cover the content the better. When it comes to establishing authority, neither the artist nor the venue want to feel as if they are being undermined and don’t have an equal say, which is why it seems to me that there is an attempt in booking agreements to avoid placing authority on either party. Instead it is a mutual agreement in which both parties participate and will benefit from. Since neither party wants to feel undermined or left out it is essential that the details of the agreement are stated as clearly as possible. This is likely why Maria suggests that as the first part of the contract you establish a definition of the performance, in which you “Provide a clear yet concise description of the nature of the performance, including minimum length, set breaks, and anything else unique to the performance (1-3 sentences is fine).” She then suggests you follow this with an establishment of the date and time of the performance. These first two aspects are incredibly crucial, because many disagreements stem from a lack of establishment of these details, and the agreement is sure to hold a lot stronger if both parties understand and agree to these details. In the sample booking agreement I have been going over, which was provided online through a company named the ISP Group, they list date and time of a performance as the first elements of the contract, following the listing of the names of the parties involved. I think it is no coincidence that the multiple examples I have sifted through have chosen to place emphasis on location, date, and time of the performance. It is likely common in most contracts regarding employment for an event that the most crucial information comes first and foremost so as to establish the authority of the contract itself.

Earlier I discussed that since a booking agreement is a mutual contract; neither party is given authority over the situation. The authority is in turn given to the contract, that both parties must follow the contract once signed, and if not may in turn face consequences. I don’t believe that contracts either require a great amount or employ Ethos in their establishment of power. Most Ethos that is used is through the fact that contracts, which can vary greatly depending on the situation, share some common language and style. The use of the style repeatedly establishes authority in the contract. Examples of this include the use of the word “this”, in example “THIS CONTRACT, entered into on this __th day of ________, 199_, is for the personal services of the Musician(s) for the performance described below.” By speaking about itself in this manner, the contract is establishing its power and importance and taking it away from either party.

It’s tough to find any concrete usage of Pathos within a record contract, since it tough for an inanimate object to project emotion. It seems as if booking agreements may purposely avoid the use of emotion, in order to better come across as a professional document. The use of logos is not very prevalent either. Most times convincing a certain party of something is not the priority of a booking agreement. One instance in which I detect the use of logos, could be in an additional terms section of a contract, in which a band may prefer a certain pre-show requirement such as a type of food, which they may then try and convince the venue of its importance in helping put on a sufficient performance. Alternatively, a venue may attempt to persuade a band to enter into agreement with them by providing details in a contract on what amenities they usually provide for the musicians, and how this will benefit them going forward. Overall a booking agreement attempts to maintain its formality and authority, which forces the partaking parties to take the agreement serious, and understand that upon signing the contract they are obligated to follow its stipulations.

It is interesting to look at the way a booking agreement forms a relationship between an artist and the venue or party they are going into agreement with. Bawarshi stated, “Our interactions with others and with our environments, therefore, are always already mediated not only by physical contexts but also by rhetorical contexts which, as I mentioned earlier, are ideologically and discursively embodied and reproduced by genres.”(p.72) There are two parts to this quote I would like to address. The first is that our relations with others are mediated by our physical contexts. Physical contexts can certainly play a role in mediating a relationship when it comes to signing a booking agreement. If a certain venue is much more prominent than the band entering into agreement with them, then they would have more leverage and bargaining power, allowing them to use their physical presence to influence the contract and the artist. An artist may be intimidated by a certain party and think it has a lesser role in the negation stages than it is actually capable of, and may allow the physical environment to dictate the relationship between the two parties.

In addressing the second aspect of this quote, that our interactions are mediated by rhetorical contexts, which are embodied and reproduced by genres. The genre of a music contract, or more specifically a booking agreement, tries to lend itself to open and equal interaction between the two parties involved. This is done through the straight forward and mostly emotionless nature of the writing in a booking agreement. This is of course in contrast to the possibilities I raised of the way physical contexts can influence the interaction and relationship. These two conflicting aspects, which play a role in influencing the genre of music contracts, can be attributed to overall change in atmosphere that has been taking place in the music industry over the last decade or so.

Music venues, and more so big time record labels and music producers, have always tried to be in the position of power when it comes to bargaining. They have always attempted to prove how artists could not survive without them, and this still comes across in the physical nature of the relationship which I spoke about earlier. The language of a booking agreement, however, has lent itself to the notion that the two parties are in fact equal, and can mutually benefit from each other, and that neither has power over the other. This is of course following trend with the overall developments that have taken place in the last decade in which artists want to take power away from the major record labels and music companies. One could say that as the music industry has been facing dramatic changes to its overall business model, so too has the genre of music contracts, and specifically booking agreements.

These changes in rhetoric and genre have been leaning towards taking power away from the major record labels, and evening the playing field for both artists and the parties they go into agreement with. There are still gaps or flaws in the system that need to be addressed, and hopefully future changes will reflect these needs as the change in the booking agreement has reflected the needs and desires of musicians.

4/27/11 response

One section of a paragraph from Bawarshi's article really stood out to me. It came at the bottom of page 71 and states "We are constantly in the process of reproducing out contexts as we communicate within them, speaking and writing about our realities and ourselves to the extent that discourse and reality cannot be separated" I really thought the last part about discourse and reality not being separated was very important. Once you enter a certain discourse it becomes a part of who you are and may begin to have impacts on such things as your social life. Although you may not constantly be writing in this discourse you are still a part of it even when your "off the job". I also think todays World is such a fast paced one that the statement regarding our contexts constantly being reproduced needs to be understood in order to keep up with the changes that are constantly taking place. If you cant keep up with the constant changes that may be taking place within your discourse then you will inevitably fall behind and not be as successful as you could possibly be.

4/20/11 Response

The paragraph I have chosen to discuss from John's article comes from the bottom of page 1500 and is actually a quoted paragraph from a different author. I think the author chose to insert this paragraph because it does a really good job of explaining how certain elements that may seem very similar can actually have very different meanings depending on the discourse. It starts out with the statement, "As students begin to engage with the discipline, as they move from exposure to experience, they begin to understand that the different communities on campus are quite distinct, that apparently common terms have different meanings, apparently shared tools have different uses, apparently related objects have different interpretations." I think this is something that truly takes experience to realize, and is not something you can fully understand prior to actually engaging in the discourse. I really like how at the end of this paragraph it mentions how working in the community or discourse doesn't mean just learning a mountain of facts. I think it's on a much deeper level than that, which is what the authors are alluding to. I think none of us as students will truly understand writing in our discourse until we are fully engaged in it. Sure we can gain knowledge and insight regarding it, but its that first hand experience that truly allows you to grasp the concepts. I know I personally have been around professionals in the music recording industry and was slightly confused by their use of certain terms or jargon, something that came as common sense to them. These terms and jargon are something that I will eventually have to incorporate into my writing, in order to fit in with the discourse.

After reading Harris' article, many paragraphs stood out to me, but the one I would like to discuss comes from the top of page 587. Harris states, "Instead, they (students) simply repeat in their writing "what everybody knows," or what their professor has told them in her lectures. The result, of course, is that they are penalized for "having nothing really to say."" This statement was a result of Harris quoting Bartholomae who discussed students needing to be self-conscious of a discourse or code and therefore being able to work with or against it. I really like how he mentions students getting away from just repeating what their professors have taught, because if every student did this then everyones writing would come across as very similar. I think you need to be able to be aware of writing in a community or discourse to better suit your writing for or against that discourse.

I dont think either of them reject discourse communities, rather want readers to understand that by being aware of them you are able to better tailor your writing towards that community and therefore hopefully be more successful within it. What I've realized through reading these articles is that you may not always choose what communities you are a part of, but rather sometimes you naturally fall into them, and need to be aware of this. I think you have had us reading these articles because being self aware of the community or discourse that we enter will go along way in helping us being better writers within that discourse. 

4/18/11 Response

I'd like to start off todays blog with a reflection on the second full paragraph of page 71 in the Johnson, Clark, and Burton reading. At this point the author is talking about how consultants who aren't incredibly familiar with engineering are better able to teach writing in the profession of engineering to engineering students. The main point the author is focusing on is how consultants can better facilitate the learning of the students by asking a lot of questions rather than being purely instructional. As the author states, "When Anne asks several questions about how the students got their results, her asking a question instead of providing the answer, as she does with the English student, positions her as an equal and not a superior." Since the main objective is to better facilitate the learning of writing within their profession it is definitely best for the English teacher to not pretend as if she is learned in that profession (which she is likely not), but to rather create discussion that works as a driving force for the students to be able to learn more about writing within their intended field.

When it comes to Wardle's article I think one thing I took away regarding ecologies is that depending on the field you enter your going to be introduced to new styles or types of writing that may be unique to that field, and it will be difficult to understand these until you are actually in that field, but you have to expect it and be able to adapt. In regards to the difference between the undergrad article vs. Windsor's academic article I mainly noticed the over use of words and phrasing. I thought the undergraduate article was a bit easier to read and it definitely felt like the authors were writing more from a students perspective than that of a professor.

4/13/11 Response

I have chosen today to discuss a paragraph out of Gee's article, which is located at the bottom of page 6. This paragraph discusses the use of combinations in communicating, which is of course called Discourses (with a capital D). As the author says, "Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes." I think this statement is pretty powerful because it really emphasizes how important Discourses are, probably much more than many of us previously thought. By using Discourses properly in almost any form of writing or communicating you can get your topic across much better, which can go a long way in sustaining relationships and making first impressions.

In regards to Cooper's "Ecology of Writing" I have chosen to respond to a passage that appears in the middle of pg. 367, it states, "Just as such research calls for new models of the interpretation of
literature and of language use, so too do the intuitively developed methods we are now be-ginning to use in writing classes and in literacy programs call for a new model of writing. Describing such a model explicitly will lend coherence to these intui-tions by bringing out the assumptions on which they are based, illuminating as-pects of writing that we have perceived but dimly heretofore through the gaps in the cognitive process model. " I feel this passage really speaks to a writer that is around our level of writing, and is very strong in saying that you need to be able to identify assumptions you have developed about writing to better understand why they work and what you can do to make them better.

I think we were suppose to read these articles together because by combining all of their ideas you are able to get a butter understanding of the importance of writing for the context of the situation. By being able to identify the conventions of writing as they apply to certain situations, you can better understand what will help make a given piece of writing best appropriate for that situation.