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.

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.