Winsor

Winsor conducted a study hoping to answer the following questions. 1) how and when do novice employees learn to write effectively? 2) Do they learn to write via model or mentoring? 3) Do they learn in their technical writing courses what they need to know to write effectively on the job? 4) Are there aspects of technical writing that can only be learned at work? Her study focuses manly on the last question " Are there aspects of technical writing that can only be learned at work?" After collecting written statements from 190 seniors who worked every 3 months at college instead of going to school it showed that 53% used a model as their learning method, 38% followed their writing from advice/editing from supervisors, 24% said it was advising/editing from co-workers, 14% say high school training, 7% say classes at work and 5% said work evaluation. Overall students came to a conclusion that communication and writing can not all be learned from a textbook. School is the reins to a horse, we ourselves must learn to control it. During this study a question rose up from the research which was " If Students used models to help than how did they use them and what did they learn from them?" The answer came down to that models were basically just used as temporary crutches to compensate for lack of experience when entering the job and this is why models are useful to students. It was shown that it is possible too to see that models can function like Kuhnian exemplars, which is a shred example of someone's work used to train a student to function like an engineer in an organization. Most of the students had the input of a model in their typical learning pattern which began with a model and seek advice from a co-worker, than submit a draft to the supervisor and use the supervisors feedback to revise. Supervisors provide feedback on all areas of writing but are most valued by the students who ask for advice on their political matters.

writing, technology, and teens

This article talked about formal writing and electronic writing and the impact it makes on a students writing. There are some people that are concerned about teens and their writing, they agree it is being degraded by the electronic communication, care free spelling, lax punctuation, and grammar. They put together her a national telephone survey and had focus groups to see what teens and their parents had to say about the role and impact of technological writing had on in school writing and out of school writing. The survey showed that 60% teens do not believe that communication over the phone or texting is writing and know the difference in writing and electronic communication. Teens mentioned that they did not believe that technology influenced their writing in a negative way. According to the survey some teens have used informal writing, text shortcuts, and emoticons in their school writing When it comes to genders the survey showed that 94% of black parents said that good writing skills are more important now than they were in the past, compared too only 82% of white parents. Teens are more motivated to write when they have a topic relevant and interesting topics. I don't think that this survey did the author much help just because the results were so varied and different. They do not have a clear answer on their overall question. I think the intended audience or this article would be anyone who has been questioning this topic because it goes into depth about the details, gender, race, parents, and blogging its a very interesting read. The reason they wrote this article is probably to inform readers on the way technology impacts writing.

texting and writing

Texting and writing is an article about how texting affects students formal writing. Cullington conducts her own research by surveying 7 high school and college students to get their opinion on how texting is affecting their writing. she also questioned 2 high school teachers. When she was finished with her research she discovered that students know the difference  between texting their friends and formal writing and that texting has a minimal affects on a students writing and  even though the teachers say they find text abbreviations in students formal writing. others believe that texting has a positive help for writing because they are writing all the time. In her research she found that Dennis Baron concludes that students do not use textspeak in their writing, he also says that students rarely use abbreviations in their text messages. Cullington sais that while analyzing students writing sample she found no evidence of textspeak, this contradicts suggestions that texting is having a negative influence on the writing abilities of students. However after analyzing the data they found that the results did not support their hypothesis, their study did not support the belief that texting is affecting the spelling abilities of students meaning this issue should still continue to be examined. one teacher describes texting as a "comfortable form of communication"  Derek Anderson another teacher says that "any writing is good writing".  furthermore those who favor texting in helping writing explain that practice comes the confidence and courage to try new things. I think that Cullingtons research methods were effective because she got what she needed and it matched up with Barons research. Also she had good resources by using the students actual writing samples and reviewing them for herself. In my opinion I think the intended audience for this article would be anyone interested in the topic or planning on conducting their own research on this topic.

murray

1) I would say that he really took his time into his revising and editing of his writing and did it very carefully so that it would be effective. I do not really do that well I do but I do not go into depth with it like murray does and that is probably what I would change. I do plan before I write but to the extent that he does.

3) she was surprised that so much time went into these stages of the writing process. She also learned that the 2 are very similar in many ways. she realizes that it makes sense for murray to write this way.

4) the time management for the revising and editing processes. Berkenkotter says that you should spend more time editing and revising than you do actually writing the paper.

rose

1) A good essay always gets a readers attention immediately.

If the first paragraph is good the rest of the essay will be good.

If sentences have grammatical issues than they aren’t useful.

You must make three or more points in an essay.

 the rules I find myself following are:
If the first paragraph is good the rest of the essay will be good.’

 You must make three or more points in an essay.

If the first paragraph is good the rest of the essay will be good.

2) In my opinion the main difference between the rules that the blockers use than the ones that the non-blockers use is flexibility. The non-blockers don’t really care about the rules they use the ones that they need to accomplish something and if a rule doesn’t line up they just ignore it.  Another difference between the blockers and the non-blockers is that the non-blockers know their audience very well. They are the ones you will see to bring in outlines and drafts to show their teacher and get feedback.

4) Rules are good fro writers because it gives them something to go of off but some writers might not like them because it gives them a feeling of having limitations while writing.

writing process of a famous auther

Truman Capote, is the author of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “In Cold Blood” he is well known to be a “completely horizontal author.” He always had to write lying down, in bed or on a couch, with a cigarette and coffee. Once he was tired of coffee he would switch to tea, then sherry to martinis, as the day went on. He wrote his first and second drafts pencil, and his third draft was done on a typewriter, which was done in bed with the typewriter balanced on his knees.

I think Truman's is different from the others because it focuses more on how he wrote then when he wrote. Most of the stories I found were all about authors who wrote at night and slept during the day or they had some type of writing technique that they all did the exact same each day.

REVISION STRATEGIES OF STUDENT WRITERS

1) Sommer argues that revision is an activity in which you are able to modify and develop perspectives and ideas. She also believes that the process of revision is to discover meaning. If revision was a rewording activity, the essay itself would not change for the better. Rewording is just taking our the words and replacing them with something bigger and that is not discovering the meaning of your writing.

3) I think that Sommers is trying to point out that there in no possible way to revise a speech, but you can revise writing. In a speech what is said is said, there is no going back and making it sound better. The spoken word can not be revised. While in writing you have the opportunity too revise. The reason it is relevant to revision is because knowing the difference gives you the capability to use it.




5) When Sommers mentions that experienced writers view the writing process to be non-linear, not a straight line from beginning to end I think it means that they do as they please while writing. Experienced writers jot down ideas and then try to put them in order and edit as they go. Writing does not have a certain order you are made to go by, there are steps to help you get to where you need to be, but if you do not go " pre-write-write-edit" your paper will not be horrible. I think the reason that students see as linear meaning to go from pre- write to write to edit is because they were taught that way. Students are most of the time made to make an outline and turn it in, make a rough draft and get corrections or make your own correction and then write the final essay. I think that students are trained to write in a linear way, once you are out of college you have the freedom to write in which ever order you please.

7) I think that students got the idea that writing is transcribing and revising is rewording from teacher who were not very good or from themselves. Some teachers do not give much information on revising when they are in the process of teaching it, they focus more on the idea to have 5 paragraphs, an introductory, 3 body, and a conclusion . So when students get a paper back and they have the opportunity to revise it, they do not know what to do. Students assume that changing the words to more difficult vocabulary will meet the standards of revising. That is pretty much what I was taught, to fix any or all grammatical issues and change some words.

writing what matters

1) she writes that because grammar is very important in life and in writing. It does not matter how good of a reader you are, if there is poor grammar in a piece of writing that you are reading it going to be difficult to understand. When you are reading you want a clear picture so yes I agree with Strasser.

2)  I think that if the writing is going to be meaningful and the author wants to get his/her point across then the writing needs to be clear and it needs to state facts. Having facts makes it easier for the audience to believe what the author is wanting them to believe other than just opinions. Although I believe that in Stanley Fish’s advocacy of a writing course that teaches reasoning there is an unlimited amount of reasons that seem to rule out all meaningful writing.

3) I believe that there is nothing that can prevent an open mind from seeking knowledge.

all writing is autobiography

2) According to Murray writing is autobiography because it enhances all your first hand experiences and its also in your own voice. I personally do not believe that you can categorize the way Murray believes writing is autobiography only because writing has no solid rules. When a person is writing they can do whatever they want to and say what ever they want to. All the ways you could write are limitless. Every time an author starts writing its going to be their original piece, they are writing from their own experiences and no one else can relate to that.

5) I agree with Murrays arguments. But everything that he mentioned I already kind of did in my own writing anyways. While I was reading this article it reminded me of the way I write.  I actually feel like my writing style is similar to his.

6) Almost every text I have written has been an autobiography is some shape or form. Sometimes I will be talking about myself or maybe just putting some of my own experiences into to paper somehow. Even if its a research paper and I do not talk about myself I guess it can still be an autobiography because it written by me and it has my opinions and my writing style.

favorite childhood book

When I was young my favorite book was the giving tree. I loved when my mom would read it to me. and when I went to the library they would sometimes read out loud and every time they were scheduled to read the giving tree I would beg to go. I loved it so much that I wanted to learn to read it myself so I could read it when ever I  wanted. The tree was so nice and just gave the boy anything and everything that he wanted. When I was little I always wanted tree like the giving tree. In todays world we all know that you cant just walk up to a tree and ask it for something and it just give it to you. Although if we could that would be really cool. I think of the reasons I liked this book is because the tree was super nice and I always wanted to be nice to other people. I really have no idea how I am supposed to write 350 words on a book so I am just going to stop now.

1)  I think that shifting from 1st person to third changes the point of view for the story. Every author has their own style of writing so therefore rules can be broken. Although first person can give the reader a more visual thinking of the story because the reader is allowed inside the characters head and can know what he/she is thinking.

2) Villanueva defines rhetoric as a conscious use of language and a study of humans. A study of the ways in which people have accomplished beyond the instinctual. He says studying rhetoric helps you to study humans.

3) No but if I were too according too Villanueva I would try to mimic the teachers writings. Whatever the teacher would do that's what I would do.

I would really like to improve on my knowledge on how to compose an effectively organized essay that focuses on a clear purpose and that develops major points that support main ideas on reasonably effective ways. I would like to do this because when I write essays I tend to get off topic and practice in this area could improve the way I write. The better you are at composing essays in college the better the letter grade you will receive and I need to keep my grades up. This is just one easy topic I feel like I could get a better understanding of and it would make such a huge difference I would also like to have a better understanding on how to identify the authors purpose, audience, genre, and context to determine effective writing. This is because it has never been one of my strong points and I believe it would help me to better understand any piece of writing. Also to better understand how to adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality. I would like to know the different voices each type of writing has to offer and to understand that different writings can have different voices and tones that is appropriate for the situation. I would also love to have a better and more clear understanding on how to use MLA format. I used it in high school but never really understood all the details that went into it. In high school it was just a brief lecture of the format and for college I feel like I need a very detailed lesson on how to do it.  Also to be able to critique others writing is valuable to know. I would love to be able to help classmates on their papers if I knew the proper ways and techniques. I want to be able to give good responses and give any help or advice I can. I would always receive helpful feedback and I would like to do the same for others. I hope this gave you a better idea on what I know and what I would like to learn.