Strategies for Invention

Whenever I start writing I don't brainstorm at all I just let it flow. Maybe that is the probelm with my writing. I do it too fast. I usually sit down wait for a couple of mintues to clear my head and then I'm off. But when your writing about a thesis, and you have a lot to do. For instance looking up material, or resources, for you paper to prove that your thesis is right. You have zero time to brainstorm. I see it as most of the time you don't have time to brainstorm. Why should you waste your time with it. After reading this chapter I understand that brainstorming is very good. Also freewriting and looping, which I've never heard of looping before. Pretty much this reading was good, but I rather read the short stories.

Strategies For Invention

Before I write my papers, I never really think about what I'm going to write. Basically I just write and see what happens. The only thing that I have to go on is my experience with the subjuect. However, by reading this section, I may have to change my writing style.

As I read this section, it gave me new strategies to consider. I knew about the journalist's approach, but never really knew the freewriting nor looping. I must be doing that on the norm because I can remember these things so easy. Brainstorming I used to do when I was younger, but when you have to outsource a paper in a short amount of time, then you can't brainstorm. Clustering, which I learned a few years ago, takes too long for me. I just like to write and think on the fly.

Overall, I really enjoyed this as it improved my vision as being a better writer.

Strategies for Invention

Before i read this article i had no idea that invention had anything to do with writing. I guess i never sat down and thought about what invention actually means. Like what we are doing right now,blogging, i would have never thought of this as an invention in a million years until i read this article.

I always have a real hard time coming up with a good topic to write about. But then again most of the time i hate being assigned a topic to write about, because most of the time I can't relate myself to the topic in the least bit. However, I like to use the clustering strategy when I do figure out my topic. I think I use this method the best because most of the time I am not very organized and this method allows me to get all my ideas out and not be very organized. It still works though, when i go back and read what i wrote it all makes sense to me and helps me out big time as far as not losing any of my good ideas and sometimes weeding out the bad ones.

As far as helping me become a better writer, this section does the job. It gives a number of various questions to help me give more detail in my paper. I believe that the "Journalist Questions", Topical questions, and the questions for exploring the topic can help anyone out greatly.

Strategies For Invention

Often times I too have difficulty finding inspiaration. There are other times that get inspired about topics that are interesting to you. Learning your topic through insight and others. This allows for a more accurate writing design to support your claims.

Personally, I have done a lot of free writing and brainstorming throughout my adulthood. Looping sounds very interesting. Because it has some advantages. It forces you to free write but you also can locate your intriguing and compelling ideas. It provides a starting point for connecting new loops or ideas.

Even though clustering may be beneficial to other writers, I dont like it personally. I feel this because, when I write single words sporadically, I tend to forget the brainstorm that feeds me the information I want to write. It is much easier for me to take my brainstorm and free write as long as I have the Ideas fresh in my thoughts at the time. Using journalist questions makes me give definitive answers to the who, what, when, where and why questions. It is productive for my writing skills.

The rest of the reading was good. I understand the importance of research in backing up your statements and writing ideas.

What's Your Name Girl?

I really enjoyed this particular reading, especially anything written by Maya Angelou. This story basically depicts life for a black person during the time of post slavery. It was actually interesting to hear from Maya that she got raped as a child. That's something that I really didn't know. I thought she would've responded better after the lady for whom she was working for started to call her a different name. She took offence to it, but didn't respond aggressively as I thought she would. But I guess that's a good thing due to the ending. All in all, I really enjoyed this reading.

Whats Your Name

This reading is about a young black woman and what it was like for her. I think that its hard at this time for young black women to get anywhere with all the discrimination. But that was just the way it was then she was nothing to Mrs. C. Thats why she didn't even hesitate to say that clumsy Ni**er Because it was just another person to her. No one special she was a black woman. All Mrs. C cared about was her stuff she was selfish. I am personally glad that alot of the discrimination is gone but it is still there in our everyday life but just not as bad.

Overall this was a good reading and it really shows how life was back them for young black women.

"What's Your Name, Girl?"

I'm going to have to agree with Vickie, the introduction paragraph helped me out with this reading a whole lot. If it wasn't for that I think i would have been very lost. I like it because it shows a brief background of the writer and it gives you a little idea of what kind of things you are going to be reading.

As far as the story goes, I think it was well written. there are many great details that give me a better idea of what is going on. An example of this is when she talks about Mr. Cullinan's daughters and their hair. She gives great details in this part about how their hair is always straight no matter if they go in the rain or if they just wake up. I can relate when she talks about all the different plates, bowls, cups and silverware. I had no idea that there were so many different kinds, and I think many people feel the same way.

Overall I thought this reading was very delightful. However, I really would have been in trouble if it wasn't for that introduction paragraph.

What's your name girl

I enjoyed this reading a lot. It was really weird that she couldn't write in her own home. I'm betting on that there was a lot of distractions. I was very thankful that I had that beginning paragraph talking about her writing ways and what this reading is about. I think in life that you should meet someone new everyday of your life. Talk to them learn their name and make sure they know your name. Because sometime in your lifetime you are going to meet them again. Maybe it's to help out a charity or maybe its just for a favor. I try everyday to meet someone new because you never know what knowledge or wisdom they have to pass on. When that Mrs. C went and couldn't even remember her name. That's horrible. It's pretty funny that when you do something nice, like how that guy saved the other guy in the subway when he was having a seizure. Like Mary taking out the tea and setting up for dinner. People know them for about year. But when someone does something stupid or wrong, they go down in history. Like how Mary went and dropped her favorite dish and called her a n*****. I bet she will remember Mary for as long as she lives because of that.

Whats Your Name Girl

Well, It isn't Anne Frank. I hope everyone appreciated my analysis of Anne Frank. Anyways, Maya Angelou was a black woman that lived during nineteen twenties and survived in a poverty stricken area of the south. It appeared as if Maya had to take on the role of an adult at an early age.

Black women did not have any of the available cultural activities. The life of a black women during this time was one of segregation and discrimination. This was the environment she grew up in. She talks about the people in her life and her every day life experiences. Ms. Angelou wrote from the negro perspective during the nineteen twenties. Her writings seem to express the culture and the problems that were endured by black people during that time period.

Diary Of A Young Girl

Anne Frank was writing this during the second world war. As a child in this environment of inhumanity she was first of all lucky to be alive. She felt as if she was being alienated by her parents. As a child of World War Two it was a different time and a different society. She had to be extremely worried about every day life in her society and also had the normal emotional feelings of a thirteen year old school girl.

Because of these feelings she had I can understand her dilemma. I understand why she would write a diary in the first place. Her diary helped her deal with her every day life. The diary helped her her face the war environment and gave her the reinforcement she needed to cope with every day life. I also feel that it made her feel totally at ease. It helped her survive in a war torn environment.

In a "Sweet Secret" she wrote about being upset with entire family emotionally. It appears to me that she is going through a transitional period and is fighting the urge to want to be a woman but also remain a little girl for her father. This period of her writing also shows her sexual maturity and how she fantasizes about other women and lesbianism.

Strategies of Invention

Well, another chapter of great insight. Discovering ideas does tend to be difficult but the strategies given help you get started onto the path of a great paper.

Free writing, looping, and brainstorming are things that I already use and they are a productive part of my personal writing process. These all help me get my ideas together and start to organize them.

Clustering is something that is confusing to me. For some reason, it seems messy and very unorganized. Though that's definitely just my opinion. I’m not sure that this technique would work well for me.

Who, what, where, when, why and how are great questions to ask yourself. I believe that it helps put your thoughts in perspective and helps you see what you already know and what you need to research more. This goes along with the topical questions as well. They both cover the same concept in different ways.

Researching helps you find things out that you may have otherwise left out because of your lack of knowledge. A well-researched paper can help you and your reader(s) get a better understanding of your topic and arguments. This accompanied by a discovery draft can bring about a much better paper.

All in all, this was very helpful again and I can see where some things may work better for some people and maybe not so much for others.

"What's your name, girl?"

This reading was very enjoyable for me. I found that the introduction helped me get a better understanding of what I was about to read. It also gave me insight to the author’s writing style and how she found it easier to write in a hotel room than at home. It really does show that everyone does have his or her own style.

As for the sample from the story, it was an interesting portal into the past. When you don’t grow up in times such as these, it makes it much easier to put yourself into the place and situation of the author when it’s well written. The details were fabulous and really helped you. I never understood all of that stuff about plates, glasses, and silverware either. The image she had of her mistress, without organs, was funny, as was her thoughts on why she drank from unmarked bottles.

The reading was very good and I liked it. It really puts into a perspective on life during the slavery years.

Analyzing Texts and Contexts

Analyzing Texts and Contexts

Once again, this chapter has helped me by providing information and tips that I had not thought of before. Understanding your audience makes a huge difference and being able to analyze and evaluate information can make all the difference in whether or not your reader(s) can understand and gain something from your writing. Being the mom of an Autistic child, I really understand how people take things out of context. There are some that are literal and others that are laid back. Depending on which type of person your reader is will depend on whether or not your ideas are being understood properly. You must ask yourself, “Do my ideas make sense?” and “Do my experiences help my reader to relate to my writing or maybe I should just stick to the facts”. Making sure that you know how to apply Aristotle’s Three Appeals and Toulmin’s Framework, can help anyone to become a better writer. I like that they give you samples of different writings. I think this helps even more to see what point they are trying to get across.

I think doing our group project last class, helped me understand the visual text section of this chapter better. What draws you to a certain magazine or book? Probably the picture, colors used or a word in large print. As the book shows us, a picture is worth a 1000 words. Iwo Jima is a perfect example, as is the image of the firefighters of New York raising the flag at the World Trade Center. These are images that don’t even need text to ensure a proper understanding of them. Think of a picture you have seen and what thoughts it has brought to your mind. Then analyze those thoughts and see if they are what the author intended them to be. When you can use images and text effectively, it can enhance the impact of your message.

Analyzing Texts and Context

At the beginning of this chapter you really see how analyzing plays a role in all professional areas. When I noticed this I immediately thought of high school math classes when every time a student was having a hard time they'd try to make a point with "When are we ever going to need to use this in every day life?" Sooner or later all of this things we are learning will come back to play some type of role in our lives. Analyzing is something everyone does- you analyze someone's mood, different ways to solve a problem and so on. For instance with my elective program (ROTC) I analyze ways to fix tactical problems.
After reading through Aristotle's 3 Appeals, I believe that Pathos has the strongest hold on today's society. Yes, we should be more interested in Logos or factual information but what grabs the attention of people of today are the emotional stories. I would pay more attention to a story that is emotional and what could be fake to get more attention than one that has factual information. Something over exaggerated is much more interesting. Overall this book is helping my identify my writing and it has some really strong points throughout.

Analyzing Texts and Contexts

In the beginning of the reading I really didn't understand what this book was talking about. I thought that I would never going to need to analyze anything in my career. Through the reading I understood what they were trying to get across, finally, that is your going to have to analyze in any or even every career at least a couple of time. If you want to be in art or business or even EMS. Aristole's three appeals logos, pathos, and ethos was one good thing I got out of this reading. I didn't know you had to think like a advertisement rep. when writing a essay or a piece of work. In Amitai Etzioni piece of writing he is absolutely right with how we think we have privacy but we really don't. Just think someone is watching you in the shower for saying bomb on the phone last week. Or someone is hacking into your computer to look up your records. This government of ours is supposedly the best one in the world and that we are free. But there is always a price to be paid to be free. Over all this piece has opened up my eyes. It was a good piece.

Analyzing Texts and Contexts

This was another chapter that was filled with information that I was not aware of. It all starts at the beginning of the chapter under Understanding Your Audience. It talks about understanding your readers values as well as their goals. Like i said before i never took the readers values nor their goals into perspective in any of my writing. i usually just write about what i feel about a subject and don't think about what other people are going to think. This chapter also talks about Understanding How Analysis Works. This part of the chapter really helped me out as far as, how much i really need to analyze a subject before writing about it. Most of the time I just study the subject for maybe a few moments and without really thinking just start writing about it. By reading this i have learned that analyzing is many not just one skill but a group of skills put together, and that you need to take time and actually think about a subject for a moment. I also think i will be a better visual reader now as far as texts. I have learned to again think about what the actual message is in a picture or something of that sort, instead of just flipping by and looking at it and not really thinking about it very much. All together this was another great and helpful chapter for me.

Analyzing Rhetorical Situations

When reading this chapter, it really made me question my own writing style. I never asked myself any type of rhetoric questions on any style of my writing. All I did was just write to the subject and hope for the best. This chapter has really brighten my eyes to the point where I really need to start asking myself these questions. Ranging from "writer, reader, text, and medium", these are the things that I need to adopt to my own personal writing style. The only thing that really bothered me was when Aristotle was introduced. His wording of the preliminary goals, Pathos, Logos, and Ethos, really simplified what I need to do.

Arguments

Arguments

Guidelines for Developing an Arguable Claim
- Choose an issue that has no easily identifiable solution and that has something significant at stake. (Pick a subject that is actually going to make an impact on people’s thoughts or actions.)
- Choose an issue or problem that readers might have varying perspectives on. (In other words, don’t argue about something that everyone already agrees is fact. IE. Don’t’ argue that the sky is blue. Everyone knows it is.)
- Attempt to persuade readers to believe or do something. Your ultimate goal is to change the way the reader thinks or feels on a subject. It is the purpose of your writing.

What makes a Good Argument
- ¬A good argument has a strong and clear thesis. “A clear limited thesis is vital because it indicates (for you, and for your reader) what is at stake” (Ede 124). It also keeps you on track when you are writing. All of your statements thereafter should be directly related to the thesis.
- Your thesis is your claim.
- You must support your claim with evidence. (Do not state something without providing examples of and/or evidence of it.)
- A good argument also acknowledges possible counterarguments. (Demonstrates you have analyzed the argument from a variety of perspectives.

Making and Supporting Claim

This chapter helped me see that the more your support your claims, the better the academic argument. I got a better understanding that you can write your paper and still contribute your views, as long as it is brought together in a reasonable fashion. The guidelines that were provided for analyzing your own values and beliefs, I found useful and very helpful. I think when we write, we tend to make it one sided when it really should take on the emotions and beliefs of the reader as well. I know that I find it hard to make sure that I get my point across without getting on a soapbox. Backing up your arguments with facts, can help your reader(s) to better understand your point of view and even help them create their own opinion on whatever the subject may be. The use of pictures has always been a large part of my writing. I feel that the more information you can provide to support your arguments or someone else’s, the better your paper can be. Pictures, tables and any other visual aids, can help your reader(s) to better understand what they are reading. This reading was informative and helped me see what areas that I might need to keep a closer eye on when I write.

Making and Supporting Claims

I personally thought this reading on Making and Supporting Claims was very helpful. It has many great details and many great examples on different arguments. I wasn't aware of all the different views, a person had to take in when they are writing and argument. Something else i wasn't aware of was how hard it was to focus on your beliefs and values and also write a good paper at the same time. Before reading this article I did not think about how much i should actually take my views and think about what other people think about them. I think this reading is going to help me out a lot with my writing. I believe it will help me gets my thoughts together better, because it says make sure you analyze your thoughts before writing. I usually do not think much before I write, unless it is a research paper and I have to do outside research. The reading also talked about thinking of counter arguments, which I knew nothing about. All together I think this reading is going to be a huge help in my future papers and writing in general.

Chapter 2- Thank you Gates!

Throughtout the reading in Chapter 2 I come to realize that I am someone that really looks in depth into the text given. Someone who writes notes, makes ideas about what the writer is saying and compares it to my own life experieneces. After reading the short essay written by Mary Ellen Gates I understood my weaknesses of writing, self doubt. I felt the same way she did when she came into her first day of a college writting class. Possibly scared, nervous and even worried that I couldn't get all my thoughts and ideas out on paper in a proper and correct form. But after reading her story about how she succeeded in that class leads me to believe I can as well. Knowing that I as well send many letters home, being that I am out of state and away from home, tend to struggling with saying what i'm thinking and writing it down. Her ideas about how she at first (just like me) dreaded those essays. But then saw that through time, helped her become a confident writer who is no longer nervous or scared but a student eager to learn and become a better writer. So thank you Gates for giving me more confidence and drive to become the writer I know I can be with a little practice and help from this college writing class.
P.S This chapter also inspired me because of my belief in art (being an art major here) and the ideas of how you practice and get better through time. Because in beginning of the chapter artwork was related to writing and this leads me to believe that my writing can actually improve alot more then I thought.

Chapter 2

In chapter 2 I caught on and identified with the types of writing styles that people have. I think that I am most like the heavy planner. I have trouble writing in class essays because I think about it too much. With this comes the problem of not being able to check what I've written. When it's time to turn in my rough drafts I haven't even checked spelling or grammer.In the end, One draft turns into two or three once everything is checked and fixed. I also have the problem of procrasination. I have the problem of doing my work the night before or even the day of. I get caught up easily in other things and know that I'll eventually do what I have to even if it means waiting until the last minute. Overall, this chapter really got me thinking of the writing process and how everyone has different ways of writing.

Welcome

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to the blog. Every journal assignment you write, should be posted here. Your posts should be approximately 300 words, and you should respond to someone else's post at least once a week. These posts are informal, but they should be of substance. Don't just say that you like, or dislike a reading. I want to know why. This is a part of your grade, so take the assignment seriously.

Prof. Howard