ENC 2135-13:Genre, Research, and Context

In this first chapter I found information that is very useful when attempting to become a good writer. Some of the content served as a refresher of things I’ve learned previously such as writing to please your audience and choosing the right genre to represent your intent for writing. On the other hand, I also learned some new tips like the usage of pathos, ethos and logos to appeal to your audience in the manner that you desire. Mostly what was discussed was the very basics of writing so it was a little difficult to get through but as the book continues on, i’m sure that’ll change. It was interesting to think about how the types of genres have evolved through time and even wonder what sort of genres there might be in the future as well. I appreciated the two examples at the end of the chapter that was in regards to the Wall Arch Collapse and the explanation/analysis of how both authors chose to convey their information. After awhile you forget to consider things like what the a...

Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" was a very real take on the writing process. She really opened up and recognized how writing is not an easy, one step process. It in fact takes time and patience and most of the time cannot get it done in one sitting. This is why writing a paper for class cannot be done in one night, it needs to be done at least twice and, in my opinion, be read over by at least two trusted people. This way a second set of eyes will look at it and point out errors or give feed back that one did not find in their own paper. Lamott gave great ideas on how to truly get started with a paper, you write down any and everything that comes to mind and when you reread it, you find that one spark to start the paper. It can get frustrating knowing that you wrote six pages and the very last sentence is the only one you'll use, but it is rewarding when the final draft is completed and to ones own perfection.

I want to start off by saying that “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott is extremely inspiring to me. The combination of the personal tone that she uses along with the topic that she is writing about really speaks to me. Lamott uses the example of famous writers to prove that ‘shitty drafts’ are normal part of writing. This made me feel better about myself and my writing. I sometimes have a very hard time with writing, and this makes me feel like my troubles are something that almost everyone goes through. I agree with the points that she makes about bad drafts as being a crucial part of the writing process. Even though forcing a draft out of yourself may be hard and it might not turn out good, it gives you a starting point. Lamott writes, “But because by then I had been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself trust the process…” (Lamott paragraph 7). I think I need to learn how to trust the process in my own writing, because I try so hard to be perfect on the f...

Overall, this article is discussing the idea that one should write a first draft. It doesn't matter if the first draft contains errors, incomplete thoughts, etc. The purpose is to get all your thoughts and ideas down ,either on paper or typing, so that later you can go back and fix it up into a better writing piece. The one idea from this article that I don't agree with is the idea of writing three essays to achieve the final work. I think that's going slightly overboard. It's already enough that we, as students, have to write long and vigorous term papers but to rewrite and revise each one three times? I understand that you're not completely rewriting the piece but it seems that the process might be too tedious. However, I do understand the importance of this idea and the logical reason behind the first draft process.  This article was particularly interesting to me for various reasons. One being is that the author has been in many types of writing posit...

The Bedford Book of Genres proposes the following thought: “Why bother thinking about genres? Because they represent possibilities” (5).   This insight and perspective lingered in my mind as I continued my reading.   However, the mention of music as an example of one of the various genres we, as both people and students, are exposed to, coincidently struck close to home. The chapter discusses the various forms genres can come in. Outlining how there is no clear layout or purpose and identifying the key components to take note of when reading or analyzing a piece of work, which can include situation, rhetoric, style, and audience. The same applies to music, which in itself is a composition that is then divided into genres. When artists are composing a song, the same key components must be taken into account. Audience, situation, rhetoric, and style all play a key roll in dividing music into beautifully allocated genres, which sometimes contain one or more sub-genres. The q...

While I wasn’t a fan of this first chapter, I found it interesting that the author(s) of this chapter noted that writers have a tendency to reflect the same style and techniques of other writers in the same genre. Whether this is done subconsciously or not, I don’t know, but it certainly introduces the impact that a community can have on a person’s style. Style seems to be the focus of the majority of this chapter, and for good reason, without style, reading would be extremely boring and have little to no substance. Style is what sparks interest in readers and as it further explains in chapter 1, style can be tweaked and polished to achieve the author’s purpose. Using colloquial language, for example, can help a writer reach out to his or her audience through familiarity, or in contrast, formal language can be used to gain respect or, on occasion, be used to intimidate others.   I’ve learned about style nearly my entire educational life, but what was truly unique in this cha...

Overall, chapter one discussed the basic techniques needed to write towards an audience. It discussed common methods such as using the three appeals to strengthen your argument, addressing the five WH questions, as well as other crucial information. The chapter was essentially just focusing on the broad elements that will be incorporated in our writings. The next chapters will be the in depth version that goes into great detail about each section discussed. The most helpful aspect of chapter one was the section on genre conventions.     Most of this material was mainly review, due to the fact that, I have taken two AP English courses, as well as English courses during my dual enrollment period. However, the fact remains that the information found in Chapter one is incredibly useful in academic papers. It was helpful to refresh on certain aspects that contribute to the enhancement of our writings as students. Particularly the section of the appeals is useful in school rela...

Chapter 1, while not extremely thrilling, serves as an excellent introduction to the rest of the book and, by extension, the course. I think the best things about the chapter were the basic, yet informative, descriptions of what genres are and what terms such as "rhetorical situation." A good  number of the terms discussed in the chapter were new to me, so I got to learn something new. I liked how the chapter would, after introducing a new topic, explain the topic and provide at least one example in a real-world setting. I enjoyed when Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics was discussed because I love comics. Reading the chapter was also extremely educational because it talks about how factors other than just your topic can affect the impact of one’s story. Although I was already familiar with ethos, pathos, and logos, they were all approached from a different perspective and provided examples that were easy to follow and understand. One of the things about Chapter ...

I really enjoyed the structure of the writing and how the information was portrayed. Normally, whenever I had read textbooks in high school the information was given in a more formal, structured way, where the topics were more just stated and defined. But I especially enjoyed how in this chapter the reading addresses the reader directly as well as to connect to the reader. The information given was explained more in depth and gave a variety of kinds of examples for each topic. I liked how the writing style and examples connected more to a student audience when the author compared the topics like audience, purpose, and genre to media and sources that are commonly used by the audience. In the beginning when the author was giving the introduction, I connected with the author explaining how normally people think of genres as just persuasive essays or research papers to how limited I was with knowledge in high school and became closed minded and did not really know much ...

I found the reading very interesting, but also rather confusing. I never realized how complex choosing a genre can be. In high school, the only genre I used was academic writing and my main audience was my teacher. I was given a rubric for every paper and as long as I followed it, I received a good grade. I never thought there were different styles and designs I could use within one genre. However, unknowingly I have used different designs to present my academic work throughout high school. For example, I have used my art skills to create posters and paintings to communicate to my audience in a different media. During my projects, my primary purpose was to follow directions and impress my audience(my teacher). However, my secondary purpose was to communicate my opinions to my classmates on a more personal level. This shows how genres can be flexible and overlap. Understanding what is your primary purpose is such a crucial part in composing. As a composer, you have to know your au...

Chapter One this book provided insightful information as to how crossing over techniques intended for certain genres and purposes are crossed into varying areas to strengthen the quality of writing. Each writer “defines” their “use of a genre,” in this meaning each writer varies in how a genre is presented due to that authors purpose and audience. This seems to be the overarching theme for which the coming chapters will expand upon, this first chapter begins to discuss how a genre such as a scholarly article can have the main purpose to inform their audience but use rhetorical techniques of persuasion to strengthen their writing. Learning about rhetorical appeals in high school such as ethos was always in regards to a strictly persuasive pieces. However this book presented how persuasion is used in varying genres, genres in which persuasion is not the end goal, but rather a method to inform. Scholarly articles use ethos to persuade the reader to find the information being presented to...

Chapter One gave me a clear indication about what this whole book is going to be about: genre. Choosing a genre to write depends on personal style, relevant information, and target audience. It is important to having a solid understanding of genre and how other authors utilize it to most effectively compose. For example, an author could use a memoir to inform and connect with the audience at the same time. In my AP Lang class in high school, my teacher stressed the importance of rhetoric, also known as the ability to communicate effectively and with a purpose. It is important to ask yourself why you are composing. Up to this point, my reason for writing has been for school, following strict grading rubrics. Now I realize that is imperative to consider the different types of effects that different genres present. For example, a person can write to persuade, to inform, or to present a narrative.  Depending on the purpose of a piece, different genres fit different scenarios. Also, ...

Chapter 1 is a very uneventful chapter. This chapter serves as the introduction to what is to come later on in the book. The chapter describes important concepts that should be kept in mind when writing compositions. These concepts include genre, rhetoric, purpose, audience, rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos and logos), modes and media, elements of genre which include, in most instances, who, what, where, when and why, style, design, and sources. It is important to keep these concepts in mind because these concepts will strengthen your writing in order to make your argument more credible and believable. Of the concepts, the ones that I feel are the most important include purpose, audience, rhetorical appeals and sources. I feel as though these concepts are the most important because these concepts are vital for enhancing your argument. When I look at these concepts, it brings back memories of being in sophomore year in my AP Language class and these words always came up when my teacher...

  Chapter One expanded on many writing components that I have been familiar with, but the chapter further emphasized the importance of choosing the appropriate genre when formatting my writing, rhetorical situations in regards to the purpose of writing and audience, and rhetorical appeals. I have not noticed the different elements of writing that I might have incorporated in papers I have written before, but reading this chapter made me realize the different genres I have used.   I also was able to reflect on past papers regarding the usage of rhetorical appeals. I, however, have written papers that incorporated both pathos as well as logos. For example, I wrote a paper about the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party(BPP) within the black community and the misconceptions of the BPP. I used logos in the paper my providing evidence and facts that supported the reason for the decline of the Black Panther Party. I also used pathos in my paper my introducing how misconception...

I was pleasantly surprised, not by the purpose of the chapter, but by the way it changed my perspective on persuasive, academic writing and its many genres. The introduction chapter reviews familiar concepts, as expected, giving the reader a smooth transition into new topics. As the chapter discusses genres as mediums for arguments or to "get the reader on board" I realized that I had never quite thought about it in this way before. My thinking was always quite simple minded, and involved simply writing an argument the way I was told, in one or two formats, and not pondering why I should do it one way over another, or how I could do it many other ways. The text shows the memoirs of Annie Burton, and how this genre facilitated the achievement of her goal to portray her life as a slave. The chapter explains that this genre was chosen for a specific reason by Burton, and this was what was so refreshing to hear as a student tired of being stuck writing essays in one format withou...

After reading this chapter I realized that choosing a genre is an important and rather strenuous task, as one needs to execute the process to their own liking.   In my own personal experiences, I was never given the opportunity to explore the various genres offered, as I was always told to write a certain way in order to receive passable scores on either the AP and AICE examinations.   Therefore, this article on genres and the different ways to relay your central message to the audience was very intriguing to me.   Additionally, this chapter further enhanced my knowledge on the three rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos, and logos.   My tenth grade AICE English Language class briefly explained these devices, so I was always very eager to learn more about using these appeals within my own ideas and the variations within each.   Thus, these appeals will help correlate the various forms of media layouts used to capture the readers’ or the audiences’ attentions whic...