The portfolio is an opportunity to showcase yourself as a writer--to present your best work of the quarter as well as define and explain who you are as a writer--and this is going to be represented through your theory of writing. In this brainstorming session, think about which pieces you are going to put in the portfolio and why. What makes those two pieces stand out for you? Why do they represent your best work (try and think about it in terms other than a grade)?
Next think about what key terms might be a part of your theory of writing. Revisit previous blog posts. Are there additions? Subtractions? Why?
A major portion of your reflection-in-presentation revolves around your ability to support your argument--the argument you are creating about yourself as a writer and the pieces you chose to represent you as a writer--with your own writing. How do you plan to do this? What pieces, other than the two in your portfolio, might you use to help evidence your claim? What theorists might you use to help evidence your claim?
Last, what do you believe your purpose for this portfolio is going to be? And why?
**Be thoughtful in your responses. This is a great opportunity to organize your thinking, planning, draft, etc for this portfolio.
**Shoot for 350-400 words.
• Pieces to submit: The newspaper article and the Main assignment #1
ReplyDeleteo Newspaper: Because it is a good assignment that shows who I am as a writer as well as the creativity I can come up with for my ideas. I think I did a good job of writing for my audience and addressing the rhetorical situation.
o Main assignment #1: This is the best example of how I have grown as a writer this quarter. Although my grade may or may not reflect it, it is the hardest I have tried on any sort of paper probably since 8th grade. I activiely revised and reflected on it, instead of just sitting down, doing it all at once and relying on the abilities I already had to get me by, I really tried to grow and try my hardest. I also really struggled with coming up what to write about, so I think given that I did a good job of providing the necessary ethos pathos and logos to support my argument.
• How I have grown as a writer
o Original writing theory: Focused more on importance of sticking to one’s voice and not trying to sound smart
o Current writing theory: I view writing as more of a process. I understand now that in order to create good writing it takes the ability to be able to arite for he audience you intend, establish ethos pathos and logos, understand you are writing for a rhetorical situation, and revise and reflect on your writing. I do still believe in the importance of personal voice, but that is no longer my only opinion on what makes good writing.
• Evidence
o For old: “I think the most important aspect is for the author to maintain his/or hers personal voice. It is easy to tell when someone is writing in a way they think others want. Everyone individual is their own person, so the words they put on paper should be unique to them as well, and be a representation of their identity. It seems like a lot of time, people focus more on language and using words that make them sound smart instead of making a piece that is both enjoyable to read, and serves the purpose it was written for.”
o New: Understanding not only what a rhetorical situation is, but the contents of one has changed the way that I think about writing and is a new found concept that I think will stick with me for life, which is something I cannot say for most of what I learn in school.
I
was one of the students that wrote what she thought the teacher wanted to hear.
What I write about is connected
to me personally, I am communicating my ideas with someone other than myself, and if I do not do that in the most efficient and appropriate way for who I am
writing for, my opinions will not be taken for their full worth.
I would like to include my Main assignment #1 and Mini assignment #2. I actually enjoyed writing these two pieces and they demonstrate what I consider to be the most important part of writing: audience. Though I still am unsure as to what exactly a theory of writing is, I believe that Audience should be my main focus as audience determines the genre and rhetorical situation present. Not that they have an effect of either, but they determine how your write about the rhetorical situation.
ReplyDelete"What I got out of this is that the most important part of writing (other than the argument itself), is the audience."
"you wouldn't want to try to sell snowshoes in Florida much like you wouldn't want to use "like, um" in a college essay"
"In reflection, I understand how important rhetorical situation is (as without it, there would be no writing), but I think that audience is of even higher importance.With each separate audience, all of the ethos, pathos, and logos change."
"your audience determines how/ what you write, regardless of rhetorical situation."
"you have to manipulate ethos, pathos, and logos in order to explain the rhetorical situation to whatever audience it is geared towards."
"Another example would be a rather obvious, but still important one, and that is writing an email to your parents vs. sending a text to your friend. Emailing your mother your plans for coming home over break would be much different than emailing your friends. It's the same format, but everything changes; logos, ethos, and pathos, they all change. With your parents you might sound something like "Can't wait to come home, I've missed you." vs. your friends, "So psyched to hang out soon guys! It's gonna be awesome!" Even though the rhetorical situation (coming home) is the same for both, each audience determines how and what you write."
I think those are all good quotes for me to use for my theory of writing. Though it's clear that audience is my main focus, I want to create something that says how and why audience matters so much to me and my writing. I just don't know if I should use one the quotes above to do so or make up something completely new. I have a bit of time to figure it out. What I do enjoy is writing the same thing for different audiences. It's a great exercise and perhaps I will find some quotes from those things I have done independently. Or perhaps not seeing as they weren't from this class.
The reason I want to use Main assignment #1 is because I just want to show how detailed one can get with a rhetorical analysis as I feel that I went pretty deep into it. Mini Assignment #2 was just plain fun and rewarding because it was relevant to me. That's another thing I would like to talk about. Trying to make the assignments fun or relevant. Without out, you are not motivated to write and it becomes chore rather than something enjoyable. And perhaps I would bring in quotes from the motivation video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM9p4o050EY&
It was a big help to understand that in order to have good writing, you will have to want to write. If you force yourself, then it's just plain awful.
The purpose of this portfolio is to see our progress as a writer and to see how we have developed not only our writing, but also our ability to process and understand information. This is important because sometimes, like a transfer of knowledge, we don't consciously realize how we have grown.
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ReplyDeleteI think I’m going to put my main assignment number one and my mini assignment number two into my portfolio. They stand out for me because I think in the main assignment number one where I talked about Fight Club and its connection to the Occupy movement I think I was able to support my argument the whole way through and did a relatively good job about showing a strong connection between the two. The reason I’m going to put my mini assignment number two in there is because I think I did a really good job connecting with the audience and writing the piece that particular genre (magazine opinion piece) should be written. I definitely feel like with that assignment I used the correct tone and used the genre to my advantage and got my point across in a clear way. Instead of saying the additions and subtractions to my list I would rather say that there are both and give a more refined list; here is a list of my key terms that help create good writing: tone, genre, audience, pathos, logos, ethos, critique, revision/reflection, organization, rhetorical situation. In my first blog post I used two different lists one for fiction and one for non-fiction and at this point I believe that this list is all encompassing one; it pertains to all types of writing and if one feels that their piece of writing adequately uses all of these terms then it must be a good piece.
ReplyDeleteWhen forming my argument about myself as a writer I’m going to go about it by describing myself as a writer when I was younger and talking about my writing career as a whole (for most of my life writing has disinterested me and I’ve never been all that good at it). Then I’m going to talk about how this year has been a very eye opening experience as a writer and how my writing has progressed and in what ways it has changed this year alone; I feel that my voice has really developed and I’m much better at connecting with my audience and my analytical writing and critiquing skills and self-assessment/reflection abilities have really become something that I can use effectively now. I’m definitely going to use the two in my portfolio, and then outside of that I could use my first blog post and then my first mini assignment. I could use Sommers and Yancey as reasons for why my reflection and revision have improved and I could use Crowley and Hawhee and Wysocki and Lynch to discuss how my critiquing skills have improved.
I think the reason why we are doing this portfolio is to take a look at our cumulative work and reflect upon it even more than we already have. I think it will be interesting taking a look at our assignments after some time has passed and use them effectively in an argument about ourselves. I think it will be a good critical thinking exercise because it is a unique situation where you are using your writing to create an argument about yourself as a writer.
When I first entered this class I had no idea what I thought the theory of writing meant. I thought you just sat down, wrote something and hopefully it all fell together in the end. This class made me realize that writing was a lot more then that. You had to look at your topic from every view and really get into depth with your writing. The two pieces of writing I want to include in my portfolio are actually the first two pieces we did. I loved writing them and I feel like my true writer came out. In the past I have always wrote to the teacher as my audience, but this time I had to write to the public. This was a big change for me and I know it made me grow as a writer. When I was writing the song analysis about Adele I wrote “Everyone has an artist they love jam out in the car to, and Adele is definitely one of those artists. You can just be sitting in traffic and “Set Fire To The Rain” comes on and instantly you are singing it with all of your heart. Even though you may be embarrassing yourself, because your windows are not tinted, you keep singing because once you start singing Adele you cant stop.” I would of never have thought of putting that in my piece and I really think it helped me with connecting with the audience. In my first blog post I said that writing was just communications between humans. Even though I think it’s a form of writing I think it’s a lot more then that. I think just describing it as a form of communication does not do writing any justice. You need writing for almost anything and it can be used in many different ways. It can be fiction, non- fiction, a poem, a song and really anything you can think of with words. Persuasion and rhetoric are very big parts of writing. I never new how much persuasion and rhetoric could add to my piece of writing. In my blog post Rhetoric: Then and Now I said “As it says in the article no one can compete with facts but I think with good rhetoric you can start to persuade people easily.” I agree with this completely because your opinion can go a long way and you can persuade people more then you think. It is always good to have facts to back it up but you can really start to build a great argument with your own rhetoric. I would say I have grown as a writer because before this class I didn’t think it was possible for me to write a paper longer then 4 pages. By the end I feel like I could write a 9-page paper efficiently. I have never been a writer but in this class I have realized that I can become one.
ReplyDelete. All of the readings have helped me figure out many different terms in writing and helped me progress my writing other then just scratching the surface. Bitzer was the major one because knowing what a rhetorical situation was made wonders happen to my writing. I think the purpose of my portfolio is going to be my progression as a writer. Writing a blog every day and pushing my limits to a 9-page paper has mad me grown as an efficient writer. I think I have really made progress and I want to show people how much I have.
ReplyDeleteThe two pieces of writing that I am going to include in my portfolio are my Mini Assignment #2 and Main Assignment #1. I believe that both are good representations of my work. Although the Mini Assignment #2 was out of my comfort zone, I feel as though I did a good job stepping up to the challenge. I think that Main Assignment #1 is a piece of writing that exemplifies my skill of the 5-paragraph style essay. It shows my skill in analysis and connecting a piece of writing to a bigger issue. They are two pieces in which I exemplify my skills as a writer. They show my work beyond the “normal” essay.
ReplyDeleteKey terms = communication, medium, clear, concise, easy to read, flow, drafts, argument, structure, focus, good tone, organization, valid information, a strong idea, complexity, inspiration. Originally my list of key terms was shorter, however, I feel as though the additions fit perfectly. Writing is complex, and shouldn’t be put in simple terms. It is better to explore the complexity and make it understandable. Writing shouldn’t be extremely difficult to do, but it also must not be too simplified. For example, if someone considers a good piece of writing as a typical 5-paragraph essay, then all other pieces of writing would be considered invalid. This is simply not realistic.
Writing is all about transferring, growing and adapting as a learner to become a better writer. A good piece of writing requires a good argument, structure, and style. This is essential in order to create an effective piece of writing. I will use my blogs on the rhetorical situation to explain just how important context is. I will also use my blog on adapting as a writer to show how I’ve evolved. Lastly, I will use my blog on knowledge community to prove how the environment of writing class has helped me improve. I think it is essential, as a writer, to keep learning form those who can help you.
My whole life, I have been evolving and adapting my writing. As I get older, I gain more knowledge that allows me to be a better writer. It wasn’t until middle school, however, that I had to write a complex piece of writing. I was taught the basics of writing an essay, a poem, or a piece of fiction. We learned the skills necessary to form a good piece of writing and implemented them. This culminated in a 5-page paper I had to write in 8th grade. Since then I have been transferring my knowledge in order to be more flexible as a writer. I grew to become a better writer in high school; however, it wasn’t until college that I had a turning point. In college, I have written more types of rhetoric than before. I have learned about the rhetorical situation, and can honestly say that my pieces of writing have more depth than before. I feel as though I have adapted as a writer, and am now ready to take on more ambitious assignments, ones that are out of my comfort zone 5-paragraph essay.
The first piece of writing that I am choosing to put in my portfolio is the magazine article I wrote about the song, “The world is yours” by Nas. In the assignment, I believe that I progressed as a writer in the subject of audience. Establishing the correct audience has given me problems in the past, but I believe I entertained the music loving audience of, “The Rolling Stone” successfully in the article. .
ReplyDeleteFor my second submission, I am choosing my argument about big businesses harmful side effects in the world, and how it directly correlates to the movie “American Gangster”. In the piece, I believe that I presented a solid argument that truly portrayed the knowledge I have gained from this class.
In our first blog post about key terms I said, “When thinking about good, high quality writing, these traits come to mind: Organization, Interesting idea, Voice, Word choice, Flow, and Mood.” The idea of an “interesting idea” has evolved into the key term argument. In this class we have had to present a successful argument using our own voice to persuade a specific audience. I would keep all the words in my first list, but they seem less important than the key terms I have developed in this class including: rhetorical situation, argument, audience, and reflection. These terms will be helpful to my growth as a writer, and be easily transferable to future assignments. I believe reflection will be the most important idea I come away with in this class because it can cross over to many different aspects of life.
When we first arrived in class, we read “The Rhetorical Situation”, by Lloyd Bitzer. I described the reading by saying, “What I received out of this piece of writing is that a rhetorical situation, which should be created each time a person writes, is the presentation of an imperfection, to be analyzed, accepted, or rejected by the audience.” Now, when I reflect on rhetorical situation, I believe that the situation can take many forms such as the situation of tobacco companies I displayed in my rhetorical analysis of “American Gangster”.
I believe that the class portfolio is truly meant to show our growth as a writer and how we have gained more knowledge to transfer on to our future. Through reflection and looking back on past assignments, I have examined my growth as a writer, seeing a huge change in my understanding of audience and how to write for different genres. Through combining our works into a combined portfolio, we can better transfer knowledge by seeing what we have done poorly in some pieces and well in others and comparing the two. The last thing the portfolio does is shows how our theory of writing has changed through our progression.
The two pieces writing stand out for me are the Mini assignment #1 and Main assignment #1, because in these two assignments I make a lot of effort to make them better than the writings I have wrote. During I writing the Mini assignment #1, I learnt rhetorical situation, which is an unfamiliar thing to me. I did not hear this word before I take the WRIT 1122 class. In order to understand what rhetorical situation is, I read a lot and think a lot. According to different audience, I should decided what kind of genre I should use, and the writing’s content and narrate way should depended on certain genre. I have many syntax and grammar mistakes before I take the class. I have to go to the writing center to check my writing pieces and make sure there is few mistake as less as possible, so I went to the writing center several times. The Mini assignment #1 is about 5 pages long, and it is very hard for an international student to finish it.
ReplyDeleteIn this class, I know that a good writing must be pass through the process of rhetorical analysis. There are four main components of rhetorical analysis, rhetorical situation, ethos, pathos and logos. I have known rhetorical situation is very important, because one piece of writing is impossible without rhetorical situation. According to Bitzer, rhetorical situation consists of three elements, which are audiences, constraints, and exigence. Rhetorical situation is objective exists and is static. Specific audiences should have specific ethos, pathos and logos, which means with the change of audiences, all of the ethos, pathos and logos change.
DeleteThe key terms of my theory of writing are ethos, pathos and logos, as well as rhetorical analysis and revision.
For my portfolio, I’m not entirely sure what pieces I will include. I wasn’t aware that we should use evidence in our reflection from the pieces we choose to put in our portfolio. However, I think it was a good thing I wrote my reflection first and then I am compiling my portfolio. From this I can see which pieces I feel really represent my theory of writing, or the evolution of it.
ReplyDeleteWith my mistake I think my choices here being my first article I wrote for USA Today and my rhetorical analysis are good representations of my theory. The first piece we wrote shows my theory towards the beginning of class. It shows my perception of audience as well as my idea of the terms we had just learned. My rhetorical analysis was more of my application of these terms to a new genre of writing. I’ve never written an analysis before but I think my piece shows how far I have come with my writing. By being able to apply these terms, I have achieved the goal of this class. Coming in to this class without knowledge of most of these key terms, I think my application is pretty good. There is always room for improvement, but I feel pretty good about the terms in general.
Regarding the key terms, the main ones I feel are necessary to mention in my reflection are rhetorical situation, audience, and ethos. I know we looked at other words and defined them but these three I feel are the most important when writing any genre of writing. Audience involves morphing your entire approach to the piece. Rhetorical situation was the first term we defined and I feel it to be the most important. It is the entire purpose for any piece of writing, outside influences like audience affect the rhetorical situation, but the true context and reason for writing anything is going to be more important than anything else involving the piece.
Lastly, this portfolio is essentially a compilation of what we have learned and accomplished in this class. It is a representation of what we will be taking to our next quarter writing class. As I said earlier, the portfolio for me shows how far my writing has come due to my ability to apply these key terms we have learned over the quarter. This portfolio is the evolution of my writing and development of my theory of writing.