Portfolio Link

http://portofchris.weebly.com

Thlog #10

            The first notable thing we did in class was looking at previous students’ reflection essays. I thought it gave me a good range of how informal I could be. Zack made the point to just have examples that could back up my claims so that’s what I’m gonna focus on. It’s nice to know though that we could use our voice in our writing. Since it is a personal reflection essay, I think it would be difficult to stop myself from talking like myself while writing about myself.

            The survey we did in class was another thing that required my voice. By “voice” I mean my thoughts and opinions. The survey was basically asking us how we felt about the class and how we would improve it. The diversity and specificity of the questions showed how much Zack really cares about what his students thought of the class and I’m glad I could provide my thoughts about it. Personally, I like it when someone cares a lot about something and I’m glad I was able to provide some kind of feedback. Typing down my opinions also taught me what I liked about the class. I mean I already know I liked it but I wasn’t sure why, so it’s nice that

I learned something about myself.

            The  Google Doc’athon was also helpful in my path towards to self-growth. Giving other people feedback got me thinking about everything we learned in class and how we could apply that to our writing. This was definitely a practice for our own paper revisions. In the process of giving some feedback to my fellow students, I was able to see potential changes to my own paper. Since the other students had similar problems to myself, it was easy to get some inspiration.

WP3

Chris Medina

Zack De Piero

Writing 2

4 March 2016

Integrating Threshold Concepts

Summary:

            For my scholarly article, I have chosen “Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge” by Jan H.F. Meyer and Ray Land. The article introduces the idea of “threshold concepts” which are fundamental concepts that when acquired, brings one closer to understanding the subject while triggering different perspectives on the matter. Threshold concepts have five characteristics: transformative, irreversible, integrative, bounded, and troublesome. Learning some of these concepts are problematic, putting them in the category of troublesome. Within the troublesome aspect of TC’s, there are six types of troublesome knowledge: ritual, inert, conceptually difficult, alien, tacit, and troublesome language. Understanding threshold concepts helps teachers understand students’ process of learning, thus enabling them to improve their way of teaching.

Links:

Younger Audience (For full experience open as slideshow)

Older Audience

Analysis:

            The genre I chose for younger audiences – 1^st grade to 4^th grade – is an interactive story using PowerPoint. Throughout the story, I provided choices that kids can make to change the direction of the protagonist by clicking on the choices. This is possible through PowerPoint’s hyperlinking capabilities. I wanted to make it interactive as I thought of how stories are more fun for children especially if they are part of it.

The main theme of the story that I was aiming for was for the protagonist, Alaska, to have a changes in perspective connecting it to the article “Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge”. I intended to make Alaska relatable to the children by letting them make the choices to solve his problems regarding, simple topics such as color, and shapes. Alaska learns and gains new perspectives throughout the story with the help of the children. He is portrayed to have problems that he must solve, but in reality, it is the children who are solving these problems. By allowing children to be in control of Alaska’s successes and failures, I think kids are able to learn with Alaska. I thought threshold concepts was too complicated of a topic for children, so I decided not to explicitly mention it. This constraint, as said in Laura Carroll’s essay in Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, “limit the way discourse is delivered or communicated” (Carroll). I did however include the main idea of TC’s.

The main idea of TC’s is the change in perspective one gets by learning something new. The story is set up where there are multiple events that lead to Alaska gaining a new perspective after learning something new. For example, Alaska’s favorite color is purple, but after learning that purple sea urchins are dangerous, he realizes that the notion of purple can expand to more than just aesthetics. When kids are first being taught shapes, they have those toys where they put blocks into holes of the same shape. Young kids might think that blocks fit into holes of the same shape and stop there. They might not understand the concept of size where blocks fit in holes because of the smaller size of the blocks or the bigger size of the holes. This is a form of troublesome knowledge known as ritual knowledge, which is knowledge that is routinely learned without getting a grasp of the bigger picture (Meyer). Simple as the topic seem to be, young children may still have a difficult time comprehending.

My decision to pick an animal as the protagonist is because many popular children’s characters are anthropomorphic animals. I think it is fun, cute, and add a little bit of fantasy that child readers enjoy. Since the protagonist is a sea otter, I chose a blue background that is similar to the sea. I used bright backgrounds and fonts to keep children attracted to the story.  Alaska’s and his teacher’s lines were put inside a textbox to imply that the lines are being spoken by them and not being narrated.

My original plan for an older genre is a restaurant menu, but I didn’t know how to put enough textual description that will show my genre’s connection to my scholarly article. So I decided to make a Yelp review of a restaurant. This way, I can describe the food and connect it to threshold concepts. Like, in my interactive story genre, I explicitly left out threshold concepts. I do not think that the average Yelp reviewer is aware of what TC’s are. However, I did include the idea that TC’s represent. In my PowerPoint, the interactive story is used to teach kids about different perspectives through examples, but my Yelp review’s purpose is to just show examples of gaining new perspectives. My main goal was to demonstrate how food is information.

People have different likes and tastes in food and sometimes it’s because of preconceptions they have about the food. After someone tastes a certain type of food for the first time, they get information on what it tastes like and how they feel tasting it. This could lead to them liking the food or hating it. In the second review, Marissa after having a bad experience with shrimp assumes that all types of seafood is bad until she tried her boyfriend’s which she thought was okay. Not bad, but okay. Some people who have never personally tasted food but only heard about how it tastes will gain a new perspective after they taste it themselves. For Choudhury, his inexperience with eating beef, possibly because of religious reasons, led him to be unaware of the hype that is beef. Once he tasted the vegetarian imitation of beef and learns of beef’s taste, he becomes part of the hype. The third reviewer, has his own reasons for eating at “One for All”, which is for the spicy wings. For each level of spiciness that he passes, he gets new information of spiciness and enters a portal that changes his perspective on the spiciness of each level. After reaching the 15^th level, he may think that level 5 was not as bad as he thought when he was in level 4. I gave all these reviewers different purposes of eating in “One for All” to represent the vast perspectives that people have, especially when it comes to food. This allows the readers of the reviews to relate to the reviewers, which builds up their ethos, “the credibility of the rhetor” (Carroll). They are seen as the normal everyday people who have the same appreciation for food as the readers.

Works Cited

Carroll, Laura. Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor, 2010. Print.

Meyer, Jan, and Ray Land. Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge. Print.

Thlog #9

            Coming up with ideas for my WP3 was difficult for me. It is both a gift and a curse to have so much freedom with choosing a genre. It feels like picking what you want to eat in a really long menu; sure it’s nice that there are a lot of options, but there’s so many to choose from you can’t decide. Once I did decide on my genres, there was this doubt whether I can keep them or not. Connecting the topic of my article to the genre is the hardest part for me and what keeps me from sticking to my chosen genres. What I learned this week is that it’s totally fine to let your first ideas go. I have a habit of keeping my original ideas because I feel as if I’ve put so much effort in cultivating them that it’s a waste to throw them away. Sometimes sticking to them works because I get ideas that make them work out in the end. But other times I think to myself about the potential my ideas have and I force them in a direction where they’re not supposed to go. I go through more trouble keeping the old rather than investing in the new, and it’s hard for to figure out when to leave or stay.

            The peer review activity helped me open my eyes to what I needed to do. Reading the comments made by the peer reviewers sparked more ideas in my head which I thought had the same potential as my old ideas. Having the mindset that I could let go of the old got me thinking even more. I did not completely abandoned my old ideas used them to boost my new ones. Now my mind doesn’t feel stuck on particular ideas; it’s the ideas that stick to my mind.

PB3A

The topic I have chosen is “Overcoming Barriers to Student Understanding: Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge” by Jan Meyer and Ray Land. The article focuses on “threshold concept”, a concept that lead to new ways of understanding in order to progress in a particular discipline. Thinking about the definition of “threshold concept” sparked some ideas for my genre transformations. The key words “order” and “progress” stuck to me which led me think of my genre for older audiences: restaurant menus. I thought of “order” as in ordering from a menu, and “progress” as in you can’t skip the entrée and go to desert. A restaurant menu has multiple different compartments from appetizers to drinks and I think there are plenty of material I can use. The article also mentions barriers that the topic of food will easily connect to. There are people who have restrictions on what they eat, whether it be because of their diet, allergies, or simply their personal preference. Threshold concept leads to new ways of thinking, and for someone who is trying a certain type of food for the first time and likes it, they may be opened up to a more diverse food palate. To be more specific, I will probably choose Japanese cuisine as I think it is too exotic for some people’s comfort zone. And sushi is also my favorite food. I will try to utilize the vast variety of food menus and add other options in the menu such as vegetarian options, spiciness, and combo meals.

For my genre for younger audiences, I could not help but think of a story of a protagonist learning something new and being able to use that newfound knowledge to conquer his problems. For example, in the videogame Pokémon, the player must teach their Pokémon moves that would help them continue on to new destinations that were restricted before. Videogames provide many of these examples about obtaining something new, a skill or an item, and then progressing in the game. However, these newly obtained items do not fit the whole “new way of understanding” concept which goes much deeper than just simply getting new things. But since the required genre is for younger audiences, I may be able to get away with it and just find a way to connect it to the article’s idea of “threshold concepts”. I want to avoid doing a simple children’s story so I might do something pertaining to videogames. I’m not too sure exactly what genre I will do but what comes to mind is an interactive storyline on Powerpoint for elementary schoolers. If I do take that route, I will provide a story of a protagonist that has multiple endings. I will set it up like a videogame where the player can win or lose depending on the choices they make. If they do lose, I will give an explanation as to why the players lost. The storyline will revolve around “threshold concepts” and will teach the players about it. Instead of the protagonist picking up items and skills, they will pick up knowledge to get them through their journey, emphasizing how new ways of thinking contribute to progress.

Thlog #8

On Monday, the videos we watched tied really well into the course’s teachings. I thought it resembled how writers have different perspectives on the same topic and use particular moves to fit their purpose. Unlike writers, I felt like the artists painted the way they did for the sake of themselves. Since they are artists, they stuck closer to self-expression instead of appropriating their work to a specific audience. Not to say that writers aren’t artists, it just seems like writers have more constraints in the art of rhetoric to clearly send their message to their targeted audience. On the other hand, the painters didn’t seem to have a targeted audience and had more freedom with showing their own style. I still thought the video was relevant to the class though since it’s a good example of how a topic can be seen in multiple angles. Rooted from that one ordinary tree, four distinct trees sprouted.

When Zack showed us examples of past WP3’s, I think what confused people the most is that their scholarly articles didn’t revolve on the topic of writing. I think the issue of how to use the content of the articles troubled some people, including me, because the topic of writing is not structured like a story such as the feud between Russia and America. Personally, a story is what I first think of when transforming a genre so I just have to break out of that mindset. Having my first topic choices taken actually helped since the pressure of picking a new one sparked new ideas that diverged from the “story” model. It is reassuring when Zack said to not think about it too much. Apparently there’s more freedom to WP3 than WP2 so I’ll go ahead and trust that. It is true that writing about writing will help us understand the topic better.

Thlog #7

            On Wednesday’s class, I thought it was pretty funny when Zack brought up “attacking the page”. This is something I’ve been doing since high school, and it’s nice to hear that it’s not just me who does this. Makes me feel a little bit saner. When I do this though, I never think of it as “attacking the page”. It’s just me releasing some stress through hitting the keyboard. So I don’t actually type “fighting words”, just random letters that my fingers encounter, for instance, “safhsdfhsdahfd”. Sometimes you just gotta let some steam out, which I had to do for my WP2. Also, it’s good exercise for my fingers.

            During the socrative.com activity, it was nice to get a glimpse of how others opened with their paper. I noticed that many of their hooks started out using the topic of their chosen sources. For my WP2, my hook talked about the actual prompt of the paper, which involves the rhetorical features of my chosen texts. I feel like I totally disregarded my topic of K-pop and didn’t incorporate it enough on my paper. Writing was not as fun because my paper hardly talked about K-pop. I also feel like my topic didn’t leave a mark on my readers which I wanted. Since the prompt of the paper was about the writers’ writing, I wasn’t too sure how much of K-pop I should include or if any. I tried to read my sources as a writer so my mind kinda left out the content of the sources. I guess it’s up to me to find a good balance for that. And it does make sense to make the hook about the topic since I’ll talk about the prompt later anyways. I need something to connect to my thesis and using the prompt as the hook would be redundant.

Thlog #6

            So what I learned this week was that I use hedged language in everyday life; I just didn’t know the name for it. What I need to do now is learn how to use it more in my writing. After the WP1, I noticed that I tend to include a lot of my own prior knowledge in my paper. Not only does the information lack evidence, it is also stated very directly. I’m basically throwing out my assumptions to my readers. Sometimes I have trouble distinguishing a personal analysis between a personal assumption. So in case I have one of those moments, I could generalize the statement or make it less direct.

            Another thing I learned this week was parallelism. Like hedged language, I have also used parallelism before but didn’t know what it was called. When I read my paper to make sure it sounds right, I check by ear. Now that I’m aware of parallelism, I can visually check for a sound sentence by looking at the words and sentence structures. Before, I would just write words and hope they would form a nice sounding sentence; but now that I know the formula to what makes a sentence sound nice in the first place, I can intently write them.

            A lot of this week’s lessons covered stuff we use in our regular lives. For example, even when I write an ordinary text, I find myself using euphemistic language. Actually I don’t see myself using since it’s just been an old habit of mine, but hearing about it in class makes me aware of it. Now when I talk to my friend or something I’d be thinking of connotations and denotations, and it makes me feel that my texts are fabricated and not as genuine. I guess it’s just weird knowing that I put effort in writing a simple casual text.

           

            

PB2B

Like how singers might slightly open their mouth more or how painters might use only the tip of their paintbrush, writers also make certain actions to give a certain effect to their writing. Although the “moves” that they make may seem trivial, they significantly change the nature of their writing. As said in “How to Read Like a Writer” by Mike Bunn, writers have a purpose and an audience. These moves are rhetorical devices writers use to serve their purpose while appropriately sending out their message to their audience.

Throughout the quarter, the class had read multiple articles displaying how writers show their moves. The book They Say, I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein provides an index of commonly used “move” templates in academic writing. They are arranged in categories according to the effect each of the templates produce. In our assigned readings, we can see the writers using some of the templates listed. The usage of these moves have a function; they are conscious decisions made by the writers.

When a writer wants to quote someone, they could use templates belonging to the “Introducing Quotations” category. The templates in this category simply introduces what someone says. For example, Mike Bunn’s “How to Read Like a Writer” introduces a former student’s quote with, “Allison, states…” The purpose of this is to just provide the reader with a quick background so they won’t be surprised where the quote came from. It is important to clarify who a piece of information came from, and a writer can also accomplish that with templates in the “Signaling Who Is Saying What” category. In “Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis” by Laura Bolin Carroll, she specifies her source of information by saying, “According to the Ad Council’s website…” It is a statement that directly traces where she got her data. By doing this, a writer can also build credibility with their info if their source is as respected as the organization Ad Council.

To state the position of an author a writer is quoting, they could use “Capturing Authorial Action” templates. In Dirk’s “Navigating Genres”, he writes, “Devitt argues that…” to present an argument from another author that supports his. Instead of using a neutral word such as “states”, Dirk uses “argues” to imply that Devitt has a chosen position. Dirk also uses a template from “Explaining Quotations” saying, “In other words, Miller is saying…” Explaining a quote can give readers a better understanding of it, but Dirk’s usage of it is to provide a brief summary of the quote.

            To show another side of an argument, a writer could use a template from “Introducing an Ongoing Debate”. “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)” by Janet Boyd displays how a different point of view could be taken by saying, “On the other hand…” This brings up the idea that a different take on the subject is possible. With this commonly used phrase, Boyd is providing another perspective on the matter and adds details on how things may occur if that other situation were to happen.

            Many of the templates in They Say, I Say are shared by more than one of the readings. After reading the articles, I noticed that some moves the authors used were unique to their articles. For example, in “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking)” Boyd makes her section titles deeply personal, calling a couple of them “Cultivating Your Inner Coroner” and “Learning How to Say Goodbye”. The sections discuss how someone would write in a particular genre, and with titles such as these, readers would connect more easily with other writers of these genres. For someone that had to write a eulogy, they would have to learn how to say goodbye. This move brings the thoughts and feelings a writer of a eulogy might have to the reader, and for this reason, I will name the move “Method Acting”.

            Like Boyd’s article, “Responding—Really Responding—to Other Students’ Writing” by Straub also makes use of the section titles. For this article however, the titles are set up as questions. The section then answers the question that its title asks. Readers would look at the titles and would immediately know what the sections are going to be about. Since the titles have a bigger font than the rest of the writing, it would be easy to find an answer to a specific question. The format of the article looks somewhat like a “Q&A” so I will name the move accordingly.

In “Backpacks to Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis”, many references of popular culture are mentioned. Students who are learning about rhetoric would feel more comfortable with reading this as Carroll made it easy for students to relate to the subject by including Ronald McDonald, The Simpsons, and the Campbell’s Soup Company. This move allows the students to apply rhetoric to their own lives and will be able to recall what they learned more frequently. The title of this move is “I Feel You”.

            Usually, when writers use other writers as an example to support their argument, their description of the writers are positive. Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” brings writers down to the level of the ordinary and say that even professional writers have a difficult time writing. By saying that professional writers are capable of making mistakes as everyone else, readers are comforted by the fact that it is normal to make mistakes. Lamott even goes to criticize writers who are not troubled by writing. This move shall be known as “Everybody Makes Mistakes”.

            “How to Read Like a Writer” tries to catch the readers’ attention visually. For words that are significant, author Mike Bunn uses a different font to make it stand out from the rest. It has the same effect that italics have on words but slightly stronger as the font is peculiar and not commonly used. Reserved for important terms and referencing his introductory paragraph, the special font is definitely an eye-catcher. Therefore, the name of this move is “Spotlight”.

Thlog #5

            Early on in the quarter, I used to come to class without bringing my laptop. My laptop’s not the best when it comes to portability so I thought it wasn’t worth bringing it, especially since I have classes back to back after.  Although for the past couple of weeks, I’ve brought my laptop and it’s less of a hassle than I thought it’d be. Before I would write all the freewriting assignments down on my notebook, and thinking about it now I think that’s more of a hassle. I had the option of using the computers set up in class too, but the idea of people being able to see my activities was a little weird. Zack’s class revolves around the use of a computer so I just made it easy for myself and go along with it. To be honest though, I feel more connected to the class since a lot of the assignments are shared through Google Docs.

            The activity about how two types of disciplines could talk about the same topic was eye-opening for me. I wasn’t too sure at first how two different types of thinking could be applied to a topic but after seeing examples from the classmates, I got a pretty firm grasp on the concept. This is one of the perks I like from having a class Goggle Doc; people could see other’s writings and learn from it. Well, what I learned is that every topic has an infinite amount of angles that it could be viewed in. Having my third-eye opened has allowed me to get some potential topics for WP2. Instead of seeing whether or not a topic can be used for the prompt, I can use my newfound vision to make the topic, one that I actually like, fit into the prompt.  

PB2A

            Scholarly articles are the finished products of experts’ reviewed by other experts. They are reliable sources for academics who happen to be interested in studying a particular topic. Future studies will then depend on their research assuming that it is legitimate. For a field of study to be continuously legitimate, every study that supports is must be coherent as one broken link in a chain leaves the chain worthless. Experts have the responsibility of providing valid and trustworthy information, and to do so, they follow a set of conventions to preserve the credibility of the academic community. The article "Motion camouflage induced by zebra stripes" by Martin J. How, and Johannes M. Zanker represents how a scholarly article is written. The paper tries to answer the significance of zebras’ stripes. It suggests motion camouflage as the reason for zebras having stripes and tries to prove this by providing their methods and test results. In the process, the authors uses various rhetorical techniques to strengthen their claims.

            The paper starts with an abstract, giving the readers a quick idea of what the paper will be about. It starts by pointing out how important the subject is saying, “The functional significance of the zebra coat stripe pattern is one of the oldest questions in evolutionary biology, having troubled scientists ever since Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace first disagreed on the subject” (How). If Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace fought over the subject, then the subject must be worth caring about. On the side of the abstract is a list of keywords, appearing like how it would in a science textbook. The keywords listed (Camouflage, Illusory motion, Aliasing, Aperture effect, and Equus burchelli) center the thought to the main topic of the paper: motion camouflage by zebra stripes. Both the list of keywords and abstract provide the main ideas of the paper, telling the readers which aspects to focus on.

            The introduction comes afterwards, bringing up the argument of zebra stripes as an evolutionary protection against insects and mammalian predators. It states that this argument has received the most attention among other theories of the stripes’ functions, noting again how major the theory is even among the scientific community. Reading the online pdf of the article allows the reader to clearly see the citations as they are colored in light blue, and to easily tell that the introduction is covered in citations. This means that a good amount of information from sources were used. Because it is the introduction, background information would be given to give the readers a smooth transition to the experiments conducted. It would be easier to understand the what, why, and how questions pertaining to the experiment and readers would not be left in the dark.

            The article then carries on to explain the experiment’s procedures. Basically, the researchers created a simulation of how mammalian predators or insects might see the zebras using two types of optical illusions: wagon-wheel effect and barber-pole illusion. A lot of scientific terms were used so a reader not proficient in the field may not easily comprehend the article. The results of the experiment were presented after, showing pictures of how the zebras were seen in the simulation and graphs showing some other scientific stuff. This actually reminds me of SCIgen, the computer science paper generator and how they share a similar format. For all I know, the article could also be nonsense, since I cannot understand both the article and the CS papers. The graphs however make it look legitimate. Thankfully, a discussion section is generously provided for the people struggling to understand what’s going on. Unlike the section about the experiment and results, the introduction and the discussion provides a more qualitative explanation of the process. The numbers and data were left in the materials and methods, and the results sections.

Thlog #4

            After reading over my WP1, I knew I had to fix some stuff but I wasn’t too sure where to start. The highlighting activity we did on Monday was the key to success. I completely got what Zack said about seeing our paper in a bird’s eye view. By highlighting the evidence and analysis, I got a clearer picture of what was missing. I was never really a fan of color-coding as I thought it was a waste of time, but after seeing it used this way, I’m a changed man. Reading the paper wasn’t enough for me to see what was wrong; I needed to visually see the problems. Also, highlighting is aesthetically pleasing, especially if you use bright colors. After highlighting, I quickly saw that there was too much analysis and not enough direct evidence. Like having too much cereal to your milk, having the right proportion is important. It brings harmony and a good mouth-feel.

On Wednesday, we did a group project on Google Docs about writing on a topic based on our assigned genre. Every group had the same topic but we just have to write in the style of our assigned genres. The topic was about a man’s murder and my group had to write it as a newspaper report. Zack gave us the option to add in details so naturally, we made him the murderer. Not that we think he would make a good murderer, we just did it for kicks and giggles.

To be honest though Zack’s a great teacher and I think he really does put a lot of effort into making us into better writers, especially during the process of writing our WP1. I would be more specific and add details but I’m pretty sure the whole class knows what I’m talking about. 10/10 would recommend as Writing 2 teacher.

Thlog #3

            I’m still stuck using the rules and outlines high school gave me. I have to calibrate my brain and remind myself that there are times when those rules could be broken. Seeing how the student who wrote the paper on Modest Mouse had a different introduction helped me out a little. Although his paper might not be the best example, there’s hope that a different introduction is possible. I understand though that different doesn’t always mean good, and just because I can do it, does not mean I should. If I were to take the road less traveled by, my introduction would have to be really great, because this is one of those situations where it could either be really good, or really bad.

            Another moment of enlightenment I received this week was from the arguability test. I mean I already know what the arguability test means since it’s pretty self-explanatory. How to conduct that test was the mystery. To test the argument, just add a “not” or “don’t” somewhere in the thesis to make it prove the opposite of its initial argument. If this is possible then the thesis is arguable. It’s simple and functional, one of my favorite combinations of adjectives. Personally, it’s hard for me to come up with a concise thesis, so I have trouble figuring out if my thesis is arguable or what I’m even trying to argue. This simple solution would surely go a long way.

            The reading “Responding—Really Responding—to other Students’ Writing” by Richard Straub taught me a valuable lesson that will go beyond my Writing 2 class. I learned that constructive criticism is easier to give by balancing it with compliments. It’s nice to get compliments every now and then especially with your writing. Writing is something many people struggle with and to know that someone appreciates their hard work verifies the effort put into it.        

Thlog #2

            I tend to come up with ideas while I’m writing but they usually sidetrack from my current topic. What I do is just write the ideas down and then come back to them later when I know where to place them. My problem is that I don’t get to use those ideas because I end up not knowing where to put them. Some of those ideas are pretty swell too so there’s that feeling of wasted effort. To fix my predicament, I’ll start using Zack’s placeholder tip. When I’m organizing my paper, I could look at these placeholders and see if my leftover ideas could be applied to them. I’m also very stubborn when I get writer’s block, as I stay on the topic until I figure out what to write breaking my writing momentum. These placeholders could help my writing process be overall smoother. Another tip I will gratefully use is the oxford comma. Thanks to the Vampire Weekend song, I’m aware of the oxford comma, but never realized the importance of it until last Monday. I’ll start to think of it as a mandatory tool. It's so interesting to me that these symbols change how we read, especially with dashes, commas, and parentheses. I like how the meaning of the sentence change just because of these little symbols.

            The thesis statement is probably one of the most frustrating aspect in writing a paper. I have never thought or knew of a working thesis statement. I do feel that a regular thesis statement is limiting and I don’t like how my paper has to revolve around it. It’s even worse when my paper ends up not fulfilling what my thesis statement states. I feel as if I’m not in control of my own paper anymore. I will keep the working statement in mind and will experiment with it for future papers.

            

PB1B

            Understanding genres and their conventions have enabled people to make software that generate genres. These “genre generators” use a certain genre’s conventions and create an example of that genre. Patterns of some genres have become so predictable that they could be programmed in a computer. The programmers who developed these “genre generators” know how certain genres are set up and used that knowledge to let internet users create works of that particular genre.

A genre as sophisticated as Computer Science research papers could be broken down and replicated by a machine. SCIgen, the automatic CS paper generator, allows the user to create a computer-made CS paper just by entering a name of an author and then pushing a button. All of the papers generated in SCIgen follow the same format: title, authors’ names, abstract, introduction, body, conclusion, and references. For “genre generators” like this to work, it would require consistency. If the paper has information that makes sense, the rest of the information on the paper must not only make sense, but be coherent as well. However, having a machine write a valid paper would require more than just patterns. So to solve this problem, everything that is written on the paper must be complete nonsense. The point of this generator is not to create a legitimate CS paper but to show what a typical CS paper may look like, or “to auto-generate submissions to conferences that you suspect might have very low submission standards” as mentioned in the “About” section of the SCIgen homepage. To give some credibility to the paper, academic language is used. They also included graphs and figures to make the paper more believable. To make the graphs and figures appear true, the paper uses the first-person word “we” as if to show that personal research had been done to obtain the data. I personally searched the references used in the generated papers and I learned that they were also fake. One of the authors were actually “agjhk”, the made-up author name that I entered.

Another “genre generator” is Pandyland, a comic generator. Every comic is comprised of images and text inside speech bubbles. Pandyland makes exactly that. As it says on its website, Pandyland is random, so like SCIgen, some of the comics generated might not make sense. The comics users can make only have three panels: beginning, middle, and end. Because of that, the stories created are not too intricate and don’t make much sense. It does however give room for the viewer to use their imagination and make sense out of the comic. It is easy to assume that Pandyland’s intention is to provoke humor as the panels contain silly elements to them. A generator that produces random and nonsensical images with the intention of comedy would have a better chance of receiving a positive response from the audience than with the intention to produce serious comics. With Pandyland, preset images with no apparent context are shuffled to make a somewhat sensible comic.

Instead of having prewritten text, Memegenerator just provides a template and lets the users create the text. These memes that users create consist of an image with text on the top and bottom of the picture. The top text is usually the intro to the joke and the bottom would be the punchline. The generator provides different meme images for people to use. Each of these images have their own context and creators use jokes that fit with the context of that image. One example of a meme image is Bad Luck Brian. The picture shows a boy who someone could say appears unlucky and the textual jokes used with the picture involves Brian getting into very unfortunate events. These individual meme images are a genre themselves.

A “genre generator” that I found called Chaoticshiny, specializes in writing and gaming for the game Dungeons and Dragons. For people that run out of ideas for their story, they could use the generator to make stuff for them. It has multiple generators to choose from including a civilization generator, name generators, and even an RPG Drinking Game generator. One that stood out to me was their tarot card generator. It lets you choose the quantity of tarot cards you want to create and which information from description, meaning, condition, and the back of the card you want to include. The format of the tarot card is simple; it starts with what image is on the card, then says what is associated with it and what it represents. A description of what’s on the back of the card could also be included. Using conventions of a tarot card, the program can randomize the stereotypical information on a tarot card and combine them to make a new card.

PB1A

            A textual genre contains conventions that make works of a genre fit into that particular genre. These conventions grow out of situations that surround the genre and the way that the genre responds to those situations. An example of textual genre is a syllabus. A syllabus’ purpose is to give students an outline of how a course will proceed. Written by a teacher to their students, the syllabus should have the intention of helping the students pass the class. The less questions the syllabus leaves open the more appropriate the syllabus is to the genre. This situation of teachers wanting their students to succeed continues the recurrence of conventions that will assist students through their courses. Features that are useless or do the opposite of helping students pass their classes will be dropped and will likely not appear in future syllabuses as conventions.

            To give a quick idea of the course, a syllabus will first provide the basics. These include the course’s name, the teacher’s name, the teacher’s contact info, and the time and location of the course. This information provides which course the syllabus will be about. The course’s title, usually typed in a big font, is on the top of the front page also acting as the title of the syllabus. It helps students distinguish it from syllabuses they might have for other classes. Students could use their syllabus as a resource for general information so it is best if teachers keep their syllabus accessible. In case students have questions not answered in their syllabus, they can ask their teacher with the contact info they provided.

            Information regarding what to expect of the class comes after. These include course description, required materials, assignments, and the schedule of the course. Despite the different kinds of subjects syllabuses cover, they all have course descriptions informing students of the knowledge they will get out of class. Then they are given a list of materials necessary or recommended for passing the class. Assignments are usually listed with the weight they have in the students’ grades, enabling students to prioritize the most important assignments. The course schedule shows the plan for each day students have the class. It could also include assignments that are expected to be finished before the day of each class.

Besides information on what students should expect from the class, teachers also present what they expect of the students. The syllabus acts as a constitution, informing students on how they should act in class. Rules are in the syllabus to confirm that if students do break them, consequences will follow. Attendance is highly valued, as some classes emphasize their importance by applying attendance to students’ grades.

Teachers want their syllabuses to be easily understood by their students, so a straightforward syllabus is beneficial. Some syllabuses are categorized by bullet points, making it faster to find a specific piece of information. Students who are not new to school should be aware of what a syllabus is. The consistency of how syllabuses are organized help students stay familiar with the format for syllabuses from their other classes.

Thlog #1

I try to view all my classes as a chance to learn something new. Even if I’ve learned about the subject before, I keep in mind that there’s always an unlimited amount of information and perspectives pertaining to the subject. Genre for example, is a subject that I encounter numerous times in everyday life. Ever since I was an elementary schooler, what comes to mind when I think of genres are different types of music, literature, or films. My perspective on what a genre is has expanded. I learned that genres could be anything with conventions and be as specific as a ransom note or a eulogy. Ransom notes aren’t threatening just for kicks; they are threatening because their purpose is to have their demands met.

Another important thing I try to keep in mind is that things I learn in class could also be applied to other aspects of my life. First-order thinking and second-order thinking was interesting to learn about because I practice them every day. I just never noticed I did because I wasn’t aware of their existence. It also does not have to be related to writing when I practice first and second-order thinking. When I think of going out to eat, my first-order thinking would be thinking of what I’m craving at the time. My second-order thinking would be what restaurants are open, how far the restaurant is from my current location, price, and other factors involving if it is worth getting the food. “Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing” by Peter Elbow mentioned that people are scared to be creative with first-order thinking because they don’t want to appear stupid. I think that is something that many people can relate to, and it is helpful to conquer fear when you know why you’re scared in the first place.

About Me

I was born in the Philippines on August 14, 1995. I’m the youngest of four with two brothers and one sister. In 2004, my family, except for my oldest brother and sister, moved to America in hopes of getting a better life. My brother came here before us and my sister already had her own family in the Philippines. I was only 8 years old when we moved so I can’t clearly recall what I felt about the situation. Either it was because I was in denial of having to leave everything I know and love behind or I genuinely did not know what was going on. Before coming to America, my only experience of the country came from television and movies. Because of that, what came to mind when I think of America was Disneyland, snow, and blonde hair. Having lived here for more than ten years, I learned that it does not snow in every part of America and that not everyone that lives here has blonde hair. Disneyland however, was as relevant then as it is now. It was definitely a culture shock for me as even the air somehow felt new and different. More than half of my life was spent here so I associate myself more with American culture while also sticking to my roots of course. I still know how to read, write, and speak my native language Tagalog and am somewhat aware of current events in the Philippines. In America, I lived in a Latino dominated community and most of my friends back in my city were of Mexican decent. I like to think that I’ve absorbed some of their culture as I was constantly surrounded by Spanish and actual legit Mexican food. With the help of the internet, my taste in things has even become more diverse. My music taste can go from The Cure to K-pop and I can watch an episode of The Office and watch anime right after. I am grateful for my parents for bringing me here and giving me the chance to be exposed to multiple cultures. I truly do think that America has provided us a better life.