For this in-class activity, you'll need to use your blog post that you did in-class on Monday.
There are a couple steps to this activity.
There are a couple steps to this activity.
Step 1: Generate a list of Key Terms from your Blog Post
On Monday, you were suppose to create a list of key terms for your first blog post. Some of you did not do this, so please go back to your blog and pull out key terms that you think about before you write. Add them to that blog post by simply "responding" to your own post. If you've already done this, then you are good to go on to Step 2.
Step 2: Create a Wordle
On Monday, you were suppose to create a list of key terms for your first blog post. Some of you did not do this, so please go back to your blog and pull out key terms that you think about before you write. Add them to that blog post by simply "responding" to your own post. If you've already done this, then you are good to go on to Step 2.
Step 2: Create a Wordle
Go to your blog post and copy your post so that you can then paste it into a wordle.
How to create a Wordle: Go to wordle.net. Hit “create.” Paste any document you want into the blank space. You can play and manipulate the colors and fonts as you wish once you paste your document inside the wordle. Save the wordle to the wordle gallery. Then once it is saved you can post the url to the new blog post.
Step 3: Beginning to Theorize
In about 150-250 words, respond to the following questions:
What connections do you see (if any) between your wordle image and your key terms. If you don’t see a connection why do you think that is? Why might it be important to see connections?
Next, create a theory of good writing based on your own key terms and wordle image. When creating this theory think back to science classes---meaning a theory is a group of statements put together to explain a phenomena (specifically here good writing) and assists in the understanding of these statements. Consider your audience, which is for now other first-year students who might be taking first-year composition. So, you want to use language that other first-year students would understand.
Step 4: Making Connections
In groups of 2-3, share what you found in this activity and share your theory.
Step 5: Reflection
Reflect on this activity (in about 100-150 words). What can you say about yourself as a writer? What might your identity as a writer look like right now?
Step 6: Responding to Peers
The last step is to comment back to at least 2 of your peers' post. Remember you want to engage in a conversation, so it's more than "I really liked this" or "I agree with you."
**By the time this activity is concluded, you'll have a blog post that includes the following: (1) url for your wordle; (2) your first iteration of your theory of writing; and (3) quick reflection over the activity.
I saw a few connections between my wordle and my key terms of writing, the largest and most used term was argument. I think this is an important connection because like writing arguing is a way to prove your point or instill change.
ReplyDeleteTo write well is to present A good argument, or prove a point. this is not simply done because of what goes into arguing in general. If you are to present anything in a way that will win you an argument, you first must make sure that you come across as intelligent i.e follow the rules of writing. But more so that appearing intelligent in your words, make sure you have real content to flesh out so that whoever reads what you wright will see it your way. Of course people will not nesiisarrly agree whith the content alone, so to do good writing one must always appeal to their intended audience.
I do agree that a good argument is pivotal for a good writing. I didn't emphasize it in my own post, but this post reminds me of the importance of showing good arguments. Sometimes people just use beautiful words to draw others' attention instead of using real content to persuade others. This is a very generally existing problem and sometimes I made this sort of mistakes. This post is a good remind for me.
DeleteArgument was also the visible term in my wordle and I too enjoy persuasive writing. I don't think that you will always have people agree with what you are writing, especially if you are arguing a topic that is particularly debatable. However, I do think you succeed in writing effectively if your audience can understand your viewpoint and it provokes them to think about it differently.
DeleteI agree with you, you have focused to much in the argument that most of the writing have and that was one important point that I forgot to focus on. In my I have focused too much in the idea that every writing has and the background that a person needs to have before writing, so i talked about some of the points that make a good argument and i forgot the argument itself.
DeleteI agree that it is extremely important to appeal to the intended audience and I wish I had emphasized it more in my own theory. It’s vital in persuading a particular argument or view point to, like Bitzer’s says, constrain the rhetoric to the intended audience. By doing this it will help “sell” your argument and more easily persuade the audience/reader into believing your ideas.
DeleteI agree with your idea that good writing need arguing. But, I think good writing does need some convinced evidence to persuade readers, and these are the core parts of good writing. Good writing not only has good points, but also needs persuasive evidence.
DeleteI think this is a very well formulated theory on account of the fact that no one like their time wasted and if your mode of discourse is concise you are far more likely to entice your audience and make them more open to your ideas and proposals. I also agree that writing is an extremely important discipline, especially for a new student.
Deletehttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953472/good_writing
ReplyDeleteTheory
I do find some connections between my wordle and my key words in my first post.
To create a good writing, there are three rules which are critical. The first rule is that you should make yourself clear and express your ideas in direct ways. For example, at the beginning of your essay, you should point out your thesis statement which is clear enough for your audience to understand. Do not use the words which can’t be understood by your target audience even they are “beautiful” words.
The second rule is that a good writer would make himself or herself reasonable and all the materials he or she uses should be based on credible sources. You can’t just use the sources like Wikipedia to illustrate an academic topic. Your writing should be persuasive by using credible sources from broadly credible scholars or organizations.
The third rule is that your essay should be well-organized. No one would be willing to read your essay thoroughly if your essay were badly-organized even if you had good points. You should put both your points and the sources supporting you in a body paragraph. Do not mixed up your key points without order. You need to organize your essay in an ordered way so that every parts of your essay serves your points well and not a repetition of your previous points.
Reflection
I think I have made some progress through this activity. Before I had this activity, I hadn’t paid much attention to making myself clear. Sometimes I mixed up all my points and didn’t organize my essay very well. As a result, some of my previous essays were not readable very well. Now I came to realize the importance of a well-organized structure to a good essay. I need to express my emotions and thoughts in understood ways even if I had strong points. Since now, I will pay more attention to the three rules I listed above and I think I would be a good writer if I obeyed the rules.
I agree with not using words that people can't understand. Personally, I believe that when you want to convince others about anything, first you must be able to communicate with them because understanding is important.
DeleteThe Wordle does not directly reflect my key terms, unless you know what were the key terms that I utilized. I should have reiterated the key points and focused more on that instead of giving examples. If there are no connections, it means that there is a good chance that my message did not get across.
ReplyDeleteGood writing has to be concise, you have to be able to make your point across as briefly as possible. Do not lose the interest of your audience, you need to keep their attention and utilizing 25 cent words will quickly lose their attention. Dominate the topic of your writing, make sure that whenever you are writing that you have complete dominion over it. After finishing the writing, read it out loud, make sure that it has flow and coherence. The last thing you want is for your audience to lose cohesion of the writing because of an extra long sentence. Give your writing to somebody else, it will do you good to have somebody else read it and give you feedback. That invaluable feedback will help you make any corrections or improvements.
**What can you say about yourself as a writer? What might your identity as a writer look like right now? **
I noticed that I approach writing as most of the things I do in life, very pragmatic. I approach it as it makes the most sense, if it does not make sense I would not do it. When I compared my theory to that of my peer I noticed that my theory and that of my peer seemed to align in the analytical sense. But she pointed out something that I would not even think about, passion. I approached writing as a task, an objective to be met. Make a good point in your writing and connect with your audience, that is all. Comparing theories with a peer of a different background allowed me to recognize the area that was lacking. The good thing about diversity is that it almost forces you to step outside of your comfort zone, which is when you learn the most.
http://i.imgur.com/ypTUzZm.png
http://i62.tinypic.com/vra6vr.jpg
ReplyDeleteI notice that my wordle contains complete and concise, but does not contain efficient. I feel like this shows that I know what needs to be contained in a writing, but I am not conscious of quick word choices that let a writer really produce work fluidly. Its important to observe these connections because you may have an idea of what your work contains, but not know if you’re effectively using all of the tools at your disposal. I think that having a larger cloud would indicate that you are a more varied writer, but maybe you have difficulty with your scope.
Good writing is thought provoking, stimulating the ideas of other individuals. It is also neither short nor long, containing only what is needed to relay your ideals. Consequently good writing is a development process containing complete ideas and arguments or examples to positively overload the audience into changing in any way. Using writing effectively can allow for conflicts to be settled in a rational way, and can be advantageous to any discipline.
This activity allowed me to really see what I want to focus on, yet also what I have difficulty with incorporating fully in my writing. I think that good writing contains an argument no matter what situation you are in, there has to be some point of conflict in order to accomplish anything, otherwise it is not a writing but a recollection and no different than an oral history. I think my identity as a writer now is headed down the right path, however there might be an odd detour or two on the way because I have difficulty prioritizing what is truly relevant, which is something I want to improve upon.
I agree with your ideal that good writing need to contain complete and concise statements. It is necessary for readers to understand your meaning. Of course good writing needs to focus on some points and do some arguments which will make writing be more valuable.
DeleteI think that word choice is crucial because if you don't choose the correct words you could possibly convey the exact opposite of what you want to get across. It is also important to know your target audience because it will help dictate the types of words you use.
DeleteTheory
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned, good writing is intelligible and clear, which means the author states the arguments distinctly so that readers will not be confused when they first read the writing.
Rhetorical situation is a good method to make good writing. Rhetorical situation contains exigencies, constants and audience which will make some things more specific so that people won’t miss the main ideals. As the readers, it is necessary for them to get the main points of the writing. So, the constants of rhetorical situation help audience to focus on the main points of the writing. What’s more, rhetorical situation combines person, events, relationships and objects together which would make writing more clear to understand when the readers accept all these points as a whole. It might be clear to use rhetorical situation when writers need to explain some difficult concepts, like Einstein theory. Writers can create a situation that people can understand this theory within their acceptable range by applying knowledge they learned before.
Reflection:
I think I am the writer who pays more attention on ideals and statements. But I know I am weak at explaining. So I can put out strong arguments but lack of convincing evidence or being confused by my audience. Now, I think good writers should state their statements clear firstly, and explain them to audience completely. It is because the understanding of audience is more important than the points showed in writing. If audience cannot understand clearly about the main ideals of the writing, it must not be a good writing.
In conclusion, I think convinced explaining and clear statements are the key points to make good writing.
Wordle Image: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953571/rhetoric
I do find same difficulties in providing persuasive evidence when I wrote argument essays. Often I had strong argument, however, I didn't support my argument well enough. Now I realized that my essay could never be credible if I didn't provide good sources. In the future, I would pay much attention to that. Thanks for the share and remind.
DeleteYou state that its important to write clearly so that the reader understands it the first time reading it. I think that this is incredibly vital, if you can write something which the reader understands instantly you are using good clear language. Additionally I think that your comment about applying previous knowledge is also very pertinent, using examples that your reader can relate to also helps create a vivid picture.
DeleteYou have some very good points, i agree with you in all of them specially the one that talks about the how clear the writing must be, and i have made the same point it is useless write something that is not clear to our audience. You didn't mentioned the fluency which i consider that is a way to grab peoples attention and make your reading more interesting
DeleteURL: http://www.wordle.net/delete?index=7953429&d=ZEON
ReplyDeleteThe most prominent term present is argument and this is significant to me as a writer because persuasive writing is the only type of writing I truly enjoy. I also see a few of my key terms jumping out at me such as: create, order, convincing, invested, audience, conclusive, and individuality.
I think that these specific terms can help me revise my writing style by allowing to have a different perspective on word choice for my future assignments. When you start to write you will need to carefully choose the words you will use in order to express your ideas coherently. In order to decide which words will most accurately convey your ideas, you also need to think about your target audience. You will need to be clear and concise in your statements so that they will be understood by all of your readers. It will also be important to focus on their specific interests in your topic so that they will be encouraged to remain attentive. Once, you have completed a first draft it is crucial that you proofread it and read it aloud. It also helps to have someone else read what you have written and offer their feedback. After having addressed these key steps in writing your paper, I believe it is also important to have a true passion for what you are writing about because if your not passionate about your topic then it will be much more difficult for other people to feel the same way. The goal is to write an argument that is easy to understand, interesting, relatable, conclusive, and inspiring.
As a writer, I think that by identifying personal key terms that I use in writing helped me to create a theory of good writing. These terms identified and clarified for me the necessary steps that I need to take in order to be a writer who can create a convincing argument that will inspire positive discourse. First, I believe I am a writer who likes to write about a topic which I feel passionate about. Second, I think it is vital to research your topic, word choice, and your target audience extensively. This will not only help me to explain things clearly, but in a manner that is pleasing to my readers. Third, it is always to necessary to proofread your work and have others do the same. Finally, I want my writing to inspire someone in a positive manner and not necessarily change their opinion on a topic, but at least allow them to think about it in a way they might not have before.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953429/Good_writing_blog_post
DeletePassion is the one thing I would not have thought about, in retrospect it is pretty obvious that passion should be a key factor whenever you are writing. It not only makes writing about the topic better, but it conveys a different message. Your audience can pick up on your passion and get entangled along with it. That passion can help you make a better persuasive argument. But as Art pointed out to me, that passion can also be a double edged sword, it can lead to blinding yourself and stop being open minded.
DeleteIt is a little bit hard to find connections for the words that I got from my wordle, but at least some words are easy to connect. From the key works on my Wordle I could see that I see writing as way of transmitting information for a specific purpose using organized ideas from a specific subject. And a good writing is the one that is fluent with a clear purpose and ideas making easier for the reader to understand, it uses general bases of certain subjects to transmit knowledge, in a flow easy for our audience to follow.
ReplyDeleteAnd strangely I also came up with the idea that In the past it was more used as a mechanism to preserve the information, and today it still is used in the same way but is also more used to help in the development of new inventions and share the ideas with others, therefore this part is more focused in the scientific use of writing. Because I believe that every writing as a primordial purpose and it represents the view of the author over a specific topic, even when the author just use their ideas as support or when he consider the different ideas around the topic.
Here is the link for my wordle http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953491/My_Wordle
DeleteUsing writing as a way of transmitting information for a specific purpose, I agree is a very important way of determining good writing. Writing should develop from specific situations and subjects and like you mentioned, should use organized ideas that have a clear purpose that the audience can easily interpret and understand.
DeleteI think its very interesting that you state that writing had previously been used for recording information, this I believe is often overlooked. Rhetoric in the past was not the sole reason for writing or communicating, as a result anything that we produce is influenced by what we understand as history. We use history along with rhetoric, and it would not be nearly as powerful without it.
DeleteBegin to Theorize:
ReplyDeleteWithin my Wordle I see many connections to my key terms that I find very important in writing. There are eight words that stick out in my Wordle and those include: writing, ideas, arguments, provoking, create, informative, reader, and piece. Although these eight words are not all of my key terms they all directly connect. Create, informative, arguments, and provoking are all associated to my key terms (creative/original, informative, thought provoking, persuasive) and in this case are pretty much exactly the same. As far as writing, ideas, reader, and piece these terms all apply to the idea behind my list of key terms. Noticing this connection between the Wordle interpretation of my key terms and my initial blog post is important because the Wordle highlights the majority of my key terms. This helps reassure me that I completed the blog post correctly by outlining key terms that I believe compose good writing.
Based on my own key terms and the Wordle interpretation, my theory of good writing would be: Good writing must incorporate ideas that grab the audience/reader and piece them together into creative, informative, thought provoking arguments that eventually persuade the reader to believe the authors ideas or create their own ideas based on the writing.
Reflection:
As a writer, I think I’m very technical minded and tend to stick to a clear outline, similar to a lab report outline with specific guidelines, expectations, and organization. I tend to not be as creative but rather more informative. Aside from having to take this course as a requirement, I wanted to take this course to help me grow as a writer and develop my writing style to better mold my theory of good writing and mold other theories that I believe to be as equally accurate as my own. For instance, I hope through this course to develop my writing to be more clear and concise and to develop arguments throughout my writing that reflect my ideas and beliefs.
Wordle Link:
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953483/wiriting_theory
I really liked that sentence, "Using writing effectively can allow for conflicts to be settled in a rational way...". It portrays a perfect example of what writing should be. Language and communication are what really differentiates us from animals, sure animals communicate but we can, with words, motivate masses, we can reach people from different backgrounds and different locations. We can also create uprisings, but I believe that most important of all, we can come to understand each other just by utilizing our words.
ReplyDeleteGood writing is to write about a related topic, can be real or fiction, paying attention to the objective for the text, the target audience, the organization of the content/text and what type of actions are expected to the reader. Having a topic is the first part because there is no sense in writing just random subjects. The main focus must be finding the topic to write about, and then ask the questions:
ReplyDelete1) What is it specifically about the topic that I want to write about?
It is okay to have a topic but being too general can make it too difficult to understand
2) Who am I writing for?
It is important to know who you are writing for
3) What do I want them to understand/feel while reading my text?
Sometimes we desire to pass more than just words.
4) If I want them to do something, what is it?
Know the end, objective for writing about that topic.
Those questions will serve as a base that will lead to the brainstorming phase.
As a writer, I see myself as a person that needs to have inspiration in order to write about a desired topic. That inspiration can come from problems, objectives and even preferences. Although I prefer to be informal and always make people pay attention to what I say with a little of fun but still focus in trying to see the real message. I consider that writing doesn’t have to be only for academic purposes, it can even be for silly things such as “what was the worst movie of 2013”. But what will make your text really be seen by others is not what you write; it is how you write it. The more focused I am, the more I will put my effort in passing out the message in a way that people can read what I write and enjoy it. That is my main objective. Words and actions stay in people’s memories for ever as long as they appreciate it.
Wordle link : http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/7953508/My_Wordle