Exercise 4.m

When I decide to write a paper I always find a quiet place with little distractions. With distractions it's hard for me to stay focused and get all of my ideas out. I almost always write my paper on the computer. Even for an outline draft I like to use the computer because I can move whole sentences and delete anything I want with no issues. The conditions I write in are always comfortable. Being comfortable is very important because it takes away any distractions other than the paper itself. I usually make some sort of outline which eventually turns into a cluster. I try to just list out main points, but I usually end up clustering all of my ideas. For my drafting processes, I start with getting a thorough understanding of the assignment. Once I am confident on what the assignment is asking I develop my idea on what I need to accomplish. I then create a rough outline/cluster incorporating my audience and purpose. By this point I am ready to develop the paper in a more formal way. When I do this I begin to formulate my thesis. Once I get a rough thesis I work towards the final product and refine any previous work I had done. Revision is a huge part of my process because I am constantly going back and correcting my work as I read over it. Constant revision and thought is the key to a good paper. My ideal writing circumstances are being able to complete each step in my process smoothly. This is hard though because sometimes I get stuck on something that can mess up the process. I personally have no workshop experience but have, of course, revised peers' papers. I just have never had a formal revision process such as workshopping.

Genre Workshop

1. A genre workshop usually consists of the writer's first draft. The draft consists of more main points without the details. The paper will seem choppy, but the writer's purpose isn't for it to perfectly flow yet. The purpose is just to map out what is needed to be said. The audience is the reader of the paper when entering the workshop. The audience as a whole may not have been clearly set yet. The purpose and audience differ from the final paper because it may not be as clear in the beginning. Both aren't the main goal of the beginning draft.

2. If I were giving workshop feedback for EssayR I would have pointed out the grammatical errors for sure. I would have somehow pointed out that the paper doesn't flow too well, and some of the sentences could be combined. I wouldn't be overly critical, but just enough to help out the writer.

EssayR Evaluation

After reading the essay I noticed some grammatical errors such as when he said "WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment)", I feel like the writer should have used commas instead of parentheses. There were other gramatical errors such as misusing the version of "their" and not putting commas where they are supposed to be. Throughout the paper the writer could have combined sentences to make it flow much better. He/she was also inconsistent in his method of expressing numbers; he sometimes used words (sixty) and sometimes the number itself (60). When doing a research type paper using sources, the writer should cite more than one source.

Overall, I felt the paper got the writer's purpose across, but the flow of the paper was off. While reading it seemed like the writer was just spitting out facts. He/she had nothing in the paper to make it grab the reader. If I was grading this paper I would give it a C+.

Exercise 2.h

1. The rhetorical situation of the author is the election season, specifically the primary elections, in the spring of 2008. The purpose of his article is to explore the rhetoric used in an article written in the Collegiate Times. He used his article to show the use of pathos and logos in the article cited from the newspaper. His audience is primarily college students that read the newspaper. He explains how reporters use their position to attempt to persuade his/her readers.

2. One of the expectations of the genre is to have bias in the reporting. In my past experiences I have written in the analytical genre in various school assignments such as book critiques. I have also read multiple movie critiques and sports news reports.

3. The writer can achieve the same purpose for the same audience by submitting an editorial to the newspaper. The advantage to the editorial is that it will reach a wider audience to convey his message. Also, his article is about a newspaper article so the context is the same.

4. He could post his analysis in a different newspaper to reach a different audience. His purpose is still the same except with a different audience. This audience is limited to those who read that newspaper so it is very specific.

5. A teacher might use this genre convention in analyzing a book he/she is using for the class. He/she could break the book into parts in order to make it easier for students to understand. A social worker uses the same convention to break a child’s file into parts in order to work with different areas of the child’s life. A scientist also uses the convention to break a lab into parts in order to follow each direction precisely.