PB3A, Composition/Writing Studies Journals, and WP3

Writing 2rs,

Here's a list of our in-class lottery results from Wednesday's class so you can remember which article you landed and, if there's still space, which ones you could swap.  (Remember: no more than 3 people can pick the same piece, please.)  If you wanna swap, shoot me an email and I'll update the list as soon as I can.

If you're still not satisfied with the options in the list I provided, that's totally cool -- you can choose other scholarly pieces from the composition/Writing Studies field.  Make sure, though, you shoot me an email just so I can give you a thumb's up on your pick.  Here's a super-useful link to a site that provides a comprehensive list of the journals in my field.  Below is a more curated list of some of the more popular journals -- at least the ones I'm most familiar with -- that you can find within that aforementioned link.  The ones that aren't hyperlinked aren't "open access" -- they require a library-authenticated sign-in.

• College Composition and Communication
• College English  
• Across the Disciplines 
• Written Communication
• Kairos

Lastly, as far as PB3A goes, try not to over-think it or psych yourself out toooooo much: your only job at this point is to pitch your WP3 Genre Transformation idea.  Tell us (your classmates and I) what your scholarly piece is all about, then describe which two genres (one to/for an older audience, and one to/for a younger audience) you're planning on creating and why.  Then: what will you do in the transformed genres?  What ideas from the scholarly piece will you "foreground" and why?  As always, be as specific as possible.  On Tuesday (the day after PB3A is due), I'm going to provide some feedback to your ideas.  Also, as I mentioned in class, I'd like you to finish commenting on each other's PB3A blog posts by 8pm on that Tuesday.  (I'll be commenting throughout the morning/afternoon on Tuesday, so if you hold off til Tuesday afternoon, you'll be able to get a glimpse into my thought process in the comments that I leave on everybody's PB3A posts.)

Okey dokey, artichokeys.  That's all for now.  Hang in there and keep working hard -- the quarter's almost over.  :)

Z

"Painting Trees" with Bob Ross and Disney Artists

These videos can help us get at “rhetorical decisions” and “moves.”  They show artists describing their composing process—the artists lead us through their thoughts and their actions.  No matter which option you choose for WP3, I want you to lead me through your moves in your follow-up self-analysis, so while you watch these videos, I want you to consider:

• What are some "moves" you see in these videos? 
• How do these artists describe what they’re doing?  What do the artists refer to while they describe their work?  What do they talk about?  What do they direct our attention towards?  
• How would you characterize each artist's style, and what impact does their style have on you (a viewer/audience member)?  How have these artists chosen to portray their subject matter?  

Bob Ross and His "Happy Trees"

4 (Disney) Artists Paint One Tree

Prepping for WP2: Pop Culture-y Sources on the Web

Here's a list of possible pop culture-y (non-academic) publications.  Please know that they don't all represent the same standards for "journalistic integrity" and/or objectivity -- these sites focus on a wide range of content and perspectives, tailored to different audiences.

Poke around and find something you like!

• ESPN
• Esquire
• Vogue
• GQ
• Rolling Stone
• The Atlantic
• Slate
• Vice
• Harper's Bazaar
• Politico
• Huffington Post
• Drudge Report
• SB Independent
• Ed Hat
• LA Times
• NY Times
• Washington Post
• Philly News
• Wall Street Journal
• Mother Jones

On-Campus Presentations/Readings Relating to Writers and Their Writing

Writing 2rs,

I've been asked to pass along these two tidbits of on-campus presentations/readings relating to writers and their writing.  I'll consider tossing you a modest amount of extra credit if you attend, take notes on what you see/hear/think, and then reflect on it all.  More details to come in class on Monday, but I thought I'd give you a heads up in advance.

Hope you're all having a great start to the weekend.

Z

"Moves"

I.  Love.  This.  Lesson.
#omfg
#truestory

Whether you realized it or not -- and whether I, the writer, realized it or not -- I made some "moves" right there.  I tapped into my pop culture resources and used some informal conventions of the modern "millenial" generation to (1) reach you, my target audience, by writing a somewhat unusual teacher-to-student "hook" in the beginning (2) let you know that I'm honestly juiced up to teach this lesson... perhaps my enthusiasm for this will be contagious, and (3) let my hair down for a change.

Some other moves I made right there?

• put the key buzzword in boldface for added emphasis
• #'d that list so you realized that there were only a few things you had to get through
• #'d that list so that my punctuation (commas) would come across more clearly -- the #s allowed me to separate each "thing" without using commas.  By using #s, I can save my commas within each item/thing so you (probably) wouldn't confuse them as an additional unit/thing
• used the "rule of 3" (a cheap trick that most readers seem to enjoy)
• finished the list with a joke.  If I started that list with my "long hair joke," would it have been as effective?  Probably not -- punchlines usually work best at the end.

OK, so Writing Project #2 is coming up, which requires you to analyze and evaluate what's gained/lost between scholarly and non-academic texts.  To most effectively do this, I'd like you to consider each writer's moves -- what they're doing, how they're doing it, and whether you believe that it was effective.

By studying this, my hope is that you'll be able to detect writers' moves more clearly and, in doing so, consider adapting what you find to be effective.  Think of this as a way to open up your tool kit.

Ever hear of two musicians "jamming out"?  Well, this is essentially what you're doing as a (good) reader.  You're listening to what the writer/musician is trying to communicate, and if you like what they've done, feel free to "borrow that lick."  (But remember: if you're borrowing their ideas/research, you need to attribute that work to them in a citation!)

Blah blah blah.  Here are some videos that can help us start thinking about "moves."

#thisissocool

Click here for the MJ video on Vimeo.

An Animated Video of a Blogger's Writing (and Thinking and Researching) Process

My beloved Writing 2rs, this is "must-see TV."  (See what I did there by hyphenating "must-see"?  It's certainly not that important in the grand scheme of things, but it's just one of those little meaning-making writing tips that I'd like you to keep your eye on so you can, hopefully, put it into your tool kit.)

Here's an animated at a(n incredibly thorough) blogger's writing process.  I honestly think this could help you (re)think about how you approach your writing (and thinking) in our course and in your others as well!

Song Requests?

Wanna hear a song while we're working in class?  Pick one and slap it into this Google Doc. Make sure you pick lyric-less songs -- sometimes it's tough for people to concentrate when there are lyrics.

"In Defense of Rhetoric" Video

As we continue to build our genre awareness, it's important that we get a firm hold on the term "rhetoric."  Rhetoric goes hand-in-hand with genres, their conventions, and how writers choose to communicate their messages.

Genre and PB1A

Writing 2rs,

I wanted to post a message here that can, hopefully, help you think through your upcoming PB1A assignment (due Monday, before the start of class).  

The best place to start is by asking, "Well, what exactly is a genre?"  This is a great question, and we'll be thinking about it all quarter long.  (Really.)  On the most basic level, a textual genre is any piece of writing that's bound by similar patterns in its form (the "look" of it) and content (what it's about).  Another way to distinguish between genres is to consider their social action -- what they do in the world and what they're intended to accomplish.

Let's take a quick look at two genres: "Get Well" cards and car advertisements.  One is intended to express sympathy and love; the other is trying to swindle you out of your hard-earned $$$.  One is very personalized and generally short/sweet; the other is also probably relatively short but it's usually not tailored to a specific person -- I can't remember the last time I opened up a newspaper or a magazine and a car ad said, "Yo, Zack!  How's that commute from Calabasas to Santa Barbara going?  We've heard that you'd like to swap your "folkswagen" for a truck!  Well, check this puppy out!"  Car ads are generally depersonalized.

These are lots of other ways to analyze these two genres.  You can consider what media they typically appear in (car ads occasionally appear on TV commercials -- have you ever seen a "Get Well" commercial?), what kind of specific (or broad) audience they're targeting, and what appeals or types of evidence they use, if any, to do so.  Genres can be broad, loose, and somewhat vague or they can be nuanced, tight, and very specific.  At its best, the concept of "genre" is an analytical tool that we can use to better understand texts and how/why the function in the ways that they do.

All in all, at this current point in the course/quarter (less than one week in!), I just want you to gain added practice with exploring genre.  If you're still a little hesitant about "genre" and what it is/isn't, go back to Dirk's Navigating Genres piece and give it another read.  (That's a million dollar study tip!  It never hurts to slow down and revisit the material multiple times.)

There are a bunch of textual genres out there in the world.  Wherever you can "see language," there's a 99% chance that it falls into some kind of genre.  Sometimes, even when you're "hearing language," it's coming from a textual/written source and it comes right back to a textual genre.  News broadcasters, for instance, are typically reading a report that's been written, which has then been posted onto a teleprompter.  (Genre is an incredibly "Matrix-y" idea.  Once you begin to really see/understand the world through genre, it's almost impossible to un-see it.)

Before I bring this babble fest back down to Earth and get to your PB1A assignment, let me add a couple more dimensions to genre and genre theory that can help you dig down even further.  By considering a genre's affordances (what it enables, such as bottom-up participation by its users/readers -- think of the co-creation that's enabled by a wikipedia entry or possibly how some commenting forums on online message boards can shape the ensuing analytical "conversation") and its limitations (what is restricted, disabled, or unavailable), you'll be able to evaluate a given genre for its strengths and weaknesses.  One other way to explore genre to its fullest extent is to think about how its historical evolution and how it's been shaped over time.  (PS: I'm not expecting all this for PB1A!)

Now, for PB1A, I want you to pick one specific genre you're already fairly familiar and then gain practice with studying, deconstructing, and analyzing it.  I'm basically asking you to take a long, hard look at one specific genre and then: 

1. break down its conventions (just like we've been doing in class with the country tunes, the horror movie clips, and the letter of recommendation requests) and then take a shot at explaining why some of those conventions exist.  One convention of (most of) the letter of recommendation requests was a formal tone.  Why?  To signal respect for the reader -- the person who would be writing the recommendation.
2. analyze its rhetorical features which include its intended audience, the author's/writer's purpose for producing it, the greater context in which, and any stylistic patterns.  The reading that I've assigned for Monday (Carroll's "Backpacks and Briefcases") will help you better understand what "rhetorical features" means, so make sure you read this before you begin writing your PB1A.  (Rule of thumb: always read the assigned readings first!) 

In our course reader -- and on Gauchospace -- I've included a badass document that can help guide your genre analysis for PB1A and beyond.  It's called... "Genre Analysis" and it's got a bunch of super-useful questions you can consider to help you "get at" genre.  It's located somewhere towards the end, close to the letter of recommendation request (which, again, represent a distinct genre for all those reasons we discussed in class).

I hope this message helps you.  Try to have fun with this (and all) our assignments and feel free to "go for it" and pick a weird/unusual textual genre.  If you can, include a screen shots, scans/pictures, or links that represent a small sample of whatever genre you've chosen so we can actually see what these genres look like.  Also, making specific references -- think: direct citations or quotes -- from them could really make your PB1A an outta-da-park homerun.  

G'luck!

Horror Movies! More Practice with Genre and Conventions

Scenario: all of a sudden, you're sitting in the middle of a movie theater, watching a horror movie.  How do you know you're watching a horror movie?  What features/things about this movie make it a horror movie?

 After you jot down your predictions, let's put our hypotheses to the test!

The Shining

Psycho

It

Paranormal Activity

Thinking About Genre (and Conventions) Through Country Music

I wanted to post these videos to help you (re)consider the following questions which can, hopefully, help you to think about the relationship between genres and their conventions:

• what's the "glue" that binds these songs together? 
• what about them makes them fall into the “country music” category?
• at what points do they bend/blend into other genres (such as folk, blues, and bluegrass)?

"Your Cheating Heart"

Lyrics

"Coal Miner’s Daughter"

Lyrics

"Whiskey River"

Lyrics

"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow"

Lyrics

Anonymous Questions?

If you have a question that you'd like to ask me but you either haven't gotten around to it or you feel embarrassed (PS: don't feel embarrassed -- we're in this together) or something, feel free to post it in this anonymous Google Doc.  I'll do my best to check it every ~2 days or so.

Post Your Blog Links Here! (Below!)

Writing 2rs,

Once you've set up your Gmail account and your blog, click this link to share that information with me.  I need to so that I can put your blog info up on my blog.  Why is that necessary?  So that we all have access to each other's work.  We'll be giving each other lots of feedback this quarter.

Thanks,

Z

Campus Map of Office Location: Gevirtz 2258

To eliminate any confusion: here's where my office is located.  I'm in Gevirtz 2258 (remember: that's not the same as Girvetz!).  I'll be here after our classes for an hour on both days, from 5 - 6 on Mondays and Wednesdays.

The name tag next to the door reads "Dr. Karen Lunsford" -- she's one of my advisors, so she's been kind enough to let me use her research office.  Also, sometimes the door doesn't stay open, so if it's closed, don't worry, I'll definitely be in there.  Give me a quick knock.

One last thing: please know that I'm more than happy to meet with you.  "Office hours" isn't my time; it's your time.  Swing by whenever you'd like for however long you'd like.