Brandt response

• "Before you read" 
• In my elementary school, we had book fair where one week a month there would be a little set up with lots of books of all different levels for students. Also we would have Right to Read week, where the whole school would participate in reading activities and tie them into the theme. Also as a child I participated in the summer reading program through the library.
• My roommate is from Maryland and says that she also had book fairs in her elementary schools and that she also participated in summer reading programs, but she had never heard of Right to Read week. She said that her school had a hand me down english project where each grade would make a list of books that they read throughout the year and donate them to younger students. Both of us did not have restrictions on what we read.
• summary 
• In Brandt's article "Sponsors of Literacy" she talks about how everyone has sponsor for literacy. She talks about all the different types of sponsors and what they do for us. She mentions that literacy depends on several different aspects, like social class, family backround, and religious backround. She also talks about how "Recession, Relocation, immagration, techonlogical change, government retreat", She talks about how each person has a different reason for learning and becoming more literate. She mentions several different people and their stories based on working, based on their educational backround, their career changes, and their religious beliefs. 
• synthesis 
• Brandt in her article states that people educate themselves in the literacy aspect because of their sponsors. Also he talks about how they learn for different reasons, based on their religious beliefs, educational backgrounds, and many other reasons. This reminds me of  Kantz's article, "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", where she says that students don't learn anything they only use their resources. They only copy the information instead of incorporate it into their everyday work like how Brandt explains about the people in her article.
• dialectical notebook with a minimum of 5 quotations (please type the entire quotation)

• This is the definition of sponsors that Deborah Brandt uses in her article. She gives details that help the reader understand the word better.	Sponsors, as I have come to think of them, are any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy- and gain advantage by it in some way. page 334
  This shows why people learn to become literate and why they change their ideas and education standards.	Differences in their performances are often attributed to family background (namely education and income of parents) or to particular norms and values operating within different ethnic groups or social classes. page 337
  This is another example of reasons why people and their sponsors change the reasons for education/literate changes.	Recession, relocation, immigration, technological change, government retreat all can-and do- condition the course by which literate potential develops. page 339
  She talks about literacy being an excuse, she talks about all the reasons people learn.	As I have been attempting to argue, literacy as a resource becomes available to ordinary people largely through the mediation of more powerful sponsors. page 339
  This is another example of why people need sponsors and what they use them for.	They help to organize and administer stratified systems of opportunity and access, and they raise the literacy stakes in struggles for competitive advantage. page 344

• Meta Moment (p.352)
• I think that this article is most like my life, because it makes me think of how I am learning more now that I am in college rather than what I would be learning if I was not in college. I think that this article made me reallize that people furthure education almost on accident later on in their life for their careers, becuase they eventually need to get more knowledgable about their field. Also their social positions change and they become more involved and therefore need to learn more not only about what they are involved in, but also other things that are similiar to their involvments. 
• Your thoughts: 
• I liked this article by Brandt. It made me think a lot about my life, and why people learn. I enjoyed reading about different peoples lives and why they learn different things. Most of their stories started with them being mildly educated, and eventually they became more educated in their fields and things similar to the things they like. Brandt wrote the stories about different people and their career changes, also about how even after their careers are over, they stay involved in learning. 

cover letter and summary

Summary:
In John Smith's article "The Importance of Grammar" presents an argument that students should not be taught grammar until late high school or college. Smith uses a lot of very good quotes from other writers discussing grammar in education. But makes the reader ask lots of "why's" with little or no answers. Smith states that to teach grammar is to make better writers, yet wants students to being learning at a late age.

Cover letter:

Dear Smith,
I enjoyed reading your article "The Importance of Grammar". I enjoyed your quotes and your usage of outside sources. But I can not agree with you. Sadly I believe that the way you think students should not learn grammar until late high school or college. I think that we should start teaching grammar to younger students and more often. I also did not like how you made the business world the only possible career path for proper grammar. There are other career fields that need grammar the same way. I liked your ties to Dawkin's in your article, I recently read something of his on grammar and really enjoyed his ideas on grammar making the point of the sentence. Your argument asked a lot of questions and let the reader ask questions, but there is little to no answers to the "Why's" and the "What else's". I think that if you go back through and answer some of the "Why's" your argument will be a little more sound and more people would agree with you. A main reason I do not agree is because I believe that children's minds are like sponges and the older they get the less knowledge they retain, so best get them to soak up as much as possible as young as possible.

Sincerely,
Gina Kirby

Dawkin's and Bryson's Responses & Project #1

Dawkins: 

Before you read:

Original sentence: 1. My sister’s treehouse made a great place to play with her friends. 2. The treehouse was made out of wood scraps and cardboard.

Rewritten:

1.       My sister’s treehouse, a great place for her to play with her friends.

2.       A great place for my sister to play with her to play with her friends, is her treehouse.

3.       My sister and her friends, think her treehouse is a great place for them to play.

4.       The treehouse, made of wood scraps and cardboard.

5.       Made of wood scraps and cardboard, is what the treehouse was made out of.

6.       Cardboard and wood scraps, made up the treehouse.

Ø  I used commas to break up the sentence so that no matter how you arrange the words, it still makes sense and you know what the treehouse is made out of and that my sister and her friends play there.

Summary:

In Dawkin’s article “Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool”, he discusses all the proper ways to use punctuation. He explains how the sentence can be broken down into independent and dependent clauses. He discusses the hierarchy of functional punctuation marks with a top, middle, and bottom level of usage. He discusses raising and lowering the level of punctuation to properly fit the writing. And he also discusses how properly choosing the correct form of punctuation can alter your writing into saying something different than you write. The punctuation tools depict your tone more than your words.

Synthesis:

Dawkin’s makes good use of how punctuation can alter your writing based on how you use a comma or a semi colon. This reminds me of Elbow’s article on voice. He states that voice is how the argument is heard. Dawkin’s talks about how using punctuation properly uses tone in an argument. This could also tie into Klein’s article about students not using their own thoughts and ideas, therefore their papers do not have their tone, or their punctuation to make their words heard.

Dialectical notebook:

Response	Quote
I like how this quote states that there isn’t a handbook. But I really think that there should be, with more practical examples, like breaking down an English essay, or a writing prompt that more students can relate to, not just random sentences about Johnny and Paige going to the park.	There weren’t any handbook rules to tell Annie Dillard to use a semicolon rather than a period or a dash or a colon… page 141
I also liked this quote because it shows that some of the things we are taught about punctuation is wrong, and as students we still use the wrong ways. If the education system would improve its teaching of grammar and punctuation this would not be a problem in our schools.	Such instruction is negative in that it tells students what not to do and how not to do it… Page 141
Knowing the parts of a sentence is important when inserting punctuation. Certain phrases and key points need to be marked and segregated from the sentence. It also helps with writing being more directive and influential.	To understand the principles, however, one grammatical element must be recognized- the independent clause. Page 142
I have a fear of trying to use a higher mark in punctuation for fear that it will be wrong.  I stick to commas and the occasional semi colon for when I know that they belong in the sentence.	Pressure to use a higher mark in the hierarchy I call raising. Page 145

Questions for Discussion:

5.) That you can raise and lower your level of punctuation in writing. I did not know that there are ways to change the level of writing by using punctuation differently. I thought that the rules applied to semi colons where semi colons belong, commas where commas belong, and dashes where dashes go. I did not know that by added them somewhere else could change the way the reader would comprehend your text.

Meta Moment:

By reading this article I learned that punctuation is not as complex as I was lead to believe but rather, using it properly can aid me in my writing and getting my point across. I also learned that by using punctuation properly my argument is able to be interpreted properly.

Thoughts:

I think that this article can help me when writing my paper, but I found it to be boring and dull. I did like all the examples he added to the text. It helped further elaborate his point. I also learned a lot about how using punctuation helps the writer present and state his argument and helps the reader comprehend better.  I plan to use some of his concepts and points in my paper on punctuation and how the ideas and rules have changed it.

Bryson:

Before you read:

Summary:

Filling in later, was not posted on BB.

In Bryson's article "Good English and Bad" he talks about how throughout history grammar and word structure has changed and been a very large debate. Beginning with when the English language was being created, the "grammarians" were unhappy about the roots of our words being Latin in origin. They also did not care for certain words and their tense, as in past, present, future. When we only use three forms, there are actually five total, and in Latin there are 120 ways to use a  verb. Bryson brings attention to how the French wanted to change the spelling of some of their words in the late 1900s. If language is so opposed in how it is used, why do we have so many laws to follow, if half the time the laws are ignored or found to not be proper English? How can we know what is correct, when "grammarians" don't even know themselves?

Synthesis:

Bryson mentions on page 63, "John Adams wrote to the President of Congress appealing to him to set up an academy for the purpose of  'refining, correcting, improving and ascertaining the English language' (a title that closely echoes, not to say plagiarizes, Swift's pamphlet of sixty-eight years before)." Which reminds me of Porter’s article on “Intertextuality and Discourse Community”, where he states that if Thomas Jefferson had turned in the Declaration of Independence in as a paper to his English teacher, he’d be told he plagiarized. So why is it okay for one person to “echo” exact thoughts to promote something, but not allowed to branch off and require the same ideas and laws for a nation? This makes me think of Klein’s article when he states that students do not research but rather copy text from the book and then try to cite it later not caring if they have their own ideas. So are we calling some of the most intelligent men in the world plagiarizers, for not having their own ideas, or are we simply stating that sometimes parts of the conversation are forgotten until someone brings them back up with new evidence and information.

Dialectical Notebook:

Response	Quote
I agree with this quote because it’s true, the rules for grammar and English are so misinterpreted and students are only taught the basics that when they try to push the envelope they are told they are wrong because honestly no one knows what they are doing.	Not to put too fine a point on it, the labels are largely meaningless. Page 61
I like this quote, it states that even the creators of our language and writing, don’t even know what they are doing all of the time. It makes me feel better as a writer that I am not the only person that struggles with this.	The complexities of English are such that the authorities themselves often stumble. Page 61
I think it’s dumb that our language is based off a language that is “dead” now. Also why are we based off another language? The Greeks, Romans, and the Latin people made their rules up as they went. Why should we copy them? Wouldn’t that be a form of plagiarism?	Making English grammar conform to Latin rules is like asking people to play baseball using the rules of football. Page 62
This ties into the above quote, in that which we base more than a third of our words and phrases off of the Greek, Roman and Latin words. Why didn’t we just do it ourselves?	For the long-est time it was taken entirely for granted that the classical languages must serve as models. Page 62

Thoughts:

I enjoyed Bryson’s argument and topic. But I see a lot of issues with how we as an intelligent nation could not write our own laws for our language. I do not like how our words are rooted to other languages which are now not used. I also did not know that there are five forms of tense while we only use three, do to “proper English”. But also the men who created our language don’t even understand what they are doing. Not only that, but the way we talk and what is okay to say now has dramatically changed since when we first began making rules for English.

Project #1

I am researching more into my topic so that I have more information and lots of different views to come into on my paper. At first I wasn’t sure what direction to take with my topic, it is very broad and very important. I finally decided to take an academic and historical approach. This way I can talk about how students are not taught everything they need to know. Also I can discuss how things have changed and usage has evolved from how people used to use punctuation and how they use it now. I plan to compare and contrast the way we use it today and how they used it then. And also to attack the education system for not teaching our students the correct things, and only vaguely covering the basics so students can pass elementary English classes and standardized tests. The workshop really helped me. It helped me realize the angle I needed to take, and also how to present my argument over the entire conversation, not at the beginning so that the reader doesn’t have to technically read my whole paper. I also saw how someone with a similar topic is writing their paper and how we have different subtopics we can still work together to help the other get their point across and explain that punctuation is important in all aspects of writing.

Bernhardt Response

Before you Read: 

The article has smallish print. The heading is very large, colorful, and exciting. There are images all along the right margin of the page and lots of separated text boxes with different sized quotes from the article. Also a bullet-ed list of facts on the bottom left side of the article. The reader is drawn into the article by everything happening around it.

Summary:

In Bernhardt's article "Seeing the Text" he talks about the appearance of writing. He states that there are four "laws" that need to be followed in setting up a good image of the writing to trick the reader into reading. He explains that by setting up a piece of writing this work, the reader can intently read, skim, skip, different sections and still know what is being said. He also talked about how setting up writing this way can incorporate different styles and reasons for writing. Like being able to write a legal, business, entertainment, and social awareness piece all in the same work.

Synthesis:

In Bernhardt's article he mentions on page 40 "When good communication or good figure is not provided by the visual stimulus, the perceiver has a tendency to fill in the missing gaps, to provide the missing definition, as evidenced by the ability of readers to process even highly degraded copy, in which much of the information provided by the shape of the letters is missing." Which ties into Porter's article on Intertextuality and the discussion we had in class Monday morning. Porter and Bernhardt state that even if something is not in the physical text you are reading, you can pull information from other resources and make connections to outside materials. This disagrees with what McCloud says and believes. McCloud states that he makes comics because it easier to make connections between the words and the physical images of things. Bernhardt states that using images and exciting things around the text makes the reader read the writing.

Dialectical Notebook:

Response                                                                   Quote

I agree with this and like how it states that audience shapes the idea of the text, and that audience is a good idea to keep in mind when forming the layout of the work.	These multiple considerations of audience and purpose functionally constrain the text, influencing its shape and structure. pg 39
I love this quote, it also ties into the discussion from class. Basically everything we taught in high school is useless in college and further writing. High school level writing is a short cut for teachers and hinders students by making them behind in the learning curve for college.	Traditional advice to vary sentence structure or sentence openings to avoid boring the reader or to keep sentences from sounding choppy would be misdirected here,... pg 41
This also ties into my above comment, but I disagree, I find it hard to believe that if i began turning in my papers to my professors that they would be okay with the set up and images that I would apply to make visual features relevant in the works.	A preoccupation with conventional essay format allows little attention to visual features. pg 42
This quote has to do with more online articles and television ads. With more exciting things going on around the text we are more likely to read it and pay attention than if we were handed a packet with 10 font and boring black font on white paper and told to read every word of it.	Influenced especially by the growth of electronic media, strategies of rhetorical organization will move increasingly toward visual patterns presented on screens and interpreted through visual as well as verbal syntax. pg 44

Thoughts:
I did not really care for this article personally. I found it very dull but I thought that he made a good point, only for articles promoting something. I find it hard to believe that my professors would be okay with me turning in my essays and reports with fancy headings and images. I think that it is a good system for nonacademic types of writing.

After you Read:
I feel that McCloud would agree on some points and disagree on others. From McCloud's writing piece I felt he very blatently explained that by using images while writing made people pay more attention and conclude more from the "Conversation". Bernhardt uses the images to draw people into the writing and make them read it. Basically he uses it as "Curb Appeal" when McCloud uses it as the Main Dish.

Porter Response

Summary:
In James E. Porter's article "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" he gives a very descriptive account of how writers and authors draw information from other pieces of work. In that aspect, no matter what you write, it comes from another source whether you intend for it to or not. He claims that if Thomas Jefferson turned in the Declaration of Independence in as an assignment, he would be charged with plagiarism. He states that when writing we tie in other things we have read and seen before and that our thoughts are not our own sometimes.

Synthesis:
Porter states that writers plagiarize often without intending. He makes a lot of examples with an article about the Kent State shooting and also a Pepsi commercial based off of a Steven Spielberg movie. Michael Klein in an article we read before, states that students plagiarize when they just copy information straight out of the text for their assignment. I think that they both present a good argument but I do not agree fully. I think that students and writers alike use what they know to write, and using something you have read before is not technically plagiarism. I think it is only plagiarism if the original text is copied exactly and not cited.

Dialectical Notebook:

Response	Quotation
I agree with this because it basically is saying that we borrow ideas, but I don't agree how we borrow thoughts. And I don't understand how you can not expand on an idea, without stealing it.	"The creative writer is the creative borrower, in other words." pg 90
This quote is about how texts used phrases and ideas is based off of the audience.	"Each of the three texts examined contains phrases or images familiar to its audience attitudes. Thus the intertext exerts its influence partly in the form of audience expectation." pg 91
This is also like the second quote in saying that the reader is who makes the paper or writing.	"readers, not writers, create discourse." pg 91
The writer has complete control over the sentence structure. By making the wording in a work a specific way, the writer controls the emotion and reaction of the reader.	"the writer has freedom within the immediate rhetorical context." pg 93
This quote states that the statements in other texts affects other texts and things that were previously written.	"Every new text has the potential to alter the Text in some way;" pg 93
I like this quote stating that something teachers need to do is create students like this. It would make students better writers.	"Our immediate goal is to produce "socialized writers," who are full-fledged members of their discourse community." pg 95
I also like this quote because its another thing that teachers need to work on with students. It also gives the promise of better writers in the long run for other students to become better writers.	"Our long-range goal might be "post-socialized writers," those who have achieved such a degree of confidence, authority, power, or achievement in the discourse community so as to become part of the regulating body." pg 95

Thoughts:
I did not like this article at all. I could hardly understand the point Porter was trying to make. He kept repeating himself, and his argument makes no sense. He has good examples to support his argument but I just do not feel that his argument is a valid point. How can we plagiarize thoughts we have based off of other things we have read or seen? Does that mean that expanding on ideas is plagiarism? He just does not have a sound and actual argument.

Elbow, Lamott, King, and Diaz Response

Elbow:
Before you read:
When I first got my Facebook when I was a freshman in high school, I felt that I needed to have my whole life story posted. I switched schools my sophomore year and found that if everyone could find out things about me online, maybe they wouldn't try to get to know me in person. I have the bare minimum things posted now. People can judge from the facts if its me they're looking for. And also, no matter what you post online, true or not, people can find those things and it can get you into trouble, not only with the law or an employer but also your personal safety can be jeopardized by creepers.

Summary:
In Peter Elbow's article "Voice in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries" he explains voice in writings. He exhibits an acceptance to both using it and prohibiting it. He claims that voice is alive in all aspects of writing that we do, whether it be online or educational.  He claims that students worst fear is that the teachers will call them out on their "voice" in their writings if they have different voices in their writing rather than in the classroom. He also talks about how in writing the writer can fall into a "stalemate" where they can not write any more at all. His audience is maybe teachers and instructors and also students.

Synthesis:
In Elbow's article he brings up stalemates in writing and states that the writer needs to work through it, and not give up.He says that the writer needs to stop over analyzing what their doing wrong and just go with what they feel. In Diaz's article "Becoming a Writer" he touches on this subject in a different manner. He tried to write a novel for five years and came to that trench and fell in and could not write at all. He gave up for a time, and eventually finished. But Elbow states to just move on quickly it seems, and Diaz explains that it is not so simple.

Questions for Discussion:
1.) I define voice as a few things: word choice, sentence structure, and the way the work flows. I think that these traits in a work affect how the reader "hears" what is being said. It also has to do with the side of the argument that the writer has taken. An example is that you are forced to write the positive side of a topic you do not agree with and support it in your writing. You would not write the paper with a negative voice, because then you are not being a critical thinker and are not following directions for the assignment. Elbow uses Aristotle's example of voice, with persuasion and being strong.
4.) He uses the "doubt and believe game" as, after writing your piece, read it once and believe everything that it says. Take every word to heart and cherish it. Then go right back and read it all over again, but doubt every word, question every thought on the paper, take nothing to heart.He states that if you do this, you can see both sides of your argument and therefore have a better open mind to being able to fix your mistakes and  add changes.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2.) I personally do not like to listen to readings, I like to have the words to look at and soak in. I like being able to go back and re read parts that I did not comprehend the first go around. Elbow makes a good point in ear training, but if we do not have text to reference we do not retain as much information as we could had we read along with someone else reading aloud.

Connection to other readings:
I don't think its part of the myth. I think that the Inspirational Writer has nothing to do with voice. I think that voice comes from the actual writer. Voice is not something to fear, its natural and not easily covered up in writings. Granted your tone and mannerisms will change in addition to your audience but that has nothing to do with not feeling like an accomplished writer.

Thoughts:
I did not like this article. And I do not agree with Elbow. Everyone has a voice inside their head for when they read and write. It's a little voice that simply helps you take the words off the page or out of your brain and commemorate them to your memory. When I have boring things to read I use a Morgan Freeman voice to make what I'm reading more interesting. It doesn't change what the paper is saying or the point it is trying to get across it just helps me pay more attention and stay focused.

Meta Moment:
I don't understand how he is against compromise, yet expects things to work together... If a student is personally against a topic they are writing and have to appear to support it, they will use their voice and tone to make the reader believe they support it. It does not matter what aspect you are writing for, personal or academic  You're voice can be altered and tone changed to make your paper great.


                                                  Dialectical Notebook:

Response	Quotation
I really like this quote because she is saying that writers do this, sarcastically. There are some days when I go to write something and feel confident like I have the whole world figured out, and then there are days when I couldn't tell you even what  I was thinking that day and write it down.	"They sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to tell;" Lamott 301
I also liked this quote by Lamott. She basically says that writing great things is almost accidental. You as a writer become so involved in the work that you don't know what you have until you come up for air.	"very few writers really know how what they are doing until they've done it. Lamott 301
I agree, my first drafts, even my pre writing is a big train wreck of chaos. There are unfinished thoughts, sentences, things scribbled in the sides, things crossed out, and added in. It is all part of the process though.	"The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later." Lamott 302
Steven King is a classic writer, who has always been a little on the weird side, but I love how he makes an example of "telepathy" in writing. I love his "experiment" following this quote.	"And here we go - actual telepathy in action. You'll notice I have nothing up my sleeves and that my lips never move. Neither, most likely do yours." King 306
This is his conclusion after his experiment, and the weird thing is, is that it works. No matter where you are, what time, your minds eye works with what you are reading and therefore you see what he wants you to. Granted you add your own details but the general idea is there.	"This is what we're looking at, and we all see it. I didn't tell you. You didn't ask me. I never opened my mouth and you never opened yours. We're not even in the same year together, let alone the same room.... except we are together. We're close." King 307
I know how Diaz feels. I get in moods where I can't write to save my life. And it doesn't matter what kind of writing its for. School or personal, writers blocks hits at anytime for many reasons.	"It was like I had somehow slipped into a No Writing Twilight Zone and I couldn't find an exit." Diaz 319
I love this quote. It makes me feel better about myself as a "Writer" because there are times when I feel confident about myself and other times I feel like I have no business trying to write and that people are going to notice that.	"I didn't become a writer the first time I put pen to paper or when I finished my first book (easy) or my second one (hard)." Diaz 320

Allen, Berkenkotter, and Murray Responses

Allen:
 Before you Read:
I think that students normally tend to just aim for the least amount of drafts possible. They try to combine pre writing with the rough draft and turn that into a first and final draft. Most students don't think to ask for someone to edit or read over their works and therefore they get no insight on things that could be fixed. Instead of working smarter, students end up working harder for a grade they feel they do not deserve. If students accepted the fact that "A" papers didn't just happen with one draft, they would work smarter, and use the trial and error tools that will help them become better writers.

Questions for Discussion:
2.) Allen claims to tell the "Inspired Writer" to "shut up and let you write" (pg 33). In writing, the writer is their own worst enemy and critic. If we stop imaging the perfect piece of writing by this mystical great writer and focus on what we are trying to get across as our point of view and our piece of the argument, we can proceed as great writers also. By giving into the writing process we can also blossom and tweak our styles to better suit how we want our writing to turn out. Rather than constantly tear our works apart looking for the flaws, have a role model in the writing world, proof read and not necessarily grade, rather make sure that it flows and makes sense to not only someone who knows the topic as well as the writer, but also as an outsider.
3.) Allen calls "conclusion" plagerism because if you have tons of grammatical errors in your first paper, then turn it in with no errors, clearly something is up. I personally do not think I have had anyone edit my papers in such a way, but I remember in fourth grade when we first learned to type and we would have to type all of our papers for the final drafts. And some kid's papers would be flawlessly typed, every thing in perfect order, later I realized that their parents were incredible writers at the fourth grade level. I was shocked when I heard that these kids got their parents to do their work, what were they learning this way? My parents instilled academic integrity into me at a young age, also I knew the answer to the "Mommy will you type this for me?"

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2.) Allen states at the end of her article that "connection" is a main source for writing, which I somewhat support. She states that connection is a way to think and share thoughts with the reader. I think that she should also have included that "argument" is a main source. Without either key you can not unlock the knowledge of how and also why to write.

Summary:
Sarah Allen's article "The Inspired Writer Vs. The Real Writer" starts with her and a student's dialogue about how "professional writers" merely skip over to their computers, sit down, and write great master pieces without breaking a sweat. Allen laughs at this accusation, and explains that there are very many bumps in the writing road; writers block, frustration, fear, and other terrifying things. She states that the Inspired Writer is a warped figment of any normal writer's imagination. She explains that to get over this imaginary style the Real Writer, must talk about their fears and get the negative thoughts about their writing out of their heads before writing.

Synthesis:
Allen states that students can not write because they have the Inspired Writer phobia. They are worried that they will fail, therefore the do not try. That they also do not know how write with out more than one draft. They aim to do it all in one shot, which is impossible for even professional writers. Kantz also notes on the "one draft plague". She mentions that students are in a rush to get finished with their projects that they think that good writing just happens, and that you do not have to work for it through several drafts and mistakes being corrected.

Conclusions:
I liked this piece by Sarah Allen, it made me realize that sometimes my writers block is not because I don't know WHAT to write, but rather I'm afraid that I will write something and be told it is WRONG. Students also should listen to Allen's advice about having actual college level writers and readers proof their papers and not their parents, coaches, and boyfriends. Not that we shouldn't trust them as "outsiders" to the class, but they do not know the technicalities for the expectations of the assignment.

Berkenkotter and Murray:

Before you Read:
Death isn't a bad thing. It means that a person or animal, in fact any living thing, has fulfilled its life on earth and needs to continue on elsewhere. The way death is viewed is as a sad, mournful, finale to life. But it is actually more than that. Death is a continuance. Death is eternal life and happiness. When people and animals  die, it is of course sad because we can no longer spend time with them, see them, share experiences, but they never leave our memories or hearts. Even if there is no Heaven or Hell for a soul to end up, they live on in our hearts by memories and shared times. Death is hard to accept, yes, we tend to never think that when it happens is the right time, and we always wish for one more day. But when people reach the point in their lives where they have completed their mission they are taken back to where they can continue their existence in another way. Its okay to cry because of Death, but sometimes Death is a blessing, if the person or animal was suffering. They are now at peace. But some times Death is sudden and not expected, just remember that everyone has a purpose in life and once that purpose is filled we no longer have need, and therefore are taken for another place and purpose.

Summary:
In Berkenkotter's article "Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer", she tells about the time she spent analyzing Mr. Murray's writing process and writing styles. She states that he would record himself talking about his thoughts for many hours, then he would dictate to his wife, edit, dictate, edit, and continue this cycle until he felt that his thoughts were in order and the writing was the way that he wanted it. And only then would he send it off to whom ever was the receiver.
In Murray's response, he jokingly calls himself the rat, of the experiement. He seems intregged with not only how Ms. Berkenkotter applied her research, but also in the manner than she conducted it. He claims that it was very humane, and that he "started this process with a researcher and have ended it with a colleague". I find that Mr. Murray was impressed with how his writing style was explained, but he fears that he is now the idealistic writer and he hopes that other writers "far better writers than I" also allow for such research so that there is a comparison of styles and writers.

Synthesis:
Berkenkotter states that writers have "procedures and rituals" to help them write. She shows how each time the writer begins, they use the same set up for their piece so that they deliver the same style of argument each time they put their two cents in. Allen agrees this also. She even admits to borrowing a fellow writers style for her own. Allen claims that some times the layout does not work with what she is writing so she revises it.

Questions for Discussion:
1.)Murray puts a lot of thought into his writing process. I prefer to pre write, jot down ideas and branch off of them, then start vague rough paragraphs and sentences, then eventually throw them together and revise and edit. Murray records his thoughts that he speaks aloud, thinks constantly, dictates to his wife, revises, edits, dictates, revises, edits, and continuous cycle until he is satisfied.
3.) She had no idea how such talented writers could jump all over in the "writing process" and make their own paths and pave their own ways in the writing ways. She later learns that even if the steps are not followd one to the end, they are still all checked and crossed off the list eventually.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
1.) I spend most of my writing time, actually writing. I research and revise while writing. I do this because I can pause mid thought and pick how I want to expand on what I just said. I like to write this way rather than have all the information in front of me, because then I feel that the writing is very cut and dry and has no depth. I'm sure that this style is a big no no in the writing world, but to each his own, in my opinion.

Meta Movement:
I learned to take more time with my thoughts BEFORE writing. Writing sometimes is not something you can sit down, look at your computer screen, touch the keys, and in fifteen minutes have a masterpiece that would make Hemingway jealous. You have to take the time to sit, organize, construct, record, branch off of ideas that pop into your head yet tie into the writing one way or another. The best writers must be the best thinkers.

Thoughts:
The before you read part of this assignment was rather hard for me to write but I wanted to take a stab at it. My senior year of high school I lost three very dear people in my family. I liked these articles. I liked the opening with Berkenkotter's research of Mr. Murray, and then his response to the same research. I loved how he called himself a lab rat, when in fact he is much more than that. He is an educational instrument that students should aim to emulate their writing styles after.

Ted Talk

I think that McCloud in his ted talk made a lot of good points. He expressed first that comics are broken up into many different types and used for many different genres. He also shows that comics were not started in the 80's about super heros and their enemies, but date back to historical times, with the early Egyptians. The hyroglifics quickly evolve into "comic strips" by the Europeans who added word bubbles and "stage directions". McCloud then goes into details on how once comic pages were applied to the computer, that the computer is no longer seen as a "monitor" rather a "window/viewer" to see how the story line conducts and moves itself to play out the story. McCloud has many great examples and uses lots of images and concepts to get his point across, much like what he does in his comic strip we read in "Reading about Writing."

McCloud and Berger RR and Questions

Before you read (McCloud):
My favorite cartoon as a child was "Calvin and Hobbes". I can relate to this character because I had a stuffed animal that I always took every where. Granted my stuffed animal did not come to life and and get me into trouble occasionally, it was my best friend and I played with it everyday.

Before you read (Berger):

Similarities:
Both exhibit the woman as an object, showing that she waits for whomever is watching her.
Both have some covering but show skin in a provocative way.
Seductive facial expressions.
Both look disheveled as if an afternoon of "activity"
Differences:
Modern image shows edited nudity, to prevent "pornography"
photography vs a painting
modern image seems closed off and protective of their body, older image is open and shows off her body.


Summary:
In McCloud's "Vocabulary of Comics" he explains that humans give symbols and objects humanistic traits. By explaining personification, he proves his point of the simpler the drawing the more the viewer sees and adds. He also explains that by putting ourselves into personality lacking objects we "Define the frame."

In Berger's "Ways of seeing" he explains that in early century European nude paintings that women were meant to be seen as submissive and that not only do men study and judge a woman based on her actions and appearance but also the woman does of herself. He compares art from the early centuries and modern art and advertisements, showing that the woman is still viewed as an object.



Synthesis:
McCloud's idea does not really tie into anything else we have read yet, but it ties to the way that Berger explains how the owner becomes the viewer of the women, not the artist, in "Ways of seeing". McCloud states that the viewer puts themselves in the picture while Berger states that they do not.

Questions for Discussion (McCloud):
1.) I think that adults still enjoy cartoons because they are simplified and remind us of childhood. I don not think that there should be an age limit on watching or reading cartoons because there is no age limit on entertainment or self interests. McCloud uses comics so that people pay more attention to the point he is trying to prove rather than bore the reader with strict texts or over stimulate and distract from an overly detailed drawing.
2.) He uses it so that the reader is more engaged and plays closer attention to what he is saying. His point would have stayed the same, only his examples would not have made any sense, they would not have been clearly "illustrated".
3.) Yes, it is true because if the pictures are more detailed the reader would become distracted with the images and less interested in what the cartoon is expressing as the point. Also characters are "blank slates", we use our own inner voices and personalities to read and comprehend what is going on in the cartoon. Plus our minds eye creates a world that we enter as the main character.

Questions for Discussion (Berger):
1.) Yes, it was to make the women of their time appear submissive and below men. Berger agrees and states a similar idea in paragraph 25.
2.) Mostly fashion or sales ads, basically promising that if you buy this product you will be sexy and desirable. They have changed in the ways that we do not have nude images for the pornographic interpretation.
3.) Women are still constantly assessed on their appearance, actions, and attitudes. And most women own it, to get what they want without working terribly hard for it.
4.) The audience is most likely art students, based on his way of introducing and explaining the works of art and also his introduction.
5.) "The Other" is in meaning to the opposite sex or the person in the work of art. Stating that subconsciously we do want to see them in the submissive state.

Applying and Exploring Ideas (McCloud):
1.) Yes, many people are visual learners and can associate pictures with what they have learned. I think that English, History, and some Science classes, would be most beneficial to students.
2.) That if an object does not have a humanistic identity we put our personality traits into it and share a connection. But when a person sees a photo of an actual person, they are less likely to identify with the person and more likely to associate with the action or place in the photograph.
3.) I believe that some people "grow out" of cartoons because they feel it is childish. Another example is in middle school many people stop doing things and buying things they think are "baby stuff", when as a college student suddenly becomes lifelines, such as Capri suns, lunchables, and pillow pets. Maturity levels are based on self perception and some people feel that to be mature they must act older.
4.) McCloud calls the human face a mask, which is very true. You can hide your true emotions by facial expressions the most common example for this is people to fake a smile when they are upset. Without "the mask" people would not pay attention to self image and how others perceive them.

Applying and Exploring Ideas (Berger):
1.) Men are not really used in art work other than historical pieces or as additions to artwork containing women.
2.) Women in artwork are objects to the viewer. In writing the text is seen more as an idea or concept, it is not thought of as something that a person could possess.
3.) I see the positioning in the modern way as sexual and directed towards the viewer and away from other things in the image.
4.) Humor is seen as a way for women to be seen. Berger explains that women use humor as a trait, and men use humor as humor.

Meta Movement:
I think it helped in understanding "viewer" and "audience". I know that to capture attention the writing must be alluring and seem directed to the reader as if it written specifically for them.

Conclusion:
Both articles brought different arguments into light and used different examples, but tie together how to identify and attract audience. McCloud explains to simplify, while Berger says to seduce/suggestively imply that the reader is the whole reason the author wrote the piece.

Topic Proposal

I plan to talk about how students are not properly taught punctuation. They are taught the minimum to pass beginning English courses and standardized tests. But they are not shown how to use this information as building blocks for furthering their knowledge. Students reach high school and college level English classes and are not aware of how the rules and usage of punctuation have changed. This is mostly the educational systems fault because they give a few handouts as a refresher at the beginning of the year and spend a few days reviewing, but no time expanding the knowledge. I plan to not only speak on the differences between primary and secondary schooling's punctuation, but also on how the educational system needs to reform it and use better techniques to have students ahead of the learning curve and not trying to catch up.

Library Tutorials

Finding Scholarly Articles, first you have to search your topic. In the video we are shown how to refine the search from thousands of choices to a handful by selecting "Scholarly Articles" off to the left side of the web page. To search Scholarly Articles you can use; the title, the author, abstracts, conclusions and the sources. Some articles are stored as "pdf's" and others can be found by using "link source". Using our library's search engine is the "easiest and quickest way to find sources and scholarly articles." I found this tutorial very informative and helpful, and will most likely use it in the future.

Another tutorial is how to find the full text or original source, when all you have is the source information. This can be a big help when doing research papers, and forgetting where you found a book. By following the simple steps in the video you can continue you're research quickly. To use "Alice" the search engine offered here at Ohio University, you need at least three pieces of information. The author's name, the title of the work, and the date when published. To begin your search, type the name of the article into Alice and select the type of source it is. Once you have results make sure to double check their source information with your own to ensure you have correctly found the work, and to continue working where you left off.

The third and final tutorial I will summarize is something I have already done this year! Requesting books! Books in a college library are not like books at your local library. Sometimes you may need a book that is only available from another location. Luckily Ohio University is linked in with other colleges in the state of Ohio, through "Ohio Link". To use this system all you do is search the book or work you need in Alice, check the status, click the Ohio Link link which will pinpoint where the book(s) are located around Ohio. Now if the book you need is at the University of Akron all you do, is press the request button, select your home school, sign in with your Ohio I.d and select a pick up location, I recommend Alden Library. Then press Submit, and in roughly three days you will receive an email that your book is in and ready to be picked up.

Margaret Kantz Article Response

Summary:
Kantz tells the hypothetical story of a student named Shirley, who is writing a research paper about English history. Kantz gives a brief back round on the girl's home life, school work, and writing ability. The girl turns in what she expects to be an "A" paper, only to be given a C-. Kantz then goes into vague detail on how the girl seeks help from a friend who has more insight. Kantz repeats throughout her article that "students commonly misread texts as narratives" (pg 73). and "students expect sources to the the truth"(pg72). She uses several other students as examples, speaking on how all of the students are not answering the key questions in writing a research paper. "Who, Why, How, and So What?"(pg 78). She also speaks briefly on how students give up after one draft, and do not build on their writing to write better pieces with more detailed arguments. Kantz suggests teaching students how to properly ask and answer the questions so that they can have original arguments in their writings.

Synthesis:
In her article "Helping Students..." Margaret Kantz underlines the cause for poor writing in students is that, they try to do all their work in one draft, do not know how to ask and answer questions in their writings, and trust their sources and textbooks to be telling them true facts, rather than claims that are still up for discussion. In a previous article by Stuart Greene, "Argument as a Conversation", he states that the student is control of the "facts or claims" based on scholarly inquiry. The student will research, ask and answer questions until the find the information they feel needed. Also Kantz is quoted on page 81 stating, "creativity is what research should be about." In comparison, Greene writes " [research] is often taught as a process of collecting information for its own sake." (pg19). Both instructors have valid points, yet Kantz is less supportive and is repetitive of how facts are not facts all the time, therefore students can not trust them to aid in their arguments.

Questions for Discussions:
1. Kantz says that facts are not always in textbooks, "aren't so much inherently true statements as they are claims" (pg 67). She states that some things are facts because people believe them to be true, and agree that they are true. ex: the sky is blue. Many people agree that yes, the sky is blue. She states that textbooks and other sources are not to be trusted with facts sometimes because students misinterpret them as stories and tie the information to unrelated topics and back round information.
2. Things student do not know, understand, or comprehend:

• the difference between FACTS and CLAIMS
• sources (read as stories or narratives)
• they expect truths in their readings
• facts that are used to persuade
• WHO they are as a WRITER
• their AUDIENCE
• their TOPIC
• Gaps in their reading and their writings.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:

2. Kantz states that creativity should be the reason for research. I disagree, I believe that creativity would come from research. How can one write if one does not know the topic, or where they want to branch out with it? Much like in Michael Klein's article, students like myself do not know where we enter the conversation, therefore we must research, and do so thoroughly before entrance. Kantz does not even mention the "conversation" in her article and just states that there are questions to be asked and answered. Which is true, but we do not know what questions have already been asked and answered previous to our own unless we begin with research. 

Conclusion:

I was not impressed nor inspired with Margaret Kantz's article. I felt that she was very narrow minded on how to write, at least pre-write. In all of our other articles we were instructed that research was to be done to find the tone and the place of the conversation regarding our topic. Kantz completely disregards the "conversation" aspect of writing and merely mentions that things we read while researching are not to be trusted as facts merely because most of them are claims used to persuade the reader to agree that the "fact" is true. She is very repetitive in stating constantly that students misinterpret sources as narratives and that they think that just because it is in a book that it is a fact. I do not care for Ms. Kantz ideas and input on research or writing as a whole.