Blog Week 14

In this blog, you will create an outline for your essay. Make sure that it is detailed enough for another person to use when creating their own essay.

Introduction/Thesis

Topic

Title

Brainstorming

Peer review

Fine tuning the body

Introduction/Conclusion

Recheck our work

Corrections and submission

Conclusion

      

Blog week 12B

Learning how to write essays properly has been a great growth experience for me. Having the rhetorical tools explained and being aware of them helps me to be a better writer and turn out a better reading experience for anyone who picks up my paper. Knowing and being aware of the different rhetorical tools available to me help me focus on what it is I want my reader to feel and ways to express those thoughts and emotions to evoke the response to any essay, story or blog for that matter. Being able to brainstorm and get all the information I want to get down on paper and then organize it into a proper chronological process needed to reach my readers makes the task of writing an essay a lot easier and a more rewarding reading experience.

Blog 12A

Today I am supposed to tell you how to write an essay. First off when writing an essay it helps to know what your topic will be. Give it a title; we can change it later if it doesn’t fit. But it will give us something to think about while we move ahead. Every essay has a three main parts, your introduction, body and conclusion. Once you know what your topic or story will be about you want to get down as much as you know about the subject and put it all down on paper and just call it your body. Show it to a peer or classmate and have them preview it to get their input. You can come back to this and hammer it out into a fine point once we have something to work with. Once it is all down you want to pull out your Rhetorical tools and start the refining process. Using Rhetorical tool such as Visual gaze, Visual Rhetoric, Descriptors (Subjective and objective), Definition, Classification and Division we will hone our body of information. After the hard part is done we can write our Introduction and Conclusion. At this point we can go ahead and prepare our Thesis statement, what exactly it is that we want our reader to get out of our paper, and make sure our conclusion restates according to your Thesis statement. Have a tutor or someone versed in checking for grammar and content look over your paper. Correct any mistakes and turn that puppy in with the appropriate cover-sheet.

9A

In class we are learning about Classification and Division. Classification refers to a main point which can be broken into several smaller points. In writing this type of an essay you want to take the subject and break it into the smaller Classifications like introduction, point, definitions and the argument as well as a conclusion. After you have your Classifications you want to break it down into smaller Divisions and define any important information your audience needs to make a connection to the subject and help them see your point of view.  Using headings we can help the reader scan to the information they are looking for or need to reread and evaluate.

8B

For this blog, you will select 3 phrases from your New York Times article and create an extended definitions for each.

1. OnLive (free) and OnLive Plus ($5 a month) are both brilliantly executed steps forward into the long-promised world of “thin client” computing

"Thin Client" refers to a client machine (like your iPad) that relies on the server to perform the data processing.  The OnLive software is used to send keyboard and mouse input to the server and receive screen output in return. The thin client does not process any data; it processes only the user interface (UI). The benefits are improved maintenance and security due to central administration of the hardware and software in the datacenter.


2. That’s pretty impressive — but not as impressive as what’s going on behind the scenes. The PC that’s driving your iPad Windows experience is, in fact, a “farm” of computers at one of three data centers thousands of miles away.

A server farm or server cluster is a collection of computer servers usually maintained by an enterpisesuch as OnLive to accomplish server needs far beyond the capability of one machine.


3. That’s not a typo. And “1-gigabit Internet” means the fastest connection you’ve ever used in your life — on your iPad.


1-gigabit is roughly 125 megabits which is seriously faster then most home connections of around 15-20 megabits (cable speed with best optimal conditions). This is an incredible amount of speed for an iPad to have access to and witht he added processing power of the server farm it is great power.

Blog Week 8A-Definitions

Today we talked about the importance of definitions in reaching an audiance.  The main thing is with out the ability to define an unknown theory, term, object , person, place or thing you have to hope they know what you are talking about.  Being able to define what you are talking about and describe it to your audience is key in getting your message across.  Diffrent people can define the same thing in diffrent ways, due to thier life expieriances, because they see them in diffrent ways.  Being able to define your view helps the audience connect with you.  You can use the diffrent Rhetorical tools such as compare and contrast, or familial gazes as an example to help you define your view, topic or point.

In the article I have listed here as windows-7-on-the-ipad-in-blazing-speed , our subject is an emerging technology and where it may be headed in the future. The conversation that it is participating in is technological advances in the computer industry and cloud type computing and/or the increasing benifits of virtualization of the windows operating environment on a thin pad.

Week 7 Rhetorical Terms

We all have read a book. Sometimes for pleasure, sometimes it's forced upon us, most times we don't even realize we are reading. Words are everywhere as are images. So what? What does that mean to me? Well to me it means that my thoughts are being invaded by the written word or images every day and in most cases it is changing the way I think as I read.

Knowing the different Rhetorical tools we are learning in class helps me to catch the fact that I am thinking differently because of something I read or an image that I saw. They say "A picture is worth a thousand words" and I know that is true. So when I see a picture on an advertisement I have had a virtual novel thrown into my head. Moving pictures are even worse we can watch the flow of the pictures across the screen and watch them change, move, breath.

Some Rhetorical tools that we need to be aware of are Persuasive Theme, which we see a lot around election time, which is a way to persuade you to think something that evokes feelings of nationalism, tradition, and nostalgia. This way the writer can persuade you to think what he wants because of your feelings even though they may not be truly aligned with what is true to you.

Master Narrative is kind of like a Persuasive theme in that they are related to your story, your region or countries story. A turkey or an eagle means something completely different to us then they would to someone in say Pakistan. Although with our strong history with the eagle and the turkey other countries might just see them as an American thing if they know much about us.

We also must be aware of Content and Technical Signature which can help us recognize the place where the information is coming from and why the writer is putting the information out.

Last we cannot forget Audience Resonance and effects we want to know what kind of an impact the information we put out has on our target audience and if they have been reached or not. Was the investment made profitable in changing a thought or creating a desire for a product?

These are a few of the Rhetorical tools that we need to be aware of when reading or viewing images. Our minds are bombarded constantly with information and we need to be able to distinguish what is useful and what is not.

Compare and Contrast

Today in class we talked about compare and contrast in writing.  There are two types of writing styles you can use for compare and contrast. Side by Side and Point by Point are these two styles. 

In the Side by Side style we tell the whole story about each subject fleshing it out, expressing every detail of our subjects and then we summarize the diffrences in our conclusion.  When using this style it is easier to focus on the big picture of both sides and then pick out the varying simalarities or diffrences in the conclusion.  With the Point by Point style we break down each subject and show each simalarity or diffrence side by side and then summerize again at our conclusion.  This style works best when doing a rebuttal to something like a list of campaign promises that were made by a elected candidate.

We can use compare and contrast to help tell a story. For an example we can say a person who lost all his inventory because it was all in one truck and the truck was totalled by a hit and run driver is simalar to the proverb of keeping all your eggs in one basket, or you can make a contrast of someones bright chhery new room being much diffrent then the dark basement that they used to live in.  We use compare and contrast in alot of everyday speach that we may not even think about.  "That guy is as dumb as a bunch of rocks."(Compare)  "That guy is NOT the sharpest tool in the shed" (Contrast).  Compare and contrast is a very important part of writing to help explain things that could be confusing to someone not familiar with the subject matter.

Visual Rhetoric

Visual Rhetoric helps a writer tell his story by using a picture which the reader can see and see the obvious in the picture or the objective view then we have the subjective view that the author can use to give the reader more information about the things that are not readily seen but the author wants us to know.  In visual Rhetoric there are several ways to describe our picture and relate to the reader. We use pathos to pull at their emotion, logos to connect with a persons logic, and ethos to describe the character.  In this picture we are using a national gaze, this pulls at the readers sense of patriotism with things we associate with our country.  There are several types of gazes, Familial Gazes, Consumer Gazes, National Gazes, Traveling Gazes, and Cultural Gazes.

Cuasal Chain

    Today in class we talked about the importance of the Causal Chain and how it works. To summarize the causal chain I would have to say it is the things that happen during a narration that causes something else to happen.  It's important that your causal chain is structured so it's not a rambling of random events that don't really make sense to the end reader.  A good causal chain can be easily recognized once you know about them.
      Much like the tipping of a domino chain, you tip the first domino which tips the second domino and so on down the line.  A good causal chain will bring the reader to why something happened.  The last domino fell on it's side because the first domino was set in motion tipping the rest over until the last fell as well.  You can look up and down the chain of events and see how each event effected the next event.

Peer Review

Today in class we had our first peer review.  Peer review was cool because it gave us a chance to get a set of fresh eyes on our work.   I was able to see where what I put down on paper didn't really make sense to others reading my story.  I liked hearing and seeing how my peers thoughts flowed on paper as well. I was able to refine my story to make it more readable to others.  I did however also go and see the English Tutor, to get some more knowledgable feed back as well.  Peer review is nice in helping to see the flow and understanability of my story, but having someone who majors in English look at it too was really invaluable.

Rhetorical Tools

     Today in class we discussed Mary Zambreno's article "Why Do Some Stories Keep Returning?". This introduced me to some Rhetorical Tools. The tools she mentioned in the article were Piece meal, Window of Opportunity, Open-endedness, and Mutability or Plasticity.  Although I have read a few stories in my time and have seen these terms used over and over I really never knew what they were called. So today we will talk about these terms and flesh them out a little bit to make them understandable to you the reader of my blog.
      Mutability (or Plasticity) is the ways in which the material can be reshaped for new audiences. Thank goodness this happens because I don't think I would like to read some of these older versions  written in very old english of King Arthur,  "yet som men say in many partys of Inglonde that Kynge Arthure ys nat ded" -Malory.  Really?  When I read that I feel like I am practicing "Hooked on Phonics".  But mainly mutability is how it can be related to todays people updated enough to make the readers feel the story and relate.  Peace meal is taking bits and pieces of information gathered and putting them together with a thread  to make  a story.  Much like Joseph's coat of many colors.  All sorts of of fragmented bits of fabric to create the coat.  Now widows of opportunity are the part in the story that has been left out normally because it's not related directly to the charecter but you may wonder "what about so and so" that is a window of opportunity to tell another story.  Maybe it's been written about so and so maybe not, maybe you will write about him.  Finally we have the open endedness of a story.  Sure Luke killed his father Darth Vader and we saw the head Sith drop down to his supposed demise. But didn't we see Luke fall to his supposed demise much the same way and was saved.  There are always two Sith, a master and a pupil, so who is to say the Jedi have nothing else to worry about.  The story can continue and although I am not sure I think there are other stories after Darth Vader's death allready written.  I hope I have helped explain these terms to others that haven't taken this course and are following my pittiful blog.

Narrative elements.

The narrative elements of a story are Character, plot, Conflict, climax, and resolution.  When telling a story we tell a story about something or someone.  The individuals that move through our story are called characters.  Characters influence the story helping to move the plot along.  Plot is normally some sort of conflict that arises and has to be resolved by our charecters.  The climax is the strongest part of the story where the conflict builds to an emotional peak. Resolution is where the conflict is finally resolved by our characters.

In the previous blog I talked about the story of the "Three little pigs".  Our setting in this story varies from telling to telling we assume mostly it is contryside since the pigs are leaving home. We initially have the 4 characters the three little pigs and thier mother sending them of to do the "Best" they can do.  Our three little fellows decide to create a dwelling for them selves.  The first little pig builds his home of straw because its the easiest thing to do, the second decides to put forth a little more effort at builds his home of sticks.  The third little pig remembering mothers advice does the best he can do and builds a home of bricks.  So far the plot of the story was the three little pigs setting out to make thier fortune and building a dwelling to call thier own.  Enter the character of the big bad wolf who likes to eat little pigs.  Our plot now changes and a conflict is introduced.  The conflict doesn't end very well for the first two pigs who are gobbled up.  We have now lost two characters and are approaching our climax as teh third little pig struggles with the conflict of staying alive against the big bad wolf.  The wolf can't blow this sturdy built brick home and decides to outsmart the pig by climing down the chimney.  The pig outsmarts the wolf and captures him in the pot over the fire in the fireplace and we have our resolution. You can see how narrative elements play an important part of telling any story.

The importance of narrative in reaching an audience.

Narratives have been around since the beginning of time.  Narratives are a story either relayed as spoken, written, music, or visual representations.  The importance of a narrative in reaching an audience is that it must some how connect to your receiving parties or be ratable.  Narrative uses theme, setting , characters, and plot to relay a story. Normally during a narrative we also have a problem which occurs for our characters, response by the characters to the problem, action taken to resolve the problem, and outcome of the resolved problem.

For example in the story "The three little pigs" we have one little pig who built his house of straw. Enter the big bad wolf who wants to enter the little pig's home and is refused.  The big bad wolf then blows down the little pigs home and eats him.  Same ultimate end happens to the second little pig who built his house of sticks.  The third little pig built his house of bricks so all the huffing and puffing from the big bad wolf proves useless.  The big bad wolf then decides to crawl down the chimney to get to the last little pig.  Fortunately for our hero he builds a fire and puts a big stew pot on to capture and cook the big bad wolf.   Thus ending our story.  As you can see the problem in the story was the big bad wolf trying to eat the pigs(our characters). Our action taken on the problem was actually taken before the problem arose. Two brothers failed because of improper planning and effort building their homes but the 3rd survived due to his previous hard work building a stronger home then his brothers and his quick thinking when the wolf tried to enter his home.  Our outcome was that the 3rd little pig has 2 less Christmas and birthday gifts every year but still enjoys his life.  This simple story can relate to just about any age the importance of proper planning and preparing ahead of time and not going for the easy way out of tasks.

English Class First day.

First assignment create a blog. Done.  First day of school, so far so good.