COMP 2000 – Journal Entry 7

Answer the following questions about the discourse analysis article, “Professional Editing Strategies Used by Six Editors,” by Jocelyne Bisaillon.

What is the writer trying to find out more about through their research (what research question guides their work)?
· What defines revision in a professional context?
· What approach is taken by those who make their living revising—that is, professional editors? Are their resemblances between their strategies?
· How is their revision process influenced by the mandate they receive, their conception of revision, and their experience?
What is the research methodology of this article (how do they collect their information, and how do they analyze the information they collect)?
Six professional editors were grouped into two categories, most experienced and least experienced, and were filmed as they engaged in their practice. Interview data was collected retrospectively, and from this the editors were grouped into further categories depending on how they perceived revision, from a normative or communicational perspective. Several other bases for analysis were drawn upon as well.
How does professional editing differ from how students revise their own work?
Professional editors rarely have to read to understand their assignments because they essentially receive them orally via the clients. This is not the case however, with students.

Natalie Dylan

Group 3: Write as if you are a good friend of Natalie's trying to convince her with a series of text messages not to go through with the auction.

Natalie's Friend: DNT DO IT NATALIE, LOL!

COMP 2000 – Journal Entry 6

 

Answer the following questions about the rhetoric article, “The Rhetorical Situation,” by Lloyd Bitzer.

 

1.     What does Bitzer not mean by “rhetorical situation”? In other words, how does his view differ from past views that readers might compare to his?

Blitzer is not referring to the traditional view of rhetoric. In the traditional sense, rhetoricians have asked the types of questions that trigger theories of rhetoric focus upon the orator’s method or upon the discourse itself, rather than upon the situation which invites the orator’s application of his method and the creation of discourse.

 

2.     What does Bitzer mean by “rhetorical situation”?

Blitzer states that the “rhetorical situation” is the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse. It is a complex of persons, events, objects and relations presenting an actual or potential exigence that can be completely or partially removed if discourse, introduced to the situation, can so constrain human decision or action as to bring about the significant modification of the exigence. He suggests that “rhetorical situation” should be considered the very ground of rhetorical activity.

 

3.     Explain what “exigence” is. Give your own example of an exigence someone could respond to in writing.

An exigence is any imperfection marked by urgency. It can be rhetorical when it is capable of positive modification and when positive modification requires discourse or can be assisted by discourse. The commercial slaughter of porpoises in Japan is a rhetorical exigence.

 

Journal no. 5

In discussions of  the problems of specialization in English studies, one controversial issue has been the value of "corporate compromise" as a potential means of curricular reform. Corporate compromise generally involves one English studies discipline asserting managerial powers over the others in a democratic fashion. On the one hand, Brantliger and Eagleton argue that cultural studies should assume the leading position. Their rationale is that cultural studies "recognizes all texts as falling within its scope, and its methods of analysis are better suited to making the knowledge produced in [the disciplines of English studies] useful to a larger public." On the other hand, Berlin contends that social-epistemic rhetoric should take the helm. He claims that because rhetoric is the study of signifying practices, and because signifying practices define all English studies disciplines, rhetoric is best able to assume a managerial role. Others even maintain that literacy should be designated leader, as it is not in itself an English studies discipline yet is, however, a unifying term for all other English studies disciplines and would thus uphold an unbiased administration. It is the view of the authors of "They Say/ I Say" that these "equally specialized managerial disciplines" do not represent the needs and wants of the other English studies disciplines and that an assertion of dominance is only a political maneuver to marginalize them. The authors find corporate compromise to be the wrong option for reforming the English studies curriculum.

Journal no. 3

• What does Bartholomae mean when he says that students must “invent the university” when they write in college?

They must learn to write by the conventions of a discourse. For example, a student writing a Philosophy paper is said to “invent the university” if he/she assembles and mimics the language conventionalized by that discipline.

• What does Bartholomae suggest is a way for students to become “insiders” within academic discourse?

He suggests imagining oneself as being inside an established and powerful discourse and as being given a special right to speak.

•  Summarize some of the differences between the two examples of student writing that Bartholomae examines, and Bartholomae’s opinion of these examples.

The first example is very straightforward and the author doesn’t attempt to use any specialized language. In the second example, the author more aggressively attempts to locate herself within the discourse. She uses a specialized vocabulary and successively references her own ideas and arguments.  Bartholomae argues that the second example better because the author took more of a risk when writing it. The author of the second example made a more pronounced effort to “invent the university.”

Writing Workshop 1 Lists

Experise in: Marine Biology, Beer, Spearfishing, Lurking

Interest in: Diving, Food Sustainability, Art Comics, Entomology

Journal #2

Claim: One should take a "Pledge to be Veg" for 30 days.

Data: PETA will donate fruit trees to an impoverished village for every "Pledge to be Veg."

Warrant: One should support donating fruit trees to an impoverished village.

Qualifiers or Conditions of Rebuttal: Unless one has certain dietary restrictions. The "Pledge to be Veg" must be taken before the end of January.

Grounds: Because PETA claims that it will do so and cites the "Fruit Tree Planting Foundation" (ftpf.org) to which it will supposedly donate money.

Backing: Because one should do something proactive to end world hunger. Because the recipients of the fruit trees will benefit from the "vitamin C and other natural goodness of the fresh fruit." Because the fruit trees will "reduce carbon emissions and allow rainfall to soak into the ground instead of washing away precious topsoil."

Journal #1

Help Animals, the Hungry, the Planet, and Yourself by Taking the New Year's Pledge to Be Veg! http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/30_day_pledge_to_veg_jan_09

• What claim is being made?

PETA is advocating a New Year's Pledge to be Vegetarian for one month.

• What type of claim is this?

This is a claim of policy.

• What types of appeals or evidence are used to support the claim?

"Every year, more than 15 billion animals are slaughtered for food in the U.S. alone. Each of those billions of individual animals is denied everything that is natural and important to them: the space to take a few steps, love, safety from fear and pain, companionship, the joy of being able to nuzzle their young, and often even protection from the cold."

This is an appeal to pathos, as it induces feelings of sympathy for food animals.

"For every person who signs the Pledge to Be Veg for 30 Days through the end of January 2009, PETA will make a donation to a program to plant fruit trees in an impoverished village where people go hungry every day. These people would benefit from the vitamin C and other natural goodness of the fresh fruit that you would be helping to provide."

This is yet another appeal to pathos, as it induces feelings of goodwill for the less fortunate.