This course, English 2089, has taken me out of my comfort zone by directing me to publish my work in the class newspaper website, the Activist. This is something I had never done before and was nerves to do so. With the help of my professor and classmate, I have been able to create my own work and collaborated work that is publication-ready. The writing throughout my WordPress page shows how my writing has progressed through the process of the course. While talking about topics that were foreign to me at the begin of the semester eventually I grasp the concepts and was able to define discourse communities and genre. By creating a blog with thirteen Friday post it shows how my understanding of the discussed topics in the class has gotten more complex and better understood.
My academic writing consists of my genre analysis essay and my discourse community project containing three parts. The genre analysis essay is an essay that discusses and compares two types of genres and their sub-genres, academic and journalistic writing. The discourse community project part one is displaying my understanding of how my major is a part of a discourse community using expert Swales six criteria of discourse communities. Part two is a lesson plan which is a genre related to my field of study. For part three I demonstrated how a lesson plan is related to discourse community. By these writings and projects, it shows that I have an adequate understanding of discourse community and genre.
This Genre analysis essay is my most recently updated essay. I have fixed citation issues such as direct quotes and paraphrasing. I have also answered more questions that further my explanation of genre such as why do publishers establish the formats that they do? What is the impact of the extensive citation? Is the fact that the academic work is only available by subscription the only reason it has a smaller audience? By doing this I have made my writing more credible and have added more information to explain my understanding. This is my Previous essay and it shows how I have fathered my skills throughout the course.
Genre was a concept I knew about but, never thought about when writing for other classes. We first started talking about the genre of journalism. We discussed how journalism can be hard or soft. Hard news or journalism consist of the who, what, where, when, and why or the facts. While soft news or journalism consists of stories or opinions. In Friday post #4 show my first sample journalistic articles. Throughout the semester I have created a soft news piece What Makes UCBA the Right Choice and a hard news piece Join the Association of Student Educators. These two pieces show that I understand and can create both hard and soft news successfully.
The individual activist work is two articles I have written by myself for my English class newspaper at UCBA. One Article is Join the Association of Student Educators and the other is What Makes UCBA the Right Choice. Join the Association of Student Educators is a hard news piece that just states facts about the club. While What Makes UCBA the Right choice is a soft news opinion pieces about why I think UCBA is the right choice. These two different type of articles show my understanding of genre and the audience.
Finals Prep: Top 10 Hidden Study Areas at UCBA and 10 Hacks for Broke Bearcats are both collaborative pieces I contributed to for our class newspaper. The groups on each project were different, but they are both follow the genre of photo caption list. My groups found best to do photo caption list because of our projected audience. The first article is already finalized our class newspaper, the Activist. This article gives great ideas of where to study at on campus during finals. The other article is how to save money as a college student. By working with a group I also worked on group collaboration skills.
This discourse community project consists of three parts that show my understanding of discourse communities. In part one I analysis my major, pre-education, and show how it is a discourse community by following Swales six criteria. In part two I created a lesson plan and in part three I explain how that lesson plan is part of the discourse community.
The term discourse community was first introduced to me by two articles CCCCs piece on discourse community and Discourse community by Erik, Borg. After reading these article I had a very simple understanding of discourse community that quickly changed to a more complex understanding of the concept of discourse community. In Friday post #1 I show my understanding of discourse community was incomplete. By the end of the semester, I am very knowable about discourse community showed through my discourse community project parts one, two, and three all show my greater understanding of the education major discourse community. Overall, I am much more knowable in the concept of discourse community.
Another type of genre that I created in class was green book entries. These were writing prompts directed by the professor. The prompts were designed to dig deep into thinking about the main topics discussed in class. This genre was quick thoughts jotted down to farther my thoughts as a creator. As a creator and student, I am a writer, learner, developer, and a future educator. I demonstrate these skills throughout my portfolio.
One question that I ask myself is my work truly publishable? When asked these questions in a green book prompt I answer that question.
I am a writer…to express my thoughts and opinions, to share my ideas with others.
I am not a writer… because it is time-consuming and difficult. I do not always want everyone to see my thoughts and ideas.
I am a writer… to help others understand my opinions
When I write I… write what I think and share my ideas
When I write I do not… always use the correct grammar or spelling.
Good writing is…. complex, clear, easy to follow, truthful, easy to understand.
Good writing is not …. Sloppy
Genre matters to me as a writer because… it shows who it is for, who the discourse community is for
Genre does not matter to me as a writer because… I write for assignments and the professor choose the genre.
I am a writer… because writing is valued and important to express one’s self.
When answering these question I realized that writing does not just have to be for assignments. Even if the work is not perfect it still contains value and purpose. When using genre writing is valued and important to express your thoughts and feelings for specific discourse community. I now think that my writing is important. With hard work and dedication, my writing can be publishable.
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