pg. 576 homework

What do Sommers and Murray mean by “revision”? Similar? Dissimilar?

How do students typically approach revision?

Rhetorically analyze Sommers and Murray

How do identifying those rhetorical constituents contribute to how we understand how texts are created?

pg. 676 questions

1. How do you see yourself as a writer?
I see myself as a writer who needs a lot of improvement. I have been writing papers since I was in 3rd grade and I still don't write perfect papers. I will write a draft and then have someone who is much more skilled than I am in writing look over it, and help me where I am stuck. I think once I have revised my paper a few times, I can become a good writer, but right off the bat, I need some help. I believe sometimes, whenever I am writing my first draft or rough draft, I don't always do it to the best of my ability because I know someone is going to come behind me and fix all my errors and help me where I need help. I think in order for met to become a better writer I need to start writing my first draft like it it my last. I need to not be so lazy whenever I write. My writing can always improve, it will never be perfect.

2. Is that self perception helping you be the best writer you can be?
Yes and no. I think sometimes I am writing my best and being the best writer I can be, and other times I am not being the best writer I can be.

3. Consider what you write and don't write.
I write or like to write about things in my life. I don't like making up stories and writing about them. I feel like I don't have a big enough imagination for that. I don't like answering questions about what I have read. I hate reading comprehension tests. Although, answering questions about what I previously read may help me remember what I just read, I like to sit there and just read and not have to worry about the questions at the end of the book. I like to journal about my  day or just journal in general. I like to read Bible stories and journal about those.

4. Consider how you prepare or don't prepare to write a  paper. 
Whenever I am preparing to write a paper, I probably don't prepare to the best of my abilities. I always start writing a week or week and a half before the final copy is due. But I don't work on the paper every day for that week or week and a half. I only work on the paper for 1 or 2 nights before the paper is due. The night before a paper is due, I usually am up all night revising and editing the paper to try to make it the best it can be. I have never had access to a writing lab before.

10-5 homework

1.     Question: How would you define exigence? Why does exigence matter in rhetorical situations?

a.     I would define exigence by saying it is a problem or need that can be addressed by communication. Exigence matters in rhetorical situations because sometimes in the rhetorical situations people don’t want to come straight out and tell you, you need to buy their product but they try to persuade you. Or people don’t come right out and tell you something but they hint around it so you do what they want you to do.

2.     Question: What are constraints? To help you work this out, consider what Grant-Davie’s constraints might have been in drafting this piece. Bitzer, you learned in this piece, argues that we should think of constraints as aids rather than restrictions. How can that be?

a.     Constraints are the hardest of the rhetorical situations components to define neatly because they can include so many different things. Bitzer defines them as persons, events, objects, and relations that are part of the situation because they have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence. Bitzer also says we should think of constraints as aids instead of restrictions. I think this is true because constraints play a big role in rhetorical situations.

3.     Question: As a writer, how would it help you to be aware of your rhetorical situation and the constraints it creates?

a.     As a writer, it is important to be aware of you rhetorical situation because it is very important when you are reading or writing. You should be aware of the constraints it creates because constraints are the people, events, objects, and relations.

meta moment pg. 531

Lamott gives you permission to write badly in order to write well. What else would you like pemission to do with/in your writing?

I'm not really sure what I would like permission doing in my writing. My teachers have not been real strict in the past with how the rough draft, or first draft, is supposed to look. They  have just given us time in class to sit there and get our thoughts together and write.

10-1 classwork

Q: Why is it so hard for any people(maybe you) to knowingly put bad writing on paper?

A: Many people including myself have a hard time putting bad words on paper because they feel like it is a waste of time.  I know I do. The question I ask myself when writing a rough draft, if I even write one, is why waste my time doing something I know I am going to change in the future? 

Q: What are your own "coping strategies" for getting started on a piece of writing? Do you have particular strategies for making yourself sit down and start writing?

A: Sitting down and starting to write is the hardest part for me. Once I start writing I can usually sit for about 20-30 minutes until I need a break. I have to put my phone away in order to get writing done. Whenever I start a paper, I just put all the thoughts I have in my head on my computer screen. I don't try to put the paper in any organizational form at all... I just write. 

Q: Lamott talks, toward the end of the piece, about all the critical voices that play in her mind when she's trying to write. Most, maybe all, writers have something similar. What are yours?

A: I don't think I have quiet voices that talk to me whenever I am trying to write. She talks about sitting there and closing your eyes and letting the quiet little voice talk to you. She says once you have heard it, bottle it up. I don't think I have an imagination like that. 

9-29 classwork

Q: How did you write your first paper?

A: The way I went about writing this paper was a lot different than the way I wrote my papers in high school. Whenever I got the assignment I did nothing with it for a couple of days. In class we would write about stuff that I knew I could incorporate into my paper. The first assignment we had due in class was to write 600 words. That was the first time I actually sat down and started writing. Whenever I started writing those 600 words it was something totally different than what I wrote my paper about. I wrote about 300 words of that one topic and then realized it would be very hard to write 1200 words on that topic. So I started writing a couple hours later on another topic. I had 600 words on that topic in about 30 minutes, so I knew I picked a topic I could write 1200 words about. I turned those 600 words in on a Tuesday morning. I did not do anything with those 600 words until Thursday night. On thursday night I wrote 600 more words. Whenever I had 1200 words on the paper, I had no organization. I only had 3 paragraphs: a introduction and 2 body paragraphs. I went to the writing center and they helped me organize my paper so I had an introduction, a couple of body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Whenever I wrote this paper, I mostly wrote it in my dorm room. I put headphones in so I could block out all the noise, and wrote my paper. I turned it on Sunday night and Tuesday when I got to class my teacher gave the chance to edit it. I edited it Tuesday and Thursday and turned in my final copy on Thursday afternoon.

Q: Describe the environment you like or don't like when writing.

A: The best environment for me to write would be a place where I can put headphones in and listen to music. The weekend the paper was due, my boyfriend and I were hanging out. I had to ask him to leave the room so I could get the paper finished. I can not write papers while people are trying to talk to me. I get distracted very easily. Whenever I get distracted and I write a couple of sentences then talk to someone then write a couple more sentences I feel like I don't put my best effort it. I also can't sit in my bed and write or do homework for that matter. If I sit in my bed, I end up watching Netflix and falling asleep. So my environment would be somewhere quiet where I can put headphones in and think.

Q: Are there any external factors you need when you write?

A: Whenever I write, I like to have my headphones in played music. I can't play music very loud whenever I write or I will end up singing to it. Normally the kind of music I listen to whenever I write is Christian music. This is kind of weird but I also have to eat before I write. I can not write on an empty stomach. Whenever I am hungry, nothing gets done, especially homework.

Q: What are the strengths of the paper you just turned in?

A: I believe the strengths of the paper I just turned in would be how it was all of the same topic. I fee like sometimes whenever I write I start talking about other things in my paper. I don't always stay on topic, but this paper I feel like I stayed on topic. When I first started writing I just put words down on the paper, and when I went to the writing lab, they really helped me delete sentences that weren't needed.

Q: What are the weaknesses of the paper you just turned in?
A: I believe the weaknesses in my paper are the transitions. I know we talked about transitions in class a lot, but I feel like I could have done better.  A lot of time I don't know a sentence to help tie the 2 paragraphs together without the sentence being a good topic sentence. That is something I definitely need to work on during this class.

Q: How well have you lived up to the index card you wrote on in the beginning of the year?

A: I said I want to become better at writing which I think I am. I think every piece of writing I do, I become better. Whether its a blog or paper or homework assignment, I believe I become a better writer every chance I get. I said I would read 90-95 percent of the homework assignments, which I think I have done. I have read all the homework assignments I am pretty sure. Maybe I would not say read, but I have definitely skimmed over them.

pg. 531 a&e question 1

Q: Lamott obviously knows well what the weakness in her SFDs are likely to be. Are you always aware yet of any patterns in your first-draft writing-places or ways in which you simply expect that the writing will need to work once you actually have words on paper?

A: No, I do not believe I am always aware of any patterns in my writing in the very first draft. Whenever  I write my first draft I just put a bunch of sentences onto paper. I write and write and write with no structure at all.