SQR 6

Eloy Gonzalez
Arturo De La Torre
English 2313/1301.158
Trang Phan
10/5/10
Closing My Eyes As I Speak; An Argument for Ignoring Audience
Peter Elbow. “Closing My Eyes As I Speak: An Argument for Ignoring Audience”. College English, Vol.49, No.1 (Jan., 1987), pp.50-69
S: Closing my eyes as I speak is mainly about helping one to become a better writer by teaching them to ignore their audience when the time is right. The author contradicts what the author Linda Flower says about Reader-Based Prose being better than Writer-Based Prose. Writer-Based prose as in many cased even when speaking can help the writer have more sense of what they want to write. Some audiences become hard to speak or write to when your are trying directly saying something but if you just say thoughts you are certainly expressing yourself to what you really want to say. The author gives another point of view on Reader-Based Prose and Writer-Based Prose giving more sense to the Writer-Based Prose. One main factor could be when writing discourse, as in communication or as in a play or poesies. Teacher role changes when criticism because they are no longer a teacher but an audience when this writing is being looked at. The author finishes by giving the different types of writing which are the writing task, actual reader, ones’ own temperament, “audience in-the-head”, double audience, and teacher in consideration for the best writing. When the situation gets rough sometimes it may help to putting readers out of mind and thinking of no audience, to self as a Writer-Based prose, when revising its always good to revise with an audience in mind that way your writing can make sense to whom you are speaking to.
Q: How is audience awareness related to Writer-Based Prose and Reader-Based?
R: Writer-Based prose is writing without thinking of your audience and writing to yourself and for yourself. Reader-Based prose is writing with an audience in mind and basing your conclusions and opinions on what the audience might be interested in. The author mentioned that in order for audience to understand you have to mention what your ideas are and organize them in a way for your audience to understand. In order to do that you would use both the Writer-Based prose to formulate ideas and freely write them down and then Reader-Based prose by organizing the ideas so the audience can get a sense of what you are trying to say and can agree or criticize. For example, in a research you can start of as Writer-Based prose by getting your ideas and writing them down. Then you can use Reader-Based prose to organize those ideas so the audience can understand them. Audience awareness is a combination of composing Writer-Based prose ideas and Read-Based prose. Audience awareness helps you know when the time is right to ignore the audience out of mind and when to emphasize audience awareness just like switching from Writer-Based prose to Reader Based prose.

SRQ5

Eloy Gonzales
Arturo de la Torre
Trang Phang
9/28/10

Linda Flower. “Writer-Based Prose: A Cognitive Basis for Problems in Writing”. College English, Vol. 41, No. 1. (Sep., 1979), pp. 19-37.

S: Linda Flower clearly explains the problems that writers have a hard time saying what they want to say inform that readers can understand. There is a problem with many writers that don’t know how to transform their ideas in a way that the reader can understand. The author explains the writer-base prose by standing off with inner speech and egocentric and discovered that many writers have a hard time using words that transition you from thought to another without being monotone. Writer-Base prose is a workable concept, which can help understand that it can be a way to intervene in the thinking process, it taps intuitive communication strategies us as writers already have, but are not adequately using. There are three steps necessary in Writer-base prose which is function, structure, and style and each make an important part in this writer-prose understanding. Reader-Base prone the writer has to put himself in the readers shoes, he/she thinks more about the reader the as oppose to the writer-base prone.

Q: How would you identify a Writer-Base prose and a Reader-Base prose?

R: In my opinion a Writer-Base prose is a writer that writes for himself. For example a journal or a personal diary is a place where a writer-base can write without being questioned of his work or being criticized. The Writer-Based prose writes for their own understanding. In reader based prose, my opinion is that the writer is writing to fit the audience and thinks more of the audience and what the audience is going to look in its paper. In Reader-Based the author tries to make a point and helps the reader understand what the message is. A Writer-Base prose writer writes what they are usually thinking about without having the thought of being responded to. Writer-base writers write for themselves and do not take into consideration if the readers understand what they have written or care if they are criticized. A Reader-Base prose in the other hand takes into consideration his audience and tries to make his writing more understandable for his reader making space for comments and other suggestions. An example of a Reader-Base prose is a research paper, where the writer needs to explain their point to the audience. I believe that the Reader-Base prose and Writer-Base prose are both important because even though the writer-base is mostly ideas and thoughts; those ideas and thoughts could be used later on when writing on a reader-base prose side. Those ideas can help have a base on the writing that is going to become reader-based which is organized for the reader to understand.

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Eloy Gonzalez

Arturo De La Torre

English 1320-1301

Instructor: Trang Phan

9/21/10

Rhetorical Reading strategies and Construction of Meaning

            S: In what I understood of the article it talks about how rhetorical reading helps a reader and writer get a deeper meaning of an article. The authors Christina Haas and Linda Flower explained that there are three types of strategies. These strategies are Content strategies, Function/ Feature strategies, and Rhetorical strategies. Parts of rhetorical reading would be two facts and two claims that explain the content. Rhetorical reading is more concerned with the effect over the reader and the author’s purpose. The article also explains how a student reader differs from an experience reader by how the experience readers see a point and try to explain it behind what they are reading. Experience readers explain the point in detail and create a constructive opinion about what they are reading and student reader just tries to make the reading understandable and does not try to go beyond and discover what the text is trying to say. Good reading means not only to understand the physical reading you as a reader see it but to understand what is “between the lines”. Teachers are trying to make student readers not only exchange information from the text but also have a more complex and critical reading understanding of what they are reading. Understanding the content of the reading is one thing but also reading between the lines and understanding what the writer is trying to tell you is very important to become a good reader and also a good writer.

Christina Haas and Linda Flower.” College Composition and Communication”, Vol.39, No.2 (May, 1988), pp. 167-183

Q: Christian Haas and Linda Flower describe reading as a constructive process, rather than a receptive one. What do they mean “Constructive Process” and “Receptive Process”?

R:  Christian Hass and Linda Flower describe “constructive process” as a way to help the reader comprehend not what’s only what is in the reading but  go beyond that. In “constructive process” the reader questions the point of view of the writers work. The authors explain “receptive process” as a reader that only receives the information that he is reading. A receptive reader does not go beyond what he is reading and often does not try to see the writers point. For example, receptive reading would be more like reading statistics in a sports magazine or reading only information. Many readers however do read in a receptive way when the topic does not catch the readers’ attention. When I read sports magazines I generally just take information without going beyond the point since it is only an informative article. A constructive reader takes the time to ask himself questions that will help him or her understand more of what the writer opinion is or the point they are trying to make. For example, when reading a novel that is interesting a constructive reader is emerged to ask himself questions that will help him comprehend what the author of the book is trying to say through the different points of view of each character. Constructive readers are more efficient in getting the information than receptive readers.

SQR 3 (Revision Strategies)

Arturo de la Torre


ENG 1320/1301.158

Trang Phang

9/6/10



Summary



There are ways to use Revision Strategies. The basic steps to revision is to begin with something simple like brainstorming (prewriting) where you put your thoughts and ideas into a paper before begging to write the actual writing. Then comes the actual writing, which is where you put the thoughts where you brain stormed and put them down as in sentences and phrases that begin to shape your writing. Re-writing t into another paper can help you see the mistakes you make or help you see where you wrote something that didn’t make sense or where you wrote something that was all ready written, repeating yourself can cause the audience to get confused. There are more than just those steps that need to be done to create a better writing paper, like revising for grammar and punctuation or revising for the tone can help the audience understand the point and the feelings that the writer is trying to peruse the audience see. There are many ways a writer can use Revision Strategies, from the basic steps of revising to the details of grammar and punctuation which can be as important as the tone and voice the writer is trying to put down on paper.

Nancy Sommers Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers, College Composition and Communication, Vol. 31, No.4 (Dec.1980), Pg 378-388

Question:


What are the revision strategies of experienced writers found in Sommers’s studies? What can you learn from those strategies?



Response:

When the student’s writers revise their work they have a different concept and idea of doing it rather than the experienced writers. Student writers start off with “review” to the review is going back and taking out words that are not needed and scratching out things that don’t make sense and moving things around in the written work. Redoing is going back and making sure that everything in the written work makes sense, redoing to the student writers means cleaning up the paper. Marking out is changing and scratching out words and adding different once. The students don’t use “rewriting because I only write one draft and the changes I make are made on top of the draft”(page 381). The last step to them is “Slashing and Throwing out”, which means to throw things out because they are not good. Experienced writes don’t only write one draft they tend to do four drafts and two revising before writing their last paper. In their draft they do things like reviewing every word and make sure that everything is worded right, they eliminate words that aren’t needed. The steps that experienced writers use are “Scratch out and do over again”, “reviewing”, “redoing”, “marking out”, and slashing and throwing out” before doing their final paper. I learned that the students, when writing a paper they tend to do it as fast as possible to get it done with. Students write their paper once and change the words and faces to make sense and to stay on topic. Experienced writers do their paper many times to understand and perfect their paper for their final draft.

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Peer Response

Summary:

            Peer response and teaching specific revision techniques can help writers improve their way or writing and expressing their thought on paper. There are thing like asking yourself questions like for example “ what do you not understand” can help a writer go back and re-read and play around with the words add or take off farces that can help  the reading create a better picture of what the writer is trying to convey. Having group activities can help create stronger constrictive criticism from various and different points of view from each party member there for helping the writer create a better paper threw the criticism. Doing group activities can also have a down side, meaning that some of the responses can be vague, general, or un useful to the writing. That can change by using a topic that everyone can be a part of, a topic where everyone can relate to. Once completing a writing a writer should go back to see if he can add or delete some of the things that don’t make sense, just because everything makes sense to the writer doesn’t meant that to the general public is understandable that’s why its always good to have two or three other people read your writing and give the writer criticism.


Gloria A. Neubert and Sally J. McNelis. “Peer Response: Teaching Specific Revision Suggestions”. The English Journal, Vol. 79, No. 5 (Sep., 1990), pp. 52-56.

Question:

How would you describe a good comment? A bad comment? Examples??? In which manner, in your opinion, should the writer receive his/her peers' comments?

Answer: 

A good comment can be taken depending on the person thats being commented on. For example a person can take a rood comment as something that can help him/her become better and change the mistakes done, and another person can take that as an insult or maybe even as something personal which should really be done in my opinion. When being criticized one should not take it personal, because when some on is being critiqued its done with good intentions to help you understand where your weaknesses are and where your strengths are. An example of a good comment can be like "look this sentence doesn't really make sense, you should try and change it as much as possible to where it makes sense a little more." A bad comment is saying something  mean that u cant use to your advantage or as advise, for example "Your summary doesn't make sense, you shouldn't even try." When being criticized one should listen carefully and be selective to the criticism that is being giving to you and carefully select only the criticism that you think is helpful to you in your writing.

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Summary:


Understanding Composition is done different depending on the writer. Composing a paper can be hard sometimes; little mistakes like writing the same word often or repeating a statement twice can make it seem like you don’t make your point across. There are things that a writer can do to make his work more smooth and clear. Re-reading the last sentence can sometimes help edit things out and correct something that doesn’t make sense. Little things like re-reading the sentence you wrote or going back to see if your paper is still in the right track or if it’s gone out of topic can help. Sometimes we write the words that come to mind without asking ourselves or thinking to ourselves if those words capture what the writer is trying to say. When writing something is more inspirational when we know what are talking about and when we don’t just write the words that come to mind but when we are actually into the topic and find an interest that pushes and inspires the writer to continue writing. When shaping a piece of writing it is important to re-read and asks “what’s missing?” or Does this convey my point from begging to end?”

Question:


What does the author mean by “ the basic process begins with paying attention”? How do you think your “felt sense” initiated?



Response:

You can think of writing like the meals of your day. Paying attention can be like skipping “the most important part of the meal of the day”. Paying attention is the main foundation of writing; it can help you understand what the topic is about and begin brain storming in your head how your writing will be constructed. You initiate your brainstorming by brainstorming what the topic is about and comparing that to similar experiences you might have had in your past. Relating a topic to your own personal life can help understand and can make it easier for a writer to write about his felt senses and can come easier to him. The basic process begins with paying attention doing so can make it easier for a writer to construct his writing step by step. Re-reading the topic can also help inspire yourself into writing more about you life’s experiences. Brain storming before begging to write on a topic can help you come with creative ideas that come in handy later on for the body paragraph. When writing an essay, a book, a short story, or a novel; one as a writer must try to grab the reader’s attention, the first thing that the reader read is the tittle but after that when begging to read a reader first begins by reading the introduction. Not capturing the reader makes loss of interest in the writers work. Paying attention to the topic that is given and understanding it can help start a good introduction that way the reader doesn’t lose interest in the writers work.