Toward a Composing Model of Reading

     While writing my Wikipedia article I wasn’t consciously thinking about Tierney and Pearson’s five functions of writing and how to apply them to my article. After reading “Toward a Composing Model of Reading” I now realize that I did use all of the functions stated and that I use these same functions repeatedly every time I write something. To begin any paper I do use the function of planning. I set goals, evaluate my knowledge about my topic, and decide whether or not I should begin writing or do more research before composing my paper. Secondly, I look for a starting point or how to begin my paper. Tierney and Pearson refer to this starting point as a “lead”. Once finding the lead I start to formulate my words and the structure of my paper constantly monitoring and adjusting as I see fit. A monumental item that jumped out at me from this article was alignment. While writing this Wikipedia page I kept focusing on trying to stay third person and neutral, trying to think of what audience I was presenting my paper too and how to adjust to them properly. Finally, the function of revising is something that I accounted for when writing my paper because I knew that the people reading my article would be going over it with a fine tooth comb revising as they read. With this in mind my perspective change and I had to be more aware of my audience and be more in alignment with them.

Wikipedia Article, Mossy Oak (Link)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossy_Oak

Intertextuality and the Discourse Community

      Porter’s article on Intertextuality and the Discourse Community is telling that all writing is simply taking fragments of other writers’ passages and reusing them and piecing them together in a new fashion. Nothing is original and all writing is pieced together as that of a puzzle. Honestly I don’t see how this changes Murray’s assertion on how all writing is autobiographical. When writing even if you are piecing it together with several different situations and events they are still situations and events that you know, understand, and you look at in a specific fashion. Many people can be part of a similar situation but take from that situation different thoughts and reasoning. So, basically every person uses the same bits and pieces, but not everybody puts the puzzle back together in the same fashion. Therefore all writing is still autobiographical and Murray’s argument holds true. Even though we use certain universal bits of information to create a passage not everyone looks at the passage in the same way or style.

All Writing Is Autobiography

Murray tells us in this piece that no matter what style of writing is produced by an author; whether it is poetry, fiction, essay, or a textbook it is autobiographical. We as humans when writing construct our writing in a personalized way. It is impossible to completely weed out personalization; rather it is ever present and is what creates the dynamic aspect of writing and reading. When looking at writing in this fashion and then examining the encyclopedia or Wikipedia it starts to create a new dimension to those specific writings. How a topic is explain or defined is done in a specific manner which is suppose to be neutral so how do the writers allow there autobiographical aspect of writing leak out? I believe that through how they present a topic and how they might explain one part of the topic perhaps more in depth than another part creates it own personalization and unique aspect that is specific to that individual.

"Rhetorical Situations and Their Consituents"

       In “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents” Keith Grant-Davie brings to the table several different authors definitions of what a rhetorical situations is and how to apply it. Rather than pin pointing it exactly Grant-Davie tells us that a rhetorical situation isn’t something to be defined by one word or phrase but rather by breaking it down into multiple terms and defining each of those contributing words, known as constituents of rhetorical situations. After my previous statement I would like to point out the Grant-Davie does give an informal definition of a rhetorical situation saying that it is, “an activity, an event or a situation rhetorical when it’s shaped by language or communication-also called discourse- that tries to get people to do something.” He also tells that every rhetorical situations needs to have an exigence or simply a problem or need that requires to be addressed by the rhetors to the audience through discourse under the influence of constraints. In layman’s terms, this simply is saying that when a problem arises a speaker or writer must engage in a conversation and disclose the problem or need in a constrained way that will still influence the audience in a beneficial way for the giver of the information. In my opinion being aware of rhetorical situations aren’t just important or useful for college students but for anyone, of any age. Being able to break down a statement or passage and dig deep for its purpose and meaning and why the presenter is given it is a tool that will greatly increase your awareness of any situation or circumstance.

The Phenomenology of Error

    Williams looks at writing errors as “social constructs” because as proven in the essay people don’t look for them unless if they are told to do so. At the end of the essay Williams reveals that there are nearly 100 errors throughout the passage but I for one didn’t recognize them, rather I was engrossed in the essay and focused on the content given. Everybody has writing errors, they are always going to be present, and for the most part when reading any passage the reader is engaged in the content of the article not its grammatical accuracy. After saying that though there are some people out there that will look deeply into a writing and pick it apart. This is what creates a gray area. Some people overlook the errors and pass them by; others become enraged by these errors. So, who is correct? What is defined as correct and what is defined as an error? Errors seem to generate different reactions by different people in different situations. This ties in perfectly with the Wikipedia argument of its credibility. Some people look smugly down on Wikipedia while others praise it. Wikipedia has errors but according to “Reliability of Wikipedia” it has no more serious errors than that of Encyclopedia Britannica. The reason it is looked down on is because of its social construct, it isn’t suppose to be flawless but rather raw data which can be openly edited. While Encyclopedia Britannica is suppose to have a fine tuned construct therefore its credibility increases with its reputation.

English 308J Discussion

            Hello, my name is Tyler Eppley. I am a junior and majoring in Civil Engineering and Surveying. I’m from a small town about one hour northeast of here called McConnelsville. I commute from McConnelsville five days a week, which adds up to 10 hours a week that I’m on the road. My parents own a Christmas tree farm which my older brother Sam (who is also in Civil Engineering at Ohio University) and I maintain and up-keep for our jobs during summer and part-time during school. My hobbies and interest are pretty straightforward; I enjoy anything to do with sports and I also enjoy hunting.

            My prior English class experience before this course was English 151. I took this class as a freshman at Ohio University Zanesville. What I liked most about 151 was having other people read and comment on the paper or assignment, which I was writing. It was extremely helpful and opened my eyes to different points of view and different styles to attack a subject.  From 151 I was able to build on my writing skills and become more efficient and effective when addressing different topics and situations of writing. What was least helpful to me was for the instructor to be unclear and rather vague on what was expected from you during your assignment. The professor said that it was to give room for us to be creative but when trying to begin a paper with no direction it was extremely frustrating and destroyed my confidence when writing.

            As to address the issue of the given structure of this course (308J) I would have to say that it seems perfect. In this time of age the majority of writing is through technology. Whether it is email, blogs, instant messaging, or whatever we are now in a time of technology and computers. Yes, I believe it is important have a draft that is a hard copy. This is a great time to brainstorm when it is just you, a pencil, and some paper; when it comes down to it though the final copy is almost always on a computer. So, why not have a class that is structured around technology. From 308J I hope to be able to write and have people comment on my work so that once again as in 151 I can find new avenues to approach writing and grow from it. My one and only worry about this class is how long it has been since I have written any lengthy papers. So far in engineering there is writing but it consists of bullet points and responding as quickly and correctly to an assignment as possible. So for me to once again dig down to find my writing style could be a challenge and a difficulty, but hopefully not.