Feb. 1st

Lamott
In the article "Shitty First Drafts", Anne Lamott explains that if a writer begins with a shitty first draft then they are most likely to have a good second draft and an outstanding third draft. She also mentions that her writing used to really struggle, but the key to her success was discovering the importance of a shitty first draft.
King
In the article " What Writing Is", Stephen King explains his process for writing. He begins by talking about telepathy and how he imagines himself in a place where he can think about his writing.
Goodman
In the article "Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work", Allegra Goodman discusses the importance of being a confident writer. Goodman gives some tips on how to keep negative thoughts and that evil voice in a persons head to not corrupt a persons writing.
Haruf
In his paper "To See Your Story Clearly, Start by Pulling the Wool over Your Own Eyes", Kent Haruf explains how writing is unique to every writer. He shows that some pervious writers use writing processes that are completely insane and not to mention that his is no better. He gives the reader an example of how, where and the unique twist of literally blinding himself is part of his personal writing process.
Sontag
In the article " Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed", Susan Sontag gives that example of her unique writing process. This process is easy and straight to the point and is different form the "proper" way because it offers the writer to add creativity.
Diaz
In the piece " Becoming a Writer", Junot Diaz explains how he became a writer. His story is not one that is he was an eager writer and everything came easy it was quit the opposite. He suffered from writers block and had lack of confidence, but this he realized is what made him a writer.
Using These Essays
These sources have all been beneficial because they all offer their own unique piece of advice. Something that I have noticed about learning about the writing process is that no one really uses the same thing because everyone writes differently. I think these authors grapple with the idea of construct because they now that true good writing comes form being confident and making your ideas be the important aspect of the paper not the format. Every writer is faced with distractions, lack of confidence, frustration and writers block but it is these things that make good writers. I believe Tony would have benefited from reading these because I benefited form it because they all gave me different ideas on how I can improve my personal writing process.
MM
1. One thing I found useful was the shitty first draft, because when I realized that my first draft was a bunch of crap I started over. What a mistake I was making and a huge waste of time.
2. Nothing really changed for me, I think becoming a better writer is a long process and I'm not completely dedicated to it because I don't want to be the best writer on the planet I just want to get and A on my assignment.
Response
I found all of these articles helpful to the cause of making me a better writer. For example Lamott gave me great advice and its something that I will always keep in mind. The saying that practice makes perfect definitely applies to writing and for me to become a pretty awesome writer is to learn form people who know what they are doing.

January 30th response

Summary Ransom
In the paper "How do I Write" Dominique Ransom explains her research process. She explains all the different types of obstacles she has to overcome while writing. For example, she talks about some of the distractions and mistakes she encounters while writing.
Other Question to Consider
- Some of the things that interested me about this chapter are her revision process and how she dealt with her distractions. If I did my own research I would focus on how the audience plays into a person's writing.
- I don't think taking notes makes me write, its more the exploring different types of research that leads to my ideas.
Response
I enjoyed this piece because it gave me some ideas how I should write my next paper. I didn't like the blandness though I always try to add something extra to my writing to help make it more enjoyable for the reader.
Harris
In the article "Composing Behaviors of One-and Multi-Draft Writers", Muriel Harris shows the pro's and con's of one draft and multi draft papers and discusses the problems that develop in each.
1. I am a multi-draft writer because I am always revising and changing minor details in my papers.
2. Well if a person only wrote one draft then he or she might have missed some details that could possibly change to point of view of the paper. However, if a person wrote a multi-draft paper then he or she might lose focus on the true idea.
Response
I enjoyed this piece because it gave me good advice on how I should start my next paper. It showed me that I need to make sure I'm aware of the main point of my paper and not lose it in to many drafts.

January 27th response

Summary
In the article "Turning and Training Texts: Metaphors for Revision" Barbra Tomlinson explains the different types of metaphors authors use to describe their revision process. She then hopes that the reader may find what metaphor is specific to their own process.
QD
1. She explains that when interviewing someone they are free to make up a story and may not always be as truthful as she may want.
2. If a person focuses on the metaphors they may lose what the main purpose of their writing.
3. If any I may use cutting because my drafts are usually to wordy for my taste so I go back through and cut up my sentences so there are no jagged edges.
4. I don't think you can because people use different processes and may notice details at different times.
5. They have little or no effect because I don't think I've ever revised a paper the same way twice.
Response
I found this article to be a little confusing and I didn't really agree with some of the stuff I did understand.
To me revising is unique and can't be planned because every piece of writing is different and needs to be "molded" differently.

January 24th response

Summary
In the article "Decision and Revisions" Carol Berknkotter conducted a study to find what are the planning and revising approaches for skilled writers. One of her subjects was Donald Murray. Berknkotter would observe Murray in various settings and listen to his thoughts. In the article "Response of a laboratory Rat or Being Protocoled" Donald Murray discussed his thoughts and opinions about the study. Murray not only has his own opinion on the matter, but he gained insight on his own way of writing.
QD
1. My impression was that even though Murray is considered a skilled writer he still takes a long process to get his writing to sound good. His method is different to mine because I have to write everything down because I usually will forget it.
2. Unlike Murray I never find myself writing to a certain audience. When I write I make it so I would enjoy reading it, because my writing should fit my satisfaction.
3. After the conclusion of her study she realized the planning and revising process aren't separate.
AEI
I strive to write in advance because I know I write and re-write my papers because I always think they could sound better or there are more ideas that I could add.
MM
I learned that writing doesn't mean using pen and paper but your mind, a person could be driving to work and be thinking of ways to write their paper and thats considered writing.
Response
I think I learned a lot from this because it gave me new ways I can try and write papers.

January 22 response

Summary
In "What is it we do When we write Write Articles Like this one and how can we get Students to Join us", Michael Kleine explains how research should be done. He argues that people today don't do it correctly, they simply copy what they read.
1. It does and it doesn't, I do research to gain insight, but when writing about the research I commonly use direct quotes. I don't think thats considered copying, because I'm using the information to support my opinion.
3. Sources do not play in research for professionals, however sources play a big role in my research and I won't change because I find it for very successful for my writing.
4. I feel that if I followed his process I would spend more time doing research.
 Response
I enjoyed Kleines' article because it offered me new insight about research that might come in handy later on in my college career.

Paper 1 Peer Cover letter response

Emily-
I  really enjoyed reading your paper, I think you have great ideas. I would just recommend making transitions from paragraph to paragraph. I would also elaborate on the texting aspect of your paper, I really enjoyed reading what you wrote about it so far. Overall I think that you meet the requirements for the assignment and it's a great start to your paper. Keep up the great work!
-Amanda
http://www.scribd.com/doc/79048851/Paper-Peer-Revised

URL

http://www.scribd.com/doc/78825209/Final-Draft

January 17th response

Summary
In the article "The Inspired Writer vs. the Real Writer", Sarah Allen explains that there really is no such thing as an inspired writer. Everyone who writers has struggles and it doesn't matter if that person is a famous writer or a student trying to complete an assignment. In "All Writing Is Autobiography" Donald Murray explains how the construct that a writer should never use "I" in their writing isn't always correct. Writing is personal and making yourself apart of your writing is important. In "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool" John Dawkins teaches that the rules regarding punctuation necessarily doesn't come from a textbook. He explains that most rules regarding punctuation is self-explanatory and also specific to what the writers intended emotion.
Discussion
1. The thing I find myself most about when I write is the page length and the topic. when it comes to picking a topic I change my mind numerous of times before reaching a decision. Page length is another hassle because I usually write something with perfect grammar and it says exactly want I want to get across to the reader. A required page length or word count always makes me start babbling and become very redundant.
2. When Discussing my paper with people I'm mostly worried that people will not agree with my opinion so then consider it "bad writing".
3. There really is no connection between my answers, but to me writing is a chain reaction when one thing goes bad everything else will too.
4. One thing I do before any paper is make an outline. I do this so I can see all my ideas and if they make sense.
QD Murray
1. Murray is asking writers to reconsider the construct the making writing personal (like using "I") is not appropriate.
3. Murray's writing is different because he writes it from his personal view and uses examples from his own work.
4. Although Murray uses a different approach in presenting his argument he still is writing it to help other writers.
5. I don't think his argument changes they write because I already put my opinion into and I find research that support my claim.
MM
A couple of ways Murray can help change my opinion about writing is to make maybe a little more personal and not so strictly factual.
QD Dawkins
2. Some things Dawkins claims are wrong with textbook style rules for punctuation is good writers use punctation to their intended meaning.
3. Raising and lowering can affect your writing by creating emphasis in certain parts of the sentence. Raising is a devise for gaining rhetorical effect, but lowering does not seem to be required by contextual need for clarity, except in a more subtle sense of this need as in a good comma splice.
5. Something I know now that I didn't know before about punctuation is that it kinda depends on the writer. Some rules are common sense but others can change depending on what the writer is saying.
6. I am a punctuation freak. I'm constantly changing my punctuation and thinking its wrong or Im not doing it right. Dawkins has showed me that I shouldn't really fixate on my punctuation so much because most of it might come naturally.
MM
I gain from this article example of how punctuation can transform a persons writing.
Response
I've learned a lot form these readings and they have really enlightened me on how to better my writing. Each piece offered specific advice on how I can personally change how I write.

January 13th response

Summary
In "Annoying Ways People Use Sources", Kyle Stedman explains the importance of how to use sources correctly. Stedman gives multiple examples of how people either ignore the proper guidelines of using sources, or they are just simply not familiar with the accepted practice. For example, some of the annoyances of using a source incorrectly is using a quote without introducing it first or using to many quotes in a row.
Response
I think this piece is different from the other sources we have read before because to me this are mistakes people (especially college students) make a lot. The fact that Stedman offers ample ways of how to fix these common mistakes makes this even more helpful to me personally. After reading this I definitely view using sources differently because now I realize not does placement and relevance matter but timing is key to good writing.

Response to WAW#3

SUMMARY
In the article "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community", James Porter argues that all text contain "traces" of other texts. He quotes from Vincent Leitch "The text is not an autonomous or unified object, but a set of relations with other texts. SOme of the examples Porter offer is the Declaration of Independence, Pepsi commercial, and a news article about the Kent State shooting. Porter also discusses the subject of "discourse community" which he claims is a group of people who share a common interest.
GRR
The places where I get help for my writing is usually sources, because almost of of my writing is research based. Being a pre-med major medical journals are very helpful tools to help guide my writing. I also ask my mother who is an english major on various grammatical questions.
QD
2. I do not agree with Porter that intertext makes individual writing less important because every piece of writing has something unique about. Every writer has a specific opinion on how to write and what their main focus is, so to me there is always something different about different pieces of writing.
3. Porter calls the idea of an autonomous writer romantic because they are unique and develop their own ideas and styles.
4. It differs from how I used to assume writing because I always assumed that determining whether the writing was acceptable was not because of the readers community but because of the reader itself. In the past my writing has been evaluated on the individuality of it, not if it fit in the parameters of a certain group.
5. His writing fails to reflect what he writes about because to me his work wasn't completely original.
6. The problem that it cause is that there is no such thing as individual writing. There are always gonna be similarities in peoples writing.
MM
Yes Porter's article has changed the way I view writers and writing, because it is evident now that writers who are in a particular  group are all intertwined in their writing. I think adopting his notion would change the way I write because I always tried to write something in and individual way.
RESPONSE
I think the article this week was very helpful mainly because it gave me great guidance on how I can write better. Also with writing a lot of research type papers its good to have opinions of others to help strengthen your point. However, there were parts of the reading that I have to admit took me a while to realize what Porter was trying to say.

Response to WAW #2

WHAT RHETORIC MEANS TO ME

I think rhetoric means a person trying to convince another person into believing something. Rhetorical means a writing that is persuading the reader into believing something.  What rhetoric has to with academic writing is that almost all scholarly articles have to do with some kind of persuasive argument, and people use these to cite for research papers. 

SUMMARY 

The reading was basically explaining how people can use rhetoric to their advantage when writing, especially when doing research. Kantz talked about how to properly write a research paper and showed how sometimes rhetorically stating what the research consisted of does not make for a genuine research paper. 

QD

1. Kantz contends that facts are not always based in a textbook. According to Kantz these so called facts and are more like claims. If a person really took the time to search they could find multiple sources with probably a multitude of different claims about a certain event. When it come to writing an argument its up to the reader to decide what claim to agree with. In order for the reader to support their opinion they should incorporate both sides of the argument to help illuminate why they are correct in their reasoning. 

2. Some of the mistakes Kantz thinks students of make include: Many students misunderstand sources because they read them as stories, many students expect their sources to tell the truth; hence they equate persuasive writing in this context with making things up, and many students do not understand that facts are a kind of claim and are often used persuasively in so-called objective writing to create an impression. I think Kantz is absolutely correct because up until I took a writing and research class in high school I made the exact same mistakes when it came to writing research papers. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on all of her concepts since I have taken that class. 

3. One of the main things I think I've gained from reading this article is on how to pick the pieces for my research. Because even though I have my own opinion I will need to write about both sides of the argument so I will be able to support my argument and persuade people into thinking the same way. 

6. I think Kantz' ideas will change on how I do research, because there were times where I only obtained research from sources that only supported what I thought was true. 

MM

The construct or concept that Kantz is trying to analyze is to not just take stock in what textbooks considered to the facts because other sources could pose a more persuasive argument. 

Response to WAW #1

Questions for Discussion
1. According the Greene the role reading plays in writing is that reading helps support a persons argument. Reading other writings not only gives a person more insight on the topic itself, it offers that person to strengthen their own idea's.
2. The metaphor in which Burke writes about explains how when making an argument a person has to constantly support his or her facts and when directly conversing with someone the banter can go on for a long time. However, when relating the metaphor on how to write, it shows that in order to have a strong argument a person needs to research a lot of different opinions.
3. The concept of framing allows a person to put their writing in a certain perspective. The main goal for a person when writing an argument is to persuade people into looking at their opinion in a certain way.
Applying and Exploring Idea's
2. Greene does write his article like a conversation because, its almost like he is asking the reader questions then providing them with an explanation for why he thinks framing is an effective way to write about an argument.
Response
The reading helped me understand that research and reading different pieces for different writers is a key ingredient for a successful argument. In the past I used to form my opinion from the articles I read, but know I realize that coming up with my own opinion first and then framing that into my writing, using other writings only o support my claim.

What Writing Means To Me

Writing has always been a way to express myself through words, I am a very shy person so being able to capture my feelings and opinions on paper allows me to show people who I am. I never really learned to like writing papers until my writing and research class I took my senior year in high school. I really enjoyed being able to choose the topics to write about and being able to learn new things from doing research on different events through history. I hope to gain a love for writing while I am taking this course.