A Couple Examples of Effective Writing
Happy weekend all! I'm sure you are all reading this on your sunny Saturday. As I reflect on this last forum week and read your forum responses, I am so impressed with your tackling of these complex issues. The questions you are dealing with are big and messy and you've all done them justice. On Monday I will be offering you a summary of what I feel like went well in the forums (showing the complexities of these issues) and what needs some work (academic sources, anyone?) so you can all take that feedback into count as you write your argument papers and work on your Best Work/Assessment Portfolios.
In the meantime, I want to point you to two pieces of strong writing, one is an interview from a classmate, another is an opinion piece from one of my favorite food writers, Mark Bittman. Let's look at the interview first. Did you read it? Good. This interview piece is by no means "perfect," but the writer is made some strong choices as both the interviewer and as the writer/editor. The issue itself is focused. You can see the author went into the interview with the topic of LGBTQ communities, which is a relevant issue in today's culture, especially on college campuses where young men and women are grappling with issues of sexuality, often for the first times, by themselves. This shows that the author is aware of the audience (GU students) and issues they might be interested in. It also takes into account the complexity of this grappling process and, although it offers a brief (and effective) introduction and conclusion to help orient the reader, the interviewer relies on well-articulated questions that allowed the interviewee to extrapolate on the topic. I am not sure if this interview is published in it's entirety, but I am guessing that these answers have been edited down, and extraneous sets of questions and answers dropped. The answers that do appear here are edited to represent the way we read, as opposed to reflecting the way we speak, which is often difficult to follow (think of if someone published a conversation with you and your best friend!). This allows us, the readers, to explore this focused issue with ease. The second article I'm sharing with you is from Mark Bittman called "Don't Ask How to Feed the 9 Billion" and is published on the New York Times webpage. It's very short, so don't be afraid to click on the link and read it before I discuss it's merits. In it, Bittman, cookbook author and cultural food critic, draws in our attention with his title, which tells us he has an alternate take on feeding our ever growing population. You see that he relies on thinking through the issue, instead of manipulating statistics, which many of us are guilty of. He chooses to address as readers, specifically, because he knows the readers of this publication will almost all have $20 to spend on food. When you go back to your opinion papers, if you do go back to them, take a look at where you really think through an issue and where you might just be citing inherited or not well-thought out feelings about the issue. Okay, enough writing for today! Enjoy the rest of the weekend! Sample Blog
This week I want to point you all towards Orange Shouldn't be the New Black. If you haven't checked out their blog, I encourage you to do so. There are summary posts, poems, infographs (that they created), opinion pieces and a slew of interesting ideas being explored. The authors of this blog are doing an excellent job of presenting research and analyzing it so that we as readers have a strong idea of what they, the authors, want us to take away from each post.
Perhaps the most gripping part of their blog is the writing itself. They are engaging. They accomplish this through use of voice and inventive commentary. The High Price of Fast Fashion
I've wanted to read this book for a long, long time, and someday I will. In the meantime, I'll bring it to you guys.
This is not only a possible resource for those of you exploring materialism (this could easily work for a source on the economy as well), but is also a great example on how the way we live our lives informs the way we thing about things. This woman makes a multifaceted argument about the effects of the fashion industry. She touches on ethics, economics, self-esteem, ect. In the video in the title link, she makes a connection between the local food movement and a budding ethical fashion movement. I won't get into my opinion on these things, lest they influence yours, but the trend for us to examine the wide-reaching of our choices if growing, and I'm interested what you all think of this. Do you worry about where your food comes from? Where your clothes are made? Blog Feature #1 (as in a series, not as in a place)
Before I move onto the blog feature this week, I want to let you know that your websites look outstanding. You all are making a lot of engaging rhetorical moves that should speak to your readers: articulating your research questions, introducing yourself and why you're interested in the topic, posting funny memes. For a sampling of this, take a look at K-DAG. Although their name does not let you know what the website is about, the rest of the website is well-organized, asks specific questions, and is aesthetically pleasing. Good stuff. And many of you have great websites, this is just one that is particularly refined. I'm excited to continue watching how your research shapes your views on these forum topics.
The first blog I want to point you to is Zagonomics. Have you read any of their posts yet? They are doing a great job of exploring their topic in small chunks. By doing this, they are allowing themselves to go deeper into each of those subsections and explore some of the complexities that are lurking behind every economic theory. They are also including appropriate graphs and graphics. Chucking issues and providing visuals are hallmarks of the blogging genre. Next, they're disagreeing (respectfully) and interacting with each other on the blog! I was so excited to see this for many reasons. One, it shows me that they're actually reading each others' blog posts and digesting their peers' ideas. Two, it also helps viewers to be comfortable commenting because there is already a conversation going. Nice stuff. What they need to work on (a-hem, go back and fix, too) is citing their information. You can do this through hyperlinks (if it's on the internet) or a small citation at the end of the blog post (a la Wikipedia) or even link to a resources page on your website. Many of their sources are cited, but many of the graphics are not. What about you? Are you citing your sources ethically? If a reader wants to know where something came from, can they easily do so? This is important, and I expect everyone to have all information cited by the time you finalize your website. Last, they don't have a lot of comments from their peers. Part of that is because no one is commenting as much as they should, another is because they aren't asking you directly to get involved. Learn from these things! Check out their blog and decide what you think is working, then emulate that. You like the videos that echo the themes of the blog post? Copy it and give it your own spin. Or, are you doing something unique? Play it up, make it "your thing." And while you're checking out their blog, leave them a comment:) Sample Interview: Domestic Violence
As I'm finishing up with these interviews, I'm excited to share some of the outstanding works that your classmates (or maybe you) created. This first one is a radio interview, and although I think everyone would benefit from listening to it, those of you who tried out the radio piece should learn a lot from listening and reading the text below.
This one is by Evan and there is a lot that is working here. A few of those things have nothing to do with the editing but had to do with how the actual interview was conducted. The first thing is sort of out of his control: his interviewee is articulate and interesting. Maybe he chose her for that reason specifically, maybe he got lucky. You can ask him if you'd like. The second thing is in his control: he goes where the interview takes him, in other words, he listens. It would have been easy for him to brush off the mention of the the bad living situation in the beginning and continue on with his plan, but he doesn't. Instead, he respectfully follows the line of questioning, and we totally change topics, but the change is so interesting, we don't really care. And since he told us he'd do that in the beginning, we don't loose trust in him as the author--the person leading us through the story. Now let's get to the editing. You'll notice that, first off, this is edited. It does not appear in its entirety. It has a shape, a focus, organization--all the things a good piece of writing has. The introduction tells us that the focus is going to be slightly different than the way is starts out. So when we're listening to it, we're not distracted by the first line of questioning--we know to hang on for the "meat" of the interview. There was obviously some reflection as to how his audience would receive this. I recommended that he interject a conclusion right before the last question answer set to renew our focus, but overall, he made a strong choice to end with a quote from the interviewee, and that choice works because we knew the focus throughout the interview. Stay tuned for more examples and a quick run down of why I think they're successful. And think of how you might learn from your first try and then incorporate your honed interview skills into your presentation. A Possible Resource for Racial and Ethnic Identity
"In fourteen hundred ninety-two. Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Did you all learn that rhyme in elementary school, too? It wasn't until I was in my early twenties, finishing up my bachelor's degree in Denver that I thought about the implications of Columbus Day. Until then, all Columbus Day meant to me was a day off school and work. And it was on one of those days off, when I was meeting friend in downtown Denver for coffee when we were thwarted by a huge group of protesters. Their signs read: "Honor Indigenous Cultures" and "Abolish Columbus Day."
Growing up in Spokane, a town that is named for tribe of Native Americans that once lived here, how had I never been exposed to any questioning of the legitimacy of such a holiday? I'm sure there were some small groups protesting, but I was sheltered from it by teachers (maybe with an agenda pushed by others?) and a city sorely lacking diversity. Shortly after, many schools stopped treating Columbus Day as a no work, no school holiday. As I grew up, I realized that holidays are generally only for those in privileged jobs anyways (is Starbucks ever closed?), and once I really thought about the cultural implications of honoring a man that may have helped bring the current majority to this land, but at the cost of violently displacing its inhabitants . But taking a day off for a holidays can help shape the cultural literacy of a population if we take them off for the right reasons: to raise awareness (Martin Luther King Jr. Day) or take a moment out for a group of people that often gets overlooked (Vetran's Day). Both of these holidays encourage thoughtful discussion in schools and in the media. This is why I was happy to hear, listening to NPR (what a teacher, sheesh) on my way home from work, that Seattle will no longer celebrate Columbus Day; it will be replaced by Indigenous People's Day. And there are various movements calling for a transformation of the oft-celebrated holiday. I hope that more cities will follow suit. What do you think about government holidays? Do they need reform? Should we leave them as is? Should we do away with them, throwing them off as a classist affair? Or should everyone get the day off? Any other questions they bring up? |
AboutI'll be using this blog to post possible resources for your projects as well as sample student work.
Peer Blogs
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