For this in-class activity, you'll need to use your blog post that you did for homework. There are a couple steps to this activity.
Step 1: Create a Wordle
Go to your blog post and copy your post so that you can then paste it into a wordle.
How to create a Wordle: Go to wordle.net. Hit “create.” Paste any document you want into the blank space. You can play and manipulate the colors and fonts as you wish once you paste your document inside the wordle. Save the wordle to the wordle gallery. Then once it is saved you can post the url to the new blog post.
Step 2: Beginning to Theorize
In 250-300 words, respond to the following questions:
What connections do you see (if any) between your wordle image and your key terms. If you don’t see a connection why do you think that is? Why might it be important to see connections?
Next, create a theory of good writing based on your own key terms and wordle image. When creating this theory think back to science classes---meaning a theory is a group of statements put together to explain a phenomena (specifically here good writing) and assists in the understanding of these statements. Consider your audience, which is for now other first-year students who might be taking first-year composition. So, you want to use language that other first-year students would understand.
Step 3: Making Connections
In groups of 2-3, share what you found in this activity and share your theory.
Step 4: Reflection
Reflect on this activity (in about 250-300 words). What can you say about yourself as a writer? What might your identity as a writer look like right now?
**By the time this activity is concluded, you'll have a blog post that includes the following: (1) url for your wordle; (2) your first iteration of your theory of writing; and (3) quick reflection over the activity.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6219992/Writing_
ReplyDeleteAfter comparing the results of my wordle to my key terms I found a few connections. My wordle had a large number of both the word flow and evidence, two characteristics I considered important in good writing. The rest of the words there had some small connections in that thoughts and material go together in one most have complete thoughts on the material and such comparable to how I believe knowledge of the paper to be extremely important. One word I did not account for was the reader. Though not all of my words matched multiple connections did exist between my wordle and my key terms. Based off the connections established between my wordle and my list of key terms a theory can created to full define what makes good writing. Good writing is something that requires knowledge and evidence but at the same time attention must be given to the reader, one’s audience. Good writing is adaptive and must be written for and in terms of those who read it. The material must be presented strongly and clear thought needs to be put into it so as to organize it such that it makes sense to the reader. Overall good writing must be responsive to its reader and requires evidence to give it strength. Through strength of words and material, you make it sound good; by making adaptive to whomever is reading it, you make it good writing.
As a writer I believe myself to be competent enough to discuss a topic but I have always had trouble at making connections at the end and tying all of my work together at the end. My speech is one of tangents and my writing can sometimes suffer as a result of that. My writing tends to branch out in several different directions, which is good, but then as for making it seem like that was the intention instead of it just happening is where I can struggle. I am not always one to bring into account the reader or the audience as a result, because I focus on getting my ideas on paper rather than presenting them in a constructive manner. As my theory on good writing suggested, one needs to take into account the reader and how they can respond to the material presented. After discussing more in depth with other students what they felt good writing required it complimented in some areas but contrasted in others. While my focus was on material and knowledge with keeping the reader in mind, others focused more on the organization of the thoughts provided. Putting much constriction on the organizing of thoughts before throwing them all into a paper, though I do recognize the importance of this I sought more in putting my ideas on the paper and organizing them whenever that happened. As a result I obviously did not and do not put much thought into how the reader or the audience will receive my work. Given this I can see myself as more of an idea writer than organized writer. While both manage to get their ideas on the paper, the idea writer split into pieces and does not have an established form, though great ideas may exist, they are hard to find. On the contrary, an organized writer establishes a form of writing that is strong and easily readable but unfortunately may not be able to get all their ideas onto the paper. After years of writing I see myself much more as an idea writer that hopes to just get the main point across in the typing of a multitude of words.
Step 1: http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6220037/Good_Writing_
ReplyDeleteStep 2: There were a few strong connections between my key terms for good writing and my Wordle image. In my Wordle image, both “clarity” and “clear” were words that stood out amongst the rest. In my previous post clarity was one of my key terms, which I had expressed was important for an audience to be able to understand and enjoy the ideas of a written work. Another standout in my Wordle image was grammar, which was also one of my key terms. I think proper grammar is important in any form of communication in order to get a point across effectively. Lastly, author and audience standout in the Wordle image. I think this is really important relating to the key terms because each of the terms is being used to describe how to effectively create an understanding between the author, his or her work, and the audience. I think all of these connections are important because they are insight for good reading and a good basis for my theory of good writing.
Theory of Good Writing:
Good writing must have a clear structure which effectively organizes the thoughts and ideas of the author. Good writing must also contain proper grammar so that the ideas and thoughts of the writing can be taken seriously. Good writing is captivating. The ideas and thoughts of the author draw in the attention of the audience and keeps the audience attention the whole time. When dealing with arguments, a good writing is convincing and includes both facts and a counter argument backing up the author’s point of view.
Step 3: Reflection: I think currently my identity as a writer is still developing and changing as I continue to develop my theory of good writing. I think as of now as a writer I have a solid foundation, but there is always room for improvement. This activity helped me to recognize the key terms in my previous post and form the basis for my theory of good writing. Overall I think it was a good start and I look forward to furthering my theory and developing as a writer.
Wordle URL:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6219995/Writing_Blog
Between my wordle image and my key terms from the blog I wrote last night, I only saw very few connections. One of the connections I saw between the two is the argument. Argument is one of the biggest words on my wordle and I talk a lot about how important is to have argument in a piece of writing and how arguments are created. Also, in my blog post, I explain how important writing is because it gives a sense of freedom and writing is act of expressing your opinions, which were the two of the biggest words on the wordle. On the other hand, I didn’t see a lot of connections between the wordle and my blog post that I should’ve seen. I briefly emphasize the importance of using explanations to support your arguments, using details such as literary devices such as imagery in the right way, importance of good conclusion and importance of using good flow of words in my blog but non of these key terms were any big on the wordle created. I think the reason I don’t see a connections that I should’ve seen between the wordle and my blog is because I didn’t follow my own opinion on writing. I was emphasizing how important is to support your argument in your writing and I didn’t do that myself. I was emphasizing how important is it to use details using literally devices but I didn’t. According to myself, I didn’t write the best piece of writing. I do believe that it is important to see the connections because if I don’t see the connections then I’m not taking in my own advice and my own connections. My theory of writing and the wordle were not supported by each other.
As a writer, I can definitely say that I need to take my own advice when it comes to writing. I learned that even though I know the importance of having a good structure, proper details and proper conclusion that wraps your thoughts and ideas together, I never used it myself. Also, as a writer, I learned the importance of thinking about your audience when you are writing because when I read the wordle as a reader instead of a writer, the type of diction I used surprised me. You have to know your audience. By doing these activities, I learned the importance of diction in general because I sometimes over use the wording I use. I also learned that I need a clear structure to get my point across in a proper way. Also I learned that I need to improve me my grammar because a sentence might not make sense. Further more, I was also made aware of how writing is almost a sense of freedom through looking at the wordle. My identity as a writer might use literary devices, proper structure, a great conclusion that wraps my thoughts and opinions.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6220002/Untitled
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at my wordle the words I considered to very important to writing an argumentative paper are not the words that are big or bolded. I think this is because when I wrote this blog I wrote it explaining how I would do it and what I would focus on when writing. Even during my argumentative paper I don’t think I would include these words because they are more of ways to set up the paper and things to considered when writing the paper. If writing a very technical blog I think these words would be used more frequently and may even be the biggest words in a wordle. Some of the key words in my wordle are “writing”, “understand”, and “argument”. I think writing is a given term to have since it’s about writing a paper. For this class this is important because without this idea of a personal theory of writing we wouldn’t have our own writing identity. Understanding is the next word, this is key to writing but also for reading about topics you could write about. This is the most important word in my wordle and I think it should have been the biggest word. Without understanding what one is writing about or the argument someone is trying to make, the paper will not be effective like it was meant to. The last word is argument; since I prefer to do argument type of writing, this is a key word for me in my wordle. Even though I feel most comfortable writing argumentative papers, I still think that I can improve this type of writing. I also think that all other areas of writing that I’m not as comfortable writing about can be improved so I feel more comfortable.
As a writer I see myself as an argumentative writer that can improve. I think that will time and practice I can become stronger at getting my points more concise and to use my facts more efficiently. I don’t think I’m a strong writer, but I think that it can improve. My identity right now could come across as short, a little bit rusty, and in need of refining. I hope with this class my skills will improve.
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6220134/Aliabualsaud
ReplyDeleteThere was a connection between writing and reading or more specifically readers and that where the key term entertaining. Writers are always expecting someone to read their writing so they try to write it in a way that would get the attention of the readers. Everyone has his own style some writings are scary, some are romantic and others are funny; every writer has to know what his audience expect when they reading his material. There is also the connection between arguments and the key term convincing because you have to base your assumption or argument with good reasoning and also you have to consider the counter argument and explain why you think that your argument is better. Organizing your ideas is a key component, too. Simple things that are done in terms of organizing such as how to end a chapter are what make the difference between a good writer and a great writer. Finally, writing correctly is crucial to most books. Writers write a lot of drafts before coming out with the finalized product. Mistakes can be found even the latest drafts, they are humans too.
The writing theory that I came up with and summarized is that writing is expressing your ideas and opinions by putting them together in a well-organized, grammatically correct and a convincing way, while considering the reading audience and what they are expecting from the writer.
Reflection: Honestly I haven’t done much writing to tell what my identity as a writer is, but I think that my writings will be similar to my readings. Things that I like to read mostly have a sense of humor in them. That what gets my attention as a reader, so I think that I will have a great idea about what the audience that like this type of readings would expect. I would be a writer that uses simple words and tells a story in a very short and informative way.
WORDLE URL:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6220113/Meredith_M
BEGINNING TO THEORIZE
Many of my key terms are not in a large font, but one of my key terms (the word opinion) is very visible. Opinion is definitely an important theme in my blog post because I use this word to describe what argument is and how argument is created. However, the fact that most of my key terms are not showing up in larger fonts sizes on the Wordle obviously means that I did not use those words throughout my blog post as much. This could mean that there is not a connection between my key terms and my blog about argumentation/writing, but it could also mean that my key terms words that provide a broader description/overview of what I wrote about in my blog. I may not have used the word description abundantly in my blog post, but I definitely discussed how good writing is writing that is “detailed” and “has descriptive adjectives.”
It is important to see connections between the larger words in the Wordle and my blog because the Wordle was created from my blog post. As I mentioned before though, I do not believe that my key terms not showing up in a larger font in the Wordle insinuates that there is a disconnect between the Wordle and my blog.
THEORY
Good writing is filled with interesting, descriptive, and evoking words. Good writing is a compilation of words powerful enough to evoke emotion, opinion, or interest. Good writing flows in an orderly manner. Good writing is a piece of art because time, thought, and precision were put into the creation of the literature. Good writing is recognizable by anybody. Regardless of whether you prefer a specific genre of literature, or dislike reading altogether, you should be able to separate good writing from bad writing. For example, I might hate reading crime fiction, but I would agree that Sherlock Holmes is a series full of good writing because I can tell that time, effort, and thought were put into the act of writing the series.
Good writing always has a varied vocabulary, use of synonyms, and use of adjectives. It is important to have variety in writing because without variety, writing is boring and unchanging. Writing without variety is like eating spaghetti for dinner every night. Knowing what your dinner is going to look and taste like every night is predictably repetitive and uninteresting. Hence, varied writing is good writing.
REFLECTION
I consider myself a good writer, but I am constantly trying to improve my writing skills. I attempt going into depth while still being concise. I believe being concise is crucial to be a good writer. Even though I am a concise writer, there is always room for improvement. When writing, I use a variety of verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, and vocabulary words. While my vocabulary is not weak, it could be stronger. My identity as a writer: I see myself as a creative, nonfictional, and pedantic writer.
1.) http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/6231402/Blog_post
ReplyDelete2.) Between my wordle image and my key terms there isn’t that much in common. One word that is rather prominent is the word opinion. This is because that in my blog post I talked primarily about how when an author writes a paper they need to be able to bring their opinion to light through not only just directly stating their opinion, but by explaining that opinion in detail so that the reader, who may not know that much on the topic of the paper, is able to fully understand. As well as bring up a counter argument and then disprove that counter argument using facts that the author had researched. However, I believe that the reason my key terms and my wordle image were so different was that instead of repeatedly using the key terms over and over again I put the key terms into my blog post and then explain why they are useful.
3.) Thesis of Writing:
In order for an author to write a well written paper they need to be able to bring their point of view on the topic at hand to light. They should do this by first choosing a topic. Then secondly they need to do research on the topic that they have chosen and from that research they make an opinion on said topic (or solidify their own opinion on said topic). The writer then needs to create a thesis statement that states what their opinion is on the topic, and also why it is important. Then throughout the rest of the paper the author should use the information they gathered to prove how their thesis statement is factual. And then finally (aside from the conclusion) the author needs to supply a counter argument to their paper after which the author then proves how the counter argument is faulty.
4.) As a writer I believe that I am able to at least get the gist of what a good paper can contain. Although I sometimes miss important steps, or don’t explain my thesis statements, and especially have a difficult time creating a good counter argument against my own opinion. However these things I will, hopefully, get better at simply from doing the same thing over and over again because of writing papers during my college career and beyond.