First Week Review

After the first week of lecture, I now know that the way in which a writer constructs his or her writings is not just through instinct and procedure. It takes research, and an empathetic approach from his or her audience's point of view.

What I would like to have further explained is the difference between social and individual perspective. There are certain refainments I don't grasp.

"a moment in the continuous process of communication."

Surprisingly, from my personal experience, their are many people out there that have difficulty with this task. Whether it be verbal or nonverbal communication, some people just do not grasp the concept or feel the need to grasp the concept of effective communication. In the workplace, it is pertinant to have effective communication skills. Whether it be with a fellow coworker, a superior, a subordinate, or a client, it is necessary to be able to communicate your thoughts clearly and effectively.

For a professional writer, it is even more important to be able to communicate or write effectively. A professional writer needs to be able to relay proposals, discrepencies, and other messages thoroughly, clearly, and effectively to various peoples. To do this they need to have a good understanding of the topic at hand. Second, they need to be able to send the message in the appropriate minor, whether it be through written memo or document, email, or verbally. Next they need to be able to confirm that the reciever understands the message and is able to replay with their thoughts, feelings, and knowledge.

Rhetorical Activities 2 and 4

2)Oh! Have I encountered the horrible theatrics that are simulated arguments! Back home in Charleston, almost every popular morning radio station does the same thing. They will "argue" over the daily headline news. When I say headline news, I refer to articles like "What's Britney Doing with Her Life?," or "Who is better Branjolina or the Beckhams?" How about this. Get a real life. When I say that I don't direct that to the disk jockeys, I say it to the people who call in and agh it on. The listeners are the ones who eat it up. It is my belief that if the listeners would show less interest, the less the DJ's would use this tactic in their morning performance. ESPN Sports Center is another great example. The sports casters spend their time on the air "debating and speculating" as to whether or not certain athletes will be heroes or zeros in times to come.

One key observation that I have made many times that is just a dead give-away to its theatrics is the ending of the so-called debate. At the end both parties will leave the argument open-ended. "Well I guess it's up to the viewer/listener to decide..." Another give away is the overkill of facial gestures and body mechanics used on television. People screaming and raising fists in the air over celebrities' personal lives and sports predictions are just unneeded and embarrassing.

4)The people in my community are most easily persuaded through mostly action or threats of negative results. For example, myself- at this point in my life, I feel that I have a good head on my shoulder, and I almost ALWAYS make the right decisions in life. However, I have been known to be wrong. It was only after the event had transpired that I realized that I was dreadfully wrong and the other person was right. It was then that I sucame to persuasion. Results of an action is usually what persuade people around me, too. We are a stubborn society. We believe we are all-knowing and all-forseeing.

When it comes to life choices like religion, habits, and racial toleration. They all usually are persuaded by some outside tower of knowledge; whether it be parent, sibling, close friend, or spouse. People look to others for security in their decisions, so they compare themselves to people they revere as equals or superiors. A 19-yr-old in Morgantown has at least once or twice participated in under age drinking. Why? Because everyone else does it, including his friends, and probably siblings(given the fact that they are the same age or older) as well. Immulation and immitation of peers and superiors is a common human trait and a powerful when it comes to persuasion.

Fear is also used when trying to persuade people. If a doctor tells a man/woman that he/she has 3 years to live if he/she doesn't stop smoking, then more than likely the patient will cease the habit. The threat of greenhouse gases is also another good example. Al Gore said that if the world does not alter its ways of existing, then the ozone layer will cease to exist, and harmful UV rays will eventually kill every living thing on the planet. Has has since then persuaded hundreds of millions to reduce toxic emissions. Again, this a prime example of persuasion through impending harm or fear.

An Analysis of Jack Selzer's Composing Processes

Why did Selzer want to study the composing processes of an engineer?

What Selzer wanted to do is explore to explore an unchecked, unexplored type of writing. Scholars had studied journalists, authors, and students, but no had ever looked at the people who used technical writing in their every day work life. It was important to understand technical writing, so that students who had prospects in technical fields could properly prepare for their respective fields.

What did you, the reader, find interesting/unique/surprising about his findings?

To me, I thought it was interesting that Selzer found Nelson to take such care and time to prepare his writings. This also the same kind of behavior you would expect an engineer to have with any other project he would take on. Also, once he writes it down, he rarely revises it.
Selzer observes:
"My observations and Nelson's remarkably clean
drafts showed that once Nelson writes a sentence he seldom reconsiders it.
Instead, he pushes forward with confidence so that whole drafts of proposals
and whole chapters of reports can be completed at one sitting."

Class Findings:

Nelson also would also reuse previous documents by incorporation them into new documents.

Nelson spends significant time thinking about his audience's needs, interests, knowledge

Nelson had stylistic rules that he adhered to all the time (short sentence length, topic sentence in every paragraph)

ETHOS- appeal based on credibility
LOGOS- appeal based on logic

MULTIPLE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Taped Discussion: Nelson responded in detail to questions about his writing sessions, their focus, length conduct.
Face-toface interviews
Collected all of Nelson's documents
Selzer went to Nelson's workplace and observed him

TRIANGULATION - TRIANGULATING DATA

Types of Writing that Professional Writers use and Job Titles

When thinking about what specific types of writing that a professional writer does, many things come to mind. First off, it would depend on what type of professional writer the person is. If he/she is an author, then more than likely novels, magazines, manuals, textbooks, and other various forms of literature come to mind. These are the types of publications that the major of people would first go to in terms of professional writing. However, what about the authors' proposals to their publishing companies to get their books published? What about letters of inquiry to the people they interview? These are also certain forms of professional writing.

Other professionals besides just authors also have to write proposals, letters of inquiry, thank you letters, speeches, etc. People like contractors, real-estate agents, accountants, journalists, engineers, doctors, senators, and congressmen(and women) all have, at one time or another, needed to compose some form of professional writing. For instance, say that the mayor of Morgantown, Ron Justice, was up for re-election. To get funding and sponsors from local businesses and investors, he would need to write letters to them requesting their support. That is also a form of professional writing.

Many people use professional writing in their every day business. The list goes on and on about who could be considered a professional writer, because the status quot of their job. They are required to uphold a certain form of professionalism when dealing with their business. This is why the definitions "professional writer" and "types of professional writing" are so loose.