Chapter 8 and 19

Chapter 8: Developing an Effective Style

This chapter was about creating your voice, constructing sentences, and selecting words when writing for the reader.

The section on creating your voice was helpful. Whenever I write, I tend to have a personal voice, one I would use in speaking. However, this chapter showed there are situations that arise that will affect which type of voice should be used. I liked how it suggested to avoid "bureaucratese" and instead say things in your own words. Wordy and stuffy talk has always bothered me. Just because it sounds fancy doesn't make it better. In many cases, it makes it worse. If you can't understand it, your readers won't either.

The section on constructing sentences transported me back to grade school where we would diagram sentences. It was informative, but a little redundant. I did like the guidelines for creating sentences for people who were not fluent in English. When learning Spanish in high school, the simple sentences were always a lot easier to understand. Since English is such a hard language to learn, keeping things simple can really help someone translate your writing into something that is usable to them.

The section on selecting words was kind of a contradiction to what I have been taught in previous classes. It recommends choosing plain words over fancy words. In previous English classes, I have always been taught to use fancy words to make my essay sound smarter. But I can definitely see how using simple words can eliminate confusion to the reader.

Chapter 19: Managing Client and Service-Learning Projects

The main thing that I got out of this chapter was that even with all we know about how things should be written, when it comes to writing for a client, the client always has the last word. This could be very frustrating. When you know the best way something should be presented, but your client wants something else done, you don't have much choice. You can try to persuade them that using a reader centered approach would be more effective in getting the readers to vote for their proposal, but if the client says no, you have to write it the way they want. The customer is always right... I really hate that.

In Response to Rhiannon's Rhetoric Blog Post

I loved your examples of rhetoric that you see on a daily basis. Each one clearly showed how rhetoric is used in seemingly simple situations.

• The example of the person you work with using her longevity to persuade is definitely ethos. She is building up herself in order to show that she is right.
• The example of your nephew is a perfect appeal to emotions. Children invoke emotions just by being children, so when they use that to get something they want, they are definitely using pathos, even if they have no idea what it is!!
• The example of using your logic to get a new car shows logos. Trying to use a logical persuasion to get something you want can help convince yourself and others to go along with what you desire.

I like how these examples show how people use the three types of persuasions in their daily life, even though they don't know about rhetoric. Aristotle was correct in saying there are three clear methods used whenever you try to persuade.

Chapters 6 & 7 Readings

Chapter 6: Conducting Reader-Centered Research
This chapter was all about how to conduct research that is aimed at the reader. It was an interesting approach. Instead of just finding information for what you want to do for a project, you are intentionally researching for your audience. This distinction is especially evident when comparing research done for a work project versus a school project. For school, you will research about a topic that will be useful to you sometime in the future. On the job, you will research about a topic that will be practical and helpful to others, right now. This chapter also went into detail about the intellectual property law. According to this law, you cannot use anything that is created by someone else without compensating them or attributing the work to them. These laws are stricter for business usage compared to academic usage.

Chapter 7: Drafting Paragraphs, Sections, and Chapters
This chapter began instruction on how to actually construct a paragraph of written work. It stressed the importance of organization, topic sentences, headings, and other means to make your point as clear to your reader as possible. The passage about doing laundry that was used to show the importance of providing the topic of a passage at the beginning was really interesting. After reading the paragraph a second time, it made complete sense. The first time, I couldn't even read it, it was all nonsense. I also liked the suggestion to use topic sentences, forecasting statements, transitions, and echo words. These techniques all help to show your reader exactly what you are trying to get across and helps to eliminate breaks in communication. I think that passages with these types of techniques are much easier to read. I am a big fan of headings and believe they are very helpful in improving both the visual and contextual design of writing.

Rhetoric: Just some funny Greek?

Aristotle defined the different types of persuasion by using three Greek words: ethos, logos, and pathos. While I don't speak Greek, these words were actually familiar to me. Since many English words have Greek roots in them, it is easy to connect what they mean to words we use today.

Ethos: similar to ego. This form of persuasion establishes your credibility, so that readers will be persuaded to do what you say. By showing that you are superior, and your ideas are favorable, readers will be more likely to be persuaded. An example of this could be putting your credentials in your writing, showing how qualified you are to recommend an option.

Logos: similar to logic. This form of persuasion uses logical arguments to persuade your readers. Using facts, data, and logical conclusions, readers are more likely to see how your option should be chosen, because it is simply the best option available. An example of this could be providing facts on how your product works better than competitor's, so that the obvious, logical choice would be your product.

Pathos: similar to pathetic, or emotions. This form of persuasion uses emotions to persuade readers to do something. It tries to get them emotionally involved or connected so that when it comes time to make a decision, their emotions will force them to side with your argument. An example of this could be showing starving children on commercials for health aid so that you will feel bad and donate money.

Chapters 4, 5, 16, and 23

Chapter 4: Planning for Usability

This chapter was about identifying your audience, much like the previous chapter we read. Except in this case, it was referring to knowing your audience so that you can make your written work usable. This is very important. If something you write isn't usable, it is a waste of both your time and the person or people who read it. I liked how it said to outline and use headings for your document. I know this is extremely helpful to me. When I have something that I don't really have the time or desire to read, scanning the headings can help me pinpoint what the document is about and where I need to go to find the things I need. I also liked how it suggested to put the bottom line first. This can also help readers quickly get what they need out of the document. The use of superstructures is also very helpful to me in creating a document. If I know how it should look, that will help me to create something that the reader is familiar with and knows exactly where to go to find what they need.

Chapter 5: Planning Your Persuasive Strategies

This chapter was on how to get your readers to read your document. It used Aristotle's persuasive strategies--logos, pathos, and ethos--to help explain the different types of persuasion techniques. The section on the tests on rearranging the order of presentation of items was very interesting. Just by putting someone's credentials at the beginning of a document (using the direct organizational pattern) instead of at the end made the readers more favorable to the proposal. Since reading is a very reactive process and opinions change throughout, it is important to establish your ethos at the beginning. In this way you can start out by showing how credible you are so that your readers will automatically pay attention to what you say. You should also present yourself as a friend, not a foe. By setting up a favorable relationship with your reader, the reader is more likely to act according to your desires. This can be very useful when trying to persuade something that might not go over well in normal situations.

Chapter 16: Creating Communications with a Team

This chapter was on the different issues that groups have in writing something. I could really relate to this chapter. I have definitely been in groups where I ended up doing the majority of the work, and some of the suggestions in this chapter would actually have been helpful. I liked the suggestion of using a storyboard for use in planning the layout of a project. This way every group member can get an overall view of what the finished project will look like and keep everyone on track. This would also be very time efficient since having an overview will prevent omissions and overlaps in the research. By establishing up front what is required for the project, every group member should be aware of their respective roles and work requirements. By clarifying any ambiguity before you begin research, you can help to eliminate issues down the road. Also, the suggestions on conducting an efficient meeting were very helpful. I have been in meetings where all we seem to do is talk and it would be helpful to have ways to wrap things up so members can go home. This will help in time management and ensure that group members feel that the meetings are worthwhile and not a waste of time. It will also ensure required work is done in meetings so things can get done on time.

Chapter 23: Writing Reader-Centered Instructions

This chapter was really interesting. I have read many instructions throughout my lifetime. Some were clear and concise and showed me how to accomplish what I needed. However, the majority of instructions are NOT reader-centered. They do not use any of the suggestions posed in this chapter. By using white space, graphics, numbered lists, and clear headings, instructions can be a lot easier to read. If instructions are clear, readers will be able to accomplish what they need and prevent unnecessary frustrations and damage. I liked the suggestion to put warnings BEFORE the step that might be dangerous. This could be very important. I also didn't realize the importance of persuasion in instructions. Readers really do need to be persuaded to follow instructions. Otherwise they won't read them. If you can show up front why the reader should read the instructions, they are much more likely to read them.

In Response to Melissa Bonneville's Post

I completely agree with Melissa's comment on how much there is to take into account when writing something. How do you really know the characteristics of ALL your readers? How could you ever know what they are thinking? We're not mind readers!! And how do you cater to every person who might happen upon your written work?

While we may not know the answer to every one of these questions, just being aware of them will help in our writing. We might miss the target completely the first attempt, but at least we are trying. Throught trial and error, next time, we might hit a bullseye.

Chapter 3 Reading

Chapter three was all about developing a mental picture of who is going to read your written document. This is somewhat of a tricky idea for me to understand. First of all, how do you ever know for sure who is going to read it and what they will think of it? However, the textbook did provide a lot of guidelines to help you discover that fact.

1. Focus on what you want to happen while your readers are reading
2. Define your usability goal: analyze your readers’ reading tasks
3. Define your persuasive goal: analyze your readers’ attitudes
4. Learn your readers’ personal characteristics
5. Global guideline: learn your readers’ cultural characteristics
6. Study the context in which your readers will read
7. Ask others to help you understand your readers and their context
8. Learn who ALL your readers will be
9. Identify any constraints on the way you write
10. Ethics guideline: identify your communication’s stakeholders

I thought the guideline on cultural characteristics was especially interesting. Growing up in the United States we learn how to write, how people react to things, and certain ways to conduct ourselves. Once you have conquered the hurdle of understanding the English language, spending years of time in classes studying it, you believe you can write anything to anyone. But with the globalization of the world economy, those skills you learned may not even be applicable when it comes to writing globally. Writing directly and to the point may be preferred in the United States, but if you wrote directly to someone in the Korean culture, you would be considered rude. So, that rule is out the window. How about writing with a lot of detail so that your reader will be sure to interpret exactly what you are trying to get across? Well, if you try that when writing to someone in Japan, you would be implying that they don’t know the things they should know. Your efforts to help the reader in understanding what they need to know would be implying that the reader is stupid. Cultural differences are huge. While there are many cultural differences to deal with, making any effort to be sensitive to the readers’ culture will be better than being arrogant and ignoring the differences altogether.

The other guideline that struck me was the one on learning who all your readers will be. Just because you are writing a memo to your immediate supervisor doesn’t mean that he won’t show it to his supervisor, or anyone else in the organization. This happens all the time. When writing something, you have to take into account all phantom and future readers. Your written word will not only be passed around, it will also be filed and documented so that future readers may pick it up. It could also be used as evidence in lawsuits.

After reading through this chapter about all the ways that not knowing your audience can affect you, I have definitely realized the importance of spending a little time studying your audience before writing anything.