Throughout life, people in many positions attain knowledge that can be of use in a variety of different ways, such as a job, a social setting, or an educational setting. Throughout the first semester of freshman year at the University of Oklahoma I was a participant in a Principles of English Composition class that was intellectually challenging whilst still maintaining the expectations of a first year English class. In the semester of English 1113, the class discussed discursive practices, metacognition, critical reflection, and strategies to transfer knowledge that has been gained to other events in our lives. Learning about the structures of discourses and how writing is constructed specifically to the context by which the writing is produced in is a very valuable skill which can be transferred to many other situations I may face in my future. The process by which writing is begun, knowing how discourse communities function, and understanding the metacognitive approach to writing will serve useful in my future in future courses, jobs, and social settings.
John Swales, a professor of linguistics at the University of Michigan, developed a model of writing known as the “Create a Research Space” (CARS) Model. Swales explains the three moves that are establish a territory, establish a niche, and occupy the niche (Wardle and Downs). These guidelines help almost any student in an English class when beginning a research paper because it is a simple guideline that can be tapered for the needs of the specific essay. This model of writing proved to be very helpful in English 1113. In all papers, an argument was meant to be made. Using that approach to writing allowed my papers to not only have a clear argument, but it also allowed me t...
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...ocus in the English class, taking the skills learned and figuring out how to transfer them to other aspects of life and courses I will take in the future. The benefits absolutely outweighed the time and effort spent on the essays and assignments that were completed. The substantial amount of knowledge gained spearheaded by the metacognitive approach to writing, how discourse communities function, and how to begin writing will serve as important skills in future courses, career, and social settings.
Works Cited
Branch, Dalton. "Analyzing a Discourse Community." Engish Report. University of Oklahoma, 2013.
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing About Writing. Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011. 747.
Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing. Boston: New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2011.
When one engages in writing they are able to look upon their lives in a new perspective. One separates from roles and statuses of daily life, community’s, and experiences at particular time and place. This idea of stepping outside or beyond ones recognized community and structure of life presents the opportunity to recreate and voice identity and stories in new ways. In Joseph Harris’ Book A Teaching Subject there is a chapter on this idea of community and composition. Basically, Harris argues against the idea of a coherent, unified academic discourse community. He expresses the difference between the ‘language’ of the university and ‘language’ of students/individuals. This disconnect between them presents difficulty in figuring out and understanding why people would move in between the two. People are members of many communities in their daily lives and this means have many discourse communities. Adding additional ones does n...
Swales, John. "The Concept of Discourse Community." Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing a College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2011. 466-480. Print.
I am more knowledgeable about invention, arrangement, style, and delivery, all in which create a masterful piece of text. A few examples, I have learned to organize and construct my thoughts and ideas clearer. I have been taught to use stronger transitions and focus more on the delivery and content of the body element of essays. Further, the instructions and advice I have received throughout this term have influenced my understanding of the purpose of writing. My outlook on writing has been modified by shifting my perception of writing from, writing to prove I am a good writer by perceiving it as using “fluffy” or BIG words to impress my audience. I grew to understanding that good writing’s purpose is to engage the writer by mind-striking ideas and arguments, which therefore will prove and title me as a “good writer”.
Most of us write in some form every day, so you would expect that most of us would be well practiced and pretty good at writing. I read and write all the time; I have been taken several college courses and nearly all of them require write of some form. However, before taking this class not only was I not a good writer, I knew I wasn’t a good writer. Now I am not saying that I am ready to write my first novel, but I certainly more confident in turning in my college papers. The content of this course and the style of teaching was incredibly beneficial to me. Throughout this course we had multiple assignments that were aimed to improve us as writers. I am sure that everyone took something different from this course, and I am sure that each student took more from some areas than others; however for me there were three major things that I saw that I benefited from most. Our weekly craft lessons, grammar plan, but most of all, observational learning.
You belong to a discourse community! Whether you know it or not almost everyone belongs to some type of discourse community, but how does it affect you as an individual? From the studies of multiple authors, it has been established what defines a discourse community, what effects intertextuality have on a discourse community and even the overall dynamics, but even with all this research there is still something missing. Elizabeth Wardle, John Swales, and James Porter all make very good discussion points and arguments in their research, but none of these writers stop to examine the effects that these communities could possibly have on the individuals that make the community what it is. Just as it’s the simple stone block that when combined become
Murray, Donald M. Rhetoric and Composition: A Sourcebook for Teachers. Ed. Richard L. Graves. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton Cook, 1984. 89-94.
According to Dr. Bean’s class syllabus, the primary goal for this course is to, “help you develop the literacy skills you’ll need during your academic career”. In other words, this class was designed to teach students to write like professionals in an academic discourse community. Through several writing and research assignments, we acted as researchers on a quest to examine “how discourse—written, spoken, and digital—is shaped by social practice”. Although I felt I was a decent enough writer, I had doubts that I could accomplish such a tall order of directives. In the end, I found that I could do it, and I did it rather well, thus giving me the boost I needed to continue to move forward on my dream of obtaining a college degree.
Paré's(2014) article introduces rhetorical genre theory (RGT). RGT tells researchers how to do qualitative research, how to write correctly in different rhetorical situations, and how to deal with the relationship with writers and readers. By listing and discussing several definitions of the genre, the author shows the main effects of it like to create knowledge essential to the community's aims (Paré, 2014, A-86). The discourse community, which is closely linked to the agency, is also described as an important feature (Paré, 2014, A-86), so I coded a part of my data which focuses on the interaction between participates and analyzed the pronouns using RGT.
...dless of what I am trying to accomplish. I feel that I am much better now, in persuading someone through my writings; which would definitely come in handy in the future. The responsibility I have gained during this experience is incredible and has taught me to be a much more organized person. During this semester I was taught a process of how to write a paper and organize it. I found that all of these responsibilities have made me realize that I could definitely take the next step forward in my academic career. Each new experience I involve myself in has made me continue to grow and constantly learn something new. I am someone who has never really enjoyed English classes in the past and I when I registered for English 101 I only saw it as a requirement to graduate but I really did enjoy this English course and I know that it was something that was worthwhile for me.
...larify the structure and destination in which I was headed. By revising my essays I was able to make the content and message seem more important and made the final drafts seem a slight degree better than the originals, but the finals were better nonetheless. The instructor did a very good job in guiding me and helping find my way into writing by focusing on some of the problems I was facing and clarified them so that I would better understand them. The instructor helped me expand on my grammatical by helping me discover what it was that I lacked while constructing basic sentence structure; the usage of commas and semi-colons, quotations, and how to sight titles of books and articles within an essay. This English 101 course I have attended has helped me develop better writing skills as well as helped me create more profound essays and a very satisfying research paper.
During the course of this semester; the variety of writing styles and essays assigned to me in my communication skills class encouraged the development of my writing skills, as well as provided me with more self-assurance in my abilities. My writing, research, and presentation abilities enhanced through practice, determination, and the understanding I gained during this course. With every single writing assignment, I learned new innovative approaches and skills, which enhanced my abilities to improve my thoughts logically, enabling me to write more clearly, and to organize my papers more effectively. At the beginning of this semester; despite the fact that I already knew the terminology MAP: message, audience, purpose; I never really understood the significance of MAP. For this reason, my writing lacked clarity, organization, and my writings appeared less focused on the topics. As a result my research papers and essays did not flow as smoothly from one passage to the next. Furthermore, I was unaccustomed with the precise procedures used when writing an essay. For instance, my previous classes before college, although requiring a reference page, did not require me to include proper citations in my writings. After evaluating the quality of my writing toward the end of the semester, I recognized vast improvements in several areas of my writing. By concentrating on the beginning stages of my writings, I could distinguish ahead of time my audience and my message. As a result, my essays are clear, and I remain on topic. In addition to that using transition phrases efficiently also helps my writing to flow smoothly. The proper use of transitions makes my writings easy to follow from one topic to the next. I also learned that pre-writing...
Success of Knowledge Transfer in an organization is dependent on the efficient transfer and use of knowledge. Employees need specific skills and knowledge to effectively perform their functions.
This class has helped me realize my strengths and weaknesses in literature. This has allowed me to grow and realize that I am a work in progress. I am confident that by the end of this class my big issues in writing will be improved. Each assignment in this class is helping grow and is making me into the writer I know I can be.
According to the researchers, “conceptualizing this transition as a social/cognitive act of entering a discourse emphasizes both the problem-solving effort of a student learning to negotiate a new situation and the role the situation will play in what is learned” (p. 222). The view that writing is typically a socially situated, communicative act is later incorporated into Flower’s (1994) socio-cognitive theory of writing. In the social cognitive curriculum students are taught as apprentices in negotiating an academic community, and in the process develop strategic knowledge. Writing skills are acquired and used through negotiated interaction with real audience expectations, such as in peer group responses. Instruction should, then, afford students the opportunity to participate in transactions with their own texts and the texts of others (Grabe & Kaplan, 1996). By guiding students toward a conscious awareness of how an audience will interpret their work, learners then learn to write with a “readerly” sensitivity (Kern,
Shea, Renee, Lawrence Scanlon, and Robin Scanlon. The Language of Composition: Reading, Writing, Rhetoric. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2013. 525-529,546-551. Print.