Editorial Report #2

For my second editorial report I will be reexamining my title and my introductory paragraph, as this is the most important part of the essay. Without a good title and introduction, the reader will have absolutely no inclination to read the paper. Essentially, if your introduction is boring so is your paper.

Author Response

1. The content changed because I made my thesis statement much more readable and clear. I also gave my paper a real life tittle thats a little more interesting than having no title at all, which is what it was before. Because the thesis statement is more clear, I think that it gives the reader a better idea as to what it going on in the paper. Because the title is more interesting I think it makes the reader actually want to read, rather than fall asleep.
2. The form of my essay title and introduction actually changed a lot during this editing process. Firstly, I gave my paper a title which is a necessity to the genre of the college essay. So that in itself was a huge change. As far as the introduction goes, I didn't change it much, I mostly just changed the wording. I think the title is extremely important because it should allude to the content of your paper but also be interesting enough to make the reader want to read and I feel like my new title does a much better job of that.

Rough Cut Selection

In a field that is the backbone of research into our own health and wellness, nothing is more important than communicating findings found in research. In this project, I will delve beyond the boring details of scientific research and into the artistic details that lie behind a the genres of research papers and academic presentations. In the field of physiology, there are two main genres, the research paper and the academic presentation, and each of these genres uses different rhetorical concepts to make them separate genres, but there are also rhetorical concepts that overlap between the two and make them similar.

Re-Edited Selection

Physiology Papers and Presentations

In a field that is the backbone of research into our own health and wellness, nothing is more important than communicating findings found in research. In this project, I will delve beyond the boring details of scientific research and into the artistic details that lie behind a the genres of research papers and academic presentations. In the field of physiology, there are two main genres, the research paper and the academic presentation. Each of these genres uses different rhetorical concepts to make them separate genres, but there are also rhetorical concepts that overlap between the two and make them similar.

Editorial Report 1

It's important when revising to notice the changes that you make while editing so that you can determine whether they are positive changes or not. In the following post I will examine a selection from my rough draft and a selection from my revised copy to determine the differences.

Author Response

1. The content of my project really changed a lot when I re-edited it. I added more detail into the project itself by using quotes and examples from my sources. I think that this content is much more effective because it gives the reader a clearer idea as to what exactly I'm talking about in my paper.
2. The form changed a lot when I edited because I added in quotations, which are allowed in MLA college essays. I also added in legitimate citations that are extremely important conventions of the standard college essay genre. When you have citations and quotations in a college essay, it makes you seem very credible as opposed to when you don't have citations.

Selection from Rough Draft

The first major rhetorical concept used in the research paper that separates it from the other genre is its context, and more specifically, where is the research paper published. This particular genre can be accessed either online or in print and is found in scientific journals (citation). The fact that this genre can be found for free online is extremely important because it makes it very accessible not only to professionals in the field, but also to the general public that is interested in the particular topic of research.

The second major rhetorical concept used in the research paper is the part of the rhetorical situation that is the intended audience of the research paper. The intended audience for this genre is other professionals, researchers, and anyone who is interested in the topic and has access to scientific journals, either in print or online (citation). The audience of this genre really helps to distinguish it because we can see how many people have access to scientific journals. Because this genre is so easily accessible, it is by far the most popular and most widely used genre in the field.

Re-Edited Selection

The first major rhetorical concept used in the research paper that separates it from the other genre is its context, and more specifically, where the research paper is published. This particular genre can be accessed either online or in print and is found in scientific journals. For example, the article that I found about the regulation of ENaC trafficking in rat kidneys is in an online journal that can be accessed both in print and online (Frindt, et al. 217-227). The article I found that was written about the effects of Tacrolimus on the treatment of a lung disease was written and was published specifically on a website that publishes scientific research papers, known as PubMed (Wilkes, et al.). The fact that this genre can be found for free online is extremely important because it makes it very accessible not only to professionals in the field, but also to the general public that is interested in the particular topic of research.

The purpose that the author has in mind while writing the research paper is the second major rhetorical concept used in the research paper. The purpose of the research paper is for the author to communicate his or her research with his or her intended audience. This is shown in the abstract of the research paper, which, according to Dr. Fiona Bailey of the University of Arizona, is the part of the paper that explains to the reader what the entire paper is about (Bailey, E. Fiona, Dr.). For example, in the paper about the growth restrictions placed on lab rats, the abstract states, “These results imply that stimulation of ENaC surface expression results at least in part from increased rates of formation of fully processed subunits in the Golgi and subsequent trafficking to the apical membrane. (Frindt, et al. 217-227).” This purpose is extremely important in defining the genre of the research paper because without the clear and intended purpose of spreading information, there would be no reason to do research, much less to write about it with the intent of spreading information.

Peer Review for Hannah Gardner

Hannah's project is a podcast about writing in the field of psychology. She uses rhetorical concepts to talk about academic writing and a more casual form of psychological writings. In this blog post, I will be peer reviewing her project. I'm going to do my absolute best to help Hannah with the form of her project. I feel like she has good information, but maybe she isn't following the genre conventions of a podcast as well as she could.

Writing in Psychology

by Hannah Gardner

I feel like the main two genre conventions that Hannah has used are the spoken word and the transition music in her podcast. I really felt as if Hannah lacked some other things. As far as the spoken word and the transition music goes, I feel like Hannah did a good job, I just think that it would benefit her to take advantage of some of the other genre conventions.

I think that because this project is so reliant on genre examples, it would be beneficial to hear more of the genre examples from Hannah's research. She mentions articles, etc., but I really don't feel that after reading it I have an actual concrete example of what each genre would be.

I also think that a short intro before the podcast starts about what exactly is going to be found in the podcast would be helpful to the listener. Hannah has an introduction, but it's more of an introduction to her content and less of an introduction to the project itself, as sometimes podcasts have.

I don't think that there's a really good way to incorporate sound effects into this project more, due to the sort of dull nature of the topic, but if there's anyway that more sound effects or maybe some ambient music could be incorporated, I think that would make the project more interesting.

Another convention that is part of the podcast is the idea of having multiple sources of audio information. I think it would be really beneficial to perhaps have someone else read some of the genre examples in order to make the project more interesting.

Conclusion

I think that my feedback is helpful because it gives a better idea of what genre conventions that Hannah missed, as well as what ones would make her project more interesting to listen to. So in other words, not only does it help her get an idea of what to do to better her project, but it will also give her new ideas of what to incorporate into her project. 

We talked today in class about how important the genre conventions are for the podcast due to the unique nature of the podcast. We talked about how to incorporate audio from other sources as well as how to add written media to a project to make it interesting and effective. I tried to use these things we talked about in class in order to help Hannah better her project. 

What I liked about Hannah's work was that she sounds very natural talking during the podcast. Her voice and her inflections, etc., make me want to listen to her more. Her project doesn't sound at all forced or anything and when I go to make a podcast, I certainly hope that I sound as natural as she does when I'm recorded.

Open Post to Peer Reviewers

The following post will talk about my rough draft for my project #2 essay about the genres used in the field of physiology.

• I feel like overall my draft is pretty self-explanatory. I obviously don't have citations yet, that's a main thing that I still need to do, however I've been sick with the flu for the entire weekend and I just didn't have the energy to cite like 20 sources.

• I'm aware that my thesis statement is pretty weak, but there's some comments that I've made to the sidebar of my paper that it may actually be super helpful to me if someone could reply to them with suggestions. Especially on the questions about including quotations, etc. from the particular genre examples themselves. 

• I think that the structure of my essay is really good as far as the way that things are laid out and organized. 

To visit the rough cut of my project 2, please click here.

Reflection on Production Work

Production is often the most tedious phase of work for me. I really felt like this week's production phase went extremely well though and that makes me very very optimistic about the weeks to come.

• During this week's production phase, I would say that the overall putting-together of my project went extremely well. Although it's not 100% complete, and it's definitely not ready to be published yet, I feel pretty confident about it, as this production just seemed to be much much smoother than the last one. 

• The biggest challenge that I face during this week's production was the fact that I got the flu on Thursday. I was planning on doing a lot more work throughout the week but ended up saving most of it for Sunday when I finally felt well enough to actually sit up and do English work. 

• I think that based on the fact that this week went so smoothly that next week will probably go smoothly as well. Overall I feel pretty confident about this project compared to the last one, and I'm actually very excited to get it out there because I put a lot of work into it and I'm actually pretty confident about it.

• Overall, as I stated before, I'm pretty confident about this project. Obviously it needs some work and some fine-tuning, but that's what next week is for. I would say that if I felt 25% confident about the last project that I feel at least 75% confident about this project. I definitely feel like I have a much better handle on this one.

Production Report 2

In the following blog post, you will find some outline material taken from my project 2 outline as well as some raw material that I've written based on the outline material. This particular item is my introduction.

Outline Item

1. Introduction
1. Paragraph 1
1. Thesis: In the field of physiology, there are two main genres, the research paper and the academic presentation, and each of these genres uses different rhetorical concepts to make them separate genres, but there are also rhetorical concepts that overlap between the two and make them similar.
2. Idea 1: In a field that is the backbone of research into our own health and wellness, nothing is more important than communicating findings found in research.
3. Idea 2: In this project, I will delve beyond the boring details of scientific research and into the artistic details that lie behind a the genres of research papers and academic presentations.

Adaptation of Outline Item

In a field that is the backbone of research into our own health and wellness, nothing is more important than communicating findings found in research. In this project, I will delve beyond the boring details of scientific research and into the artistic details that lie behind a the genres of research papers and academic presentations. In the field of physiology, there are two main genres, the research paper and the academic presentation, and each of these genres uses different rhetorical concepts to make them separate genres, but there are also rhetorical concepts that overlap between the two and make them similar.

Audience Questions

• As with my last adaptation, I used my different bullet points off the outline in order to separate my main ideas that I had for my introduction, including a thesis and some other introductory ideas.

• This production was extremely easy, because although it definitely needs editing, this particular item I was able to almost just cut and paste directly from my outline because I did such a thorough job on the outline. That was extremely nice going in to the production phase as it definitely saved time then.

Production Report

The following selection is from the main body part I of my project. This part of the project introduces the first genre of the research paper.

Outline Item

1. Body
1. What is the field of physiology?
2. The Research Paper
1. Paragraph 1
1. What the hell is a research paper???
2. Give an example of a research paper
3. What are its genre conventions?
4. Assertion 1: The research paper uses different rhetorical concepts than the presentation in order to make it its own genre.
2. Paragraph 3
1. Proof 1: Context-Where
2. Explanation 1: This particular genre can be accessed either online or in print by other professionals, researchers, and anyone who is interested in the topic.
3. Why it matters? 1: Because this genre can be accessed so easily, the it is the most popular genre for most professionals in the field of physiology.
3. Paragraph 4
1. Proof 2: Rhetorical situation-Audience
2. Explanation 2: The audience for this genre is other professionals, researchers, and anyone who is interested in the topic and has access to scientific journals, either in print or online.
3. WIM? 2: The audience of this genre is extremely important because looking at all the people who are able to access the research paper gives us an idea as to why it is the most popular and most widely used genre in the field.
4. Paragraph 5:
1. Proof 3: Rhetorical Situation-Purpose
2. Explanation 3: The purpose of the research paper is to communicate research with its intended audience.
3. WIM? 3: The purpose of the research paper is extremely important because without the clear and intended purpose of spreading information, there would be no point in writing research papers at all.

Adaptation of Outline Item

The first genre of writing that is widely used by professionals in the field of physiology is the research paper. The research paper in the field of scientific research is characterized by 7 main parts: the abstract, introduction, materials/methods, results, discussion, acknowledgements, and references (citation). The writing in this particular genre is often very technical as it is meant to be understood by other professionals in the field and not necessarily the general public (citation). The research paper uses rhetorical concepts in order to create a unique rhetorical situation that separates it from other genres used in the field of physiology.

The first major rhetorical concept used in the research paper that separates it from the other genre is its context, and more specifically, where is the research paper published. This particular genre can be accessed either online or in print and is found in scientific journals (citation). The fact that this genre can be found for free online is extremely important because it makes it very accessible not only to professionals in the field, but also to the general public that is interested in the particular topic of research.

The second major rhetorical concept used in the research paper is the part of the rhetorical situation that is the intended audience of the research paper. The intended audience for this genre is other professionals, researchers, and anyone who is interested in the topic and has access to scientific journals, either in print or online (citation). The audience of this genre really helps to distinguish it because we can see how many people have access to scientific journals. Because this genre is so easily accessible, it is by far the most popular and most widely used genre in the field.

The last rhetorical concept that sets the research paper apart from other genres is the purpose that the author has in mind when writing the paper. The purpose of the research paper is for the author to communicate his or her research with his or her intended audience (citation). This purpose is extremely important in defining the genre of the research paper because without the clear and intended purpose of spreading information, there would be no reason to do research, much less to write about it with the intent of spreading information.

Audience Questions

• For each of the main numbered topics in my outline, I used a paragraph in my essay to discuss each topic. I felt like a paragraph was the best way to do this because of the genre conventions of the standard college essay. It felt best to me to break up each idea into one paragraph in order to make the essay easier to read.

• I really felt like thanks to the outline that the production of this raw material went quite well. The outline definitely helped me decide what to write and it made the production process much much easier. It took me about an hour to write instead of 6 like the last project.

Reflection of Project 2 Pre-Production

Unlike with the pre-production of project 1, I actually feel very prepared to start producing project 2. In the following blog post I will reflect on the pre-production phase of project 2.

1. The major success of this project is definitely the fact that we were forced to create an outline for our work. With this outline, the planning part of my project is already done, which should significantly cut down on the amount of work that I have to do during my production phase.
2. The hardest part about this week's pre-production work was the fact that I procrastinated heavily and the fact that I had an extremely difficult midterm this week that had me distracted for most of the weekend, when I would have typically worked on this.
3. I would say that based on the work that I've completed this week that next week is going to go very smoothly. I feel like I have a great handle on what I need to do and I already have a large amount of work completed. 
4. Overall, I'm feeling much better about this project than I ever did about the last one. It could be because we have one project behind us, or it could be that I'm more comfortable working with rhetorical situations, etc., but I definitely feel much more confident. 

Production Schedule

As with any major project, it's extremely important that I stay on task with this schedule. I will do as much of it this week before I leave to go home for Spring break on Saturday, however I have a 5-hour layover in LAX, so that will be a great time to work on some parts of production as I'm only writing an essay.

My schedule of production can be viewed here.

Content Outline

For our second project, the rhetorical investigation, we've been asked to create a content outline in order to help us along with the production of our projects. This outline will likely be extremely helpful to me, as I always seem to write better when I have an outline in place for what I need to do.

My content outline can be viewed here.