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Course Reading Review

Greene

Research is conversational in that it goes beyond making a collection of

information by using that information to generate new knowledge based on an

analysis and inquiry of the information gathered. He emphasizes framing the

reading by organizing information around your topic and discussing previous

research done on the topic in order to portray the current understanding of the

argument and how to guide your argument further. Greene also encourages us

to see research as inquiry, a way of seeking out and creating new knowledge.

Murray

All writing is autobiographical in that writings contain traces of their creators.

Readings shape our thinking and become part of our lives. Complete objectivity

isn't possible as long as our writing is shaped by our previous experiences with

reality.

Porter

Porter says that intertextuality means that all writing is connected to each other

somehow, meaning that when writing a new paper, we are actually using other

peoples ideas. Originality is possible but has more to do the creative assemblage

of textual traces than any kind of pure creative originality. Intertextuality is how

discourse communities use previous research to further their own research.

When looking at a certain discourse community, an observer can notice traces

being used all the time over and over again. Copying these traces and knowing

how to use them might allow us to become a member of that community.

Kantz

Being able to persuasively use textual sources, looking at the rhetoric. She claims

that facts are actually claims. How the student in the article has two history

books and each written by authors on different sides of the war, and looking atthe information given rhetorically so that you can come across a new argument

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within the story. Understanding rhetorical situation of the text and synthesizing

and comparing texts.

Haas and Flower

Did research on rhetorical reading practices. They did a study on how more

experienced readers can study writings more rhetorically. People who have

more knowledge and education and are more experienced readers have a better

opportunity to read articles rhetorically and have a better understanding about

what the writer is trying to get across. The meaning of the text depends on the

reader; its not just inherent in the text. It also helps to be familiar with

rhetorical situations, they cant just do it on their own, they need help to start

and get experience. Remember audience, purpose and what is motivating the

text, as well as using previous knowledge to construct larger knowledge on the

other texts.

Bryson

Good or bad English, grammar doesnt exist as a static rule. English never

established an academy of the rules and that is why it is the way it is. The

people who decide who the rules were influential, for example: Robert Lowth

decided it would beyou were is corrected vs.you was, because he was influential.

There are no set rules of grammar; English is clearer if we follow conventions.

You have to be careful about applying certain rules to all situations becausegrammar is subjective and depends on the community.

James Paul Gee

Its not about the language or grammar in a discourse, but it is how it is used. For

example, the bar scene where he asks for the match. The way he asked was not

grammatically correct, but the dialect he used was seen as correct when

pertaining to that discourse. Gee sees Discourse as a kind ofidentity kit which we enact in our everyday life. In different dialects, there are

different types of correct grammar. Primary Discourse is the foundation that

leads someone to other discourses, ones homeland discourse. So primary

discourses are what group you were born into and how you grew up. Secondary

Discourse is a discourse that someone evolves into, outside the homeland.

Metaknowledge of discourses can provide a person with greater understanding

and access to particular Discourses.

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Deborah Brandt

People dont become literate on their own; rather, literacy is sponsored by

people, institutions, and circumstances that both make it possible for a person to

become literate and shape the way the person actually acquires literacy.Everyone has different sponsors, workplace, school, community, anywhere!

Different places affect different sponsors. Sponsors can be positive or negative as

an influence on us as writers. Competition between sponsors can change the

values of literacies. Individuals can misappropriate literacies, that is, use them

for purposes that don't fulfill a sponsor's agenda.

Dennis Baron

Technology effects the way we write and with new technology comes new

problems. Each new technology (pencil, phone, calculator, and computer)

eventually becomes natural and he raises concerns with computers and how it

allows literacy to come and go, as well allowing anyone to write anything

anytime. More and more people are using the web for sources and its become

harder to verify credibility and accuracy. Writing is itself a technology and

common arguments against the negative affects of technology on writing stem

back to classical periods (Plato).

Wardle

Identity can effect how one participates in a discourse community (identity being

their education and economic or social standing). Wardle discusses how

different discourse communities can clash if they hold different values or

goals. In addressing, questioning, or resisting these ideas one will typically face

ostracism in the community in which their ideas or actions conflict. Wardle

presents us with the case of Alan, allowing the reader to observe an example of

unsynchronized ideas and actions within a specific work place and what these

disagreements can lead to for both parties. It is important to consider one's

identity that they produce in their writing.

Swales

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There are everyday situations in which formal speech and writing within a

discourse community is not effective. Ex.) wedding invitations, speaking in an

informal setting, texting, etc. Everyday communication serves a rhetorical

purpose. The text lists six characteristics of a discourse community and are as

follows: possession of a common goal, mechanisms of intercommunication

between members, use of participatory mechanisms to provide information and

feedback to members, possession of one or more genres in communicative

furtherance of goals, a specific vocabulary, and has a threshold level of member

of expertise. An operating discourse community must possess all of these

characteristics to gain recognition as a solid foundation of ideas. If we can

understand these shared values/goals, we are able to become more effective

within the specific community.

Mirabelli

Discourse communities are not necessarily required to include formal writing or

formal speech. The term multiliteracyexplains how individuals communicate in

ways that are efficient to their specific community. One must efficiently read

others, express appropriate body language, and speak in ways that are

appropriate to the situation to become an effective member of their discourse

community. The ability to read other individuals, in addition to the ability to

read and completely understand texts in a situation is important in finding

success and fulfillment within a community