Class Notes

What kinds of details does she provide in the Setting
Located in Washington DC
GAO is a "midsized" organization
1200 written reports
Professional staff "well educated"
Employs about 5000, 14 regional, 2 overseas
Headquarters-divided into four program and three technical divisions
Basic work unit (assignment team) includes primary writer and 2 levels of supervisors

Location
Size: # of employees, Offices (concentration in one geographical area)
Staff education: Level of education, types of subjects
Structure of working teams: personal and each one's role.
Decisions about staffing/ structure of teams
Number and types of reports produced

Why provide those types of details? Why does she want readers to know about these types of info.
Mentioning the location can provide more insight into the company's involvement with outside affairs. The company is located in Washington DC. To me as a reader, this means that they are a company that is heavily involved with our government in someway. This is backed up by later statements that the company helps Congress.
Mentioning the size of the company helps visualize the company. This company is important enough to have several offices in different locations. This company must be important.
Mentioning the number of reports and the type of reports help characterize the company as hard working and versatile. The author mentions that the topics are "wide-ranging" and were created by people who hold well educated advanced degrees.

Intertextuality-How a text pulls in voices from other texts
The writer the agency; writer controls the intertexual references
Intertexual references do important rhetorical work

Slate:
From Harold and Kumar: They pick a clip that explains the movie in about 15 seconds
Pulled the clip out to point out that there is no plot.
Used "Josh" to play up the dramatics. Choosing to use that makes it seem he was making fun of the serious criticism
Referring to them, 2 great American icons.

Direct Question
Indirect Question
Mentioning a person/idea
Comment/evaluation of an idea or text
Referring to general ideas of a subject/person

Activity #3

Throughout my time as an English major, I have had to complete several assignments that tie into what 301 explores in a whole. The first one that comes to mind is a research paper I had to do for my 102 class. It was a standard research paper with a twist. We had to analyze our sources in depth. We had to look into their background, find out why they were writing the article, and comment on their stands. Were they credible? Could we trust them to provide accurate information? Was a piece opinion or fact?
I had to write my paper based on these sources, so if they weren't accurate, my paper could hardly be accurate. That assignment really opened my eyes to analyzing source material. I compare 301 to it, because we are analyzing writers and their processes. Though, in 301 we go about it a different way. Also, 301 is very much more in depth to the topic of analyzing.

Observations Continued

Types of Details
A. Roles, how each performed the roles.
>Body language and spatial relationships.
B. Specific embodied activity-Typing, silently rereading
>Level of comfort: stumbling over words; pace of activity; posture; amount or discussion
C. Speech (Types/Topics; sequence; tone; volume)
D. "Other activities"

3 kinds of notes:
Observational notes- the notes you take during an observation.
Theoretical notes- Forming conclusions to observations
Metheodological-notes to yourself as you're observing. Research to follow up, questions to ask after the fact.

Video notes:
Bringing a diagram
Collaborating with each other. One trying to show the other what he means with his hands. Gesturing to the wall, the paper.
Cold, heavier clothes.
Brought items, like ladder and paper.
Discussing colors, friendly.
The one man is very specific about colors. Gesturing "all around"

10/21 additions
Triangulation: As you analyze data from one source, consider, analyze data you've collecte from another source
-does it confirm, challenge, complete your initial analysis?

Analysis:
A) hierachical relationship
shapes decisions-making

Supporting Data:
A) tak between the two-Seen gets final say
observe body language-nick looks away, Seen pokes the paper, talks over nick.

Collaborative Writing

2. What are you learning in the PWE course you are currently taking? How would you describe your experiences in this course?

In English 301 Writing Theory and Practice, we are currently learning how to analyze the writing of people in the PWE profession. We start by learning their jobs and the different tasks they do, then we observe their work and processes. We're also going to learn interviewing processes and how to observe as well as the ethics of each.
In the class, we read and discussed many texts that discuss different perspectives which will be helpful when we are putting together our final project. We've done activities in class that have helped us learn how to analyze different writer's texts.

Observational writing
*Discussed what the student should know about PWE
-classes-skills
-jobs that you can use the major
Listed off some of the classes and requirements.
Talked out what they were going to say before they wrote and formatted it.
Brainstorming aloud.
Organized their information in a list rather than in paragraph form.
Jesse typed, Mallory provided a lot of good ideas that were added as he wrote.
Formatted as a letter, used their own experiences in the field of PWE to construct it.
Mallory was leaning in to the computer. Both were very focused on what they were writing.
Reread over their work to make sure they had included everything they wanted, added a few more things when they were going over it.

Freewriting
I really observed what the two were saying at the beginning. I focused on the ideas they were coming up with. After a few minutes, I realized I needed to focus on how they were sitting, and how they were formatting their work. It was hard to keep concentration on just observing the two of them when I could hear others around me. I switched my focus several time on their formatting, writing, position to each other, and what exactly they were writing.
I think that if I had been right behind them, I might have observed a little more. I could have saw exactly what was going onto their page and the gestures they were making towards each other. But I think that would have interrupted them if I was that close. I felt that where I was sitting was a fairly good spot and I was not intrusive to their brainstorming.
I tried to make sure that they didn't really notice me staring at them, I just jotted down a few things that really stood out to me.

Observation

Photograph
Observations
Day time, well lit. large windows

Inferences
Perhaps the group felt it would have the most energy/attention during the day.

Questions
Why did the group choose to do their collaboration during the daytime?

Inferences
Comfortable seating, arranged in semi circular arrangement. (Not sure if group moved the seats or if they were already arranged this way)

Questions
Why did the group choose to work in teh arrangement of seats.

Observation
Two with laptops, one with notebook, person with book.

Inferences
People assigned to do diffrent tasks.

Questions
What's the division of labor, is one person leading the others? Are all three equal. What are they using the laptop for?

Observations
Book bags on the floor, people wearing jeans and flip flops. People are looking at the board, person at the board making eye contact.

Class Discussion: Stasis Theory

A Clarifies a rhetor's understanding of an issue before combining an argument.
-Audience opinions, assumptions, values
-Areas where more research can be done
-Possible proofs to support argument
-Effective arrangements of these proofs.

First article: Murphy
Topic: Voting/Political Participation
Question: Should young adults participate in the political process? (voting)
Theoretical: Abstract ideas- Should youth participate in politics? Is voting the way to decide a community's direction?
Practical: Action/specific activities-Should youth vote in the 2008 election

What is IT?
Conjecture: Is there an act to be considered?
a"Purity" of the democratic process
b Lack of political participation
Questions: Is there a reason young people don't participate? What proof do we have young people don't vote? How can it be changed? Are political parties targeting them? Why do political parties think the young people are important? What kind of ways are they participating in and what are they not doing? What would get them interested and excited about participating?

Definition: What kind of thing is it/ What parts make it up?
Questions: What kind of thing or event is it? To what larger class of things does it belong? What are its parts? How are they related? What kind of thing is "VOTING"? Is voting a luxury, a duty, a right, a privilege, or a responsibility, obligation?
What is "POLITICAL PARTICIPATION"? What are its parts?

Quality: Simple- Is it a good or bad thing? Should it be sought or avoided? Comparative- Is it more desirable than alternatives? Or less desirable? Is it more or less right than something else? Is it more base than something else?
Is it right to vote without knowing the issues and candidates vs. note voting at all? Is it honorable to vote for a candidate whose ideas you support but you know isn't going to win? Is it more base to pay attention to the political process when there's so much negativity or is it more base to tune out it all. Is it a good thing to participate in the political process? Is it better for the youth to participate in the process or should the experienced vote?

Stasis Theory Activity 3

For activity 3, I checked the opinion section of the DA for today for articles. I came across one about Sarah Palin. The piece opens with the line that choosing Sarah Palin for a running mate was the best thing McCain could have done to save his campaign. The article goes on to suggest the ways that Palin will help bring new life to a campaign that people have become disillusioned with. The opinion touches on many of Palin's qualities, all of them good.
I don't believe there is any conjecture in this piece. The article discusses the ways that Palin is the solution to all of these problems. There is no stasis, because no other side is presented. The article only focuses on the good that Palin will bring to the campaign. The author does not include the other side of the argument, probably because that would not agree with the opinion. Should a person stand up to argue against this article, I'm sure there would be plenty for them to choose to refute.

Methods to understand a writer's decisions

Texts:

-Peer Reviews

-Postwrites

-Rhetorical Analysis

-Memo

-Instructor comments on freewrites and rough draft 

Interviews:

-Asking how comments were interpreted and changes were made

Stimulated Elicitation Interviewing "Props"

Discourse based interview

Observations:

Watch the person revising or even drafting. 

Peer reviews. 

Free write on Research methods:

What I'm sure about so far is how to go about researching several documents from one writer. I am now more familiar with what to look for to really understand how a writer creates and revises. I don't really have any questions. I have more of a sense of unease that whomever I choose to research will have documents that I won't be able to research well. So, I can't say I'm absolutely comfortable with it yet. But I have a feeling that as the semester goes on, I'll start to become more accustomed to it. 

Week in Review

I'd have to say, looking back over the week, that I understood the packet that we were analyzing. As a class, we were trying to analyze how the writer came to write, his prompting, and methods. We did this rather than analyze his actual writing, which I thought was interesting. The instructions were a little confusing at first, but by Thursday, I had a better understanding of what we were doing. I do understand how this is going to help us analyze our subject's documents for the final project, although I am a little afraid I may not analyze correctly. I am beginning to get a little worried about our project and all the details of it. Hopefully, that will be explained and cleared up this week.

Exploratory Essay

When I first sat down to try to write the essay, nothing popped into my head. No questions came to mind at all, which was strange as I have a lot of questions that I could have asked. So I tried very hard to think of the fields that I wanted to perhaps pursue. What did these people do? How did they do it? That started to spark more in depth questions. So instead of sitting down at my computer, I grabbed a notebook and started to write down my questions into separate columns. The columns were dedicated to the questions about specific fields, as well as more general questions that could pertain to all fields.
After this was done, I started to go through my columns, checking the questions that I felt were the ones I was most curious about. Some of these questions I felt were more relevant to my immediate interests. I also felt they might be good questions to include in our research paper. But, they were questions I didn't know much about, so I generalized about them as much as I could. Doing this also generated even more questions.
I chose questions mostly on what I was interested in. Since I'm mostly interesting in editing and medical writing, I started with those questions. I truly don't know much about either of these positions, so I was really just posing questions with no answers. I tried to provide what I thought these jobs included, but I couldn't be sure about them. But, I asked questions that I hoped would help me later in the semester, as well as questions I could go back to for my own information later.
My next step was to ask a general question. I felt this was important because it applied more to the pros and cons of a job situation. I wanted to know what were the differences between working for a company of some sorts and freelance writing. What sort of skills does each position need? What are the downfalls? These are some of the questions I wanted to include.
After I had my questions picked out, I needed to actually write it all down into a three page paper. This worried me a little bit. I wasn't sure if I had three pages worth to write about. But, after I started, the questions turned into more questions and I had three pages.
The paper, instead of making me glad it was done, inspired me a little bit. I realized I wanted to know the answers to all my questions, even the ones I didn't choose to write on. Hopefully later on in the semester, I'll find out more about the answers to my questions.

Rhetorical Activities 1 and 4

1) Since I didn't have any magazines in my room, I instead decided to look up an article I had read on MSN a few days ago. The article concerned itself with vaccines and the various reasons why parents choose not to allow their children to be vaccinated. The article draws on kairos due to a survey take 2 years ago, and the rising number of children who aren't being vaccinated due to personal or religious beliefs. But there are also the group of children that due to various reasons, cannot be vaccinated because of a health issue. And because there are children out there that were not vaccinated due to other reasons not related to health, these children are very susceptible to disease. The writer established urgency early on by talking about the possibility of epidemics of very contagious diseases happening again because a certain amount of children were not vaccinated.
Also on the first page of MSN was an article on corn syrup. The short article linked the syrup to the rising obesity in America. The writer uses two sides of the argument. One is that eating more calories than you burn off in a day is the problem with the rising weight. Two is that corn syrup makes the body feel like it is still hungry and thus people consume even more because they still feel hunger pangs.

4) Vaccinations are an important part of the health of young children. While not only preventing the acquisition of life threatening diseases, these vaccines also help to keep the other members of the population safe and healthy. There are some children who can not receive vaccinations due to health issues. Therefore, it should be up to the rest of the community to look into vaccines and consider getting them for their children. Yes, there are faith based reasons as well as personal reasons for choosing not to receive vaccines. But, there are other factors involved in the decision besides the most important factor; the health and well being of your child. There is your health to consider, and the health of those around you.