I had never put much thought into what process I go through when I write up until now.  To me, it just feels like the effort of writing, not a strategic multistep process.  However, no that I think seriously about it, I’m doing many of the steps described in the article subconsciously.

When I consider what is described as the planning stage; I feel that this is often the most difficult step in the writing process for me.  When given a very open-ended writing assignment I find it difficult to find a topic of focus.  However, what I end up doing during my planning stage is very close to what is described.  I sort of mentally focus on a target topic that I want to discuss and mentally outline what my general goals are for the piece of writing.

I found it very interesting that the author described how difficult it can be to start writing from nothing.  I find that I have this problem myself.  Similar to what he stated, I usually simply start with an idea and write as much as I can before I lose focus; not revising as I go. 

The idea of aligning is very interesting and not something that I have consciously considered before.  I must admit that I generally think from only a writer’s standpoint when writing and don’t particularly consider potential viewpoints of the reader as I go.  This is a very interesting idea that is presented and being more conscious of this could definitely make one a more effective writer.

I’m a big proponent of revision.  Given that I like to write down every idea that I can think of in my initial draft, revision is an important step for me.  In addition, I also feel that it is very important to get outside criticism of your work from another reader’s perspective. 

Additionally, the idea of the monitor that reflects on the effectiveness of their work is important.  When I finish writing and am reviewing my work, I do often consider how exactly it will be read by another.  However, I mostly only do this at the very end of my writing process.

         I very much enjoyed reading the article by Porter.  I feel he makes the most relevant and compelling point that we have discussed so far.  His contention that portions or ideas found in nearly every single work are borrowed from other works and ideas in the writer’s experience.  This idea seems especially interesting to me.  Given that I haven’t had much formal training in writing, I feel as though much of the writing that I do is in most part a conglomeration of styles and ideas borrowed from the vast amount of material that I have read.  This is not to say that no original ideas exist in writing, however it seems to me important to acknowledge to what extent outside sources affect how we write.

        While at first it may seem as though Porter is challenging Murray’s assertion, I feel as though it’s not.  This may be very abstract in some sense, but I feel as though their ideas can be effectively combined.  If we look at Murray’s assertion from the sense that we in fact borrow ideas from ourselves and our subconscious when we write, It becomes clear that our writing can, and often is, both autobiographical and borrowed from other sources.

The essay Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents presents the idea of a rhetorical situation in a different way than I might have thought about it before.  At first, it all seemed somewhat abstract to me.  The author describes a rhetorical situation generally as: “…a set of related a factor whose interaction creates and controls a discourse.”  However, as he admits, this definition does not describe the situation as well as a complete analysis of the constituents of the rhetorical situation.  These components are listed as:  The Exigence, Rhetors, Audience and Constraints.  The idea of Exigence seems fairly complicated to me, but generally it would refer to the source of the situational discourse.  This seems to be the most obscure part of a rhetorical situation.  The next important component is the rhetors.  One might think of these as the author of a piece of writing or an individual giving a speech, however a situation could potentially include more than one.  Another obvious component is the audience.  The idea of an audience is self-explanatory, but it is important to remember that in this situation, the close interaction between the rhetor(s) and the audience defines the situation.  Even more abstract than the rest may be the constraints of a rhetorical situation.  Maybe the most concise way to describe this constituent would be components of the situation that help, hinder or otherwise affect the rhetor’s goals.  Also discussed in the reading is the idea of a compound rhetorical situation.  This can be thought of as a widespread discussion on one subject by multiple rhetors and audiences. 

                While I wasn’t particularly intrigued by this reading; I do feel like I gained some perspective on the subject of using rhetoric.  I feel as though an understanding of the rhetorical situation may help a writer such as myself to better focus themselves when writing.  By better understanding the situation,  a writer has a much better idea what their goals should be in a piece of work, as well as how to accomplish those rhetorical goals.

In describing writing errors as “social constructs”, Williams shows how writing errors are very much subject to how they are experienced by the reader.  The fact that some errors are almost universally seen and corrected, while other legitimate errors go virtually unnoticed highlights the point the author was trying to make.  In addition, Williams establishes that people perceive error differently depending on how they look at a particular piece of text.  Even a casual reader may notice a certain set of “significant” mistakes that exist within a text, but a closer more targeted inspection would reveal many more.  If something is either correct or incorrect with no gray area in between, as many writing handbooks might claim, then what accounts for the different way “large” and “small” errors are perceived by the reader?  This is explained by the idea of errors as “social constructs” defined more by how they are experienced than their objective correctness.   

This unique take on errors may also help to explain differences in the way Wikipedia is viewed.  Williams states:

“If we read any text the way we read freshman essays, we will find many of the same kind of errors we routinely expect to find and therefore do find”

Many people choose to read Wikipedia as they might read a freshman essay, so they find many errors.  However, it can be shown that Wikipedia really does not contain a statistically high amount of real errors.  The way the individual views Wikipedia may account for this discrepancy. 

    

Introduction

This is a blog for my English writing and rhetoric class at Ohio University:

My name is Tom Johnson and I’m a junior studying mechanical engineering here at Ohio University.  Before moving to Athens, I lived my entire life in Grove City, A suburb of Columbus, Ohio.  My main interest in engineering is the field of environmental engineering is sustainable energy.  In addition to my studies, I work as a lab tech at Ohio University’s Institute for Sustainable Energy and the Environment. 

Prior to this current course in my junior year of a college the last writing and rhetoric class that I took was AP English III in my junior year of high school; almost four years ago.  Being so long ago, my memory of the class is not particularly keen.  However, I do remember that I didn’t like the rigid structure imposed on all of our assignments.  It seemed very ‘old school’ and at the time, not particularly relevant towards making me an effective communicator in this modern age. 

Based solely on the initial description, I am very much looking forward to this course.  The heavy integration current technology emphasized in the course appeals very much to the engineer in me.  Though the overall learning objectives of this course may be very similar to those of previous ones, It seems as though the course itself will be quite different.  As I mentioned earlier, I like how this course will be utilizing forms of ‘new media’ and communication. 

As a student in engineering, writing and communication is not particularly emphasized in a majority of my coursework.  I hope that the skills I gain in this course will make me a more rounded communicator, both personally and professionally.  Given my limited experience in this kind of writing, this may be a bit of a challenge for me.  Either way,  this is going to be interesting.