Karla Suarez

When the semester began my perception of rhetoric was to be able to write and deliver a message, while my perception of writing was just being able to write an adequate essay, paper, etc. Now that the semester is coming to an end, my perception of rhetoric has changed in that rhetoric is not about just writing and delivering a message, rather it takes a lot more work because you have to think of ways to make your message more effective. You have to look at who the audience is going to be, and think of the best way to communicate with that audience, for example using multimodality to deliver your message in the form of a poster, PowerPoint, essay, etc. In addition, I learned that multimodality and using mixed media within the Tumblr posts helped reinforce the topic that I was writing about, by giving a visual reference/example to the audience. I really liked using Tumblr to submit our reading responses. I enjoyed being able to use mixed media to further express my writing, as well as, being able to see how my peers expressed themselves. If we were to have used Blackboard, then most likely the writing process would not have been as enjoyable due to the fact that maybe we would have not been able to use mixed media, which to me became an important part of our reading responses. I would not change anything about my Tumblr experience because to me it was enjoyable the way it is. As I mentioned before, I could show my peers my perception of the reading topics through my writing and visuals, as well as see their perceptions through their own writing and visuals, which I believe helps us deliver our messages more effectively and helps us become better academic writers.

The three posts that I believe are my top works are:

W3 Reading Response: https://knsuarez.tumblr.com/post/156685382279/w3-reading-response

In this post, the reading had to do with analysis and I believe that I was able to relate the reading to my major pretty well. This in turn really helped me in writing the response and choosing the visuals that I would use in the post.

W12 Reading Response: https://knsuarez.tumblr.com/post/159506075314/w12-reading-response

I think that this post is one of the top works because I was able to understand the reading/article really well due to the fact that we had been using Tumblr and multimodalities for our reading responses in weeks past, which in turn helped me write about the reading more effectively.

W13 Reading Response: https://knsuarez.tumblr.com/post/159765142734/w13-reading-response

The reading for this post was really interesting to me and therefore I understood the material better, in turn helping me express myself more effectively. Also, I believe that as the semester progressed, my writing skills got better, and this being one of the last reading responses, I feel my writing in this post was one of the best.  

Developing Multimodal Academic Literacies among College Freshmen

This week’s reading focused on further improving learning in schools by including the use of multimodal academic literacies, apart from the already used academic literacies. A study done by Gloria E. Jacobs was performed to show how teaching with multimodal academic literacies can be beneficial for students. Jacobs’ study included a college freshman English composition course, who were required to work on a project using multimodal literacies. Findings of this study showed that “the project contained elements of academic literacies,” such as an introduction, definitions, a statement of the significance of the topic as well as a clear thesis statement or claim, transitions, summaries, clarifications, examples, a critical stance or opinion, rhetorical questions, a conclusion, and citations.” Jacobs concluded that the use of multimodal academic literacies helped the students better understand their topic, as well as “how academic arguments are constructed.” Furthermore, with the use of multimodal literacies, the students were able to learn and have fun working on their project.

In accounting, we do not really do a lot of textual reading, rather we read charts, graphs and financial statements, which is where this week’s reading connects to my discipline. Accountants learn and gather information using ‘multimodal literacies,’ yet, there could be a couple of memos read or written to further help understand the information presented in financial statements and such. In my current accounting class, apart from reading the textbook, videos are provided online to further help us understand the content presented in the textbook, this being multimodal literacies in use. I can further relate my discipline to the reading in that the accounting videos that go along with the textbook really do help me understand the content better, especially since much of the content includes some sort of math and formulas.

The reading further helped me understand the importance of multimodal literacies, especially when it comes to the AVA project, which is a multimodal assignment. Apart from reading traditional academic literacies, mulitmodal literacies, such as videos and photos, have helped me gain a better understanding of the topic we are working on for the AVA, as well as, helped in finding information that will be useful for the AVA. 

Formats and modalities writers use are extremely important when it comes to helping them present their arguments. The types of modalities and formats that a writer uses will help shape the overall argument. Whether the writer is trying to present research, a poem, or just bring awareness to a situation, the format he or she chooses is important in making an argument effective, especially if it is directed towards a certain/specific discipline. For example, a business student would most likely use a PowerPoint presentation to address an argument, as opposed to a biology student, who would most likely present their argument through a research paper.  

Yancey’s article talks about different forms and modalities that have emerged. In her article, Yancey quotes “the ability to negotiate through life by combining words with pictures with audio and video to express thoughts will be the mark of the educated student,” which supplements to the reading in chapter 10, which describes different forms of visual arguments, like photographic essays and such, and modalities, like scholarly, public scholarship, etc., which better help a person present their argument to an audience within a discipline.  According to Yancey, literacy and rhetoric are closely related and they interact. The interaction of both literacy and rhetoric “contribute to new exigencies for invention, arrangement, representation, and identity.”

 After reading both chapter 10 and the article, my perception of literacy did change. I used to think that being able to read and write, as well as presenting the writing in a proper manner sufficed when it came to literacy, but now not so much. In the article, Yancey described how some architecture students presented some PowerPoints and that she was looking for ideas within those presentations. Maybe writing and presenting information without putting too much thought or creativity into it is no longer enough. To my understanding, what she was trying to say is that as technology advances, then so should literacy and rhetoric. Moreover, the importance of modalities and formats come in to play, with the advancement of technology, in making presentations even more creative. Although when you think about it, using different mediums and formats, like visual arguments can make writing or presenting much more enjoyable to both the author and the audience. 

Writing in Transit: Chapter 9 

This week’s reading was on how to construct an argument. Questions prompted within the reading that stood out the most to me included: What problems or concerns are you noticing and what do you need to understand about them? What evidence have you collected? How will you establish your credibility? “Reasoning and proof” are used to construct arguments so therefore, inductive and deductive reasoning were described within the reading in order to help the reader understand what kind of reasoning is best when constructing an argument.  The chapter also described four types of argument structures: Stasis Theory, Classical, Toulmin, and Rogerian Argument Structure.   

In the accounting community, I believe that the best argument structure would be the Toulmin structure because the six components of the Toulmin argument structure (claim, evidence, warrant, backing, qualifier and rebuttal) seem to best fit a situatiion where a problem arises within the finances of a business or company. In order for an accountant to be able to make a claim on a conflict within the company, he/she must have evidence that backs his/her statement. Then, if the claim is valid and backed by enough proof, steps can be taken to come up with an appropriate solution to solve the problem. This reading helped me gain an understanding of the importance of the structure of an argument, especially when it comes to accounting. You cannot just make a claim without having enough evidence and other components.

Writing in Transit: Chapter 11 

This week’s reading focused on evidence and how to effectively integrate it in academic writing. The book explains the “purposes for integrating evidence,” like using evidence to show readers how and why they reached a certain conclusion, to further extend or critique another person’s research, to establish a form of credibility, and to add variety to their writing. Other important topics within this chapter include “criteria for effectively integrating evidence,” such as ensuring the credibility of the evidence and relating it to your topic, as well as introducing the MEAL strategy. 

The reading connects to my major in that accountants must find evidence on whether a business is doing well or poorly and integrate that evidence on their reports. The evidence found within a business’s financial statements is crucial to be able to know and understand a business’s performance. After finding evidence, steps can then be taken to either fix a problem that was found, or improve the business. 

This chapter helped me get a better idea on how to find and integrate evidence for the lit review, and use it by sandwiching it between my own writing and ideas. I believe that now that I know the criteria for integrating evidence, my research will not be as hard as I imagined it would be. Also, the MEAL plan really captured my attention and I will most definitely try it out when doing my research. 

Writing in Transit: Chapter 5 

Chapter 5 focuses on explaining what exactly a summary is, and also describes to readers what a good summary is composed of. It discusses myths on summaries, for example, that they are not objective because they will be read through the writer’s perspective. When writing a summary, it is important to know the purpose of your writing and understand your evidence, so that you may be able to answer such questions like how detailed your summary will be and what tone you are going to write it in. This will also help you emphasize the main points of the reading, and help readers understand what the full text will be about.

In my accounting class we have recently been asked to analyze some ratios within a company and write a memo that summarizes how well or bad the company is doing, as well as state what the company can do to perform better and in what specific sections the company is doing well in. One of the requirements for this memo is that it should not be more that a paragraph, so therefore, I now understand that summary is also extremely important to an accountant. The summary must get straight to the point on whether the company is doing well or poorly, as well as give exact details on why it performed in such way. If the summary addresses it’s main purpose effectively and provides vital information, then the company can then make decisions that will improve a its performance. 

This reading really helped me understand what a a good and effective summary consists of. It should address the main points in a clear manner, as well as set the tone of the entire text. I found this really helpful when it comes to knowing what to expect for the Lit Review. 

Writing in Transit: Chapter 4 

This week’s reading was about the different reading process that people use. It really helped me understand what kind of reader I am. I’d probably say that I have different reading strategies based on what it is I am reading. Usually when I read for recreational purposes, I like to take my time and really pay attention to every sentence, which is the complete opposite to how I read when I’m looking for something in specific. In this case I usually use shallow reading, and skim through the reading looking for relevant information, then if I find something important, I’ll stop and read that section a little more in-depth. On the other hand, when I have a major/important assignment, then I use in-depth reading, where I like to read out loud, take my time, highlight important information, and write side notes on a separate piece of paper. This is the kind of reading process that I use when I read content for RWS 1302. I specifically look for the main purpose, the audience that the reading would appeal to, and any other relevant information,

I find that my in-depth reading process is really effective, especially when I read out loud because it helps me concentrate more on what I’m reading and what I need to look for. This also helps me with an obstacle I usually face, which is my attention span while reading. If it’s a ‘boring’ reading, then I lose focus really easily and go into the shallow reading process. The shallow reading process is usually also effective for me because it helps me get work done really fast and easily, but an obstacle that I face when using this reading process is that sometimes by skimming, I miss important information. 

Writing in Transit: Chapter 3 

This week’s reading focuses on explaining the importance of good and effective research questions. Not only must they be effective and significant for your research, but they should also be able to expand your knowledge even further on your discipline, and possibly encourage more research. 

Having the right questions for research is extremely important because in the end, it can influence the conclusion to your research. For example, accountants must ask the right questions, like what to do next after finding that a business is not doing so well, or where did the business go wrong, to be able to come up with an effective plan to help improve the business. 

This reading really helped me understand the importance of having good research questions to be able to write an effective paper, especially in the Lit Review assignment that’s coming up. Without good questions, the Lit Review would most likely not be informative or interesting enough. 

The first GIF that I used is to show that there are many questions that can be asked, but some will be more effective for the purpose of research in a specific discipline than others. The second GIF is relating the topic to my major. As I explained before, without asking the right questions, then an accountant won’t be able to come up with a plan to fix a problem within a business. 

Lit Review Topic Proposal 

Writing in Transit: Chapter 7 

This week’s reading was all about analysis, It is important not only for academic writing and such, but it can also help us to make decisions and observations on our everyday lives. The chapter described how analysis can be done in different methods and produce different results to different people, also stating that forms of analysis can differ from discipline to discipline. There are various types of data that can be analyzed those of which include visual, textual, quantitative, etc. To achieve an effective analysis, one must have a thorough understanding of the purpose of research that is being conducted, and the data that one analyzes should be specifically linked to that purpose. Apart from there being varying forms of data that a person could analyze, there are also various types of analysis, which include rhetorical analysis, Big Data analysis, Scientific Data analysis, etc., each category more fitting for a certain type of discipline. 

Accounting is a field that requires quite the bit of analysis because we analyze quantitative data, like numbers found in financial statements, etc., to know whether a business has been making a profit or has been losing money. With the information gathered from the analysis, decisions regarding that business can then be made. This really put into perspective that one must be really effective and thorough when analyzing the data,  because if not then the conclusions drawn from the analysis can be misleading, which in the accounting field, is not acceptable. 

This reading helped me understand that performing an accurate analysis, as well as having the right kind of data, is important especially with an assignment like the Genre Analysis, because it can lead you to a more favorable conclusion. Not only that, but int can also help you write and present your data in an effective manner.