PB3A

For my PB3A I chose to examine a scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic publication that has to do with college student’s drinking and partying habits. This topic is close to home for myself and the other student’s at any university now a days. Being ranked one of the top party schools in the nation, UCSB and the neighboring town of Isla Vista take on that stereotype and go crazy with drinking and partying almost everyday of the week. The topic is a very interesting as it examines the ins and outs of what it is like to be a college in the party scene that exists in today’s culture.

To gear this not so exciting genre of scholarly articles towards a younger audience, I am choosing to use a piece of media that just about everyone under the age of thirty knows about. Using the Meme generator that we examined earlier on in PB1B, I intend to create a few different memes that help to convey what is being talked about in the original scholarly article. Memes help to take a serious thing, in this case college students and their drinking habits, and make it into somewhat of a joke. By using funny pictures and pairing it with text, memes will help to translate this scholarly text into something that is more tailored towards a younger audience.

When thinking of what can I use to change the research-based genre into a genre more molded for the tastes of an older audience, the idea of a informative pamphlet popped right into my head. The term “older audience” can be looked at from many different perspectives. I am thinking that pamphlets are a very common thing. There is a different pamphlet for any given topic. From a doctor’s office, to an informational seminar, they all use pamphlets to give information about a certain subject. I will examine multiple different informational pamphlets before constructing my own so that I can really get a feel for what I want mine to look like. I will also change the type of vocabulary that I use in the pamphlet as compared to the memes that I create. The pamphlet compared to the memes will offer a completely view of the scholarly text.

Overall I am very excited about this project. This project is geared up to be my favorite writing project of the quarter. I am looking forward to translating the scholarly, academic publication into two different genres, one for a younger audience, and the other for another one. I am looking forward to creating my own project and not having to follow a certain prompt. This project is going to be great.

PB2B

When examining writings from authors of a certain genre, there is sometime an overlap in their use of conventions, and as a result, many of the articles come off as being somewhat similar. Each writer has a certain set of moves that differentiates their writings from someone else’s. These moves can be seen by looking at a text more in depth and by understanding the moves of an author it helps the reader to better understand what they are reading. While writer’s moves can help set them apart from other writers, the moves of authors help to link articles together. Karen Rosenberg’s Reading Games: Strategies for Reading Scholarly Sources and Mike Bunn’s How to Read Like a Writer are very similar in many facets. While there is much in common between these two articles, the moves of the authors in their writing’s set the two articles apart.

Each essays opens up with a personal flashback of their college days. Both of these flashbacks help the reader to get familiar with the writer. By using a personal story at the beginning of the article, Rosenberg and Bunn help to establish a relationship with the reader and help any student relate to the struggles that they faced. These introductions help to hook the reader’s attention. Without them, the articles would be very bland and boring. Both articles set the scene of where they were and this helps the reader to really envision and feel like they are there with the writer. The use of “I” in each article makes it very personal. These articles were made very interesting because as a student you can directly sympathize with what both of the authors went through. The author’s moves in the two articles help to make the articles more interesting and easier to read.

In Rosenberg’s Reading Games she uses bold headings in order to break up the text. I think that this is useful because it helps to provide an overview of what the author intends to talk about in that certain section. I like this move by the author and it really helps me to understand what I am reading better. Later in the writings, the author just bolds words that she thinks are important. I don’t totally agree with this move because it seems somewhat randomized and there is not really any parallelism to it. Rosenberg keeps the whole article very personalized which makes the reader feel comfortable reading and also makes them want to keep reading. The article as a whole really dissects the daunting task of reading a scholarly article and puts it into a different light that makes the reader say, “hey this is not so bad after all!” Overall Rosenberg’s moves are very helpful in the sense that it helps to make the reading easier and more enjoyable.

In Bunn’s How to Read like a Writer, one of the moves that he uses it to begin every section with a question. Like Rosenberg, this is a successful move because it helps to break up the lengthy article, that with out these section breaks, could be very long and dry. Besides the large section breaks, Bunn uses bullet points in order to have the reader take a minute to stop and think about what they just read. These bullet points, unlike the bolded text in the previous article, these bullet points are very helpful in making the reading more enjoyable. The article as a whole is very helpful and provides many good tips and tricks on how to “read like a writer”.

Articles that are part of the same genre, tend to somewhat get muddled together and seem to sometimes repeat information. A writer’s moves help to put their “stamp” on their writings and make it different from the rest. By examining an article more in depth, a writer’s moves come out and by finding these moves; readers can use these points to make the readings easier to understand. Other writers use other authors’ moves and take them as examples and use these to improve their own writings. In both Rosenberg’s and Bunn’s articles, their moves help to make their articles more interesting and enjoyable to read. By making the beginning of their papers more personalized, the reader has a easier time relating to what the author went through. Each article helps college students better understand writing as a whole.

PB2A

            Being a second year here at UCSB, I have been to the library numerous times. Before last week I would only go there to study, not knowing that the building had so many more resources than I could ever imagine. Our meeting with Gary the librarian opened my eyes to what was available to all of us students here. During our meeting with him, I began to think what type of scholarly article would interest me the most. I decided to look at an article that went along with my major, Global Studies. I am really interested in the happenings in the Middle East so I decided to focus my search on articles having to do with Israel. While searching I found a very interesting one on the separation of Israel and Palestine. While this article is a little old, it is still very relevant. While this article and the SCIgen have completely different information, they have some similarities.

            Each article, the SCIgen and the Global Studies, have many aspects that make them a specific genre. The SCIgen is a program that generates computer science research papers for students. The audiences of this type of genre are users who are trying to generate research papers. While the Global Studies article is also meant for people who are looking to do research, it is more user friendly and much less daunting than the article that the SCIgen produces. Both the SCIgen and the Global articles contain many different sections that have different information about what the research of that section is talking about. The purpose is to share this research for people interested in the subject. The introduction provides an overview of what the research is about and what is in the paper. The paper is split into these sections and chapters so that it is easier for the reader to understand. The breaks in the Global article help the paper to flow more smoothly ad make it much more enjoyable than the SCIgen paper. Diagrams and charts are added to the SCIgen to help the reader visualize what is going on in the paper. At the end of the papers, there are the details of which sources were used and who was responsible for the information.

            The UCSB library has so much more to offer than just a quiet place to study. The university has so many different resources on their website that can help anyone wanting to do research. During our meeting with Gary the librarian he showed us how there are many different ways to get information for one certain topic. For my scholarly article I chose to look closer into my major of Global Studies. Wanting to focus on the topic of Israel, I was lead to an article that looked at the consequences of the division between Israel and Palestine. While looking at the SCIgen and the Global article, there are many differences that distinguish the two, yet there is many similarities between these two that show that they both belong to the same genre. The two articles lend a little insight of what it is like to have to read in order to conduct research. In the future I am definitely going to make use of all that the library has to offer.

PB1B

           The conventions of a genre are the pieces that make the genre whole. In order to really define and understand the genre, one must look at the conventions. In the previous class we went over many different genres and defined what made them that genre. The various “genre generators” given, all contain conventions that help to define what the genre is.

            The SCIgen is a program that generates computer science research papers for students. The audiences of this type of genre are users who are trying to generate research papers. The SCIgen generator contains many different sections that have different information about the research that the paper is about. The purpose is to share this research for people interested in the subject. The introduction provides an overview of what the research is about and what is in the paper. The paper is split into these sections and chapters so that it is easier for the reader to understand. Diagrams and charts are added to that paper to help the reader visualize what is going on in the paper. At the end of the paper it details what sources were used and who was responsible for the information.

            The comic strip generator provides the user access to random comics and also to generate a uniquely tailored comic that plays to your likes and dislikes. There are many different examples of comics that you can see if you were to use the generator when you are first browsing the homepage. The tone of this generator is completely different from that of the SCIgen generator. Instead of being purely researched based and somewhat bland, the comic generator is more laid back, fun, and as you would guess, comical. The generator asks for donations to keep the site running and also provides easy to use links so that the user can share what they are looking at.

            The meme generator is something that I feel has come about more recently than the other two sites. Memes are used to make fun of a picture with a small, witty caption. When first entering the site there are multiple memes on the main page that any one can click on and use. Besides looking at already created memes, the user can type out his or her own meme or submit a picture and the generator will spit out a caption of its own. Like the comic generator the tone of this generator is comical and good-humored.

            I chose to do another generator. The site I chose is one that I use a fair amount. The site easybib helps the user to input information from websites, books, magazines, really anywhere that information can be obtained, and organizes it into a correctly formatted bibliography. Once all of the essential information is inputted by the user the website does the rest. The site instructs what information is needed and once it is finished compiling the bibliography, you can export it straight to the desired text or wherever you need it to go. The site is free to use but you can make an account if you want to get some extra perks.

           Genre is made up of many conventions and patterns. While all of these genre generators have nothing in common content wise, they all have one thing in common. Each generator clearly explains what its objective is and what it does for the user. All of these genre generators have helped me to understand what genre is. These generators have helped me to see the patterns that help to make up genre. Each generator helps you to go in depth and look at the conventions of each and as a result, a clearer understanding of genre emerges.

PB1A

                  For my PB1A I choose to pick one of my college admission essays. The reason for me choosing this textual genre is because it holds many special places in my heart. The college admission process is no easy feat. It is something that all high school seniors and their parents dread. Each application makes you pick from a series of essays. It was hard for me to choose which topic to write about because the fate of you being accepted into a university hangs in the balance because of two small essays. When applying you are pitted against thousands of other applicants so any advantage that you can get is a good one. When turning in your essay you are trying to convey to the admissions board why they should pick you. The people on the board have to read hundreds of essays a day. When they look at your essay they are looking to see what makes you a better candidate than the next applicant. You have to make the reader see what makes you special. The essay has to be formal and error free. The reader does not want to see slang and other errors and emissions. The writing must be clear and concise. It must answer the prompt and not stray from the prompt at all. The admissions person is looking to see that you will fit in at the school and that you can keep up with the schools rigorous academics. The applications give you multiple different essay prompts to choose from. When I first looked at the many possibilities, I was somewhat scared. It was a daunting task of which essay to write and to put your life on the line with. At first I began to write out outlines for each essay. I remember clearly that I was sitting on a plane and suddenly it came to me. I just started typing away. It suddenly all came out and before me sat the essay that I was going to apply to college with. What makes a college essay a college essay is that you are trying to impress someone that does not know you as a person and only has a few documents from four years of your high school career to judge you off of. The admissions board wants to fill their roster space with a class that is made up of many different people. The essay must be filled with information that shows the reader who you are. It must persuade the person to accept you instead of the application they just reviewed or the ones that they will read in the future. I chose this text for many different reasons. I have never been more proud of a piece of text that I have written than these essays. These essays helped to convey who I really am as a person and as a whole I have never taken so much pride in my writing. I also chose to write about this text because it helped to get me into the best university in the world. I would not be here with out the help of my college admissions essays.

Intro

Hi everyone!

My name is Alden Geller. I am currently a second year student at UC Santa Barbara. I am a Global Studies major and I enjoy doing an array of activities. I am currently on the Division I Men’s Water Polo team. I hail from the city of La Cañada, California which is very close to Los Angeles. My mother is a nurse and my father is in the television industry. I have one younger brother who is a senior in high school. He plays baseball and is currently trying to figure out where he wants to attend school in the fall. I have played water polo for ten years now. I love the sport and until my body gives out, I will continue to play. I currently hold three different jobs. I am a boys under ten water polo coach, I work in a sorority house where I serve the girls food and I also work for a catering company. In my very limited free time, I hang out with my friends and love to go to the beach and play other sports. Another fun fact about me is that I am a third generation Eagle Scout. As for what I want to do in the future, I am currently trying to figure that out. Not quiet sure what I want to do. I am a very friendly and talkative guy so if you ever see me say hello. I hope that you have learned a little more about me and hope that you enjoy my future blogs!