one post discussing your ideas for Project 3. How do you think you will approach this composing project? What things about yourself or your interests would you like to highlight? How might you be able to do that effectively? Also, what software do you think you’ll use? Do you have a few you can try?

I wanted to create one image that combines my favorite activities such as swimming and fishing. I also wanted to show my patriotism for our country. I did this by choosing a base photo of me in Alaska holding a halibut I caught. I then used Pixelmator, which is like a photoshop, to add an American flag in the background and swim goggles over my face. I had never used anything like a photoshop so it was a bit crude but I felt like it got my point across.

What is the primary thesis of this series? What is “remixing?” Explain how Fergueson’s concept of remixing connects to our learning about rhetoric; synthesize Fergueson’s series to any text about rhetoric from class we’ve read so far.

The main idea of the videos is that our everyday lives are surrounded by remixes. The idea of a remix is to take something that has already been made and alter it in a way, usually to get a different reaction from an audience.  I related Fergusons ideas back to the class material we read about revisions. I feel like everytime you make a revision to a project you are in a way making a remix of it. And in Lawson’s case her stuffed raccoon, in kind of a weird way, is a remix of the raccoon’s life.

I really like this project. I think it is a really cool idea because it allows us to really describe who we are as a person and what we like to do without having to write about it. Seeing a picture allows the viewer to create their own interpretation of what we are trying to depict compared to reading a paper which is a bit more black and white. I think what shipka means by “made whole” is the idea that by incorporating pieces that are not just writing help create a better understanding of what the author’s point is that they are trying to make. The ballet slippers are a great example of this because yes there is writing on the slippers that the audience can read but the addition of the visual aspect of the slippers help add to the author’s point. This project draws directly from Shipka’s idea because of the visual portion. 

I learned a lot from this project. To start I had no idea what a white paper is and this project obviously taught me not only what a white paper is but also how to write one. I Also learned a lot about marketing from this project, specifically the different less known branches of marketing and the different parts of a marketers day to day routine. Marketing is not just creating advertisements. There is so much more involved in marketing such as client relations and all the different kinds of communication marketers need to engage in, in order for their business to succeed. I learned all of this through my research for my white paper. I found a lot of this information very interesting. I feel as though this information has just made me more excited to go into the marketing field after graduation. Also a lot of the information I learned about advertisements and business to business marketing would definitely help me with my summer job because I work for a machinery company doing marketing for machines. Usually a lot of this marketing is to manufacturing plants. Having a better understanding of business to business is really going to help me.

A white paper is a persuasive essay usually created in order to guide the audience and help them solve a problem. They usually have a catchy intro that hooks the audience and are very descriptive and professional. They also contain a why ellement which is a part that describes why our reader should care about what you wrote. The typical white paper is 6-8 pages long. I chose marketing as my discipline. Most students with a major in marketing have a range of different pieces they create which could include marketing plans, research papers, actual advertisements, excel sheets, and a range of other marketing related pieces. This field has a focus on writing which can range from very formal marketing plans to easy to read and aesthetically pleasing marketing campaigns. A lot of focus is put into the rhetoric and word choice that is used in specific marketing campaigns to help target a certain audience.  Overall there is a formal side of marketing writing which focuses on reports and internal management for companies that hire marketing firms and then there is a side that has a more creative yet specific and well thought out writing style. One thing in my research that i was not able to find that i would really like to is an ethnography of a marketing firm. I feel like this would be a very informative and interesting article to read because it is an outsider looking in getting a different view of how the marketing world really works.

Research is for when you need answers to questions. This could consist simply looking up something online or doing a full blown experiment with independent and dependent variables. People do research because we have a curious nature and constantly want to know more. Different methods are required for research because a lab experiment is not going to be able to tell you how many people are homeless in the united states. I have used experiments, correlation studies, naturalistic observation, self reports, and descriptive studies. I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp of what research is but i’m sure there are things that I don’t know and have not learned.

I found this assignment very interesting because of the limited guidance we received in the beginning. we were basically just told ok go make a mind map and very few of us actually knew what a mind map was. This sense of uncertainty was something that I never had when doing a project. This allowed me to learn to trust myself more because when I brought my project top class for the peer review everyone pretty much had the same thing. This is important for all of my classes and future projects because it is a bit of confidence boost. For project two I need to research more on what a white paper is and I need to find something to focus on for my project.

Miller:

The author of this piece is Carolyn R. Miller. She was a professor of rhetoric and technical communication at NC State. The primary audience for this text is other rhetoricians because it was published in the quarterly journal of speech. The text implies that genre is what allows us to identify discourse. She also explains how genre has many definitions and can not be restricted to one kind of discourse and depends more on rhetorical situation. I believe the main point of the article was to persuade and inform people of her opinion. 

Wardle: 

The author of this piece is Elizabeth Wardle. She is a professor and director of the writing excellence center at Miami University in Ohio. The primary audience for this text is students because it is a book about how to improve your writing. The text explains that you can not write anything without a general topic and genre is that general topic. Her view on writing is very rigid and structured with little wiggle room whereas the other texts explain how writing is not as structured. Her idea is that you must know what you are going to write about and how you are going to write it. I believe the rhetorical purpose is to persuade and inform readers.

My revision process for project one was very simple. Having done the peer review in class that gave me a lot of ideas to work with to improve my project. My first draft was done on my ipad and was a very rough sketch. For my second draft I began to move the ideas over to lucid chart which made everything much neater. I was working on my project in my dorm room at my desk while listening to music last night. The revision process probably took a total of an hour and a half. I also took the ideas from our Visual Rhetoric and Basic Design Principles and began to incorporate that into my second draft. I feel like my second draft is much better than my first draft in terms of neatness and organization but the content did not really change. I feel more confident with the content that I included because of the peer review session. I felt like I was definitely more determined to do the project because I had a better understanding of what was expected. Honestly, I liked my revision process and I don’t think I would alter it much other than starting it earlier.

I did not have much of a revision process. since we were not in class on Thursday I did not know what to revise on my project. I was not happy with my revisions as I felt they did not add in any way to my project. I also found the writing difficult. I hope today in class the peer review will help me so I can have a better finished product.