Peer Editing

In class, everyone had a different view on whether they agreed on peer editing or not and in fact many people were against it. Reasons were given about how it was a waste of time and how it never helped because that person usually didn’t have any background knowledge about your topic. Although I agree with these reasons, I still believe peer editing can be helpful and more positive than negative.

Peer review is beneficial because each person has a different style of writing as well as a different way of interpreting what they are reading. Sometimes you as the writer tend to miss some errors that another person may see right away. Most of the time if something does not make sense to the person editing your paper then it won’t make sense to the rest of the audience either. Whether you are the reader or the editor, you can learn new techniques which can help you strive to be a better writer.

By focusing more on the topic and the point of the argument, the writing can be improved more sufficiently. By doing this, the editor can check to see if the author contradicted themselves or tended to have repetition that the author might not have noticed. Teachers use this approach as a learning mechanism for writing and to help motivate the students to be better writers. In the article the author says, “Students may be motivated to write more carefully and clearly when they know their work is going to be read and evaluated by their friends, the group of people that exercises the greatest amount of influence on them and whom they are most concerned about impressing.” I think this is a valid statement because when I’m given an assignment and know that a friend is going to be viewing it, I tend to give it as much stature as possible in hopes of trying to impress them. But when its just the teacher viewing it, I don’t give as much effort because I’m not as sensitive to the idea of impressing him/her. All in all, peer editing can be a hassle but in the end I have found that it has helped to improve my skills of reading and writing.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5072501_advantages-peer-reviews-students.html

The Rhetoric Appeals in Advertising

This week in class we did a lot of work on the rhetoric appeals; logos, ethos, and pathos. These are all different ways to appeal to your audience and readers. These rhetoric appeals are a crucial part of writing, they help make your point and convince your readers that what you’re saying is viable and worth taking into consideration. Not only is this important in writing, though, it is also a big part in advertisement.

 

Many advertisements and commercials use celebrities or sports stars, like all of the “Got Milk?” ads you may find in many different magazines. This is the simplest use of ethos in advertising. It makes it easier for the audience to ‘place authority in the figure represented’ when someone famous is used rather than a random person that works for the company.

 

Logos in advertising is most commonly the use of data to show that a it makes sense for their audience to buy their products. A good example of logos is Gatorade advertising (many also using sports heroes for the ethos approach as well). Many Gatorade commercials well give percentages and numbers of essentials your body loses through sweat. Stating these numbers says to the audience that they should be replenishing with Gatorade.

 

Finally, and in some eyes most importantly, pathos. Pathos is the attempt to cover a wide range of emotions and sympathize with an audience. APSCA commercials that you see everywhere and make everyone want to cry are a very good example of the pathos approach. Seeing the horrible pictures of all the abused animals will make anyone want to donate money to them.

 

The best advertisements are ones that can find a way to tie all three approaches in together. They will be the most convincing commercials and the most able to get their point across.

 

http://avenueright.com/blog/bid/63902/A-Three-Minute-Guide-to-Ethos-Pathos-and-Logos-in-Advertising

How to Peer Edit

How to Peer Edit

Today in class, we were talking about the most important point when we are peer reviewing.  I thought it was very interesting that we are not worried about grammar and punctuation like we were in high school.  At this point, like Jim said, that type of “local” peer editing is something that we should not be worried about at this point in our education.

It is a very good idea to only focus on the “global” aspects of peer reviewing.  Looking at the main points of the essay rather than picking out specific grammar issues will help improve our groups’ essays.

http://helios.hampshire.edu/~apmNS/design/RESOURCES/PEER_ED.html

The attached link expresses the strategies of peer reviewing.  It talks about the most important points being the overall flow and structure, the specific content and its clarity, and how well it meets the objectives.  I find this interesting because it talks about the same points that were pointed out in class.  Although it also talks about the importance of correcting technical issues, (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.) these are more towards the bottom of the list so they are not as important.

When I begin peer editing my group’s essays, I will try to really focus on the overall message it sends as well as how it meets the objectives.  I also think I will look at issues with punctuation and grammar to make sure I am helping my group to the fullest extent.

Over-referenced, Underwhelmed

In my opinion, Adam Mars-Jones creates a very persuasive argument through out his article The Observer. I concur with his assessment that too many literary references make a novel too difficult to focus on. This causes the reader to lose interest especially if they do not recognize the other material that Cunningham is referencing.

Although I am not familiar with By Nightfall, this critique discourages me to read this narrative. One or two references adds detail and emphasizes the purpose of a piece but overuse of references can cause a piece to be too complex which makes it difficult to remain on topic. This can make the reader feel like the author has no purpose behind his work. While Mars-Jones recognizes that Michael Cunningham is a talented author, he feels that using all these references to other works overshadows his writing skills. Mars-Jones supports this criticism with the following quote: “All well and good—but Gatsby didn’t get to be Gatsby by dangling dozens of previous books behind it, like tin cans tied to a tricycle.” He is explaining how The Great Gatsby is a well-known novel but his story was not awarded distinction for using other authors’ work, it was the quality of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s creativity and not the references he used in the writing.

Another problem Mars-Jones highlights in his review is Cunningham’s overuse of art references. Mars-Jones suggests that Cunningham is adding these references when they do not add value to the story. I found a similar review by John Martin of Middlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life. In his review, Martin also tries to persuade his audience not to read Middlemarch. He argues “The book reads like a college student’s term paper in English Lit 101 in which the student tries to impress the professor by using a big word where a small one will do nicely and by using every name and obscure reference the professor alluded to in the lecture in hopes of getting an A.” Mars-Jones’ argument is essentially the same for By Nightfall except the Cunningham uses too many art references instead of big words. From reading Mars-Jones’ critique I feel he is using the art references to try to impress the reader rather than because they are necessary.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3P938JO87WSX6

The Ideas Behind Free Writing

Peter Elbow is a rather popular in the world of free writing. In 1973, his book Writing Without Teachers was published. In this piece, he tries to explain ways to improve one’s writing, specifically those that experience a “block”. The solution that he offers is free writing, a continuous flow of writing. Anything that comes to mind should be written down, without worrying about grammar, spelling, repeating yourself, or making corrections. Even when you can’t think of anything, you write about your lack of thoughts until something else comes to mind, even if it’s not exactly along the same lines as what you were originally writing about. Elbow says, in the attached interview, that you need to “make a mess” in order to know and understand what you’re writing about and where you are trying to go with your writing.

The argument that Peter Elbow makes is that people try to “rewrite, rethink, and revise” all while still trying to put their thoughts into words. Then, becoming overwhelmed with all of the steps combined into one, they lose track of the point they were trying to make and struggle to get back to the ideas that they previously had. He is not saying that this is the fault of the writer, though, because that is how everyone was taught to write. Throughout the span of a school career, everyone is taught to produce a finished and acceptable piece of work on their first try, and that editing should be a small task to finish up with. People are taught to write with grammatical perfection when the whole point of writing is to actually write. People have become more occupied with presentation than actual content. Free writing is the process of separating the actions of writing and editing.

Watergate Book Review

Importance of Credibility in a Book Review

By: Tina Boullianne         

  In a book review, there are many factors that may make it more persuasive than others. First off, the way the critic introduces himself or herself is crucial.  If there was little to no introduction or rapport, and there is no way of understanding the critic’s credibility, it leaves the reader feeling uneasy.  They are unsure if the critic’s opinion is just or if they are simply rambling on because they did not enjoy the piece.

            The next key factor in developing a critic’s credibility is the confidence they present in their writing.  The critic must propose defiant opinions and also back it up with good examples.  If the critic simply bashes an author’s novel without using specific facts as to why their opinion is the way it is, the criticism is much less convincing to the reader.

            Like someone mentioned in class today, the best criticisms offer more than one opinion and viewpoint of the novel.  Although it is understood that their opinion will be biased one way or the other, it is still important for the critic to offer more than one critique on the novel.  I did not like how the review we read in class only offered one viewpoint.  By doing this, the critic seemed extremely arrogant and somewhat unintelligent because he was being extremely one-sided.

            In the book review we looked at in class, the critic did not really reference specific points from the book itself.  In my opinion, describing the plot of the book and getting to know the characters simply from reading the review is very helpful.  I found an example of a very good book review offering a better and clearer opinion than the one we read in class.  It’s a review of Watergate by Thomas Mallon and begins by introducing the plot, which offers a better overall impression of the novel.

            When readers have not read the novel that a critic is reviewing, it is very important for them to be able to get an idea of the overall theme and summary of the novel.  The review I found des this very well, giving the critic a lot more credibility and the reader assurance.

Watergate Review

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