Thlog week 10

Sadly, this is my last thlog this quarter. So, rather than write a summary about what I have learnt this week, I choose to write a brief wrap-up about what I have learnt from this class , which I think should be a good preparation for my final portfolio.

There were too many things I did not know until I took Writing 2, such as "genres", "moves" and "rhetoric". But in this blog, I want to focus on the development I gained from three writing projects (WPs).

Compared to other two WPs, WP1 is less time-consuming and demanding; however; it taught me a important lesson about structure. In WP1, I divided my paper traditionally into five parts: introduction, argument 1, 2, 3 and conclusion. I think most people were encouraged to write a critical think essay in such way in high school. Nonetheless, as Zack commented, one-page long paragraphs are a strong representation of my article's weak organization and structure. Also, the biggest drawback of a super long paragraph is that it increases the difficulty for readers understanding my paper. To imagine your ideas as a huge cake. When you cut it into multiple pieces, it is easier for readers to digest each of them. But as a whole, no one can devour it entirely. Therefore, after WP1, I always intentionally avoid writing everything in a super long paragraph.

WP2 is a much harder one. We were required to compare the differences between academic and non-academic writings. Two types of genre are so different, yet to specify how they differ from each other in a concise manner is also so difficult. To decide what to cover and what to leave aside is an art of writing. Focusing on a specific thing, and then you can make the analysis specific and strong, whereas, splitting your analyses all over the place, none of them can make a sound, Sometimes, less is more. 

From my perspective, WP3 is the hardest as well as the most fun project. we were asked to transform an academic paper into two non-academic genres targeting on younger and older audience respectively. I chose two genres, instructional article and meeting agenda, that I never had haven any experience on, and hence while I was writing them I never stopped asking myself what "moves"I could make to persuade my audience. Although this project was not sufficient to train myself to be a qualified author of instructional articles or meeting agendas, it did provide me with an opportunity to practicing writing for intended audience. To adjust your writings to meet the expectation of different groups of audience, I think, was what this project taught us. This skill will benefit us now and in the future.