Analyzing GenresWeek 4

Agenda Conducting genre analysis Discussing Getting Personal by Irene

tylor Brainstorming Language awareness

projects

Willi says When you write an personal essay, the

writer is the only person who knows the facts and points he wants the audience to understand. So he needs to make clear what are his points and he needs to make the reader feel comfortable because you don't want to waste the readers time.

Anthony says When writing a personal essay, you are

the only person who knows the point that is trying to be made. In order to make the information clearly understandable, you need to provide enough detail and support. You want to make your writing interesting and helpful enough to make the reader feel like reading your text is worth their time and effort.

Rosetta The point of a personal is that you, the writer,

are the only person that can get the point you are trying to make across. When writing a personal essay you have to find ways to get the readers attention because you do not want them to say after reading it, "why did I just read this?". As a writer its your responbilty to pick a topic that you do not mind in depth with. I also learned that a personal essay should also make the reader feel comfortable.

Dimond says… Taylor shows how to write for yourself

while still being conscious of your audience. By giving examples from her writing experiences, she lets the reader know that writing is mainly about being vulnerable especially when writing a personal essay.

Tuomas says… M. Irene Taylor's article "Getting Personal" gave

advice for writing a personal essay. In her opinion, the personal essay comes from your thoughts and you must be willing to commit yourself completely. You have to take a risk, tell your own thoughts about issue and also have to trust yourself. Those are the principles to write a personal essay. Essay isn't a personal if you are unable to explore it in depth. Aftering reading a personal essay, one should feel it was worth it to read the text.

Nicole says… From reading "Getting Personal" I

learned that you have to want to "dig deep" and really put your feelings out there to be able to write a personal essay. If you just list events it becomes more of a narrative. You must meet the expectations of your readers, so that they feel like it was worth their time to read what you had to say

Genre Analysis What’s the difference between reading a

genre critically and critiquing genre? Why is it important to critique genres? See the student critique of wedding

invitations. Distinguish the parts that perform a critical reading of the genre and the parts that perform a critique of the genre. Tell us the difference by giving examples.

Critiquing genres in groupsPick one of the genres below. Find a few online examples. Save them on your laptop and conduct a critical genre analysis in your groups. Revisit the article called “Changing Genres”. Use box 4.1 on page 161 to conduct your analysis:1. Wedding Invitations2. Poster about a social issue3. Analyzing an advertisement 4. Analyzing class syllabus5. A job ad

Irene’s Getting Personal Compose an email message to Irene

explaining:

Your favorite three points that Irene makes in her essay called “Getting Personal.” Why do you like the points she makes about personal writing? How do you relate to her views? How do you think her essay help you become a better writer in your Language awareness project?

Brainstorming What are some of the project ideas you

came up with?

Agenda Genre analysis homework sharing Discussing your language awareness

projects Information literacy Interviewing Homework

Asking for help http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amaz

onaws.com/docs/755/279742/AskingForHelp.swf

Language Awareness Paper1. IntroductionWhat’s the topic of your language awareness paper? What’s the importance of it?2. ParticipantsWho are your participants? What are their relations to you? What do they do? Where do they come from? What is their educational background?3. MethodsHow did you collect your data? Where did you collect your data? 4. Findings:Discuss what you found out as a result of your interview(s) What languages are spoken? What accents are spoken?(at home, at work, while growing up, now) What are the immigration stories?

Interviews: some initial research activities As your participants’ permission for her or

him to participate in this study. Remember this is a volunteer participation.

Set the interview time and location with your participants (the people you will be investigating)

Prepare your interview questions (what do you need to know?)

Keep your questions open ended. Decide how to record your interviews

Living sources (Curious Researcher) “Most people no matter who they are

love the attention of an interviewer, no matter who she is, particularly if what’s being discussed facilitates them both” (p.99)

Conducting Interviews Interview people who can give you rich

data. After soliciting participants, prepare for

your interview questions. Make a list of specific questions.

As you are constructing your questions, think back to your literature review exercise: What theories and ideas encountered in your reading would you like to ask your participant about?

Question categories Opening questionsCould you please describe…?Can you tell me about…?Please discuss…I am interested in….What can you tell me about this

subject? Follow-up QuestionsReally? How so? Can you elaborate on X point? Probing QuestionsCan you tell me more about…? Could you please give

me an example…?

Soliciting participants Begin looking for participants Ask their permission to be a part of your

study. a) Describe your studyb) Describe the purposec) Give your participants some information

about the background.d) Schedule your Interviewse) Begin your interviews (USE A DIGITAL

RECORDER TO RECORD YOUR INTERVIEWS)

Class Activity on Interview Find out more about your classmates’

language(s)—both in the family and his/her larger community.

Come up with at least 5 polished questions that can best answer this large research question

Conduct a 5 minutes long interview. After your interview, write one paragraph

about your participant’s views/experiences on spring break.

Homework

Conduct your interviews. Make sure you record your interviews or take abundant notes.

Find more information about the languages spoken 1) from your family 2) from an outside source.

Agenda

Information Literacy for your writing projects http://lgdata.s3-website-us-east-1.amaz

onaws.com/docs/755/274247/Intro_GenEd.swf