Shitty First Drafts SWA

In "Shitty First Drafts", Ann Lamont writes about the struggle of being a writer and getting your words down on paper for the first time. She states that we all have the inner turmoil of getting the words down and fixing them up all at the same time, but we have to do it. All successful writers suffer from this turmoil. We just have to calm ourselves down enough to get over he first speed bump and the rest will go along smoothly. Once, the first draft is written, we should wait a day or two and then glance over it to fix the errors we couldn't see before.

Genre Analysis Sources Evaluation

For my academic article, I chose an excerpt from an encyclopedia. It basically states that since Portugal decriminalized all illicit drugs, the use of them has not risen. I have chosen it because it looks quite informative and professional.

For my second, my visual, I have chosen the common meme on the internet called “Philosoraptor”. It says that we shouldn't keep marijuana away from people if it makes them happy because laughter is the “best medicine”. It doesn't have a lot of words on it and it makes one question what the answer should be in this debate.

For my third, random text, I have chosen a newspaper article from the Washington Post. It begs the question: why are some of the most deadly substances legal in the United States? This piece is very conversational as it is a basic news article. It was quite easy to read and very informative.

Genre Analysis Picture

For my genre analysis

What I Do

Every time I watch this, I almost cry

FINAL DRAFT

Final Draft Personal Lit Narrative

Draft 2

                Personal Lit Narrative Draft 2

Straub's Responding Article

One tip in the article that I found particularly important was the very first one. It states that we shouldn’t go too easy on the paper we’re grading; that we, as readers and graders, are merely doing so to help the writer improve. This is not an elementary school grading assignment where we pick out all the spelling errors. We, as graders, need to suggest better word choices, better structure and/or better transitions in the paper. The grader needs to keep in mind that it might not be the final draft, so they shouldn’t be too harsh. I like the fact that Straub addresses the fact that we should write as many praise statements as criticisms because I, like most other students I know, tend to focus too much on the bad parts of the paper. The writer needs to feel like they sort of did a good job on the paper. One tip that I did not find useful was the “Where to put the comments” section. To me, that tip is self-explanatory. A grader doesn’t want to write in the writer’s territory, the grader must write around it. 

Multimodality SWA

My definition of multimodality is when a person uses multiple means of communication to tell a story. Usually when someone speaks to their friends about something interesting that happened, they don’t just use their voice, they also use their hands for motions or their bodies to act out the scenario. Its importance in our society is to keep us interested; to make us want to read the story or learn about other things. In my life, it serves as a means of activity. When I take notes, I don’t just write what the teacher says, I draw pictures or diagrams to help myself understand it later.

Tongue Readings SWA

“Mother Tongue” was a short writing on how the author spoke different types of English depending on who her audience was. When she talks about her writing, she speaks professional, college level English as opposed to when she speaks to her mother; she speaks in “broken” English. The writer also explains that since her mother doesn’t speak English that well, it’s very hard for her to get what she needs/wants. She decided to go against the status quo of Asians being good at math or science and be challenged at being an English major. Amy Tan uses her skill at writing to appeal to her audience. She tries to write what she thinks her audience will understand. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” is very much similar to that of “Mother Tongue” in which that they are both quite ashamed of what they are: Chinese and Chicana. In “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria also speaks of the many languages she adapts when certain audiences are present. She speaks “Tex-Mex” with her brother and sister while she speaks English with Chicanas from San Francisco.

These two writings are different in the reason why they don’t speak the same with everyone they know. Amy Tan in “Mother Tongue” doesn’t because she’s ashamed while Gloria in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” doesn’t because she’s afraid. Being ashamed and being afraid aren’t exactly the same feeling. I can relate to these articles in the fact that I act different depending on what friends I hang around. With my guy friends I’m more laid back, while with my gal friends I’m more bubbly and talkative. I can see where these women are coming from in the way that context means everything.