You were assigned Toby Fulwiler's "The Role of Audience" (OW 180) for homework. How can you apply his tips on shifting from one audience's expectations to another? How do these shifts impact your genres?
The most important tip for me was make sure you like what you have writen. This is important because I have walked away from some papers say that was the worst thing i have ever written but it turns out to get me a good grade so I do not care anymore. Also his tips will help with writing for teachers because of one basic idea, "pretend you like the topic". I would never do this I always hated the assignments but it now makes since that if I could pretend I liked the assignment it would show through in my writing and make better essays about it. But since i have very little time left in school compared to how much longer I was going to be in school before this does not affect me much anymore. The more important tip for writing now is writing for myself. This is important because if i write in a way that I think is good I can safely hand it in to a boss or future employer without leaving thinking "I can't believe I gave that crap to him". These will impact my genres because I now have a good idea of what I can try to do to make them sound good. Even if they are not the best in the world I can be proud that I made myself like what I wrote. ALso with the tips on thinking and choosing about what your going to write about will help because I will attempt to understand who I am writing too by breaking it down and thinking and not just start writing. I think his most important tips were not the written tips but the way he presented them in the bullet style. This will help me because it shows that being organized when trying to identify the topic you are trying to switch to can help you further understand what you are actually trying to do. This will help immensely because I will have like a basic chart to look at and get ideas from.
Chris Davis In order to have an effective speech or paper, it has to be written with a specific audience in mind. The. audience needs to be able to relate to what is being said. But the most important part is being able to have a clear effective message. The first person that you have to write for is yourself. Write the message for yourself because then all of the ideas come out and can be fully expressed. Then work on the wording and clarifying to ensure that it fits the audience. But then when it comes to different groups of people, you have to shift your writing. Fulwiler offers some good tips on how to shift from audience to audience. He says that the writing needs to fit the group. If it doesn’t, people wont be able to follow the message and will become lost, or they will simply tune out because it doesn’t apply to them. I can apply his tips in several ways. By knowing who my audience is, it will dictate my writing style, or what language I use, or how I will even speak. I have to make sure that I actually do know what I am talking about. Sometimes, like when assigned a paper, I am writing it for or presenting it to a group of people who might be experts on the subject so I need to prove how much I know about the topic. I need to cut down and eliminate all of the fluff and bs because they will know when I am stretching the truth or when my argument is thin or weak. But then other people, who might not be an expert on the subject, such as a fellow classmate, will probably be able to see when a fact is weak or false. The audience does know what we are talking about and can tell when things don’t add up, so it is always important to know the audience and make sure that we write in a clear way that they will understand it, but also that it is meaningful to them.
I can use Toby Fulwiler’s tips on shifting audiences and incorporate them into my own work by first identifying which audience I want to shift to, then thinking about what it would take to get their attention, for example, if I wanted to shift from a more mature audience to a younger audience, I would probably use less sophisticated words, and be a little less formal. Next, I would make sure that I have made my ideas clear, concise and to the point, because most audiences like to know the main idea of an article when they first start reading it, instead of having to try to guess what it is they are reading about. I would also try to write as if I myself were a part of the audience I am trying to reach. Seeing my work from the audience’s perspective may help point out anything that would cause conflict with the audience, and will help me write about things that will keep their interest. These different shifts help to create different genres in writing. These shifts are what causes genres to be so diverse, because they are trying to reach different audiences, and there is a wide variety of different audiences to reach. For example, an author could be trying to reach a children’s audience, or parents, or people without any children. These shifts help make it possible to reach out and relate to all different types of audiences.
Naturally the target audience will always affect your paper and how you write it. For example, if writing to the public it should be assumed in the paper that the public is completely ignorant about the subject matter, where as when writing to one’s self there is a large amount of room to explore one’s own ideas without explaining the supporting details. However, there are cross over between appealing to different audiences. While one is writing for a professor they are encouraged to take a nonconventional position in the writing, but this would be a good skill to apply to writing to almost all audiences. Also, while writing to one’s self a tip is to read the composition out loud to consider the rhythm of the words to insure the composition is cohesive. As a direct affect of this the line of genre is blurred. That is why genres are continuously changing and genres are being formed. Therefore, there is always going to be a constantly new way to write and appeal to different audiences. The beauty of linguistics is that its constantly changing and evolving, but to master the new ways of writing one must be acquainted with the old ways.
Melanie Titus Writing to different audiences can be difficult. But Toby Fulwiler had some tips to help out when switching from one audience to another, for example writing to a teacher vs. a classmate. In the writing to teachers tips Fulwiler says that we should make the assignment our own by writing something that know or relating the assignment to something that you know. It makes the writing less superficial. A good thing to do is try to read the paper from the teacher’s point of view, while when writing to a classmate you might want to get a trusted friend to proofread for you, again sticking with someone from the same age group or experience level as to who you are writing to. I think by reading this it will make it easier for me to switch audiences. It gives great advice and I might try to get my brother to view the advertisement that I making for his age group while I might let my grandmother read the obituary I am writing. This is how I can apply his tips by following them. I really like the section about writing to yourself. I wish I had this when we doing the first composition and it might make it easier to write go back and review it now because of the tips he uses. READ it to yourself, if you don’t like the word flow or the sentences change them or don’t use them. Then I like how he said edit and proofread as two different steps. I think that by doing it in two steps it will make the final draft of any paper I write now and later in life a more formal and structured. By switch audiences so many times in a paper I think that it will be difficult to keep it totally for one audience. I mean don’t parents watch television with their kids sometimes. Do I want to try to go for both audiences, kids and parents? By choosing a specific audience for my newspaper article, parents, it my word choices have to be different, no slang that only kids understand. This is huge impact on my writing.
Marcee’ Mitchell in Response to readingparrot: I totally agree with what you are saying here. I myself have been guilty of doing the same thing, turning in work I wasn’t exactly proud of, just to get the grade. I think that as writers, we should all have pride in what we have written, and if we do not, then we should edit again and again (or even start a whole new writing) until we have something that we can say we are truly proud of, and not cheat ourselves of our full potential just to settle for mediocre work that will get us a grade.
Alexis Turgeon in response to Chris Davis I like how in your post you described a specific situation from which a certain audience would not understand and the standards would have to change. I completely agree that if you are presenting a piece of work to experts on that subject, then you must spend more time on the paper to gather better and exact information on the subject. They most likely will not want to hear about the basics, but what your take on the subject is and the more difficult aspects of it. It is evident that changing your writing to fit your audience is extremely important and can make or break your paper. Because of this, I can agree with all of the statements made in your blog.
Tess Stohr In “The Role of Audience”, Toby Fulwiler explained how to shift from one expectation of one audience to a different one of a different audience. This can help when writing my third composition because it will help me to put a focus on each idea pertaining to each type of literature that I will write. I can apply this idea in my third composition when I write my three different genres because I will need to be able to conform to the expectations of the readers of the genres I am writing. I need to be prepared to write one form of literature and immediately switch to another with different styles and some of his tips have helped me figure out how to do this. The two tips that really stuck out to me are using a slant and viewing my work from the teacher’s perspective because they are simple ideas that will help my writing process. Using a slant can help me to separate the factual genres from the opinionated types of writing. Using a view from the teacher’s perspective will allow me to see my work in a different light and be able to work on it from a different perspective. These shifts will impact my genres because when writing I really have to focus on what the reader is expecting out of the genre and what they want to hear from that particular style of writing. I have to avoid combining the ideas and styles of two or more of my genres because doing that won’t satisfy the audiences that are reading them. Keeping my ideas for each piece is essential because I know that I will be easily tempted to combine and share ideas from multiple texts. Using these tips will make the shift in writing much easier for me.
If a teacher assigns you a specific thing to write wouldn't that affect the way you write because it now becomes more restricted? I know the instructor will try to help you get started but the second they assign what they want you to write about i think it loses are personal aspect of it because there is now less creativity to it than before especially if the instructor is looking for specific points in it or different types of rhetorical structure throughout the piece.
Chris Davis responding to Daniel Mele I definitely understand where you are coming from. It is the same with me. I have written some terrible papers that I am not proud of. Looking back on those papers, I didn’t even fully understand what I was supposed to write about, so I couldn’t even come up with an effective or clear message. That is why my paper suffered. The genre that you are writing in also does play an important role. It can affect how the whole audience sees or views our work. If it is supposed to be a serious topic and you add jokes to make it funny, it will be seen as unprofessional and insulting. So knowing the audience and genre does play a big part as you said.
I like that David pointed out that the writing has to fit the audience. He ordered the steps that first one should write for themselves and then change the wording or diction to fit the intended audience. He also brings up the point that if you do not sucessfully write to your intended audience, they will lose interest because it does not apply to them. (This is so true because we all know when you go to a ceremony that isn't for you, you don't understand everything they talk about and you lose interest.) So it is important to make sure your writing is applicable to the audience you choose! The last point I really like is that people have to write in a clear enough way to enable the intended audience the best understanding possible.
One can use Fulwiler's tips in almost every single essay, summary, or even novel they write. Some ways of applying the tips are to think about who the writing is for, for example you wouldn't read and follow instructions in order to write a biography of yourself, because there are no instructions. Also if you're supposed to be writing a blog about the annoying use of cell phones in today's schools, you wouldn't make it seem like you're "interested" in cell phones in general, instead you would be making them sound like a nuisance to society. For every writing assignment you have in class, every teacher has different expectations for your writing. In order to write for a teacher you have to follow instructions, convince yourself and the teacher that you’re interested in what the essay is about, make the essay your own writing, try to teach the teacher something new, and make your essay seem different from others. Now if you were writing an assignment that is meant for your classmates you would change almost everything about the perspective. Most classmates don’t want to read something boring about what the Holocaust was with a whole bunch of facts and information about Hitler, instead they would want to read something more exciting, such as writing about Anne Frank’s diary and how her father was the only one in her family that survived. By changing what the writing assignment is about, you can change the point of view and make different audiences seem more into what you’re writing. Everything you write in that writing assignment changes the genre you’re writing by changing the audience and who you are writing to. For example you wouldn’t write a script for a plain essay on how movies have changed in the past 50 years, by also changing the form you can make the perspective seem more believable to the correct audiences. The form and information are the two major things that can make your essay go from boring to the most exciting and thrilling essay ever.
In response to Lindsey I like what you have to say and the separation of paragraphs to compare the different ways of writing is a nice touch. However what do you think about the effects these similarities have of the concept of a genre? This I believe is the most interesting part of the post question.
Toby Fulwiler's "The Role of Audience" speaks about the different approaches one should take when speaking to diverse audiences. When I am text messaging a friend my goal is to send a message in the fastest way possible. Therefore I abbreviate words, use fragments, and short cut everything up to the point to make my text still legible. When I talk to a friend I will usually form complete sentences, but possibly not always grammatically correct. I may use slang or contractions to make the conversation more relatable and casual. Similar, when I am giving a speech I want my audience to understand what I am saying so I will make it conversational, but at the same time knowledgeable.I want to send ethos, pathos, and logos so I will use sources and appropriate level language for whomever my audience is. Talking is easier and more casual than grammatically, analytic writing for most people. When I write for a teacher Toby Fulwiler suggests to read the directions carefully and be sure of answering the question, psych myself up about the topic, make the topic more familiar by adding my own twist, attempt to teach the audience something, be unpredictable, be a problem/ solution solver, and make sure to look at your teacher's prospective and what they will be looking for when grading your assignment. I should read over my assignment multiple times using spell check, my knowledge, and that my topic and research is spot on. Another form of writing is publication which I do not have a ton of experience with, but may use someday. This could be useful if I am writing to a publicist about an article or even if I become a journalist for the media. The writer should assume ignorance unless known otherwise, cite sources, The moral of all these tips I have learned is I need to apply them to my composition three. I have three different purposes and audiences consisting of casual texting to a friend, more publicized newspaper article to my elders, and possibly a radio speech or poster to the underprivileged. I need to be casual, relate able, and understood when speaking to my peers. When I write an article to my elders I need to use more knowledgeable, but simpler and sophisticated language in comparing 2010 to 1970. Last I will need to majorly simplify, be detailed, and respectful when i address the underprivileged and what the world offers in technology that they may not have been able to experience.
Bryan Anderson said... Most of the comments or responses to the reading were fairly similar but Daniel Mele or "readingparrot" speaks of liking what you write and the importance of it. I agree in a perfect world you would only write on things you enjoy writing about. Where it is fun to write on these topics. But the fact is that if a student goes through a standard college education they will on average have been in school for 17 years. Over those 17 years there will be hundreds of papers on topics that make you want to scream. Until the educational system is completely revamped that will not change. The best thing to do is to learn to write papers on the most boring of topics while convincing the audience that you were slightly interested in what you wrote.
Melanie Titus responding to Chris Davis I really agree with your first sentence. I said about the same thing in my blog but not in so many words. Clear message is really important. I don’t really agree on what you said about writing to yourself and then rewording certain things to fit the audience that you are writing to though. I am doing a newspaper article, ad, and obituary. It would be difficult to write the paper to me then change the wording to fit the audience I am trying to reach, parents. Most kids don’t read the paper, I know that I don’t but I have started looking at papers to see word choice and it is far above what I use when writing something like this when I can write it to myself. I mean it could work I just think it would be more trouble than it’s worth. I like how you made a point to say make it meaningful though. It is kind of hard to make something that you don’t anything about really meaningful, but it can be done. It just stresses the point though. Thanks.
I could really relate to how you talked about the whole never liking the topic you were writing about. I also a lot of times had a negative on look on writing assignments and with saying that I necessarily would put much effort as I should have, and I’m sure that my teachers may have realized that when they read my assignment. Not saying that I didn’t try, but my heart wasn’t into it, and so it wasn’t my best work. I doubted a lot of the things I would turn in and it was never a good feeling walking away from it. The tips you pointed out are good ones to look back on.
When we write, we shift our styles of writing to meet the expectations of different audiences. For starters, it is most important for the writer to begin the composition by writing for his/herself. If the writer is not satisfied with what they have written, it is likely that the audience will not either. The author has to have confidence in their writing. Once a draft has been completed, it is important for the writer to read aloud to his/herself. By doing so, it will be easier to analyze the writing overall. The sounds of the sentences and word choice are more evident when reading aloud. If anything seems strange or does not meet expectations, it can be revised and read aloud until pleased. I also read that it is a good idea for the author to not write with a specific audience in mind. By doing so, he/she will not overestimate one’s knowledge. It is better to over analyze than to under analyze. It is best to not use assumptions when writing. Not everyone reading the writing will be on the same level. Working on our third composition, we have been assigned to incorporate three different genres into our writing. In the beginning, it was somewhat confusing and difficult to understand the assignment. I had never written anything like it before. I learned that is really helpful to gather information about each of the different articles. Newspaper articles, advertisements, and memoirs each have varying looks and feels to them. A little research can go a long way. Learning information about each of the genres will help the author adjust their writing accordingly.
I like how you connected the prompt to what we are doing now it definitely concludes that you understand what Fulwiler talked about and what his tips were. Also sometimes combining two styles actually makes the writing seem more interesting because it's different from the style other students are writing about. Everyone has their own opinion though.
I have never thought about this before but this would make it a little more challenging to write if you understand that genres and topics are constantly changing. So essentially if topics or genres are constantly changing it becomes hard to pinpoint what your trying to write about but it will become easier if you understand where the topic or genre originally started from. But the evolutions and changes in topics and genres evolve with or even after a culture changes so that most people barely or do not even notice the change.
I like your opinion on having people within the audience I am attempting to write to proofread my drafts. This way I can get logical opinions from the real readers. It is a good idea to read to yourself over and over to see if your words flow and make sense. Writing to two audiences or more at a time requires me to be more broad in my assumptions and write to the general public. I do not enjoy this as much because I can not focus in and relate as well. We are all different and it makes it tough if I don't have a certain category. I now have a better perspective for composition three and am more ready to begin writing!
Aaron Murphy Toby Fulwiler’s “The Role of Audience” expressed the importance of transforming your writing to fit a specific audience. He specifically expressed the need to pay attention to an audience’s expectations and altering your work to fit them. This includes changing your writing’s language, tone, and structure as most appropriate for a given audience. If one of my genres was being written for a scholar, say, a professor, it would differ greatly from the same paper catered to a different audience. For example, I would focus more on details and than background and summarization, as they would already be familiar with the subject’s history and intricacies. I applied this recently to an assignment for a film class. I was specifically told to avoid summarization and description of the topic as the instructor was already very familiar with the subject. I had to write solely on my own ideas and interpretations of a particular film. It was rather difficult just jumping into this, as I think at least some degree of summarization helps me to “get going” idea-wise. A paper written on the same subject/film for my peers would include definitions and a historical background of the subject in order to better suit the audience’s expectations. Without such summarization, this particular audience would be lost. Another topic Fulwiler commented on is the importance of writing for classmates. When writing for your peers, it’s much easier to recognize “fluff” and unnecessary, pretentious language. This is something I notice while writing for my peers or while reviewing someone else’s writing. It’s usually obvious when I or someone else has gone out of the way to add detail or language to their writing that serves no purpose other than to add a few words to the word count or to make-up for another area where they’re lacking.
Tess Stohr responding to Melanie Titus: I agree with your ideas to use the teacher’s point of view and to proofread because these two tips are going to be the most helpful to me. Also I skimmed the section about reading yourself again because I saw you mention it and I completely agree with your statement about the fist composition. I feel quite flustered having such a great tool but not knowing about it. Your perspective is very interesting when you are writing about trying to make some show for parents and kids. I haven’t thought of trying to write for more than one audience because I have been so focused on just writing and getting it done. I think it helps me focus my writing even more because I will be able to realize if I am trying to do that.
Chris Davis responding to Morgan I agree with what you are saying. In order to have an effective paper or speech, you have to know that audience or people that you are talking to. Like, it is safe to assume that people in the audience don’t know what you are talking about, and if they do they probably are not an expert in the subject. It’s also true in saying that genres do come into effect when used correctly. They do help and it helps to present a clearer and more effective message to the audience.
I really could easily relate to what you were writing about in your post. I really wish that we had read this text before we began writing our first composition because I know that it could have definitely been a benefit for my writing. Also in my new composition I am switching from parents to kids and so a lot of what I learned in this text will come in handy as well. I would love to read how you applied this text to your writing in the end, and perhaps share ideas on how to improve on our writing and the shifting from audience to another.
I like the approach you took to your blog post. When we communicate with one another verbally, we do not necessarily focus on using correct grammar. We use run-ons and fragments and do not dwell on the mistakes we have made. Talking aloud is definitely easier than trying to convey our thoughts onto paper. When we write, our purpose is to make the context error free and intelligent. Daily conversations are not graded like assigned writings. They are not polished to the best of our ability, and are not consist of several drafts and editing.
One thing you mentioned that I didn't see much of in others' posts is the importance of researching a particular genre alongside researching an audience. Once you know the audience you're writing for, you'll also know what type of genres they're interested in. Researching those genres will greatly help you to communicate with that audience effectively.
Toby Fulwiler discusses the influence of audience in “The Role of Audience” in his excerpt from on Writing. With the tips he explains we are capable of using them to improve our own writing.
One tip he gave us to use to help us with our teachers is we should “look for a different slant.” It must be true, teachers must get bored reading practically the same essays or assignments that are on the same topic in which most take the same angle or view approaching it. So Fulwiler suggests that we look to complete the assignment from a different angle in order to keep the teacher intrigued. Another tip that he said was to convince yourself that you are interested in the topic you are writing about. This could be beneficial for me because I often find myself wondering around and drifting from the topic when I’m writing about something I’m not interested in. So Fulwiler said to research more into the topic so that you are able to discover something about the topic that makes it interesting to you.
Though I think the best tips come from his section about ourselves being an audience and how we can help ourselves. His first tip says to read our essay aloud to youself before turning it in for a grade and see if what we are saying sounds like it is forced or if our points aren’t clear.
The tips that Fulwiler talks about in “The Role of Audience” can be helpful for me in my own writing when I am completing our latest assignment. Our third composition uses three different genres to convey virtually the same message on the same topic. His tips can help me to identify who the audience is that I’m trying to reach and give me tips to do it in an efficient way.
The tip that you mentioned was one that was helpful to me as well. I would never have considered that tip that you said though, to have someone such as a classmate to read over your assignment to make sure that you are writing to the correct specific audience and that they consider is to be right as well. I know I will be making sure to have someone look over my writings from now on.
I was the same way when I say I wish I would have read this writing earlier. I know I would have changed my first composition a lot too! And that this writing will help me out in the third compositions as well.
Cody Cox to Jackie Randolph That is very true a teacher looks for individuality in students. They don't want to read the same thing twenty times they want students to think outside the box and to think for themselves. That’s why when changing our perspectives is and "Exploding the Moment" is a way that our teacher is trying to get us to think of new and interesting ways to write in that different angle that the author of Roles of Audience discussed during the chapter. Convincing yourself that you like what you have read is a way to make any reading assignment a lot easier for you. You may not care for what you are reading especially if it is an assigned reading that you have no interest in. But if this topic where something you were interested in you could write a lot more than required. So making things interesting and writing will be a lot easier.
The most important tip for me was make sure you like what you have writen. This is important because I have walked away from some papers say that was the worst thing i have ever written but it turns out to get me a good grade so I do not care anymore. Also his tips will help with writing for teachers because of one basic idea, "pretend you like the topic". I would never do this I always hated the assignments but it now makes since that if I could pretend I liked the assignment it would show through in my writing and make better essays about it. But since i have very little time left in school compared to how much longer I was going to be in school before this does not affect me much anymore. The more important tip for writing now is writing for myself. This is important because if i write in a way that I think is good I can safely hand it in to a boss or future employer without leaving thinking "I can't believe I gave that crap to him". These will impact my genres because I now have a good idea of what I can try to do to make them sound good. Even if they are not the best in the world I can be proud that I made myself like what I wrote. ALso with the tips on thinking and choosing about what your going to write about will help because I will attempt to understand who I am writing too by breaking it down and thinking and not just start writing. I think his most important tips were not the written tips but the way he presented them in the bullet style. This will help me because it shows that being organized when trying to identify the topic you are trying to switch to can help you further understand what you are actually trying to do. This will help immensely because I will have like a basic chart to look at and get ideas from.
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ReplyDeleteChris Davis
ReplyDeleteIn order to have an effective speech or paper, it has to be written with a specific audience in mind. The. audience needs to be able to relate to what is being said. But the most important part is being able to have a clear effective message. The first person that you have to write for is yourself. Write the message for yourself because then all of the ideas come out and can be fully expressed. Then work on the wording and clarifying to ensure that it fits the audience. But then when it comes to different groups of people, you have to shift your writing. Fulwiler offers some good tips on how to shift from audience to audience. He says that the writing needs to fit the group. If it doesn’t, people wont be able to follow the message and will become lost, or they will simply tune out because it doesn’t apply to them. I can apply his tips in several ways. By knowing who my audience is, it will dictate my writing style, or what language I use, or how I will even speak. I have to make sure that I actually do know what I am talking about. Sometimes, like when assigned a paper, I am writing it for or presenting it to a group of people who might be experts on the subject so I need to prove how much I know about the topic. I need to cut down and eliminate all of the fluff and bs because they will know when I am stretching the truth or when my argument is thin or weak. But then other people, who might not be an expert on the subject, such as a fellow classmate, will probably be able to see when a fact is weak or false. The audience does know what we are talking about and can tell when things don’t add up, so it is always important to know the audience and make sure that we write in a clear way that they will understand it, but also that it is meaningful to them.
I can use Toby Fulwiler’s tips on shifting audiences and incorporate them into my own work by first identifying which audience I want to shift to, then thinking about what it would take to get their attention, for example, if I wanted to shift from a more mature audience to a younger audience, I would probably use less sophisticated words, and be a little less formal. Next, I would make sure that I have made my ideas clear, concise and to the point, because most audiences like to know the main idea of an article when they first start reading it, instead of having to try to guess what it is they are reading about. I would also try to write as if I myself were a part of the audience I am trying to reach. Seeing my work from the audience’s perspective may help point out anything that would cause conflict with the audience, and will help me write about things that will keep their interest.
ReplyDeleteThese different shifts help to create different genres in writing. These shifts are what causes genres to be so diverse, because they are trying to reach different audiences, and there is a wide variety of different audiences to reach. For example, an author could be trying to reach a children’s audience, or parents, or people without any children. These shifts help make it possible to reach out and relate to all different types of audiences.
Naturally the target audience will always affect your paper and how you write it. For example, if writing to the public it should be assumed in the paper that the public is completely ignorant about the subject matter, where as when writing to one’s self there is a large amount of room to explore one’s own ideas without explaining the supporting details. However, there are cross over between appealing to different audiences. While one is writing for a professor they are encouraged to take a nonconventional position in the writing, but this would be a good skill to apply to writing to almost all audiences. Also, while writing to one’s self a tip is to read the composition out loud to consider the rhythm of the words to insure the composition is cohesive. As a direct affect of this the line of genre is blurred. That is why genres are continuously changing and genres are being formed. Therefore, there is always going to be a constantly new way to write and appeal to different audiences. The beauty of linguistics is that its constantly changing and evolving, but to master the new ways of writing one must be acquainted with the old ways.
ReplyDeleteMelanie Titus
ReplyDeleteWriting to different audiences can be difficult. But Toby Fulwiler had some tips to help out when switching from one audience to another, for example writing to a teacher vs. a classmate. In the writing to teachers tips Fulwiler says that we should make the assignment our own by writing something that know or relating the assignment to something that you know. It makes the writing less superficial. A good thing to do is try to read the paper from the teacher’s point of view, while when writing to a classmate you might want to get a trusted friend to proofread for you, again sticking with someone from the same age group or experience level as to who you are writing to. I think by reading this it will make it easier for me to switch audiences. It gives great advice and I might try to get my brother to view the advertisement that I making for his age group while I might let my grandmother read the obituary I am writing. This is how I can apply his tips by following them. I really like the section about writing to yourself. I wish I had this when we doing the first composition and it might make it easier to write go back and review it now because of the tips he uses. READ it to yourself, if you don’t like the word flow or the sentences change them or don’t use them. Then I like how he said edit and proofread as two different steps. I think that by doing it in two steps it will make the final draft of any paper I write now and later in life a more formal and structured.
By switch audiences so many times in a paper I think that it will be difficult to keep it totally for one audience. I mean don’t parents watch television with their kids sometimes. Do I want to try to go for both audiences, kids and parents? By choosing a specific audience for my newspaper article, parents, it my word choices have to be different, no slang that only kids understand. This is huge impact on my writing.
Marcee’ Mitchell in Response to readingparrot:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what you are saying here. I myself have been guilty of doing the same thing, turning in work I wasn’t exactly proud of, just to get the grade. I think that as writers, we should all have pride in what we have written, and if we do not, then we should edit again and again (or even start a whole new writing) until we have something that we can say we are truly proud of, and not cheat ourselves of our full potential just to settle for mediocre work that will get us a grade.
Alexis Turgeon in response to Chris Davis
ReplyDeleteI like how in your post you described a specific situation from which a certain audience would not understand and the standards would have to change. I completely agree that if you are presenting a piece of work to experts on that subject, then you must spend more time on the paper to gather better and exact information on the subject. They most likely will not want to hear about the basics, but what your take on the subject is and the more difficult aspects of it. It is evident that changing your writing to fit your audience is extremely important and can make or break your paper. Because of this, I can agree with all of the statements made in your blog.
Tess Stohr
ReplyDeleteIn “The Role of Audience”, Toby Fulwiler explained how to shift from one expectation of one audience to a different one of a different audience. This can help when writing my third composition because it will help me to put a focus on each idea pertaining to each type of literature that I will write.
I can apply this idea in my third composition when I write my three different genres because I will need to be able to conform to the expectations of the readers of the genres I am writing. I need to be prepared to write one form of literature and immediately switch to another with different styles and some of his tips have helped me figure out how to do this. The two tips that really stuck out to me are using a slant and viewing my work from the teacher’s perspective because they are simple ideas that will help my writing process. Using a slant can help me to separate the factual genres from the opinionated types of writing. Using a view from the teacher’s perspective will allow me to see my work in a different light and be able to work on it from a different perspective.
These shifts will impact my genres because when writing I really have to focus on what the reader is expecting out of the genre and what they want to hear from that particular style of writing. I have to avoid combining the ideas and styles of two or more of my genres because doing that won’t satisfy the audiences that are reading them. Keeping my ideas for each piece is essential because I know that I will be easily tempted to combine and share ideas from multiple texts. Using these tips will make the shift in writing much easier for me.
Daniel Mele
ReplyDeleteResponse to Alexis Turgeon
If a teacher assigns you a specific thing to write wouldn't that affect the way you write because it now becomes more restricted? I know the instructor will try to help you get started but the second they assign what they want you to write about i think it loses are personal aspect of it because there is now less creativity to it than before especially if the instructor is looking for specific points in it or different types of rhetorical structure throughout the piece.
Chris Davis responding to Daniel Mele
ReplyDeleteI definitely understand where you are coming from. It is the same with me. I have written some terrible papers that I am not proud of. Looking back on those papers, I didn’t even fully understand what I was supposed to write about, so I couldn’t even come up with an effective or clear message. That is why my paper suffered. The genre that you are writing in also does play an important role. It can affect how the whole audience sees or views our work. If it is supposed to be a serious topic and you add jokes to make it funny, it will be seen as unprofessional and insulting. So knowing the audience and genre does play a big part as you said.
Lindsey in response to Chris Davis:
ReplyDeleteI like that David pointed out that the writing has to fit the audience. He ordered the steps that first one should write for themselves and then change the wording or diction to fit the intended audience. He also brings up the point that if you do not sucessfully write to your intended audience, they will lose interest because it does not apply to them. (This is so true because we all know when you go to a ceremony that isn't for you, you don't understand everything they talk about and you lose interest.) So it is important to make sure your writing is applicable to the audience you choose! The last point I really like is that people have to write in a clear enough way to enable the intended audience the best understanding possible.
One can use Fulwiler's tips in almost every single essay, summary, or even novel they write. Some ways of applying the tips are to think about who the writing is for, for example you wouldn't read and follow instructions in order to write a biography of yourself, because there are no instructions. Also if you're supposed to be writing a blog about the annoying use of cell phones in today's schools, you wouldn't make it seem like you're "interested" in cell phones in general, instead you would be making them sound like a nuisance to society. For every writing assignment you have in class, every teacher has different expectations for your writing. In order to write for a teacher you have to follow instructions, convince yourself and the teacher that you’re interested in what the essay is about, make the essay your own writing, try to teach the teacher something new, and make your essay seem different from others. Now if you were writing an assignment that is meant for your classmates you would change almost everything about the perspective. Most classmates don’t want to read something boring about what the Holocaust was with a whole bunch of facts and information about Hitler, instead they would want to read something more exciting, such as writing about Anne Frank’s diary and how her father was the only one in her family that survived. By changing what the writing assignment is about, you can change the point of view and make different audiences seem more into what you’re writing. Everything you write in that writing assignment changes the genre you’re writing by changing the audience and who you are writing to. For example you wouldn’t write a script for a plain essay on how movies have changed in the past 50 years, by also changing the form you can make the perspective seem more believable to the correct audiences. The form and information are the two major things that can make your essay go from boring to the most exciting and thrilling essay ever.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Lindsey
ReplyDeleteI like what you have to say and the separation of paragraphs to compare the different ways of writing is a nice touch. However what do you think about the effects these similarities have of the concept of a genre? This I believe is the most interesting part of the post question.
Jessi Gould's Response
ReplyDeleteToby Fulwiler's "The Role of Audience" speaks about the different approaches one should take when speaking to diverse audiences.
When I am text messaging a friend my goal is to send a message in the fastest way possible. Therefore I abbreviate words, use fragments, and short cut everything up to the point to make my text still legible.
When I talk to a friend I will usually form complete sentences, but possibly not always grammatically correct. I may use slang or contractions to make the conversation more relatable and casual.
Similar, when I am giving a speech I want my audience to understand what I am saying so I will make it conversational, but at the same time knowledgeable.I want to send ethos, pathos, and logos so I will use sources and appropriate level language for whomever my audience is.
Talking is easier and more casual than grammatically, analytic writing for most people. When I write for a teacher Toby Fulwiler suggests to read the directions carefully and be sure of answering the question, psych myself up about the topic, make the topic more familiar by adding my own twist, attempt to teach the audience something, be unpredictable, be a problem/ solution solver, and make sure to look at your teacher's prospective and what they will be looking for when grading your assignment. I should read over my assignment multiple times using spell check, my knowledge, and that my topic and research is spot on.
Another form of writing is publication which I do not have a ton of experience with, but may use someday. This could be useful if I am writing to a publicist about an article or even if I become a journalist for the media. The writer should assume ignorance unless known otherwise, cite sources,
The moral of all these tips I have learned is I need to apply them to my composition three. I have three different purposes and audiences consisting of casual texting to a friend, more publicized newspaper article to my elders, and possibly a radio speech or poster to the underprivileged. I need to be casual, relate able, and understood when speaking to my peers. When I write an article to my elders I need to use more knowledgeable, but simpler and sophisticated language in comparing 2010 to 1970. Last I will need to majorly simplify, be detailed, and respectful when i address the underprivileged and what the world offers in technology that they may not have been able to experience.
Bryan Anderson said... Most of the comments or responses to the reading were fairly similar but Daniel Mele or "readingparrot" speaks of liking what you write and the importance of it. I agree in a perfect world you would only write on things you enjoy writing about. Where it is fun to write on these topics. But the fact is that if a student goes through a standard college education they will on average have been in school for 17 years. Over those 17 years there will be hundreds of papers on topics that make you want to scream. Until the educational system is completely revamped that will not change. The best thing to do is to learn to write papers on the most boring of topics while convincing the audience that you were slightly interested in what you wrote.
ReplyDeleteMelanie Titus responding to Chris Davis
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your first sentence. I said about the same thing in my blog but not in so many words. Clear message is really important. I don’t really agree on what you said about writing to yourself and then rewording certain things to fit the audience that you are writing to though. I am doing a newspaper article, ad, and obituary. It would be difficult to write the paper to me then change the wording to fit the audience I am trying to reach, parents. Most kids don’t read the paper, I know that I don’t but I have started looking at papers to see word choice and it is far above what I use when writing something like this when I can write it to myself. I mean it could work I just think it would be more trouble than it’s worth. I like how you made a point to say make it meaningful though. It is kind of hard to make something that you don’t anything about really meaningful, but it can be done. It just stresses the point though. Thanks.
Priscilla to readingparrot
ReplyDeleteI could really relate to how you talked about the whole never liking the topic you were writing about. I also a lot of times had a negative on look on writing assignments and with saying that I necessarily would put much effort as I should have, and I’m sure that my teachers may have realized that when they read my assignment. Not saying that I didn’t try, but my heart wasn’t into it, and so it wasn’t my best work. I doubted a lot of the things I would turn in and it was never a good feeling walking away from it. The tips you pointed out are good ones to look back on.
Meghan Hemstreet
ReplyDeleteWhen we write, we shift our styles of writing to meet the expectations of different audiences. For starters, it is most important for the writer to begin the composition by writing for his/herself. If the writer is not satisfied with what they have written, it is likely that the audience will not either. The author has to have confidence in their writing. Once a draft has been completed, it is important for the writer to read aloud to his/herself. By doing so, it will be easier to analyze the writing overall. The sounds of the sentences and word choice are more evident when reading aloud. If anything seems strange or does not meet expectations, it can be revised and read aloud until pleased. I also read that it is a good idea for the author to not write with a specific audience in mind. By doing so, he/she will not overestimate one’s knowledge. It is better to over analyze than to under analyze. It is best to not use assumptions when writing. Not everyone reading the writing will be on the same level. Working on our third composition, we have been assigned to incorporate three different genres into our writing. In the beginning, it was somewhat confusing and difficult to understand the assignment. I had never written anything like it before. I learned that is really helpful to gather information about each of the different articles. Newspaper articles, advertisements, and memoirs each have varying looks and feels to them. A little research can go a long way. Learning information about each of the genres will help the author adjust their writing accordingly.
Kelly Lewis responding to Tess
ReplyDeleteI like how you connected the prompt to what we are doing now it definitely concludes that you understand what Fulwiler talked about and what his tips were. Also sometimes combining two styles actually makes the writing seem more interesting because it's different from the style other students are writing about. Everyone has their own opinion though.
Daniel Mele
ReplyDeleteResponse to Morgan
I have never thought about this before but this would make it a little more challenging to write if you understand that genres and topics are constantly changing. So essentially if topics or genres are constantly changing it becomes hard to pinpoint what your trying to write about but it will become easier if you understand where the topic or genre originally started from. But the evolutions and changes in topics and genres evolve with or even after a culture changes so that most people barely or do not even notice the change.
Jessi Gould Responding to Melanie
ReplyDeleteI like your opinion on having people within the audience I am attempting to write to proofread my drafts. This way I can get logical opinions from the real readers. It is a good idea to read to yourself over and over to see if your words flow and make sense. Writing to two audiences or more at a time requires me to be more broad in my assumptions and write to the general public. I do not enjoy this as much because I can not focus in and relate as well. We are all different and it makes it tough if I don't have a certain category. I now have a better perspective for composition three and am more ready to begin writing!
Aaron Murphy
ReplyDeleteToby Fulwiler’s “The Role of Audience” expressed the importance of transforming your writing to fit a specific audience. He specifically expressed the need to pay attention to an audience’s expectations and altering your work to fit them. This includes changing your writing’s language, tone, and structure as most appropriate for a given audience. If one of my genres was being written for a scholar, say, a professor, it would differ greatly from the same paper catered to a different audience. For example, I would focus more on details and than background and summarization, as they would already be familiar with the subject’s history and intricacies. I applied this recently to an assignment for a film class. I was specifically told to avoid summarization and description of the topic as the instructor was already very familiar with the subject. I had to write solely on my own ideas and interpretations of a particular film. It was rather difficult just jumping into this, as I think at least some degree of summarization helps me to “get going” idea-wise. A paper written on the same subject/film for my peers would include definitions and a historical background of the subject in order to better suit the audience’s expectations. Without such summarization, this particular audience would be lost. Another topic Fulwiler commented on is the importance of writing for classmates. When writing for your peers, it’s much easier to recognize “fluff” and unnecessary, pretentious language. This is something I notice while writing for my peers or while reviewing someone else’s writing. It’s usually obvious when I or someone else has gone out of the way to add detail or language to their writing that serves no purpose other than to add a few words to the word count or to make-up for another area where they’re lacking.
Tess Stohr responding to Melanie Titus:
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas to use the teacher’s point of view and to proofread because these two tips are going to be the most helpful to me. Also I skimmed the section about reading yourself again because I saw you mention it and I completely agree with your statement about the fist composition. I feel quite flustered having such a great tool but not knowing about it. Your perspective is very interesting when you are writing about trying to make some show for parents and kids. I haven’t thought of trying to write for more than one audience because I have been so focused on just writing and getting it done. I think it helps me focus my writing even more because I will be able to realize if I am trying to do that.
Chris Davis responding to Morgan
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying. In order to have an effective paper or speech, you have to know that audience or people that you are talking to. Like, it is safe to assume that people in the audience don’t know what you are talking about, and if they do they probably are not an expert in the subject. It’s also true in saying that genres do come into effect when used correctly. They do help and it helps to present a clearer and more effective message to the audience.
Priscilla to Melanie
ReplyDeleteI really could easily relate to what you were writing about in your post. I really wish that we had read this text before we began writing our first composition because I know that it could have definitely been a benefit for my writing. Also in my new composition I am switching from parents to kids and so a lot of what I learned in this text will come in handy as well. I would love to read how you applied this text to your writing in the end, and perhaps share ideas on how to improve on our writing and the shifting from audience to another.
Meghan Hemstreet responding to Jessi Gould
ReplyDeleteI like the approach you took to your blog post. When we communicate with one another verbally, we do not necessarily focus on using correct grammar. We use run-ons and fragments and do not dwell on the mistakes we have made. Talking aloud is definitely easier than trying to convey our thoughts onto paper. When we write, our purpose is to make the context error free and intelligent. Daily conversations are not graded like assigned writings. They are not polished to the best of our ability, and are not consist of several drafts and editing.
Aaron Murphy responding to Meghan Hemstreet
ReplyDeleteOne thing you mentioned that I didn't see much of in others' posts is the importance of researching a particular genre alongside researching an audience. Once you know the audience you're writing for, you'll also know what type of genres they're interested in. Researching those genres will greatly help you to communicate with that audience effectively.
Toby Fulwiler discusses the influence of audience in “The Role of Audience” in his excerpt from on Writing. With the tips he explains we are capable of using them to improve our own writing.
ReplyDeleteOne tip he gave us to use to help us with our teachers is we should “look for a different slant.” It must be true, teachers must get bored reading practically the same essays or assignments that are on the same topic in which most take the same angle or view approaching it. So Fulwiler suggests that we look to complete the assignment from a different angle in order to keep the teacher intrigued. Another tip that he said was to convince yourself that you are interested in the topic you are writing about. This could be beneficial for me because I often find myself wondering around and drifting from the topic when I’m writing about something I’m not interested in. So Fulwiler said to research more into the topic so that you are able to discover something about the topic that makes it interesting to you.
Though I think the best tips come from his section about ourselves being an audience and how we can help ourselves. His first tip says to read our essay aloud to youself before turning it in for a grade and see if what we are saying sounds like it is forced or if our points aren’t clear.
The tips that Fulwiler talks about in “The Role of Audience” can be helpful for me in my own writing when I am completing our latest assignment. Our third composition uses three different genres to convey virtually the same message on the same topic. His tips can help me to identify who the audience is that I’m trying to reach and give me tips to do it in an efficient way.
The tip that you mentioned was one that was helpful to me as well. I would never have considered that tip that you said though, to have someone such as a classmate to read over your assignment to make sure that you are writing to the correct specific audience and that they consider is to be right as well. I know I will be making sure to have someone look over my writings from now on.
ReplyDeleteI was the same way when I say I wish I would have read this writing earlier. I know I would have changed my first composition a lot too! And that this writing will help me out in the third compositions as well.
Cody Cox to Jackie Randolph
ReplyDeleteThat is very true a teacher looks for individuality in students. They don't want to read the same thing twenty times they want students to think outside the box and to think for themselves. That’s why when changing our perspectives is and "Exploding the Moment" is a way that our teacher is trying to get us to think of new and interesting ways to write in that different angle that the author of Roles of Audience discussed during the chapter. Convincing yourself that you like what you have read is a way to make any reading assignment a lot easier for you. You may not care for what you are reading especially if it is an assigned reading that you have no interest in. But if this topic where something you were interested in you could write a lot more than required. So making things interesting and writing will be a lot easier.