"What is Style?" Part 2

Peer Review Recap, Part 4

Looking back at past readings, looking forward to the essay about the movie-making process

YouTube/Low-bridge videos: Are they good? Are they bad? Are they writing?

Peer Review Recap, Part 3

There are obviously clear patterns as I take a look back in time to parts 1 and 2 of the peer review recap. It's safe to say that my classmates agree that sometimes you get clear, concise, thoughtful comments that actually help when revising your paper. They would also agree that sometimes you get useless comments, jotted without much thought at all, by someone who wants to make sure they get credit. At the beginning of this process, I would have expected nothing different. When it comes right down to it, it depends how much effort you really put into editing. The same way you can neglect to leave any helpful comments on a paper that you can edit on google docs, you can breeze through a paper that you're holding in your hands and not make one mark with your red pen. I think what you wanted us to get out of using these online peer review forums is that "times-are-a-changin'" and paper copies of just about anything are soon to be obsolete. We not only need to be open minded to the idea of using them, but capable of actually using them effectively. What have I learned about myself you ask? I've learned that while I still can, I'm going to instill in my students the value of doing things without the use of the newest technology before editing a paper with a pen becomes laughable.

Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 2

The comic that I chose to re-analyze can be found at the following link:

http://www.drewweing.com/pup/04pup.html

One aspect of this comic that wasn't addressed in the blog that I found it in is the length of the panels. Specifically, the length of the third panel in comparison to that of the fifth. The third panel is about three times longer than the fifth but there's not a whole lot more detail to the drawing comparatively. However, the time in which the cat spends thinking about what "Pup" is thinking is expressed in the length of the panel. The panel wouldn't seem abnormally long if the last panel weren't much smaller and pushed to the right (the comic starts aligned to the left). Prior to reading The Invisible Art, I never looked at the panels themselves as being able to have a significant impact on the comic and its meaning.

Reading and Writing about Comics ala McCloud, Part 1

After poking around the net for a while for a funny comic I just decided to use one of McCloud's. You can check out "Junk Bar" here:

http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-19/mi-19.html

The first thing evident about this comic is the shape. I doesn't just read from the left to right side of the page and then down to the next line. I would describe the shape as more "snake-like." McCloud says "we seldom change direction except to re-read or review passages. It's left-to-right, up-to-down, page after page" (105). This particular comic doesn't allow the reader to choose the direction of the story, per say, but it does offer some variation that draws the readers attention.
The second thing I noticed about this comic is the number of similar panels in a row and the strategically placed gutters. In reference to the amount of time a reader may spend looking at a panel where a pause is being represented, McCloud poses the question "But if the creator of the scene wanted to lengthen that pause, how could he or she do so?" to which he answers, "One obvious solution would be to add more panels" (101). The top row of panels has three of Frank in virtually the same position, which tells me Stu didn't give Frank "The usual" immediately after he asked for it. On the sixth row (from the top) of panels, you see a gutter between Frank and the mysterious color man, let's call him. On the seventh row, that gutter is gone. This may not have to do with time but it certainly means that mysterious color guy has been engaged at least non-verbally by Frank and Jimmy, as opposed to before where he was separate.
Lastly, mysterious color guy wouldn't have a name if it weren't for his one distinguishable characteristic: color. McCloud states that "The surface qualities of color will continue to attract readers more easily than black and white..." (192). I'm sure I could try and determine what the mysterious color guy symbolizes, but that would take too much effort. I know for sure that he sticks out just for the simple fact that he's in color, and the others aren't.

Picturing Texts on the web

The site I chose to analyze is http://mgoblue.com. I frequent this site to get all the latest Michigan football happenings, as well as keep up with the men's and women's hoop squad. They just recently changed this format of the site to bring it into the 21st century and it definitely has a better sense of balance. Before, all the important links were aligned to the left and the entire right side of the sight was sort of empty. Now there are headlines, features and pictures to the left, schedules and poll results in the middle, and videos and external links to the far right. As a result of spreading things across the page, not as much scrolling up and down is needed to view all the information on the page. As far as comparison and contrast are concerned, there is much of both. Right off the bat you notice the contrast of numerous shades of blue, accented with white and maize colored links. Different categories are listed side by side across the top (under the advertising, of course), which basically gives each division equal status, since none of them are higher or lower than another on the page. I don't see any metaphor being embodied but maybe they updated their site because they updated their head coach... it's obvious one update has worked more in their favir than the other.

Peer Review Recap, Part 2

The Wetpaint wiki site was user friendly, to say the least. I love that when you're at the site and you click sign in or 'easy edit,' a box pops up on top of the page you already have open instead of refreshing the page entirely. It made for quicker navigation of the site, I think, compared to, say, Google Docs. After initially thinking that I liked Google Docs more, I realized that the simplicity of this wiki site made editing much easier. Lastly, the log of edits on this site seems to be much more efficient than Google Docs. That would make sense though, seeing as how the idea of a wiki is the ability for anyone to edit text, so they probably have a pretty good way of keeping track of who's doing the editing. Both peer edit systems we have used have been easy to use and I'm sure I will use them again in the future, probably in my classroom.

What Are Others Saying?

Forcing me to read two books that I probably wouldn't have chosen to on my own, then asking me which one is more effective is probably not the best way to figure out which is best. Not saying you (prof. Krause) indeed forced me to read them, nor was that what you were even after but... I was thinking to myself on my way from class after a discussion... "I suppose since they're about the same thing it makes sense to compare them but... why?" or something of the sort. One of my classmates must have been channeling me that day 'cause in a blog they wrote:

"The question as to which book is more effective, to me, seems to be the wrong question. I think that the books swim in different waters."

I agree totally and I especially liked the analogy. Clearly they're targeted at different audiences so to say one is more effective than the other, generally speaking, wouldn't be doing the other justice. That being said, as a college student, I definitely fall into SOME audience. Whether it is an audience targeted by S&W or Williams... well, that's a good question. In the same blog, my fellow classmate also wrote:

"I think what I got from Williams will be helpful, but I don't see myself going back to it again and again. It is very dense and it was difficult to get through. For me, the primary function of Strunk & White is as a reference, or a reminder of things easily forgotten; Williams deals with the most basic level of style--clarity, cohesion, empahsis, coherence--for me, these are things that become internalized to a large extent. I think the information in Williams needs to be digested and absorbed; it doesn't make sense to me as a reference book."

Once again, right on. I'm not going to say I particularly liked one more than the other but in the event I ever needed to reference one of these reference books, it would most likely be S&W (unless I couldn't find it, it's much smaller and less yellow). In some aspects, I think I fall into the audience for both books. But seeing as how college students usually take the path of least resistance, you don't have to do much looking around in S&W, whereas Williams is a little bit more narrative and what your looking for may be hidden in the middle of a paragraph. Looks like Strunk & White come out victorious in the epic battle of more effective style book for a college senior who thinks his writing style is perfect no matter what they say (jk).

Comparing S&W with Williams

The glaring difference between Strunk and White and Williams is the fact that Strunk and White give you succinct grammar rules, do’s and don’ts, whereas Williams focuses more on reasons why people may make mistakes in their writing and ways to avoid doing the same. Williams does touch on some specific rules, but not nearly as in depth or straight to the point as in Strunk and White. I definitely feel it’s more affective to give the reader some insight into why we tend to make mistakes. When we realize why we’re wrong, it’s much easier to break a bad habit than if we were simply told what we’re doing is incorrect with no explanation.
Williams, as a whole, is much easier to get into because there is some sense of “flow” and a much higher level of readability. Strunk and White has more of a reference book or manual feel, that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to being read cover to cover. That being said, while Williams maybe be easy to get into, it is probably a little more difficult of a read because everything isn’t just spelled out with numbers and bullet points. Clearly both texts have their pros and cons.
The titles of the two books alone hint at their differences before you even get to page one. When I hear the word ‘element’ I think of smaller pieces that make up one whole, and that’s exactly how Strunk and White formatted their book. The word ‘grace’ in the Williams title has its own connotation. It’s difficult to perform any activity gracefully before having some certain mastery of the topic and/or being given more applied guidelines or instructions. The Williams text expects that you have some previous knowledge and offers some insight into the short comings of other writers so that you can avoid making the same mistakes that could make your writing unclear, disjointed, etc.
The three elements I discussed from Strunk and White were: write in a way that comes naturally, do not affect a breezy manner and use orthodox spelling. All three of these elements are addressed in Williams, though often indirectly. I may have read over it, but I don’t recall Williams making reference to using orthodox spelling. Being a style book for the advanced writer though, I get a sense that it is implied. There is a thin line between not “affecting a breezy manner” and writing in a way that comes naturally, and I think it is addressed throughout each chapter in different ways. In the chapter on Elegance, Williams admits he can’t tell a writer how to be graceful and elegant the same way he can how to be clear and direct, but he can describe some devices such as balance vs. symmetry or emphasis vs. rhythm that will help. “Knowing the ingredients and knowing how to use them is the difference between reading cookbooks and cooking.” (153). To me this means that his suggestions are open to some interpretation and modification. Strunk and White offer vague explanations how to be natural/how not to be breezy, while Williams gives examples of what he considers elegant writing and how to get there.
It’s hard to say which text is the most effective overall is because I like the fact that I can go to Strunk and White for clarification on a rule and find an easy answer. However, I think re-reading Williams a time or two will actually help me become a better writer. I’ll take the easy way out and say give me both.

Revising with Williams

Original: It is the responsibility of the student to call the instructor’s attention to a possible grading error in a timely manner, but not more than 12 months after the questionable grade is posted. Three years following the close of any term of enrollment, the student’s transcript will be considered to be the final indisputable record of academic achievement. Specifically, at the end of three years, grades are considered final: and no changes will be made to transcripts (e.g., no term or individual withdrawals, no grade omissions, no recalculated grades based on mathematical or clerical error, no incomplete removals, etc.). The only exception to this rule will be master’s specialist and doctoral field-based research, internships and dissertation hours.

Revised: It is the student’s responsibility to call to the instructor’s attention a possible grading error no more than 12 months after the questionable grade is posted. The student’s transcript is considered the indisputable record of academic achievement. Grades are considered final and no changes will be made after three years following the close of any term of enrollment (e.g., no term or individual withdrawals, no grade omissions, no recalculated grades based on mathematical or clerical error, no incomplete removals, etc.). Master’s specialist and doctoral field-based research, internships and dissertation hours are the only exceptions to this rule.

In William's Clarity chapter he explains that most clear sentences begin by identifying a character and then giving that character an action. This allows the reader to identify what exactly the sentence is about and what the character in the sentences is doing, and thus, making it much more clear. I tried to do this throughout the passage. In the Cohesion chapter Williams discusses managing the flow of information. To get this passage to flow, I took out some redundant phrases and rearranged a few sentences so the same thing wasn’t being repeated at the end of one sentences and the beginning of the next. Finally, in William’s Emphasis chapter it says that you should manage the endings of sentences by doing a few different things. One of the ways is to move important information to the right, or the end of the sentence. I found this a bit difficult, seeing as how it kind of contradicts the first rule I used which said begin a sentence with the character. However, I realized that the character is not always the most important part of the sentence, often it’s the action of said character. Thanks to Williams, one paragraph from the EMU catalog is now written much better.

Strunk and White: First Impressions

For simply being a book on the elements of style when it comes to writing, William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White did their trade justice with this 4^th edition book. I found most everything useful and helpful in terms of my own personal writing, and based on technology and the changing of the times, some things that were dated, if you will. A few points stood out in my mind nearing the end of the book. The one thing that I found that helps me with my writing more than anything was number two in the ‘An Approach to Style’ section:
2. Write in a way that comes naturally.
Obviously there are SOME rules you have to conform to depending on why you're writing, what you're writing for and who your audience is. Given those three factors you should always have a writing style that's natural. Trying to conform to a writing style that isn't comfortable to you can make writing much harder than it has to be. I liked the fact that it said "do not assume that because you acted naturally your product is without flaw." (That also ties into the Revise & Rewrite section.) Remembering that the phrases and diction I use in a paper shouldn't be second nature. Luckily for me, I make a point to expand my oral vocabulary daily and I think my writing has since improved. The few elements that I must play devil’s advocate for are numbers nice and ten in the ‘An Approach to Style’ section:
9. Do not affect a breezy manner.
10. Use orthodox spelling.
I think that text messaging has an enormous influence on these two particular elements. First, number ten, orthodox spelling. Acronyms and shorthand is all the rage these days. We’ve discussed in class that High School teachers are actually accepting work with different variations of this text message lingo just to get them to turn in their work. As I mentioned earlier, depending on who or what you are writing for, such unorthodox spelling may be appropriate and could even give some effect. Lastly, number nine, affecting a breezy manner. Personally, I think my writing style is somewhat breezy. So if I’m writing in a way that comes natural to me, these two contradict themselves. I like the quote from the book that said “This is an extreme example, but the same wind blows at lesser velocities…” I don’t think my style is as “breezy” as it could be, but a little breezy none the less. I think just like the unorthodox spelling, if done right, in the correct context and for an audience that might be able to better relate to it, it won’t hurt, and quite possibly could even enhance the quality of your writing.

Peer Review Recap, Part 1

I must say... I'm not sure about this whole Google docs thing. Though it does make it infinitely more convenient, and doesn't create needless extra copies of secure documents, there's just something about editing a paper that I can hold in my hands with a red pen like the good ol' days. One, the fact that it's online poses the problem of losing focus and clicking over to another firefox tab to check my email, facebook or what have you. Two, we already addressed the fact that reading anything on the computer makes you skim over the surface of a text rather than giving it the deep reading and attention any document to be eddited deserves. Three, half the work is done for you because spell check and grammar check make it obvious where the writer has made mistakes even before they post it to be revised. That all being said, I'm sure that continuing to use Google docs will change my current opinion. I don't think everyone quite has the hang of it yet which caused me to get minimal comments on the my first essay. However, the comments that I did get were thoughful and did help in fine tuning my paper.

Changing With the Times

I never really thought about it like this before, but until the "Invent your own technology" project, I have never written anything without some type of technology. It started with pencils and erasers, so as to be able to correct mistakes that were surely to be made. Next, once my handwriting had become much more my own than a replica of the standard alphabet, I started to use a pen. I didn't much prefer one to the other, and used both until the introduction of computers and word processed documents. I still write with pens and pencils when taking notes in class and such but nowhere near as frequently as I type. It's not that I avoid using them, but the convenience of such readily editable text, and the ability to do so many other things on the computer while I "write" always seems to make me plop down at my desk and open up my laptop...

What is style?

When I think about style, the first thing that comes to mind is fashion. More specifically, the way someone dresses and/or accessorizes to express themselves, that in turn sends a particular message to anyone that sees them. Be it "I have money" or "I'm a modest person," that's just their personal style. In much more general terms then, I suppose I would define style as particular method of expression, specific to an individual or group of individuals, that conveys particular meaning to a target audience. This being said, each writer has his or her own tactics and common practices that all add up to their writing style. Some aspects of various different styles may be borrowed and shared, but inevitably no two can be exactly the same.

Getting Started

Just makin' sure this thing works... GO BLUE!