Respone to Marshel 08's Rhetoric post

I agree, before actually learning about Rhetoric I never really noticed it being used. I find myself listening more and trying to figure out what form is being used against me when I am being persuaded. I am sure now that you have recognized how YOU use it you will notice it much more and will be able to make your persuasion even better.

chapter 6 and 7 readings

Chapter 6
I like how most of the chapters stress the importance of being able to distinguish the differences between academic writing and technical writing. In chapter 6 they start with discussing that academic vs. technical writing serve different purposes. Academic writing is more generalized and hopefully will be used in the future at some point. Technical writing is for "right now" and provides what type of action is required to make those changes. It is also about helping others like co-workers, mangers etc. It discusses five research methods that are helpful for on the job writing. Sometimes I don't use the best methods to find research so the plan provided in the chapter on how to conduct research and how to evaluate a good source will be helpful in my individual and group project this term. One of the most helpful things from this chapter is to remember to only choose information that relates to the objectives trying to be laid out.

Chapter 7
One major struggle I have in writing is keeping the paragraphs organized. Using the guidelines in chapter seven help with that exact issue. The most helpful information for me in this chapter is being able to use topic sentences correctly. Another is how to order the information. It suggests going from the most important to the least important. This makes sense because typically your readers are going to want to be able to point out the most important points first and the rest later. If it is hard to find the key points then most likely you will not get the outcome your looking for.

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is a way of speaking or writing that is used to convince people. Rhetoric is a persuasion tool used on the audience. There are three parts ethos, logos and pathos.
Ethos comes from the self or I form. Logos deals with the logic of the argument. It is more factual and structured. And Pathos is the emotion part. The speaker or writer is trying to convince you through emotion. It is hard to pinpoint rhetoric mainly because I never really thought when talking to people "what type of rhetoric are they using?" Its interesting now learning about it, and will be even more interesting because I am doing my research project on it. It is interesting to look at writing and see words stick out at you that are rhetoric. Then figuring out why that word strikes you. After some practice this term I am sure I will be able to notice it more often.

Chapter 4, 5, 16 and 23 readings

Chapter 4's main objective is creating communication that is beneficial to the reader. The book describes that there are 3 main points to make your communication usable. The communication is complete, task oriented and accessible. Figure 4.4 is helpful in setting up an outline for a proposal which is also helpful for our next assignment.
Chapter 5 was easy to relate to because it reinforces most of the other writing I have done and why that writing was useful to me. It was hard for me to understand how doing a 15 page research paper and being stressed to the max would ever benefit me. Now, I can see. Although technical writing is a different type of writing, with different audiences, it still requires credible thought and analysis. Chapter five discusses how to reason soundly. This is extremely important, which is why we were taught how to research valuable evidence to support claims in previous papers. When you are persuading the reader you want them to know how your solution or form of action will benefit them personally and you also want them to know that your conclusions are based on actual facts rather then "what your opinion on solving the matter is." I like the statement the book uses.... "you must not only use sound reasoning, but also convince your readers that your reasoning is sound." If you can prove this then your writing should make sense vs. being flawed. There would be nothing worse then to pitch an idea and be called out that your facts making no sense.
Another important piece in chapter 5 is listening. Whether in a group setting or business setting listening is so imperative. Without listening how do you know what your readers are wanting from you? Listening can be a very valuable tool. For example, when wondering about what your readers are expecting, you can talk to people. People who know your readers or even the readers themselves. By listening you will be able to collect usable information.

Response to Lindsay Sterling's Ch. 3 post

Well I am glad to know that I am not the only one that felt overwhelmed after learning about the writing guidlines in ch. 3. However, I also did realize how important they are in the success of certain business writings. For me, I see how helpful this is but to actually implement all of this in my writing seems very hard. It would take forever for me to make sure all these guidlines were met. Maybe it is just practice make perfect for something like this. So I agree that for an experienced writer this may not seem to complex, but for a new writer it does. Having something like the example in figure 3.5 would be extremely helpful because it is one page of questions to consider when determining your objectives. Having something like this, for me, would increase the chance of me trying to keep focused on these points. Its crazy, once you sit down and think about what you are actually writing, there are so many questions to consider when writing to certain readers. To know that you will get certain outcomes depending on just how you write the memo, or email makes it just that much more important to be aware of.

Chapter 3 reading

Chapter three focuses on the way you communicate with your reader, and how important knowing what your reader wants to hear and how to say it to them is important. Ideas on how to effect the reader are really helpful.

Normally, it is hard for me to focus on all these aspects, but after reading this chapter I see just how important is actually is, if you want the outcome to be successful. The world is very diverse. Different people need different things in order to be persuaded. Since persuasion is in almost all business writing, it would be necessary to study this chapter.

There is so much more to writing then just writing. Which sometimes is hard for me to grasp. Throughout the chapter it discusses certain questions certain readers may be thinking when reading your report or even more importantly what questions they may have and expect answers to in the report.

What stood out the most to me was guideline five. Knowing your readers cultural characteristics is imperative to good communication. Because so much business is done internationally it is good to know where your readers come from and the values that they may hold. Speaking to someone in the U.S. can be interpreted wrong if speaking with someone in Asia, or Japan for example. Knowing and paying attention to the seven characteristics the book mentions will definitely help get the outcome you are looking for.

Freestyle

Its not that I don't like writing.... Its just always been hard for me. I could never just research a paper and write it up. The whole process is stressful for me.

I do admit over the past 3 years my writing has drastically improved. I think the reason that it is so hard for me is because I didn't pay much attention in high school, it was more of a social thing. Now that I am a junior in college, I wish that I had went to school more often. Basically I missed the basics of writing and have been trying to catch up ever since.

I am a little excited about this class in particular because I don't think it will be like a typical writing class. It is more technical and I think that it will be much easier to catch on to then college research papers. I also think this class will provide good information for me in my future career in business.