Two weeks ago, we had to compare the opinions of three different authors on the subject of text messages. I think that my biggest mistake lies in the layout and the structure of my essay: I was too descriptive and I almost wrote a summary of the authors' arguments. I think this could be improved by showing more explicitly how each author's respective point of view differs from one another, instead of analyzing their arguments one by one. So I should make paragraphs regrouping common point of views instead of having one paragraph for each author.
Furthermore, I did not express my point of view on texting before the conclusion. I should have made it clear in the introduction, which side of the debate I tend towards the most.
Monday, 12 December 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
Week 6
This week's entry will be about my impressions on the library talk that we attended today.
If I had to criticize one thing about this presentation, it would be the fact the woman who was doing the presentation spent a large amount of time explaining to us how to do a keyword search on the library's website. Which is not a bad thing but I just thought she spent a lot of time on something that requires common sense more than anything.
For example, if you want to find relevant sources for one of your essays and after typing a word in the search bar, you end up with three million search results, the keyword you have chosen is probably a little too general, and you might want to look for something more specific, more straight to the point.
I just feel like most people of our generation are computer-savvy or at least know how to search something on the Internet, since we all use it so much...
On a more positive note, I think she did a great job of showing us the library's website and where exactly we had to go to find all the different resources.
Overall, I think it would have been more helpful to actually go to the library and try to search something by ourselves. But I suppose this is my responsibility as a student to find out how things work without someone showing me everything step by step.
PS: I don't mean to judge anyone. I know people are just doing their jobs. That woman was kind enough to talk to us about the library's website for an hour so I thank her for that.
Blog Entry N°3
First of all, I would like to apologize that this blog goes through long periods of neglect... But I guess it's better late than never.
In last week's class, we talked about argumentation. We especially focused on one type of argumentation called the Mark Antony speech.
This specific type of argumentation, made popular after the speech given by the character of the same name in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, uses a very effective method to convince people: the person speaking must present the arguments of his opponent before giving his own arguments.
He first has to prove his opponent wrong before he can convince the crowd that he is right.
In his famous speech, Mark Antony also insisted a lot on certain obvious statements ("Caesar was ambitious" or "Brutus was an honorable man" for example), all adding to the convincing effect of the speech.
In my opinion, this type of argumentation almost uses a mathematical approach. At least in the structure.
In last week's class, we talked about argumentation. We especially focused on one type of argumentation called the Mark Antony speech.
This specific type of argumentation, made popular after the speech given by the character of the same name in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, uses a very effective method to convince people: the person speaking must present the arguments of his opponent before giving his own arguments.
He first has to prove his opponent wrong before he can convince the crowd that he is right.
In his famous speech, Mark Antony also insisted a lot on certain obvious statements ("Caesar was ambitious" or "Brutus was an honorable man" for example), all adding to the convincing effect of the speech.
In my opinion, this type of argumentation almost uses a mathematical approach. At least in the structure.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Week 2
Week 1 assignment's redraft:
The changes I made to my previous post's punctuation can be seen in red.
I added a few commas, and one full stop to the original post. In general, I believe that the shorter the sentence, the easier it is for the reader to understand it.
Also, I interrupted myself a couple of times during a sentence to write something in brackets and did not put any commas before or after the brackets. In some cases, the content of the brackets can make the reader lose track of the author's original idea. And sometimes, can force him to read the entire sentence again. So, I think commas were needed in those situations to make the sentences a bit more clear to the reader.
Week 2's assignment:
What do you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? What do you hope to gain from attending the Writing Skills class?
I do not think I have any real strength as a writer besides, maybe, the fact that my mind functions in a pretty logic and rational way. But sometimes, I find it hard to clearly express my ideas on paper. In some cases, a sentence, or even a paragraph, will make sense to me but not to the person who reads me. And I often unconsciously assume that the reader is in my head, and that he/she already knows what I want to say. So expressing ideas with clarity and method is probably my biggest challenge.
Furthermore, English is not my first language. So adding to my already existing weaknesses, is the fact that I have to write in a language that is not my own.
I think writing is becoming somewhat of a "lost art" in today's world. It seems to me that people, in our everyday lives, do not value writing as much as they used to. But I don't think you can consider a professional career without solid writing skills.
What I hope to gain from attending this class, is a skill that will be vital throughout my studies and beyond. The subject that I am currently studying requires a lot of reading and writing. And learning the correct use of grammar, syntax, and punctuation, amongst other things, will help me a lot within my own field of study.
I believe writing is a skill that cannot be taught elsewhere. And I should take advantage of this opportunity.
The changes I made to my previous post's punctuation can be seen in red.
I added a few commas, and one full stop to the original post. In general, I believe that the shorter the sentence, the easier it is for the reader to understand it.
Also, I interrupted myself a couple of times during a sentence to write something in brackets and did not put any commas before or after the brackets. In some cases, the content of the brackets can make the reader lose track of the author's original idea. And sometimes, can force him to read the entire sentence again. So, I think commas were needed in those situations to make the sentences a bit more clear to the reader.
Week 2's assignment:
What do you consider to be your strengths and weaknesses as a writer? What do you hope to gain from attending the Writing Skills class?
I do not think I have any real strength as a writer besides, maybe, the fact that my mind functions in a pretty logic and rational way. But sometimes, I find it hard to clearly express my ideas on paper. In some cases, a sentence, or even a paragraph, will make sense to me but not to the person who reads me. And I often unconsciously assume that the reader is in my head, and that he/she already knows what I want to say. So expressing ideas with clarity and method is probably my biggest challenge.
Furthermore, English is not my first language. So adding to my already existing weaknesses, is the fact that I have to write in a language that is not my own.
I think writing is becoming somewhat of a "lost art" in today's world. It seems to me that people, in our everyday lives, do not value writing as much as they used to. But I don't think you can consider a professional career without solid writing skills.
What I hope to gain from attending this class, is a skill that will be vital throughout my studies and beyond. The subject that I am currently studying requires a lot of reading and writing. And learning the correct use of grammar, syntax, and punctuation, amongst other things, will help me a lot within my own field of study.
I believe writing is a skill that cannot be taught elsewhere. And I should take advantage of this opportunity.
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Week One
In this article, Sam Leith talks about the increasing popularity of the very short creative writing texts. He says that short stories contests are very appealing to people for a few reasons: first of all, it is a good publicity for amateur writers because of the brevity of this particular style. And also because they are just as fun to read as they are to write. What makes this genre so appealing is the fact that it is very challenging for both, the reader and the writer. On the writer’s side, the difficulty lies in the very limited amount of words that he is allowed to use. And from a reader’s perspective, the challenging aspect comes from the fact that he/she, has to be creative enough to imagine what is happening before or after the story.
The author then compares poetry and prose. According to him, they have one characteristic in common: the ability to make the reader use his imagination, to make him read between the lines. The reader is free to interpret the short story as he wants. And therefore, Sam Leith considers this type of writing a real art form.
Mini-sagas are obviously very short and condensed texts. So synthesizing skills are crucial to succesfully write a mini-saga. The author has to write it in a way that can stimulate the reader's imagination. Yet, he still has to be explicit enough to make the story clear to the reader. There is often more than one interpretation to one short story. And it can differ from what the author originally had in mind.
There are multiple criterias that can be taken into consideration when deciding the winner of such contests. The form is just as important as the story itself. An original structure will often catch the reader’s attention immediately. And a story that everyone can relate to, (like a fundemental question or an everyday-life-situation), is usually more accessible to the reader.
Pauline Cartledge’s text is a great example of an original structure, as well as a very common situation, as most people know what the first day of school feels like. The way it is written, (two very short letters), makes it accessible to everyone.
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