I chose “Rhetoric is Synonymous with Empty Speech” by Patricia Roberts-Miller. This article speaks to the idea that many consider rhetoric writing and speech to be untrustworthy. Roberts-Miller states, ” Rhetoric, to them, is something that hides the truth.” The author discusses that considering rhetoric as unreliable is a bad idea. Aristotle, a philosopher, was a teacher of rhetoric. The author describes Aristotle’s stance, “He described it as a discipline and a skill that enables you to see the available means of persuasion.” Interestingly, I believe that the author used rhetoric to convince the reader, or persuade them that it is a bad idea to believe that rhetoric hides the truth. Rhetoric should consider the opposite position of the argument. There are different ways to approach this strategy: a writer may try to persuade you that their argument is right by showing why the other is wrong. A writer may try to persuade you instead by showing the reasons they are right first, and then why the other side is wrong. Finally, the address to the other side can be a single sentence or clause. An example of this use of rhetoric was in one of John F. Kennedy’s speech, in which he said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” The author concludes that, as expressed in JFK’s quote, “Rhetoric is a way of thinking. It is not just something added to a thought derived by other means.”

The reason why I chose this article is because in my own writing I try to include rhetoric. I wanted to see the author’s view on rhetoric writing, and I agreed that it can be used as a form of persuasion, rather than “hiding truth.” I’ve written proposals in which I use rhetoric to prove a point, and I briefly address why the counter-party is wrong, which allows me to prove why I’m right. I enjoyed reading this article.

For Unit 2, I will change my discourse community so that I can tackle some issues that are close to me. I want to tackle some of the issues introverts may come across, specifically in work-place settings. As a female introvert in a male-dominated field, it is sometimes very difficult for me to be taken seriously. My work ethic and capabilities make people respect me, but at the same time, being an introvert makes it more difficult to voice my opinions and actually be heard when I present an idea. This problem is not unique to me, though. Many introverts can relate to getting interrupted, exhausted from social interaction, and more challenges. I would like to adress these issues in Unit 2.

I picked the section “Some People Are Just Born Good Writers” from “Bad Ideas About Who Good Writers Are.”

The bad idea is that some people are just born good writers. Every good writer was not just born a good writer. There are writers that practiced and learned to become better writers. Just like with sports, not every athlete was always so good when they first started. Just like how athletes took time to practice in sports, writers can practice to improve and become better.

One of the many reasons that the author says believing some people are just born good writers is a bad idea is because “If a person thinks their writing ability is stuck in place, improvement is incredibly difficult…” If you are constantly telling yourself that you can’t do something, the chances of you actually achieving it is very low. I agree with the author when he says that good writers are not born, they are learned.

The title of the section is what brought me to choosing this piece. One way you can counter this bad idea that “some people are just born good writers” is that anyone including yourself can be a good writer with the right amount of practice. I believe that it is possible have something come to you naturally just like it is possible to become good at something. Anybody can become a good writer if they practiced and took the time to learn.

My topic choice is the challenges of entering a discourse community. In a way this is a continuation of my topic from Unit 1 because I am not switching discourse communities. I decided not to switch topics because the fitness community is something I feel familiarized to. I feel like the designated problem in my discourse community is important because entering and joining a discourse community can be difficult for some. Some people may feel lost or as if they don’t belong.

The reading I choose from “Bad Ideas from What Good Ideas is” is “Reading And Writing Are Not Connected”. The bad idea is the title of the chapter, reading and writing are not connected, throughout the reading, I understood how important reading and writing are connected because they both have the same functions. Writing has the function to use words, put ideas together and readings have the same function even though the ideas are already displayed, readers interact with those ideas using their own experience, imagination, and perspective. The author, Ellen C. Carillo says it’s a bad idea because “It is a bad idea to continue privileging writing at the expense of reading.” (pg38) Students that are in elementary school do not have an issue connecting reading and writing because the education system and teachers are simultaneously teaching both by reinforcing phonic skills and other ways to practice both reading and writing. However, it is an issue for students who are in college and universities because it privileges writing over reading more. I would understand why writing is more often privileged, it’s because If you learn to become a good writer and improve your writing you can have benefited from it, such as leading you to communicate better, raise you in your careers, or maybe writing your resume so well you can get a job that can be difficult to be hired. But what about reading? Reading is just as important as writing is, it also has its pros to help anyone in their future, not seeing reading as equally important as writing can cause students to struggle with interpretation, evaluation, and make comprehension.

The reason why I chose this piece is that I was hooked by the title wondering what the author had to say about “Read And Writing Are Not Connected”. In my opinion, I knew that both reading and writing are both equally important because I believe that what we already know helps us analyze the reading which helps us write down the information. So that means If we do not continue to read then our writing would be affected and vice versa.

Topic Choice

For the Unit 2 assignment, the topic I choose to talk about is fast fashion impacting the environment discourse community. My topic for the unit 1 assignment was the Foodie discourse community but I decided to change the topic because I didn’t think It was something important for me to spend time on researching, plus I did some light research but I didn’t find enough information to continue to talk about it throughout unit 2 assignment. The reason why I picked fast fashion and the environment discourse community is that, firstly, I am in a fashion major, I think it’s important to me to find out how fast fashion is harming our environment, secondly it’s educational and I think I will have fun writing about this.

A bad idea is a decision that  is not sensible and is incorrect. During our lives everyone has made a decision and had to live with that going through with lives but this is not a bad thing having made bad decisions can help us learn and prevent us from making more mistakes in the future. Making bad decision is a part of human nature no one in this world can say that they have never made a bad decision.

The author says that “writing in general” is a bad idea because there is actually no such thing as just writing in general. When you write whether it a fan-fiction, horror, science, history, etc  every writer need to be educated about that specific topic and when writing you need to have information about what you are writing on and what the audience of the writing expects. One really good example is from the section “You can Learn to Write in General” by Elizabeth Wardle in page 31 where it talks about how” a student fresh out of college is asked to write a report for the CEO , the student might know what a report is in general but the student has never seen a report from that specific company so she will have trouble writing because she needs examples, some inside info, needs to know about the CEO and also needs to understand what they want in the report”. These are the reasons why thinking you can Write in general is a bad idea.

I chose this piece because i used to believe in writing in general and how i had trouble with this idea. When i was in school i used to think i was writing in general but i was completely wrong because it doesn’t exist when writing a report, essay, stories etc you always need some background info and the writer needs to think about its audience. I do not  have a good idea to counter this bad idea but i agree with the author this is not bad news because it gives new writers permission to keep learning, to fail and learn from their past mistakes i think that being open minded might also help when you write.

SECOND PART: For the unit 2 essay i will continue to write about my volleyball discourse community. I will keep on talking about my discourse community about some of the problems/bad ideas new team mates  might face after joining the community. As for now im still not sure about what problem i will talk about in my Unit 2 essay but i will talk about something that is very common in a sport discourse community and how it affects every player in the community.

“The More Writing Process, the Better” by Jimmy Butts. 

According to the author, the bad idea behind this topic is that we are more focused on the process of following the steps of creating a “good” draft than writing itself. 

1. Prewriting
2. Drafting
3. Editing
4. Revising
5. Publishing 

I agreed with Butts, I understand that those rules or steps exist to give structure to the writer. However, when an assignment is given, they have to make sure to follow those schemes and add a lot of pressure. Sometimes you spend time writing what you think will be a good product and then you realized that you did not follow the process. Therefore, Butts stated, “In other words, we have so fetishized the creative process that we’ve forgotten what we can actually create: words strung out into beautiful constellations.” (Paragraph 2, page 109).  

According to the author the process of keep on track following the steps, we are wasting a  valuable resource that can not be renewed, especially the revising step. Spending such energy in the wrong direction. The best we can do is just write and write “We cannot follow a writing process, because writing is messier than that.” (111). 

Nothing feels better to be free, and writing is not the exception here. When we don’t have rules that limit creativity we see writing no punishment or like going to the dentist albeit you enjoy writing. “Like any creative practice, it is easy to make writing a ponderous sort of artistic practice.” (112). One thing that I enjoyed so much in Unit One, was the I was alow to write something that belongs to me, or that was so familiar to me. I feel free to write, and I did not feel any pressure about it. 

According to the author the process of keep on track following the steps, we are wasting a  valuable resource that can not be renewed, especially the revising step. Spending such energy in the wrong direction. The best we can do is just write and write “We cannot follow a writing process, because writing is messier than that.” (111). 

The reason I chose this topic because I always struggle with writing. Therefore, I was looking for a tip or something that can help me to become a better writer. 

For the Unit 2 Essay assignment, I will be switching my discourse community to “Sanctuary”. In Unit One I used “cooperatives” which I enjoyed so much writing about that topic. I think this will be a continuation because this new discourse came to my life as a consequence of being part or worker-owner in the cooperative. The connection between both discourses also is the immigrant community, which I belong and I have the opportunity to serve as well. I hope with the new essay, I will reach people and inform them, nevertheless be able to create awareness when they heard the word “sanctuary” too.

Tylor Branson’s article about  “ FIRST-YEAR COMPOSITION PREPARES STUNEDTS FOR ACADEMIC WRINTING” was my choice to think about why this is a bad idea. when I enrolled in to college I was told that composition writing was mandatory for everyone in the first year of college. I was quite surprised in the beginning, because my major was vastly different that writing a composition. I followed all the instructions and started to write a composition. I strongly agree that is crucial to know how to write and read on academic level, but I don’t agree that one year can make a student professional writer to write research papers on high level. In many case if student is lucking accurate spelling and grammar rules, they are prone to make tones of mistakes. The author himself believes that first year is not enough to prepare students for academic writing. It should start in the high school. I don’t know what kind system of learning is in the high school in the U.S.A., but I believe the students should start to write correctly before starting a college, which can prepare them for next step in the education. College bombards students with different academic subjects. Therefore, every student should be prepared to handle numerous assignments, which they will be facing from every subject.  Spelling and grammar issues are lingering with me. I still struggle with this, because English is not my mother tongue.  academic vocabulary   is important to be a good writer and truly understand the subjects. In conclusion to write efficiently requires more than one year of training to learn how to write on academic level. I believe that brain storming is vital to writing composition, otherwise nobody will able to write a sentence. Majority of students if they were trained in the high-school how to write compositions on scholar level, they would be more successful in college.  Academic writing requires academic vocabulary and it is not a basic general writing.

You Can Learn To Write In General by Elizabeth Wardle

Elizabeth Wardle mentions that there is no such thing as writing in general since many studies of writing are all done in workplaces, in school, and social, and civic settings. And they all tell us that every new situation, audience, and purpose requires writers to learn to do and understand new possibilities and constraints for their writing. Although, some want to believe that it’s possible to write in general but the idea that we can all learn to “write in general” is not just a harmless myth. It’s a dangerous idea that needs to die.

The author says it’s a dangerous idea because it hurts students and frustrates teachers and employers. In addition, those writers who believe the idea of “write in general” are easily discouraged because they don’t know how to learn what they need to learn in new writing situations. A better idea of writing is that we all remember our own experiences of learning to write in different contexts and then apply that memory to our expectations of our own and others’ abilities. We should all give ourselves time to anticipate new writing situations, look at examples, identify the values and expectations of people in them, and give ourselves time to practice and learn what we need to know to write successfully in new situations, rather than believing in the idea of writing in general because there is no such thing as writing in general. 

I chose this reading because I was drawn to the title. The title made me want to know more about what writing in general is, and how to write in general. But as I read it, it exceeded my expectations because instead of teaching or telling how to write in general, it told people not to think about writing in general. After all, there is no way to write in general. I can’t think of any examples to counter this bad idea because I believe this is the first time I know what it means by writing in general. 

Unit 2 Essay Assignment

In my Unit 2 essay, I will be changing the discourse community, so it will not be a continuation of the topic I wrote about in my Unit 1 essay. The discourse community I chose to write about in my Unit 1 essay was about Cantonese as a whole, and I have decided to narrow it down by expressing one type of Cantonese, but instead of the entire Cantonese population, it will be mostly about the older generation, and I will be discussing a social group about one of my family members. The question I will discuss is about the influence of one dialect and Mandarin, which I feel is important in my discourse community because it affects everyone within the community and even outside the community.