After looking through all my blog entries for this course, I could only think one thing. Style can be defined in a lot of different ways. Before this class, when I thought of the word style in regards to a person's way of writing, I often thought about the flow of their sentences, and the way they structure their essay. However, after going through this class, I realize there is so much more to writing style than just that. For instance, I learned that their are different writing styles related to formal essay writing than with web page style. I also was intrigued when we talked about writing technology and how that is considered style. So based on this, I would say writing style is just a blanket term for a lot of different concepts of writing.
If someone were to ask me what I learned from this class, I would have a lot to tell them. First off, I would tell them about the history of writing, and why it is so important that we are able to write things down. I would also be able to instruct them as to how to make a webpage and a portfolio of their work. I could teach them how to make a comic strip and I could also teach them about visual rhetoric in general. I feel that as teacher, these skills will definitely come in handy when dealing with my own students.
Friday, June 20, 2008
The Most Important Web Style Rule
The web style rule that I found most helpful was found in SpiderPros 100 Do's and Don'ts of Web Design. It was the concept of images and color. I personally like the idea of colors and images drawing people into a web site. I myself am very visual and I found that by putting up inviting and warm colors, it would draw people into the webpage a little more. Also, I put up a picture of myself to give the webpage a more personal feel. Hopefully this style rule helped in making my webpage a little more inviting to all!
Connecting Paper Style
The first similarity I see between paper style and web style is in the planning. This is something that I feel strongly about because I myself am a big organizer when it comes to writing. As far as writing style goes, it is often important to create some type of outline or webbing guide to track your thoughts. One of the main components is to know your audience. When writing a paper, it is very important that you are writing to the intended audience or you will use you reader. This is something that on the Lynch and Horton website, "Web Style Guide". The writers of this site say, "The knowledge, background, interests, and needs of users will vary from tentative novices who need a carefully structured introduction to expert 'power users' who may chafe at anything that seems to patronize them or delay their access to information." This is important in both web style as well as in paper style.
As far as differences go, this is a little more obvious. Of course, in webpages, site design is considered on of the more important aspects of the process. A direct homepage is very important in webstyle. Keeping things as simple as possible is key in making a sound homepage. This is something that while writing a paper an author does not have to put much thought into. While an author of a paper needs to grab the readers attention with words, the author of a webpage needs to grab the readers attention with graphics and layout.
As far as differences go, this is a little more obvious. Of course, in webpages, site design is considered on of the more important aspects of the process. A direct homepage is very important in webstyle. Keeping things as simple as possible is key in making a sound homepage. This is something that while writing a paper an author does not have to put much thought into. While an author of a paper needs to grab the readers attention with words, the author of a webpage needs to grab the readers attention with graphics and layout.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
McCloud Blog Part 2
I chose to do this entry on Chelsee Harris blog post on But No One Ever Noticed the Walrus. Here is the link to Chelsee's blog
http://www.chelseeharris.blogspot.com/
And here is the link to the comic itself
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-22/mi-22.html
In her blog post, Chelsee discusses the idea of converying emotion. I want to talk about a different concept that is found in this comic, the idea of time frames. As the panels go on, you see the characters doing different things at different times, even though they are in the same panel, you get the idea of movement. Even when people are talking, we know which one to read at what time to keep the timing of the comic right. McCloud uses the example of thinking of a rope going through the comic, saying "Portraying time on a line moving left to right, this puts all the images on the same vertical axis". As young children we are taught to read left to right.
Another movement concept that is addressed in the McCloud book that can be applied to this comic is the idea of sequential movement. McCloud discusses how even a single panel can show movement, and in this comic, in one panel we see the two lovers rushing at each other. This is shown by the papers flying from the man standing off to the side. We can see the rush inside the comic strip from this simple drawing.
http://www.chelseeharris.blogspot.com/
And here is the link to the comic itself
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-22/mi-22.html
In her blog post, Chelsee discusses the idea of converying emotion. I want to talk about a different concept that is found in this comic, the idea of time frames. As the panels go on, you see the characters doing different things at different times, even though they are in the same panel, you get the idea of movement. Even when people are talking, we know which one to read at what time to keep the timing of the comic right. McCloud uses the example of thinking of a rope going through the comic, saying "Portraying time on a line moving left to right, this puts all the images on the same vertical axis". As young children we are taught to read left to right.
Another movement concept that is addressed in the McCloud book that can be applied to this comic is the idea of sequential movement. McCloud discusses how even a single panel can show movement, and in this comic, in one panel we see the two lovers rushing at each other. This is shown by the papers flying from the man standing off to the side. We can see the rush inside the comic strip from this simple drawing.
McCloud Part One
The comic that I am going to discuss is titled "Piercing" and it is by David Gaddis. Here is the link for those of you that want to go look at it while checking out my discussion.
http://www.davidgaddis.com/piercing.html
While reading this comic, well, not really reading it because I more or less had to just look at it because it is a silent comic, I found a lot of really interesting concepts that were discussed in Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. The first concept that jumped out at me was the way the comic was saying something without saying anything at all. McCloud talks about this concept in the second chapter of his book. In this chapter, he uses the example of a drawing of a pipe with the inscription underneath saying, "This is not a pipe". At one point in the comic, he stops using words and asks if the reader hears what he is saying. The answer should be yes and no, considering he is not using words but the reader can still hear what he is trying to get at.
In the Gaddis comic, this is happening throughout the entire comic. The man in the comic is taking notes in his Casanova book when he sees a woman that intrigues him. Then as the plot runs its course, he ends up bleeding at home by himself. This makes a powerful statement in saying that while love is good while it lasts, most of us end up bleeding at the end. This was said without using any words at all, just different images in different panels. The writer of this comic chose not to use words, instead used different concepts in comic making to tell this story. You can even see the emotions of the characters without the two of them saying a word. For instance, when the woman pulls out the man's piercing and causes him to bleed, you can see that she feels badly by looking at the expression on her face. Reading this comic, you do not need the words to see that she feels badly. Same goes for the man once he is alone in his room. You cannot even really see his face, but from the slump of his shoulders you can tell he is lonely and disappointed.
http://www.davidgaddis.com/piercing.html
While reading this comic, well, not really reading it because I more or less had to just look at it because it is a silent comic, I found a lot of really interesting concepts that were discussed in Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art. The first concept that jumped out at me was the way the comic was saying something without saying anything at all. McCloud talks about this concept in the second chapter of his book. In this chapter, he uses the example of a drawing of a pipe with the inscription underneath saying, "This is not a pipe". At one point in the comic, he stops using words and asks if the reader hears what he is saying. The answer should be yes and no, considering he is not using words but the reader can still hear what he is trying to get at.
In the Gaddis comic, this is happening throughout the entire comic. The man in the comic is taking notes in his Casanova book when he sees a woman that intrigues him. Then as the plot runs its course, he ends up bleeding at home by himself. This makes a powerful statement in saying that while love is good while it lasts, most of us end up bleeding at the end. This was said without using any words at all, just different images in different panels. The writer of this comic chose not to use words, instead used different concepts in comic making to tell this story. You can even see the emotions of the characters without the two of them saying a word. For instance, when the woman pulls out the man's piercing and causes him to bleed, you can see that she feels badly by looking at the expression on her face. Reading this comic, you do not need the words to see that she feels badly. Same goes for the man once he is alone in his room. You cannot even really see his face, but from the slump of his shoulders you can tell he is lonely and disappointed.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Strunk and White vs. Williams
When I went back an looked over my previous post on Stunk and White, I noticed that I had wrote about the chapter on "Omitting Needless Words". I had a little trouble following Williams' book and couldn't find a section that discussed this exact idea, but Williams does have a chapter on Length, which would definitely be related to omitting needless words.
Often, it seems that students use more words in order to reach a certain required word mark on an assignment. I know that I am guilty of this on occasion. I also talked about how my writing is often very wordy at times and that being concise is sometimes an issue for me. I like how in the beginning of the chapter on length, Williams says, "The ability to write clear, crisp sentences that never go beyond twenty words is a considerable achievement." Like I wrote in my blog on Strunk and White, I very much strive to do this myself and like that I now have two books that can help me achieve this.
While I liked the Strunk and White book because it is easier to read, I feel as though the Williams book gives much more detail. While Strunk and White seemed to be a smaller, more manageable book, I know that I much prefered the Williams book for all the examples he provided in his book. Having these examples made the book a little more difficult to read, but gave me a good idea of what I needed to do to make my writing more concise. I could see in the examples of the poor writing concepts that end up in my own writing. Seeing an example of how I could fix this makes it easier to spot the mistakes in my own writing.
Often, it seems that students use more words in order to reach a certain required word mark on an assignment. I know that I am guilty of this on occasion. I also talked about how my writing is often very wordy at times and that being concise is sometimes an issue for me. I like how in the beginning of the chapter on length, Williams says, "The ability to write clear, crisp sentences that never go beyond twenty words is a considerable achievement." Like I wrote in my blog on Strunk and White, I very much strive to do this myself and like that I now have two books that can help me achieve this.
While I liked the Strunk and White book because it is easier to read, I feel as though the Williams book gives much more detail. While Strunk and White seemed to be a smaller, more manageable book, I know that I much prefered the Williams book for all the examples he provided in his book. Having these examples made the book a little more difficult to read, but gave me a good idea of what I needed to do to make my writing more concise. I could see in the examples of the poor writing concepts that end up in my own writing. Seeing an example of how I could fix this makes it easier to spot the mistakes in my own writing.
Revising with WIlliams
"The ombudsman facilitates the resolution of individual complaints which do not have a formal avenue of redress through official University channels. The ombudsman advises students on University policy and procedures, identifies and recommends changes to current practices, and communicates student concerns/issues to appropriate University officials. In addition, the Ombudsman presents workshops, conducts needs assessments and mediates disputes."
-From EMU Catalog.
This is an example of a poorly written passage according to Williams, based on clarity. In the chapter about clarity, Williams discusses that someone who is not in the field would not be sure as to what an ombudsman really is. I know I felt the same way. This passage made no sense to me because I am not even sure what this term means. So re-written, this is what this passage should look like:
"EMU provides the students with an ombudsman, a person who is available to the student to facilitate the resolution of individual complaints which do not have a formal avenue of redress through official University channels. The ombudsman advises students on University policy and procedures, identifies and recommends changes to current practices, and communicates student concerns/issues to appropriate University officials. In addition, the Ombudsman presents workshops, conducts needs assessments and mediates disputes."
-From EMU Catalog.
This is an example of a poorly written passage according to Williams, based on clarity. In the chapter about clarity, Williams discusses that someone who is not in the field would not be sure as to what an ombudsman really is. I know I felt the same way. This passage made no sense to me because I am not even sure what this term means. So re-written, this is what this passage should look like:
"EMU provides the students with an ombudsman, a person who is available to the student to facilitate the resolution of individual complaints which do not have a formal avenue of redress through official University channels. The ombudsman advises students on University policy and procedures, identifies and recommends changes to current practices, and communicates student concerns/issues to appropriate University officials. In addition, the Ombudsman presents workshops, conducts needs assessments and mediates disputes."
Friday, May 16, 2008
The Elements of Style
While reading the book The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White, I found it to be both very useful and also a little nit-picky at times. This book was full of information that I thought I knew very well throughout my years as a student, but found that I was unsure of once reading through the book. For instance, I was never properly taught the correct times to you who or whom, which is something that as an English major, I should know but definitely do not!
Being that I am going to be either a high school or middle school English teacher, I will love having this book in my classroom. Not only will it be a great tradebook for my students to reference, but also a good refresher for me. The first chapter in particular, which talks about basic grammar would be a good starting point for my students who are unaware of basic good grammar skills.
One section of the book I enjoyed in particular was the section titled "Omit Needless Words". This chapter was a great raed for me because this is something that I often struggle in. When I was in high school, I had a teacher tell me that my writing was "too wordy". This has been something I have been trying to remedy for years, with little success. While I found the majority of this section to be very helpful, I also thought the writers got a little picky about their ideas. For instance, I don't see much wrong in the statement, "Trafalgar, which was Nelson's last battle". Strunk and White see this differently than I do, and since they are the "experts" I will give their ideas some thought.
I also found the section on using an active voice in writing to be helpful. Again, with my tendency to be a wordy writer, I ofter use a passive voice. I liked the examples given in this section. Sometimes I feel as though I am not really using a passive voice, when in fact that is exactly what I am doing. Strunk and White say in this section, "The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible writing." I liked what they said here because I feel as though all writing should be forceful. Being forceful is more often than not the only way to get a point across and that is the basis of writing.
As far as things I did not care for in this book, I wasn't that interested in the section titled, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused. Throughout reading the book, I found most of the sections very interesting and when I got to this part, I was slightly underwhelmed. For instance, when the writers talk about the word dependable and say it is "A needless substitute for reliable, trustworthy" I feel as though they are taking something away from the writers vocabulary. Looking through a thesaurus and finding different words is one of my favorite things to do in my writing and I feel as though Strunk and White are dismissing this valuable tool.
All in all, I did like this book and I would love to use it in my classroom to not only teach with, but also as a resource for my young writers to reference and use in their own writing.
Being that I am going to be either a high school or middle school English teacher, I will love having this book in my classroom. Not only will it be a great tradebook for my students to reference, but also a good refresher for me. The first chapter in particular, which talks about basic grammar would be a good starting point for my students who are unaware of basic good grammar skills.
One section of the book I enjoyed in particular was the section titled "Omit Needless Words". This chapter was a great raed for me because this is something that I often struggle in. When I was in high school, I had a teacher tell me that my writing was "too wordy". This has been something I have been trying to remedy for years, with little success. While I found the majority of this section to be very helpful, I also thought the writers got a little picky about their ideas. For instance, I don't see much wrong in the statement, "Trafalgar, which was Nelson's last battle". Strunk and White see this differently than I do, and since they are the "experts" I will give their ideas some thought.
I also found the section on using an active voice in writing to be helpful. Again, with my tendency to be a wordy writer, I ofter use a passive voice. I liked the examples given in this section. Sometimes I feel as though I am not really using a passive voice, when in fact that is exactly what I am doing. Strunk and White say in this section, "The habitual use of the active voice, however, makes for forcible writing." I liked what they said here because I feel as though all writing should be forceful. Being forceful is more often than not the only way to get a point across and that is the basis of writing.
As far as things I did not care for in this book, I wasn't that interested in the section titled, Words and Expressions Commonly Misused. Throughout reading the book, I found most of the sections very interesting and when I got to this part, I was slightly underwhelmed. For instance, when the writers talk about the word dependable and say it is "A needless substitute for reliable, trustworthy" I feel as though they are taking something away from the writers vocabulary. Looking through a thesaurus and finding different words is one of my favorite things to do in my writing and I feel as though Strunk and White are dismissing this valuable tool.
All in all, I did like this book and I would love to use it in my classroom to not only teach with, but also as a resource for my young writers to reference and use in their own writing.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Project!
So I know that is very hard to see, but all it says is something small and not really relevant. I had the brilliant (ok, not so brillant) idea to take a rock and write on the sidewalk. I didn't realize until after the project that sidewalk is indeed man-made, but it was all I could do! I found this project to only be difficult when it came to writing the essay. Amazingly, it only took me about 5 minutes to come up with this idea, and I realize it is not original, but time was not on my side here.The part that was difficult was the essay part. I am still not sure if I did it correctly, but I really am hoping I did!
While doing this actually writing with the rock though, I thought about how happy I am that this is not something I have to do. I thought about Manguel's essay and how those people must have felt trying to articulate what they were feeling without the modern tools we have today. I am very thankful that this is not something that I have to deal with. Using the rock was tedious and hard to do. While pushing down, I actually jammed a finger and scrapped my hand. All in all, not a great experience!
Writing Technology
What I found interesting while reading these different readings this week, was the different tones all of them take towards the technology of writing. For instance, both Baron and Manguel talk about the methods of writing have evolved over a period of time in which to make it easier for those who are doing the writing to produce it. Baron talks about how as a writer, he feel the computer has helped him in his writing. I would have to agree with this to a point. I myself prefer to write on a computer, because it allows me to type out my thoughts as fast as I am thinking them, which is usually pretty fast!
However, I think there is something to be said about what Plato thinks about writing. He is correct in saying that it makes us a little lazier about our thought. Like I said above, it is much easier for me to just type all my thoughts on here because it is faster. However, does it even allow me to take the time to think about what my thoughts really mean? Probably not as I am realizing even as I am writing this all down.
Also, looking at this computer and having it spell check for me, I feel as though this kind of technology is kind of dumbing us down as a society. When I think about Manguel talking about pencils, those people who were doing writing with tools instead of a computer had to think more about the writing process than we do today with all the grammar and spelling checks on a computer. Much like a calculator for math, this teaches us little about what good grammar even is.
This would go along with what Ong says in his article. What does good grammar even mean? Ong believes it is just something that is "contrived" and implies that writing is arrogant. I tend to agree. Who can rightfully say it is better to get your thoughts out on paper when spoken word can be much more powerful.
However, I think there is something to be said about what Plato thinks about writing. He is correct in saying that it makes us a little lazier about our thought. Like I said above, it is much easier for me to just type all my thoughts on here because it is faster. However, does it even allow me to take the time to think about what my thoughts really mean? Probably not as I am realizing even as I am writing this all down.
Also, looking at this computer and having it spell check for me, I feel as though this kind of technology is kind of dumbing us down as a society. When I think about Manguel talking about pencils, those people who were doing writing with tools instead of a computer had to think more about the writing process than we do today with all the grammar and spelling checks on a computer. Much like a calculator for math, this teaches us little about what good grammar even is.
This would go along with what Ong says in his article. What does good grammar even mean? Ong believes it is just something that is "contrived" and implies that writing is arrogant. I tend to agree. Who can rightfully say it is better to get your thoughts out on paper when spoken word can be much more powerful.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
What is Style?
Style is a personal thing for most writers. It is the manner in which people write things. I never understood how people think they can get away with plagerism when usually it is blatantly obvious that it cannot be that person's writing. Some people enjoy using "big" words, and some people like to be simple. Some people are wordy in their writing, and some keep it to the bare minimum.
I never understood what it meant to have good style. I think that as long as the writing is comprehensive, their is no such thing as one style being better than the other. I am however, very interested in seeing everyone else styles throughout this course!
I never understood what it meant to have good style. I think that as long as the writing is comprehensive, their is no such thing as one style being better than the other. I am however, very interested in seeing everyone else styles throughout this course!
First Post!
Ok, so this is my first post! I've blogged before, but it was a long time ago. So this is me, playing with fonts.
This could be fun!
Ok, that is me and I can now post pictures. This could be fun!
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