Navigating Genres, Understanding Rhetoric and Academic Arguments

     During this weeks readings I was able to learn a lot while enjoying the content of what I was reading. The article Navigating Genres showed me that genres go far beyond a simple discussion type. They can apply to my own writing endeavors and one can use a different genre to describe a different situation. Genres develop, then because they respond appropriately to the situations writers encounter reality. Knowing what a genre is used for can help people accomplish their goals. Understanding Rhetoric, Spaces for writing, talked about people writing and gathering ideas in different ways. Some are by themselves thinking until they come upon an idea and others surround themselves with an abundance of ideas and activities going on around them. Writing comes in all forms, outside on the wall, in a diary, in a classroom either professional or not. People communicate differently and it is the way in which they express themselves and get what they want to say to the groups of people they want to be talking to. This comic discussed the importance of getting someone else to look at your writing assignments to read and give some feedback before the final draft. Visual literacy is how a message is conveyed by photography and illustration and for me it makes me want to read and learn more.

       Understanding Rhetoric, Why Rhetoric first discussed a question being rhetorical. This is when no answer is actually expected and is meant to shut down a conversation and debate. Plato’s philosophy on writing is ridiculous. He believed that Rhetoric was a word used to hide flaws instead of encouraging self-improvement. Aristotle found rhetoric to be one of the foundations of education. In order to have democracy many different viewpoints need to be acknowledged. The last article I read was everything’s an argument. Their definition of an argument or academic discourse is the use of evidence that can be documented, clear compelling point, follows agreed upon conversations of format, and uses professional citations. Academic writing draws upon sources and builds arguments from research done by experts and is reported in journal articles and books. One of the hardest parts of producing an academic argument is finding a topic narrow enough to be manageable in the time you have to work on it but also rich enough to sustain your interests over the same period. Good claims are controversial and any academic argument is only as good as the evidence that supports it. It is also important to remember to not only gather information that is going to support the position that I believe in but also gather information to support the opposing side.