READING RESPONSE: LYNCH & HORTON’S WEB STYLE GUIDE CHAPTERS 4, 7 & 9

Chapter 4, “Interface Design”

1) It is similar because the internet space is similar to the world, and the sites are cities. However, they are different because we do not pass any landmarks to get from one site to another.

2)

• Paths: Create consistent, well-marked navigation paths
• Regions: Create a unique but related identity for each site region
• Nodes: Don’t confuse the user with too many choices on home and major menu pages
• Landmarks: Use consistent landmarks in site navigation and graphics to keep the user oriented

Chapter 7, “Page Design”

3) Gestalt Theory is a definition of the purposes of graphic design. These purposes include hierarchy of contrast, regions of function, and group elements to create the structure in the content. It applies to visual rhetoric as it provides the basic structure for the appeal of a page grid.

4) To include contrast, white space, style, ad consistency.

Chapter 9, “Editorial Style”

5) Low resolution of the laptop or computer.

6) The information at the top of the article summarizes the whole thing, then the body, and then information presented in the head is elaborated upon.

7) “Online writing is best presented using short segments of texts written in a clear, concise style and with ample use of editorial landmarks.” The most common style for people to read on the computer is through scanning, so having short amounts of text will be enough for them to read. The layout of a site is also important to readers, as if it is too wordy and long, then there is  no motivation to read that many words, and if it is too vague and unedited, there is no interest.

TWITTERATIVE DESIGN

PR: scientists

 

1. Science finds caffeinated drinks hold similar effects to addiction to cocaine.

Good: science, comes from authoritative source, info on the topic

Bad: no mention of alcohol, unknown definition of effects (withdrawal, usage, i.e.)

1. Mixing caffeine and alcohol alters brain functions in adolescents.

Good: caffeine and alcohol and end result, target group

Bad: no source, limited and leaves reader wary

1. ALCOHOL and ENERGY drinks cause change in adolescent behavior in neurochemical breakthrough.

Good: bold lettering draws attention, give credit to science, target group

Bad: no mention of mixing of the two drinks

1. Mixing alcohol and energy drinks found to have same effects as drug addiction.

Good: includes the mixing of drinks, addiction similar to drug usage

Bad: no mention of brain/neurochemistry, no target group either

1. Neurochemistry reveals link between long-term cocaine usage and mixing of alcohol and caffeinated drinks.

Good: includes neurochemistry, mixing, and drug usage

READING RESPONSE: REMEDIATION READS

see the different times that the terrorists boarded the planes, the time the planes took off, and the time that each plane went down. I also see the number of terrorists in each plane. One way that it changed was that in the final pages, it was a woman who made a phone call to her mother saying they were rushing the cockpit, while in the graphic adaptation it was a man on the phone.

The graphic novel was able to show what might have been the actual events in picture aboard the planes of 9/11. Also the facial features of the passengers and terrorists. Some constraints is the amount of information they have and also how their novel will affect the general population’s opinion. The graphic novel in my personal opinion, I did not like, i felt that an event such as 9/11 should not be attempted to replicate in picture. I preferred to read the government’s report rather than view what happened on the planes.

I think that they were trying to accomplish what the final moments of the planes of 9/11 looked like, and what happened aboard with pictures rather than just words from a government report.

READING RESPONSE: “SOME PEOPLE”

 

The visual elements do the most storytelling because they depict the character that is being focused on through a certain time of their life. Also, the text in the speech bubbles is limited in ways to show emotions, versus the way that a picture can show emotion in the face and body language.

Some specific visual elements would be the layout of the short story, it starts with on person, then branches off into other people’s lives, and then ends with the starting person saying the title. This creates the effect of the world going around, continuously like people walking along the street.

READING RESPONSE: WHY ACADEMICS’ WRITING STINKS

1) One idea that academics suck at writing is that it is deliberate. All academic articles and papers are covered in long scientific wording and explanations that many must research to figure out the basis of them. Pinker believes that there are two main factors that aid in poor writing, the own style of the writer, the sub-conscious and the amount of knowledge or intelligence that same being has.

2) Meta-discourse is when a writer uses examples for the reader to follow; professional narcissism is when the writer tends to drift off into a world of their own personal thoughts; attribution of apologizing is when the author decides to express remorse for dooming to reader to read their controversial topic and long explanation (in my opinion granted); shudder quotes are used for distancing the work from common sayings like “the early bird gets the worm” and so forth; hedging is when the fluff falls into place just the lovely fluffy words to make a paper sound “professional”.

3) I am prone to fluffing my papers and meta-discourse. The hedging (fluffing) usually occurs when I am trying to meet a required length for a paper and I have no more ideas of what to write about. Meta-discourse is usually when I wish to make my stance and ideas clearer to the reader and give an example of reality.

4) I value the most in another writers style is a sense of identity. One can read thousands of journals, articles, essays, and short stories, but the writer whose style captures you the most is the one that I would want to read again.

READING RESPONSE: “THE FUTURE OF FOOD PRODUCTION” AND “WHAT’S EATING AMERICA”

1. Authors try to create an ethos of reliability in their reporting so that the reader will believe them. Without a credible source or sustainable evidence, an author’s report could not matter at all. Listing the sources and including interviews are some ways that authors create ethos of reliability and also statistics.
2. The main genre feature of reports that I see in these essays are research methods including interviews, newspapers, databases, and academic journals. These are good resources for authors to use because an interview (personal) is a primary research method with a person who has relevance in the field of the topic. Also secondary resources hold good evidence if they are written or received from a credible source.
3. Pollan is more concentrated on corn and the fact that it is not very sustainable while Forman focuses more on he industrial-sized farms and society problems it causes. I think that Forman and Pollan want us to think differently about how we should gather evidence and clearly put our stance down. Also to be able to present an issue without having bias, presenting/writing the topic as research and not opposing it or advocating it.

READING RESPONSE: DIRK’S “NAVIGATING GENRES”

I would have defined genre as being the separate types of literature, fiction, nonfiction, sci-fi, adventure, fantasy, autobiography, romance, poetry, and historical. I thought of genre as useful in terms of deciding what books I wanted to read, more so than reading a book randomly picked from the shelf. After reading Dirk’s essay, I would re-define genre as similar to a tree root system. There are the genres that are common, and then given different situations, they lead or branch off into other genres and change their intended purpose. A metaphor to help explain genre would best be that “genre is a star system”, there are many different planets, stars, black holes, comets, and asteroids that make it up and make it unique. Similarly there are life-forms, that are still emerging (imagine) and that will create new genres and attributes.

READING RESPONSE: “PLAGIARISM: A MISPLACED EMPHASIS?”

I have learned that plagiarism is the stealing of a thought or idea of another with whom one did not give credit to. Plagiarism is bad because it means simply that a person did not write or complete an assignment my their own means. They used someone else’s hard work and passed it off as their own for a grade. One should avoid plagiarism by not copying another’s work. Also, by giving credit through works cited pages to authors that you looked at for guidance for an assignment will also make a paper not plagiarized.

The five types of “normal” plagiarism that Martin describes are paraphrasing plagiarism, plagiarism of authorship, plagiarism of the form of a source/secondary sources, word-for-word plagiarism, and plagiarism of ideas.

Some of the reasons to why students plagiarize is because they were taught in high school or middle school not to cite their sources and that practice continues in college. Another reason is that the students do not know how to give credit for a source. The last reason would be that they (the student) asks another student to write an essay or paper for them, then turning it in while paying the writer, but putting their (the student that asked for the essay written) name on it.

Institutionalized Plagiarism is also know as “ghostwriting”, making an important paper or speech while taking bits and pieces from a previous work. Martin’s example of Institutionalized plagiarism in schools is that when there is a research project or paper done by a group of people and then since the project or work was coinciding with the school, the name of the “higher up” is put in the credible space for the work. (Martin).

Martin says that we should start treating plagiarism more to the serious problems than the lesser serious problems. He says that society should look more to challenge the hierarchical and bureaucratized work structures about their plagiarism and ghostwriting with institutionalized plagiarism.

READING RESPONSE: THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TREE OCTOPUS

The author of this website does persuade the reader to care about the issue, as he/she gives all the details about the issue to seem as though it was real. Given that there is no tree octopus, the author gave it credibility with location, favorite foods, characteristics, and scientific reasons.On behalf of this rare species, I think there should be miniature aquariums in the middle of the woods to help them find water.

The creator of this website demonstrated a strong ethos by making the site look authentic. The author had correlating news and other articles in the sidebar that is updated regularly. The author also give the species of the northwest tree octopus just vivid detail in description that it makes the site very creditable. However the font use and the random cartoon tentacle could have been demolished and replaced with a more refined scientific looking aspect for more ethos.

READING RESPONSE: DRISCOLL’S “INTRODUCTION TO PRIMARY RESEARCH”

1) The main difference between primary and secondary research is that primary research is the evidence you are finding, for example, a chemist mixing together acids or chemicals to figure out what will happen. What happens is your research on those chemicals and acids and thus your primary research. Secondary research would be if a student was looking for information about a certain acid or chemical from the previous example, and find the paper on the lab online, that would be secondary research as the student is not the one getting the data first hand. I have conducted both types of research through labs, going out into the woods and finding bugs (high school entomology project, I got bit 13 times by mosquitos), and reading about the work that other people have done.

2) The difference between inductive and deductive inquiry is that inductive starts with a thought, an inquiry into what might happen if I throw ethanol into a lit fireplace, a bonfire is the result. Similar to deductive, however that is when there are clues or research already done to support this said hypothesis i.e. Sherlock Holmes.

3) Some factors would be to make sure the research you wish to do is capable of being completed and also the time and effort it would take. Surveys would take communication through both parties, and lab work would take physical work and time.

4) Ethical issues that may arise would be confidentiality in the surveys or polls. Also by the need for the the conductor of the study to tell the participants what they participated in is necessary. For example, a study on the effect of different room colors on the mood of children, parents would need to be briefed and then given full information afterwards.