Week 3 Thlog

Week 3 Thlog

I thought Wednesday’s Writing Tips were very useful. Tip #1 was especially insightful: for “high-stake” pieces, it is important not to rush through it in one sitting. Even if you think you’re finished and have done everything you can, you should leave it temporarily and come back to it later. Often times, coming back to your work after a period of time will allow you to recognize obvious or subtle changes that should be made and wouldn’t have been recognizable before. I also like the advice of not only coming back to your work at a later time to make your work better but also just to give yourself a break. I believe that giving yourself time to relax can make you a better writer, because it gives you a chance to clear your mind and prevents you from going insane.

              Wednesday’s student/peer review workshop was extremely helpful. I found that when I would critique my classmates’ work, I would recognize the same errors in my own. For instance, when I made suggestions on many of their introductions and thesis statements in particular, I went back to my intro and noticed the same errors.

              Constructing my Writing Project has been fairly difficult for me. I have my topic down and a rough draft, but it’s hard to talk about how The Beatles lyrics are a genre without incorporating their musical style. But I’m glad Zack reminded me of this so I can make corrections and focus more on the lyrics themselves. Also, applying my topic to the general significance of genre awareness is still something I’m working on. This ties into Monday’s reading we talked about—Birkenstein’s and Graff’s essay addressing the “so what, who cares” issue. I need to think of a concept of genre and apply it to “the bigger picture”. Maybe I can explain how decoding genre can allow us to analyze the social/cultural components of a specific time period; understanding the rhetoric in The Beatles lyrics can provide clues to what it was like to live in the 60’s and what happened during that decade.