PB3A & All That Stuff.....

Coming up with the different genres that would appeal to older and younger audiences was not the difficult part, per say. I had more difficulty trying to choose a topic that would appeal to both age groups, nothing too controversial but also nothing too “dumbed down”. In the end, I settled on a scholarly article that focused on the space race between the United States and Russia.

Space is one of those universal topics that can appeal to all ages. Children are fascinated with looking up at the night and seeing stars burning bright, as well as with big machines, like rockets. Adults are mesmerized and intrigued by the vastness that is space and all that it encompasses as well the politics behind the “space race”.

For the younger audience, I want to focus on a much younger age group than the typical seven to twelve year olds. My main focus will be toddlers between the ages of three and five. Thus, the first genre translation will be from scholarly article to bedtime story. There will a lot of pictures, big writing, and some possible rhymes here and there. At the moment, I am still unsure as to whether I will have a set storyline for this story or if it will the informative type that gives small children “fun facts” while still being mildly entertaining.

As for the older audience, my main focus will be those cute old people who read the newspaper while they’re having their morning cup of coffee. A convention of newspapers is the small “mind-games” like Sudoku, “Spot-the-Difference”, and my other choice of genre, crossword puzzles. My crossword puzzle will have a small blurb at the beginning filled with facts and general background information regarding the space race. It will also serve as a reference for the person who is completing the crossword puzzle. In addition to that, there will obviously be “fill-in-the-blank” and factual questions that are typical of newspaper crossword puzzles. 

PB2A & All That Stuff...

The topic I chose to research was the benefits of tea and thus, chose “Emerging evidence for tea benefits”, an article written by C. Ruxton. This article, despite being posted online, seems to have been written for the purpose of being posted on a Nutrition Bulletin, hence the bold, green letters at the top of the first page that spell out “Nutrition Bulletin”. As a result, this article is most likely geared towards an audience of health-conscious people who are considering tea as a way to better their weight health, oral health, and/or gut health. In other words, the writer’s main focus was to inform his audience of the benefits of tea, however, the author expected their reader to be someone who is not very familiar with tea in general. This can be inferred, for the author included basic background information on tea and it’s origin of growth, drying process, and how the different levels of oxidation affect what tea is formed. This is information that any avid tea drinker would know, but his article is not for those people. Like the majority of scholarly articles or journals, the author’s purpose is to inform or report back on findings. In this case, the author did both. Ruxton informed the naïve tea drinker about the health benefits of drinking tea as well as the experiments, which allowed Ruxton to arrive at said conclusions in terms of weight, oral health, and gut health. Also, the fact that Ruxton is reporting back on the health benefits and findings of consuming tea definitely shows his stance on tea. Ruxton believes that drinking tea is beneficial and despite his best attempts at remaining neutral, Ruxton has an underlying purpose, to convince others to drink tea in order to better their health. The style of the article is very scholarly. The tone of the paper is definitely not conversational but informative as well as slightly persuasive. In regards to conventions, there is an evident summary, introduction, and conclusion. Furthermore, the way the article is set-up, is almost like a newspaper. There are two columns on each page with each new topic having a bold title. Ruxton cites his sources as he uses them throughout the paper, at the end of the sentence in which the quote or fact is being used. He cites by using the author’s last name as well as the year said author published their work. Ruxton’s citations make it easier for the reader to find the citations at the end of the article under “References”. Lastly, Ruxton incorporates graphs and tables, along with brief explanations, throughout the article as Ruxton sees fit.

            Moving on to SCIgen, although it is an online generator of academic journals, it still has many differences from Ruxton’s paper. In my opinion, SCIgen has no real audience as it was created as a genre generator. In other words, it is solely used as an example of reference for how an academic journal is commonly structured, which coincidentally can also be seen as it’s purpose. Realistically speaking, how can an article have an author’s purpose when there is no real author? Recall that before generating the journal, SCIgen asks the user to write who the author(s) is/are in order to “spit out” an article. The papers found on SCIgen often possess vast amounts of scientific jargon making their tone and context very scholarly. In terms of conventions, they are very obvious to the naked eye. The title has a large, bolded font. There is also an abstract, introduction, and conclusion. However, new sections and topics are numbered and bolded. Unlike the tea article, the pages are not divided into two columns. Instead, in the article, there are paragraphs that go straight across the page. As opposed to using indentions in new paragraphs, SCIgen simply skips a line. SCIgen also incorporates tables and graphs with brief descriptions. Also noteworthy, SCIgen does not cite its sources at the end of a sentence with the author’s last name and year of publication, but simply with a number that the reader can look up at the end of the article under “Sources”.

PB 1B: Inspecting Genre Generators & All That Stuff...

With each different genre of writing, there are conventions that follow it whether they are written in stone or not. Many people fail to realize just how broad the world of “written” work is. The simplest and most straightforward way to discuss each “genre generator” website is to speak of them individually before being able to discuss their similarities as well as how each one demonstrates a distinct genre.

For starters, SCIgen is a website that automatically generates educational papers, or at least mock examples of papers/journals. Its conventions to the naked eye are very obvious. The scholastic paper has a bold title, which is not only located top and center of the paper, but it also numerous font sizes larger than everything else written on the paper. Right beneath the paper, the names of the contributing authors are found, also bolded and in a bigger font size than the paper’s actual written content but still not as big as the paper’s title. Furthermore, the rest of the paper is divided into sections based on the table of contents. Each section is numbered, titled, bolded, and written in a larger font than the body in order to make easier to find. The spacing between the section heading and the body of the section is that of multiple lines. Another peculiar thing is that each body paragraph, beneath each section, is not indented. Instead of indenting each new paragraph, the generator skips a line and then begins a new paragraph. The body of each section is abundant in higher-level scholarly vocabulary. Lastly, SCIgen also includes pictures and graphs with very brief descriptions as visual aid for whatever is being discussed in the section.

            Pandyland is completely different to SCIgen. Pandyland is a random comic generator. It creates very short comics, a mere three scenes in length, with only a couple of characters. The characters are simplistic in appearance. Moving on to main focus of this analysis, the writing conventions of the writing found in this specific generator. The comics on Pandyland have close to no writing in comparison to SCIgen. Pandyland utilizes modern slang freely and does not hesitate in incorporating fragments. The only writing found in the comics has been restricted to solely being present in speech bubbles.

            In regards to “Meme Generator”, although a different genre, it seems far more similar to Pandyland than SCIgen.          In a sense, it seems a bit like a one scene comic. Even though anyone can create a meme using any picture they choose, most memes are composed with images that have gone viral such as “Doge”, “Bad Luck Brian”, “Grumpy Cat”, etc. Memes do not have endless amounts of writing, opting instead for a few short words or a small sentence or phrase. Also, the writing on these memes is almost always in white block writing with a black outline.

            The fourth genre generator commonly used by most students is the Easy Bib website. Easy Bib is a website that specializes in generating bibliographies by taking away the stress of memorizing each punctuation, it’s place in the bibliography, and the different indentations, along with alphabetical order. Creating the bibliography is simple. If it’s a website, the user easily copies & pastes the website’s URL onto Easy Bib, Easy Bib locates the author of the online article and anything else that may be necessary & creates the entry for the user. Virtually anything can be cited via Easy Bib, from books, to websites, to articles, to movies, and even interviews. Easy Bib incorporates all the conventions of a bibliography. The most obvious one being that the heading of “Bibliography” is bold, in a large font, and at the center of the page. The first line of each source entry is one-inch from the margin with each line that follows, of that same entry, getting indented. In addition, the bibliography generator alphabetizes all the sources being cited. As a genre generator, Easy Bib makes creating bibliographies far simpler.

            Thus, the question arises as to how websites, such as the aforementioned, can help people understand the concept of genre when it comes to writing? Through the usage of generator websites such as Easy Bib and Pandyland, one can see the exact components of each individual thing. It makes it easier to acknowledge each individual “ingredient”, so to speak, how it is used in the final product, and where it is used exactly. Generator websites aid in showing the “before” and “after” of each genre, depicting just how distinct yet slightly similar each one truly is.

PB1A: Analyzing An Instagram Post & All That Stuff

Practically everything we come in contact with on a daily basis is some type of textual genre. From the obvious, textbooks, letters, and essays, to the more overlooked, nutrition labels, lyrical booklets, and my choice of focus, Instagram posts. There are two available audiences when it comes to Instagram posts, one being more extensive and broader than the other. Depending on the user, an Instagram account can be made “public” or “private”. Under “private”, the audience of a post is limited to solely pre-approved followers of said account. However, when an account posts under “public”, its content can reach a much bigger audience because virtually anyone can see that account and its posts should it already be a “follower” or simply stumble upon it. Furthermore, unlike an account on “private”, a “public” account can also be publically listed under any hashtags found in the post. For example, say “Joe” posted a picture of himself at Disneyland and added #Disneyland in his post, and “John”, who also happened to be visiting the park on that same day, decided to search up #Disneyland to see what other people are posting about it. Theoretically, “John” could casually find “Joe’s” post and “like” it despite never having met him. It serves as a way to connect people who know and do not know each other as well yet share something in common. Older generations, who already critique our generation, may argue that the sole purpose of social media, and all that comes with it such as posts, is to promote narcissism among an already narcissistic generation. However, the extent of Instagram posts goes far beyond that. The purpose of Instagram posts is to share life moments, in a much easier fashion, with friends and family regardless of where they may be in the world. Posting a picture with a textual caption can be shared in the moment it is happening instead of say scrapbooking and having to wait until you visit your aunt who you only see once a year because she lives on the other side of the country. The context of a post can vary. Going back to “Joe”, say he did not post his picture of Disneyland on the day he went. If he chose to, he could post it months later as a “throwback” picture. In that case, the hashtag #tb (“throwback”) within the writing portion of the post would help put the picture into context. It lets his followers know that he is not at Disneyland on the day he posted the picture, but that perhaps he is reminiscing about his trip there just a few short months prior to the post. The style and tone of most Instagram posts are easy-going from “Celebrating Joe’s Birthday at #Disneyland” to “Beach day with the gang. #SantaBarbara”. However, I say most because some accounts may choose to post about raising awareness for a cause and create an urgent and sympathetic tone, or a business may use their account to advertise an on-going sale at their store for a more encouraging tone. Some of the more notable conventions of an Instagram post are the short often quirky captions (no one wants to read five paragraphs about how much you love your boyfriend/girlfriend), hashtags, and sometimes even emojis. So the question arises, what makes an Instagram post, an Instagram post? An Instagram post sets itself apart because the purpose of an Instagram post is not only to post a “status” but to post a picture with a caption, to share moments through a more eye-catching and eye-appealing method. 

A blurb about me and all that stuff.

I have a love/hate relationship with “about me” writing topics. Honestly, I never know where to begin or what to write about.  Plus, is it just me, or do “about me” paragraphs somehow always end up sounding like something that belongs on a dating website? Anyways, I have eighteen years of personal history under my belt and that makes for a lot of interesting as well as many completely uninteresting stories. I guess the easiest way to approach this assignment would be for me to be as cliché as possible. I am a French major. After that previous statement, about 90% of the time, I am asked as to why I chose to major in French. My answer is always far more blunt and sincere than most expect. I chose to major in French because I suck at math and science. Plus, I studied French throughout my four years of high school. When it came time to pick a major I realized that I had already invested a lot of time on a subject that I didn’t completely suck at and one that I actually enjoyed so I figured, why not? I am the youngest of three and the first to willingly go away to college as opposed to staying local. I enjoy witty and “punny” jokes. I am a very sarcastic person. As a result, many people who are not familiar with my sarcastic sense of humor misconstrue it and automatically assume I hate them. On the contrary, it’s extremely difficult to for me to hate—scratch that, let me use “dislike” because hate is too strong of a word—a person. As I was saying, I’m easy going and prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt. I am not a pushover but I am known for giving people multiple chances in life because after all, we are all humans and we all make mistakes that we can rectify. However, I do draw the line at some point and when that happens, gaining back my trust and respect is a real mission. On a happier note, I love gloomy, rainy weather, reading a good book outside while enjoying the scenery, going to concerts, watching unhealthy amounts of Netflix, and a good bottle of Sriracha. As much as I may hope to be unique and stand out among the crowd, that is essentially impossible. There will always be someone out there, who will share something in common with me whether it may be similar music, show, or even condiment tastes. Although it may sound grim at how cliché we all are as humans, it is those clichés that help us form bonds with others and in the end, make waking up each day worthwhile. A quote I like to live by is “Let the world and the people in it surprise you like it did before things started scaring you”. I found this quote on a wall at a photo gallery and sadly don’t know who originally said it. However, I love this quote because it reminds me to keep an open-mind to new ideas, people, and experiences, to take life day by day, to take risks in new endeavors, but most importantly, to never cave to the fear of failure.