Chapter 1 Entry
Chapter One was an overview of writing rules and elements of genres. I found the section on style to be pretty
noteworthy. All writers have a different writing style, and without style it
would be hard to differentiate between different types of genres. The style of
a text chosen can either captivate the target audience or push them away. The
example in the book describing a blog designed to interest “accidental surfers”
was relatable to me because the author uses a casual and funny approach to
engage readers. I can relate to this because I would be more likely to read a
more laid back article rather than a serious, scholarly blog. This is true to
most individuals who surf the web because in today’s society we tend to write in
a more casual manner. This is to blame because of society’s constant use of
technology.
With most individuals using social media, emailing and sending
nonstop text messages, people are used to a more simplistic way of writing. This
more simplistic approach to our everyday writing makes it more complicated and
therefore far less likely to read a scholarly article online. Although this is
true, all individuals must take English courses for their school curriculum. While
they may be less likely to read a scholarly article they stumble upon online,
the informative genre is a pertinent style when compiling information for a
research paper. Therefore, all different styles of writing are important, but
it depends on the target audience to determine which genre to write. This ties
back into the point of the importance of ethos, logos, and pathos. This chapter touches on them and how important it is to include the perfect amount in a certain genre. Today, these are crucial factors that must be considered
when trying to captivate an audience with so many other information outlets available. It made me realize there must be a perfect combination of all three to successfully engage an audience.
I enjoyed the side note of how most people current use simple text and prose to communicate and with the additions of acronyms for almost every phrase the standard and seems very impersonal. This is especially true when you are in person and some one says "LOL" as opposed to laughing out loud or something of the sort. Additionally I have noticed that with the advent of social media humans have found of way of being more social beings while being antisocial. Many would rather swipe right on 10 different tinder profiles as opposed to going to talk to 10 different people in person.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the part where you said that there must be a "perfect combination" of ethos, pathos, and logos in order to engage the audience because the entire point of writing something is for it to be read, so if the audience doesn't want to read your work and isn't captivated by the appropriate use of these rhetorical appeals, the purpose of your writing won't be delivered. And you're right when you say that audiences nowadays need to be captivated by a piece of literature in order to continue reading due to multiple other sources vying for their attention. It really emphasizes the fact that we, as writers, need to develop a better understanding of our audience and figure out what they want to hear and how they want to hear it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that style was noteworthy. I think that that section helped personalize the chapter and made me think about what my own style is and what genre that would fall under. I do think it is cool that each person can have their own writing style and I agree with you that that style can come out in texting as well as formal writing. I also agree that there has to be a perfect balance of ethos, pathos, and logos to make writing good. That makes me wonder which element my friends are lacking when they send me boring texts.
ReplyDeleteYou make good points, but I somewhat disagree on two. I don't think social media in and of itself is causing a lack of interest in reading scholarly or serious writings. The increase in popularity of the more serious media outlets such as the New Yorker, The Atlantic, and similar, who aren't writing "We pet a dog, and you won't believe what happened next" clickbait would seem to counter that. I do think that people are more...particular with their attention. They are perhaps more caring about their time, so if someone is going to read a 30-page paper, they're going to have more demands and higher standards of it. Which I see as good. Scholarly does not require dry, serious does not demand boring.
ReplyDeleteI'm also unsure about the need for there to always be a combination of all of Pathos/Logos/Ethos to create compositions that grab the reader's attention and engage an audience. There's any number of writers I follow religiously on Medium who use no logos and their Ethos is limited to the fact that they wrote the piece I'm reading. But the Pathos, and the skill with which they write, even though, or perhaps because they write from a point of view I will never actually have, draws me in far more than Yet Another Article About Javascript.
I agree that if you have all three, that's awesome, but I don't think all three are required.
Hi Jordan
ReplyDeleteI loved that you focused on style. It's a very important aspect of writing and it says a lot about the writer. Like you pointed out, it can help in captivating the audience as well. Great perspective!