RA Publishing

I sent my essay around my hall and told my hallmates to give it a look. My roommate said that it was a nice essay but it was boring. He said to him it was just another essay that he has read. And I will agree with him, it was just another essay. I think my strategy of telling people to read an essay they are not interested in does not work. So, I guess it was too boring in general.

Lost in the Crowd

I published a link to my analysis in a comment that I made on the original cinnamon roll recipe web page but because there are so many hundreds of comments, no one bothers to scroll down and read them all, and there was no feedback to what I had said. But I also consider that anyone that was on that web page was probably already convinced to make the cinnamon rolls and didn't need to read about why they felt inclined to do so. It's cool to think that my stuff is out there for people to see.

R. A. Publishing

I posted my rhetorical analysis on this blog. It did not turn out like I had hoped simply because I had issues uploading pictures. It looks much, much better in a Word document. I haven't gotten any comments on it but I don't think it makes much difference now anyways.

I think it's somewhat intimidating to people to bring up a blog and have a lengthy body of text in front of them. Generally speaking, blog posts are usually little blurbs or a paragraph about something that happened, which makes them easy to read. An entire essay or analysis would probably be better off in a different setting that is a little more formal where a lot of text is expected.

Rhetorical Analysis Publication

I recently started my own blog (thanks to this class) and I posted my analysis there. I don't get very many comments as it is so I wasn't surprised when I didn't get any. My mom did read it and said it was good - that's what moms are for right? A lot of my extended family keeps in touch with each other through blogs and my grandpa was just diagnosed with cancer. I guess writing about hope was good timing.

I think if I would have written a "please comment" comment then I would have received more response, but I also think the length made it difficult to get more readers. I felt a lot more confident with this paper than the opinion editorial, so that is a plus.

Publishing My Rhetorical Analysis

I posted my rhetorical analysis on Facebook. I find that this is an efficient and simple way to publish my writing because a good amount of my friends will read it and leave feedback. I have received one comment so far and it is a positive response. Knowing that I would be publishing this affected the way I wrote it. I tried to keep it as inviting and attractive as possible. It challenged me to craft an informative yet entertaining read. My Facebook audience is a real audience, not an artificial one. The publishing of my writings helps me to consider the audience to a great extent.

Facebook Publishing

I decided to publish my rhetorical analysis on facebook this time. I invited tons of people to comment on my blog post and even gave them the URL to get to it. Unfortunately, I only got to comments back on it. One was from Charlee. She really like that it included a video. I personally think this make the post more interactive and keeps people interested. The other comment was from my mom. She didn't realize how much thought went into advertising. She also said that using all those tools was probably the reason so many people buy things they don't really need.

Knowing I was going to publish this article, I tried to make it interesting to the audience. I tried to keep it simple and explain my reasoning throughly. I also add a video to make the post interactive. I was hoping this would entice the audience to keep reading.

Rhetorical Analysis Publishing

So I just posted it here on this blog and told a bunch of people about it. People from home, from my sports teams from forever ago, and it got around. Sadly, most of the reaction was to the issue, and not so much to my analysis of the article. They were more interested in the the topic than what I had to say. The only thing that really got any attention that had something to do with what I wrote was that they agreed with my conclusion that if the author actually wanted something to change, he was writing to the wrong audience. Which is kind of ironic because maybe I was writing to the wrong audience as well. They didn't seem to care much about his rhetoric, just the sports he was writing about. It was probably more of an artificial audience, a real audience would have been if I had posted it on his article, could have been interesting, but at the same time, the article doesn't get hits anymore since the IOC made it's decision. So i wouldn't have had very many comments anyway i think.

A Closer Look: Audience Response

I had my roommates and other students that live near me read my paper and asked them to give me their responses. I would have liked to get a wider range of audience, but was unable to for lack of time. I didn't get very much feedback, but most of the people who read my analysis agreed that the rhetorical techniques either added to or took away from the peice as a whole. Surprisingly, a lot of people weren't really concerned with the issue, which means that it has probably lost some of its kairotic value in the past few months. Either that or people just feel that whatever happens with the new health care plan will happen, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. This lack of interest also may have been attributed to the fact that I gave my analysis to all college students, who, although more involved in national goings-on than a younger audience, are still very distracted by the worlds they live in.
My audience often said that they wouldn't have noticed all of the tools that I pointed out in my analysis had they simply looked at the website by itself. In pointing out the tools that were used to help persuade the audience, I was able to help them make an even better evaluation of the situation than without an analysis of rhetorical techniques.

Publishing my article

Knowing that I was going to publish my article didn't effect what I wrote. I already had that mind set, so it didn't need to be changed too much. I posted my article as a note on facebook. Only one person commented. I think the subject of the article was intimidating, because who really cares about an analysis on planning a wedding magazine? I thought more people would read and comment, but I guess not! I think the length was intimidating. Maybe if it was shorter, and on a different subject it would have been read more. I think my audience was artificial. I don't know anyone getting married, or else I think it would have been different.

Response!

I emailed my entire paper to dining@byu.edu and I got a fantastic response from the Director of BYU Dining Services! He reacted well but explained to me some technicalities of the issue about which I wrote, and that made me realize that although I thought I did sufficient research to sound knowledgeable to my audience, there were more details that I could have incorporated to strengthen my argument. The Director responded to my email just a few hours after I sent it, and when I thought about what he read, I worried that it may have sounded too whiney to a professional adult like him. That's one thing that I take away from the "publishing" process... that when you actually share your piece with your intended audience, you may want to take another look at the overall tone.

So I Put My Op-Ed on facebook

Publishing your work is a really scary thing to do! I felt like I was really putting myself out there by publishing a piece of writing that expresses my opinions. I actually posted this article as a discussion in the BYU Freshmen group on Facebook, so the people who will read my articles are my peers. That actually made me pretty nervous because my writing reflects me. If there are errors in it and the message isn't concise people won't take me for an intelligent person. I can see a lot of people being opposed to my argument as well. So, I guess the best thing for me to not be so nervous would be if I detached myself from my work and not care what other people think of my writing. However, I don't think I would be able to do that.

Just a little chicken....

For the final post of my opinion editorial I decided to send it into the employment offices at BYU. Although I did chickin out a little bit by not directly sending it to my employer, I couldn't help it! I needed to keep my job, not lose it by saying just a little too much. Anyways, despite the fact that I felt like I might puke sending this into someone, it was kind of liberating to know that what I had to say was being heard by someone, whether they liked it or not. It was cool to think that it could be something that they addressed or discussed in order to fix an issue that could be bruding. I was pretty intimidated at first, and it actually made me reread my paper multiple times to make sure there were no errors so that the person reading it wouldn't think it was some neglected opinion I jumbled together really quickly. Ultimately, I think I would panic if I knew what the next reader was thinking, and I am grateful not to know; however, if I don't get a response from anyone verbally it would be really neat to see if they respond physically and really do something about it! All in all, a fun and new experience.

College: How Many Years?

My final paper turned out to be very different than my initial rough draft. I wrote to students, specifically those at BYU, about the diminishing value of a bachelors degree and how that affects us as students, but also what we can do to not be in school forever. As much as I didn't want to post it on facebook (since that is what the majority of us have done) it was the easiest way to reach my audience. I only posted a portion of it in hopes more people would read it if it were shorter and I tagged friends that were currently going to BYU or another university.

Since most are in love with facebook I received a lot of feedback. Some agreeing and others not. One friend was pretty harsh, but he's no longer my friend. No but really, it was good hearing what people thought. I was nervous and embarrassed at first, but quickly got over it. I guess being an English major I better quickly get over the fear of having others, besides Professors, read what I write. It definitely makes you want to try harder.

Ping Pong: The Forbidden Love

I sent my opinion editorial to the BYU housing through email. Though, as of now, they have not responded. But, I gave my opinion editorial to my roommate and some of my hall mates and they totally agreed with my position. They said that we really do need ping pong tables, and that they did not even use the pool tables that much. They liked my argument using Sept 11. but some thought it was a little weird to compare such a drastic thing with ping pong.

Going to theTop of the food chain

For my specific topic, I decided it would be best if I contacted an administrator of the school directly. So I emailed my paper to President Samuelson's office. I was pretty happy with what I had to share. Sure there were a few mistakes in it I am sure, but i am only human so those mistakes are going to happen. Although I have not heard back yet, I am looking forward to gaining comments in the return message.

Opinion Editorial Publishing

I chose to publish my opinion editorial (in full) via a facebook note. I simply tagged all of my friends here at BYU and encouraged them to leave comments. I was happy with what I had published. I did receive some feedback; some agreeing with my assertion on passing period length, and some disagreeing. Those who agreed helped me to feel more confident with what I had written while those who disagreed reminded me of some weaknesses in the editorial. I felt more exposed with my editorial available for many people to read it. It helped me to be a more disciplined writer. It helped me realize that my counter-arguments weren't perfect. It also made me realize that there will always be people that don't want to agree with what I have to say concerning a specific issue. Overall, it was an eye-opening experience and one that will help me to craft a better opinion editorial in the future, if I choose to do so.

Exercise contributes to American obesity?

I was very satisfied with my finished product, and had no problem sharing it with a few of my friends. I chose to "publish" in this way because as they read my piece, I would be able to experience their reactions firsthand. I observed the reaction that desired and expected from my audience. There was always an initial surprise after reading the title, which was my tactic in attempting to draw the reader in. Then more surprise after reading the introduction and thesis statement. Throughout the paper, however, surprise faded to understanding and acceptance.

I believe this shows that I effectively used rhetoric to influence my designated audience. Even my friends that are highly active ended up agreeing with my argument. Most of them said that it was a really interesting topic to read about.

It really did help me in reflection on my writing. It's one thing to consider your audience while writing and then see how they actually react when they read it. Also, I think I could have been more specific with my audience so that when reading the piece, they would feel that the text directly communicates to them as an individual.

Tore me a new one....

So I put my article (part of it anyway) just up on facebook as a note. I tagged a bunch of people I know that are also planning on going into the medical field (my paper was about how a national health care plan would negatively affect doctors and their ability to pay off student loans in a reasonable amount of time). A lot of people agreed with it and gave good feed back. One person absolutely destroyed me though... haha. They knew a lot more about the new plan than I did and tore apart a lot of my data. Not that he changed my opinion, but he made some of my evidence irrelevant. It was an interesting experience. I've always written my paper for the grade, but when you are going to publish it there is so much more at stake. In a sense you reputation is at stake. All it takes is one person to be smarter than you and disagree for you to feel dumb... haha. Good times... good times...

Opinion Editorial Publishing Experience

My opinion editorial was about co-ed camping. I posted my paper in a note on facebook. I tagged people who are current students at BYU and also some friends back home who enjoy camping a lot. I thought it was interesting that the people who responded were those who enjoy camping the most (or just responded to be nice). The people who did respond are used to co-ed camping through a scouting group. If co-ed camping was not allowed where they come from, they would surely be very upset. But to people who don't care about camping, they don't really have an opinion on it. Someone also commented that co-ed camping was not encouraged by the church at all. This is something I hadn't thought of. If the church as a whole has an opinion on co-ed camping, then I might change my personal views. But I don't know the credibility of his statement, so that leads me to look it up and find a good source. I thought it was a god experience publishing my article. One person commented on my writing style; another mentioned all my grammatical errors. Overall, I am glad I published it!