Writing and Technology 328 Blog

Prompt # 4

2005-03-10T18:59:00.000-08:00

As I reflect back on my other classmates blog assignments dealing with the two methaphors, I found that I really related to Jennifer LaPointe's discussion of her two metaphors. The two methaphors that she used were" Less is best" and "Read the writing on the wall". The metaphor "Less is best" is ties into the metaphor I used which dealt with the same issue as her's. We both talked about how sometime people might overdue it when it comes to writing. A person might feel that the more you write the better the paper might be. Like I was saying a good writer could appreciate if the writing was more concise and straight to the point. The more writing you have sometime the more complicated writing becomes. If you write more then is required you might to start drifting off into another subject and you are not really sticking on task with the subject you are trying to tackle with. The other metaphor that was used was "Read the writing on the wall". I really like this metaphor because to me it is referring to a reader getting a grasped of the point. So the whatever that person is trying to convey would be clear and concise and to the point. So I thought I really related more to Jennifer LaPointe's two metaphors

Metaphors

2005-03-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

The two metaphors are: Having to do with writing and technology

-Less is more

This methaphor just explains how in writing sometimes one might overdue it when writing. Sometime when writing when you tend to overwrite about something, you can easily get off the subject at times. When writing less it is almost sure that you can't overdue something. Writing less is really the way to avoid not drifting off to another subject.

-The computer is a filing cabinet

This means that a filing cabinet which is full of folders, each contain some kind of information. The computer is used to store stuff so when it is time to use it you can just pull it up under the file of your choice. Using in a file cabinet you have labels on them. I would tie this with a computer because you have to label or name a file in order to identify when it is time to pull it up .

Prompt # 2

2005-02-17T14:42:00.000-08:00

In response to the book Style by Joseph M. Williams, I reflected on my past writings and decided that indeed had some problems with the chapters that were assigned for me to read. In focusing on clarity and context I find to be one of my most hardest terms to overcome. For example, last semester I read a response paper that was discussing the bookWaterlily. I found that in my own writings that I wasn't as clear as I needed to be. I had a couple of marks on my paper discussing how I point I made about the book wasn't very clear. I would always break rule # 2 of principles of clear writing which is: "the verbs that go with those subjects name the crucial actions those character are part of"(Williams 21). In writing the response paper I didn't use enough verbs that would decribe the actions of the subject that I was trying write about. When using more verbs or action words you have a great chance of getting across clear writing.

Prompt # 1: Strunk & White

2005-02-12T19:20:00.000-08:00

There are many elements that I found in Strunk and White’s: The Elements of Style, I found very helpful to think about in which I would want to incorporate in my own writings. To be honest the chapter, where it discusses the elementary rules of usage I found very helpful. Another part in the book I found helpful is omitting needless words, because it is something that occurs a lot in my writing. Lastly, the approach to style is where it discusses revising and rewriting. I also found there were a couple of things related to Strunk & White, I thought would be unhelpful.
Usually in my writings, I make common mistakes in punctuation most of the time. One of the first mistakes I make would be the first rule which is to the possessive singular of nouns by adding’s. I can’t remember how many times in school I been marked down from common mistakes like adding a (s) on the end of a word when needed. Another problem that I found in my writing is the usage of comma’s in the correct way. In the book it says to separate comma’s in a single conjunction.
I also felt the explanation of a colon was very helpful because I never really knew when to use it in a sentence. The book , The Elements of Style, it says: "to use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation (Strunk & White)". A colon, tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause . The most I knew about colons is they are to be used in the beginning of letters.
Another part I found very helpful is omitting needless words. The authors explain how writing should be concise and sometime cut to the point. I have a tendency to be very wordy when it comes to writing essays or short assignments. Sometime depending on the writer, they might get bored of reading some of the same words used repetitively. A good example of using needless words would be instead of using, the question as to whether when one could say just whether. Even though I found some things helpful, I also found things unhelpful.
The chapter that I found to be unhelpful would be the on a few matters of form. A good example would be the word colloquialisms. It just simply says that if a person uses a colloquialism or a slang word or phrase, to just use it and not draw attention to it by enclosing it in quotation marks. I don’t think this is helpful to me since I really doubt I would use very often.
I really learned a lot a lot of the book, The Elements of Style. It would be really be a book that I would consider reading and using again. I can always go back and cross reference with it any time I need or unsure of a particular way of constructing a sentence. The most important thing that I read would have to how to incorporate a comma in the correct place. So now I can refer back to this book when in need on how to use a comma.

Blog intro

2005-02-07T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Tamera Smith and I am a student at Eastern Michigan University. I am currently a junior here at Eastern. My major is secondary education concentrating on language arts. I am currently taking the writing and technology 328 class which I think this is a very interesting class. This is my first official blog that I have written and I think it is pretty cool.

I have a lot of writing experiences. Since I am a literature major I tend to do a lot of writing. I find the more I write the better I get at it. I wouldn't consider myself the worlds's greatest writer, but I am okay. At Eastern I have taken a vast amount of literature classes ranging from all aspects of literature. My favorite type of literature would be of Shakespeare. I really love his work. All through high school Shakespeare was all I read.

I think writing style is the components of writings. Style describes the way a person perceives to be a correct form of writing. Style may include proper paragraph structure or just how a sentence is structured. I really don't know too much more about Style but hopefully find out more

Tamera