WP3!!!

As soon as we began talking about WP3, I related it immediately to one of the programs I ran in high school. As a Volunteer with a within 4-H called Youth Experience in Science (YES) my entire position was to take weekly ideas proposed by the 4h committee and transform it from a paper with directions meant for volunteers to read, to both a presentation to teachers for their approval as well as a lesson plan to implement to 1^st-3^rd graders. Similarly, it seems like this assignment is nearly the same thing in terms of creating something for both a younger and older audience but having still to present the same ideas.

For this Writing Project, the article I chose to work with was “Disciplines and Discourses: Social Interactions in the Construction of Knowledge” by Ken Hyland. The article discusses the aspect of how the interaction between the writer and reader can change reader’s perception of the topic and how any simple change can affect the entire piece. Hyland proposes that although scholarly writing does escalate from empirical data and evidence, “The problem for scientific knowledge is that interpretation always depends on the assumptions scientists bring to the problem.” (Hyland page 2) Although not necessarily intentional, writers are often influenced by their personal thoughts and feelings about a topic and consequently ‘frame’ their writing in order to influence their ideas. Even while reporting simple data, Hyland suggest why that writer chose to research a specific topic and collect that data in their specific way is essentially influencing and framing knowledge that is brought into the academic world. 

For my genre geared toward an older audience, I chose to do a consent form. I made it so it is as if a writer is going to publish something through my company, but I want them to acknowledge how writing can influence people's thoughts and perceptions before they just publish anything. 

My goal for creating a consent form for the older genre was specifically to emphasize the real-life problems that writers must face with every day. In order to encompass the amount of influence that writers have over readers, I felt that a consent form set the right mood. My intended audience was older people of course, mostly because those under the age of 18 cannot sign contracts of give consent, which is essentially what this was. I used rather large words and made the sheet look professional, which is what should be expected. Some moves that I used for the consent form was to use larger words. As stated above, because this was a legal paper, larger words would typically be expected. I also added my ‘company name at the top in a header that would typically be seen on waivers and consent forms. It adds professionalism to the form and actually makes it look real. Furthermore, I underlined and bolded the title, as well as making it very large. In order to make it very clear that this was a consent form and to reduce the risk of any confusing, the title explicitly tells the writer that it is a consent form for publishing. Other moves I used ending the list of words with ‘ING’ to make whole list flow better. The whole form is in first person like the writer is actually speaking and writing it themselves. This is essential to the form because the writer is the one actually giving the consent even though they did not write this specific piece.  At the very beginning of the consent form, I left the name line blank in order to provide more accessibility to all the ‘publishing company’s’ clients. If I would have filled in a name, this fake company would have to print out forms specific to the client every single time. By leaving the name lines blank, there could be stacks of the forms just laying around and you could grab one and fill it in when needed. Lastly, since this is more of a legal document, I added the signature lines along with the date line to add authenticity. I added a witness signature line as well for a liability reason, so in case there are any disputes to the contract, the witness would be able to say that the signature was true.

As for the actual transformation, it was tough to decide what exactly to place into the consent form. I decided to focus on only the aspects that I found especially important in the article (many of which were highlighted). Since the entire article is about how the influence of writers is reflected on HOW they write, publishing something online can be extra dangerous because of its easy accessibility to millions of people and the click of the mouse. Word choice was also mentioned many times throughout the article so I added that as well. The truth is essentially subjective to writer’s parameters, so I also placed a section on that as well because a reader may not agree with the writer’s truth. Lastly, I added the last sentence of the consent form stating that everything the writer publishes should be accurate, to the best of their knowledge, in order to provide correct information to others. This section is specifically essential because of the influential power that the writer has, and the corruption that could be caused by using knowingly false information. 

For my younger audience, I created an educational poster that are hung around classrooms. I used a FAQ type of poster and I tailored it towards a higher elementary school class, like 6th grade. 

 My main goal for my educational poster is essentially provide a quick and easy way for children to learn about the topics discussed in the article. Because it is intended for children, I tried to use as many colors as possible. Compared to the consent form, I also used a more fun and relaxed font, one that would grab the kid’s attention. As well as simply writing in a more relaxed tone, by creating a poster, I feel like it flowed better with frequently asked questions on the left side and the answers on the right. In order to prevent confusing I used the same color boxes for the answer that coincided with the question. The answer however contained a lighter color box in order to differentiate them as well as black colored writing instead of white. Continuing with coloring, the title of the chart is “Social interaction and Constructing Knowledge FAQ’s”. I split of the title in the two boxes but I placed them both in the center in order to make the POP. They switch colors in order to provide more clash that would grab attention as well. The box shaped format also helped with the visual aspect of the poster overall.

For the content of the poster, I chose 4 questions that would clear confusion if the audience would read the article. For me these questions are the ones that I had a wrote down when first reading the article. I tailored the questions to seem more relaxed and used terms of uncertainty such as ‘right?’ and’ really?’. The first question addresses the issue of purpose. While reading the article, if you don’t believe that writers actually can influence a reader, then the rest of the article does not have a set purpose. The second question addressed the fact that writers can create their own truths and because of their actions and choices, they are bringing new knowledge into the world. I chose this questions specifically because it sums up the majority of the article. The last two questions address the difference between subjects and how interactions between the writer and reader can influence knowledge.

Writing 2 – WP3 Feedback Matrix

Writer: _________
	Did Not Meet Expectations	Met Expectations	Exceeded Expectations
Transformed Genres (Overall)
Younger Genre’s Conventions and Rhetorical Factors
Older Genre’s Conventions and Rhetorical Factors
Consideration of “Big Ideas” in the Scholarly Article
Perceived Effort
Self-Analysis Reflection (Overall)
Description of “Moves”
Attention to Genre/Conventions and Rhetorical Factors
Use of Translated Genres as Evidence of “Moves”
Use of Course Readings (McCloud, Losh/Alexander, Etc.)
Sentence-level Clarity, Mechanics, Flow
Other Comments and Grade