My Response to a Student's Writing Inventory

Often, I use this blog to share what I've said to other students in their writing inventories. Below, you'll find my recent response to the "Rhetorical Knowledge" section of a student's inventory. Read it, as it might give you some food for further thought and some information to put in as you update your inventory this week.

The student's initial responses are in blue. The one's they made this week as they updated are in green. My comments are in red.

Rhetorical Knowledge is writing in response of a specific audience. And it's using what you know about your audience and your purpose for writing to guide what you write.

By the end of first year composition, students should

• Focus on a purpose-

-Narrowing down to what the purpose will be for what we are trying to accomplish.

-To focus on a purpose you need to narrow down to the purpose, which means the reason why you writing, in order to persuade, educate, or entertain.

• Respond to the needs of different audiences-

-We need to adjust how we say and what we say to different types of readers.

-You would respond to the needs of different audiences by determining the goal you are trying to accomplish, then what kind of information and how much of that information the specific audience needs to know in order to be convincing. Also remember that you're audience is giving you the gift of their time and attention. Just as you write to achieve different purposes, audiences read to achieve different purposes. For instance, they might want to be entertained, gain information, or try to figure out what you know that they don't. If you need an audience to achieve your purpose, then you've got to meet their needs; otherwise, you'll soon find yourself without an audience.

• Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations-

-Responding appropriately to the person or type of people to whom you are speaking to.

-Respond appropriately to different kinds of rhetorical situations means responding appropriately to the needs of the specific audience.

-In order to respond to different kinds of rhetorical situations you need to, figure out who your audience is, what you (the writer) are going to write about, the purpose in which you are writing, and why you are writing. You also have to figure out what the audience's needs are and meet them.

• Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation-

-I don't know how to use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation.

-Use conventions of format and structure appropriate to the rhetorical situation means selecting the format and structure to use in order to meet the audiences needs and expectations.

--Here, think of using the structure and format of a love letter when your audience is expecting your to write a letter of interest for a job.

• Adopt appropriate voice, tone, and level of formality-

-Your voice, tone, and level of formality affect how people respond to you.

-The format and structure you chose to use would depend on the voice, tone, and level of formality you use, which will affect how you get your point across and how the audience would respond.

-To get your point across to your audience you must possess a certain attitude whether it be sarcastic, regretful, informative, etc. --Good! You've got the basic idea here. The words you use. How formal you are, even your tone of voice depends on your goals, your audience, and what you're trying to accomplish. Again think of that love letter. If you're responding to your one and true love, then a formal tone, word choice, and diction would be wildly inappropriate.

• Understand how genres shape reading and writing-

-I don't know how genres shape reading and writing.

-Genres shape reading and writing because you need to understand that there are different kinds or types of genres and how to respond to the different kinds and types.

--Think of genres as the kinds of writing you use in standard writing situations. You use a love letter for your one true love, a letter of interest, job application, and resume for applying for a job, and a term paper for your history class. If you mix up these standard responses, then you find yourself in trouble.

• Write in several genres-

-Understanding how to respond under certain situations.

-To write in several genres means choosing the category of writing to respond to certain situations

--In this class, you've already written in several genres. You've taken notes on the reading. You've written reading responses for blogs, and you've written short responses to these learning outcomes.

Faculty in all programs and departments can build on this preparation by helping students learn

• The main features of writing in their fields-

-To capture the audience's attention.

-The main features of writing is making sure the purpose in which you are writing is understandable, to the point, believable, supported by evidence and that the message comes across right away.

--The writing done in every profession, discipline, and field is characterized by different genres of writing, different goals for writing and reading, and different expectations. For instance, if you're going to be a good biologist, you've got to learn how to write a good lab report, but lab reports aren't used at all is you're a real estatebroker . To be a good real estate broker, you've got to learn how to write a good email and a good description of your property. One of the things professors and bosses in other fields should do is to let you know what expectations about writing they have. Too often, they won't; so, you've got to learn to do your own research and what questions to ask.