Yes, I do share some of these same perceptions. My first instinct is not always to transfer knowledge, but I do find myself doing in unintentionally. I believe that writing and thinking are closely related. Writing always allows me to be myself and think critically which the best way for me is to learn. I can bring my personal life into the classroom and that is what allows me to retain the most knowledge. I do find writing practices I have learned in this course to be very helpful. I feel like this course was the basis for any future classes I may enroll in, I had to break down the writing process to the simplest form and understand why some things may or may not be important. It also carries over to other things such as listening to music, I sometimes find myself asking “what is the message this artist is trying to get across”.

Some knowledge I can take from this class is the way people think about writing. When listening to Mcluhan’s interview it really opened my eyes to why the way we convey a message to people is important. It will change a perspective simply because it is being shown to you rather than written to you. I also have learned that sometimes people may not want to hear or believe you based on your identity and therefore people will often not want to be identified because it may change the modality of the message. All of this means that people will always have a different viewpoint or interpretation so you should really try to make sure your message is always clear. This course has taught me to always be yourself when composing writing because you cannot always control the way someone else may think but being yourself may allow you to change someone’s mind or to spark  conversation, which I have also learned is very important.

In the video McLuhan defines Medium as the message

 Modality is the relative credibility and authoritaveness invested in written statements. In the article, it states that when the medium is changed there is always a shift in modality.  a journal entry usually becomes the original while a news or tv report becomes secondary.

“Sometimes what is being communicated is less important than the particular medium through what is being communicated”. When content is communicated through different ways it changes people and society. He used a great example when stating that oral based cultures and print based cultures are  very different. This is because the dominant sense organ, it shifts from eyes to ears, changing the way you may interpret something.

Medium is connected to genre because you have to know what message you are communicating to be able to choose the correct genre for your work. Modality is connected to genre because when choosing a genre you have to have to be credible to write certain things about people, like biographies for example.

Medium is connected to audience because you always want to have a clear message for your audience. Modality is connected to audience because it is important that your audience deems you credible.

Medium is connected knowledge because it is imperative that you have knowledge to get your message across. Modality is connected to knowledge because you the amount of knowledge you attain will make for a better piece of work.

Medium is connected to rhetorical situation because the atmosphere you set up for your audience will determine the reason you are trying to get a message across. Modality is connected to rhetorical situation because the setting is important when trying to see how the time period relates and makes for a credible piece of work.

When this class first began, I gave a definition of genre. I defined genre as the type of text in literature. The way you write or read can determine how you choose the genre of a text. Although I would not change my definition of genre, I am able to improve my definition. Through the learning from Bitzer, Bazerman, and Bedford Book of Genre, I would add that Genre is given through the techniques the writer uses to get his message across to the audience. Genre works through literature and artistic creation. The artist or writer often implements different strategies to influence the audience. We need genre to differentiate between the types of writing and music there is in the world. Essentially, Genre is a category for the selection of work.

For my Major assignment #3 I plan to change my genre to a non-fictional essay. I will change the audience to attract the focus of football fans who are unaware of the physical harm done to football players bodies.

After reading Swales text I realized a discourse community that I am a part of that I would have ever thought of to be a discourse community. I am apart of a group called “Run the race”. There about 200 members of this group and we are selected from growing up on the west side of Columbus and going to the rec center called Holton. The members will keep growing from people who come to the rec and there is no required education level. In this group we speak on issues that are happening in the neighborhood and we plan to change these issues and help the community. We communicate on these issues and everyone gives their opinion. We do not communicate with anyone other than the ones in the group. There is a newsletter that is put out every month in the group. These newsletters include, upcoming events, issues in the community, and other things that need to be communicated. They also send out group text messages for emergency announcements that have to do with crime and things that happen. The only lexis that we use is our terms that come from the head lady who is catholic. She uses many words from the bible and word to speak.  

I was part of the football team in high school and I was resistant to the goals and teaching of my coaches. This ended in my team not doing so well because they look up o me as a leader. I did not follow the lexis term and language that my team used. We weren’t successful because as a leader you need to lead properly. I did not do this; I did not listen, and I was disobedient so that is what the rest of my teammates who looked up to me were too.

Grant-Davie defined purpose in relationship to writing as what is trying to be accomplished by the writing and how to understand it. My idea of purpose did not change after this reading but, I would say it helped further my definition of purpose. I see purpose connected to all these terms because you have to figure out the purpose of the writing or reading so that you can figure out the meaning of the other terms. For example, you need to find the purpose to find out the genre and what the writer wants the audience to get out of the reading.

In Greene’s essay he talked about having a good question and making sure that you are gaining new knowledge of the subject instead of just looking for things on the subject. I plan to conduct my interview in person and coming prepared. I will bring a questions sheet that I specific to the things I want my person to answer. I will have already researched the questions and gathered my information, so that I can discuss the questions with them and not just listen.

I only have a question on if my question is good enough? I think it might be hard to find things on ym question.

The question that I choose to dig more in depth on is “Can we prevent concussions in Football or are they inevitable?”  I choose to research this question further because It gives me room to talk about the many different angles of football and where mot concussions in football come from. This question allows me to give a diagnostic on each type of play in football and which cause the most concussion. Once I break these plays down, I can move on to the offensive and defensive sides of the ball and explain who has the highest concussion rate. This leads to me showing research on how to lower the concussion rate and if it is possible to get concussion rate at an all time low. At this stage I would write for the audience of athletes or health officials on sports. This may include sports trainer and even strength and conditioning coaches. The following coaches and professionals can benefit from this article due to its link between football and concussion. When I include the section about lowering the concussion rate coaches and players can take form this section and apply this to their game. Allowing athletes

Does the physicality of football cause concussions or the way the player play?

Can we prevent concussions in football or are they inevitable?

How can we teach or player to hit people so that the concussion rate goes down without making them “soft”?

I came up with this idea because throughout the 20^th century the concussion rate in football has been steady rising. This became a big topic in the NFL in college leading to a lot of rule changes. They tried to protect the player with new riles but these rules were not enough to lower the rate. This question is important because concussions are terrible for your brain. In the long run concussions can lead to minor and serious brain damage. Brian damage can leave some seriously messed up, and some cant not take the pain, so they commit suicide. In my research I will look for answers to question and why the concussion rates are so high. I will also search for research on how to improve the protect of the players and their health.

The word “knowledge” means having the power of information. When I think about the word knowledge I think about, Vocabulary, Information, and intelligence. The word “learning” means to learn something or to be taught. You learn new thing your entire life, you may learn something from people you do not even know. In the article Hyland defines “knowledge” as taking a new or unusual piece of information and acknowledging it with prior information, then discussing it with others so that you learn. Knowledge is distinct form information because if you have not learned the information then it is not knowledge. A piece of information can be said to you and if you have attained this information then have not learned, therefore you do not have the knowledge. As Hyland states when it comes to collaboration and the knowledge-making process you will use your prior knowledge and combine it with the new information you learn. Allowing you to be around a group of individuals being taught the same information as you create a better understanding of the information. While learning the information many people will have questions and ideas which will lead to many debates. Debates are a great tool to learning because you will start to understand the “whys” and “why nots” of the information.

Johnson’s discussion of “good ideas” and “innovation” helped me understand the knowledge making process because you can have a good idea or piece of information, and without a network or people to work with, your knowledge on this idea will not grow. If you create an environment where many people from different backgrounds can get together and discuss things, it creates discussion. Discussion can help people who are missing information learn the information from others. This may be the information they need to grow their knowledge on the subject.

The thought process on my research process and project change are different now that I have read and watched these texts. I now understand that Knowledge is not made through just listening or reading something and understanding the information. Knowledge is made through discussion, prior knowledge, and understanding.