Peer Review for Diego Alcantara

In this post, I will peer review Diego Alcantara's project 2 rough draft, "Computer Engineering: A Comprehensive Guide on How to Write for the Field."

I decided to focus on activity 1 for Diego because the only thing that might be a little excessive is his content. The QRG in my opinion is very well-structured and organized. He has several hyperlinks, images, bolded words, and subtitles which portrays a perfect QRG. However, his document is very long.

The purpose of QRG is a brief explanation of a certain topic that is easy to read and understand. Yes, Diego's document is extremely easy to read...but it is 9 pages which might cause the reader to lose interest in it. I suggest he cuts some small and unimportant details out of the rough draft.

I admire Diego's dedication to this project, it is clear that he has spent a lot of time on his rough draft. The only advice I have is to clean it up a little. :) Very well done!

Peer Review for Ben Macklin

In this post, I will peer review Ben Macklin's rough draft from my section.

Ben Macklin chose to do a QRG for project 2, titled "Understanding the Genres of Neuroscience: Tips for Beginners." His draft can be found here. This peer review was particularly helpful to my own QRG progress because it allowed me to see what I could adjust to my own draft.

I am reviewing the form of his draft. I think that this is the part that might need the most revising because the content follows all of the requirements for the project itself.

The genre conventions are lacking in the rough draft because typically a QRG should catch a reader's attention with either images, font styles, or rhetorical questions. However, Ben's rough draft doesn't have this anywhere.

The rough cut could present the content in a more creative way by using highlights or bold/italisized font, etc. Basically all the project lacks is attention grabbers.

Reflection on Global and Local Revision

In this post, I will talk about my successes and failures during this past week.

Some of the successes that I had were cleaning up my QRG and making my ideas all come together. I met with Sean and made sure I was on track with everything so in my opinion, progress was made. Also, the peer revisions helped immensely with the organization of my project. 

Some challenges I had were figuring out how to make my QRG the best possible QRG with the content I had from my interviews. I wasn’t sure what to include or what to leave out and how I should incorporate images.

Next week will hopefully go well because I will have submitted my project 2 by that point so the stress will be over with. I will then have to focus on what project 3 asks for.

I am feeling much more confident about project 2 than I did about project 1. I have a better idea of what exactly I am supposed to do and how I can manage my time for this project. I find it much easier this time around than it was a month ago to handle all of the blog posts.

Editorial Report 9b

In this post, I will post my rough cut and my revised version of a section from my QRG.

Rough Cut

What is the rhetorical situation?

The purpose of a scientific paper is to present large amounts of research usually published in a journal.The audience for a scientific paper typically consists of other scientists and researchers. Professor Braun stated, “You write a scientific paper for the experts in the field, for a wide audience of scientists so they can read and understand information.”Oral presentations are typically used for preliminary publications that are presented in 10 minutes or less. Most small research is presented this way and there is a more clearly defined and specific audience. Powerpoints are necessary for an audience of students or people who are not as familiar with the subject of the powerpoint. This is vastly different from a scientific paper because it is much simpler and easier to understand for a general audience.

Revised Version

What is the rhetorical situation?

The purpose of a scientific paper is to present large amounts of research usually published in a journal. I know what you are thinking, how overwhelming! Don’t get too ahead of yourself, this is why conventions are important when writing a scientific paper.

The audience for a scientific paper typically consists of other scientists and researchers. Professor Braun stated, “You write a scientific paper for the experts in the field, for a wide audience of scientists so they can read and understand information.”

Oral presentations are typically used for preliminary publications that are presented in 10 minutes or less. Most small research is presented this way and there is a more clearly defined and specific audience.

Powerpoints, on the other hand, are necessary for an audience of students or people who are not as familiar with the subject of the powerpoint. This is vastly different from a scientific paper because it is much simpler and easier to understand for a general audience.

Answers to Audience Questions:

I added more to the content to make it more interesting for my reader. After re-reading this section, I found it to be very bland and hard to get through. So I just added a few sentences to present a clearer and more intriguing analysis of a rhetorical situation.

I changed the form quite a bit for this section. I made it much easier to read by creating spaces in between lines so that there are brief paragraphs instead of one large one. Additionally, I highlighted crucial points of the section to get the reader’s attention.

Editorial Report 9a

In this post, I will share my rough cut and my re-edited version of a section in my QRG.

Selection from rough-cut

Why is rhetorical situation so crucial when one is professionally writing?

In my interviews, I asked “Is there anything about professional communication in the medical field that you think students should know?”

Dantzler replied, “The one thing I would emphasize is before you present anything, organize your thoughts and decide what you are going to present and who you are presenting to. The biggest problem is always writing for graduate students; it is hard to teach them to write, it takes so much time and most students don’t know how to write because they aren’t taught in junior high and high school. When you are writing something, remember to keep track of parallel ideas and sentence structure. You can’t have inappropriate writing styles, especially when presenting science. Make an outline even of a sentence; if you are organized, your writing will fall together!”

The three main genres that each professor brought up were scientific papers, orally presentations, and PowerPoints.

Selection from Re-edited Revised Version

Why is rhetorical situation so crucial when one is professionally writing?

Being able to understand and analyze the rhetorical situation of your writing can help contribute to strong, audience-focused and organized writing.

In my interviews, I asked “Is there anything about professional communication in the medical field that you think students should know?”

Dantzler replied, “The one thing I would emphasize is before you present anything, organize your thoughts and decide what you are going to present and who you are presenting to. The biggest problem is always writing for graduate students; it is hard to teach them to write, it takes so much time and most students don’t know how to write because they aren’t taught in junior high and high school. When you are writing something, remember to keep track of parallel ideas and sentence structure. You can’t have inappropriate writing styles, especially when presenting science. Make an outline even of a sentence; if you are organized, your writing will fall together!”

The three main genres that each professor brought up were scientific papers, orally presentations, and PowerPoints. Depending on what kind of information is being presented, each of these genres have specific conventions that must be followed in order to be successful.

Answers to Audience Questions:

The content changed only slightly; I simply added to it. My rough cut had just the basics: my interview questions and responses. I revised this by adding more content to clarify what the topic of this QRG is. Because this section is in the beginning on my QRG, I found it necessary to include significant points and ideas that will later be elaborated on.

The form changed even more slightly than the content. The only thing I changed was the color of a line to bring attention to it. It was part of a quote that Dantzler made about the importance of organization. What I talk about in every section is organization so this sets up the rest of the QRG.

Open Post to Peer Reviewers

In this post, I will discuss my Project 2 rough draft.

My project is a QRG focuses on the writing genres of professionals in my field, which is physiology. I assure you that this is a VERY rough draft; as in I am aware that QRG's should have pictures distributed throughout. I haven't gotten that far but I do have the entirety of my content, which I thought was more crucial to finish. Here is my rough draft.

Reflection on Production Phase

In this post, I will reflect on my production phase.

Some of the successes of this week were committing to a genre for Project 2 and deciding how I was going to organize all of my information. Even though I had an outline in the pre-production phase, I wasn't entirely sure how I was actually going to produce a QRG.

Some of the challenges of this week were determining what information from my interviews was actually useful. I understood what the main goal for the project was, but I didn't want to include anything that was not useful to my project; at the same I didn't want my project to lack anything.

I think next week will definitely go smoothly; I have planned out my entire project. My rough draft is definitely not what I expect my final draft to look like, but it isn't terrible. I have all of the crucial content but it still needs some cleaning up.

Overall, I continue to grow more confident about Project 2 as the weeks go on. I think that the peer reviews will help me figure out if I am on the right track or not.

Production Report 8b

In this post, I will adapt my first body section of my outline.

Outline Item:

First Body Section:

The main idea for this section will be one of the genre examples that each professor had brought up: Scientific paper. It seems to be the most commonly used genre for this specific field of study (physiology). I will talk about conventions of the scientific paper and the importance of specificity in this genre. Some conventions include subtitles and different types of presentable research (graphs, photos, drawings). Major pieces of evidence for this specific project are Braun’s contribution to the scientific journal, “Regulation of Water and Electrolytes” and Dantzler’s professional publication “Comparative Physiology of the Vertebrate Kidney.”

Adaptation of Outline:

Significant Conventions of a Scientific Paper

Conventions are crucial to follow when writing a scientific paper. If you do not follow the exact format, let’s just say you audience will be thoroughly confused.

Braun stated, “ Writing a scientific paper takes time and planning; write what’s easiest first. Start with what you know: your methods and results. Then step back, and write your introduction and discuss the meer image of that introduction. The production of a scientific paper has a vastly different framework and method than any other paper.”

Dantzler: “Research papers typically have introductions, then methods, presentations in graphs and tables, and a conclusion.“

What steps take the longest when producing a scientific paper?

Braun: “The actual research took the longest, as well as the actual brainstorming. Writing the actual papers does not take long at all.’

Major pieces of evidence of Scientific Papers

Dantzler’s publication “Comparative Physiology of the Vertebrate Kidney.” This is a relatively content heavy novel with several chapters presenting information of the different roles and processes of kidney regulation.

The Journal of Comparative Physiological Psychology presents scientific papers from several experiments performed on animals to compare mostly their neurology to their physiology. Basically, why they might act the way they do and what it tells us about human physiology and psychology.

Specific details of the overall purpose are the titles of each of the scientific papers in the journal:

“A Vagally Mediated Histaminergic Component of Food-Related Drinking in the Rat”

Audience Questions: 

I used the conventions of a QRG to present the information in my body section in an easy to read way. I did this by spacing out my paragraphs and taking useless sentences out so that the content was not too heavy.

The production of this raw material was overwhelming. I found myself putting useless information in my QRG and after reading it over again I cleaned it up. I also made use of subtitles to help organize my topics.

Production Report 8a

In this post, I will adapt my opening section of my outline. Please keep in mind that I still need to add photos into my QRG this is just the content of it. :)

Outline Item:

Opening Section:

My opening section will include an attention grabber for the reader. My genre for this specific project is a QRG; therefore, I will begin talking about the importance of context and rhetorical situation when one is professionally writing. I will then continue to talk about my major and the possible career fields it leads into. Next, I will introduce my interviewees and give a brief background summary on both of them.

Adaptation of Outline Item:

Opening Section of QRG:

Everything there is to know on how Physiology professors and researchers create texts in the work that they do

I recently interviewed two retired physiology professors at the University of Arizona over the past few weeks: Professor Eldon Braun and Professor William Dantzler. Both of the interviewees have PhD titles who worked for the University of Arizona.. In my interviews, I discussed the kinds of writing and composing genres they mostly used in their field.

Why is rhetorical situation so crucial when one is professionally writing?

Being able to understand and analyze the rhetorical situation of your writing can help contribute to strong, audience-focused and organized writing.

 One of my interview questions was “is there anything about professional communication in the medical field that you think students should know?

Dantzler replied, “The one thing I would emphasize is before you present anything, organize your thoughts and decide what you are going to present and who you are presenting to. The biggest problem is always writing for graduate students; it is hard to teach them to write, it takes so much time and most students don’t know how to write because they aren’t taught in junior high and high school. When you are writing something, remember to keep track of parallel ideas and sentence structure. You cant have inappropriate writing styles, especially when presenting science. Make an outline even of a sentence; if you are organized, your writing will fall together!”

The three main genres that each professor brought up were scientific papers, orally presentations, and PowerPoints. Depending on what kind of information is being presented, each of these genres have specific conventions that must be followed in order to be successful. 

What is the rhetorical situation?

The purpose of a scientific paper is to present large amounts of research usually published in a journal. I know what you are thinking, how overwhelming! Don’t get too ahead of yourself, this is why conventions are important when writing a scientific paper. The audience for a scientific paper typically consists of other scientists and researchers.

Professor Braun stated, “You write a scientific paper for the experts in the field, for a wide audience of scientists so they can read and understand information.”

Oral presentations are typically used for preliminary publications that are presented in 10 minutes or less. Most small research is presented this way and there is a more clearly defined and specific audience. 

Powerpoints, on the other hand, are necessary for an audience of students or people who are not as familiar with the subject of the powerpoint. This is vastly different from a scientific paper because it is much simpler and easier to understand for a general audience.

Audience Questions:

I decided to use an attention grabber for my audience in my introduction. Because I am using a QRG for Project 2, I came up with a clear and interesting title so that the reader knows exactly what the topic of the QRG is. 

The actual production of this material was slightly difficult because at first I wasn't sure what to include in the introduction. There is so much information to present that it is crucial I organize it in the best way possible so I don't lose my audience. Once I got on the right track and dedicated writing my opening section on informing the reader on the rhetorical situation, the process became much easier. 

Reflection on Pre-Production Phase

This post will be focused on my reflection on the pre-production phase.

Some of the successes during this week’s progress work were getting all of my interviews done. Once that was out of the way and I had all of the information needed, my next step was determining the main writing genres to focus on for my project. During my interviews, I was given a ton of information of the various ways of creating texts as a professional in the physiology field. I decided to focus on three major writing genres discussed in my interviews: Scientific papers, Oral presentation/abstract, and scientific reviews.

The challenges for this week were very minimal. My interviewees were very helpful and cooperative. The only challenge was, as mentioned before, determining what writing genres I should talk about. Nothing went wrong once I had scheduled my interviews. It was slightly difficult, however, to find two professionals who was willing to meet with me.

I think next week will go smoothly as long as I don’t procrastinate. I have a very busy schedule; considering it is the week before spring break, it is also midterm week. Therefore, I need to plan out the best times to work on the production phase.

I am feeling more confident about the project as each week passes. At first, I was thoroughly confused on what this project was supposed to be like. However, every time I go to class my peers and Sean give me a better understanding of the expectations of this project.

Production Schedule

In this post, I will provide my production schedule:

What is to be done: Fortunately, I have already conducted both of my interviews. So now all I need to focus on is gathering all of the information that I was given and producing a podcast segment. I plan to familiarize myself more with each professor’s major publications and analyze the different genres used.

Project Phase	Starting date	Ending Date	Location
Interviews	2/22/16	2/26/16	Main Medical Center Building
Introduction	3/1/16	3/6/16	Library (somewhere I can focus)
Organization of Information	3/1/16	3/6/16	Library (somewhere I can focus)
Analysis	3/6/16	3/10/16	Library (somewhere I can focus)
Conclusion	3/6/16	3/10/16	Library (somewhere I can focus)
Rough Draft	3/6/16	3/10/16	Library (somewhere I can focus)
Revision	3/20/16	3/27/16	Library
Final Draft	3/20/16	3/27/16	Library

Location: The location of my production will mostly be in the library because I need somewhere quiet to focus.

Planned date and time: I will start producing the rough draft of my project this week because I will be going out of town for the entire duration of spring break.

Resources required: Computer, previous blog posts, and interview responses.

Date Completed: I will complete my entire project obviously before its due date (March 27). However I will make sure my rough draft is submitted on my blog by Thursday, March 10^th, before I leave for spring break.

Changes made after completion and reasons why: After peer reviewing is done, I will apply the suggestions to my final draft. I will also make any necessary changes to my content if I conduct more research on each genre convention and find important details to include. 

Content Outline

In this post, I will provide a link to my outline for Project 2.

Project 2 Outline