New Literacy

I found Clive Thompson’s article on new literacy to be very interesting. It offered insight on crucial research performed that made his argument persuasive. After thinking about it for a while, I have come to the conclusion that I agree with Clive Thompson. The new social media out there, such as texting, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and so much more has introduced a whole new process of creative and productive writing. Although I am not a frequent user of all these programs, it is evident that they have shaped my writing experience. Being able to post a status update or post a comment, gives you a sense of pride in your writing. Knowing that you have an ‘audience’ at hand, you want to impress and make a statement. This generation has the ability and access to express their opinions and thoughts on absolutely anything you can think about. All the way from sharing their favorite food to articulating on their political views. Yes, you will run into the occasional nonsense or inappropriateness over the social media, but the marginal value is exceptional. People don’t have to wait for the right time to convey their thoughts, they just write. And then in an instant other see, others argue, others agree, others believe. We are witnessing a truly amazing time period. We need to embrace it, not flee from it. 

The rhetorical situation in this ad is the act of trying to persuade people that Apple computers are superior to PC. As you can clearly see Apple has no bandages on, whereas PC is covered with them. This implies that PC has many faults with their system and breaks down easily. The clothing in the picture can also represent another rhetorical situation. PC could be for the more business savvy customers because of the formal clothes he is wearing and Apple could cater to the artistic and media arts side because of his casual clothes. This describes the audience for the rhetorical situation. The use of pathos is evident in this ad. Although they are not trying to invoke sympathy or sadness for PC’s with the ad, I feel as if they are reaching out to the customers who can relate to all the failures of PC and spark anger.

Writer's Profile

The art of writing has never come easy to me. I feel like I am always dreading the idea of putting words to paper. Either I get distracted while writing or I have no motivation to progress through the paper. A lot of the times I will have a great idea and start to express it out loud or in my mind and then once I come to typing I get a blank stare and forget all the good thoughts put together. Thankfully a lot of this stress of writing and forgetting ideas has been aided by a good writing process given to me a few years ago.

I have been taught to gather all my thoughts on the specific subject for the assignment and write them down on paper and keep going until I can think no more. I then start jotting my main ideas down on note cards that I will refer to later on in the paper. The note cards might consist of examples or topics. After I have done this I start writing a rough outline with no perimeters. Then once I have gotten a better feel for the assignment I start with my thesis and state what I will be addressing in my paper. The thesis statement usually contains three main topics that will fill my body paragraphs. I then jump back to my note cards for examples to help me write my body paragraphs. Finally I end with my conclusion paragraph that restates the thesis in a new way.

After I have finished my paper, I go back and check over everything, but mostly my body paragraphs to make sure the examples and ideas are correct. This writing process so far has worked for me. There are numerous times however that I will get stuck on my own thoughts and not know where to go next, especially on the rough outline where I have little structure. Another challenge with my writing process is that it poses the problem of straying away from the topic of the assignment because I have formed various ideas throughout the procedure. In all, I feel very comfortable with my process, but I am also open to new and interesting writing techniques.