Five Major Concepts

The five major concepts of the class include analyzing texts, producing, designing, editing, and circulation. One of the things we have consistently done in class this semester is the breaking down of texts for interpretation. Analyzing texts is important because everyone interprets what they read in a different way, so by picking apart the articles that we have read, we can better understand the meaning and intent behind the text.  Producing is another key concept in this class since we are constantly writing whether it is an in class assignment, or journal post, creating new material is something we are always doing. Producing does not only have to be new material, but the assemblage of old texts for a new purpose as well. Designing goes hand in hand with producing, and is an important concept that I have learned in the class. I have used a variety of digital media platforms, as well as physical texts over the course of the semester, and found that the way you present your material can have more of an impact on the reader than the text itself. Furthermore, in order to produce the best material or text there must be some type of correction or modification, which is why editing is a central concept in the class. In almost every class, students are put into groups to edit and review each others work which is beneficial as a writer because it helps point out our weaknesses and what we can improve on, as well as gain a different perspective on the text. Finally, circulation is a concept that has been relevant in every project and classroom discussion since we were first introduced to the term. Knowing how a text is able to spread and circulate around a community is very important when choosing the type of platform you want to distribute your text, which is why this concept can be used for any type of material you produce.

5 Major Concepts

Throughout this course there has been a variety of concepts that have been discussed and reviewed, however, the five that stand out the most are analysis, design, circulation, editing, and digital text. We have analyzed several articles, texts, and theorists in order to establish a better grasp on how writing and editing works in the print and digital world. Projects one, two, and three all involved analysis of the theorists and application of our analysis to our exigence and media. In addition to the analysis of the theorists and comparative texts, design played a large role in our class and our projects. What kind of layout and platform would best exemplify our exigence? How will the design of the media effect how the audience interprets the exigence? How can we apply what we've learned from the theorists and apply that to our project? In correspondence with design, circulation was a key component in our projects and the texts discussed in class. The designs we saw inspired the designs we chose in our projects to achieve, or hope for, extended circulation of the media. Our drafts and peer- review provide edits that aid us in the revisions necessary to create a suitable project that works with our exigencies and media. Finally, digital text was seen throughout the course from a theorist we had to read online the night before class to the journal response I'm writing right now to a Twitter account my group is creating for our project.

What are the five major concepts of the class?

There were many new concepts introduced throughout the semester, however there were five that stood out the most among them: design, analysis, digital and print texts and how they work together and apart, editing, and circulation/spreadability. In a digital world it is sometimes easy to forget that print text still plays an important role in the writing process, and isn't a polar opposite of digital text, they each have their own benefits that are not present in the other, but with that comes weakness that the other is able to boost. When addressing an exigence it is best to use both digital and print text in order to reach a wide audience and exemplify it, before this class I thought that digital media on its own was the best way to spread a message, but now I know that you need both to work together. Circulation, even if not blatantly being stated, is addressed in almost every text we read, because what's the point of creating a text if no one is going to be reading it? Circulation ties in other key concepts of rhetoric as well as spreadability, and something that you must think of throughout the entire process of creating a text, because you want it to go as far as it possibly can. Editing is exemplified through the peer review and several group interactions that occurred, although having someone read your work and having to give comments on someone else's work can seem stressful, it does help us grow as writers and editors. Design needs just as much focus as the writing itself, how do you plan on formatting the piece? Are you going to include any images or video that goes along with your text? Does the piece work better on a site with already established formatting or should you choose one that lets you take complete control? There is so much more that goes into the writing process than simply writing, and this class helps establish the skills you need that work together with writing in order to create the best representation of your text and increase the audience.

Melissa Kimball: Five Major Concepts

The five major concepts of this class are analyzing, producing, designing, assessing, and editing. Reading is important for classes and day-to-day living. By reading, you learn. The next step to reading, however, is analyzing. When you analyze something, you pick apart the text. You gain a deeper understanding of the topic by gaining a deeper understanding of the text itself. In this class, the topic just so happened to be about producing and designing, so, of course, analyzing was a very important step in learning this. Producing is, obviously, producing a text—whether that is a paragraph, and essay, an image, or a video, it doesn’t matter. As we learned, though, producing a text isn’t as simple as slapping words on a page. We learned about exigence and rhetoric so that we could communicate more efficiently and more powerfully. Design is the second step to producing. We learned that design can make or break a text. If you found a problem and found something to say about it, you then have to decide how to say it. This is where the words/image/video thing comes into play. Of course, it’s ever more complex than that, and we learned that even a social media post works differently across the different platforms. How and where you say it are key. Assessing, I think, is very similar to analyzing. Once you’ve said what you’ve had to say, others will view it and automatically assess it. They decide whether it is right or wrong, true or false. Their reaction to one text sparks the production and design of your other texts. If you didn’t communicate effectively, you change how or what you’ve said so that you eventually will. This is the editing portion. All five major concepts form a cycle that can be applied to everyday living. This cycle is an understated form of typical, normal conversations. We come into contact with this cycle every day, and most probably don’t even realize it.

Five Major Concepts

The major concepts of this class is circulation, editing, collaboration, understanding how the real world and digital world can be used together, and an understanding of how a text operates.  One of the things that I have noticed that we did in the class over and over again, even to the point of us (or at least me), groaning about it is teamwork.  Ever since the beginning of the class, we have been paired off in one way or another to edit each others work.  Even though I was initially annoyed by this, we do that so we can help each other out as writers and we can learn from each other.  I definitely feel like I have learned quite a bit not just from this class, but my classmates as well.  Out of all the terms we have learned in class, I believe circulation is the most important one.  The reason why I say this is because we learn how a text travels online and in the physical world.  We could write anything at all, but it would not matter if we somehow do not get others to actually see our text.  That is why circulation is so important.  That also ties into how a text operates.  Once again, we could write anything, but if we do not understand how to make the text have the most impact by understanding various terms like exigence, circulation, audience, and the like, then the text we ant to create will be useless.  One of the more interesting things we learned is how the real world and the digital world has such a huge impact on how we write.  Usually when I think of the internet, I usually associate it as it's own entity separate from the real world.  Of course, that is not actually the case.  You can use the real world and use it to get traffic to the text you want people to see.  Things like flyers and other advertisements bring traffic online and thus, you are using both worlds in collaboration.  I feel like these concepts are the most important thing we have learned in this class. 

Five Major Concepts

           The main goals of this class are to make students proficient writers in different media as well as effective at assessing the work of others as well as themselves. In order for these goals to be met the class has focused on five major concepts, analyzing, production, design, assessment and editing. The reading and analyzing the work of others is a fundamental part of writing and editing. The different perspectives that others have on subjects such as the way technology has affected writing or what constitutes a rhetorical situation are important to informing the student’s own ideas by allowing them to agree or disagree with opposing sources. Producing original writing based off of the readings gave the student practice, as did being required to design their own texts in media other than a word processor. The self and peer editing and assessment allowed for students to get practice by editing the work of others and seeing what their own strengths and weaknesses were in their writing. The advantages of having other people look at ones work and offering feedback is greatly helpful in creating a text that is clear to the audience. This class has made students more aware of the different opinions of other writers, better at creating and designing texts, and more aware of how to improve the writings of others as well as themselves. 

Five Major Concepts of the Course

The five major concepts of this class are: 1) the analysis of extant print and online media, 2) the composition of texts for publication, 3) the design of such texts to facilitate publication, 4) the revision of texts to enhance comprehensibility, and 5) the identification of the new role technologies play in the publication process.

The analysis of extant print and online media has allowed us as a class to identify previous patterns of publication that has developed as textuality and rhetoric develop. Readings like those of Gladwell and Porter trace the growth and function of writing, moving from record-keeping to the growth of rhetorical and intellectual communities. This forms a foundation from which we were tasked with composing our own texts for publication, accomplished through the three major projects in the course. Each project required that theoretical understanding be applied to generate original content, demonstrating and applying the experience and theory of prior practitioners and rhetoricians. Successful composition includes the development and implementation of certain design elements and principles, which are also covered in the assigned readings and discussions in class. Through this interaction with the concepts behind design, students are able to develop design techniques to better facilitate and develop publication practice. Before any of the projects or texts written are ready to be published, however, the class guides students through the revision process through not only simple self-checks, but the creation and evaluation of heuristics to thoroughly interrogate composed texts. This empowered each of us to grow not only as writers but also as editors, identifying non-traditional and atypical aspects of publication as important and impactful in modern publishing. Finally, this course has sought to legitimize and justify use of modern technology like social media and Internet publications in the world of publishing. Through readings and practical interaction with these technologies, they are put in context and validated as modern publication media.

This class has sought to develop a skill set for composition and publication both in print as well as online media.