Everything’s an Argument: Chapter 6 & 17

I enjoyed the readings this week. I feel like they were both helpful when I was trying to compose my article analysis for the artifacts that I received from the person I contacted. The point that I gained most from the reading is that everything is a claim. This to me means that any piece of writing artifacts can be evidence for what the document is trying to persuade. The documents that I received made me think about the assigned readings because it made me think that whatever is written can support a claim. There are countless different claims that can be made, it is up to the organization or person as to what argument and claim they are trying to state. If an organization doesn’t have a strong claim then people who are trying to learn more about it might be unsure as to what they are trying to promote or support.

The second reading is all about finding evidence, whether that be a scholarly article, Google, surveys, or personal observations, there is always a way to gather data and display your evidence. Being able to incorporate evidence into artifacts is very important. For example the program I chose to reach out compiled all of their research and put information on flyers so they could better educate the population with the facts that they have found. Being able to find evidence and share it with the community is important, but it has to be the right and true evidence, not false. It is always important to be able to support the evidence you found and create a document that can positively support the claim you are making. It is also very important to keep the interview/questions that are being asked to be easily understood. When researching/finding evidence questions need to be clear so search engine as well as readers to understand what is being asked. 

Both of these reading were helpful to me when I was reading through the artifacts that were given to me. It made me take a step back and look further into the information that was being presented (positive or negative) and analyze how their research/data was compiled and presented.

Preliminary Artifact Analysis

For this project I chose to reach out to a woman who works at a regional office of state’s Every Woman Counts program, which provides free breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services and public education to low income and uninsured woman age 40+ through a network of local community and public clinics. I am very interested in public health and how different demographics get educated in regards to different issues, so I felt like this woman was the perfect candidate for me to interview.

                                                        

Alright now to dissecting her written artifacts… First off the genre of the documents that I received was primarily educational, friendly, and created a sense of community. The artifacts that I was given are mostly flyers or informative handouts to give to people. The documents are educational because there are many different facts embedded in the text about breast and cervical cancer in regards to how to prevent, how to treat, and how to qualify under the Every Woman Counts program. The flyers display the educational information if a very clear and concise way that allows for the reader to easily comprehend the information displayed. Because of the friendly style that these artifacts display, it could draw the attention of the target audience and create a sense of understanding and demonstration of willing and wanting to help. Friendly is important when trying to reach out to a specific group, if the flyers were try and full of boring texts it is probable that not as many people would choose to read it. The flyers are friendly because there are many pictures of happy women naturally smiling in a group of women who in a sense shows that they “support each other”. When a women is choosing to get educated about something that they are unfamiliar with, it is important for them to feel like they are being supported and part of a family or a specific group that is welcoming. Because friendly vibe that the documents project it can also create a sense of community, demonstrating to the people being educated that they are not alone and are being supported.

Writing conventions, these include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar that help make the documents clear and understandable. The reader should be able to finish the reading without having to stop to try to figure out what is being intended to be read. The artifacts that I received had no spelling errors, meaning that they probably had numerous people proof read and edit this document. The punctuation is clear, there are not any texts that I feel like ran together or is unclear. The text is spaced out so it can clearly be read in the order that it was intended to be read and there are paragraph brakes to show that it is a different thought. In regards to capitalization the beginning of each sentence is capitalized as well as the title of each document. The grammar, the whole system and structure of the documents are very clear. There are not any words that are imbedded in the text that should not be there and the reader isn’t left trying to piece together what the document is intended to say.

The audience of this document is clearly intended for women over 40 who are in need of education in regards to breast and cervical cancer screening and diagnostic services. There are only older (40-70 year old) women displayed on the brochures. This shows that they have a target audience that they are marketing towards and trying to reach out to. I was only given the documents written in English but because we live in a community where a vast majority of the unemployed women over 40 are Hispanic they also have the same documents translated into Spanish. So on the brochures they are targeting their audience to be multicultural and once again creating a sense of community. The color scheme I believe also plays into who the audience is intended to be. Two of the documents I was giver were a soft purple and light green, these colors represent to me a sense of understanding, calm, and collected.

The purpose of the documents, are to educate women and to show that health is affordable. There are many women who need to be educated on this topic and it is the Every Woman Counts program’s job to reach out and inform the community. The purposes of these documents are to also hook the reader and to make the reader want to learn more about the program. They are supposed to be educational and lure the reader in so that they can gain the benefits from the program.

The tone of these artifacts I believe to be simple, clear, and friendly. Friendly I think is the biggest underlying tone because once again the document wants to draw the reader in and create a sense of community. The artifacts also are educational which I believe to be a tone. Since the artifacts are meant to be educational and create a sense of community the author of these documents has a hard job to create a piece of informative literature that creates a feeling for the reader to relate to.

The style of these artifacts is simple, informative, and clear. Many people who are being given these documents are not educated in regards to what the Every Woman Counts program has to offer, so the program needs to create a style of understanding, community, education, and easily understood. The style of the writing means a lot to the reader, if the text is dry (which this one is not), than the reader will probably choose to put the flyer down after reading the first line or two. The style needs to draw the reader in and make them want to keep reading, which is why I think the artifacts I was given are very well put together. They are easily able to be read and understood but at the same time very informative.

Artifact Request Assignment... (final draft)

Hello Adriana Morales,

I am a student at Antioch University and am working on a research assignment for my Academic Writing class. I have been studying Biomedical Science at SBCC and am now attending Antioch University to study Business Management and Entrepreneur. 

I am reaching out to you because I am interested in learning more about your program for myself as well as learning for a class. I was researching different medical programs in Santa Barbara and found you through your website. For my class, I would like to request 3-5 writing artifacts that I would receive from you. These could be emails, flyers, Instagram posts, resumes you receive, or informative brochures. Following receiving these artifacts I would analyze them on my own and create questions for you, which then we would set up a meeting time for questions to be answered. 

Would you be able to provide me with written artifacts in regards to your program so I can better understand all of the work that goes into your work? I would love to know more about the classes you give to the community, the different health fares, and how you interact with the clients you strive to teach and inform daily. 

I look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.

Thank you you for your time,

Lyric Randall    

Antioch University Student

BA: Business Management

AA: Biomedical Science

Rough Draft e-mail to program

Hello Adriana Morales,

I am a student at Antioch University and am working on a research assignment for my Academic Writing class. I have been studying Biomedical Science at SBCC and am now attending Antioch University to study Business Management and Entrepreneur. I am reaching out to you because I am interested in learning more about your program for myself as well as learning for a class. was researching different medical programs in Santa Barbara and found you through your website. For my class, I would like to request 3-5 writing artifacts that I would receive from you. These could be emails, flyers, or informative brochures. Following receiving these artifacts I would analyze them on my own and create questions for you, which then we would set up a meeting time for questions to be answered. Would you be able to provide me with written artifacts in regards to your program so I can better understand all of the work that goes into your work? I would love to know more about the classes you give to the community, the different health fares, and how you interact with the clients you strive to teach and inform daily.

I look forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,

Lyric Randall

Week 3 (July 22) Readings

Reading the Excellence in Business communication chapter 7 and 8 I found very helpful. I chose to do my readings before I began my draft email to the program I am choosing to contact. This reading helped me better understand the meaning of better business communication. The key point I drew out of the reading was making sure all communication is effective! A busy person on the job doesn't have enough time to read a long lengthy email, most likely they will either skim over the context or choose to ignore the email. I think that if a point can be made in the least amount of words that is effective the better. One thing that I found from the chapter 7 that I found most interesting when writing a company email are the two things that you should always consider before you push send... Ask yourself, "would I say this to my audience face to face? Am I comfortable with this message becoming a permanent part of the company's communication history?" I can not image how many people do not take this into account and through care to the wind when the choose to communicate through email with someone. The key words that I drew from chapter 8 was: be specific, comply with your audience, pay attention to tone. Once again another message I drew was keep it clear and effective.

The next reading Understanding Rhetoric's primary underlying message is saying the right thing at the right time, as well as it is important to change to meet the needs of different audiences. There are different social contexts that people can play different roles, everyone has different social roles that they can play to better communicate with a certain group. Later on in the reading, it discusses identity. When composing an email to someone it is important that once again, everything is clear and there is not room for interpretation! It is critical that when communicating with someone you are clear and don't leave room for them to fill in the gaps.

All in all I found these reading very informative. I will definitely be using some of the tools when I reach out to the program I am interested in.

Week 2 Reading Homework

This weeks reading was primarily composed of introducing us to rhetoric and presenting the idea that "everything's an argument".

First I will begin with rhetoric. The way that the readers were composed (all comics) is a really fun, engaging, thought provoking, and overall cool way to learn about a subject (much better then text books). The first bit we read about, "spaces for writing", I think mentioned a lot of really good points. When I first sit down and think about writing a paper my mind becomes black and as the text says I feel like I am "waiting for inspiration". Those three lines made me think, I don't need to wait for inspiration to come to me I just need to begin writing. Even if I choose to begin writing one way I can always decide to change my direction of the paper and create a truly though provoking paper. I also really liked "writing is a social activity that involves communication between people". This is very true, I mean after all you are reading my blog and potentially going to respond, that is creating social activity and a place to communicate. I feel with the more communication a person has in regards to a subject matter the more informed they can be and in turn are able to create a more thought out paper. Rhetoric has three main components: ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos meaning credibility of the subject that the writer is writing about (ethics). Pathos uses the emotion in depute an argument (empathy). Logos means a well structured argument (logos). When you combine these three forces you create the rhetoric triangle, meaning all three aspects come together to help create a stronger purpose.



On a different note... Next we read about "everything's an argument". This chapter was primarily about how there are many different forms of an argument. There are arguments that are about the past, future, about individuals, create an argument that is more informative, and are also persuading. These are just a few different examples that can be used to demonstrate an argument. Another main point that I noticed was that anything digital can be used as evidence and therefor can be applied to an argument. Make sure you don't say anything that you wouldn't want to be used against you!

Week 1 Homework Writing 310

A short blurb about me, Lyric Randall.

Hello all, I am a small town girl from Oregon who absolutely loves the great outdoors, anything active, my family and friends, good food, traveling, live music, and any new adventures that find their way into my life. I have been living in Santa Barbara for the past two years and have absolutely loved it. I moved here only knowing my boyfriend and one good family friend who traveled here once every year. Because I lived in the same town from the time I was six until twenty, I was a little apprehensive and frightened about what a new place would be like. So far Santa Barbara has not let me down. The first year I was in Santa Barbara I chose to take a year off from school to work and get settled in a new place. I found a good restaurant job at Opal Restaurant and Bar, and am still happily working as a manager there for the remainder of the time while I am in school. Once I had gotten settled in after the first year I attended classes at SBCC and got an AA in Biomedical Science. I love the human body, it fascinates me! Unfortunately I don’t want to be a doctor when I grow up, so I wanted find a new path to walk down, that lead to study Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Antioch University. My end goal is to merge these two worlds, and how I want to do that I have not exactly pin pointed. I think being a medical sales rep or working for a sports company would truly intrigue me, but I know my options are open. Overall I would say that I am a person who can always find the positive, is outgoing, and happy to take on any new adventure.