Free write: 7 Characteristics of genre

7 Characteristics of genre:

-social: help people make sense of shared social experiences

-dynamic: have purposeful choices within in, they are stable

-rhetorical: stable and fluid (purposeful; you’re doing something with intent in mind), since they are you know theres a mix of things to choose from

-historical: the genre itself: are about Antecedent genre: off spring things comes from

-Cultural: macro level of context then micro… R.Williams: culture is a particular way of life, of a time and a place, other things experienced by a group that understands itself as a identifiable group. Cultures define what genre looks like *ex:social media platforms *ex: scientists use lab reports not poems

- situated: micro level of genre:  situation determines type of genre your’e going to see. ex: note on car could be a ticket or note depending on you. Ex: slideshow for wedding makes you happy, same photos can make you sad if you used for a funeral book

  -ideological: think about values, ideologies are sets of value systems. Genres have value system depending on how much you use them you may later adapt them.

Julies Notes : https://moodle2.uncc.edu/pluginfile.php/1545150/mod_label/intro/Dean.GenreTheory.Spring.2015.JC.Notes.pdf

Genres:

-cant be defined just like you cant really define yourself completely

-are representative of our lives

-any social act can be discussed in terms of genres

-ways of being in the world, there are so many ways of doing and saying things etc

*”Genres pervade lives. People use them, consciously and unconsciously, creatively and formulaically, for social functions and individual purposes, with critical awareness and blind immersion, in the past and yet today. They shape our experiences, and our experiences shape them. As we study and teach these ways of acting symbolically with others, we may be approaching an understanding not just of genres but the messy ways that human beings get along in their worlds” (Devitte,Writing 219).

Characteristics of genre are the foundation

Originally when asked what “genre” was I thought it was a simple thing to define. To me it was a category that met a certain criteria for describing music and writing or movies. After reading the article by Dean’s “Genre Theory”, I realized that there was more to the word. The article breaks down genre into having characteristics and similarities between each other. The characteristics of genre are the foundation of understanding genre in different contexts.

The article opens with “Genre Theory” Explanations.

“The vises of genre theory that help it address instructional challenges underscore the new way genre is being defined.” As I read the intro it made me form a question “What does it mean for writing to be socially constructed?” but I did grasp Millers theory that a genre is used to accomplish action rather than the form a genre takes or the situation that it a rises.
I read that genres can be rhetorical, meaning that someone can choose from many choices in order to fulfill their needs based on each situation. Similar to asking someone a rhetorical question, that person can think about all of the options and try to find the best fit. Initially I didn’t understand but a classmate compared it to a rhetorical question and it helped me better piece the concept.

“Genres pervade lives. People use them, consciously and unconsciously, Creatively and formulaically, for social functions and individual purposes, With critical awareness and blind immersion, in the past and yet today. They shape our experiences and our experiences shape them.”

This I understood of course it was new to me but I got it. I had to Google both pervade (spread through and be perceived in every part of) and formulaically (containing a verbal  formula or set form of words; followed rule or style)

The concept that genres are dynamic is fairly easy to grasp. “Their ability to be flexible also contributes to their dynamic nature: because genres can adapt, they also change.”  Also, their ability of genres to respond to and affect situation is part of what makes them dynamic.

Flexibility and Stability: Genres are actions “recognize mothers day card due to things that are stable, you know its not a flyer for a fish fry” Each card can differ though due to pop ups, music, etc

“Because genres don’t exist in a vacuum, our response to a situation can be guided by past responses.” Helped me better understand the historical context of genre.

Things I didn’t understand:

-The situated characteristic. It operates under the “micro level” of context and that “Such a context differs slightly from traditional views of the rhetorical situation.”

-How do genres help people make sense of shared personal experiences?

The Little Ones (Group Contribution Copy)

In recent years, cancer fundraising and awareness events has become an easy way for people to express support in the fight for a cure. However, studies indicate that not many people actually learn more about cancer from awareness activities. Furthermore, fundraising and awareness are poorly distributed through different types of cancer, meaning, some cancers are receiving millions of dollars annually, while smaller cancers struggle to to finance the basic needs of treatment.

No matter the survival rate, ‘popularity’, or funding, cancer is a scary disease that deeply touches the lives of people across the world. What makes this fact scarier is that some people do not understand the several different forms that cancer can take and how it can effect patients in more ways than just physical health.

The Little Ones is an online foundation that provides resources to educate others on several different aspects of smaller, less common cancers. Resources include patient video logs, blog posts, and articles that introduce different perspectives of the effects of cancer that they may not have known of before.

The Little Ones will also provide articles that will allow patients and family members to think beyond the medical treatment of cancer, such as emotional and spiritual health. Research has proven that stable emotional health plays a major role in cancer treatment, but it is also the hardest to maintain during such a difficult journey. Video logs of actual cancer patients during their treatment will be included in this website, providing hope and comfort to all those who are involved in the journey to treatment.

Finding the cure to cancer is not an easy task, but if there is equality in attention and fundraising in all different types and effects of cancer, we can bring ourself that much closer to a cure.

Call for Submissions Journal Cancer _______

Call for submissions journal ______

–Cancer support

-Cancer funding

-Cancer regimens

-Cancer theories

-Cancer research

-Cancer narratives (news, journalism,pop culture)

-Cancer narrative medicine

-Cancer Survivorship

http://cancerdiscovery.aacrjournals.org/content/5/2/102.2.full

*talks about Two immunotherapy drugs are showing promise for treating patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) who failed to respond to other therapies.

http://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/si/969808/cfp/

*Development of naturally derived anticancer drugs, therefore, is crucial, and isolation of novel compounds has become an important part of cancer research.

*Phytochemicals are chemical compounds that occur naturally in plants

http://www.theintima.org/crossroads/should-doctors-redraft-the-hippocratic-oath-zohar-lederman

*deals with caring for patients linked me to Dan Lufig

http://www.theintima.org/paradoxical-wishes.html

“So what I’ve begun this past week is to divide this time into five minutes of such self-indulgence and five minutes of mindful positive thoughts towards my patients. I don’t really have a good explanation for why I’m doing this other than the fact that it just feels right. (And if those prayer studies are to be believed, it may constitute some cost-effective healthcare as well.”

*this stuck out to me because It shows that some doctors don’t suffer from a doctor patient gap, this guy sounds like he’s there for his patients even out side of work, he manages to incorporate other peoples issues into his own state of prayer or meditation

http://www.jcancer.org/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pon.3763/abstract

*objective: evaluate the mode of delivery of a stress management intervention, in a group or individual setting, on self-reported cancer-related traumatic stress symptoms. A secondary aim was to evaluate a stepped care approach 

Class Facilitation: Analysis and Reflection & Writing

Class Facilitation:

Analysis and Reflection & Writing -(Kelsea, Alexa, Tyler, Manny, Chase)

Reflection : 

a thought occurring in consideration or meditation.

Uses of reflection: regrets, books, movies, changes as a person, reading/ writing in journals

Reflection can be used throughout the day

– the class took a trip down memory lane by viewing our old blog posts and trying to see if our opinions had changed or if we learned anything new since then that could be applied

Midterm Evaluation

Starjah: The Quest

-the moment was missing, analysis, and the walk away was present

-I liked the fact that this class made the writer enjoy writing more

Katherine: In That One Moment, I Became a Better Writer

-the moment was there, analysis, and the walk away were present

-I liked the fact that she took a weakness and turned it into a strength

I just got to see how my opinions have altered throughout the course on different things. I didn’t learn anything new today, of course my draft needs work its a draft I’ll probably head in new directions after I reflect a bit more. I felt good about the assignment prior to class today so unfortunately this discussion didn’t “better prepare me for the midterm assignment. This was my favorite facilitation by far though, the class was involved, it was more opinion based and reflection is always pretty easy to tackle.

In the grand scheme of things

I was asked to read some of information that my group gathered individually. Reading each persons piece helped me take in new information and be able to rely on new sources.

Megan’s inquiry log 3 post, she talks about how there are problems with communication between doctors and patients. Kayla’s inquiry log 2 talks about how she wishes there could be more “equality” in the cancer world. Immanuel’s Inquiry Log 2 talks about how breast cancer can be a gateway to increase the awareness of other cancers because all cancers need to be made aware of due to funding, prevention, and learning early symptoms.

In the grand scheme of things we’re moving into new directions. Ultimately we just all seem to be focusing on cancer patients and what they go through. There should be more awareness for all cancers no matter where they stand on the scale of more deadly, or more people affected. There should be more support from organizations, and even doctors.

My group members each did a great job with their inquiries. Ultimately I see that our inquiry about cancer is growing as we find other ways to expand our initial inquiry question. We’ve formed questions about the main purpose of partaking in cancer awareness, whether or not there is enough support for cancer patients, and the mental/emotional health of a person diagnosed with cancer.

Points in a Reflection Piece

There are 3 primary areas of reflection

1.Identify: capture a moment that is a significant to you as a writer so that you can come back a have a new perspective or elaborate on it. The moment doesn’t have to have changed you

2.Analyze: framework can be a religious, class room, ethics, writing class stance. think of ideas and try to relate them to something personal, question them, take other people’s opinions & questions into account

3.Articulate: form new understandings, making walk away statements, what learning took place, shows change in thinking… notice challenges and accomplishments “In the future I will” – isn’t necessary

*True work of reflection isn’t a summary, or just a free write. You need all 3 components not necessarily in that order.

Example:

Argument in relationship

1. think of the actual argument recall how angry you were, mean things said etc

2. You can think of what the bigger picture, what did the argument stem from, what was trying to be said that wasn’t necessarily said

3. I need to learn to listen to understand and not listen to respond

There’s more to Cancer

• What are the concerns of the authors I’ve been reading?
• What situations motivate them to write?
• What frames or contexts do they use to construct their arguments?
• What is my argument in response to their writing?
• What is at stake in my argument?
• Who will be interested in reading what I have to say?
• How can I connect with both sympathetic and antagonistic readers?
• What kinds of evidence will persuade my readers?
• What objections are they likely to raise?

According to “From Inquiry to secondary writing” after inquiry you will discover that writing grows out of answering a few questions. (The questions were listed above). To answer these questions, you must read in the role of writer by doing 3 things, 1. Identity an issue, then 2. Understand the situation, and lastly 3. Form a question.

After my 2^nd inquiry log I realized that it was time to take my questions into a new direction. It was so hard finding information around my group’s topic. Clearly we needed questions that could create a bigger picture. We were asked to find four new sources that may help with displaying a new angle on the inquiry proposal.

I realized how upsetting it could be to be diagnosed with any form of cancer. Whether it is less common, or more common I’m sure the news can make anyone feel uneasy. Then I thought back to the fact that the one particular cancer might be more publicized then others. I wondered how would it make me feel to know that what I’m going through isn’t receiving as much attention as I’d like. To feel like no one is out raising awareness on my behalf.

A video on Ted Talks caught my attention https://www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_the_case_for_emotional_hygiene .One of the statements posed in the video was “We’ll go to the doctor when we feel flu-ish or a nagging pain. So why don’t we see a health professional when we feel emotional pain: guilt, loss, loneliness?” It made me think of how there needs to be more support for cancer patients and not just through extending cancer awareness. Doctors tend to focus on the bigger picture of curing cancer, it seems that they don’t take the time aside to check in on the patients mental/emotional well being after being diagnosed. Ultimately it’s up to the patient to pick himself or herself up and stay optimistic. Guy Winch a compelling case to practice emotional hygiene, which is taking care of our emotions, our minds, with the same diligence we take care of our bodies. The framing this author uses deals with the fact that people need to not only focus on physical setbacks but the mental/emotional ones need attention too.

An article http://link.springer.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/article/10.1007/s00520-003-0585-y/fulltext.html stuck out to me. It was about a large proportion of cancer patients tending to experience psychiatric morbidity. Predictors of psychiatric morbidity include patient disease-related factors and factors relating to the patient’s environment. The article was written around a health questionnaire given to Turkish cancer patients. “Psychiatric morbidity was significantly higher in the patients who knew that they had a cancer diagnosis. These findings suggest that the awareness of cancer diagnosis is related to the presence of psychiatric morbidity.” I learned that understanding of the diagnosis indirectly may be stressful to cancer patients and can arouse suspicion about the cancer and treatment, which can lead to psychiatric disturbance. Therefore “prior history of psychiatric disorder, the presence of pain and family support are determinants of vulnerability to psychiatric disorder during the course of cancer.” Effective and clear communication is essential to the physician–patient relationship in the care of cancer patients. Supporting systems through which patients can get more information and learn coping skills seems to be important when it comes to the mental/emotional well being of cancer patients. The author is framing this piece on the fact that there should be more support for cancer patients.

Going back to awareness of breast cancer I found another article in the Atkins Library database http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0748798313001935#. The article “Breast cancer awareness month: does it really increase the breast cancer risk awareness?” Breast cancer awareness month is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awareness of the disease and to raise funds for research. Hospital nurses were given a survey to measure their knowledge pre breast cancer awareness vs after breast cancer awareness month. The entire month of breast cancer awareness failed to increase hospital staff’s awareness of breast cancer risk factors. Therefore you see that the knowledge of the public isn’t being enhanced by all the breast cancer marketing that comes with the month of October. So is the extra attention given to breast cancer really contributing to awareness and a means for funds to help with research? The author is framing this piece with the negative aspects of breast cancer awareness month.

Equality in the Cancer World

In UWRT my group’s focus was “How can we make more people aware of the larger conversation around unknown forms of cancer and bring additional funding for research to the less commonly known forms of cancer”? This topic emerged from a classmate whose mother had Adult Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. I read about this cancer on http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/adult-non-hodgkins/Patient/page2#_179&gt. Having a family member with cancer is tough to deal with, because ultimately they can die. I have members in my family that also have been diagnosed with cancer, so her inquiry question sparked my interest. I think others that have a love one who suffers from cancer would be interested in my group’s inquiry.

In the midst of my inquiring I found that I have an issue with the fact that breast cancer gets so much more attention then others and I find it unfair. As I realized that I wanted to know why breast cancer gets so much attention I googled. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-key-statistics was able to give mesome facts. So I put myself in the shoes of those that may support “larger cancers” like breast cancer. I’m sure that people will argue that breast cancer gets so much attention because it’s the number 2 cause of death in women, and the most common cancer among American women.

I understand that people would think that more common cancers should be put on the front end. I know people would feel that cures for the more common and larger cancers are more important due to their position on the “leading cause of death scale”.I’m sure people are going to question what is a “little vs big cancer or a smaller vs larger cancer”. The idea of little and big cancers came from a blog https://kdemeny1.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/the-little-ones/.

All cancers can lead to death so personally I feel they should all receive the same amount of attention, they should all be marketed the same if at all, they should all receive equal funding. I think the marketing behind breast cancer is ridiculous. I stumbled on a post http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/2014/11/top-5-highlights-from-think-before-you-pink-2014/. Evidence from a “think before you pink campaign” can help support that breast cancer awareness is too publicized. I feel like the whole Pink ribbon thing is blown out of proportion. The post outlined the fact that some companies are taking advantage of the pink ribbon concept and using for their own personal benefit. Initially I thought If these campaigns and mechanizing around breast cancer are helpful when it comes to awareness and funding then why cant other cancers use similar methods.

Before this form of inquiry was presented I’m afraid to say that I had never really paid attention to what form of cancer got more media attention. I did know the obvious that cancer is a huge issue. I know that there is ultimately no cure and that all cancer patients can do is undergo chemotherapy, which can be either a negative or positive experience. Personally I think that if we brought more awareness to the smaller ones maybe there will be more funding toward finding a cure for them. Sometimes you have to start small and then work your way up to more complicated issues. Working toward smaller cancers can be the foundation to being able to cure larger ones. After I did some searches online I realized that there are some organizations that do refer to all types of cancer and not just the largely publicized ones like breast cancer.

Due to my findings on http://www.choosehope.com/calendar-of-cancer-awareness-months I learned that each cancer has a month for awareness. I went on and had to just research some small cancers to find out about people that speaking out about each cancer. Internet searches lead me to personal video testimonials, articles and blogs on cancers. People suffering from cancer and their family and friends are the ones that speak out on the behalf of little ones. Through raising awareness education on symptoms and treatment can be learned. Supporters hope that greater knowledge will lead to earlier detection of cancer, which is associated with higher long-term survival rates, and that money rose for cancer will produce a reliable, permanent cure. I don’t feel that smaller cancers should take the place of larger ones in awareness. This made me question why can’t there be “equality” in the cancer world?

I can further apply the methods from the text to my questions “What knowledge can we gain through awareness of the “little ones” to reduce these cancer risks? Who is currently speaking out for the “little ones”? Both were something I never really thought about before, but I have them in mind now. While still exploring some research about them I know that I have to elaborate on what may help my 2 questions to evolve.

Links to what helped with my research…

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-key-statistics

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/adult-non-hodgkins/Patient/page2#_179&gt

http://thinkbeforeyoupink.org/2014/11/top-5-highlights-from-think-before-you-pink-2014/

http://www.cancertrialshelp.org/Icare_content/icMainContent.aspx?intAppMode=25

http://www.healthline.com/health-slideshow/best-cancer-blogs

http://www.choosehope.com/calendar-of-cancer-awareness-months

Class Facilitation (Discourse Communities)

• Class Facilitation Group: Discourse and Writing/Composing (with Robert Isaacs, Taylor Costner, Kayla Demeny)

Shared Goals: sorority, sports, religion, girl/boy scouts, jobs

*working together

-Certain Values & Belief System

Restaurant Example

-Common goals: customer service, make money, good food

-Communication: face to face, via phone

Info & Feedback: secret shoppers, customer/employee reviews, food tastings

Genres: deals with atmosphere, food blogs, ratings, menu, occasion

Lexis: examples of lingo “On the fly” “Waffle House: Smothered, covered”, etc

Expertise/discourse: values and beliefs

Five Paragraph Essay

-more used as a basis for writing