Final, and free, post

Well lets see here; this past week I saw Kickass, and it was very good. And by that I mean excellent. Aside from that, my weekend/beginning of the week has been pretty boring other than spending all weekend with my head in a toilet and unable to sleep due to a fever. Something about this time of the year and my allergies react. Whats funny is that not more than two years ago were these unheard of. I also got a ticket this weekend and it was my fault, but I'm going to go contest it because I have my reasons.

Eh well this is long and boring. Goodnight

Tom Sumner's Lecture

Until Tom's lecture, I never really thought about the process of creating a book. Though I cannot see myself writing one in the near future, who's to say that wont change. With that being said, I'm glad to know that it is quite simple to get your book published.

He mentioned that anyone could get a book published that wanted to. While I was in high school, I met a girl who had published her own book in the eighth grade. It is great to know that people who are interested in writing books in their free time don't need to be famous to get a piece published and possibly distributed.

Though the lecture didn't apply to me directly, it was very interesting and I learned new bits of information.

Persuaders

Sadly, I was absent from class so I never witnessed the video nor did I participate on any discussion over this topic. However, I do think that this society is all about the art of persuasion. In this era, it’s all about who can make the sale and how much money is involved. Due to the "American Dream" evolving into "we must be filthy rich", we must each evolve to finish the challenges behind this dream; with the most important challenge being to sell whatever it is you are selling, and prove yours is the best. Thus, the art of persuasion is most certainly important and everything surrounding us must entice this idea.

Recent responses

Ever since I've taken this class, my outlook on receiving and writing technical documents has changed. I've learned to write more effectively and keep my point short and effective. I now understand tone appropriately when I respond to documents and how this can effect the outcome I desire. I know when to write professionally, friendly, and with or without cause and to make each apply as necessary.

Thanks to this class, I now feel confident responding to my boss and other people with whom I write to back and forth in my place of work. I think with no doubt it has helped me for the better and will be something I can apply to all careers or other forms of writing effectively from here on out.

Media Kit

The website I have found for my online media kit can be at found at this link.

Questions for guest speaker:

What made you choose marketing as a career?
How did you end up choosing Rejuvenations and why them?

Technical writing exercise review

I chose to write my review on Justin Ard's exercise found here.

I thought Justin's post was very clear and easy to follow. It was written for the common dummy to understand, but not written childish. The tone displayed was professional yet so simple. In the introduction, he mentions what these instructions are meant for so there is no confusion and then gets straight to the point.

The only thing I could say negatively would be to use numbers instead of bullets. These tasks must be done in this order and though assuming most people start at the beginning, not all may. This is to ensure proper order of said steps.

This aside, I think the instructions were written very informational and clear and were not too wordy to help explain simple points.

Technical writing exercise

No where near done.

Rhetoric 2

This weekend the all-mighty Super Bowl aired on TV, but I wasn't rooting for either team. What caught my attention were the commercials. As we all know, this is the special part of the day where all the crispy new commercials come out and many companies pay millions to have their 30 seconds of fame. While I did enjoy many of these, it wasn't hard noting which companies were major sponsors as their commercials were appearing in every 2 minute game-break. Frankly, I got sick of seeing the Doritos ads over and over again.


The one ad that did catch my attention was a Hyundai commercial. I always thought of Hyundai and Kia to be the new and cheaply produced cars in the market. Well, they used logos to help explain that the quality of work put into their cars is indeed, not cheap. They informed me that the paint quality is better than that of a Mercedes. Though Mercedes are not unachievable luxury cars like Lamborghini, they are still looked to as having the luxury edge on cars in the market today.

With this new tidbit of information, I may have allowed myself up to accepting the cars known as Hyundai to be built with the same quality and expertise as Mercedes and even land a place in my mind as quality cars.

The rhetoric used in this ad was not very special or executed in a way to make me feel bad and decide I need their product. It told me the straight facts. They used a vehicle company already known and well tested and explained very simply how their product had a quality that was better than the best, and it obviously worked. I liked the presentation this ad used and though this all helped persuade me, I still probably will never own one of their vehicles.

Tone

This past week I received a letter from my dad. He wrote this letter to me in a very non-formal voice. Basically, he addressed any issues he's had with things going on and expressed how he felt as though we he were talking to me in the same room. The tone of the letter was for his point of view and very accusing. I knew this by words he used and how he placed his spin onto what he felt was happening. Because of how this was handled he helped illustrate his point against me strongly. I have experienced letters like this from him many times but I can tell that by changing words and phrases the whole tone can switch, changing the perception of the reader and making the writers point well known.

By carefully selecting words in a professional environment, one can ensure this tone does not come across when unwanted. Since this is not ideal when writing to someone higher than oneself, it is necessary to understand how this tone comes across and to sidestep any accusatory notions.

Tone says a lot about a piece of writing and can place blame or praise one so learning to use each effectively is very helpful.

Worksheet for Defining Objectives

This is the link to my worksheet

Rhetoric

I've never known the term "rhetoric" until mentioned in class, but I have realized instances where it is used. I also knew that commercials and ads used our emotions and other senses to get their point across or make us feel a certain way. It's used in Above the Influence commercials, car insurance ads, and plenty of others.

I'm not sure on rhetoric as a whole. Trying to answer 'how I have used it' is a little tough, because through my writing, I never really have, or as I can recall, because I've not been required to sway others opinions. But, I have used it in my daily life, whether I'm saying words purposefully to have others feel my side, or whether I'm just giving them the plain facts of a purchase, like explaining to my girlfriend why different cameras are better than others inside Best Buy. I use this to help explain to others why my cellphone is worth the money and how excellent the ideas instilled into it are.

The part I'm blurry about the most within the term rhetoric is Ethos. I don't quite understand the 'self' aspect and wonder how it applies to anything. When I get here I cant find a way to place it onto any matter.

Well that completes post 2.
-Andrew Persin

Writing

Writing is just one of those things that everyone is required to do daily throughout their life. Though I have learned to deal with writing and doing homework for a class, I've never really enjoyed writing. By the time my thoughts travel to my hands and begin typing or writing, those said thoughts have changed, are behind what is now on my mind, or are just flat out jumbled. This hasn't helped my dislike for the event, or maybe its the sole cause.

Hopefully now that I'm taking a higher level english class at an institution better than Clark College, I can confidently write and learn some skills that I can apply in school and out in the "real world" at a career. While there are other times I do find myself writing such as Facebook and Tumblr, those haven't prepared me for the workforce like this class hopefully does.

Well..

This is my first post here on Blogger, so we'll see how I like it. I've signed up on here due to my English 402 Technical and Professional Writing class. Hopefully I'll achieve a lot out of this class and drastically improve my writing skills in, obviously, a professional sense.

For now, this is going to conclude this post. I'll write more when I figure out my next assignment or response.

-Andy Persin