Knowledge of Conventions
and Rhetoric
Before we get deep into it, let's take a look at the foundations of good writing: knowledge of conventions and rheotical knowledge. Typically you would consider conventions as being the formatic and stylistic choices of a text that define appeal to different audiences. More formally though, these conventions are what readers expect from certain genres to add crediblity or authenticity. As for rheotical knowledge, there is much more to the word choice than what's dispayed on the surface's structure; rhetoric is one of the most important parts to a text... it keeps the reader interested! By enhancing these skills, we as writers have become flexibile enough to "shift voice, tone, formality, design, medium and layout intentionally to accomodate varying situations and contexts" as stated by the SLOs. Before you read any further, take a minute and think; what kind of conventions do you know? How do these conventions change from genre to genre? Do you notice rhetoric changes between the things you read?
So instead of making you read Steven Pinker's The Sense of Style, let's take a look at my blog post on Wordpress. In my blog, "So You Think You Can Write?", I discussed the idea that while format and conventions are extremely important, the rules have changed tremendously. Would you use the same conventions in your English paper as you would with a Biology report? Even though this is true and seen everyday, why is it that we have such a hard time with the transition from text to text? Is getting the point across to your readers more important than following the rules? This once was a topic I stuggled with, knowing when to take the risks of change and when to not. However, by writing in contrasting mediums and genre this semester, I trained myself to be open and became more confident about my choices! Take a look at my blog and tell me what your thoughts are at the bottom of this page!
Courtesy of Wix
My Perspective
I believe understanding the normal conventions or rules for any genre is the foundation of a good paper. Also, by having rhetorical knowledge and understanding how that influences a textual piece, you first become a good reader and then excell to a good writer. However, what sets a piece apart from the rest is the recognition of how those conventions can and will change. The key is to be adaptive; make the choices for your different audiences to enjoy and stay interested with what you have to say. All of my life I have written nothing but formal essays and the occasional "All About Me" paper everyone did on the first day of school, but I'm proud to say I struggled with this task. For example, these blog posts! After I wrote my first blog, I looked at it and thought, "I have no idea what I'm doing" but after I read up on a couple of blogs, I understood what I needed to change. The "norm" of a piece is not likely to deviate much but how I can be versatile between texts is feasible. It's not easy but with practice, you become better and learn to enjoy the challenge!