PB2A

The scholarly academic publication I chose was A case of early sports specialization in an adolescent athlete, written by Brad Ferguson and Paula J. Stern.  This article explains the risk associated with ESS -- early sports specialization -- as the authors gather data and observations to form a hypothesis on the topic.  The audience of this type of source are people already familiar with the specialization of youth sports and the injuries associated with it.  This includes athletes, parents of children that participate in youth sports organizations, and people interested in learning more about how playing too much of one sport as a child may lead to long-lasting, career ending injuries in the future.   The authors use sports-related diction because they assume that the reader is familiar with baseball, as ESS is most popular among baseball players and the case studied was among a baseball player.  The jargon is used so that the audience will be familiar with this type of scholarly article.  This is also intended to be an academic piece of writing, so it is made for an academic type audience.  This article goes in depth about the information and the risks of playing too much of one sport at an early age, and the vocabulary used is a bit more complicated than in many other pieces of writing.  There is no slang included in the scholarly sources, and there are many terms -- although defined in the article -- that are not used in normal conversation.  

There are also many conventions of this type of genre that make it unique.  It presents an introduction and title to give a glimpse of what the article will be about and gives it’s type of tone to the reader.  It starts off with a case study and a background of ESS, and it presents analysis and opinions on the topic of study.  Charts and diagrams are present to give a visual of what is going on, and graphs are also common in academic sources to portray parts of the data.  There are also subtitles to separate different parts of the article, so that it is easier to read, it is more spaced out, and so the reader knows what the next section is going to be about.   At the end, there is a list of references.  These references are probably sources of the original researchers who gathered the data so the author/authors can formulate hypothesis and analysis about the topic.

The main question posed in this academic publication is if “intense year-round training in a specific sport with the exclusion of other sports at a young age” (B Ferguson, P J Stern 377) gives an athlete a higher risk of injury as he or she develops.  Also, what are the risks and benefits of ESS (early sports specialization)? The second question is answered through two main school of thought that have been debated through the last few decades.  In short, early specialization risks include career-threatening injuries and burnout, while the benefits include developing skills faster, which help in obtaining athletic scholarships.  The first question of whether ESS actually creates a risk of injury is presented through a case study.  In this study, a 16-year old baseball pitching prospect had been playing year-round baseball since the age of ten.  After experiencing on-and-off pain and either taking short rests or pitching through it throughout the years, his arm finally gave out and he was diagnosed with a type II superior labrum anterior-posterior.  Data was collected from other sources regarding youth baseball specialization, and it is concluded that there is no evidence to support ESS and there must be a better understanding of developing an athlete’s skills at a young age to promote longevity and success in an athlete’s career.  I believe the the most important of this case study was collecting a lot of data of youth baseball players who play baseball year-round.  By collecting these numbers, risk analysis statistics are able to be formulated to educate others about the potential risks of ESS.  One must always be able to back up a claim in a scholarly article.  

References

Ferguson, Brad.  Stern, Paula.  A case of early sports specialization in an adolescent athlete.    Canadian Chiropractic Association.  2014.

thlog #4

This week in class, our class worked on our drafts for WP1.  The one part that stood out to me the most was when we highlighted different parts of our essay in different colors.  On Monday, we were to highlight the first sentence of each body paragraph, citations from our course reader, quotes from our sources, and analysis.  This really helped me understand the process of writing better.  A few of my paragraphs’ topic sentences did not relate back to my thesis.  By highlighting each topic sentence, I was able to point out the ones that did not relate to my thesis and I was able to redirect them to the main argument.  I was also able to point out my lack of analysis.  I threw in a few quotes here and there, but I did not write enough analysis to support the evidence.  The different colors helped break down the components of the essay, and piece by piece I was able to correct some flaws.  In a lot of classes where I have to write essays, my main weakness is straying too far away from my thesis and writing paragraphs that don’t really belong with the rest of the paper.  Highlighting the different parts of the paper after my first draft really helped me with the issue and have my paper structured more efficiently.  

Another part of class that really helped me with the second order thinking part of writing was separating each sentence of a certain paragraph like a poem.  I realized that a lot of my sentences were short, and most of them were the same length.  I learned that having too many sentences of the same length make the writing sound too choppy.  I revised this issue by combining several sentences to make the writing flow.  

thlog 3

This is the week where we had to turn in our first draft of our WP1.  Reading the prompt was kind of intimidating, but once I chose my sources, topic, and genre writing the paper was kind of a breeze.  Writing about sports articles, the genre I chose, was not too bad because I enjoy watching and being a fan of sports.  The process of writing my paper included writing my thesis, making an outline of random ideas that came to my head, and then actually putting those thoughts onto paper and writing the actual essay.  The part I had most trouble on was coming up with a good introductory paragraph.  Usually I go in order and start off with an introduction, but this time I did it last because I thought of my thesis first, and wanted to continue writing my thoughts from there. 

In class, we broke up into groups of three and edited each others’ essays.  I liked the idea of going over the other students intro and thesis first through Google Docs because that is the most important part of an essay in my opinion, and it allowed us to see what the main argument was going to be.  Speaking of arguments, I feel like it was very helpful reading the intros of the two essays at the start of class.  Doing thesis related exercises like these helped me understand better how to develop a good thesis that has an opinion that can be argued against. 

The reading about editing papers helped guide me through the peer editing of my group members.  I tried to pull out the main argument and the big picture of each essay.  Instead of editing each detail, I wrote down statements on how to make the essay into a better piece of writing.  And of course, the comments I saw on my paper will help me greatly for the final draft of WP1.

thlog #2

This week, I learned about the importance of rhetorical analysis.  Rhetoric is using the power of persuasion through the way we use language and images.  In the reading Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis by Laura Bolin Carroll, it is stated that context is the first place to start in understanding rhetoric.  The three parts of context include exigence, audience, and constraints.  Exigence is what causes a response, audience is who the message is intended for, and constraints are the limitations of it.  Another form of analysis can come from the rhetorical triangle, which consists of writer, reader, and the purpose of the rhetorical message.  

PB1B was a fun assignment.  I was able to understand the importance of conventions within genres much better.  After cycling through the genre generator websites that showed different comic strips, memes, and scientific research articles, I was able to pick out more characteristics and conventions out of each genre.  In the comic strip, I was able to point out what was consistent in every page.  For example, the two boys were in the same position each time, they both made comical jokes, there was a lot of violence and blood, and the colors were the same.  

In class, I learned the difference between hyphens and dashes.  Hyphens are used to connect two words, while a dash is like a thought break to make a pause in a sentence.  Also, I learned about the difference between a thesis and a working thesis.  A thesis statement shows the main idea and the argument of the essay, while a working thesis statement is one that can be changed while writing the essay.  After going through several exercises, I found out it is best to pick out every single detail out of the text to find patterns within the genre and to understand what it is made up of.  

PB1B

Genre generator websites automatically create words and/or pictures within the genre category with fixed conventions.  They are helpful in understanding the usefulness of conventions within a genre.  When asked the question, what makes a genre a genre, conventions are used to describe what is normally associated with that specific genre.  As one cycles through these random generators, more and more conventions of a similar type are presented and allows the audience to understand the genre better.

The SCIgen genre generator created computer science research papers, probably used in an academic or research environment.   These papers are usually intended to be turned into a conference and read by those in the computer science field.  Each research paper is structured neatly so that it shows an introduction to present the theory or discovery, analysis and specifics, and data and graphs to display the results.  They are also very presentable, with a long list of references of each one and creative titles that directly correlate to the work that is described in each paper.  Interesting and scholarly-sounding titles such as NoonQuet: Simulation of DNS or PANIM: Wireless Epistemologies suggest that the writer must have been intelligent and that the rest of the work must be of good quality.  But to the surprise of the intended reader, these articles that are randomly generated are bogus and are to be submitted to conferences of low-submissions standards, as stated on the website.

The random comic generator was my favorite.  Each comic strip was comical and a contrast to the generated examples from SCIgen.  The drawings were one of the main reasons why the comics lightened the mood.  Each character, which were the two same boys every time, was sketched in a non-realistic way.  For example, they were very simply drawn, and their huge eyes popped out in a hilarious fashion.  The dialogue from person to person is funny and their actions are like that of two dumb kids in a comedy cartoon inappropriate for little kids. The comic-like way the dialogue is presented in word bubbles makes this genre different from any picture book.  This gives it a more relaxed feel to reading, and it makes it easier to know who is speaking.  My assessment from these conventions from the random comic generator are that comics are an easy to read, comedic style of genre.

The meme generator is also another comedic genre.   Similar to that of the comic strips, this genre is intended for a younger audience to generate laughs.  But memes were not created that long ago, so this genre is common among the newer generation who consider social media to be a big part of their life.  Each generated meme has a humorous picture complemented by funny text.  It often makes fun of something, and this form of satirical genre is spread throughout social networking websites.  The pictures used are either real or a cartoon, and the descriptions, usually very short, are written in bold.   This makes it so that the memes are short and simple, and easy to read.  More people would be willing to actually take the time to read it when scrolling their news feed on a social media website with the easy-to-read message and picture.  

Another generator website I came across is jbdows.com/genres.  On this site, a random music genre name is created with a click on any part of the page.  This combines several types of music and creates interesting names, many of that are either made up of I have never heard of.  Some are Shangaan techno-soul, highlife-juke, and silent cabin hip-hardcore.  

In these random generator websites, I came a pattern of conventions for each genre, such as the word bubbles in the comic strips or the use of a creative title for the computer science research papers.  This helps us understand the use of conventions in each genre, and will help us process the creation of new and changing styles of genre.

Here is a meme I thought was funny

PB1A: College Admissions Essay

College admissions essays are essential in the process of a student getting accepted into the college they are aiming for.  It is basically a textual genre that one uses to persuade the college admissions officer into accepting them into the university.  Written towards the end of a student’s four years of high school during senior year, it is important that traits that define them are explained and written down in the essay.  This is a type of genre written for a specific audience, and so most college admissions essays are generally written in similar styles.

Rhetoric is using language to persuade, and analyzing the rhetorical features of a textual genre consists of audience, purpose, context, style, and tone.  The power of persuasion is important so that the audience, the admissions officers of the college applied for, will deem the student worthy of attending.  The admissions officers receive the letter, and they are responsible for solving the problem of finding who is best fit for the college.  Aside from those editing the essay for improvement, the admissions officers are generally the only “audience,” or recipients of the papers because only they decide who gets in.  That is their job.  It would be a waste of time and not really helpful if someone else were to read it, because the sole purpose of this kind of essay is for entering college.  Students must make their letters seem professional, while they try to convince that they are likeable and are able to stand out from others in order to impress the readers.  So the purpose of this textual genre is to be able to impress the admissions officers.

The context of of a college admissions essay is as follows: many students want to go to college after high school, so it is their responsibility to create a formidable college admissions essay during senior year that would allow them to get accepted.  A prompt is given and the student must give an honest response that reveals enough information that allows for the audience to make the decision of either an acceptance or a denial.  The prompts are designed so that the candidate can reveal who they are and what positive qualities they can bring to the university.  There are several constraints to this essay.  There is usually a maximum amount of words that are allowed for each essay to make it easier on the admissions officer and so that the applicant puts down the most important information on the page.  Also, there is a deadline for the paper to be turned in.  The writer has to set an appropriate tone so that they will seem credible to the reader.  Credibility is gained by answering the prompt with clarity.  One must sound smart so that the admissions officer would believe the student is prepared to to spend the next four years at the university.  Adding in too much humor or negativity would not be appropriate for the setting.  Writing words down professionally and in a formal style in the college admissions essay is most common in answering the prompts.  

Most importantly, what makes a college admissions essay a college admissions essay?  When writing mine during senior year of high school, several conventions that came to mind were my accomplishments, elaborating on my academic achievements, important extracurriculars, and writing about my other traits that made me sound like a good student when answering the prompts.  These may not be present in every single college admissions essay, but these are things that come to mind when it is talked about.  A college admissions essay, in my opinion, is a very important piece of writing that will help determine the future success of a student.

Thlog numero uno

This first week in writing 2 has been fun, as we learned about different genres in writing.  Several textual genres are letter of recommendation requests, resumes, syllabuses, and job applications. They each have unique conventions and are written for a certain audience.  I really enjoyed going over different conventions in types of genre, such as in the country music and the horror movie scenes we went over in class.  Conventions were found by listing the elements of the type of movie or music, so that one would know that the horror movie was being watched or that country music was being played.  For example, what makes a horror movie a horror movie?  A convention describes what is considered “normal” in a certain genre.  

The reading that stood out to me the most was Chapter 3 of Teaching Two Kinds of Thinking by Teaching Writing.  From this reading that was done in class, I discovered the concepts of first order and second order thinking.  First order thinking is writing down what comes to mind and creating new ideas.  There is no real organization during this process, and it is used so that we will have a lot of new and interesting ideas and information to write about.  The second order thinking consists of structuring the flow of ideas we have and breaking it all down to create a piece of writing that all fits together.  This is where it is all analyzed and edited, and this is the “critical thinking” stage.  It is important to work on these two orders of thinking one at a time.  First just write stuff down and keep the pen moving, then when it starts to click analyze what is written down to make sure it is all written down logically.  I have never thought of doing my writing in this way.  Usually I just create an outline and fill it in with information, and so it is interesting to see how much my writing will improve using these methods.

About Me

Hi.  I am Johnny Pham, a sophomore at the University of California Santa Barbara majoring in Economics and Accounting.  I grew up in Long Beach and went to Long Beach Polytechnic High School (the same high school Snoop Dogg went to), and decided to attend UCSB because of its location on the beach and the relaxed environment.   It is also very fun here at UCSB, and there is no college I would rather be attending.  After graduating college, I am not entirely sure what I want to be yet but it would be pretty cool if I made a lot of money.  I am the second child in my family, and I have two sisters and one brother.  My father is Vietnamese and my mom is Filipino.  On my free time, I like to play baseball and basketball, and I like to remain active by working out at the gym and going on hikes.    I am a huge Los Angeles Laker fan, and I’ll always stick with them despite their horrible season this year.  During baseball season, I root for the New York Yankees.  I also like to do fun activities and watch tv.  My favorite foods are hamburgers and fries, and my favorite restaurant is In n Out.  I always order a 3 by 3 and a fry, because they give me gains.  My favorite movie is Inglorious Bastards, and my favorite color is blue.  If I had one superpower, it would be the ability to fly so I can soar high to the sky.  My favorite subject is econ, and that is why I decided to pursue a major in Economics and Accounting.  Writing is also very interesting, and I am excited to learn more about writing and I plant on developing my writing skills in Writing 2 this winter quarter.