Reflection on Project 1 Draft

Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries. "Audience Fronteir Fiesta, 1950s, Audience at a Frontier Fiesta show." 1950 via wikipedia. "Courtesy of Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries."

I analyzed and provided feedback on Michael Fisher's and Chelsea York's quick reference guides. I will also be giving insight to my quick reference guide about my projected audience and the context in which my piece was written in.

Audience:

1) Who specifically will be reading this quick response guide? Who am I trying to reach my argument with?

My audience is Americans who might have an interest in the organ transplant process or need an organ themselves and looking for ways of reaching that goal faster. It is in understandable language for the general reader but goes into good detail about the topic to the point where if you wanted to read the whole thing, it makes it easier to have some interest in the topic.

People who go promoting their need of an organ on Facebook have a right for freedom of speech and expression, but the QRG brings the whole issue into perspective outside of their own individual needs. They might be pushing through the line to get their organ transplant, but what are the repercussions of those actions?

2) What are their values and expectations? Am I adequately meeting those expectations?

Many viewers thinking about this for the first time probably agree that freedom of speech should win out and allow the sad little 11 year old girl to get a new lung, but listening to the logical side of the argument, where do the exceptions to the rules end? I also address the benefits of using social media. I am writing in a way most people would understand and following along with both sides in benefits an negatives.

3)  How much information do I need to give my audience? How much background information should I provide without belittling their expertise?

I think you should include the background of the areas of the topic you are most honing in on. For example, I am talking about Facebook's effect on the issue, so I am giving a lot of context surrounding their history in this issue. You can also phrase the background information in a way that implies, "do you remember when this happened?" As long as you have context on the information you are explaining. I assumed that the audience knew very little about the history of the topic I am discussing.

4)  What kind of language is suitable for the audience?

The audience is not filled with science majors or current event fanatics, it is usually normal people. You want to write simplistically enough where the average high school graduate could understand but not so much where a dictionary is necessary to decipher the QRG.

5) What tone do I use? Do I use it consistently?

I use a more informative tone. This is a very sensitive issue since its main controversy surounds the saving or not saving of lives. If you become too emotionally invested in it, you become much more of a bias source. Since I have not been personally touched by this experience, I wrote it in more of a way that described both sides to the issue logically, rather than emotionally. It is sad that an 11 year old girl needs a lung transplant, but a 22 year old might need one too and might have missed their chance because of the influence of social media. Not everyone will end up happy no matter what decision is made.

Context:

1) What are the formatting requirements in the assignment? Did I meet them?

I discuss what is included within a QRG in my blog post QRGs: The Genre. I included a title, illustrations, images, a graph, use of white space, an analysis of my ideas, an introduction, and headings used throughout. My formatting seems to be correct, I just need to work on the context a bit more.

2) What are the common requirements of the assignment?

The common requirements include what is on the rubric for the assignment. I included both sides of the argument talking about both in great detail. I used hyperlinks, quotation, the use of titles, an analysis of the bigger meaning of the argument and many more requirements on the rubric. I can continue to work on grammar and can emphasize the actual story of the 11 year old girl better though.

3) Does my draft reflect the knowledge I learned in this class in addition to my  own ideas?

I used a lot of the information I gathered weeks prior to the assignment. Who knew that all that homework would actually have a purpose later. on. I applied the skills learned in class in reference to data gathering and analysis. I am still in the drafting process so I am not expecting a perfect paper, but that is my goal. The topic was my own idea and I became very interesting to read about. I used the example QRGs a lot throughout my writing as well.

4) Have I addressed any grammatically issues our teacher has pointed out?

I am still in the process of revising by I addressed some of them. I am glad I received pier review because other people catch mistakes in my grammar I would have never noticed after reading my paper many times. After a while, sometimes I just assume it is write and glance over it. I worked on sentence structure was well as paragraph structure that helped organize my train of thought.