Haas and Flower 2

After my second reading of Haas and Flower, I really didn't notice a difference. I understood the material quite well, but marking it up helped me notice important parts of the research. Throughout my first reading of Haas and Flower, I didn't really take a lot of time to read it, but the second reading made me appreciate the information more. I found it more interesting and it made it easy to develop questions from. It was an interesting article and they were well researched, but I can't help but think that reading aloud may not exactly reflect how well a reader comprehends. I know that if I had to read aloud and say every thought that came to my mind I would get very distracted and it would not be a good reflection of exactly how well I'm obtaining the information. I know that the readers who were "mature" may have been more experienced and their thoughts more organized, but there may have been a "mature" reader who didn't know or understand the idea of the experiment.

Haas and Flower 1

1. Why are constructive readers only experienced readers? May it be true that less experienced readers do read constructively but on a lower level?
2. Although thinking-aloud, may it be that lower level readers are thinking critically, but are unable to communicate it by thinking-aloud?
3. Thinking-aloud may seem effective, but because it allows the reader's mind to wander, may this help the reader focus on other topics besides what they are reading? If so, does this really improve a readers skills or degrade their skills?
4. How did the "mature readers" gain these skills? Have they been reading aloud for a long time or have they just been reading harder works? If they haven't been reading aloud, how should "immature readers" learn to read maturely? Should they read aloud, continue to read silently, read harder pieces, etc.?

Murray Writing Style

Murray's writing style in his article is very informal. People may think this because of the simple words that he uses or even the style, there is really nothing complex about it. An example may be of when Murray talks about where is voice comes from; he describes it in such a way that any student of any reading ability can understand what he is saying. Also, the quotes that he chooses are also not complex, yet relate well to what Murray is writing about. I believe Murray did this because he really wants his audience to think about themselves as writers. His goal is to allow the audience to realize where their voice comes from; he knows that his audience doesn't care about where his voice came from. He doesn't want his audience to be challenged by the complexity of his work and not fully understand what he wants them to comprehend.

Peer Review

Between the first time and second time I edited papers, it seemed to become a little easier. I understood exactly what was expected of me and what I should be looking for. But, during the first revision time, I only did what was asked on the papers. I didn't mark up on the person's paper at all. The second time around I really looked at there paper a little better. Also, I was able to read my own copy of their work the second time.

McCarthy Discussion

Dave's experience is comparable to my own because I am also confused on how to write and the style of writing that I need to do. It is very different from high school, but it is not a complete inconvenience. I think this is so only because I don't have a lot of classes that have assigned many writing assignments. The only thing that puzzles me is that I don't understand exactly what I am doing wrong on my papers. I really think that I am doing good when I turn my papers in, but unfortunately I don't do as good as I thought I did.

I don't really think about puntuation when I am writing...I normally just go with what I have learned over the years. I wouldn't say that I am a horrible writer so I just go with it. But, I don't ignore it either; I'm actually questioning right now if I'm doing all the grammar right for this blog. The reading hasn't really done anything as far as my thinking of punctuation goes. I didn't really understand some of the stuff that he was talking about like higher grammar to lower grammar. It was confusing me becuase I didn't really realize that different puntuation marks are equal to levels. I understood where he was going with the writing, but I didn't understand the different levels and I would never think about that when I write. I would have to be told to do something specific to a sentence or paragraph. That wouldn't click in my mind.

Why Women Aren't Funny

I believe that the motivation behind this writing was to be humorous. Humor, as described in this article, is sometimes seen when making fun at another's expense. Hitchens does this at women's expense. Although most facts are true, the author describes them in a way that is humorous and is appealing to mostly men. He uses much logos and pathos when writing this article as well. He examines many situations and looks at them logically but also appeals to the humor in these situations.

With my second reading, I was able to comprehend better what exactly rhetorical reading and understanding was and what the different types of comprehension were. After 'marking up' my book, I was able to identify certain points better and refer back to them. In my first reading, I wouldn't go back to re-read what I just read, so therefore I didn't completely understand the material as well as I thought that I did.