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| IggyOblomov. "Writing Hand." 08/18/14 via Clipart. Public Domain Dedication License. |
Probably the most useful portion of the text, in my opinion, was the discussion on how to write paragraphs in the PIE format. As the QRG genre tends to have shorter paragraphs, I think learning to craft paragraphs that are informative, in the most word effective way possible, is extremely important to creating a successful QRG. Therefore the book's discussion on important components of paragraphs and good methods of writing them is very helpful.
Not all of the information included in the discussion on introductions was applicable, but in general the text provided helpful ideas on how to craft skillful and attention grabbing intros. This is not only important for the opening of a QRG, but for introductions into different subheadings and different portions of the QRG. There is not only one introduction in a QRG, and everyone of them must recapture the audience, so this is a very important part of a QRG.
The section on organizing information is also very helpful for writing a QRG. One of the conventions of QRGs is subheadings, and deciding how to divide different information is crucial to having a successful QRG. Organizing all your research and sources into different sections and with different subheadings is very important to the genre, so this section on how to do this is key.
2. Not as helpful information:
First, the information on how to craft a thesis statement is not as useful for the QRG genre, as it is not a college essay format, three paragraph essay format, or argumentative format. Instead, it is a informative and less formal work of writing, that typically has no clear thesis.
Second, although not completely useless, the book's discussion on conclusions is not as applicable to QRGs as it can be to other genres. It is important to try and answer questions posed in subheadings, and it is important to finish your thoughts strongly, but because of the conventions of the genre and the informative nature of a QRG, there is never really a definite conclusion to the piece.
After reading Austin, Chris, and Aaron's posts, I realized most of us said similar things about what general information from the text was useful, and what wasn't. However, from each post I recognized a specific area where my own draft could be much better.
1. I need to focus more on imagery and visuals throughout my drafting process. I've been planning on going back and adding them later, but I think it would be better to do as I am in the drafting process, as not only will my draft shape the images, but the visuals will help shape my draft.
2. I found that logos is in important piece of the QRG, and wrapping all sides of the argument into one, informative, piece of writing. I will incorporate this into my drafting process from now on.
3. I need to find the perfect balance between paragraphs that are informative, and paragraphs that are less formal. I don't know if I can successfully mix and match these two together, to have more informal style that is still informative, but I will definitely experiment throughout the drafting process.
I agree with the thesis and conclusion not being as helpful. I didn't include the introduction in my helpful information but reading your explanation does make some sense .
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out that your QRG still needs to tie up all loose ends at the end, even though there isn't a conclusion paragraph. My QRG lacks this upon further inspection, so thank you for bringing this to my attention. Overall, I do agree with the points in this post, so well done. Gold star for you.
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