Hello English Department! I hope this website is up to your standards and is what you are looking when it comes to showing what and how I learned in Writing for the Sciences.

In what ways have my perceptions on what writing is and does evolved this semester?

• My perception of writing has evolved and changed over the course of the semester mainly due to how the class was taught. Although we did have many writing assignments, most of the class time was used to discuss different topics pertaining to the rhetorical situation instead of just writing about it, as I have done in most English/writing classes I have taken before. Discussing the topics instead of just writing about them in class allowed me to gain a better understanding with what they are and how to implement them in my later writing.

How do the audience and purpose impact the content of text?

• Audience and purpose both have roles in dictating what the content of your work will be. Firstly, you must know who your audience will be, so you can ensure you use appropriate language and formatting so your audience can understand. If your audience does not understand your content, then there is no use in writing it. Next there is purpose, which is equally important. Purpose is the

Was there a challenge in writing across genres and addressing specific audiences?

• There was a definite challenge when switching between genres and audiences. Different genres require different formatting and use of language, for example a scientific narrative would use more colloquial language while a scientific article would use a lot of jargon and is meant for specialists.

Discuss how, as a class, we explored and analyzed, through reading and writing, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations. How did we do this? 

• Throughout the semester we explored different genres by reading them, composing them ourselves and discussing them in class. I think this is best summarized when we learned about the scientific narrative. We started by reading a scientific narrative and identifying the genre conventions. Next we discussed what the genre conventions were and what made a scientific narrative unique. Lastly we composed our own scientific narrative in line with the genre convention we found and discussed.

Review your letter of introduction from the first week of class and see if your responses from questions 7 & 9 have changed since taking the course. Explain. 

• Question 7: What are two characteristics of an “articulate” speaker? Do you consider a person having these qualities intelligent? Explain?
• – My answers have remained basically the same. I would still describe an articulate speaker as a person who doesn’t saw “um” a lot while speaking (I try not to but it still happens) and a person who can project their voice and have confident body language like standing straight and making eye contact is key for a effective speaker.
• Question 9: Explain why Standard American English makes science writing more accessible to the general public. There is no right or wrong answer. You do not have to agree, but please explain your response.
• – I still agree that Standard American English should be the the default language for science because of the already widespread use of English globally. But for circumstances like two Chinese scientists communicating with each other should be conducted in Mandarin/Cantonese because they both would speak it, but if they were to publish it for the wider world it should be in my opinion in English to accommodate the majority of scientists and readers globally.