Looking at the beginning of the semester, I definitely look at writing differently. Trying to break down the basics of a genre has made me look at many things differently, as I try to break down the constituent elements of other things. Working within a schema has affected my process as I think about the schema and use it to inform what I write. Using this structure affects my work habits as I am better able to structure how I work. In addition, I am better able to work in a modular fashion; I don’t have to work on the beginning first or the ending last, I can jump around based on my research, or other factors. Thinking of writings, or any other media, in terms of genre really aids my understanding. I read a lot of screenplays and thinking about them in terms of the genre analysis we did in class gives me a better understanding of the genre as a whole. I love writing and wish I could do more of it, and I do feel much more informed about writing in my field (Computer Engineering).
Developing a schema in class was, I feel a very worthwhile activity. Breaking down a genre, extracting its structures, and making a template helped me to truly understand the genre we were studying (feasibility reports). As an aside, this class featured the only group projects that I actually enjoyed and looked forward to taking part in. The concept of using XML (more generically markup languages) has changed the way that I think about writing. Organizing my thoughts in terms of the structures of the genre is revolutionary to me. In reading court opinions, as it my wont, thinking of the composition in terms of its structures has really helped me understand the genre. One of my plans for the future is to try to start writing more (hopefully screenplays) and I am strongly considering utilizing some sort of markup language to help me do so. Overall I didn’t think that software, i.e., Oxygen, hindered me in any way; it was easy to use and its ability to warn me regarding schema errors was quite helpful.
I think that the third project was my favorite. I liked it the most because I got to write a edutainment blog post, of which I have read several hundred. This is probably not most helpful answer for posterity, as most future classes will not feature this genre and most future students will not share my love for the genre. In a pedagogical sense, the most useful project was the second, as it really broke down what the point of all the genre studies were. My least favorite, by elimination was the first.
In the future, I think that I will consider the genre of what I am reading more. What this means in practical terms is that I will sort of pre-process whatever I am reading as to be informed about its intent before reading it. Another thing that I think I would like to do is to create my own genre models based on things that I have read or am reading. Going back, this pre-process I think will be helpful as it only adds a small amount of time to the actual reading, but could really aid comprehension.
