Bernhardt Reading Response

Before You Read

In the news paper there is a picture of a woman and man walking on a track that surrounds a football field. The writing is written in columns. There is a main title and a few smaller headings. 

Summary

In "Seeing the Text" he explains that it helps to actually see the text. He is telling writers of all kinds to put visuals in their writings. Many people are visual learners and Bernhardt is expressing that the use of pictures, diagrams, graphs, etc. are very important in writing. This is defined as visually informative text. Bernhardt is expressing the importance of this because he wants readers to better understand the texts they are reading. 

Synthesis

Bernhardt's "Seeing the Text" extremely relates to McCloud's "Vocabulary of Comics." These two articles are so closely related because Bernhardt talks about the importance visuals bring to writing/reading and McCloud's whole article was a comic, a picture. Bernhardt's article contrasts with Allen's article "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer." Allen describes the importance of writing and correcting writing over and over again; she does not have any connection to visuals in her article.

Thoughts

I thought this article was great! I relate because I am a visual learner. Some people think pictures and graphs distract readers, but it really just helps them understand what they have read. Pictures and charts keep me interested, they are almost like a break from reading.

After You Read

McCloud would have represented Bernhaedt's argument because his whole article was a picture(comic). McCloud talks about different types of basic and abstract pictures. He described how certain icons affect our thinking/imagination. This proves that Bernhardt is right, pictures keep the reader interested and their imagination flowing.

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
Bernhardt is proving his point that maybe we don’t see charts and graphs in school essays a lot, but we do see them everywhere else. Visuals help people understand the points.	“Thousands of informational pamphlets, brochures, and forms flow from government agencies, special interest groups, businesses and community groups, attempting to gather information, to sell ideas, to explain programs, to describe rights and responsibilities to an affected public, or to seek support for one program or another” (35).
He wants writers to think about how the reader actually sees the text.	“To attend to the layout of the text requires considering the text as a visual gestalt, focusing attention on the total visual impact of the text on a prospective reader” (39).
There are many ways to connect things. Use the same font and size for headings. Use a big font for the title. Readers connect these things.	“The fourth law of gestalt, the law of similarity, suggest that units which resemble each other in shape, size, color, or direction will be seen together as a homogenous grouping” (40).
Readers want to find information quickly. Visual information will help readers do this accurately.	“There are no hard and fast rules for designing effective visually informative texts, though empirical research has begun to offer some tentative findings” (42).

Porter Reading Response

Summary

In "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community" Porter explains that in almost every writing there is some kind of borrowed information. He connects this to the word plagiarism. He wants teachers and their students to see his point of connection. He wants to them to accept his "borrowing" idea. 

Synthesis

Porters article, "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community," relates to Peter Elbow's "Voice in Writing Again.." Porter talks about borrowing information from others and making it your own. Elbow talks about having your own voice in your paper. You must first find your voice to translate others thoughts into your own.

Thoughts

I thought this article had very good points. Students sometimes accidentally plagiarize, but teachers are still harsh with punishment. I ask myself, how are you supposed to write a paper on something you don't know about without "borrowing" information from other sources to learn about/support your topic? I agree with Porter that borrowing information should be more accepted.

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
Porter is explaining that every text is connected to another text. No one text is original.	“Not infrequently, and perhaps ever and always, texts refer to other texts and in fact rely on them for their meaning” (87).
Porter defines iterability as repeatability and presupposition as assumptions the text makes.	“We can distinguish between two types of intertextuality: iterability and presupposition” (88).
Writers use language and phrases that will apply to the audience. They are writing for the readers expectation.	“That, in essence, readers, not writers, create discourse” (91).
They approve the facts and establish the text and style.	“A ‘discourse community’ is a group of individuals bound by a common interest who communicate through approved channels and whose discourse is regulated” (91).
Porter is describing how to pick the topic of the text and finding “evidence and validity” for the text.	“’Acceptability’ includes, but goes well beyond, adherence to formal conventions” (9).

Dialectical Notebook for Lamott, King, and Diaz

Lamott

Response	Quotation
I totally agree with this. This shows the reader that you NEED to write more than one draft, more than two drafts. Every time the paper gets better and more understandable.	“A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft-you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft-you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy” (303).
This is a great exercise. You need to get rid of the imaginary people in your head, so it’s just your voice. Then you can write.	“Close your eyes and get quiet for a minute, until the chatter starts up” (304).

King

Response	Quotation
I like this quote because I have never thought of telepathy in that way before. To me it explains the relationship between the writer and the reader at different time periods. Almost everyone pictures the same thing as long as there is a good description.	“All the arts depend upon telepathy to some degree, but I believe writing offers the purest distillation” (305).
I love this. King is proving his point that telepathy happens every day and I think he’s being a bit cocky while saying it. Makes me smile.	“I didn’t tell you. You didn’t ask me. I never opened my mouth and you never opened yours” (307).

Diaz

Response	Quotation
This quote is describing writers block. It happens to everyone at some point, and everyone has to dig themselves out of it.	“It was like I somehow slipped into a No-Writing Twilight Zone and I couldn’t find an exit” (319).
Diaz is saying that no matter what, no matter if it’s 2 years, a true writer doesn’t give up on something good. Even if it is only 72 pages.	“You see, in my view a writer is not a writer because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, because everything she does is golden. In my view a writer is a writer because even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway” (320).