Writing 310, Advanced Writing for the Sciences, is not a class that reinforces the IMRAD style, or teaches better techniques for lab reports. Instead, it is a class that focuses on a broad spectrum of writing that involves science. Even more broadly, the main takeaway is how to convey to an audience the importance or appeals of a topic. Many of the assignments were broad in scope, allowing for the students to choose topics that interested them or related to their major.
In this class, we had two major assignments, the first I focused on analyzing three articles and their ability to convey information on the same subject. This required me to use the learned definitions of genre and rhetorical devices to differentiate key aspects of the articles while making the piece easy to read for those who were unfamiliar with the articles’ subject matter and literary terminology. The second major assignment involved close communication with an outside partner, in this case The Rhode Island Nature Conservancy, in order to create usable material for their website.
The minor assignments and blog posts were homework assignments that reinforced the ideas presented in class, or served as an introduction to new topics. Many of them, such as Minor Assignment Three, were designed so that we could choose whatever subject we wanted, as long as we were able to relate it back to the lessons in class.
Some of the major topics covered in the class include genre, discourse community, rhetoric, and how to communicate between groups. When discussing and using these devices and ideas, I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, and tried to use jargon purposefully. Because the majority of those who would read my blogs are my fellow classmates who are studying the same material, this decision was unnecessary, but I chose to do it because it keeps the posts easy to read while still containing the same amount of information. Additionally, this decision would help those who were unfamiliar with the class, on the off chance they stumble across this website.
For the structure of the website, I broke down the assignments under two tabs, Major Assignments and Blog Posts. The Blog Posts page contains blog posts, minor assignments, and miscellaneous links related to other assignments. I enjoyed the clean look of the drop down menu at the top of each page, and the drop down style of each post in the Major Assignments and Blog Posts tabs. This makes the page easier to navigate without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary scrolling. This cleanness of structure appealed to me greatly, and appears more professional and organized.
Additionally, the white background of the sites contrasts with the bright natural images I used throughout the website. The white being clean, and the deep blues and greens of the ocean and forests work well with one another. I picked non-copyrighted images of marine organisms to illustrate my drive as a marine biology major, and their usages as banner images help differentiate each page from each other. The mossy green forest in the “Minor Assignments” tab was used due to my passion for nature, and the biology and beauty of the image. In this way, I refrained from any image that does not relate to the theme of life, or would distract the reader by not fitting in to the site.
In this class, we had two major assignments, the first I focused on analyzing three articles and their ability to convey information on the same subject. This required me to use the learned definitions of genre and rhetorical devices to differentiate key aspects of the articles while making the piece easy to read for those who were unfamiliar with the articles’ subject matter and literary terminology. The second major assignment involved close communication with an outside partner, in this case The Rhode Island Nature Conservancy, in order to create usable material for their website.
The minor assignments and blog posts were homework assignments that reinforced the ideas presented in class, or served as an introduction to new topics. Many of them, such as Minor Assignment Three, were designed so that we could choose whatever subject we wanted, as long as we were able to relate it back to the lessons in class.
Some of the major topics covered in the class include genre, discourse community, rhetoric, and how to communicate between groups. When discussing and using these devices and ideas, I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible, and tried to use jargon purposefully. Because the majority of those who would read my blogs are my fellow classmates who are studying the same material, this decision was unnecessary, but I chose to do it because it keeps the posts easy to read while still containing the same amount of information. Additionally, this decision would help those who were unfamiliar with the class, on the off chance they stumble across this website.
For the structure of the website, I broke down the assignments under two tabs, Major Assignments and Blog Posts. The Blog Posts page contains blog posts, minor assignments, and miscellaneous links related to other assignments. I enjoyed the clean look of the drop down menu at the top of each page, and the drop down style of each post in the Major Assignments and Blog Posts tabs. This makes the page easier to navigate without overwhelming the reader with unnecessary scrolling. This cleanness of structure appealed to me greatly, and appears more professional and organized.
Additionally, the white background of the sites contrasts with the bright natural images I used throughout the website. The white being clean, and the deep blues and greens of the ocean and forests work well with one another. I picked non-copyrighted images of marine organisms to illustrate my drive as a marine biology major, and their usages as banner images help differentiate each page from each other. The mossy green forest in the “Minor Assignments” tab was used due to my passion for nature, and the biology and beauty of the image. In this way, I refrained from any image that does not relate to the theme of life, or would distract the reader by not fitting in to the site.