Week 2

English 107
from the University of Arizona

AGENDA
WEEK 2
 Good writing
 Rhetorical situations
 Genre analysis
 Using an academic style review
What is “good writing”?
THINK ABOUT THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS
AND WRITE A FEW SENTENCES ON PADLET.
• What makes writing “good.”?
• Put simply, what do you think

“good writing” is?
TASK 1. Look at Figures 1.1 -1.3. Would
you consider any of these to be good
writing? Why or why not? Discuss them
with your classmates.
One could argue that each of these examples is “good writing” because each
achieved its goal.
The protest sign in Figure 1 attracted the attention of
news photographers and has been featured in a Time magazine article as well as
numerous other news stories.
Figure 2 shares lyrics from the hit musical Hamilton: An American Musical by Lin-
Manuel Miranda, whose goal was to create a musical that provided a new insight
into American history for a new generation.
Figure 3 features two paragraphs from an academic paper that was so successful,
it won an award from the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE).
None of these texts look like traditional texts, but they
all achieved (even surpassed) the expectations for
“good writing” within a particular context, for a
particular audience, at a particular point in time, and
for a particular purpose.
What this activity suggests is that we need a flexible

understanding of “good writing.” Good writing
depends on the context, the audience, and the aim(s)
of the text. In your Foundations Writing courses at UA,
we hope to help you develop your understanding of
“good writing” as tied to rhetorical situation rather
than being related to just one type of writing.
Genres in Our Lives
We encounter genres every day. Some genres are used primarily to

maintain social relations: thank you notes, letters, birthday cards, and
social media updates are all examples of these.
Other genres are used to carry out transactions. For example, we use
restaurant menus to display information about what a restaurant or
cafe sells, giving customers details about what they can order and how
much it costs. In workplaces, we find genres like employee memos,
paycheck stubs, schedules, or safety guidelines; these genres help
organize work and keep an organization functioning smoothly.
Genres in Our Lives
Genres are categories of texts that not

only share form and content, but
similar audiences, purposes, and
contexts as well.
Genres in Our Lives
In this Learning Activity, you will explore the genres
that you use to carry out various activities in your life.
List the genres that you regularly encounter in different areas of your life. Write down as many as you
can think of.
Personal Transactional Work Hobby/Leisure Travel

Genres have conventions (agreed
upon rules) on their content, format,
language, etc., but also reflect social
and cultural aspects.
TASK 2. In groups, look at the two bus tickets. The one above is from
Lima, Peru; another from Denver, CO USA.
Make a list of similarities and differences. What cultural and social

aspects do you see reflected in these texts?
Rhetorical situation
Collecting samples of a genre will give you a better
sense of what the genre can look like
A rhetorical situation
includes:
Purpose
Audience
Context

Understanding the rhetorical situation

is important because it can help you
understand the social practices behind
a genre.
When you analyze the rhetorical situation of a genre, keep in mind that you should be thinking about
the category as a whole, not just an individual text.
When you analyze the rhetorical situation of a genre, keep in mind that you should be thinking about
the category as a whole, not just an individual text.
TASK 3. In this Learning Activity, you will focus on just one type of text - Linkedin profiles.
Consider what you have learned about the rhetorical situation and what you find in the sample to
complete the chart below.
Authors should respond effectively to a rhetorical situation in order to
satisfy their readers and carry out their goals. (Of course, at times,
authors also may want to surprise readers or bend the norms in some
way, but they usually do this with a good understanding of the
rhetorical situation.)
Grammatical features of academic writing
JUST TO REMEMBER…
WATCH THE VIDEO

Using an academic style : review
When writing essays and other academic texts, it is important to use an

appropriate style. This will be different from the style of the language you
hear and use in spoken academic contexts such as lectures, seminars and
tutorials.
TASK 1. Look at the following extract from a student's essay on

attitudes to science and how these might be changed. The tutor
commented on the underlined sections of the essay.
Match the sections (1-21) to the tutor's comments (a-m). Some
comments refer to more than one section.
TASK 2.
2.1 In pairs, correct or improve the sections the tutor has commented on.
1. very/particularly/especially important 12 a number of/several

2 currently/presently 13 (this could be deleted)
3 to become business people; to work in 14 (this could be deleted)
business 15 the representation of scientists
4 one possible/potential reason; it is 16 they are
possible that one reason 17 (this could be deleted)
5 as can be seen in table 1; as table 1 18,19 they can have a major impact; a major
demonstrates/shows impact can be achieved
6 do not 20 few
7 such as 21 others
8 furthermore/in addition
9 the difficulty of finding a job in science
10 discourage/dissuade/dishearten
11 considering/contemplating
HOMEWORK: Presentation on Student Samples of Project #1,
Language Narrative
For this homework, you will analyze three student samples of this unit’s project, a Language Narrative, in terms of
rhetorical situations and writer’s choices.
You will create a ppt (max 5 slides) answering the following questions:
I. Based on your analysis of the three samples: what is the rhetorical situation of this assignment? (purpose, audience,
context)
II. What choices did the writers make (make sure you address: rhetorical situation, content, language,
organization, and purpose, language, structure, kind of content , etc.) to achieve the purpose of this assignment in
each sample? Give concrete examples for each sample
Sample #1:
Sample #2:
Sample #3:
III. In your opinion, which is the best sample? Why?
Be ready to present next class!
Each student turns in a PDF copy of the presentation on One Drive

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English 107

from the University of Arizona

• What makes writing “good.”?

• Put simply, what do you think

What this activity suggests is that we need a flexible

We encounter genres every day. Some genres are used primarily to

Genres are categories of texts that not

Personal Transactional Work Hobby/Leisure Travel

Make a list of similarities and differences. What cultural and social

Understanding the rhetorical situation

WATCH THE VIDEO

When writing essays and other academic texts, it is important to use an

TASK 1. Look at the following extract from a student's essay on

1. very/particularly/especially important 12 a number of/several

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