What is "Style" now???

What is style now? Throughout this course we have explored the concept of "style" and how it interacts with technology and affects our writing. We've studied some "style" guides that helped us to get a better understanding of the term "style". As we've all learned from our first blog entries, "Style" means many different things to different people. It also depends on the terms of which you are defining style - it could be fashion, interior decorating, writing and much more.

During this semester, style played a huge role in our writing projects. These projects explored how writing has evolved, the connections between words and images and how writing and style work together in the great world wide web. Each of these projects, although somewhat different in their purpose, all involved some aspect of "style".

As we near the end of this course, I still think style has a lot to do with personal opinion and individuality. We learned about "proper" or "correct" writing styles from Williams, Strunk & White and even McCloud, but I also think that real style is a happy medium between what you learn in books such as the styleguides, and a little bit of your own personal flair.

"The Most Important" Web Style Rule

I liked SpiderPro's "DO Use the first screen" rule. I find it very annoying when you visit a sight looking for specific information, and you have to navigate through three to four different pages or use the search command for the sight to even get close to the information you needed. For example, at work, I have to reference a website for ACLASS - an accreditation lab for ISO/IEC 17025 (Quality Control). In order to find the guides that I need that are listed on this sight, I have to usually search for them because there are no quick links on the first page that offer easy navigation. When quick links and sitemaps are presented on the first page, it saves the reader time and prevents them from straying to another website where the information will be easier to find. In revising my website, I kept it simple and included links to my essays and blog at the top of the first screen.

Connecting Paper & Style

Creating or styling web pages and creating written/printed documents have many similarities and differences. Both web style and paper style aim to create a legible, well organized document. In order to do this, the types of backgrounds, whether paper or background on a web page, should be simple and contrast nicely with what ever color text, ink or pencil you are using. A busy background on a web page makes it difficult to concentrate on the text. Using black paper with grey or blue ink would also be difficult to read. The right font size is also important in both paper style and web style. Too small of text or print is difficult to read, whether on screen or on paper. Too large, or all caps text is distracting and often causes misinterpretation.

Creating documents using a web page is very different than creating something on paper. Paper documents are limited to basic text with simple pictures that can lack quality when printed. Web documents have almost limitless possibilities. Graphics, videos and links to other documents can be added and the size/amount of information that can be included on a web is much greater than the confines of paper.

McCloud Blog #2

I chose Beths comic, Ninety-Five. This is an online comic about a father, who apparently travels a lot, coming home from a trip and then reading his daughter a bedtime story. The little girl is looking at the pictures in the book and telling her father what those images mean to her. When the picture of a telephone is presented, she identifies it with the word "daddy". This is an example of interdependent combination or words and images/pictures, according to McCloud. Interdependent combinations of words and pictures is when "words and pictures go hand in hand to convey an idea that neither could convey alone" (155). At first, we can't see the image of the telephone - the online comic is interactive, you have to click on the pink panel and the telephone (or better the picture of the telephone) is then revealed, and it's only once we can see the picture, that we understand the idea behind the comic and the reason the daughter is saying "Daddy!".

Whose Mind is it Anyway

I chose a comic from McCloud's The Morning Improv section on his site. It's a lengthy comic (9 pages) about a homeless guy in Boston who talks to himself. What I liked right from the start is the way McCloud wrote the way people from Boston speak ( I have a few friends from Boston - anyone who has talked to someone from Boston knows what I am talking about). This comic should really be read out loud for the full effect. The second panel says "Yeah? So dress warmah, ya pansy! I like this time a' yee-ah" The main character is Sean, the homeless guy. It starts out with him having a conversation with himself. He sees a girl on a park bench and his other "self" is telling him to go talk to her and he is arguing - with himself - that the girl won't talk to him. He finally gets up the nerve to go talk to her and she is actually nice to him. Turns out that she is homeless too - She just got to Boston a couple days ago - although her accent is identical to Sean's. Her name is Sophie and Sean talks to for a while then convinces her to let him walk her to a homeless shelter for women for the night because it's going to get cold that night. She agrees and they talk as they walk. Sean's other "Self" seems to be gone or quiet when Sophie is near. Once he drops her off, he begins his conversation with the voice in his head again.



The comic was interesting - funny at times, sad at others. It was like a short story - not what I would consider a comic to be like. Check the comic out here: http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-25/mi-25-1.html

I thought some parts of this comic could have been omitted. There was a lot of one on one conversation between Sean and his "mind" that seemed to add material that took away from the "less is more"(83) theory. As McCloud states, "...finding the balance between too much and too little is crucial to comics creators the world over"(85). The author of "whose mind is it anyway" could have still had a great comic if he left out some of the overly descript conversations between Sean and his "mind". I realize most of these conversations were crucial to the point of the comic - but I believe in the "less is more" and think less would have had a better effect on the comic as a whole.

What Others Are Saying...

This was a fun assignment because I love to look at other student's blogs and read their writings. I think the general thoughts on S&W and Williams were that both books had effective points, yet for college students in an upper level english class, William's advice was more beneficial. I thought Jennifer's post on What others were saying was a great post and I especially like her end comments about the differences between S&W and Williams as far as beginning a paragraph with a topic sentence. Even though I thought the Strunk & White book was an easier read, this point, or rule (Rule #9), is unclear and much better written in William's book, in my opinion. As I write that sentence, I wonder if it is an un-concise sentence of 20 words or more...LOL. Although Jennifer thought it was more clear as explained by S&W, I appreciated her comments on the same "rule", I just felt that Williams, while "lengthening" the point, explained the argument more clearly.
Rebecca's blog also caught my eye because I am constantly wondering about my correct use of it's and its. The opening chapter in S&W was the most informative to me because it has been a while since I've studied the Elementary Rules of Usage (Third Edition, S&W). This was a great refresher for me - the possessive singular of nouns especially. In her blog, Rebecca states, "I absolutely hate when anyone writes the contraction "it's" when they really mean the possessive "its". I was so happy to see that handled right at the very beginning as being a commonly made mistake, and addressing how it should be corrected". It's great that she is comfortable with the difference, but I think a lot of people struggle with it - or it wouldn't be the first topic in S&W. Although I think S&W's book is somewhat elementary and basic (redundant??) in its rules, when speaking in terms of perfect writing, as I think both books are promoting, its a nice refresher.

Strunk & White vs. Williams

Williams book was a much more difficult read than Strunk & White but I feel Williams was a more appropriate writing guide for college students than S&W. Keeping in mind that I have the third version of S&W, I feel the book is a helpful refresher of some basic grammatical rules, but it is somewhat outdated. I think Williams gives a perfect comparison of the two books in his opening statement when he says that his book explains how to write more clearly. I think S&W more or less tells us to write more clearly. It doesn't explain how to write more clearly as well as Williams book does.

Williams book is longer and therefore gives an impression that it will be more in depth. When looking at the main chapters in each book, even the titles are more clear and descriptive in Willaims than in S&W. The third edition of S&W has five chapters with titles such as Elementary Rules of Usage and A Few Matters of Form. Willaims has ten chapters and the titles are simple and self explanatory -- Clarity, Concision, and Length. While I'm able to understand what each of the chapters of both books covers because I read them, at first glance, Williams titles are more clear.

At first, I thought I'd like S&W's book better because it seemed short and to the point. After reading both books, I like Williams book, even though it was a tougher read. It offers more helpful writing guidelines for a college student in upper level english courses. I liked the chapters on coherence and concision the best. Concision offered great point about redundancy. This is one area where I get discouraged when reading. I have an early American Lit course as well and find it frustrating when the author uses useless words. His point is much better understood if redundant pairs, modifiers and categories are omitted. I also thought the section on "Not the Negative" as helpful. It's so much easier and better understood when just one word is used instead of 3 or more.

Revising With Williams

Original sentences from EMU Graduate Catalog:
Most graduate students balance work, family life and community involvement with course work towards a degree completion. It's a juggling act. A team effort or network is needed. The EMU family of faculty and staff are prepared to mentor you through the journey. Let classmates be a part of the network as well. These friendships create a professional linkage that will remain resolute through your professional life.

Revised:
While working towards a degree completion, most students balance work, family life, course work and community involvement. This can be a real juggling act. The EMU faculty and staff, as well as other classmates are excellent resources to assist and mentor students through their journey. These friendships among classmates and faculty create a professional linkage that can be beneficial in future careers.

I chose this paragraph to revise because I felt it was choppy and lacked clarity and cohesion, as Williams might say. I thought the original paragraph jumped all over from explaining how students have to balance work, life and school and then moved on to explain how relationships made at EMU can help students later in their professional life. I felt the topic of the paragraph should be consistent - stick to one topic and create a new paragraph when a new topic is introduced. In the original paragraph, the topic wasn't "kept visible", it seemed to be all over the place. In revising, I tried to steamline the paragraph and make the topic more straight forward.

First Impressions...Strunk & White

This book was an easy read, as Prof. Krause stated in the syllabus. I was a bit more excited to read this book when finding out that one of the authors, E.B. White, was actually the sa me E.B. White who wrote Charlotte's Web, which is still, to this day, one of my favorite books.

I feel that the most helpful, although possibly obvious section of this book, was the first section, Elementary Rules of Usage. While I do not necessarily agree with the order of importance, if that is what was meant by the numbering of the "rules", I thought the section was a nice "refresher" on some basic rules of writing "correctly". The title of the section sums it up, in my opinion: Elementary Rules...It's been a long time since I've had an elementary grammar class and sometimes it's helpful to hear/read those basic rules all over again. As White states, the book is "a tiny thing, a barely tarnished gem. Seven rules of usage, eleven principles of composition, a few matters of form, and a list of words and expressions commonly misused..."(xii). I think the seven rules of usage, not necessarily arranged by importance, to me - is the possesive s really the MOST important rule of usage? -- is a great review of the basics for an adult who has been out of the elementary education system for some time.

I felt that the section on commonly misused words and expressions section was the most "unhelpful" and outdated -- althought it was interesting to read what someone writing in the early 1900's considered "misused". I think Strunk's opinion of these words and expressions are just that --opinions - and in today's day in age, alot of what he felt was incorrect is widely acceptable nowadays.

On The Run!!

This weekend I ran the Fifth Third River Bank Run in Grand Rapids ( my hometown). This was my 8th year running the 25K race - that's 15.5 miles. I ran with my twin sister ( to the right in the pictures) and my friend from here in Detroit. It was a great day and we all finished in under 2 hours and 28 minutes! Wow am I sore...but it was worth the accomplishment! I live to RUN! The girl in the top photo in the black shorts and white top is me FINISHING!

Writing as a Technology Show & Tell

This idea turned out to be quite more difficult than I thought. First, the blue "berries" I found were dry so I had no dark color for "ink". Daisies weren't dark enough. I ended up crushing up miscellaneous flower petals with the daisies, with a stone on the concrete and mixing in a bit of water to create a paste and used a fat stick to write. The text is sloppy - but it says "Nature is the source of Technology".

What is "Style"?

I think Style is the unique way in which people express themselves -- through fashion, writing, speech, etc. The "style" in which you dress or style your hair, gives people a first impression about you that can either be correct or the result of a stereotype. The way a person writes is often different from anothers because of their unique writing style - the same goes for speech. I think "style" in terms of this class will mean the way we learn to write depending on the type of writing that we are doing and the audience that will read our writing.

First Blog Ever

Hello All ~ This really is my first "Blog" ever. I don't do MySpace or Facebook or anything like that. I'm 30, majoring in Language,Lit and writing and plan to be teaching the youth of America soon. I love literature, but also love Spanish, and I will take a job in Michigan teaching either one. I was originally going for Accounting, but halfway into that major, decided I hated it. Years later, I decided I was sick of dreading going to work every day and decided to make a change and DO what I really want to do, which is teach. I'm a runner, a wife, and a twin. I love to read, run, and spend time with people who mean the most to me. I learned that life if short and unpredictable and that each day should be lived to it's fullest. That's why I am here, earning my degree so that each day, I look forward to getting up and going to work.
The picture is of me and my sisters - who are my very best friends ever.