Report on My Interviews

So, What Happened?

In this blog post I will be discussing how the interviews went, and what I learned regarding the genres they use in everyday life.

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NOTE TO SEAN (ignore):

I only have one interview done so this will be pretty bare for now. My next interview is tomorrow so I will update this post interview.

What I learned

As of right now, the genres were pretty basic. Dr. Schultz just uses email, blackboard, and d2l to communicate to her students. She also talked about how she goes to Academic conferences as well.

These genres are all pretty similar as in the fact that they are all quick forms of communication to send out small amounts of information. Emails are limited in terms of effectiveness as d2l and blackboard are great for mass organization of grading materials and sending out information about class over a secure network (imagine having to send out information one by one to every student). Other than that I feel that these genres are pretty basic and very similar. I will update once I see Sameera's perspective.

Dr. Schultz said the most challenging part of these genres is the expectation that everyone is always connected and informed at all times. One missed email or notification on blackboard or d2l can result in a world of hell from students or staff. It can also leave out key information that may be necessary for a situation. Another challenge was when the internet goes out. She felt as if it's a win most of the time, but sometimes it can really bite you in the butt when it's your only form of communicating.

Dr. Schultz wasn't super enthusiastic about the genres she uses. I mean email has been out for so long that no one is really "wowed" by it any more. I guess it is rewarding because she said it makes her life easier. Not much wow factor from Roberta.

Emails are found in mass media for business inquiries. I'm not sure how many other schools use blackboard and d2l, so those are a bit limited in this sense. emails can be found through links from blogs, videos on YouTube, Twitter bios, basically anywhere. Blackboard and d2l are self searches, you just have to be enrolled in a school that uses them. If I live in Bangladesh I'm not just going to make a d2l account.

Update

Okay now we have the second interview.

Sameera had the same forms of communication as Dr. Schultz, with the addition of whatsapp. Whatsapp is another form of messaging, kind of like Facebook's messaging app. Like I said, all others were the same.

I'll talk about Whatsapp for the next question. The problem with Whatsapp is that it's like text messaging, it's great for quick communication, but can be misconstrued very easily. That's the main problem that I see with it.

Okay I'm going to be honest here, Whatsapp isn't exciting. Most of these forms of communication aren't really exciting, they're your basic Joe-Shmo type of communication (for the 21st century). As for rewards, they're pretty standard. It's quick communication, nothing more than that really.

This app can be used in academic and social settings. You can't really find this genre in a public place without actually using the app, or by asking others for pictures of their conversations on Whatsapp. So if you're looking for examples you're going to have to get personal.

From Academia to Social Media

Behind the Journal

In this blog we will be researching one of the authors that were involved in the publishing of the academic journal from the two previous blog posts.

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Who are we investigating?

This blog is going to be centered around Bryan Hochstein and I was able to find him on Facebook and LinkedIn.

After some snooping I couldn't find any major dirt on Bryan. Facebook nowadays is literally just an old man's Twitter, as he just posted basic stuff about his family and studying for his tests (he's a current Ph. D student at Florida State University). Basically he has a wife and a kid, studies at Florida State, and has been working in the business world for about 20 years. 

LinkedIn allowed me to see that in his past he worked as a Director of Marketing for a year at Orion Flight Services. He also worked as a Senior Account Executive for 9 and a half years at Time Warner Cable. He is NOT active on social media.

(Note: Sean, I'm going to be brutally honest in the fact that I hate this question that discusses how this person speaks differently from social media to the academic journal. It's not relevant in my opinion because most of these people I've researched don't use social media except to post pictures to friends that they really don't care about. Not trying to hate on your question but I thought I'd let you know, just a little honesty here).

On social media Bryan just seems to be your basic white dad that is overly hyped about the small things that no one cares about. We all know this Facebook parent, it's a pretty common stereotype that no one really gives a damn about. We just hit like and then move on. In the academic journal, it is Bryan and three others that give input on business tactics about whether the customer matters most. This genre is extremely fact based and uses studies to represent the findings of the authors. The journal doesn't really give me a sense of his voice, it just feels as if a robot is regurgitating data. Like I said earlier I feel that this question doesn't work well.

Academic Discourse and Genre

Further Journal Analysis

In this post we are going to further explore the genres utilized in the academic journal from the previous blog post.

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Let's go deeper

Alright from what I can tell there's a few sub-genres in this article. One article we're going to call the "Math Beyond Me" section (MBM), this article is called "Corporate Social Responsibility and Shareholder Wealth" and it includes a sciency/math genre that gives formulas for explanations. Another genre is the "Look at the Pretty Pictures" section (LPP), which is called "The Effectiveness of Customer Participation in New Product Development" which contains a lot of graphs and diagrams. The third genre found is the "Wall of Text" section (WoT), which is called "When Does (Mis)Fit in Customer Orientation Matter for Frontline Employees' Job Satisfaction and Performance" which contains an overwhelming amount of text with little white space. 

I answered questions 1 and 2 in the last one, but I'll elaborate more on question 2 as to why I chose the name. MBM is the way it is because one article revolves around a ton of formulas involving Greek letters that may be unknown to the common population, but not to people in Marketing. LPP refers to the article that contains a ton of graphs and diagrams that show specific studies in a visual aspect. The WoT article just tells a long tale of study using more words than anyone actually wants to read, but they're there to make you feel better about yourself. All of these are easily distinguishable, it pops when seen. I don't think images are necessary as the description seems to really help hit the head on the nail.

Definitions of the new genres:

MBM- A genre used to show statistics and data through mathematical interfaces in order to show trends and further analyze data at a mathematical level. The purpose of this is to provide cranked out stats using math in order to better explain a situation. Target audience includes those well know and acquainted to the subject of Marketing that can follow the formulas used.

LPP- A genre used to easily show data to the audience in order to display trends of an observation or study. The purpose of this genre is to provide data to the audience that isn't extremely familiar to the information, and it brings down the learning curve quite a bit. Intended for Marketing professionals, and maybe novices that are new to the field.

WoT- This one is self-explanatory. A genre that has an overwhelming amount of information that makes the reader contemplate the cost benefit of sleeping versus learning. Don't get me wrong the content might be good, but the way it's presented is pretty rough. The purpose is to inform in a way of words. The target audience has to be professionals in the Marketing field, or some random souls that are just really interested in Marketing. 

Rhetorical Analysis of Academic Journal

To the Library!

In this blog post, I will be reviewing one of the top three journals that I selected from the last post in order to learn more about the Marketing field.

Journal of Marketing via Jake Gyles

All about the Journal of Marketing

Who are the authors?

The authors of the January 2016 edition are V. Kumar, Ashish Kumar, Ram Bezawada, Rishika Rishika, Ramkumar Janakiraman, P.K. Kannan, Saurabh Mishra, Sachin B. Modi, Woojung Chang, Steven A. Taylor, Bulent Menguc, Seigyoung Auh, Constantine S. Katsikeas, Yeon Sung Jung, Johannes Habel, Laura Marie Schons, Sascha Alavi, Jan Wieseke, Christopher R. Plouffe, Willy Bolander, Joseph A. Cote, and Bryan Hochstein (yeah there's a shit ton of authors in this issue).

To be honest, I have no clue who these people are. I don't know anything about the professionals in Marketing. I'll pick a few and see what they do, they better be interesting that's for sure.

Update, here's what I found after some online creeping of Joseph A. Cote and Jan Wieseke (Why'd I pick them? No clue just roll with it here). Joseph A. Cote, not Banks, is a Marketing big shot. He's the director of Marketing and Business Development at Branding for the People, so he's been around the block a few times. Jan Wieseke is actually a University professor for the Sales and Marketing Department for a University in Europe. These authors are no joke, and they seem to know their stuff.

The authors and speakers aren't really portrayed in the journal, they don't seem to have an apparent voice. I think this is because everyone has an input, so it'd be like all of the authors talking at once.

The intended audience for this issue is people involved in the Marketing field, that are looking into issues that could be challenged. The articles address Marketing principles that are popular, and they show research about how these ideas could be wrong. There doesn't seem to be a second audience, as it seems pretty straightforward to who this is for. One title challenges the "Customer is always right" idea, and leads into a read that may change your mind to think otherwise.

I can not get a read on the context of this journal. I don't know what to put here. It's as simple as the fact that this is a Marketing journal that is meant for Marketing personnel and that's it. There's no context. I have to go out of my way to find this work, it doesn't simply fall into the public's lap okay. It's a modern day text from January of this year. This is the only journal I know of that doesn't say where it's published from. This "context" doesn't affect the content, because I don't think people in Marketing give a damn if this book is published in Texas or Arizona or wherever. They care about the findings of the professors and that's it. It's like my shirts. I don't care where it's made, I like them for the look not the make.

The message of the journal is to show the newest trends or challenges in Marketing, as I've stated 89,000 times. It talks about theories like something called the Ambivalent affect, and then there's an article about customer orientation. The message is to inform, it's nothing more than that. It's not some key to life or something, it's simply Marketing.

THE PURPOSE OF THE JOURNAL IS TO INFORM ABOUT NEW PRINCIPLES IN MARKETING. If you haven't figured this out yet that's outstanding. Sorry about a salty post, it's been a rough day but you know what, this is my voice. This text is to inform the reader. Inform Inform Inform. There is nothing more than that. I can sit here and cite the titles of the articles to prove that since you don't believe me. Does the customer matter most? This is one article. It analyzes the old saying I mentioned earlier. Or the Effectiveness of Customer Participation. It's all the same.

My Discipline

What is Marketing?

In this post we are going to look around the field of Marketing to see exactly what it is, and why I want to pursue a degree in this field.

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The background of Marketing

In simple terms, Marketing majors learn how to make people want to buy a product or service made by a company. By using Marketing strategies, people in the Marketing discipline can learn valuable skills in the seller's side of the business world.

Graduates that have a Marketing tend to go and work for Marketing firms, or advertisement firms. Popular firms like Nike will take on college graduates to help boost their brands and products to the next level of selling. For instance, my cousin is currently a self-contracted advertisement employee who helps shoot commercials for popular companies such as dos equis.

I was drawn to Marketing because I saw the opportunity to use my creative side in the workplace. Rather than just a standard desk job, I want to be out and about searching for the newest trends and seeing what the people in the public are attracted to. I think the skills in Marketing translate outside of the workplace, and provides opportunities that other majors simply can't. Also, Marketing is a jack-of-all trades kind of major. You learn a little bit of every business major and put it all into one degree.

Three interesting people/companies in this field include:

Amy Africa- Amy is the kind of person that I strive to be like. She has the ability to speak like a normal human being (not like a dictionary whiz) and she is able to intelligently make smart decisions in her field. After doing work for companies such as Coca Cola, she has established herself as a well-recognizable figure. Down to Earth and intelligence really appeal to me.

Tim Ash- I liked Tim's work and connections that he has made. He has helped advertise for companies like google and Facebook, and seems to really know his stuff. I think what's really intriguing about Tim is that he didn't start off in Marketing. Originally, he worked with Computer Science, but eventually switched over into the field of Marketing.

Andy Crestodina- Andy is interesting to me because when I looked him up, he seemed very down to Earth and very engaged with people. One thing I hope Marketing can bring out in me is a better way to connect to others, which Andy does very well. He is based out of Chicago Illinois.

What are three journals that apply to Marketing?

Journal of Marketing

Marketing Science

Psychology and Marketing

All of the journals are published online not at a physical location. Psychology and Marketing is published through Wiley's online library, whereas the Journal of Marketing is published through the American Marketing Association (AMA). Marketing Science is published through a site called pubsonline.

All of the journals I could find seem to be electronic articles as this is definitely the more modern way of communicating. Since Marketing is an ever-changing field, it makes sense that the way their articles are released are electronically rather than in a hard copy.

My Interviewees on Social Media

Where and What are They Talking About?

In this blog we are going to see how socially active the interviewees are on popular social media websites.

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Roberta Schultz on Social Media

Social media sites Dr. Schultz uses:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

What was her social media presence like?

Dr. Schultz's social media presence is quite conservative. Her Twitter account is private which leads me to think that it is mainly used to communicate only to friends and family, without being pestered by outside users. Her LinkedIn also is not public to the viewer, as it only shows a small glimpse of her profile. Most information you could find on LinkedIn can be found on her website through Eller (such as past jobs and education). Finally, her Facebook account hasn't been active in almost two years, so it is safe to conclude that Dr. Schultz is not very active on the social media scene.

How does the writing style compare to the last blog post?

Due to Dr. Schultz's lack of social media presence, I couldn't really find a correlation between her published works and her social media image. I could not a find her voice in her social media accounts so the only thing that I can really go off of was her voice in the journals. In the journals she's very concise and to the point, but that's all I could pick up. I think that because Dr. Schultz is on the older side, she isn't super involved in the social media aspect.

Sameera Peri on Social Media

Social media sites Sameera uses:

LinkedIn

Facebook

What was her social media presence like?

On Sameera's Facebook she was basically using it as a place to post pictures of her and her friends, there wasn't any kind of discussion of topics on her wall. She kind of uses Facebook as an Instagram-like place of social media, just displaying travelling images and nothing of greater detail. Her LinkedIn displayed all of her past works and involvements, which included her past job at IBM and her undergraduate education when she was an engineering student. Nothing really stood out on her LinkedIn, it's the usual and typical LinkedIn profile.

How does the writing style compare to the last blog post?

Sameera didn't have any publications so her social media presence is the only genre that we can use to see what she is like. Her social media is conservative, it doesn't really involve anything that pops out as negative or alarming, so it seems to be a pretty typical social media account. This is the only way we can view Sameera, before I meet her in the interview.

My Interviewees as Professional Writers

Their Writing Background

In this blog, I am going to research and review the writing background of my two interviewees.

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Roberta Schultz

Dr. Schultz has published many works relating to Marketing and Business Management. Much of her work relates to industrial Marketing and Management according to her page on the Eller website. Much of her work now is related to teaching, as these works were published earlier in her career.

Roberta Schultz tends to publish academic journals as her main professional genre of choice. Two of her journals can be found here and here. As I said, she mainly writes in journals rather than composing books, which result in different convention usage. From skimming over her academic journals, it appears that this genre is very text heavy and does a lot of informing. It doesn't really create its own environment as a text, but rather serves to inform about a current topic or study.

The first linked article was published in December 1, 2015 whereas the second was published October 24, 2013. The influence of customer needs highly shaped the way the first text, as that's what it mainly focuses on. It showed how even fifteen years in the future, this aspect has become extremely relevant especially with social media now playing a major role in the Marketing field. The second article states how long term sales relationships are playing a key role in modern day marketing. This article relates greatly to international connections and has a "whole world" kind of impact. Other texts that relate to this are popular Marketing journals such as the Journal of Marketing.

The overall message of the first journal is that Marketing organizations continue to evolve. In the journal it discusses the impact of the ever changing environments create a new need for different Marketing styles. These changes help fix performance issues that arise as time advances. Rather than one discrete answer, the issues continue to evolve as time goes on. The second article finds that communication is the key to success in the managerial department of a business. The way professionals communicate create different types of feelings within the employees (such as trust or being comfortable). In the study it found body language and vocal communication to create a huge impact on the way employees perceive their higher in command.  

The purpose of these articles was to inform about Marketing aspects that could be in question, and could be improved. The first article wanted to tell its audience that the Marketing business is ever changing, there exists no formula behind how Marketing is going to be ten to fifteen years from now. The second article focuses on pointing out that there are actually strategies behind the way business professionals communicate. The way everyone communicates is a huge factor in coming across to employees in a specific manner to get a message across. It really provided information on basically how to communicate in a vendor and customer based world.

Sameera Peri

Sameera has not written any professional publications according to her Linkedin profile. She just finished her undergraduate degree two years ago, and has not participated in the publication of any scholarly work. She is also extremely new to the MBA program as she started the program this year. For all of the questions on this blog I won't be able to answer the specific questions, so I'll include while she is still vital to my research. She is currently pursuing her MBA which is exactly what I want to do in my upcoming future as a student. I think learning about her genres will provide great insight and advice as I approach the same road that she is currently on. 

My Interview Subjects

Who are we interviewing?

In this blog we are going to dig deeper into the background of Roberta Schultz and Sameera Peri.

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Roberta Schultz

Who she works for: The University of Arizona (Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Faculty Director of the Marketing Minor Program).

Higher Education: Master of Business Administration from the University of Missouri, in Kansas City and a Doctor of Philosophy in Business Administration - Marketing from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Working Experience: Roberta Schultz has been teaching for over 26 years.

Roberta Schultz via Eller

Dr. Schultz's Eller homepage here.

Interview Setting: February 22, 2016 at 11 a.m. in her office at the Eller College of Management, room 325

Interview Questions:

1. What is your specific field of work?

2. How do you and others in your field formally communicate (emails, skype, etc.)

3. What audiences do you typically write to in your field?

4. How does who you're writing to affect your choice of genre?

5. What conventions do you find to be important in your most used genres?

6. What's is your favorite/ most preferred genre to use?

7. How has your choice of genre changed over the past 10-15 years?

8. How does technology affect what genres you use? Does new technology have you constantly adapting to new forms of communication?

9. Is there any genre that doesn't work well in your opinion?

10. Does time management play a factor in what genres you use or how you communicate?

11. What is the most challenging part of writing in your field?

12. What writing tips would you give to students, that could improve their communication skills?

Sameera Peri

Who she works for: The University of Arizona as a Graduate Teaching Assistant through the Eller College of Management.

Higher Education: Currently pursuing her MBA at the University of Arizona, also studied Electronics and Communications Engineering at Amrita school of engineering.

Work Experience: Worked as a Systems Engineer for IBM for a little over two years, which dealt with management in the SAP department.

Sameera Peri via LinkedIn

Find Sameera's homepage here.

Interview Setting: February 29, 2016 at 2 p.m. in her office at McClelland Hall room 404.

Interview Questions:

1. What is are you currently studying?

2. How do you and others in your position formally communicate (emails, skype, etc.)

3. What audiences do you typically write to in your field?

4. How does who you're writing to affect your choice of genre?

5. What conventions do you find to be important in your most used genres?

6. What's is your favorite/ most preferred genre to use?

7. How has your choice of genre changed over the past 10-15 years?

8. How does technology affect what genres you use? Does new technology have you constantly adapting to new forms of communication?

9. Is there any genre that doesn't work well in your opinion?

10. Does time management play a factor in what genres you use or how you communicate?

11. What is the most challenging part of writing in your field?

12. What writing tips would you give to students, that could improve their communication skills?

Brutally Honest Self-Assesment

The End is Near

The first project is finally coming to a close, and now it's time for a little bit of self-review.

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Let the Self-Criticism Begin

1. I'm feeling nervous, which I bet everyone else is feeling too. I don't know how the grading process will go, as this is a new class and everyone grades differently. I think my project was really great in terms of conventions, but I'm curious to see how well I conveyed my controversy to the audience. I tried to stay as unbiased as possible, while providing a clear analysis of the Abercrombie and Fitch controversy. I'm so nervous!

2. My weaknesses in this essay were definitely the description and keeping the audiences attention. I think these are two of the hardest yet finest aspects to tackle in a project. I have always struggled with the five senses. My mind simply doesn't think in the five senses. For example if I smell food cooking I think of it as "oh someone's cooking food" rather than "oh someone's cooking chicken or steak or whatever". Since I don't think in a descriptive way, it makes it much harder to write in a descriptive way. This also leads to an imbalance of description which can lead to an over description of a topic.

I worry about my ability to keep the audience's attention, because I don't know if I kept the balance of fact and analysis even enough to keep my project interesting. My main goal was to keep the crowd wanting more, and then hopefully provide enough information for the audience to create their own opinions about the A & F controversy itself.

3. I think my main strength in this project was the format of my QRG. I think it turned out looking great, and appears to be easy to read (then again I've read it over and over so it should be). This was a huge part of project 1, being that it's a genre I've never used before. I tried to follow all of the conventions that we listed in class, and I think I effectively was able to create a great looking QRG. The white space in my project was one part that I really wanted to emphasize, and I think it turned out really well in my project. The white space created a sense of flow, which helps the reader stay way more engaged, compared to reading a giant wall of text.

4. Time management was horrible at first. In the beginning of the project my inner procrastinator showed. I think a big factor of this was that I didn't realize how much time these blog posts took. As time went on I began to get in a rhythm, but I still wasn't doing great with time management. I think for the next assignment I'm going to change my strategy of how I use this time. For project 1, I basically only worked on Friday through Sunday rather than spreading it out during the week. The reason for this was because I would complete all of my other homework on Monday through Thursday. This made the homework in English horribly dreadful and painful on the weekends. I know I put enough time into project 1, I just need to allocate the amount of time I put into project 1 much more effectively.

On to the next project!

Local Revision: Variety

Sentence Redundancy

A big part of sentence fluidity comes from the type of sentences used. In this blog I'm going to analyze how effectively I employed using a variety of sentences.

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Down to Business

1. There's one major problem with my sentence structure. Every sentence is similar, and I have to fix it. I use a lot of short, quick sentences that make my QRG feel like its completely bullet pointed. I never really go off into a deep analysis in the QRG, which needs to be in the project. I don't want to over analyze things, but I feel that the audience needs more in-depth understanding of the controversy without going overboard in terms of analyzing every little thing. Variation can be key to the flow of my project, so fixing the sentence structure has to happen.

2. My paragraph structures were pretty solid in my QRG. I kept the paragraph length down, which makes it easy on the eyes of the audience. Nobody wants to read a giant wall of text when learning something in a short amount of time. The transitions of the paragraphs seem to flow smoothly as well too. My main goal for the paragraph structure was to keep it free flowing and smooth. I focused on the conventions pertaining to the look of my project, and made sure they went hand in hand with the look of other QRG's.

3. I'll be 100% honest. My vocabulary is lacking in the current form of my draft. I need to add more pop and pzazz to my QRG without throwing the thesaurus at it. What I mean is that I need to be more descriptive with my vocabulary, without making it feel like the reader is viewing a textbook. I think fun, free-flowing vocabulary can make or break any kind of text. If you read something that keeps you actively engaged, the message of the text is more likely to get across. I need to make my work stand out more, and keep the readers engaged with the text, rather than bored with it. If I were to list the strengths of the QRG, it would be the easy-to-comprehend style that my draft is in. I don't think my draft's vocabulary exhibits many other strengths from the vocabulary standpoint. The weaknesses are basically the beginning of this paragraph being a lack of pzazz and a lack of description. 

Local Revision: Pronoun Usage

Pronoun Analysis

In this blog we are going to check out my pronoun usage in my current draft, and analyze it to determine how effective or ineffective the usage was.

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Less Talk, More Questions

1. Due to not many pronouns being used, I can tell that my QRG is pretty specific when referring to people or places. Most of the pronouns I used came after listing the subject, and were used as a reference back to the subject. All in all it seemed pretty clear who I was discussing during my QRG, and it appeared to be pretty easy to follow. In terms of overall effectiveness, the pronoun usage seems to be very productive and effective when used in place of the nouns they represent.

After examining my pronoun usage I can see that I am very straight and to the point in my QRG. I tend not to beat around the bush and get sidetracked in he-said she-said kind of way. It provides a clear understanding of who I am referring to, rather than leaving the reader trying to figure out who I am talking about. If I were to define my writing style solely off of pronoun usage, I would say that it is clear and to the point.

2. The only part of my QRG that directly addresses addresses the audience is in the first part of my QRG, which asks their opinion of Abercrombie and Fitch before going into detail about the controversy itself. I think that this provides not necessarily a bond, but it draws out an initial opinion from the audience. Then as the QRG progresses, I hope that the audience gains enough unbiased information to build on their initial opinion. I chose to leave my audience out of most of my writing in order to let them think for themselves about the controversy. Rather than pestering the audience, I figured I'd let them sit back and enjoy the ride, and let them express their opinion after becoming informed on the situation. I'm not saying this is the best approach, but I think I will effectively use it to my advantage in my QRG. 

My Pronouns

He, She, I, Who Are We Talking About Here?

In this blog we are going to explore all the pronouns that I used in my draft and identify who they are directed towards.

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My Pronoun List:

You (the reader)

It (A & F)

Its (New Albany, Ohio)

his (Mike Jeffries)

they (women in general)

his (mark Jeffries)

they (the celebrities including Miley Cyrus)

their (A & F)

Local Revision: Passive and Active Voice

Today's Topic

Today we're going to classify our verbs into active and passive verbs, to get a better understanding of how the actions are being described to the audience.

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Revisiting the Old List:

don't

agree

do

claimed

is

go

didn't

become

is

contains

boasts

having

are

dive

is

figure

going

is

made

wear

believes

told

wear

are

ridiculed 

given

returned

claimed

resurfaced

causing

took 

say

were

changed

recognized

dropped

Active (Specific) Verbs:

boasts

ridiculed

resurfaced

Active (General) Verbs:

don't

agree

do

claimed

is

go

didn't

become

is

contains

having

are

dive

is

figure

going

is

made

wear

believes

told

wear

are

given

returned

claimed

causing

took 

say

were

changed

recognized

dropped

Passive Verbs:

offered

say

Question Time:

1. After looking at the verb breakdown, I can tell that my QRG is completely one-sided by general verbs. Another point to make is that the QRG doesn't contain a lot of passive verbs either. These factors raise a red flag about my current essay, most noticeably in the general verbs category. Due to most of my verbs being in this category, I feel like it detracts from the actual pictures and images that I want my audience to see. Rather than say I could use something along the lines of "demanded" which vividly gives an image in the audience's head. So as recap, I'm way too general right now, and need to step up my description game.

2. If I create more balance between the general and specific verbs, my QRG will flow and feel much better to the reader. I need to find the perfect balance between general and specific in order to create a descriptive, but not too descriptive QRG. If the specific verbs become overused, it will look as if I am just throwing the dictionary at my project rather than trying to inform the audience about the controversy. Another thing to note is that by using specific verbs at certain times will create emphasis and make the reader understand that whatever situation is being described is important. General verbs will give the readers information without highlighting it and drawing away from the issue that is being picked apart.

Local Revision: Tense Usage

What Time is it?

In this blog we are going to evaluate the verbs from the last blog post, and categorize them in tenses.

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Original List of Verbs:

don't

agree

do

claimed

is

go

didn't

become
are

is

contains

boasts

having

are

dive

is

figure
are

going

is

made

wear

believes
is

told

wear
go
is

are

ridiculed 

given

returned
is

claimed

resurfaced

causing

is

took 

say

were
are

changed

recognized

dropped

Past Tense:

claimed (2)

made

told

ridiculed

given

returned

resurfaced

took

were

changed

dropped

recognized

Present Tense:

is (8)

are (5)

go (2)

wear (2)

don't

agree

do

didn't

contains 

boasts

having

dive

figure

going

believes

say

given

causing

Future Tense:

become

Question Time

1. The most used tense in my draft was by far the present tense.

2. The tense of the tone has an effect that makes the reader feel either in the moment of the controversy, or that the controversy has already happened. The present tense gives a sense of a first hand experience, and seems to attach the situation to the reader. Past tense gives the feel of a dead controversy, and makes it seem as if its a history lesson rather than a recent occurrence. Future tense is tough to analyze because there was only one instance of it in my QRG; however, it gives a looking forward kind of view, and puts the topic off to the side rather than it being a priority.

3. So far the tenses seem to flow very well together. It doesn't appear to be confusing, as there weren't any comments on my QRG being confusing due to tense. The tenses don't seem to contradict each other, but I am going to make edits to try and keep the tenses consistent when discussing different parts of my controversy.

4. I think that I could add more present tense to my piece. I feel that the addition of present tenses to the essay makes the reader feel more engaged instead of reading a news story like a history book. It gives a sense of being active in the controversy, and pulls at the emotions more. We look at history and can see all of the horrible things civilizations have done to each other. When instances like this happen in the present (like ISIS), it raises more attention to the reader.  

My Verbs

What Actions are Taking Place?

In this blog we are going to tally up how many verbs I used, and how many times I used each verb as well.

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List of Verbs:

don't

agree

do

claimed

is

go

didn't

become

is

contains

boasts

having

are

dive

is

figure

going

is

made

wear

believes

told

wear

are

ridiculed 

given

returned

claimed

resurfaced

causing

took 

say

were

changed

recognized

dropped

Verbs Repeated Multiple Times:

is (8)

are (5)

claimed (2)

go (2)

wear (2)

Local Revision: Wordiness

Words, Words, and More Words

In this blog we are going to find out where I talk the most in my QRG, and how I can cut the words down to create a snappier flow.

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Which Paragraph Was Like a Novel?

The Following excerpt is from my QRG rough draft:

"In the beautiful state of Ohio exists a company ruled by a tyrant. The physical surroundings of the land are beautiful. In New Albany, Ohio exists the company that changed the game, and then lost it. New Albany is a place where the rich come to get richer, while the poor come to... well, still be poor. As one of the richest cities in all of Ohio we can assume an atmosphere that fits Abercrombie and Fitch quite well. The environment is home to the people who have struck it rich, and measure their well-being by the number of commas in their checking account. The town is highly caucasian and conservative as well. The only things that take place are executive decisions. It doesn't feel like home. There's no struggle in this land in this small. Abercrombie exists in a town that reflects the company itself. This city sits on a throne of happiness and little to no problems."

Now I'm going to cut it down:

"Abercrombie and Fitch is located in the small town of New Albany, Ohio, one of the wealthiest parts of Ohio. Along with extremely wealthy citizens, New Albany contains a predominantly caucasian community with more than 85% of its inhabitants being white. The small town of roughly 9,200 citizens also boasts an enormous amount of college graduates, with approximately 7,200 citizens having their Bachelor’s degree."

How the Audience Views it

This rewritten section of the QRG cuts down on two things, the bias and the unnecessary details. Rather than stretching a scenario out, the new version of this section gets the point across quickly. This attribute is key to a QRG, as it should be able to found quickly and easily. Before, you had to read a block of text to get an idea of the setting. Now you can just quickly find out where the controversy took place at. The new article contains all of the vital content, while boosting the look of the QRG.

Peer Review 2

More Editing

In this post we are going to explore the things I learned about this project through editing the projects of my peers.

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First Things First

Here are the links to Veronica's QRG and my Rubric for her QRG.

Here are the links to Cynthia's Essay and my Rubric for her essay.

Now To the Good Stuff

I learned a lot from this peer edit assignment. I learned to be really analytical of what the project is about. I don't think I ever slowed down and thought, "What am I truly trying to accomplish?" Veronica and Cynthia's projects opened up my eyes to this. From Veronica's project, I learned that I need to be way more descriptive, and really use the senses when describing aspects of my controversy. She did an amazing job in the description category. Cynthia's essay taught me to really be upfront with more facts, and to really try to eliminate the bias. I felt that her essay was a good example of this.

My top three issues are pretty simple ones that are key to the QRG:

1. Make it pop. I need to add pictures and text breaks that make it stand out and flow better than it currently does. This can make or break the project. I'm going to find the right visual elements that'll make my QRG stand out.

2. Description needs a makeover. I need to utilize those five senses. Veronica's QRG made me feel as if I was there in the controversy. I feel like this is one of the key points in holding the reader's attention. My description must improve after this revision.

3. Provide the facts elegantly. I feel that I struggled with slipping facts into my QRG. They kind of come off as a choppy addition that can ruin my project. I think a little sentence rearrangement this weekend can fix this issue.

My strengths of my QRG:

1. White space in my QRG is used pretty well. My QRG doesn't seem to be hard to look at, but still remains informative. No one enjoys reading block texts, not even English teachers (I hope). As I add information to my draft, I'm going to aim to keep the information as spread out as possible.

2. Interesting headers are a big part of my QRG. If the readers enjoy catchy headings, I think I will be able to effectively hold their attention. The headers relate directly to what the paragraph or certain section deals with rather than beating around the bush. Readers appreciate that, and I'll continue to do the same throughout the QRG.

3. My introduction is short and to the point, which allows readers to dive into the material immediately, rather than getting bored after a few sentences of boring text. This helps keep the reader's attention rather than leave them lost by the second sentence. I'm going to add a little more information to my introduction, but I think my main focus is to keep it short.

I think as long as I hammer out the details of this QRG and fix the little things, I'll be good to go.

Peer Review 1

Peer Review

To get a better idea of what my peers and I need to fix in our projects, I peer reviewed Jianna's QRG to compare her project to my QRG. You can find Jianna's blog here and her draft here. You can find my rubric here.

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What I Found

After reading Jianna's QRG, I found that my QRG still has a lot of work that needs to be done. She provided immense details about her subject, legalization of marijuana in Colorado, that were very organized and neat. I constantly struggled with organization in my QRG, so it was definitely a point taken in how I should improve the look of my project. A positive note for my project is that I felt I stuck to the point and got the ideas out where I needed to. It made the project feel a little choppy, but with a little work I can hammer out the issues. 

The two mistakes that Jianna made in her QRG were the lack of pictures and the lack of white space. The wall of text made it a little uncomfortable to glance at, but with a little separation that could be fixed. The lack of pictures made it seem like reading a book, and my inner child wants to see pictures just like everyone else. It helps take away from the seemingly overwhelming amount of text. I need to make sure I stay away from these mistakes.  

Jianna did many things very well in her QRG. I thought she made effective use of her bullet point segments. It got the information out quickly and clearly which always makes the reader's life easier. She also included a question and answer format that I would like to emulate in my QRG. This allowed me to know what I was reading just by looking at the subheadings. By doing this, I was able to go through Jianna's QRG and scan for information rather quickly.

Overall she offered a lot of good ideas and tips that made her QRG very informative. This helped me out tremendously, and I now know what I have to do to make my QRG even better.

Draft of Project 1

Showtime!

It's time to present the first, unedited version of my QRG. Read below for disclaimers.

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Notice

I want you to be as open-minded as possible when reading this QRG. Please correct me on my redundancy or whenever the article seems to become a bit boring. I want this essay to come off as passionate rather than boring, but I still want to keep it unbiased. Thanks!

Link to QRG here.

The Time Period

The World Around the Story

In this blog post, we are going to explore what was going on in the world during the time frame that the Abercrombie and Fitch Controversy took place.

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The News Stories

Local:

1. New Albany aimed to be the healthiest community in America (click here for details).

2. Doctor charged with the murder of a pregnant of a 23 year old mom (click here for details).

National:

3. Boston Marathon has a terrorist attack take place (click here for details).

4. Jodi Arias trial, Arias found guilty (click here for details).

Global:

5. Supertyphoon Haiyan destroys the Philippines (click here for details).

6. Edward Snowden releases NSA information (click here for details). 

Descriptions of the Articles

As a disclaimer, I could not find any relevant articles that had to do with the Abercrombie and Fitch controversy, as the world seemed pretty busy to notice it. 

1. New Albany is aiming to create a healthier community by boosting the health care provided in the community through new physical therapy clinics.

2. A local doctor, Ali Salim, actually raped and murdered a pregnant woman, Deanna Ballman. It was ruled a double-homicide.

3. The horrid Boston bombing that took place at the Boston Marathon on April 13, 2013. The two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were the confirmed bombers.

4. The Jodi Arias trial convicted the duranged Jodi Arias of first-degree murder after stabbing her ex-boyfriend a multitude of times.

5. The supertyphoon, Haiyan, struck the Philippines and killed more than 5,000 people. The high winds caused the evacuations of hundreds of thousands of citizens.

6. Edward Snowden's escape from America into Russia after revealing that the NSA does indeed tap phone lines left Americans in fear of their own government, with good reason.

The Setting

Where Are We At?

Here we are going to describe the feels and looks of the setting in the Abercrombie and Fitch controversy. Abercrombie and Fitch is located in New Albany, Ohio.

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The Main Setting of the Project

Only one smells exists at the headquarters of Abercrombie and Fitch: hatred. In the beautiful state of Ohio exists a company ruled by a tyrant. The physical surroundings of the land are beautiful, but the CEO of A & F is not. In New Albany, Ohio exists the man that changed the game and single-handedly sunk a company. New Albany is a place where the rich come to get richer, while the poor come to... well, still be poor. As one of the richest cities in all of Ohio we can assume an atmosphere that fits Abercrombie and Fitch quite well. The environment is home to the snobby people who have struck it rich, and measure their morals by the number of commas in their checking account. Just as you'd expect the town is highly caucasian and most likely conservative as well. You can't hear noises, except for the landscaping workers mowing their "master's" lawns. At least it seems to be a white man's land, offering little to no diversity. The only things that take place are executive decisions. It doesn't feel like home. There's no struggle in this land. It's a place where the rich come to bask in their wealth, and enjoy all that they've worked for. Who is one to judge them or hate them for it? These people have come to a small community to escape the real world, as do Abercrombie and Fitch's views on who should be wearing their brand. This city sits on a throne of happiness and little to no problems, while the rest of the world continues to suffer and fight for survival.

Stakeholder #3

Who's Up Third?

The final group we are going to look at is the women criticized by A & F.

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What Are They Like?

The group of women that are being discriminated against are those that aren't capable of wearing A & F's clothing line (before they increased the sizes post controversy). Although men were given plus sizes (for athletes), women were not given the benefits that guys had. As a male that used to wear 2 XL clothing when I weighed 285 pounds, I can assure that I didn't look pretty. Bigger women are often looked down upon by an average guy and even their own gender. To be identified as "fat" in this post 2000 setting is to look healthy. Girls that have become ideal often have rib cages prominently showing or to have completely flat stomachs. Although neither being skinny nor being a little heavy are bad things, the world often criticizes the women who are in the plus size category. It changes the way girls are treated, and Abercrombie and Fitch only fueled the criticism of larger women. Obviously not everyone in the world judges by looks, but looks are the first encounter of interaction. This causes a preface to what the world thinks of these groups and how to treat them as group rather than individual human being. The label of being fat or overweight overshadows the beautiful personalities that exist under their skin.

What They've Said

"To put it in your words: "unpopular kids" with "cool kids". It's socially acceptable for same to be paired with same, but never are contrasting bodies positively mixed in the world of advertisement." Said by Jes Baker from Thee Militant Baker blogs, found on the site Jezebel.

"That would make me never buy anything from Abercrombie even if I was cool and thin. I got two kids in that [age] bracket that will never walk in those doors because of his view of people," Said by Kirstie Alley here.

"Well, at least the feeling is mutual, Abercrombie. I don't want my body's personal brand associated with your creepy, predatory, bedbug-infested, bigoted, racist garbage clothes anyway." Said by Lindy West here.

Are the Claims Valid?

These claims appear to be valid and seem to carry quite a bit of weight as it shows the opinions of several different women in the world. The reaction to this controversy was not positive, and it's very fair to understand why. These sources are credible for the purpose that they are used for. They aren't presenting facts, but rather reactions to what A & F did. This gives us perspective of what the world thought of as A & F made these announcements and discriminated against larger women. This stakeholder plays on the emotions very effectively because of the heart aching stories that they use to describe how this affected them. Such as Kirstie Alley claiming she won't let her children set foot in the doors of A & F. Words like these would concern moms everywhere.

Similar or Different?

This stakeholder is not similar to Jeffries' views or the pre- A & F views by any means. However they do share the views of the post Jeffries era of A & F. After the departure of Jeffries, Abercrombie and Fitch took a better approach to the market by showing clean cut models for their products. Instead of using half-naked God given bodies, they use much more acceptable models to get their brand out there. The pre-controversy brand completely went against the view of the women who were offended by the brand. The Jeffries and A & F's original view was to be sexy and elite, whereas the women wanted a brand that made them feel sexy without being judged.

Stakeholder #2

Who's Up Second?

The next stakeholder we are going to be looking at Abercrombie and Fitch as a company.

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What Are They Like?

The Abercrombie and Fitch company is a broad description. Instead of taking on the company as a whole, we can deal with the physical persona of A & F, which is the physical stores themselves. What do the stores look like? The stores appear the same as any other clothing store on the outside, but the inside is way different. First you are hit with the smell from the store, the smell of overpowering cologne. How the employees operate in the store without passing out is unknown. If you manage to make it into the store, you'll encounter models that normally don't look like human beings. Although they claim to not discriminate against who they hire, they still usually hire the best looking candidates. It's usually hard to get away from past tendencies, so they probably prefer certain employees over others. If you go onto the website for A & F, it appears like most other websites for teens. It has a bunch of models that don't look like humans, but rather perfect looking human beings. The only problem with A & F is that they've been slowly declining ever since 2013, and have been out of style for many years prior to that. Competitors that were once chasing them in sales are now beginning to leave A & F in the dust, as they prosper in sales.

What Have They Said?

"We sincerely regret and apologize for any offense caused by the comments we have made in the past which are contrary to (the values of diversity and inclusion)," This Statement was released by A & F after Benjamin O'Keefe presented a petition of 68,000 signatures to A & F saying how they felt about the company's policies. You can find the article here.

“Succession planning in the boardroom today is topic No. 1. Selection of a CEO is the most important duty a board has.” This was said after Jeffries stepped down as CEO by Arthur Martinez found here.

“The next step forward requires someone with somewhat different skills than Mike, and someone who’s acutely aware of the disruption that’s coming in the industry -- the emerging dominance of online and omnichannel retailing -- someone who can strategically navigate those waters.” Said by Arthur Martinez here.

Are the Claims Valid?

These claims seem to definitely be valid and credible, as two of them were said by a board member in Abercrombie and Fitch. It was straight from the source rather than a lower level employee making conjectures about the company. These comments also carried weight in the fact that it showed that A & F was going in a new direction rather than staying in the past. The shareholder cites facts, and doesn't tend to mess with our emotions. The quotes are straight forward and prove that the company Abercrombie and Fitch is changing, but better late than never.

Similar or Different?

Before later 2013, the claims of A & F as a company were right on board with Jeffries' statements. They supported his voice and his opinions just as most companies do with their CEO's. As time went on they started to appeal more to the people they originally they disagreed with, the women that were outraged. A & F slowly became more sensitive and realized that they had been fighting a war that they simply could not win, with the way that the world was changing. They started having more in common with the same people they originally discriminated against, because they knew that if they were to stop their ship from sinking, it was to cut their losses and basically say "I'm sorry" to the people they once offended. The first part of saying sorry was to get Jeffries to step down as CEO. Then the healing process could begin.