Reflection on Post-Production

This blog post concerns my thoughts regarding post-production.

The major successes that I accomplished during this week was polishing my final draft. After the disaster I call turning in my essay (which was a Rough Draft), I have confidence that my QRG is much more polished.

The biggest challenge was what a QRG should look like. My idea of a QRG is much shorter and fragmented than Sean's approach, but I thoroughly think that he will enjoy the ease of read and tone, especially amidst the complication that dense, engineering-related speak dwells in.

Next week will be awesome! I have much more freedom on the podcast and on the video essay due to the creative element.

I feel much more relaxed submitting this than submitting an essay. The biggest complication with the first project is that I didn't know what to expect - now I do!

Editorial Report 9b

   This blog post concerns a revision of my QRG section, regarding when one would write in an engineering magazine.

When would I consider writing in an engineering magazine?

An engineering magazine is the light-hearted, more fun version of the scientific journal.

If you want to show somebody who doesn't know a lick about what engineering is, you would show them WIRED, which has a ton of interesting trinkets that would interest the average joe.

Here are the types of things that frequent engineering journals:

1) Pictures... lots of them!!!

2) Charts... statistics about what the best new gadget is

3) Quotes from famous engineers that we know about

4) Reviews from average users and "experts" about new devices

Engineering magazines are extremely helpful because it turns a general disinterest, or more likely, someone who is undecided how to feel, into the next avid supporter of DJI Phantom portable drones.

REVISITED VERSION

When would I consider utilizing an engineering magazine?

Use an engineering magazine to kindle someone's unlit interest in engineering!

An engineering magazine is the light-hearted, more fun version of the scientific journal.

If you want to show somebody who doesn't know a lick about what engineering is, you would show them WIRED, which has a ton of interesting trinkets that would interest the average joe.

Here are the types of things that frequent engineering journals:

1) Pictures... lots of them!!!

2) Charts... statistics about what the best new gadget is

3) Quotes from famous engineers that we know about

4) Reviews from average users and "experts" about new devices

Engineering magazines are extremely helpful because it turns a general disinterested person, or, more precisely, someone into the next avid supporter of the newest toy in the industry.

Engineering magazine help the casual reader make sense of engineering's place in society. Often people don't even know what engineers do - they think they only make bridges.

An effective engineering magazine "bridges" the gap between the interest in the subject and it's relationship to society.

In terms of my content revisions, I added the second bold sentence in order to draw the reader with a concise answer. Beforehand it looked like I was beating around the bush. I also added some more summary in order to make the document more scannable.

In terms of form revisions, I made sure that I maintained the fragmented approach. I didn't do any major editing in terms of the structure, but I did include a conclusion to "shape" the body.

Editorial Report 9a

This blog post concerns a revision of my QRG section, regarding when one would write in a scientific journal.

When would I consider writing a scientific journal?

Easy. Scientific journals are the meat and potatoes of the industry. If you need to know a lot about a certain field of study, you would come here.

There is a ton of dense information packed into anywhere from 10 to 300+ pages, regarding any topic you would like to know about regarding electrical engineering:

1) circuits

2) programming

3) computer efficiency

4) interactions between parts

etc.. etc.. etc..!!!

Scientific journals are extremely relevant also because it the professional version of a resume.

When someone asks about what you have accomplished past grad school, you point them to what you have published, and 99 out of 100 times, it will be "what scientific journals have you been a part of?"

It's the equivalent of when the high school kid is asked, "what is your GPA?"... "what is your SAT score?"... "what extracurriculars do you participate in?"

However, not everybody is a Ph.D-level engineer trying to make a name for themselves.

REWORKED VERSION

When would I consider writing a scientific journal?

If you need to know a lot about a certain field of study, you would come here.

Scientific journals are the meat and potatoes of the industry. It's the kind of thing that is not the most interesting by any stretch. There are no bells and whistles, no pervasive song and dance that keeps you entranced.

There is a ton of dense information packed into anywhere from 10 to 300+ pages, regarding any topic you would like to know about regarding electrical engineering:

1) circuits

2) programming

3) computer efficiency

4) interactions between parts

etc.. etc.. etc..!!!

Scientific journals are extremely relevant also because it the professional version of a resume.

When someone asks about what you have accomplished past grad school, you point them to what you have published, and 99 out of 100 times, it will be "what scientific journals have you been a part of?"

It's the equivalent of when the high school kid is asked, "what is your GPA?"... "what is your SAT score?"... "what extracurriculars do you participate in?"

Scientific journals are great for three major scenarios: 

1) If you are a student/researcher who ABSOLUTELY needs to be an expert in the field
2) Establishing baseline credibility in the industry... puts the OOMPH behind what you say
3) Leave a legacy/written account of all your past works

I changed the introductory sentences following the bolded question. I also made more bulleted lists. You can easily break down chunks of sentences that no one wants to read by creating numbers and bullets!

I re-arranged where I placed the answer for my bolded question. I left a bolded answer so it would be easier to read, and the question-answer format that I am trying to shape the document into is consistently easy to interpret from a first glance.

Peer Review B

                           This blog post concerns a revision of an essay from a classmate in another section.

Fernando's Essay

Title of Essay: Writing as an Engineer (Form Suggestion)

As far as essays go, I understand that there is very little flexibility in terms of form. The median by which information is typically transmitted in an essay is set up in the introduction, executed in each of the body paragraphs, then summarized and briefly revisited in the conclusion. 

My first suggestion is to add a hook to your intro paragraph. Throw the reader a bone - give them something to chew on! The average person doesn't care about the kind of writing engineers use on a daily basis... make them care! 

Secondly, I would make the final sentence of your introductory paragraph this sentence that you put in your intro..

"Two prominent forms in which research is shared are conferences and formal reports."

It serves quickly and concisely to both set up and shape the essay body as a whole.

Your body paragraphs seem fine. There is a lot of content, but it is hard to scan at times because of bad word choice.

A content suggestion that I personally follow is, instead of using an adjective and a verb, just use a strong verb. You can cut the word count and allow the reader to IMAGINE what you are saying, not just glaze over.

At the end of the concluding paragraph, leave a powerful stinger that gives the reader closure. Make the reader feel like they learned something today.

Overall, good start. Tighten up the form, use less adjectives and filler, and the essay will glide nicely.

Peer Review A

This blog post concerns a revision of an essay from a classmate in my section.

Maxwell's Essay

Recommendation about form: The major thing I enjoy about your essay is the depth. At a first glance you can tell a lot of effort was put into it simply based on the sheer volume of facts and organization. Overall I understand that the college essay doesn't have much flexibility in terms of form. However, there are some modifications I would make to the ending of the introduction. Introduce what you are going to talk about in that final sentence. Make it known (to the reader) that you will be discussing *blank*, *blank*, etc... In the conclusion, summarize everything that you discussed into one or two concise sentences. Right now the ending of the essay lacks direction, or overall reflection of what we just read. Based on the complexity of the body you probably already know all these issues and I just sound like a broken record. Just keep moving!

Open Post to Peer Reviewers

 This blog post concerns my my rough draft, and allows for peer revision.

The post production phase will consist mainly of me cutting out things I feel unnecessary, cleaning up the font, and adding a bunch of pictures and diagrams to help smoothen the read.

My major strengths include tone of writing. I feel i can adequately reach an uninterested audience to care at least a little about the subject.

My major downfall is lack of usage of quotes. I asked the wrong questions during interview, more about their experience in the field, and not any questions about the pertinence of secondary sources in the genre.

Engineering a Future for Tomorrow's Children

I had the privilege of interviewing Ali Bilgin and Tosiron Adegbija, who are both assistant professors here at the University of Arizona, who are experts in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Fields.  Ali Bilgin's expertise also extends to the BME field, or for the common plebian like myself, Biomedical Engineering - basically the lovechild of engineering and medicine.

 How do we interest a generally disinterested public about engineering?

The common person is more invested and interested in engineering than you think.  Whenever you buy a brand new iPhone, whenever you use an HP printer to print out your homework for school, hell, even when you turn your light on, you are harnessing the power of computer engineering.

Engineering is obviously loved by the people inside the field, or otherwise they (hopefully) would see themselves out.

But the better question is, how can we nourish the average man's thirst for knowledge?

How can we present it in such a way that it doesn't go in one ear and out of the other?

When UA football players wear their helmets, it's backed by a promise that it has been tested, and will do its job when put under the ringer. It's backed by the promise that engineers have tested it.

The most effective way to present the information to the common man depends ultimately upon the writer's goals. Engineers publish documents primarily for 2 reasons:

1) interest the general public

and the motive that is only apparent to people within the genre:

2) prove superiority over other publishers (not seen unless you dig into the community)

Interesting the general public is accomplished through engineering magazines, with lots of pictures and flashy displays of products we use (iPhones) and products we envy (private jets).

Proving superiority is accomplished through the infamous scientific journals, in which the publisher barrages the audience with complex, dense language that is purposely meant to confuse the reader.

When would I consider writing a scientific journal?

Easy. Scientific journals are the meat and potatoes of the industry. If you need to know a lot about a certain field of study, you would come here.

There is a ton of dense information packed into anywhere from 10 to 300+ pages, regarding any topic you would like to know about regarding electrical engineering:

1) circuits

2) programming

3) computer efficiency

4) interactions between parts

etc.. etc.. etc..!!!

Scientific journals are extremely relevant also because it the professional version of a resume.

When someone asks about what you have accomplished past grad school, you point them to what you have published, and 99 out of 100 times, it will be "what scientific journals have you been a part of?"

It's the equivalent of when the high school kid is asked, "what is your GPA?"... "what is your SAT score?"... "what extracurriculars do you participate in?"

However, not everybody is a Ph.D-level engineer trying to make a name for themselves.

When would I consider writing in an engineering magazine?

An engineering magazine is the light-hearted, more fun version of the scientific journal.

If you want to show somebody who doesn't know a lick about what engineering is, you would show them WIRED, which has a ton of interesting trinkets that would interest the average joe.

Here are the types of things that frequent engineering journals:

1) Pictures... lots of them!!!

2) Charts... statistics about what the best new gadget is

3) Quotes from famous engineers that we know about

4) Reviews from average users and "experts" about new devices

Engineering magazines are extremely helpful because it turns a general disinterest, or more likely, someone who is undecided how to feel, into the next avid supporter of DJI Phantom portable drones.

Production Report 8b

This blog post concerns my first production report of two for this week's blog work. For this blog post, I decided to develop my introduction. After all, it is the first thing that people see and, ultimately, you can tell if you want to read something within 3 to 4 seconds. Let's make those seconds count!


Original Content Outline Introduction:

Topic 3

1. Discuss situational relevance for each one vs. each other….. In short, the brevity is necessary for 95% of the casual audience, whereas the other 5% really want to see the nuances in the design elements implemented by these teams.
2. Talk about scenarios in which one would work and another would NOT…. talking to high school kids, you probably wouldn’t persuade them to enter Electrical Engineering by handing them a dense textbook and telling them to have fun.

1. Specific appeals to….

    a. Sensory details

    b. Real Life Examples

    c. Efficiency

      B.  Discuss why the majority of people employ said genre

Adaptation:

When would I consider writing a scientific journal?

Easy. Scientific journals are the meat and potatoes of the industry. If you need to know a lot about a certain field of study, you would come here.

There is a ton of dense information packed into anywhere from 10 to 300+ pages, regarding any topic you would like to know about regarding electrical engineering:

1) circuits

2) programming
3) computer efficiency

4) interactions between parts

etc.. etc.. etc..!!!

Scientific journals are extremely relevant also because it the professional version of a resume.

When someone asks about what you have accomplished past grad school, you point them to what you have published, and 99 out of 100 times, it will be "what scientific journals have you been a part of?"

It's the equivalent of when the high school kid is asked, "what is your GPA?"... "what is your SAT score?"... "what extracurriculars do you participate in?"

However, not everybody is a Ph.D-level engineer trying to make a name for themselves.

When would I consider writing in an engineering magazine?

An engineering magazine is the light-hearted, more fun version of the scientific journal.

If you want to show somebody who doesn't know a lick about what engineering is, you would show them WIRED, which has a ton of interesting trinkets that would interest the average joe.

Here are the types of things that frequent engineering journals:

1) Pictures... lots of them!!!

2) Charts... statistics about what the best new gadget is

3) Quotes from famous engineers that we know about

4) Reviews from average users and "experts" about new devices

Engineering magazines are extremely helpful because it turns a general disinterest, or more likely, someone who is undecided how to feel, into the next avid supporter of DJI Phantom portable drones.

By using a quick reference guide for this, I can more visually compare the differences between the two genres. I don't have to explain step-by-step like I would in an essay, or even a podcast.

The conventions of the genre allow the reader to visualize the situation past just seeing a block wall of text. Usage of diagrams that I will add later on will aid the ease of read even more than it already is.

I need to add a venn-diagram for this section on when a scientific journal is more effective vs. when an engineering magazine is more effective. Other than that, I feel like my draft is taking major strides in the right direction.

Production Report 8a

This blog post concerns my first production report of two for this week's blog work. For this blog post, I decided to develop my introduction. After all, it is the first thing that people see and, ultimately, you can tell if you want to read something within 3 to 4 seconds. Let's make those seconds count!


Original Content Outline Introduction:

This field of study is focused around Electrical Engineering. The two main writing genres I will explore are information journals and engineering magazines, both which serve unique purposes. The first aims to give readers a deeper understanding, while the latter aims to interest the casual, yet interested audience to perhaps pursue the field, if not at a bare minimum be entertained by the trinkets and inventions proudly shown off by the inventors. Using the rhetorical concepts that we have been covering, the most important being audience, occasion, and purpose, I can pinpoint precisely which genres will resonate with different audiences.

Introduction

1. Start off by hooking the audience with humor
2. Briefly introduce the interviewees (Ali Bilgin and Tosiron Adegbija, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professors at the University of Arizona)
3. Establish baseline credibility(research topics that they went over… circuits, energy efficiency, graphical computation, etc)
4. Transition over to first discussion topic by discussing the pertinence to real life and how electrical engineers benefit society in ways other than “crunching math”

Adaptation:

Engineering a Future for Tomorrow's Children

I had the privilege of interviewing Ali Bilgin and Tosiron Adegbija, who are both assistant professors here at the University of Arizona, who are experts in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Fields.  Ali Bilgin's expertise also extends to the BME field, or for the common plebian like myself, Biomedical Engineering - basically the lovechild of engineering and medicine.

 How do we interest a generally disinterested public about engineering?

The common person is more invested and interested in engineering than you think.  Whenever you buy a brand new iPhone, whenever you use an HP printer to print out your homework for school, hell, even when you turn your light on, you are harnessing the power of computer engineering.

Engineering is obviously loved by the people inside the field, or otherwise they (hopefully) would see themselves out.

But the better question is, how can we nourish the average man's thirst for knowledge?

How can we present it in such a way that it doesn't go in one ear and out of the other?

When UA football players wear their helmets, it's backed by a promise that it has been tested, and will do its job when put under the ringer. It's backed by the promise that engineers have tested it.

The most effective way to present the information to the common man depends ultimately upon the writer's goals. Engineers publish documents primarily for 2 reasons:

1) interest the general public

and the motive that is only apparent to people within the genre:

2) prove superiority over other publishers (not seen unless you dig into the community)

Interesting the general public is accomplished through engineering magazines, with lots of pictures and flashy displays of products we use (iPhones) and products we envy (private jets).

Proving superiority is accomplished through the infamous scientific journals, in which the publisher barrages the audience with complex, dense language that is purposely meant to confuse the reader.

Using a quick reference guide to me was extremely effective because it breaks down otherwise complex thoughts into workable chunks of information.

The conventions of the genre allow the reader to work incrementally, and the bolded questions help guide the reader. It slows the flow of information down, like putting a tennis ball in a dog bowl to make the dog eat slower.

The hardest part about this, or perhaps the best thing I learned from this step, is that I need to use more quotes. Otherwise it's just a judgement of how I perceive and has nothing to do with the input of the interviewees. However, this is just the intro, and I decided we don't need their input until the body paragraph.