Artifact Analysis

I analyzed 3 different types of artifacts and used the guidelines about genres to help me, hence why the format is the same. I will bring each artifact to class, but this is the analysis I got from each of them. 

Artifact Analysis #1: Cover Letter

Context and Function:

1.     A cover letter might be set to a possible job opportunity and can give the person that you want the job from an overview of your experience and why you want to work there.

2.     This artifact usually pertains to a background of what the person’s training has been in the past. The skills and assets they have and how that could help them in their potential future job, also past experience and personal skills that could aid them in their new position.

3.     The writer in this circumstance is writing about herself, and is trying to give an overview of what her past work experience has been and how this new job can benefit from hiring her. Usually the potential boss or hirer will read this cover letter.

4.     The purpose is to get a job or at least land an interview at a potential company that you want to work for.

Textual Features:

1.     Formal, concise and to the point, direct, variety of vocabulary, short paragraphs

2.     Past work experience, personal skills, explaining an overview of themselves and why they would be a good asset for the position. It does not include slang language and is very professional.

3.     Evidence: past work experience, positive feedback on their personal responses from their work, self assessment

4.     Highly trained, great personal development skills, best fit for the job

5.     Email formant, short and to the point, formal, uses sincerely and is very professional

6.     Layout is email format, short paragraphs, direct about past experience and skills

7.     Well thought out and articulated sentences that best describe the person in a professional way

8.     Professional, concise, to the point, articulates skills, high vocabulary, no slang

Implied or assumed features

1.     Know what a good cover letter looks like and how it should be set up

2.     Professional piece of writing, not one would read it just because

3.     Believing this person is capable of the job, wanting it and articulating it in the message

4.     Professional and work experience is most important and explaining personal skills so they sound best fit for the position

5.     Formal, honest, concise, professional and a “please hire me” tone

6.     It is not directed towards to world, focuses on a professional job position

Artifact Analysis #2: Advertisement

Context and Function:

1.     Advertisement, bold colors, statement, the texts are usually minimal and the picture is usually the focal point

2.     For people who want to travel at a good price, the price is the focal point of the advertisement

3.     Traveling, special prices and offers, anyone looking to get a good airline ticket would read this advertisement

4.     Informed about a special deal, traveling to a certain place, informs them of the price and the place they could go for that specific trip

Textual Function

1.     Different sizes of fonts, some are bold others are not, the special deal and price are the focal point

2.     Price, details, trip, airplane picture

3.     The price the trip the details and dates shown

4.     The price is at 99 not at 400, deceives the brain, it’s special so that’s focused on, gives you time frame

5.     Usually they are small, with a focal point, colorful, with little wording but still gets the main idea across

6.     The layout is usually a box, words are minimal and images are seen the most

7.     Usually not more than a few words per sentence, informative but short

8.     Very direct, wants the product sold and shows info very minimally

Implied or Assumed Features

1.     That it’s a special offer and it’s a cheap flight for how far it is, they have to know how expensive flights are compared to this one, need a time frame and future details

2.     Anyone is invited

3.     Cheap, efficient and special, a “deal”

4.     Getting a flight for the cheapest amount, airline is not expressed so it may not be as important to the person

5.     Buy this deal because it is special, sell the product and make a profit

6.     This advertisement will hopefully sell to anyone that sees it

Artifact Analysis #3: Argumentative Essay

Context and Function:

1.     For an English class, usually found based on research, claims and personal experience

2.     Addresses the issues of single parent struggle and how much that directly affects the child living in that situation

3.     Persuades people to believe that it does affect a child born in this situation, should detail examples and evidence that support claims so readers can better understand why this argument is valid

4.     Informs them of an issue and allows them to create their own opinion about it but wants them to see their argument

Textual Features

1.     Formal essay, heading, main body paragraphs, into, conclusion

2.     Claims, evidence, past research, personal experience

3.     Past research gives evidence of claim, stats, quotes, facts

4.     Gives claims, states evidence and concludes that because the stats, quotes and facts are this way it is because of this issue

5.     Organized formally in an essay

6.     Sentences that have transitions and that tie everything together in each paragraph

7.     Word choice is very important for formal essay as well as argumentative essay, concise statements, facts and quotes are all prominent

Implied or Assumed Features

1.     Understand the facts, formulate own opinion, see personal experience, be shown the facts and evidence

2.     Anyone who reads it or is exposed to it can have access

3.     Beliefs that single parent homes greatly affect the child being raised in that environment

4.     You are a product of what you’ve been taught

5.     Persuasive, fact driven

6.     This is what the facts demonstrate and this is why this issue is the way that it is, also drawn from personal experience

Readings for Week 4

The first reading from Chapter 6 regarding "Rhetorical Analysis" was very helpful for conducting our artifact analysis assignment. It not only defined what can be considered an artifact, but it also describe how to analyze one. To start, you have to understand who is making the argument, and why they are making it, but it is also important to realize who the targeted audience is for the argument because that is going to depict the tone and voice of the writer. A large part of understanding an argument, and also writing one, is paying attention to how honest the writer seems (ethos), how credible the claim they are making is (logos), and how emotional the piece is (pathos). These are key factors in understanding why an argument is set up the way it is, and what is the focal point of the artifact. When making a claim about an argument it is important to know what the writer is provoking, explain his or her claim in an overview, connect with your personal experience, criticize the evidence they use, and analyze the audience, tone and conclusion of the artifact .At the end I thought they gave a clear representation of how to complete a Rhetorical Analysis as well.

In the next reading about "Finding Evidence" it gave a clear explanation as to how you should find data and resources when you are writing a paper. There are a variety of ways that you can find evidence to support your claim but you first have to find out what data would be best for your paper or assignment. You can use library data bases, look online and make the search very specific, you can find peer reviewed journals, conduct experiences or interviews. There are a variety of ways to create strong evidence for your claims it is just important in knowing which one to use for which specific scenario.

Professional Email Draft

Hello Brooke,

I am currently a student at Antioch University, studying Communications and Media. I am in an Academic Writing 310 class, and as a required assignment I was asked to reach out to a person or organization of my choice that interests me and pertains to my major. We were asked to conduct an interview and obtain artifacts from your work experience that allow us to write an argumentative essay at the end of the quarter.

I see that you currently work at Bradford Group in Nashville Tennessee, and not only successfully manage accounts, but regularly pitch for various media outlets. You have also worked for different Communication firms in Washington D.C. and New York City and have adequate and admiral experience. I do not see a better-fit person to conduct an interview with.

Please let me know in the next few days if you would be interested in aiding me in my school project.

Thank you for your Consideration

Best,

Robin Berger

rberger2@antioch.edu

Reading Response: Week 3

In reading Chapters 7 & 8 I found a lot of the information very useful for starting to draft my email to the person or organization of my choice. I thought that how it explained creating content for social media required not only concise and specific information, it is also important to promote indirectly and write to your directed audience. In reading about how to write an email- it is very important to use effective subject lines, be informative and direct, double check and also be professional. These tools will help aid in the process of reaching out to people for the interview, and also in my professional life. I thought reading about the business blogs was also interesting because we use blogs in this class, and to see how different students blogs are set up in different ways and convey different messages really allowed me to see how vast and unique each blog can be.

The requests in Chapter 8 were also very useful to read about because as a student you have a variety of things that you want to request from teachers or students. It is important to pay attention to your tone, be specific, as relevant questions and assume that the audience will comply with you.

The last reading on Rhetoric expressed more about how Rhetoric emphasizes saying the right thing at the right time. Having that "Identity Kit" is also useful because it allows you to know how to communicate with people of different communities. I thought it was important how it stated that it's important to have identity in your writing while adapting to the change of your audience. Once again tone and voice are very important and your writing should be clear and useful to others.

Understanding Rhetoric pg. 1-54, Arguments Chapter 1

In starting the reading about rhetoric, the comic book layout stuck out to me because it is a style of reading and writing that I hadn’t seen before. As they continued to explain more about the origins of rhetoric, while using illustrations and words to depict certain situations, I felt like I started to grasp and understand the ideas of the context. I am a visual learner, so the images and contexts of messages probably aided in my ability to understand. I thought that it was interesting that rhetoric is about the spaces in which we write, converse, debate and share ideas but Plato did not think it was necessary because it effects our ability to tell the truth in writing. Aristotle felt differently, and found it to be the foundation of education. Ethos- ethics, pathos- sympathy and logos- logic, have become core principles in writing.

The second reading about arguments was intriguing to me because with all the different types of arguments, some of them aren’t always sought out to be negative or prove someone else wrong, sometimes they are to find a common ground of understanding. There are arguments that seek to convince, persuade, inform, explore, make decisions, there are some that also talk about the past, future and present. It is also important in an argument to make sure that you are speaking to a targeted audience and the context of your messages are reaching all of the areas of writing that are ethical and logical. The way you structure your argument , who you are appealing to and what it is you are arguing about all play a vital role in shaping your writing. It is very important to have a voice in your writing that appeals to the i right place and time.

I thought both of the readings were very informative and interesting, each had a different way of conveying the messages but I thought they were both thought out and depicted the information well.  

About Me!

Hey Everyone! 

I am Robin Berger, a first quarter student at Antioch, and transferred from Santa Barbara City College. I chose Antioch because I really liked that it was a private education, the class sizes are small and the professors really do care about their students. I love the learning styles and beliefs at Antioch and look forward to getting my bachelor's degree here. I plan to use all my resources here to my full benefit and know with certainty that Antioch will aid me for success in the future. I have lived in Santa Barbara for 3 years, left Coeur D Alene Idaho at 19, and now I am 22. I am one of five children and family is very important to me. I was born in California and my parents moved to Idaho when I was 6 years old. My entire mom's family is still in California, so Southern California has always been somewhat of a home to me. My oldest sister lives in Nashville Tennessee and has a job in public relations. I have two brothers, 19 and 18 who both play college football for Boise State. My youngest brother is 12 and is starting 6th grade in the fall. A big part of who I am is because of the strong family unit I have and so I am always talking about all of them and their successes in life. I enjoy being social with my friends, going to the beach, traveling, going to concerts, listening to music, drinking wine and shopping. I really enjoy interior design, and am thinking of going to design school in the future. I also really find an art and culture in fashion. I am mostly shy and introverted but once I am comfortable I enjoy expressing my opinions and being who I am. I am very happy in my decision to come to Antioch, and look forward to getting to know all of you!