Grace Shultis

My Writing Journey

Writing Revision and Reflection

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“reACT​ ​gallery​ ​hopes​ ​to​ ​generate​ ​conversations​ ​in​ ​community”:​ ​A​ ​Rhetorical​ ​Analysis

Parker​ ​Reed​ ​wrote​ ​the​ ​article​ ​“reACT​ ​gallery​ ​hopes​ ​to​ ​generate​ ​conversations​ ​in community”,​ ​published​ ​in​ ​2017​ ​in​ ​​The Daily,​ ​to​ ​bring​ ​awareness​ ​to​ ​Iowa​ ​State​ ​University’s reACT​ ​Gallery.​ ​Using​ ​techniques​ ​such​ ​as​ ​presenting​ ​information​ ​in​ ​a​ ​logical​ ​manner,​ ​including photographs,​ ​writing​ ​in​ ​an​ ​informative​ ​tone,​ ​and​ ​citing​ ​credible​ ​sources,​ ​Reed​ ​encourages readers​ ​to​ ​visit​ ​the​ ​reACT​ ​Gallery.

Reed​ ​starts​ ​the​ ​article​ ​with​ ​a​ ​photograph​ ​from​ ​the​ ​kickoff​ ​event​ ​which​ ​announces​ ​the gallery’s​ ​theme:​ ​leadership.​ ​This​ ​provides​ ​an​ ​idea​ ​of​ ​the​ ​content​ ​an​ ​attendee​ ​will​ ​see​ ​when visiting​ ​the​ ​gallery.​ ​This​ ​also​ ​enhances​ ​the​ ​article​ ​by​ ​providing​ ​visual​ ​content​ ​for​ ​the​ ​reader.

The​ ​first​ ​sentence​ ​is​ ​a​ ​general​ ​statement​ ​explaining​ ​the​ ​typical​ ​purpose​ ​of​ ​a​ ​museum followed​ ​by​ ​how​ ​University​ ​Museums​ ​is​ ​approaching​ ​a​ ​new​ ​point​ ​of​ ​view.​ ​This​ ​is​ ​different​ ​from the​ ​traditional​ ​viewing​ ​style​ ​of​ ​a​ ​museum​ ​and​ ​sparks​ ​interest​ ​in​ ​the​ ​content.​ ​Reed​ ​then​ ​quotes Sarah​ ​Nusser,​ ​Vice​ ​President​ ​for​ ​Research​ ​for​ ​Iowa​ ​State,​ ​increasing​ ​his​ ​credibility.​ ​Reed​ ​ends the​ ​paragraph​ ​with​ ​Nusser’s​ ​question,​ ​”How​ ​is​ ​that​ ​affecting​ ​us?”​ ​This​ ​prompts​ ​the​ ​audience​ ​to ask​ ​themselves​ ​and​ ​it​ ​serves​ ​as​ ​a​ ​transition​ ​into​ ​the​ ​interactive​ ​portion​ ​of​ ​the​ ​gallery.1

Next,​ ​Reed​ ​uses​ ​the​ ​purpose​ ​of​ ​the​ ​reACT​ ​Gallery​ ​as​ ​a​ ​transition​ ​from​ ​Nusser’s​ ​quotes​ ​to Nancy​ ​Gebhart’s​ ​quotes.​ ​Gebhart​ ​boosts​ ​Reed’s​ ​credibility​ ​as​ ​she​ ​is​ ​the​ ​Educator​ ​of​ ​Visual Literacy​ ​and​ ​Learning​ ​for​ ​University​ ​Museums.​ ​Reed​ ​also​ ​ends​ ​this​ ​paragraph​ ​with​ ​a​ ​question, “I’ll​ ​always​ ​ask​ ​them,​ ​‘What​ ​did​ ​you​ ​see​ ​that​ ​made​ ​you​ ​say​ ​that?’”​ ​This​ ​again​ ​connects​ ​to​ ​the idea​ ​of​ ​the​ ​viewer​ ​interacting​ ​with​ ​the​ ​artwork.2

Reed​ ​follows​ ​this​ ​up​ ​with​ ​a​ ​photograph​ ​of​ ​a​ ​people​ ​viewing​ ​the​ ​artwork​ ​at​ ​the​ ​kickoff event​ ​on​ ​September​ ​5​th​.​ ​This​ ​leads​ ​into​ ​Reed’s​ ​personal​ ​experience​ ​of​ ​the​ ​kickoff​ ​event.​ ​This also​ ​includes​ ​the​ ​location​ ​of​ ​the​ ​gallery,​ ​Morrill​ ​Hall.​ ​Reed​ ​concedes​ ​that​ ​the​ ​gallery​ ​is​ ​still designed​ ​as​ ​a​ ​traditional​ ​museum​ ​would​ ​be​ ​with​ ​display​ ​cases​ ​but​ ​emphasises4​ ​the​ ​level​ ​of interaction​ ​by​ ​saying​ ​the​ ​gallery​ ​“encouraged​ ​attendees​ ​to​ ​voice​ ​their​ ​own​ ​opinions.”​ ​Nusser’s next​ ​quote​ ​backs​ ​this​ ​up​ ​by​ ​counting​ ​on​ ​the​ ​attendees​ ​participation.3

Now,​ ​Reed​ ​explains​ ​the​ ​purpose​ ​of​ ​the​ ​reACT​ ​Gallery.​ ​This​ ​includes​ ​the​ ​way​ ​this​ ​display is​ ​different​ ​from​ ​typical​ ​museums.​ ​Viewers​ ​are​ ​able​ ​to​ ​leave​ ​post-it​ ​notes​ ​with​ ​their​ ​thoughts​ ​and feelings​ ​concerning​ ​the​ ​artwork.​ ​Reed​ ​uses​ ​this​ ​to​ ​showcase​ ​the​ ​unique​ ​quality​ ​of​ ​this​ ​gallery​ ​and encourage​ ​the​ ​reader​ ​to​ ​connect​ ​with​ ​his​ ​own​ ​article.​ ​Reed​ ​also​ ​mentions​ ​that​ ​there​ ​is​ ​a​ ​podium available​ ​for​ ​people​ ​to​ ​speak​ ​and​ ​how​ ​Iowa​ ​State​ ​scholars​ ​have​ ​commentary​ ​featured​ ​throughout the​ ​gallery.​ ​Reed​ ​defines​ ​Iowa​ ​State​ ​scholars​ ​to​ ​be,​ ​“any​ ​Iowa​ ​State​ ​student,​ ​staff​ ​and/or​ ​faculty member,”​ ​and​ ​further​ ​encourages​ ​students​ ​to​ ​interact​ ​by​ ​pointing​ ​out​ ​that​ ​“any​ ​scholar​ ​is​ ​eligible to​ ​submit​ ​their​ ​opinions​ ​on​ ​a​ ​specific​ ​piece​ ​of​ ​art.”

The​ ​last​ ​photograph​ ​in​ ​this​ ​writing​ ​shows​ ​a​ ​man​ ​playing​ ​improvised​ ​pieces​ ​on​ ​his saxophone​ ​based​ ​on​ ​the​ ​artwork​ ​in​ ​the​ ​gallery.​ ​Reed​ ​uses​ ​this​ ​as​ ​a​ ​visual​ ​cue​ ​for​ ​the​ ​various ways​ ​this​ ​gallery​ ​encourages​ ​viewer​ ​participation.​ ​Reed​ ​follows​ ​the​ ​photo​ ​by​ ​quoting​ ​Aspen Pflanz,​ ​Education​ ​Intern​ ​for​ ​University​ ​Museums.​ ​As​ ​a​ ​third​ ​source,​ ​Pflanz​ ​further​ ​increases Reed’s​ ​credibility.​ ​Being​ ​the​ ​last​ ​quote,​ ​Pflanz​ ​also​ ​adds​ ​another​ ​point​ ​of​ ​view​ ​for​ ​how​ ​the gallery​ ​is​ ​different​ ​from​ ​other​ ​museums.​ ​As​ ​a​ ​transition​ ​from​ ​the​ ​persuasive​ ​writing​ ​to​ ​the informative​ ​writing,​ ​Reed​ ​includes​ ​September’s​ ​theme​ ​with​ ​a​ ​little​ ​summary.​ ​He​ ​ends​ ​the​ ​article with​ ​two​ ​informative​ ​paragraphs.​ ​The​ ​first​ ​has​ ​the​ ​end​ ​date​ ​for​ ​the​ ​“Leadership”​ ​gallery​ ​and​ ​the galleries​ ​for​ ​the​ ​rest​ ​of​ ​the​ ​school​ ​year.​ ​The​ ​second​ ​paragraph​ ​has​ ​the​ ​hours​ ​of​ ​operation​ ​and concludes​ ​with,​ ​“The​ ​event​ ​is​ ​free​ ​to​ ​attend.”​ ​This​ ​last​ ​sentence​ ​is​ ​the​ ​final​ ​hook​ ​to​ ​attract students’​ ​attention​ ​and​ ​persuade​ ​them​ ​to​ ​visit​ ​the​ ​reACT​ ​Gallery.

Parker​ ​Reed’s​ ​article,​ ​“reACT​ ​gallery​ ​hopes​ ​to​ ​generate​ ​conversations​ ​in​ ​community”, sparks​ ​interest​ ​in​ ​Iowa​ ​State​ ​University’s​ ​campus​ ​gallery.​ ​By​ ​presenting​ ​information​ ​in​ ​a​ ​logical manner,​ ​including​ ​photographs,​ ​writing​ ​in​ ​an​ ​informative​ ​tone,​ ​and​ ​citing​ ​credible​ ​sources,​ ​Reed informs​ ​and​ ​encourages​ ​students​ ​to​ ​visit​ ​the​ ​reACT​ ​Gallery.

Reflection

1Here, I would revise this last sentence: By comparing the reACT gallery to traditional museums Reed prompts the reader to reflect on their previous experiences with museums. This builds a connection between Reed and the reader. This question also serves as a transition into the interactive portion of the gallery.
2Instead of saying, “This​ ​again​ ​connects​ ​to​ ​the idea​ ​of​ ​the​ ​viewer​ ​interacting​ ​with​ ​the​ ​artwork.” I have revised this paragraph to conclude as follows: This question connects the quotes back to the idea of the reACT gallery integrating the viewers. Reed also uses this as an opportunity help explain the purpose of the gallery.
3My revision here is to add on: Nusser’s quote not only builds credibility, it reinforces the idea that the reACT gallery is worth noticing. By including Nusser stating, “It isn’t a place where you come, look, say ‘That was nice’ and walk away,” Reed is able to provide logical evidence as to why readers should visit.
4emphasizes

Closing Statement

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Derek,

English 250 has been an extremely helpful course. I have learned about each of the WOVE components and how to effectively communicate using these mediums. My strongest one is written communication because I am usually pretty good at getting down raw content. To strengthen this I need to allow myself more time to proofread my writing and seek out others who would be willing to proofread for me. I often end up waiting too long to start an assignment and then run out of time to find more than maybe one person who has the time to read through my writing. I also need to work more on creating pieces of writing which are organized for the reader. After I have read through my own writing a few times, I am no longer able to distinguish the reader’s point of view from my stance as the writer. This ties back to starting earlier in order to gather feedback from others. Aside from these issues, I believe written communication to be my strongest area.

My weakest area is oral communication in a public setting. I am terrible at public speaking. I get really red, cannot look at the audience, and usually end up speed talking my way through the information. This happens when I have not spent enough time preparing the content and/or rehearsing. The oral component of my visual analysis ended up being fairly decent. I typed it out word for word and read straight from the script. As I made my way through the analysis, I found instances where I would need to go back and change some of the words, but I never really went through it as a whole. I reviewed the video a few times once I was done editing and before I turned it in. However, I did not read through the script and proofread it.

In order to improve my communication, oral and written, I plan to allow myself more time to prepare and rehearse. By getting a rough draft done as soon as possible, I will have enough time to review the rough draft, find people to proofread it, and edit it. This will also allow me to look for bigger issues such as audience organization and transitions.

To improve how I tailor my writing to the audience, I will take into consideration how much prior knowledge they might possess, what types of resources they might have access to, and how they might be able to relate to my writing. All of these aspects will determine the structure of my paper and how much to include in each section. For example, in my writing Daylight Saving Time, I had to consider how much the reader might know about DST prior to reading my piece. I based this off the average American using my own knowledge as a guideline. I personally did not know that Benjamin Franklin was incorrectly credited with the idea of resetting the clocks. I used four paragraphs for background information and helped round out the average person’s knowledge of DST.

I believe my abilities to communicate using the WOVE model are strong but could always use improvement. By allotting myself more time for assignments I will be able to go through and strengthen them on multiple fronts. English 250 has helped me build a strong foundation for furthering my communication skills.

Sincerely,

Grace

Daylight Saving Time

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Although everyone enjoys gaining an extra hour of sleep in the fall, losing an hour in the spring can throw everyone off resulting in an increase of disgruntled attitudes. Nevertheless, some people believe the benefits of Daylight Saving Time outweigh the disadvantages. In this essay I will cover positive and negative aspects of Daylight Saving Time.

According to timeanddate.com, “Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward 1 hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight.” The common rhyme to remember this change is, “spring forward, fall back,” with the dates for change being the second Sunday in March and the first Sunday in November. This switch occurs at 2:00 a.m. local time whether the clock is moving ahead or back. However, this change did not always happen in the spring and fall, it started out in the summer and winter.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with the idea of resetting the clocks in the summer so that residents would be able to conserve energy. He proposed everyone rise earlier and make use of the free and natural light. When he suggested this idea, he was mocking the French for being lazy. However, Franklin was known for conserving things and trying to find more efficient ways of living so this suggestion was not too out of the ordinary for him (National Geographic).

Despite Benjamin Franklin’s suggestion in 1784, the idea of DST did not become a concrete concept until about a century later. Germany implemented it to cut down on fuel usage during World War I in May of 1916. However, as Blakemore notes, Germany did not get this idea from Benjamin Franklin but from William Willett. Willett proposed the concept of DST to the British government as a way for the nation to stop wasting daylight. Despite the backing of Winston Churchill and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the British government did not switch.

The United States adopted DST in 1918 and, despite Woodrow Wilson’s wishes, once the war was over, the United States stopped observing DST. The start of World War II in 1942, saw DST brought back by Franklin Roosevelt. After the war, the decision to continue with DST or not was left to the states or towns. This produced chaos which resulted in the Uniform Time Act, having DST start the first Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October, enacted by Congress in 1966. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 adjusted DST to the current dates (Live Science).

In the United States there are 48 states which observe DST. Hawaii, Arizona, and the territories Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, do not observe DST (DST in the USA). National Geographic writer, Erin Blakemore, under the heading, “Arizona’s Relationship to Daylight Saving Time Is … Complicated,” discusses how Arizona’s DST situation is unique because of the climate and its residents. Due to extremely hot temperatures during the day in the desert, residents of Arizona are looking for less sunlight, not more of it. Arizona’s decision to opt out of DST does not include the Navajo Nation which observes it. However, the Hopi Reservation, found within the Navajo Nation’s borders, does not observe DST. On top of that, within the Hopi Reservation, a small section of the Navajo Nation does observe DST. These discrepancies in time can make for a confusing trip through Arizona.

Confusion from changes in time is only one reason for abstaining from DST. According to procon.org, other arguments include health risks, costs, and a decrease in productivity.

Health risks associated with DST stem from the change in one’s circadian clock which uses the sunlight to sync up with the organism’s surroundings. Even pets and livestock get thrown off by this social change in time. Dr. Ilene Rosen, a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, said, “The time change is kind of a society-imposed jet lag” (qtd. in Fitzpatrick). The effects from jumping time zones are the same as the ones associated with DST. A study published in Current Biology found that the human circadian system does not adapt to DST. They noted that the circadian system’s seasonal adaptations follows nature’s photoperiods (the interval in a 24-hour period during which a plant or animal is exposed to light (dictionary.com)) and is disrupted when summer comes around (Kantermann et al. 1). The social change in time does not line up with nature’s sense of time.

According to Kamstra et al., “even relatively minor sleep imbalances have been shown to cause errors in judgment, anxiety, impatience, less efficient processing of information, and loss of attention” (1). A study done by Martin Young from University of Alabama found that the Monday and Tuesday after starting DST saw a ten percent increase in the risk of heart attacks. “Sleep deprivation, the body’s circadian clock, and immune responses all can come into play when considering reasons that changing the time by an hour can be detrimental to someone’s health,” Young explained (qtd. in Handwerk). However, Young’s research also found that the risk of heart attacks decreases ten percent at the end of DST.

Not only is DST bad for one’s health, it decreases one’s productivity. When the human body does not adjust to DST, the circadian clock is off. When the circadian clock is off, “the majority of the population has drastically decreased productivity, decreased quality of life, increasing susceptibility to illness, and is just plain tired,” according to Till Roenneberg (qtd. in Handwerk). The time shift moves the social sleep time from the optimal circadian sleep periods. This shift not only decreases productivity but is also harmful to one’s health.

On the other hand, procon.org lists a safer environment, better economy, and more active lifestyle as reasons to keep DST.

With the extra sunlight added on to the end of the day, it provides a safer environment for those out and about in the evening. According to Jennifer L. Doleac and Nicholas J. Sanders, “When DST begins in the spring, robbery rates for the entire day fall an average of 7 percent, with a much larger 27 percent drop during the evening hour that gained some extra sunlight.” Since robberies are more successful when the robbers cannot be identified, the extra hour of sunlight around the time that one gets off work and goes home scares the robbers off.

The extra hour of sunlight at the end of the day also makes it safer to drive longer. With the sun setting closer to a time when people are already home from work, it reduces the chances of drivers getting in accidents from pedestrians, wildlife, or other drivers. This increase in driving is not only safer for society but also boosts the economy.

With this extra time, people are purchasing more gas and increasing retail sales by shopping after work. According to Michael Downing, author of “Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time”, the golf industry estimated that they made an additional $200 million in sales of golf clubs and greens fees with DST. The barbecue industry claimed that additional sales of grills and charcoal briquettes came out to about $100 million. This extra hour of sunlight means that people want to go out and do things, things that often involve spending money.

However, not all of these activities include spending money. Lots of people use the extra hour in the evening for recreational activities. Hendrik Wolff told National Geographic News, “’We found that during the period of the 2007 [daylight] extension, people engaged in more outdoor recreation and less indoor-TV watching,’ he said. ‘An additional 3 percent of people engaged in outdoor behaviors who otherwise would have stayed indoors.’” The extra hour helps with sports or other activities which are unable to fund artificial lighting. For example, golf courses have to operate during daylight hours because it becomes unsafe once it gets dark. Runners also benefit from DST and are more inclined to go running in the nice weather if they can also see.

An increase in recreational activities, a better economy, and a safer environment are all compelling arguments to keep DST. The toll DST takes on one’s health, coupled with a decrease in productivity and increased costs all give the impression that DST needs to scram. Whether people are for or against DST, there are strong arguments for each side.