• These different texts show us the tools used when in a science Discourse, but in the text “Learning to Read Biology” written but Christina Haas from Pennsylvania State University you can see direct examples of these skills and tools.
  • This is a subordination sentence because they use a comma
  • There is a into dependent clause.
• In Christina Haas text she uses the word rhetorical when discussing scientific literacy so that can go along with connections in the sense that knowledge is build of knowledge.
  • This sentence is considered a coordination sentence because I used ‘so’ as a conjunction word.
• Sign systems and knowledge can help us develop in a science Discourse and help us become fully immersed in that Discourse, while helping us introduce data and the effects it has on our claims.
  • In this sentence I am trying to connect the two sentence and I made it into two so that the idea is one and connected. The comma and while is a good connection between the different sentences.
• Haas brings this topic up by discussing Eliza, she is a college freshman who is trying to figure out how to enter the new Discourse of reading biology.
  • Haa brings this topic up by discussing Eliza who is a college freshman trying to figure out how to enter the new Discourse of reading biology.
  • This is a example of Coordination because the sentence is not connected through a comma but a conjunction word.
• So for instance the student that Haas was observing, when she was entering that new Discourse she could have been around upperclassman that had had previous experience in that Discourse.
  • Coordination sentence is here because they use a conjunction to connect.

Original:

Throughout your life you make connections with various things. In science you make connections all the time, connecting different texts, and connecting data. Without theses connections it would be difficult to build information. If you look back at the “IMRAD Cheat Sheet” in all of the different sections, connection can be placed in, introduction and importance, methods, results, and discussion. In some parts the connections may be greater but it is still present and impacting the scientific Discourse. One specific part of the text where connection is extremely present is in the introduction section. Carnegie Mellon University says in the “IMRAD Cheat Sheet” “Discuss the current state of research in your field, expose a “gap” or problem in the field, and then explain why your present research is a timely and necessary solution to that gap”. This text is explaining that even before you write a scientific research paper you find that starting information for a different source and that is a connection. In Christina Haas text she uses the word rhetorical when discussing scientific literacy, that can go along with connections in the sense that knowledge is build of knowledge.

Revised:

Throughout your life, you make connections with various things. In science you make connections all the time, connecting different texts, and connecting data. Without these connections, it would be difficult to build information. If you look back at the “IMRAD Cheat Sheet”, a connection can be placed in, introduction and importance, methods, results, and discussion. The connections are present and impacting the scientific Discourse. One specific part of the text where a connection is extremely present is in the introduction section. Carnegie Mellon University says in the “IMRAD Cheat Sheet’ “Discuss the current state of research in your field, expose a “gap” or problem in the field, and then explain why your present research is a timely and necessary solution to that gap”. This text is explaining that even before you write a scientific research paper you find that your starting information is from a different source and that is a connection. In Christina Haas text she uses the word rhetorical when discussing scientific literacy, that can go along with connections in the sense that knowledge is built off knowledge. Without others knowledge, we would not be as far as we are in life. We connect multiple aspects of science and build off of others knowledge every day. While scientists build off each other scientists also connect with readers. Haas says in her text  “Knowledge of contexts will aid a readers’ interpretation, and indeed, knowing something about cultural and historical contexts can reveal a great deal about discourse participants, and vice versa.” (48). Haas is explaining the connection between the author and the reader of a scientific text. The connection between different scientists is just as strong between the connection with the reader and the author. If the connection between the two is strong then the reader can take more from the text and build off of it. 

1. Where are you already working pretty well with Gee’s concepts? How, specifically, will you apply that more solid engagement to a specific paragraph that is not yet working so effectively with Gee (or Haas, or another text in play)?

Looking at my peer’s comments I am doing pretty well with Gee’s concepts in my second paragraph where I talk about identities. I could use my knowledge in the identities paragraph to apply in my fifth paragraph more solid engagement.

1. Where are you doing a pretty good job bringing in pieces of language to illustrate or support a point you’re making about how science Discourse works? Why is that working well? (Try to say what you’re doing that’s working!)

I think I am doing a good job integrating the quotes that I have been using a textual evidence. On the top of page 3. My peers made comments that they think my quote interaction in this section is well done.

1. Turn to a paragraph that is not working so effectively with material from your artifacts. What do you need in that paragraph if it’s to become more effective?

In paragraph four my peers and I think there could be more of an analysis of the second quote that I used. I think adding more of a analysis will make it easier for the reader to comprehend the idea I am trying to get across in this paragraph.

1. Write 2-3 sentences that capture what you believe your analysis tells us about science Discourse. These sentences will help you identify your perspective on how science Discourse works, which will help you revise your introduction and possibly the conclusion!

In a science Discourse, the little things that are there are to help you succeed. When you are writing a scientific paper the little things that some of us don’t even second guess anymore because we are so used to using them, those things help us become immersed in the scientific Discourse.

In “Building Tasks” by James Paul Gee he touches on the topic of sign systems and knowledge as one of the seven different things we use language to build. Sign systems and knowledge can be used in the science Discourse by introducing data and how it affects the information being discussed. In the “IMRAD Cheat Sheet” produced by Carnegie Mellon University sign systems and knowledge would fall under the results sections. This is because as said my Carnegie Mellon University “… where the findings and outcomes of the research go”. We discuss the information we found in the experiment and what it told us. Sometimes the information we find can help us in our claim, while other times it can set us back. In Gee’s text, he says “We also use language to create, change, sustain, and revise, language itself and other sign systems and their ways of making knowledge claims about the world” (Gee 35). When we have information from an experiment we can then use that information to revise and change our beliefs before. Sign systems and knowledge can help us develop in a science Discourse and help us become fully immersed in that Discourse while helping us introduce data and the effects it has on out claims.

Both in “Building Tasks” written by James Paul Gee and in “Learning to Read Biology” by Christina Haas they discuss Discourse, and how entering a Discourse can change you. I believe within the same Discourse your identity in that Discourse can change over time. Haas brings this topic up by discussing Eliza, who is a college freshman who is trying to figure out how to enter the new Discourse of reading biology. In Gee’s text, he discusses more of the different pieces of language-in-use when entering or when you are in a Discourse. In Haas text she says “… 4-year examination of one student as she progressed during college, focusing primarily on how the student’s views of, and interactions with, disciplinary texts changed through her postsecondary education” (Haas 46). Haas is saying in this text that it is possible to change in a Discourse because the student she was observing did so. The student’s views and interactions changed when she became completely immersed in that Discourse. In Gee’s text, you can see that change that a student could make could be in a different way. In Gee’s text, he says “We often enact our identities by speaking or writing in such a way to attribute a certain identity to others, and identity that we explicitly or implicitly compare or contrast to our own.” (Gee 33). So for instance when the student that Haas was observing, when she was entering that new Discourse she could have been around upperclassman that had had previous experience in that Discourse. So by observing someone else that can help you in the Discourse and cause you to change within it and continue to change within that Discourse because you are always comparing yourself to others in that Discourse.

Significance

“Specifically, the Introduction defines the nature and extent of the problems studied, relates the research to previous work, explains the objectives of investigation, and defines any specialized terms or abbreviations to be used in what follows.” (Nair and Nair 18)

This statement shows specifically what should be in the Introduction of a research paper. Also, the importance of having those specific things will inform the readers at first glance.

Practices (activities)

“Methods followed should be described, usually in chronological order, with as much precision and detail as necessary.” (Nair and Nair 19)

Nair and Nair say that in the methods section of a research paper it should be in chronological order because in this way it is easier for the readers to take information from the text. The reading will be useful if it is understandable and it will be in the way that Nair and Nair discuss.

Identities

“This longitudinal case study used a variety of methods and data sources to track Eliza’s developing rhetorical understanding of scientific texts and other scientific acts.” (Haas 50)

When tracking Eliza’s progress they are going over the results of her entering a new Discourse. The understanding of the scientific text that she learns is her entering that Discourse and its traits that come along with it.

Connections

“At the college level, to become literate is in many ways to learn the patterns of knowing about, and behaving toward, texts within a disciplinary field.” (Haas 43)

Haas can connect with Gee in this quote because it is closely referring to Gee’s first theorem that says one cannot be partly literate. You have to be fully immersed in the Discourse to be in it.

Sign Systems & Knowledge

“In order to examine–and do justice to–the richness of Eliza’s undergraduate educational experience, I constructed a longitudinal narrative drawing on qualitative analysis of data from the sources described above.” (Haas 56)

Haas including longitudinal narrative drawings can show the knowledge that they are learning from observing Eliza and the process of her learning how to read the scientific text.

Questions?

Understanding                                                             Relationships

Understanding/Relationships

Understanding

Understanding

Connects with Gee with literacy. Haas says mastery of scientific facts which in Gees words means being in a Discourse fully.

In this section, I defined words where I was unsure of the mean.

In this part, I tried to break down the text for me to better understand.

I defined Rhetoric because I thought it was important in the text.

They’re tracking someone entering new Discourse and how it alters that person?

I tried connecting this part of Haas text with Gee and Discourses.

Samantha Martineau

Professor Cripps

English 110 I

1 October 2018

Reading Response Questions

1. What Haas means in her opening statement is that to be considered at the college level of literate you need to be able to understand the text and respond back to the text. In the first part of Haas text she says that “Experts within scientific domains, then, draw upon rich representations of discourse as a social and rhetorical act, what Geisler (1991) has called socially configured mental models, as they create and interpret texts and as they judge the validity and usefulness of the information within them.” Haas in this text is saying that having a college level of literacy can help you reflect from a discourse and from a rhetorical act.
2. The “‘myth’ of autonomous texts” that Haas discusses is “The educational task of helping students recognize the human nature of scientific activity and rhetorical nature of scientific texts may be part of a larger problem in academic literacy for students”. An autonomous text is a text that is independent, meaning that text can stand alone and support itself. Haas calls this a myth because it is not yet proven. A “‘myth’ of autonomous texts” is understandable to me in the text.
3. Haas’ study of Eliza helps us understand what might happen to college students’ understanding of the text as they progress in a major by showing us the process over the four years. Haas shows us the growth of a student in college growing to a college level of literacy. In Haas observations of Eliza, she says that freshman and sophomore year Eliza read tests silently. While junior and senior year she observed sessions were not a separate data source but were collapsed into the reading and think-aloud protocols. These observations showed the change from the beginning of school for Eliza to the end. The progress that was suspected is proved with these observations by Haas.
4. “Rhetorical frame” in terms of rhetorical reading is something that “helps readers account for the motives underlying textual acts and their outcomes.” Also according to Haas, the “Elements of the rhetorical frame include participants, their relationships and motives, and several layers of context.” This is something that students can learn when learning the college level of literacy.
5. In Gee’s text, he discusses entering a new Discourse and his text can be associated with Haas text because in the observation made in the text they are discussing entering college. Entering college is an example of entering a new Discourse. For Eliza, she is entering a new Discourse and in that discourse she trying to figure out the college level of literacy. In Haas text, it says “beginning college students approach academic tasks as if they believe that texts are autonomous and context-free”. Entering college is the Discourse while the academic tasks are the costume and instructions for it. As Gee states “A Discourse is a sort of ‘identity kit’ which comes complete with the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write…”. These two texts connect with each other in the sense of entering a new Discourse and gaining the right tools for that Discourse.