Sarah Paterson – ENG-PWR ‘15

For the CUPID Blog this week, I’ll be reporting on the Association for Business Communication (ABC) conference that I attended in Philadelphia last Thursday and Friday. I was a part of a panel with two other PWR students, Rachel Fishman and Rachel Lewis, and Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark about including student voices in scholarship of teaching and learning. But the panel was only a short part of our two-day stint at the conference – we saw and did a lot more than talk about class!

One thing that we were able to do when we weren’t busy presenting, helping out at the registration desk, or snacking during the super-good coffee breaks was attend presentation sessions. On Thursday, we went to two sessions. The first session was about using technology to aid learning, and consisted of the following three presentations:

Presentation #1: Two professors, Susan Luck (Pfeiffer University) and Alan Belcher (Ashford University), discussed different websites that they encourage students to use. These included some old standbys that Elon students are accustomed to using – Prezi, Google Drive, Twitter – but had some new ideas that we found interesting, and that might be useful to our classmates. Check these out: thesis and outline generator, spelling and grammar checker, and an online voice recorder that creates a shareable link.

Presentation #2: The second presentation, by Jamie Granger (Florida Atlantic University), was about software that professors could use to grade their papers for them. This presentation was actually what had drawn us to the session. As Writing Center consultants, the three of us were all intrigued and slightly disturbed by the idea that the future of feedback might lie in robot assessment. The professor giving the presentation did not seem to have a definitive answer about whether auto-grading was a good idea, but he did discuss ways that auto-grading could be integrated into a professor’s routine.

Presentation #3: The last presentation, by Rita Owens (Boston College), discussed an inventive assignment that made use of technology to engage students. For the assignment, students visited a local restaurant and wrote a full review as a group using Google Docs. Reviews were then presented for the class and filmed, so that students could learn to both perform appropriately for and critique video.

Of the three presentations, we found the first presentation the most useful. The second session we attended was much more rhetoric-based, and used non-profits as an anchor to discuss different rhetorical strategies in business communication.

Presentation #1: This presentation by Tana Schiewer, a graduate student at Virginia Tech, covered mission statements for non-profits. She considered the idea that perhaps organizations need more than one mission statement to serve different rhetorical purposes and audiences. For example, an organization might need a separate mission statement for its employees, to dictate corporate culture, and for its customers, to tell them about the values behind a specific product.

Presentation #2: Brian Gogan, a Western Michigan University bus-com professor, talked about rhetorical strategies for making pitches to investors when trying to start a new non-profit. He reviewed five different popular press books about making pitches, and looked to find one that was adaptable for different purposes and considered audience above flashy, “easy” pitch strategies. He suggested that those interested in both rhetoric and entrepreneurship check out No Sweat Elevator Speech, by Fred Miller.

Presentation #3: Ashley Patriarca spoke about the grant writing class that she teaches at West Chester University. She focused on the three primary appeals that novice grant writers use when drafting their initial proposal: the “data, data, data” strategy, the “if it bleeds, it leads” strategy, and the “what we do is great, but here’s how we can make it better” strategy. The latter option seems to be a combination of both logos and pathos, and gets students engaged in building an organization’s ethos (without getting bogged down by the difficult, often sad work of non-profits!).

Lots of exciting stuff going on in rhetoric research! Check back on Wednesday to see what we did on day two of the conference.

Alexa Dysch- ENG, PWR ’15

As we discussed on Monday, there are a number of cross-cultural factors to consider within visual rhetoric. This same theory can apply to professional communication, written or oral. Within modern business practices, all the more consideration must be lent towards cultural differences within communication. Assumptions about specific cultures, without extensive research and practice, can lead to discrimination and ineffective communication.

Standards across business cultures can differ greatly based upon the organizational members. Their particular backgrounds, ideologies and characteristics could be somewhat shaped by their surroundings, and likewise influential upon the organizational culture. Being aware of the key factors, especially those directly involved in business practices or communication, is of the utmost importance.

For starters, specific linguistic communication between cultures can vary extensively. Based on the roots and culture of their language, Americans and Germans tend to speak with a more open mouth, and a subsequent louder voice and prominent body language. By contrast, French and Japanese are detailed, selective conversationalists whose language lends to a more closed lip approach. Practicing certain gestures in the presence of another could subsequently come off as offensive or inconsiderate.

Additionally, approaches to communication differ immensely between Eastern and Western cultures. Typically, Eastern business practices emphasize collaboration and relationship building, while Western approaches focus on individuality and goal setting. Each culture, and subcultures within those regions, should have a firm grasp of other practices in order to achieve the most effective and professional communication.

Even something as simple as the time of day, is an important factor to consider when doing business across the globe. For example, one of the considered factors regarding the shortened lunch break of French people had to do with their business communications. CNN reported about French professionals who would take a shorter lunch break, typically at their desk, in part because their American counterparts were often working and communicating at this time. Timeliness, while fundamentally important for American and German workplace settings, is much more lax for South American and African contexts.

Since it can be difficult to be prepared for any cultural audience that could come your way, whether in an internship or client project, try out this tactic. Close observation of the collaborative party can lend knowledge about their professional communication standards. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Lauren Phillips ‘16- ENG

We all—or we all should—know how to write. And I don’t mean we’re all literate and capable of holding a pen. I mean that, at Elon University, we all know how to piece together a grammatically correct essay, transfer thoughts to paper, and organize an essay. Some may hate it and others may have a natural gift for it, but everyone can write.

As an English major, I probably end up writing more than the average college student. It’s okay, though: I enjoy writing, and it’s usually relatively easy for me. But this summer, my internship with Pace Communications has challenged my writing skills at every level and made me take a long look at how I write.

Discussing my process in detail has allowed me to understand it better. In my rhetoric and writing classes, we’ve discussed terms and strategies. Even with the exercises we do in class, though, these concepts always seemed abstract and wholly academic. Writing for my accounts at Pace and analyzing my processes has made the abstract concrete. I understand how to write for an audience and develop a voice—or mimic an already existing one—better now than ever before. Writing about writing may seem redundant or ridiculous, but it’s given me incredible insight into my own writing process—something I’ve never bothered truly examining.

A little background: As I mentioned before, my internship this summer is with Pace Communications, a content marketing agency. (For a crash course in content marketing, my new favorite industry, check out http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/.) I’m working with two different accounts—one digital, one print—and they have very different methods for achieving the same goal: persuading customers to buy the client’s product. For confidentiality reasons, I’ll refer to the digital account as “Digital” and the print account as “Print.” Each account has had its own challenges, and I’ve struggled with each in different capacities.

Process

I try to keep three things in mind when I write: subject matter, audience, and tone. It’s my own adaptation of the Rhetorical Triangle: subject matter stands for message, audience stands for itself, and tone stands for writer. At Pace, my supervisors provide subject matter, or I supply it myself from research. That’s easy enough. Audience and tone are much more difficult, and they’re the source of my struggles. I find it difficult to separately explain my process for each because, for me at least, audience and tone are so intertwined (I adjust tone to fit the audience), but I’ll do my best.

When I started at Pace, one of the first things I tried to do was understand who my audiences are. Both Digital and Print have well-defined target audiences and, in good practice of rhetoric, cater to these audiences. Digital’s audience is made up of younger adults aged 25-40ish. (I’m going to mimic fashion writing and use “the Digital Adult” to refer to them.) The Digital Adult is middle-class, enjoys indie/rock/punk music, and is into eating out, having fun, and going on cool trips (all within a budget). The Digital Adult is unfailingly patriotic and probably enjoys NASCAR. The Print Adult, on the other hand, is astoundingly wealthy (as in, price tags are irrelevant), well-educated, well-bred, and cultured. The Print Adult enjoys gourmet food prepared by Michelin-starred chefs, brand names, and long-established traditions. The Print Adult tends to be closer to middle-aged and has impeccable style.

Need I point out how different these two audiences are? From the beginning, I recognized that it would be difficult to switch between audiences, but I didn’t understand the extent to which I’d have to do so. I have to adjust my vocabulary, tone, and punctuation on a day-to-day basis as I work with my respective accounts. (It’s not as easy as it sounds.)

“Write something you would want to read.”

I see this quote everywhere, and it’s probably my favorite piece of writing advice. It’s easy to understand: if I write something that I wouldn’t want to read, how can I expect anyone else to read and enjoy it? So I keep that nugget of wisdom in mind when I write. I imagine myself as the audience, with small adjustments, and write for myself.

For example, in a previous internship, I wrote content for a children’s fan club website. The publishing company I worked for produced children’s books, and my job was to write blog posts and letters from the books’ characters. It wasn’t difficult to imagine myself as a member of the audience. What child wouldn’t want to receive a letter from her favorite book character, or read a blog post about that character’s favorite vacation? I thought of what extra information I would have wanted to know about my favorite childhood book characters and used that to write for the website. Easy.

At Pace, it’s not so easy. Digital isn’t too bad. I roughly fit into Digital’s target audience. I’m a little young for the target age range, but I’m middle-class and I like contemporary restaurants. Close enough. I imagine myself a few years older, living in a city and eating out every night, and write for that version of me. Not quite easy, but not an insurmountable challenge, either.

The biggest issue is with Print. The Print Adult and I have almost nothing in common. As I write this, the only similarity I can think of is a love of travel, but my traveling experiences are a far cry from those of the elite Print Adult. I can’t imagine myself as a Print Adult because that lavish lifestyle is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. I can’t imagine who I’m writing for, which makes it difficult to determine if my writing is enjoyable. I don’t know if a reader would like this piece on a $16,000 handbag because I can’t imagine reading an article about a $16,000 handbag.

The second obstacle I face in writing is matching the pre-established tones of each account. I researched both heavily: Digital’s is witty, cynical, and sarcastic; Print’s is lofty and elegant. Again, very different from each other. Similarly to the audience issue, though, I find that writing for Digital comes more smoothly than writing for Print. When I write for Digital I can use my voice, with an added touch of sass. But when I write for Print, I have to adopt a lofty tone that I would never use in real life.

Do you know what “bespoke” means? I didn’t until I started working for Print. (It means custom.) Writing in my usual tone, custom is an acceptable word, but bespoke is practically a keyword for Print. I would never use “bespoke” in an article for Digital, which is why I use completely different vocabularies for each account.

A Solution?

I’ve faced several issues writing for two accounts on polar opposite ends of the audience spectrum. My solution has been to read as many examples of writing as possible, and mimic these. I’ve read every Digital article I can access, and I’ve made a study out of Print’s products. But reading 200 pages of articles about bespoke shoes and multi-million dollar cars didn’t make writing my own articles any easier. I think that the final product matched Print’s tone pretty well, but the process was messy and painful. I agonized over every word and asked myself if there was a more sophisticated synonym. I also had to decide what information was most appropriate to include, which involved a lot of second-guessing myself. But I kept the Print Adult in mind and a previous edition of the product close at hand.

I never would have been able to describe my process without the use of the terms I’ve picked up from my writing and rhetoric classes. It’s a confusing process when I think about it too much, but when I’m writing, it feels natural. I think that’s what all these writing classes and textbooks and projects are trying to teach us: how to develop our own natural writing processes.

Thanks for reading!

Alexa Dysch- ENG , PWR ’15

It is interesting how within rhetorical analysis, more than ever, multiculturalism is an important factor to consider. Technology continues to bring the world closer and closer together, alongside a growth in social demand for recognition of individuality/uniqueness. Within the field of rhetoric, one can constantly recognize the need to understand and adapt to such cultural interaction. This is a larger theme that we will consider this week. Specifically, today’s post will discuss cultural differences in color theory and its relation to visual rhetoric.

Within the field of visual rhetoric, one is constantly analyzing an audience at hand. Any particular audience can consist of persons with unique backgrounds and cultural identifiers. Certain design principles that apply to an American audience may not apply to one of other cultures. Likewise, color within rhetorical design can differ greatly according to the audience. Consider this infographic and its comparison of colors between cultures. Standards between Eastern and Western cultures are often stark, if not opposing. Colors that have certain connotation from one culture can receive contrasting reviews from another perspective.  Most colors, as displayed by the graph to the left, maintain unique representations according to each culture.

This theory is easily represented within cultural standards of dress. The typical bride wears white in the United States, but would be considered ill-dressed and unlucky in China or India. French women are renowned for wearing black, while often such a ‘dark’ color comes with a subsequent association.

Strangely, some colors can maintain dual or multifaceted meanings. Some of those colors include the following:

Blue

• Is calm yet cold.
• Somehow serene or stoic.

Green

• Can start as wealth, but leads to greed.
• Starts with luck, yet continues to jealousy.

Red

• Can easily represent love, yet also loss.
• Resembles energy, but is quickly chaotic.

Yellow

• Cheery to some, but aggravating to others.
• The pinnacle of happiness, yet simultaneously a status for caution.

Furthermore, be sure to consider these cultural differences when designing documents or other visuals. The rhetoric behind visual design is further understood, if not complicated, by this understanding. Your audience, with any capacity for cultural differences, could be influenced by a measure of color consideration.

Sarah Paterson – ENG PWR ‘15

Welcome to Wednesday of visual rhetoric week! Today’s topic: movies.

Unless you’re a cinema major or a photographer, cinematography isn’t likely something you think much about. You might watch a movie and think that it looks pretty, or that something about it looked interesting, but didn’t know enough to put a finger on it. Never fear! Rhetoric is here – and can help you understand how directors do what they do.

The canons of rhetoric – invention, memory, style, arrangement, and delivery – aren’t just for Aristotle anymore. In today’s contemporary, media-rich context, the canons can still be applied. For the purposes of this blog post, we’ll talk mainly about arrangement and style. These canons together are sometimes referred to as mise-en-scene in the film world – the design or distinctive “look” of a film.

While in a speaking or writing context, arrangement considers the logical order or phrasing of words. In a visual context, arrangement can include the editing or placement of shots, or the composition of each individual frame. Because composition could easily take up a whole post by itself, here’s a great place to learn about the basics of composition. Visual rhetoric is still trying to make an argument in the same way that oral or written rhetoric might be, and so directors use different compositions to get their points across. Things like close-ups or high contrast indicate to a viewer that a scene is likely to be dramatic or dangerous. Silhouettes provide mystery. Even the way the camera zooms in and out or pans across can suggest humor or conflict to a savvy viewer. We don’t think consciously about these things when we watch a film – these are symbols and cues that we have learned to understand by growing up in a visual culture.

Filmmakers, just like any other rhetors, have their own distinct language and know how to use it effectively to move their audience. Many famous directors have their own personal aesthetic, or style, that makes their movies stand out from all others. Sometimes this means that the director includes a lot of similar types of shots, or sticks to a specific color palette, or uses the same types of music in every film. Sometimes it means they stick to similar genres or subject matter. This allows a director to gain a devoted fan base and develop a personal brand. (You never thought personal branding would sneak into your weekend movie date, huh? Now it has. PWR is everywhere. You’re welcome.)

One prominent example of a director who has an easily identifiable style is Wes Anderson. Anderson movies are usually funny or “quirky” and upbeat, despite occasionally dark subject matter. His films all use the same general color palette – lots of saturated yellows, oranges, pinks, and greens – and sans-serif typeface throughout. He even casts the same actors in his movies to play different parts: Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson, and Edward Norton.

Such a clear style makes an artist easy to parody, as seen in this Saturday Night Live sketch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSEzGDzZ1dY

Anderson’s typical style seems out of place in a horror film, because his color schemes, music, and quirky attitude don’t line up with the typical conventions of the genre. All of the decisions (or rhetorical choices!) that a director makes are important to get the audience to understand – and hopefully enjoy – a film.