Attached is my drawn map of my "dinner party". At each table is a different theme with different authors sitting at those tables, representing their works I read covering the theme.
Image explanation: It may be hard to see, but table one where the black arrow says I first started exploring is themed "What is professional communication?" There sits our first few readings from the class-- the "Visualize a triangle" reading, R. C. Selfe, Porter, and Slack. Next I went to a table labelled "The tech. in technical communication" where I categorized Longo's piece. From there I hopped over to a table labelled "different genre technical writing" where I read a lot of my earlier chosen articles to summarize. Here I include authors covering the genres of video games and prescription medicine. One of the video game authors said similar things to Longo, so I had him hopping back and forth between the tables, or themes. Further, any articles that referred to each other I kept near each other and any articles discussing similar topics I noted with a talk-bubble. After this, arrow number 4 shows that I hop back to Longo's table, realizing I wanted to focus more on the technology in technical communication rather than genres. The last arrow shows that I then moved around to a new table with my most recent readings: Technology in professional and technical writing in the classrooms and pedagogy. From here I wish to explore this topic more from the perspective of a student and a learner rather than of a professor or teacher.
As you can see from my following notes on my most recent thoughts on my essay topic, I am having a hard time making it a singular specific topic that relates to my own professional experiences, so any ideas, comments, or criticisms help! ...continue reading "Leah’s Dinner Party"