Minor Assignment 52/11/2018 A particularly interesting section of Bazerman’s “Patents as Speech Acts and Legal Object” is his analysis of “The typification of patent forms”. In this section he not only discusses the typification of the standard patent form, but he also discusses the history of the patent form. He dives deep into where and when each section of the form originated and why it did so. For example, he discusses the need for pictures and models by saying, “a drawing might be attached. Until 1881 a model was required, but afterward was to be supplied only on request” (11). This connection to the past and the evolution of the patent form helps to give interesting context about the genre and how/why it changed throughout the years.
This type of historical analysis, I believe, could be interesting to use in my own rhetorical analysis. Perhaps not diving so far into the past but instead within the realms of possibly me interviewees experience. For example, some questions I could ask to add context to my analysis could be: “How has the standardized form of the Grant Proposal changed throughout your research career?” or “In what way would you might want it to change in the future?”. I think these sorts of questions could help shed some light on the discourse communities opinion on the genre, giving some valuable context on the overall writing style. My original idea for my first major assignment was to compare the different kinds of language and persuasive techniques used in grant proposals for pre-examined fields versus grant proposals for unexplored/uncommon topics. After discussing this idea in class and having more time to mull it over, I think it would make more sense to simply analyze grant proposals on a whole and what rhetoric they use. Possibly this comparison could now be analyzing the difference in rhetoric between grant proposals that succeed and those that have failed. I believe that this comparison would be easier to manage, as well as easier to find examples from each side.
2 Comments
Zachary Wagner
2/11/2018 05:48:23 pm
Jacob,
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Brian Hendrickson
2/14/2018 11:51:27 am
I agree with you and Zach. I love the idea of providing a more personal historical context. Depending on that person's own experience, that may be more than enough!
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April 2018
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The purpose of these blogs were to serve as a mode to turn in minor assignments for my Professional Writing Class. Many are responses to reading we did, and a couple are first drafts of various major assignments. |