Social Media, Academic Writing,
and Constructing a Review
Quickwrite #4: Can Social Media help
us with Academic Writing?
• On p. 537, the authors of Everyone’s an Author assert
(claim to be true) that the writing many of us do every
day, whether on the internet or in some other
informal setting, can prepare us for the work of
academic writing. How? What are some of the
similarities the authors point out in Chapter 27 (p. 526537)?
• Do you AGREE or DISAGREE with the assertion
described above? (The assertion is the part in bold.)
Social Media and Academic Writing
• What are some examples of social media sites?
– Facebook
– Instagram
– MySpace (Hahaha… right, Ms. S…. Like anyone USES
MySpace anymore…)
– tumblr
– Various other blogging platforms (Wordpress, blogger,
livejournal, etc.)
– Message boards
What Social Media writing have YOU
done lately?
• Think back over the past week. Have you done any social
media writing? Have you read any pieces of social media
writing? If so, what did you read/write?
• My list might look something like this….
– Posted review of latest book I finished on goodreads
– Responded to discussion of favorite Game of Thrones character
on Tumblr
– Posted the thrown together roast recipe I invented the other
night on livejournal
– Congratulated college room mate on new job on facebook.
What does social media teach us
about writing?
• The writing we do is a representation of
ourselves. Just because we are using academic
conventions (rules and accepted ways of writing)
doesn’t mean that the writing should not express
the writer’s individuality. (Compare the
paragraph at the bottom of p. 528 that starts with
“WOW!” to the more “academic” paragraph on p.
529.)
What does social media teach us
about writing?
• All writing needs to connect to (and know) it’s audience. (Remember that
audience is part of each writer’s rhetorical situation.) Ask questions and
offer information that will be useful and relevant to your readers. (See p.
529-530)
• All writing needs to provide an appropriate amount of context. (Context is
background information needed to understand what you are writing.) If
you know your audience doesn’t need much context, you can leave it out,
but if your audience might be unfamiliar with your topic, you will need to
give them enough background information that they will be able to
understand your points. For example, what background information would
be needed to understand the tweet at the bottom of page 530? What
background information would be needed to understand some of your
social media writing?
What does social media teach us
about writing?
• Organization is important. What do you notice
about the organization of the yelp review on
p. 531?
• Images can be an important rhetorical tool.
• Information is worth being shared.
• Sources should be cited.
What is “Academic Writing”?
• Academic writing follows a set of conventions
(remember, those are rules/expectations your
readers will have of your writing in an
academic setting), and it is appropriate for a
school or research setting.
• You can see a brief list of characteristics of
academic writing on p. 543
Informal/Appropriate for Social Media
Formal/Academic
Star Wars is so cool! It’s like… one of
the most amazing things ever.
Everybody knows about it. Only
people who have been living under
rocks for the last twenty years don’t.
There are lots of things in the movies
that are just like stuff that goes on
now. I totally love how the Jedi are all
wise and mysterious, just like priests
or prophets or something. Also, the
lightsabers and spaceships rock a lot.
There is no denying the effect that the
Star Wars saga has had on our culture.
Mention the words, “May the Force
be with you,” and people of all
generations, races, and social classes
will most likely get the reference.
Elements of the series have even
helped us to define and understand
our own world. For instance, Darth
Vader and the Empire have become
universally understood symbols for
totalitarianism and oppression. Star
Wars is, in actuality, a modern myth,
with Jedi and starship pilots standing
in for the gods and heroes of
Olympus.
Challenges of Academic Writing:
• Academic writing makes a clear, explicit claim
right from the start.
– Poor example: “Many people everywhere are involved
with pop culture.”
– What is the problem with this sentence as a thesis for
an academic essay?
– Can we help this author? What suggestions would you
give him/her?
– In order to make a claim, you have to know what you
think. In order to know what you think, you have to be
familiar with the topic.
Challenges of Academic Writing:
• Organization. Academic writing is organized and
structured in such a way that it leads the reader
through your points.
• See p. 544 of EaA for information about patterns of
organization.
• Decide where to put your most convincing ideas.
Would they be more effective first, or last?
• Decide which ideas need to be explained before
introducing other, more complicated ideas.
• Think of your paragraphs as building blocks. You can
rearrange them, move them around until you find an
arrangement you like that also achieves your purpose.
Challenges of Academic Writing:
• Balancing the they say and the I say sections of your essay
effectively.
• Learning to write in an academic way is a balancing act.
– On the one hand, you are expected to do research and refer to
what others say about a topic.
– On the other hand, you are expected to offer your own responses
to what others have already said.
– Too much of others’ writing and not enough of yours is
inappropriate, but too little research (others’ ideas) will make it
look like you haven’t done your homework on the topic.
– If you are wondering whether you got this balance right, ask. I’d
be happy to work with you.
Introducing Essay 2: The Review
• Please read the assignment sheet carefully. A
copy of this assignment is posted on the class
website.
• Please note the due dates for this assignment.
– Uploading a rough draft for peer review is not
optional.
– Submitting comments for peers is not optional.
What can I review? Anything that you think you
can write about for at least three pages.
• A restaurant
• A creative work
• A business that offers – Movie
– TV show
a product/service
– Book
• A product
– Car
– Gaming console
– Makeup line
– And many others
– Concert
– Video game
– Museum exhibit
You get to pick a topic you already
know a lot about.
• This is your chance to review your favorite restaurant,
to convince your audience that your favorite movie
really is that great, or to expose your audience to your
favorite musician’s newest work.
• Just make sure you think you can produce three pages
worth of solid, well-supported ideas about the subject
of your review.
• Finally, remember that even though you are familiar
with the topic, your audience might not be familiar
with it, and so you will need to give them context.
Features of a Review
• The chapter in Everyone’s an Author on writing a
review begins on p. 229
• From p. 234: The characteristic features of a
review are:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Relevant information about the subject
Criteria for the evaluation
A well-supported evaluation
Attention to the audience’s needs and expectations
An authoritative tone
Awareness of the ethics of reviewing
How “academic” does my review have
to be?
• Since you will might be writing about your own experiences
with the subject of your review, some use of “I” and “me”
might be appropriate, but keep the focus on your subject,
not yourself.
• Some “conversational,” informal language might be
appropriate, depending on the subject of the review.
• But, imagine that you are writing this review for
publication, that a magazine or newspaper is paying you to
write this review for a broad general audience. This means
that while some conversational language may be
appropriate, you are writing to a group of strangers of
diverse ages and backgrounds. They will be expecting a fair
review and logical explanations of why you have the
opinions you do about the subject.
Finding a Model Review
• For ten points of extra credit next class, find a high-quality review for the
type of product you will be reviewing. (If you are writing a review of a
book, find a review of ANY book written by a professional. If you’re doing a
movie, find a professional film review, etc.) Answer the following
questions (work must be typed and printed out):
1. Where did you find the review? What was the title of the review and the
name of the author?
2. What was the subject of the review? (Name of film, type of car, etc.)
3. What was the author’s evaluation of the subject of the review?
(Remember, an “evaluation” in this case is a well-supported opinion
about the value or quality of the subject.) So, in other words, what did
the author think about the thing he/she was reviewing?
4. What criteria did the author use to make this evaluation? What proof
does he/she offer?
5. What did you learn from reading and analyzing this review that might
help you write your own?