Hope this finds all well and thoroughly masked post-1.2.

Having read most of your responses, here’s what I got for your futures:

• When you introduce an artifact (e.g., a film, a book, an article, or a song), introduce the thing itself and not your take on it. For example, try: “The new Wu-Tang Clan record, which was released in 2007, contains a number of diverse tracks…” instead of “I’ve listened to the new Wu-Tang Clan record forty times in three days on my new iPod.” The reasoning here is that the former approach will force you to contextualize your artifact for your reader, who you should not assume is aware of or familiar with your artifact.
• For academic writing, I suggest avoid using “you” too often. Consider “the audience,” which is less likely to decrease the credibility of your writing.
• When you are explaining things, quote them! Quote the voice-over narration! If you are analyzing a visual medium, then paint what you see through words. The more detail, the better.
• To really develop your paragraphs and make them complex, consider the “known-new” contract. First, introduce and explain what is known. Then, toward the end of your paragraph, open up what’s known to something new — implications!
• If you want to increase the stakes of your claims, analyses, and research questions, then try reading for HOW your artifact is doing what it is doing. Rather than reading for content and interpreting what your artifact “means,” attend to modes of production. For example, you could analyze this blog and say, “The blog suggests that it is being used by a 2008 winter class at the UW.” Ok, but how did this interpretation emerge? Note how this analysis differs: “The very existence of this blog for a 2008 winter class at the UW suggests new directions in composition, modes of writing that involve online feedback, multi-authored workshops, and multimedia. This form of knowledge-making demands that students and instructors re-think composition at the college level and perhaps writing in general. It also begs the question: How is blogging an effective way of learning?”
• Beware of vague references, people! They are cruel to your poor, innocent reader! If you use “this” and “these” and “it,” then make sure they point to a specific noun (e.g., “This form of knowledge-making demands” and not just “This demands”). Cool?

That’s all I got for now. Keep up the good work, everyone. I’m really looking forward to your new sound-scripts.

Be in touch with questions!