Here I provide an example of an advertising email that I made with inspiration from a coffee chain company’s advertisement and viewing other advertisements.
Final Mini-Project (cont.)
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Author Archives: Jannet Castillo
Unit 3 Revision
The revisions that I have done above were to reconstruct the natural science article focused on the APA format and the structural genre norms. I added another citation that discussed a conference to emphasize the critical issue of a rare species that caused potential danger to society. I added minor fixes to have a stronger science article that I struggled to construct during the initial process of the unit project. If I were to look at my other unit projects, I would just fix minor issues. The overall structure of my unit projects are done correctly, but there are a variety of things that could be added or removed to have more clarity within the project.
Reflective Letter
Dear Professor Woods,
It has been a pleasure taking your course. From all the content provided, I can say that I was able to understand more on how structures of different genres are composed rather than viewing what it’s saying. I found the units to be very distinctive that allowed me to look at different writings and understand how viewing examples and writing my own pieces have personally helped me learn better. Taking the approach to construct digital lectures and provide multiple examples of written pieces have benefitted me so much, especially during a difficult transition to online courses. The weekly reflections have allowed me to test myself and see if I learned anything new after each unit and I’m content to say that it did.
The skill that I want to further develop is breaking down the structure of texts. During the second unit, I became more interested in the skillset after viewing a film and having to analyze it and go into details about it instead of just watching it the way I use to. What also piqued my interest was the example you provided about the Shrek film. To see a different part of the film taken out to review it and look deeper into it made me realize how films could be examined just like texts. It challenged me to view it from another angle and see how I can critique it while also being eager to see more films or shown and be able to see the structure rather than what is already being shown to the audience.
Some of my writing-related learning areas for growth in the future has to be further working on composing different Natural Science articles. It was a bit of a hurdle for me because I didn’t write many before nor use some creativity to mix them together. However, it was entertaining and made me understand it more than what I use to before. It made me feel more confident in writing more future natural science articles if I were to be given one.
This has been one of the classes I have been looking forward to being in and has helped me build a better connection with literature and genres. It allowed me to use some imagination as well that I haven’t used so much with the work I had done in my undergraduate study. I appreciate how lenient you were and allowing students to submit their work without getting penalized. Overall, you have done a lot with the site and the materials provided that it has been a huge help throughout the semester. I know that for the future students who were to take this class, they would walk away learning a lot more than what they knew prior to taking this course.
Sincerely,
Jannet Castillo
About Me
New Yorker undergraduate student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice with an interest in literature.
I’ve had a keen on reading a variety of written works ranging from fiction to personal development. I was curious to have an in-depth sight on the different genres and use of imagination that could be combined and allow me to express my creativity through my writing.
I’m always a student when it comes to learning anything new. With all the new content that has been presented to me, I feel more ecstatic knowing that I can continue my studies with more information that I didn’t know or understand clearly.
After taking the Genre and Imagination course, I have presented all my work here with easy access to view the growth that has been shown as the semester went by.
Mini-Project Web Analysis
Web Genre Analysis
The multi-million company Starbucks has constructed a variety of web pages on the internet through multiple forms that fall under a variety of web genres. One form in particular, advertising emails, has appeared within the clutter of my digital mailbox that succeeds in catching my attention with it’s bold and catchy subject line to promote their seasonal drinks or special offers that are exclusive to members or within its app. Advertising emails has a similarity to the form of a business advertising their products by sending digital posters into the mailboxes of users. This usually occurs spontaneously or when the user submits their email username to a site to receive newsletters, promotions, and offers from the company. It correlates to a regular advertisement that appears in newspapers and in billboards but has now transitioned to being online due to the growing number of users having internet mailboxes in order to stay connected with marketing, management, and collaborate with others. The purpose of the genre is to have a better way of connecting with customers and the public to view what the business has to offer to them. With more people on the internet, it gives businesses a better option to get more closer with their audience by being included in the pile of emails that are presented to the user who would most likely end up opening the mail.
There are various forms an advertising email can take the form of. It could be a simple email format with a broad message on what is being sold or promoted, or it can take a different approach of being formatted as a pdf file with photos or customized colorful texts and creative fonts being used to grasp the audience’s attention. Humans usually have an attention span of 8 seconds, meaning that the advertisement has to be created in a way that it gets the audience hooked in the first 8 seconds. Returning to the advertisement emails from Starbucks that was mentioned earlier, from my perspective my attention was latched to the vibrant background with the bold lettered yellow and green words that encouraged users to apply for a Starbucks Rewards Visa Card in order to earn bonus points that can be applied to get free items from the cafe once a certain amount of money has been spent from the card in 3 months. The broad message had me intrigued because of the high amount of bonus points being offered if I were to apply for a Visa card and use it to get beverages or food from Starbucks, proving the ad to be successful in reaching out to their audience and having many people opening the message, regardless if they end up applying to the card or not.
To formulate one’s own advertisement mail, within one there has to be a promotion of a product being sold or any upcoming sales. There has to be data on the age range a large population of the audience falls under. Millennials and younger audiences tend to be on their electronic devices (mobile phone, computer, tablet, etc.) more often than an audience at an older age range, so they could stumble across any advertising emails. There has to be a level of creativity that is put in an ad in order to gain attention instantly, this is where many businesses use editing softwares or websites to create a flyer that could be exported into a pdf and clipped with the message. Many bold letters and a variety of color and photos are often used in an advertisement ad with a smaller font of detailed information regarding the promotion or sale to have any confusions cleared up. There can be links attached that lead to the companies official webpage that allows the user to explore more about the business and hopefully become a potential customer to them. With technology advancing, businesses need to find other ways to use technology to their advantage, in which an advertising email would be a good option to go for.
Unit 4 Reflection
1. What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
From Unit 4, I learned more about ethnographies and how they are composed. Prior to this unit, I had minimum knowledge of what it really was and what they are used for.
2. What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
I had a better understanding of how ethnographies were conducted and the variety of studies that can be done.
3. What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
I wanted to learn about how ethnographies are used and if any work is done based on the studies conducted.
4. What are the strengths of your final project article? What are you most proud of?
Some strengths from my final project article are the essential focus on how society behaved during the pandemic and if there are any shifts in regards to the spike of cases rising in NYC.
5. If you were to revise your final project article, what would you want to do differently?
If I were to revise my final project, I would probably change the area I conducted my study. I felt like if I were to do my study in more populated areas such as Times Square that I could observe more and potentially have more notes in the field note section.
6. How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
My participation would be rated as an 8 in this unit.
7. What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
The ethnography examples provided helped me in completing the project.
8. What skills or habits do you want to bring with you to next semester, and what habits do you want to leave behind?
I plan to use the skill of writing analysis based on my studies for ethnographies or science articles.
9. What was your favorite unit this semester and why?
My favorite unit this semester had to be the second unit of Humanities Criticism because it made me view films, shows, and books in a different approach. It made me view more on the structure and analysis of the film instead of the film itself.
10. Do you have any suggestions for what I should change when I revise this class for next semester?
I feel like it’s fine with the current way the class is assembled. It’s organized and there are many examples provided with each lecture that is helpful especially during the current situation of online classes.
Unit 3 Reflection
1.What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
From Unit 3, I was able to learn more regarding writing a science report and inquiring about fantasy to be combined. The structure of a science report was easier to understand after working on the imaginary science article.
2.What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
I already knew how to write a science report in APA format but I was able to understand more about the methods and results and what they really required.
3.What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
I feel satisfied with what I learned from this Unit.
4.What are the strengths of your final project article? What are you most proud of?
The strengths of my final project were incorporating a science report on a show that I was able to extract information in order to compose a proper science article that will be interesting to read.
5.If you were to revise your final project article, what would you want to do differently?
I would want to add more information to my methods because there was an opportunity to expand more on it.
6.How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
I would rate my participation/engagement in this unit as a 7.
7.What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
I kept returning back to the lecture videos and viewing the examples provided to compare with my paper and see if I was going in the right direction.
8.What (if anything) do you want to do differently in the next unit?
I would want to analyze different writings and break down its structure, just like what we did for the different news articles. It was fascinating to see how different they are from one another when it comes to their wording and the information they incorporated.
9.Please complete the sentence: “This class would be better if……”
This class would be better if we had in-person lectures. It would be more engaging to have class discussions and communicate more with fellow peers.
10.For you, how did this unit compare to the News Unit and/or the Humanities Unit?
This unit was more interesting to see how creativity flows when it combines with creating Science articles.
11.What (if anything) from this unit would you like to discuss/think about/explore further? (either this semester or just in your life)
I would like to explore further on composing more science articles when using data. It allows me to gather questions I have and gives me the ability to conduct research on it.
12. What would you like to see in the remaining weeks of the semester?
I would like to explore more various types of writing pieces and have the opportunity to create our own. I feel like with practice it would benefit us as we progress with our own studies if we come across having to write different types of papers.
Unit 2 Reflection
1.What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
I was able to discover what humanities criticism is and how to incorporate it with different forms of media that I was already aware of. I was also able to learn how to compose academic paragraphs for humanities criticism.
2. What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
I learned more about close reading when it comes to viewing texts. Instead of viewing the content and analyzing it, I was able to view how the written piece was assembled.
3.What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
I feel satisfied with the information I learned from this unit.
4. What are the strengths of your final project articles? What are you most proud of?
The strengths of my final project articles would have to be the information I accumulated from watching the film that made the transition from Twitter tweets into academic paragraphs more comfortable. It included enough information for a person who has not watched the film to understand the general idea of what the film and scenes are about.
5. If you were to revise your final project articles, what would you want to do differently?
I would have gone back to the tweets I made and expand it a bit more with my paragraphs. I was trying to include scenes for my analysis and didn’t want to give too much information around it so it appeared more of a summary rather than an analysis.
6. How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
I would describe my engagement with this unit to be captivating due to the flexibility I had with choosing a piece of media to do my humanities criticism on. Choosing a film that I enjoyed made the project feel more delightful to work on.
7. What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
The examples of the academic paragraphs for the Shrek film has helped me recognize what I needed to include in my own project so I can focus more on my analysis rather than creating a summary and using more transition sentences.
8. What (if anything) do you want to do differently in the next unit?
I feel like maybe viewing more videos regarding other forms of criticism would be helpful to see because to do a humanities criticism on films and shows is challenging when it comes to picking certain scenes and analyzing it without just discussing what’s happening when in fact we have to discuss more on the overall image.
9. What additional things (resources, support, information, etc.) do you wish you had had for this unit?
I feel like I had everything needed to complete this unit.
10. Is there anything you would like me to change (in the structure of our course, in how I’m presenting information, etc.) going forward?
I’m comfortable with the structure of the course as of right now so there isn’t much that needs to change.
11. For you, how did this unit compare to the News Unit?
This unit is more engaging and allowed me to express my own views about a film instead of focusing on the structure of news articles and creating one.
12. What (if anything) from this unit would you like to discuss/think about/explore further? (either this semester or just in your life)
I would like to explore more about humanities criticism in films, specifically different genres of films, and see how I’m able to incorporate what I’ve learned into those films.
Unit 1 Reflection
1. What do you feel like you learned this unit that you didn’t know before?
In this unit, I was able to comprehend how writers were able to apply their political perspective in articles that are meant to be news reporting and/or analysis articles. Before understanding this, I have read articles and immediately relied on them assuming that the information that was given is accurate and correct. I have gained better knowledge to be more careful in what I’m reading and be sure to locate any biased opinions that could potentially impact my own perspective regarding a topic.
2. What did you already know , but now understand better or learned more about?
I already knew that there were different forms of news reporting, but now I understand the format in which these articles are created. I was able to see how the structure of articles could be made to add in certain word choices that could persuade the reader to agree with the viewpoint of the writer without having to tell their own ideas in their writing.
3.What (if anything) do you feel like I wanted you to learn, but you still aren’t sure about?
The statement that “Politics” not having to always be about party and politicians is still something I’m a bit unsure about. I think from the constant attention of parties and political figures the media focuses on has made me assumed that’s what politics is all about so I will adjust my knowledge to understand that there are other topics and information that are also part of politics.
4. What are the strengths of your final project articles? What are you most proud of?
The strength in my final project articles is the creativity and the organization of my writing that was able to stay in the subgenres of each article. I chose the 2nd option that I had to write 3 subgenres articles revolving around the same topic. While writing the analysis article, I was struggling a bit in maintaining it as an analysis article without inputting opinions that could change the article to becoming an opinion article. After revising my paper, I was able to correct my potential mistakes and keep them as a news fact article, an analysis article, and an opinion article.
5. If you were to revise your final project articles, what would you want to do differently?
If I were to revise my final project articles, I would have added more information surrounding the context of the topic. I incorporated some of the hero and villain situation based on Kohei Horikoshi’s manga series My Hero Academia but I didn’t add so much information revolving the context of what I was using to write my articles, in which I felt like I should have so readers could have a better understanding of my articles.
6. How would you describe or rate your participation/engagement in this unit?
My participation/engagement in this unit has been frequently from the consistent annotation I would make with the article’s examples and the comments to the annotations. I also participated in responding to the discussion questions underneath the lectures.
7. What did you do this unit that helped make you successful?
I was able to incorporate the word choices to be more neutral to prevent adding in a certain amount of bias in my articles.
8. What (if anything) do you want to do differently in the next unit?
I would like to view more on the structure of different genres rather than viewing the analysis of the text. It was intriguing breaking down the news articles and focusing on its structure and how it’s incorporated in different subgenres.
9. What additional things (resources, support, information, etc.) do you wish you had had for this unit?
I wished we would’ve had more information regarding how politics is more than politicians and parties by showing articles as examples. It would have helped to see actual articles that are still about politics without mentioning too much about the presidential campaign or about politicians.
10. Is there anything you would like me to change (in the structure of our course, in how I’m presenting information, etc.) going forward?
I enjoy the current structure of the course and the presentation of information it’s easy to comprehend and the explanation is well written that I could go back and see whenever I’m struggling on an assignment or answering the discussion questions.
11. What (if anything) from this unit would you like to discuss/think about/explore further? (either this semester or just in your life)
I would like to explore further the identification of political perspectives that is in news articles.
Unit 4: Mini-Ethnography
To view my mini-ethnography report, please scroll down on the box. Thank you.
