Ashley Levesque

 

  1. In Haas’s opening statement she states the importance of understanding the larger idea of college writing and not just what the words are simply saying. She states “At the college level, to become literate is in many ways to learn the patterns of knowing about, and behaving toward, texts within a disciplinary field” (43). Hass is stating that all texts have a deeper meaning behind them and in order to understand it you must try to analyze the reason one is writing it.   
  2. Haa’s describes autonomous text as, “autonomous texts views written academic texts as discrete, highly explicit, even ‘timeless’ entities functioning without contextual support from author, reader, or culture.” The myth of autonomous writing is that many mistake it as facts and do not attempt to uncover the deeper meaning behind it. However my only concern with this is that perhaps not all writing has a deeper meaning behind it and that perhaps some may even be over analyzed.
  3. Haas’s study on Eliza shows that college is as Gee describes a “discourse”. Although Gee is not mentioned by Haas it can be connected because Eliza when first entering her major only had a basic understanding of the writing but as she progressed she had a greater understand similar to learning a discourse. Haas states, “although Eliza (a pseudonym) may have tacitly subscribed to the doctrine of autonomous texts early in her college career, by the time she left college she had come to a greater awareness of the rhetorical, contingent nature of both of the activities and discourses she participated in within her chosen field, biology,” (46). Haas is explaining that when you first enter a major you will only have a basic understanding but as you proceed you will leave with greater knowledge on the writing of that major.
  4. A rhetorical frame as described by Haas are, “participants, their relationships and motives, and several layers of context” (48). The purpose of this is to help include the readers and allow them to break down the text and understand the deeper meaning behind it.
  5. As stated above I connected Gee and Haas as a relationship in discourses. I saw similarities between the two during the study of Eliza. Gee emphasizes the importance of discourses and I believe a lot of what Haas describes requires some entry into such as a discourse.

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