Blog 6

Initially I wanted to study the topic referring to the television acting as a babysitter for children. However, as I began to do more research I found that I wasn't as interested in the topic as I thought I would be. I felt that I would be harder for me to interview or do surveys because I I don't hold much concern for the topic. As time went by I began to research other things. Now, my research topic is the relationship between the pastor, choir, and congregation through music. This topic came to me because all of my life I have been in church. I understand what it is like to sing in the choir and in the congregation. I want to understand a deeper relationship between the choir and pastor.

•  I am thinking of asking how important is the choir in delivering your message.
• Is it important for the choir to know the topic of your message for song selection?
• Would your message change if the congregation is interested in a certain song?
• How many times (if any) have your message changed because of the choir's song selection?

Blog 8

For my research topic I will study the relationship between the pastor, choir, and congregation through music. I will particularly study the pastor and as a member of the choir I will observe the relationship through music as well. I will collect my data through interviewing the pastor of the community church and observation of my own. I am not sure if I should include my observation and put my own name or if I should also interview a member of the choir. I will only interview the pastor of the church, but if I need additional information I will include one of the choir members, so possibly 2. I just began reading a book about Literacy Tradition in an African-American church and I am curious to know if I should include my findings in my paper. As I read I find it useful in my study and I wonder if I should include the author as a source for my research.

Blog 7

I have learned a lot during the interview process. First off, I interviewed on of my classmates, whom I have never spoken with before. It was very exciting to speak with a new person. Before the interviewing began we had small talk. I believe this was helpful because it built a comfort level between the two of us.

What I observed:

• First we were trying to figure out who would be questioned first
• I was the first to question and I was a little nervous
• As I continued it became easier because Valentine's Day is extremely important to her
• I began to feel comfortable and questions began to roll off my tongue (I felt like a professional)
• Sitting directly in front of each other was comfortable and I feel like it helped the conversation between us
• As I was being interviewed I noticed how we began to agree with each other
• Even after I would speak she would lead to another question based on what I said previously

                                     

Blog 3

So many term I can now identify, all because I enrolled into this course. I learned discourse, which is a specific way to look at sentences, words, and even letters.  In this class I found the different types of genre, culture, categories, lexis and analysis. I can not only identify, but I can define them as well.

First, Genre, before this class, I only thought about genre in music and movies. I never thought about the different types of writing.

Second, culture, or cultural knowledge, it is simply knowing the context of the writing. It helps to know what was or is going on around the writer.

Third, categories, that kind of explains itself. When one thinks of categories, they think of groups or separation. To be honest, that is exactly what it is. In analyzing things it is helpful to group the objects.

Fourth, lexis, no not the car. This term was very new to me. In fact, I have never heard it before this class, but lexis refers to language. It's funny I picked lexis after category because once you categorize the groups it is important to find their language.

Fifth, analysis. All of the above terms help with analysis. It is a very particular way to look at a type of writing. Looking at writing in a close fashion helps to be able to use the above terms.