Ghebre 1

Matthew Ghebre
Wilson
Writing 2
5 December 2015
WP3 Final Portfolio Draft
Over the years, Earths seven continents were divided from one supercontinent. The
continents have formed based on evidence of the movement of tectonic plates. Because tectonic
plates have separated, continents were formed. Explaining this evidence to someone in their
adolescence, or older would be easy. However, it would be more challenging to explain the same
idea to a seven-year-old child in the 2nd grade. The differences in audiences calls for specific
choices to be made. I made choices based on audience, purpose, and rhetoric when translating
the W. Stuart Mckerrows academic article, Continents Adrift in Ancient Oceans, into a short
childrens book. The information in the article would have to be altered in my translation for the
benefit of my target audience. In order for educated seven-year-old children to comprehend what
they are viewing, their expectations need to met through genre conventions, and they need to be
presented with specific means of persuasion.
Before completing my translation, I compared and contrasted the differences among both
audiences of the different genres. The academic article is made for experts within the discourse
community of geological science who understand the disciplines jargon. With language such as
Paleozoic and Precambrian, the information in the article is too difficult for seven-year-old
children to comprehend. To simplify the information for my new audience, I had to think of what
I would expect as a seven-year-old child. My seven-year-old self would expect concise
information about plants and animal fossils with the aid of pictures, but would not expect

Ghebre 2
complex ideas about paleomagnetism. Based on these thoughts, I began making decisions that
led to challenges. One of the challenges that I faced while translating was making sure I
presented the information in the simplest way possible without reducing the value of the
information.
The way I overcame the challenges was through the reading by Kerry Dirk, Navigating
Genres. Dirk explains that, genres help us make more efficient decisions when writing, as we
can see how people have approached similar situations in the past (259). A similar example I
used was the childrens story, The Giving Tree. The main sequence of the story is a recurring
cycle of a tree giving a boy what he wants, therefore making the tree happy. Like The Giving
Tree, my translation uses the convention of how one idea quickly connects and leads to another
idea. For example, on page one I showed the continents before and after they separated. Then on
page two I presented how each modern day continent has traces of similar plants and fossils. So
therefore on page three, I again drew the continents before they were separated with arrows
connecting the plants and fossils. This shows that the similar traces of evidence must have
happened on one continent before it was divided. While incorporating this convention into my
translation, I needed to account for the rhetoric from the academic article within my childrens
book.
From the academic journal article and my translation, I have learned that both texts
contain rhetoric. Both pieces of writing contain ways to persuade their respective audiences to
believe their statements. For example, the article and childrens book relate to the logos of a
rhetorical situation. In the reading, Steps Toward Rhetorical, Laura Bolin Carroll describes
logos as logical statements that interests an audiences cognitive side by presenting the facts of
the matter (52). The logical evidence is present in both genres, but the academic article explains

Ghebre 3
information in more depth than the childrens book. Each text is similar, as they provide facts
essential for their audiences expectations and level of comprehension.
The choices I made when integrating information from an academic article about
evidence of continental drift to a childrens book was directly based on my audience. Since my
audience was different from the audience of the original article, I could not simply incorporate
all the evidence in the text into my translation. I had to make the assumption that my audience
already knew about continents, so I did not include an explanation. The evidence included in my
childrens book was chosen based on the purpose. The purpose of the translation was to create a
clear and simpler way to present certain children the evidence of Earth before continental drift.
When integrating this evidence, rhetoric that was necessary in the original academic article but
appropriate for my audience of educated children. The audience of my translation needs to be
exposed to the appropriate rhetoric and genre conventions of a childrens storybook in order to
understand what they are reading.

Ghebre 4

Works Cited
Carroll, Laura B. Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis Writing Spaces
UCSB: Alternative Digital Printing, 2013.
Dirk, Kerry. Navigating Genres. Writing Spaces. UCSB: Alternative Digital Printing, 2013.
Mckerrow, W. Stuart. "Continents Adrift in Ancient Oceans." Science Spectra 16 (1999): 28.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.