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WP3 Part 1

UCSB shared Jialing Zhous post.

March 7 at 12:46pm

Jialing Zhou March 6 at 11:05am

Facebook Craze Is Sweeping Over Universities?

Just as a robust wind, Facebook has seized nearly all the university students in

America. According to a study by Clare et al. (2009), Facebook has become an

important part of social life. 84% of the participants said that Facebook became a

routine of their daily activities.

Recently, I discussed about this with some of my friends. They agreed with the

idea. They said that they often got addicted to online discussions. My roommate told

me that she often had difficulty in resisting the temptation to check the dynamics on

Facebook. I also have similar experiences. Every day, I spend two or above hours to

browse Facebook. I chatted with my families and friends, added new friends to

understand different cultures, and even joined some discussion groups of my interest.

When I am reading a book, I always want to pick up my phone to see if there is

anything new on my Facebook account. I bet that a lot of students have such an

experience.

I have to admit that Facebook is a good tool for socialization. For instance,

before attending university, students can register in Facebook and chat with their
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future schoolmates online. After university starts, these freshmen will better adapt to

school life and communicate with their peer friends. In addition, Facebook is like a

social glue that keeps students together. Due to these reasons, Facebook craze has

swept over almost all universities.

However, Facebook has a potential threat to study. Clare et al. (2009) found that

only 10% of the participants used Facebook to discuss academic issues with their

classmates. As students spend much time on socialization through Facebook, they

have less energy and time for studying. Although a large number of students claim

that they would use it for learning, in fact, they often spend a great deal of time on

talking, which reduces their time on study. Even if students use Facebook for the

purpose of learning, like discussions in group projects, most students are not willing

to be contacted with their tutors through Facebook.

Without doubt, Facebook craze is irresistible, but I think students should be aware

about one fact. As they are overly reliant on Facebook, the time for study is

unconsciously occupied. So it is necessary for students to balance their time spent on

socializing and learning when they are using Facebook.

Should universities forbid students from using Facebook? Absolutely this is not

reasonable. We need to consider students purposes and recognize the positive

functions of Facebook. The teachers and higher education institutions should guide

students to properly use Facebook as a tool for study. Given the Facebook craze

among current students, higher education institutions and teachers should promote

students exchange in the pre-registration stage. After registration, Facebook offers an

informal place for students to discuss academic questions, seek for cooperation and

practice their employability skills. I suggest that universities and teachers help
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students make use of Facebook to achieve these purposes.

Jialing Zhou

Writing 2

Matt Wilson

03/07/2017

WP3 Part 2

For WP3, I translated an academic paper into a personal post. The post is to be

released on the Facebook page of our university, and the new audience of my post are

teachers and students at our university. Through this practice, I have learned how to

write according to my target audience, how to select evidences from the primary text

for my new genre and the conventions of a Facebook post.

In the primary paper, the audience are freshmen students and higher education

organizations in the UK. The researchers analyze the influence of Facebook on

freshmens life and study through sample investigation and require attention from

higher education organizations (Clare et al., 2009). Since my audience are students

and teachers using Facebook, I need to consider their features into consideration when

writing the post.

There are two reasons why I chose a post. First, the use of Facebook is very

common on campus, but students arent well aware about the negative influence of
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Facebook on their learning. Second, my target audience are students who are heavily

dependent on Facebook, so a post on Facebook can easily be available to them.

I interpreted the research data and conclusions in the primary source to support

my claims. For instance, in the first paragraph, to prove the Facebook craze among

students, I cited data from the primary paper, 84% of the participants said that

Facebook became part of their daily activities. In particular, I focused on the results

in Abstract and Conclusion of the primary paper, and divided the results into two

categories. One category was to prove the positive influence of Facebook, while the

other was to prove the negative impact of Facebook, which were respectively written

in the third and fourth paragraphs. I kept the main research results, the data and

evidences that could support my views, but I changed the way of expression in order

to make my post easier to understand. The primary paper used the third-person

perspective to ensure the authenticity and objectivity, but I changed it into the

first-person perspective. In addition, in the second paragraph, I added my friends and

my own experience, which could enhance the entertainment of my post. With this

method, I hoped that the contents would read closer to students life and arouse their

emotional appeal.

Furthermore, I chose to leave out the specific cases, interviewees responses and

detailed analysis in the body part. The primary paper was so long that my new

audience might not have the patience to finish reading a long paper. Therefore, I only

picked out the key conclusions, and made my post concise yet convincing. In order to

organize my post closely, I had to add some transitional sentences and words to

connect the separated ideas into a whole. For example, however was used to transit

from the positive to the negative side of Facebook. Should universities forbid

students from using Facebook? was used to start my suggestions for university
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teachers.

Overall speaking, I was effective in translating the primary source. In order to

present the authorial presence, I used phases and the first person like in my view,

I, I suggest. Whats more, when sharing about my friends and my experience, I

also used the first person to prove the authorial voice.

For this genre translation, I encountered two challenges. First, I needed to

accurately understand the academic paper, pick out the key arguments and analyze

how it was different from my new genre. It was not easy for me to read a long and

professional academic paper. I searched new words on the internet and read the

Abstract and Conclusion part for three times. Then, I combined the analysis in the

body part to understand the key arguments. Afterwards, I read course readings to

understand the features of an academic paper, and listed the key ideas in my own

words. Second, I found it hard to organize my genre. Since it was a Facebook post

targeting at university students and teachers, the title must be interesting and attractive;

otherwise, the readers may not open the article. I named my post as Facebook Craze

Is Sweeping Over Universities? In the style of question, I hoped to draw readers to

read my post and think about the answer. A Facebook post is informal, and too many

academic languages make readers feel bored. I only picked out a few research results.

In the first paragraph, I cited data to prove the popularity of Facebook. Then I cited

cases of my friends and roommates to prove how reliant students are on Facebook. In

this way, readers may also think about their own experiences in using Facebook. And

then I discussed the positive and negative sides of Facebook by citing data from the

primary paper. Following my thought, the readers were likely to agree with me.

To perform this translation, above all, I needed to command the genre

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conventions of an academic paper and a non-academic article. For instance, an

academic paper is often in the third-person perspective and targets at a specific group

of readers, so the language is often formal and professional. In an academic paper,

every argument must be supported by data and facts. By comparison, my post should

be simple, entertaining yet educational. I must convert the profound theories into

concise languages, so my target readers can understand after browsing it. Second, I

needed to master the skills in interpreting the primary paper. As mentioned before, the

primary paper was academic and formal, so I couldnt cite the views directly from the

paper. Instead, I must interpret the views and dont divert the original intentions. This

required interpretation skills. Third, I must keep the rules for genre translation. While

doing a genre translation, I needed to deliver the key ideas of the primary text to attain

the same purposes with the original author. However, I found it hard to keep a balance

between the views in the original genre and my own views. I believe that further

practice is needed in order to balance the original and my own views in genre

translation.