Aynekulu 1

Selome Aynekulu

Writing 2

Masha Fedorova

May 11, 2018

Oceanography

Being a student here at UCSB has allowed to take variety of courses. The classes

range from ball room dancing to more complexed courses like physics and calculus. These

courses share their similarities and differences in their genre. More specifically, the way literacy

practice is applied to the courses distinguish them from one another. In this project, I am going to

illustrate how writing genres help classify courses such as oceanography as a marine science

discipline. By reading course related academic journals, and other sources, the oceanography

course has similar writing genres as other science courses in that it utilizes math, collected data,

and scientific terminologies. Commented [MOU1]: Good! You provide a nice roadmap
and a strong argument.

Oceanography is categorized under the Marine science department. It is a course

designed to teach students about how the ocean is more than just a body of water. Students learn

about the scientific ways how the ocean is a key element to keeping earth habitable for every

living organism on this planet. This class is also math and research based. The way the lectures Commented [MOU2]: Develop this thought. Right now
you don’t have any evidence to support it.
are designed in oceanography also makes the class different from other courses that I am taking

this quarter. For example, in a typical oceanography lecture, the professor discusses the different

kinds of researches that are being done about the topic she introduced. Then, she goes in depth

into the lecture by pulling examples from the textbook, real life examples and engage the

students in the lecture by assigning i-Clicker questions. From my observations from previous

classes I have taken, I have come to realize that courses that require i-Clickers are science or
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math-based course that are intended to be challenging to students. The i-Clickers are designed to

help students keep their attention to the lecture by answering questions. Commented [MOU3]: Check out the transitions handout
on Slack. Maybe, you can use some transitional words from
that handout.
As mentioned above, oceanography’s writing genre tends to resemble a scientific

academic journal. A typical academic journal starts out with an abstract, a paragraph that gives

you an overview of the paper. Then it continues with an introduction of the research topic or the

question you are testing out. In the introduction, new scientific terms are introduced and a

background about the research question is addressed. After the introduction, the results of the

tested hypothesis are presented. Then, the researcher will demonstrate the analysis of his or her

research after the result. At last, the researcher will close out their paper with a conclusion of

their analysis results and explain whether their research was successful or a failure.

To investigate this further, let’s look at an example of a research journal. Titled Review of Commented [MOU4]: New paragraph

Lithospheric Destruction in the North China, North Atlantic, and Tanzanian Cratons, this

research paper begins with an abstract that briefly introduces the paper. “In this contribution, the

North China Craton is used as an example of craton destruction by subduction and collision and

is compared with the North Atlantic and Tanzania Cratons …”. Next, the paper gives a lengthy Commented [MOU5]: Incorporate your quote.
Commented [MOU6]: Page number
introduction about plate tectonics including its history and new terms that were mentioned

throughout the journal . After the introduction, the hypothesis test results were shown. the

researchers illustrated the analysis of their hypothesis results through writing, timeline and

diagrams. In the end, they conclude their paper by summarizing their results and the future of the

Cratons.

Because oceanography relies heavily on its textbook, we can use the textbook itself as

another example to explain the course’s writing genre. Its writing shows similarity to other

scientific journals. It is presented with questions, tested hypothesis with statistical data, and
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scientific terminologies. For example, when reading about ocean trenches, the textbook goes into

statistical evidences to help readers understand the topic further. When explaining the depth of

the deepest part of the ocean, the book states “In fact, the deepest point on Earth’s surface-

11,022 meters (36,161 feet)- is found in these challengers’ deep area of the Mariana Trench”.

(Trujillo, 94). By giving precise measurements, the book presents accurate information to add

credibility about the topic. The book is also filled with different images, maps and diagrams to

help students understand the material visually. When asked about the use of images, a classmate

from my lecture said “[it is] very important to have images, it helps a lot with the concepts that

are kind of hard to understand, like the way the wind blows in certain ways [and] how the ocean

water works in warm or cold areas are explained better with images.” As a student myself, I find Commented [MOU7]: citation

the graphics presented in the book very useful. For instance, when learning about the ocean

trenches, I had trouble understanding the structure of the oceanic floor. However, after observing

the diagrams shown in the book, I was able to get a clearer understanding of oceanic floor

structures.

One may argue that this kind of writing may become challenging for students to read

and understand due to its complex writing. The student that I have interviewed says otherwise.

When asking her about what she could change about the textbook for improvement, she simply

replied “I don’t think I would change anything, especially because I don’t enough about it to be

able to say that something should be taken, I feel as if every part of the book can be important at

some point.” She believes that the textbook should be left as it is because it includes every

important element that are discussed in class. Students are not the only ones that find the

textbook useful. Professors and Teacher Assistants also use the textbook to come up with the

lesson plan for the day or prepare quizzes and tests questions. For TAs, the textbook is crucial to
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providing section assignments for students. When asking the course TA about the how

terminologies and complex topics are explained in the textbook, she responded by saying “The

terminology is relatively simple in this book, and I feel the it is explained relatively thoroughly.”

Although the textbook is written in a scientific genre, it is written in less sophisticated level, so

students can grasp the material better.

The writing genre presented in oceanography fits the literary discipline as it classifies

it as a science course. Even though scientific writing may be unappealing for some, the

terminologies and complex topics presented in this course are college level making it more

engaging for students. The use of graphics in the textbook keeps the readers interested and help

clarify a topic from a visual standpoint. In addition, the use of data tables, timelines and graphs

help readers understand statistical evidences. Both students and TAs find the writing genre useful

particularly in this subject. By simply looking at the writing genre of a course, you can have a

small insight about what the course is like in terms of difficulty and what literary discipline it

belongs to.

A-(9/10)

Selome,

Your essay provides a strong argument and relevant evidence to support it. In addition, it’s well-

organized, as every paragraph develops a new idea. What you might improve in your WP2 (if

you decide to revise this project) is to check all your citations, the use of quotes, and transitional

words.
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Work-Cited Page

 Trujillo and Thurman, Essentials of Oceanography, 2017

 Aynekulu, Selome. Personal Interview, 4 May 2018

 Wang Zhensheng, Kusky Timothy, Jianmin Fu, Yuefeng Yuan, and Pemin Zhu “Review of

Lithospheric Destruction in the North China, North Atlantic, and Tanzanian Cratons” Plate

Tectonics,

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=15

&sid=e92c7de5-ad39-4035-8670-007a2f9ee2fb%40sessionmgr104