Precis Posting

Haas, Christina. "Learning To Read Biology: One Student's Rhetorical Development In College." From Written Communication11.1 (1994): 43-84.

I am going to do my best to try and find a way to explain this reading. I didn't find it informative, interesting, or relevant. It was one of the most boring reads and of course, I got stuck with it. I guess saying it was "irrelevant" is a little harsh, but I don't know... like Susan said, sometimes we just don't like what we read and we should be honest about it... "Learning To Read Biology" was an article about a student named Eliza. Christina Haas followed Eliza for the first four years of Eliza's college career, trying to understand how one's readings are "done" and how they may or may not be important to the reader (I think). I was lost at "At the college level..." (which is the first sentence of the article!!!).

Educators argue that "in order to understand, use, and judge scientific content- students need a meta-understanding of the motives of science and scientists and the history of scientific concepts(359). Haas wanted to see how Eliza interpreted the texts she was reading. Her freshman year "understanding the book or 'what the book says' was paramount at this point..." (363). Notice she says "the book;" she never mentioned the author of the books motives or intentions.

As the years passed, Eliza's texts were no longer "autonomous objects, but manifestations of scientific action and human choices" (367). At this point, what the author said was no longer equivalent to what the book said. She paid more attention to the "rhetorical elements of discourse- authors, readers, motives, contexts, etc..." (368). But it is believed that it was because of the types of textbooks that she read that she began to get different "results" from her readings. When the texts involved her subject (Bio) or her interests, the readings invited or required different strategies, goals, and views of discourse than previous readings.

It's obvious to see that we learn how to read different subject matter as our schooling progresses and that we read differently the texts that pertain to us more. This is what I got from the reading, and I don't know if it's completely accurate; I just know that I didn't like it.

THE END =)