Katriel's and Farrell's explanation of a scrapbook contributes to the discussion of what is everyday writing because it outlines the purpose one has to scrapbook and the decisions which are being made during the process. Katriel and Farell label scrapbooking as a "genre of self" because a scrapbook is made to represent the person someone is and their life. Whether it's a single memory, such as a wedding, or many, like four years of high school, scrapbooks are made as way to look back on these moments later in life. The audience of a scrapbook is mainly oneself, which means that the creator is free to make it any way he/she wishes. With this free range, the creator can choose any picture they want and decorate it any way they like with any colors they decide, which basically means they make it how they want to represent themselves. Katriel and Farell that scrapbooks are a form of everyday writing because just like sticky notes and calendars, people make scrapbooks to remind themselves of something. Zines, sharing many qualities with scrapbooks, is also a form of everyday writing. It is personal and meant to share important moments and memories with others, like scrapbooks. But while scrapbooks are seen by select people, zines are for a larger audience to enjoy. This doesn't change the fact that it's everyday writing. A person makes a zine about a special subject or moment but makes it so others will enjoy it too. This aspect makes the creator a little more thoughtful and specific about what he/she puts on the design. The fact that the creator is making certain choices because of the audience, means that it is a form of everyday writing.


- Rachel Marsh

Scrapbooks and zines

Scrapbooks and zines share the quality of allowing the writer/creator to put on the paper whatever they choose. Being able to put whatever their heart desires on the paper allows these types of writing to be everyday writing. What the person chooses to put on the paper represents them personally and could have deep meaning to them. Katriel and Farrell compare scrapbooks as a “genre of self” meaning that scrapbooks are a representation of a specific person's life and experiences. Zines are similar but zines can represent the author themselves and how they produce the zine or the images and such within the zine. Zines are also made to share for a bigger audience to enjoy, scrapbooking is meant to share with only personable people. These both may not seem like your typical every day writing route, because they are not. People use scrapbooks and vines to display images and tangible items of memories and happy moments in one's life. They are everyday items of everyday events and pictures that reflect upon one's life. The items such as pictures of the first day of school and different school dances are everyday events which are shown in the writings. They often contain brief wording just to allow the reader or maker to jog their memory on the event. Katriel and Farrell state,"...scrapbooks represent an established mode of self narration commonly found among young people." This statement suggests that the pictures and items within the scrapbook can mostly explain themselves without having to write about them. They do not follow a specific outline because each person is a different individual, making it more personal. Having everyday events and brief moments of reflection allow these pieces to be a part of everyday writing. 

Scrapbooks and Zines

Scrapbooks and Zines are personal forms of communication that illustrates a snippet of a time period that holds some sort of significance to a person. They are both created to be shared with others who may have a similar connection to the time period. Even though they are not personal letters one would send to a close friend or family member, they hold some sort of significance in a category of everyday writing. Scrapbooks and Zines may be more personal to a person than a letter would be because it takes more time to compose than a letter would take. They both are short and to the point forms of text that can successful convey emotions to another if they are created correctly. Katriel and Farrell contributed to the ideas of everyday writing by creating a perception of what a scrapbook usually holds and how it is presented to an audience. They also recognize that everyday text, including scrapbooks and zines, do not need to follow an outline because they hold different meanings for each individual person. They state that a scrapbook is a “genre of self”. This essentially means that to fully express yourself through the text of a scrapbook, you must put yourself first in your storytelling. As a scrapbook is composed the person creating the scrapbook must ignore the audience who might see it and focus on their own presence. It is a form of expressing one’s identity to an invisible audience.

Scrapbooks and Zines

Katriel and Farrell help me understand more about what everyday writing is along with Zines. Both of these forms of writing are personal and have so much freedom and both are forms of everyday writing. Katriel and Farrell explained how no two scrapbooks are the same, which I found to be interesting. It’s not something I really every thought about but it’s very true. Scrapbooks are personal and not to be published but are to be shared with close friends and family. This relates to other forms of everyday writing that we have spoken about in class. For example, a diary is an extremely personal form of everyday writing. Someone who writes in a diary does not intend to share those entries with anyone except maybe a significant other or someone else very close to them. Diaries are most definitely not intended to be published for the world to see. Scrapbooks are also very specific. Each note, newspaper article, photograph, etc. that was placed in the scrapbook has a reason to be there and even a story behind it. Zines are also specific and personal to the author, but they are intended to be published. It can be anything the author wants it to be, and I think that freedom is one of the reasons why it can be considered everyday writing.

-Olivia Caputo

Scrapbooks and Zines

Both zines and scrapbooks share the common quality of containing anything that the creator wants. This can help contribute to everyday writing because it is very different and unique to each individual and could represent their life or something of great meaning to them. Katriel and Farrell compare scrapbooks as a “life review” and “genre of self” insinuating that scrapbooks should represent the life of the person who is making it. Similarly, zines can either represent the author making the independent magazine or it can represent anything the author desires such as cars, animals, or do it yourself projects. Each can be considered everyday writing because they represent events that happen on an everyday basis using photos and brief statements of reflection. Although neither is done on an everyday basis, the events that the pieces are reflecting are everyday significant events such as high school football games or baby pictures. Scrapbooks and zines are made with items taken from events. For example, the tassel from someone’s high school graduation could be found inside of their scrapbook along with pictures. Zines can also contain random everyday items to be visual aids for what the author is trying to represent. Although both do not contain much actual writing, they still are examples of everyday writing. A scrapbook is a “form of self-presentation”, in the words of Katriel and Farrell, so its purpose is to represent our everyday lifestyle with pictures and brief statements about the events taken place. Zines also mainly require pictures or items, instead of words, to portray what the author is explaining to their audience. The brief words in the pieces are used to help remind the creator of the event, not to explain it. Therefore, since it is mostly side note to help you remember the big picture they are both forms of everyday writing.

"Scrapbooks and Zines as Everyday Writing"

Katriel and Farrell contribute greatly to our conversations of everyday writing beginning with the topic of scrapbooking. Scrapbooking is so important as lookigng through them they become a "spark to a memory". Scrapbooks act as a piece of everyday writing being a genre of self, rhetorical artifacts, and an American art of memory. There are many components to scrapbook making that make this piece of everyday writing a genre of self. They are considered autobiographical texts that tell a story on ones life. When making a scrapbook, the audience is seen as yourself. You make a scrapbook in hopes to always have that permanent organized book of pictures of memories to look at. Whether it's pictures, or letters saved from loved ones,  A look at one picture or letter can instantly help your memory travel back in time to that very day, which also elicits many other memories that one may have forgot about. The creator of the scrapbook is able to choose freely how to construct the scrapbook because of the audience being oneself. Another topic that is addressed by Katriel and Farrell is that scrapbooking tends to be a gender specific piece of everyday writing. Women tend to make scrapbooks to remember memories over men. This genre of scrapbooking has three main techniques that are used when one is making a scrapbook. They are saving, contemplating, and organizing and sharing.  Their is a pleasure principle found within scrapbooking, and all of these techniques listed above are based off of this pleasure principle. People make scrapbooks the way they want to make them. By this I mean that one wants to make a scrapbook by saving (their chosen memories and memories that mean the most to them), contemplating (who they want to see their scrapbook and show it to), and organizing (how they want to organize their scrapbook). Most scrapbooks are usually organized in chronological order, which is a common theme found throughout the scrapbooking technique. Scrapbooking gives a sense of permanence, which contributes to a characteristic of "Everyday Writing". Like scrapbooks I believe Zines are a great example of everyday writing. They are selfpublished, like scrapbooks and also creative ways to express oneself. However, Zines and Scrapbooks have one main difference, the audience. Zines are made for a large audience to see and reflect on while scrapbooks are not. Scrapbooks are made in a more personal way for ones eyes to see, rather than a large audience. They reflect on a very personal aspect of ones life. Despite this difference, they are both to me considered pieces of everyday writing through their creativity and audiences.
-Mallory Abercrombie

Scrapbooks and Zines

Scrapbooking takes everyday writing to a new level. Katriel and Farrell explain that the moments in the scrapbook are not just everyday but life moments that one wants to remember. The moments are ones to be commemorated and remembered. Memory seems to be a common feature in everyday writing in that people make text to remind themselves of something. Also, the text explains that scrapbooks, like diaries, are meant for self-consumption in that most people do not make scrapbooks for others but for themselves. Katriel and Farrell explain that the scrapbook doesn’t hold deep text like a diary but a “skeletal text” in that it outlines the memory and uses graphic devices to signify the memory. Like Scrapbooks, Zines are typically handmade. They are more like a diy magazine made for oneself also. The thing about zines though is that the visual aspect is more important. A zine should be clean cut and properly photocopied. But the zine is mostly meant for personal use also. With a scrapbook you can design it however you would like but a zine is supposed to be made following a specific format. Zines can be carried around to gigs and fairs if they needed to be displayed. Zines are not everyday writing, they are too formal and too much thought is put into the making and the reason why theyre made does not follow everyday writing. Scrapbooks do follow everyday writing and are considered everyday writing.

Danielle Moore

Scrapbooking and Everyday Writing - Suzann Slaunwhite

     Scrapbooks are the tools used to remember extraordinary events in our lives and place them into an everyday context. Katriel and Farrell dig deep into the meaning and reasons behind scrapbooks and their research proves how much scrapbooks are everyday writing. Like all everyday writing they have a purpose. Scrapbooks as well as Zines are used primarily to remember specific events and the emotions that accompanied them. The audiences of these materials feel the memories and remember those special days, whether it is a day at a park, a baby's footprints, or a trip to Spain. Scrapbooks and Zines have meaning; they are aesthetically pleasing and usually consist of a lot of effort. Scrapbooks and Zines give us insight into everyday writing that it doesn't have to be messy or informal to be everyday writing. These mediums are used in a daily context to remember people, places, and events. Katriel and Farrell prove that scrapbook making is in itself a genre and its own culture that this genre is everyday writing. Furthermore, they contribute to the conversation about the different ranges of scrap booking. They delete the common comment that it is gender specific and that how important and crucial it is and how it really illustrates peoples lives. These pieces are creative and invoke our inner child when we are forced to be creative and express to our self the true meaning of these important and memorable events. All aspects of everyday writing are included with scrapbooks and zines. There is the exigency: seeing and remembering the event and provoking the emotions, Genre: scrapbooks are in a sense its own genre because they have evolved so much and in many different ways, and the audience: readers of the book are usually family members or friends and they feel the experiences the scrapbook is proposing. Scrapbooks and Zines give a tangible aspect to our lives and nothing is more every day than are actual lives. 

Zine and Scrapbooking Journal

Zine Making and scrapbooking go hand in hand because they are both examples of a different kind of everyday writing. Both of these things take more time than the simple letter or grocery list, but they are consist with memories. Scrapbooks can have a lot of examples of everyday writing in them. People can put newspaper clippings, or invitations, or old letters, basically anything they want to distinguish that this text is part of their ‘identity’. A zine is also based on how you, as the artist/writer, want the book to look like. With both of these topics one is more personal than the other one but that doesn’t mean it is not everyday writing. The purpose of a scrapbook is more for ones self at the time, but also to be able to share it with those you care about in the future. Generally in the book it has items that have a memorable value or moment to it. I like to think of it as a ‘snapshot’ of an event in a persons life. Zines have more of an audience because the purpose of a zine. It is like a mini magazine based off what the author wants to write about. Both zines and scrapbooks also have a creative side to them. With scrapbooks they also have pictures, and a picture is worth a thousand words! They are also bot handmade but the purposes are different for each personal. Zines are more impersonal and scrapbooks are more personal. They are both examples of everyday writing because it still requires texts of writing but it has a creative side to it also.

-Caitlin Kleefeld

Scrapbooks and Zines

Katriel and Farrell contribute a lot of sufficient information to our conversations about everyday writing. They spend a lot of time discussing the component activities in scrapbooking, which are generalized as "saving, organizing, and contemplating and sharing". While these are common activities in scrapbook making and keeping, individual scrapbook makers chooses freely how they construct their scrapbooks, and what they do with them. Katriel and Farrell highlight the theme of scrapbook being a "genre of self". Scrapbook makers can choose what to include in their scrapbooks, which falls under the category of "saving". People commonly hold onto items for their scrapbooks, for example, somebody may save a card they received from a close friend in high school. This person may then include that card in their scrapbook that they made for their high school years. It is the individual's decision of what to include in their scrapbook. Individuals are also free to organize their scrapbooks however they desire. Scrapbooks tend to be structured in a collage type form, but it is the individual scrapbooker that gets to choose how to arrange items on a page, what materials to use, whether to use sequential order or not, etc. This goes along with the "genre of self" theme. "Contemplating and sharing" includes the audience aspect, as scrapbook makers are inclined to share their creation with other people, or keep it to themselves. Katriel and Farrell highlighted the idea that people tend to share their scrapbooks with others only if the other people are either included in the scrapbook, or they really do "care", which is usually close friends or family. If the potential audience does not "care" enough to look at the scrapbook, the scrapbook maker most likely will not show it to them. Scrapbook makers are also inclined to reminisce on "fun" events in the past by looking back at their scrapbooks, even if they are by themselves. Some scrapbook makers construct their scrapbooks with a mindset that people will be looking at them. While scrapbooking has developed into a genre, people have the freedom to construct them and share them as they will, which creates a so-called "genre of self". This goes hand-in-hand with our conversations about everyday writing, highlighting on ideas such as audience, exigence or purpose, and genre. Scrapbooks and Zines are somewhat similar in the sense that they allow the creators to choose freely how to construct them, and they both have purposes. I believe that they are both examples of everyday writing.

Scrapbooks and Zines Journal

Scrapbooking and Zines making are alternative ways to create pieces of everyday writing. Katriel and Farrell discuss the “genre of self” and how different kinds of scrapbooks have different audiences. The “genre of self” describes the way in which the people who create scrapbooks make each of them independent, individual pieces of everyday writing. They also describe how scrapbooking is different than any other kind of everyday writing because it is so informal, specific, and personal. Due to the fact that there are so few words used while scrapbooking, the creators must rely on “aesthetic organization” to distinguish themselves. Katriel and Farrell show that not all pieces of writing need to be formal to express yourself and that everyday writing can be a way of exemplifying different aspects of culture. This is a complete different way of looking at everyday writing because scrapbooks are an innovative form of self-expression. With that said, scrapbooks and zines are definitely examples of everyday writing because they both have different purposes. Zines are very creative responses to a certain kind of exigence. Whether it is an advertisement or a form of protest, zines appeal to a defined audience and try to change something in society. Scrapbooks are more personal but they still are a form of everyday writing. Scrapbooks are very personal but have the purpose of showing an audience a piece of cultural or personal life. They are organized displays of anything that the creator feels they need to show. Scrapbooks and zines are very easy ways of people to participate in everyday writing because they include little actual text and allow people to have a lot of creative freedom.

- Brittney Smith

Rhetorical Situations and Genres- Group 4

Genre and rhetorical situation are connected on different levels. Genres are based off of other people's past writing, and so the rhetorical situations vary for each genre. Rhetorical situations are based upon exigence, audience, and constraints. The three factors of rhetorical situations are interchangeable between all kinds of genres. Not all audiences and not all exigences are the same, hence why there are different rhetorical situations in different genres. Bitzer suggests the idea that when something new happens, someone must create a first response. From then on, when the situation repeats itself, new responses are based off of previous ones. Knowing this can help us understand everyday writing because if one understands the initial response to a situation, all responses after that build upon one another.  Rhetorical situations and genre are used in everyday writing in various ways. Everyday writing is thoughtless in a way and comes naturally. For example, a protest sign is a common example of everyday writing. Protests signs are big, loud, and bold. The audience is anyone willing to listen to the problem being protested. They are usually big and flashy, and catch the attention of an audience easily. Protest signs are the response to alarming news that people are passionate about. These signs range in size, shape, format, and materials. Some include short catchy phrases, and others include information to verify their statements or accusations. The way protesters present information on their signs is an indication of what type of response they want to occur for their cause. Dirk states, "... we can start to see how specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers...", which fits perfectly on how the news and protest signs bounce off of one another. The protesters make a choice of how they would like to present their sign in a dependency of how formal or informal the cause is. For example, if someone has big and bold letters and is angrily shaking their sign, they are more likely just trying to be hostile and prove a point. But say someone is trying to protest a government action, they will be more effective if they print out leaflets with a call of action, instead of merely insulting policy makers. Observing everyday writing is something that comes naturally; we do not think of rhetorical situations and genres when we produce everyday writing, they are connected and it comes naturally to those writing.


Autumn R, Bryce S, Ansley S, Breyana B

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Gaby E, Mallory A, Olivia C, Emily A

No matter the form in which we write, a part of the rhetorical situation is the genre of the writing. These two things, genre and rhetorical situation go hand in hand. You cannot have a rhetorical situation without a genre. Our understanding of rhetorical situation and genre can help us understand everyday writing because every piece of writing has a purpose, an audience, and a genre. These different factors can help us analyze pieces of writing to determine whether or not they are something we would consider to be "everyday." Some components of the rhetorical situation are the rhetor, audience, and characteristics of the situation. When you're writing an everyday piece the rhetor has to think about who the specific audience is. For example, the audience for a class speech is different from the audience for a eulogy. We may shape our everyday writing based on the rhetorical situation we're put in. Even in genres, there's sub-genres that have different rhetorical situations which would call for different vocabulary and format.  

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​A rhetorical situation is the context of a rhetorical event that consists of an exigence, an audience and constraints. These three factors are determined depending on what genre the rhetorical situation is categorized in. Without genres, it would be impossible to separate different types of rhetorical situations and handle them correctly. Kairos also provides us with the knowledge of utilizing the fitting response to a situation for a specific time and place. An example of this would be the rhetorical situation of a CEO conducting a board meeting, because it is a formal event, the CEO would be expected to talk about expenses and productivity of the company, not about the vacation he took over spring break. Since the CEO is speaking to a specific audience, in this case professionals, he needs to use the appropriate rhetoric on the exigencies that pertain to the company. Knowing that the genre of everyday writing is casual, we can easily choose what rhetoric to use and how to format it. Everyday writing doesn’t need to be typed or edited, it can be written on a scrap of paper with little thought involved. It can be in purple pen or a red crayon, the point is there are no specific guidelines in everyday writing. We know this because in the rhetorical situation of everyday writing, the genre has an informal approach such as a to-do list or a sticky note. Quoting Miller from the reading, Navigating Genres, “All genres matter because they shape our everyday lives.” This is true because we use some form of everyday writing every day. Understanding rhetorical situations and genres provide us with the ability to write daily because we use some form of everyday writing that is universally understood.

Suzann Slaunwhite, Brittney Smith, Doug Small, and Warren T. 

Genre in this context is the connection for exigencies of everyday situations. It used to expose exigencies to a myriad of audiences. When creating exigencies, the type of genre that is used is a vital component when it comes to the effectiveness of that exigency on its audience. If someone were to write a personal love letter, it wouldn’t be appropriate to post it on social media sites because then the personal affect would not exist. The exigency would not be considered as important because the context, or genre, it was written in was not appropriate for what the rhetor wanted to accomplish. The rhetor, audience, and exigency all connect in the rhetorical situation.  It forms a triangle of important concepts to generate a rise and concern for a problem with final hope to tackle the problem. Rhetorical situations and genre are essential to everyday writing because there is always a purpose to everyday writing, whether it is as serious as a love note or as miniscule as a to-do-list. Rhetoric and genre are key parts that make our everyday writing matter and essential to everyday.