Selena Lauria

Wilson Writing 2
Translating Academic Writing
After dissecting the writing of others, as well as my own, Ive
come to find that even the most fascinating topic and fanciful language
arent enough to make a piece of written material resonate with
anyone who comes across it. An author must account for a vast
assortment of rhetorical components, such as audience and context, in
order to achieve their desired purpose. Even if they revise thoroughly
and succeed in moving one person, another may come along and say,
this is all wrong. With this in mind, I came across the academic
article, How TV and Film Portrayals Affect Sexual Satisfaction in
College Students, written by Stanley J. Baran, an associate professor in
the Department of Communication at Cleveland State University.
Although the topic drew me in, the writing was meant for scholars in
Barans discourse community and not for the purpose of enjoyment.
Within the genre of an informative, research-based essay, Baran
discusses how media portrayals of sexual behavior impact the sexual
socialization and satisfaction of college students. He argues that
characters in the media serve as models, and create expectations, for
sexual activity and personal characteristics. His research applies to
nearly everyone in the millennial generation, which may as well be
called the Netflix generation. His eye-opening findings about college
students would likely be valuable if received by the adolescents
themselves and could allow them to better understand some of the
issues that arise while exploring their sexuality in college. I chose to
translate his research into a genre that may appeal more to the
average college studenta narrative-based magazine article,
particularly that of Cosmopolitan. In my experience, adolescents are
more inclines to read something that has an enticing cover and title, is
brief, and includes plenty of pictures and scandalous anecdotes.
Since the audience of my genre rendition is college students, I
had to consider the kind of contexts that they might be reading my
writing. Potential readers might be sitting in the back of lecture,
mindlessly scrolling through applications on their phone. They could
also be surfing the web on their computer for just a few minutes every
hours, failing to resist procrastination. In order to have the best chance
of reaching these archetypes of college students, I made my title quite
large and in the form of a personal question: how much are you
comparing your sex life to your favorite shows and movies? It
addresses two of the most prominent topics of interest for adolescents
sex and media. When a title is in question form it leads the reader to
believe that the author will somehow provide them with an
individualized answer (which can explain why Buzzfeed quizzes are so

highly regarded, in spite of containing information that has no

credibility whatsoever). I continue to ask the reader about their sex life,
so that they feel a sense of interaction with the writing. I also
attempted to unify readers by explaining that theyre not the only ones
who might feel disillusioned by the dichotomy of what they want their
sex life to be like and what its actually like.
Next I provided fabricated personal reflections about how media
affected peoples attitudes toward, and satisfaction with, a variety of
sexual encounters. The conversational voice is meant to seem
approachable and keep the reader from feeling uncomfortable while
talking about genitalia and sexual behavior. Although Cosmopolitan is
predominantly raunchy, I didnt want to take away from the content by
using juicy vocabulary. I also tried to keep the article relatively gender
neutral, so I employed a unisex color scheme and referenced both
male and female issues pertaining to the topic. Each page is jam
packed with pictures of popular movies and TV shows to accompany
the both the facts and narratives. According to Scott McCloud, author
of Writing with Pictures, no matter what style you choose, your
pictures first and most important job is to communicate quickly,
clearly and compellingly with the reader (reader, p. 140). My plan was
to include pictures of various sexual orientations and behaviors so that
the reader feels that the article is a place of tolerance and open sexual
exploration.
The purpose of my translation was to reveal how rhetorical
conventions and writing techniques are the centripetal force of
someones writing. While the topic remained the same, my new article
allowed the information to appeal to an audience that would otherwise
be unaware of Barans research. Many college students are unaware
that TV and film have caused individuals to set unrealistic expectations
about the way their body should look and how they should act in
sexual situation. Through the use of a striking question as my title, an
overabundance of pictures and embellishments, and narratives that
disclose private, sexual information, I attempted to bring the
information to the college students.

Work Cited
S.J. Baran, How TV and Film Portrayals Affect Sexual Satisfaction in College
Students, Journalism Quarterly, 53.3: 468 (1976)
McCloud, Scott. Clarity, Persuasion and Intensity. Writing with Pictures.