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Koji Uchino
Writing 2

Was My Blog Effective?

The original scientific journal, “Ocean Acidification and Its Potential Effects on Marine

Ecosystems” by John M. Guinotte and Victoria J. Fabry conveys the effects of ocean

acidification with research data from themselves and other scientists. The article is rather long

with many pages filled with data tables and maps. The article starts with an introduction

explaining ocean acidification to the readers. They also include the main message of the article,

“ocean acidification is rapidly changing the carbonate system of the world's oceans” (Guinotte &

Fabry, 2008, p. 320). Following this, the authors utilize statistics to show the state of urgency we

are currently facing. They throw a great quantity of scientific data which makes it difficult for

readers not interested in science to follow. After the data, the authors explain how the increase in

CO2 levels has an impact on different types of marine organisms. Finally, the authors conclude

the article with methods to combat the ocean acidification crisis.

The three reference texts provided me with a general guide to follow when translating the

article into a blog post. The blogs I viewed were relatively short with simple words and casual

tone. One of the examples did not even follow normal English conventions such as capitalizing

the first letter of the sentence and they used “;p” like an emoji (Yap, 2006, June 2). This style is

still acceptable since blogs are supposed to be relatively casual, similar to social media. Even

though the tone may be a little casual, blogs contain valuable information that the author wants

to share with readers. Blogs do an excellent job of sharing information in an easy-to-read format

with the use of visual media in the forms of pictures and videos. Having these visual

representations allow for easier comprehension for the readers. Furthermore, blogs are formatted

with subheadings which makes it easier to follow the author's different points. Subheadings are
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typically in a bigger font, bold text, and all caps. A subheading that stood out to me was from

Hannah’s blog where she ended each subheading with a question mark like “Why Host a Surgery

Day?” (2023, January 30). I applied these genre conventions of a blog that I absorbed for my

own blog post.

I used the two in-class readings “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical

Analysis” by Laura B. Carroll and “Reflective Writing and Revision Process: What Were You

Thinking” by Sandra L. Giles as tools to strengthen my translation. Carroll’s text was especially

beneficial during the genre translation process. Carroll provided tools to be more effective in

communicating a message. For example, she mentions the rhetorical triangle which is composed

of logos, ethos, and pathos (2010, p. 52). I mainly utilized logos by having some data that

displays the severity of ocean acidification. Additionally, I tried to sprinkle pathos in my

conclusion to move the readers. Another key tool Caroll mentions is the rhetorical situation that

is formed from the exigence, audience, and constraints (2010, p. 48). I kept these factors in mind

when conveying my message in the blog. On the other hand, Giles’ text was especially helpful

when editing my translation. The article gives prompts to answer like “Tell the reader what you

intend for the essay to do for its readers” and “How did comments from peers, in peer workshop,

help you?” (Giles, 2010, p. 194). When answering these questions, I was able to poke out some

flaws in my genre translation. One shortcoming was not having a very clear thesis at the start of

the genre translation. To fix this, I reanalyzed the original article’s message and inserted it into

the start of my blog.

When translating genres, I kept the important points in my blog post; however, I removed

a large portion of data and detailed scientific information. By doing this, I was able to shorten the

20+ page scientific journal into a three-page blog. I had to cut out some parts of the article when
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making the translation in order to meet the constraints of my new genre. Blogs are supposed to

be short and easy to read, so simplifying the journal was a major goal that also proved to be a

challenge. Converting the scientific descriptions into easier words was a difficult task and I still

feel like parts of the blog are maybe a little complex. I am hoping that people who are not

interested in science can read the blog without getting lost.

My blog post was meant to have a wider range of audience compared to the original

scientific journal by making the information easier to comprehend. The original article’s

audience seemed to be people who have an interest in the ocean’s environment. I feel like

ordinary people will not read this article as it is loaded with chemical formulas and complex

biological explanations. A blog allows for difficult information to be stripped into a simpler

format. With the subheadings, I was able to divide the blog into the key points from the article.

Most of the time the article utilized bold subheadings to signify a meaningful topic that I should

touch upon in my blog. Even after the genre translation, the core of the article still remains in my

blog. For example, I was able to condense different sections of the original article into one

section for my blog without altering the information. In the original article, there were separate

sections dedicated to the damage done to the different types of underwater organisms from

mollusk, fish, and to kelp. However, I wrapped all of these sections into one section called

“What is the Effect of Ocean Acidification on Non-Calcifiers?”. My blog turned into an easier

read by breaking down the complex scientific explanations into terms that everyone can

understand. I had to remove some of the data and detailed examples due to the constraint of

being a shorter genre type. Instead, I did a brief summary of some of the examples and grouped

them into a section. One new section that I had to add was the last part of my blog where I

mention to readers how to take action. This was done in hopes of having the reader make some
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changes in their lifestyle to reduce the damage of ocean acidification. I firmly believe my blog

was able to provide sufficient information to make people aware of the ocean’s rapid change.

Bibliography (APA Style)

Original Article:

Guinotte, J.M. & Fabry V.J. (2008). “Ocean Acidification and Its Potential Effects on Marine

Ecosystems.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 1134, no. 1, pp.

320–342, https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1439.013.

Three Reference Texts:

Currie, J. (2020, January 7). “Meet the Hooligans!”, Happy Hooligans,

https://happyhooligans.ca/happy-hooligans/

Hannah, (2023, January 30). “Surgery Day for Upper Elementary”, The Friendly Teacher,

https://www.thefriendlyteacher.com/2023/01/surgery-day-for-upper-elementary.html

Yap, J. (2006, June 2). “About Me”, Ikea Hackers,

https://ikeahackers.net/2006/06/about-me.html

In-class Readings:

Carroll, L.B. (2010). “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis”, Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 1, pp. 191–204.

Giles, S.L. (2010). “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?”,

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, vol. 1, pp. 45–58.