Mia Vela

WRIT 2

Shanna Killeen

Writing Project 1 Reflective Essay

I translated a scholarly research article into a brief educational school newspaper article

for students. The research is titled Self-esteem and Competition by Pablo Gilabert. The

information being shared is in regard to the possible negative and positive relationship between

competition and self-esteem. The audience that I am addressing in my translated genre is the

younger generation of middle school, high school, and college students dealing with personal

issues relating to self-esteem and competition. This differs from my primary source and who that

scholarly journal is addressing because they managed to maintain a more broad audience with no

specifications as to who the research article was targeted towards. I would consider the audience

of the scholarly article to be academic individuals as some phrases and terms used are advanced.

I decided on this new genre because I can relate to having self-esteem issues due to competition

and I know that this topic would resonate with students and individuals similar to myself. I

anticipate that a brief and easy-to-read article would effectively communicate with my intended

audience because it is something that could be written for a school newspaper. “Learning about

genres and how they function is more important than mastering one particular genre; it is this

knowledge that helps us to recognize and to determine appropriate responses to different

situations - that is, knowing what particular genre is called for in a particular situation” (Dirk

259). I believe that this statement is truthful given that it is important to know how to

communicate in various situations. For example, I am not speaking to my audience, which

includes younger students, the same way that I would speak to my higher educational peers. I am

more elaborate in my writing and, most importantly, I write without the assumption that the

reader knows what I am talking about.

I integrated the information from the primary text that demonstrated significant meaning

from the research that was produced. It would not make sense to include information such as

where the research took place and how many people took part, but rather what is being analyzed

and why it is important. I changed a few diction choices within the scholarly paper because I felt

that it did not fit the genre that I was translating into. Furthermore, I decided to format the article

in numbered lists with important words typed in bold lettering, and significant short phrases

underlined. It is described that the concept of reading like a writer is, “to carefully examine the

things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might

want to adopt similar (or the same) techniques in your writing” (Bunn 72). This relates to the

way in which I read the peer-reviewed scholarly article that I gathered my information from.

Since it is a formal piece of writing, I obviously did not want to include every technique that they

utilized in their writing, as it did not fit the audience to which I was writing for. However, I did

appreciate the extent to which they went into detail about the topic of self-esteem and

competition, as it allowed me to gain a deep understanding and then translate my knowledge into

my new genre. I noticed that I did add more explanations to certain phrases that I felt may leave

the reader with confusion if not elaborated on.

The main challenge of the genre translation was trying to figure out what information was

essential for the new genre and what information could be left out. In order to figure out this

issue, I had to just go with what I thought was conveying the message properly and what

information could give the most support to the claim being made. I also had to be mindful of
what information my audience would be interested in reading. In order to complete this

translation efficiently, I had to use critical thinking skills and put myself in the position of the

reader. “Intentions - a sense of audience and purpose of what the writer wants the essay to do -

are essential to a good piece of communicative writing” (Giles 198). I believe that this statement

by Giles relates heavily to the project of translating genres. This is because the intention behind

my translated piece, and anyone’s translated piece, should demonstrate the reason why they

chose that specific genre to translate the article into.

“Tuning into the abundance of your voice, identifying its many variations and how these

plural ways of voicing work with and for different types of audiences, is a way to continue

building on your experiences, your linguistic resources, as language architects. The more you

practice your different ways of communicating, the stronger and broader these resources

become” (Alverez, Wan & Lee 5). This excerpt from the reading “Workin’ Languages” further

demonstrates why possessing the ability to translate information into a variety of genres is

significant. It shows just how much you truly understand the information and displays the

writing techniques of the translator as they create the new work. I appreciate having the

opportunity to take a research paper explaining the effects of competition on individuals and

shed light on the repercussions to the younger generation regarding their everchanging

self-esteem.
 Works Cited

Alvarez, Wan & Lee. “Workin' Languages: Who We Are Matters in Our Writing.” Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing Volume 4. 2022

Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces Volume 2, 2011,

writingspaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/writing-spaces-readings-on-writing-vol-2.

pdf.

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces Volume 1, 2010,

writingspaces.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/writing-spaces-readings-on-writing-vol-2.

pdf.

Giles, Sandra L. "Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?"

Writing Spaces,

https://writingspaces.org/past-volumes/reflective-writing-and-the-revision-process-what-

were-you-thinking/.