“NoCamels.” NoCamels, 1 May 2016, nocamels.com/2016/05/israeli-black-hole-stephen-hawking-nobel-prize/.

The framing of a topic (Gardener et al.) is the process of simplifying complicated issues in order to help the average reader understand the author’s message (Nisbet, Scheufele). Framing can be done using diction, syntax, complexity of visual aids, and omission of information. Scientists often use framing to help their reader understand hard concepts without explaining the intense theories behind their results. Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan uses framing in her article for Scientific American.

Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan is a professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale. She specializes in research about black holes and dark matter. In 2007, Dr. Natarajan and her colleague, Dr. Giuseppe Lodato, wrote a scholarly article together entitled Supermassive black hole formation during the assembly of pre-galactic discs. In this article, they discuss the situations in which black holes form and relay their research and data. In February of 2018, Dr. Natarajan wrote an article in Scientific American, a popular science magazine. The article was called The First Monster Black Holes and discusses what black holes are and how they’re created. Even though Dr. Natarajan wrote both articles and they both are about the same subject matter, she used framing to create strong differences between the two.

What is a black hole? Or a Quasar? Or orbital haloes? The following articles and analysis uses terms that may be unfamiliar. A black hole is a concentration of matter who’s mass is compacted into a tight space and creates a gravitational force so strong that light and radio waves are absorbed by it. (NASA) A quasar is tail of extremely strong light that is created by certain gases being sucked into a black hole at extremely high velocity.(Britannica) A galactic halo is “….[a] nearly spherical volume of thinly scattered stars, globular clusters of stars, and tenuous gas observed surrounding spiral galaxies,..”(Britannica) These halos created low light in between clusters and solar systems around the galaxy. These terms should help with understanding the analysis below.

Some methods of framing is the omission of information and diction. The Scientific American article included colloquial language and also defined any words that the audience may not know or understand in the given context. For example, in the beginning of the Scientific American article a small account of the events of the Big Bang theory was given to introduce how galaxies, the cosmos, and black holes were first formed. The common readers of Scientific American will surely have heard of the Big Bang Theory but some may not know what happened and how that affected black holes. Any scientist who would be well versed wouldn’t need to be informed of these events, only with what the state of the universe was at where the discussion begins. For example in the scholarly article, the introduction starts by explain how black holes form from the centers of gravity and outlines the specific creation of a black hole from seeds. The introduction also poses the question about how the firs black holes were formed, since the seeds fell from burned out suns and that there are black holes older than any sun in the known universe. Another issue posed that was posed is the fact that some black holes are larger than they should be and that makes them appear to be older than the universe itself. Which is the main question that Dr. Natarajan and Dr. Lodato are trying to answer.  These issues would grab the attention of a scholar while it would bore or confuse a casual science reader. The framing of the information helps causal readers to enjoy what they’re reading and get a quick summary of some of the events taking place in the scientific community. It helps the scholars by giving them a quick summary and sparking further research into the topic, with the original article being a logical starting point.

Another method of framing is syntax, or sentence structure. Dr. Natarajan uses different levels of articulation between her two articles. Her article for Scientific America uses language that an average high schooler would be able to read and comprehend while her scholarly article contains language that a graduate student would have to annotate and read multiple times before understanding the main topic. For example, here is a passage from the scholarly article, “We derive three interesting regimes that are determined by the ratio of Tvir/Tgas: (i) if this ratio is greater than 2.9, haloes will form discs that will fragment and form stars and not directly form black holes;(ii)if this ratio lies between 1.8 and 2.9, haloes with low spin will lead to central mass concentrations; however, the lowest-spin cases might be affected by fragmentation; and (iii) if this ratio is lower than 1.8, the haloes will not produce fragmenting discs but will successfully accrete gas in their centres. Calculating the accretion rates for the fate of the accumulated gas, we find super-Eddington rates leading to eventual black holes of masses up to 105 M .” Now that paragraph is summed up in the magazine by sampling saying that the size of the galactic cloud might have an effect on whether or not a black hole is formed. A full paragraph full of the reasoning, and followed by calculations was simplified to less than two sentences in the magazine article. The magazine article language can not be complicated or else they won’t get readers. So in her article, she had to simplify it down and the best route was to have that whole process skipped over and the effects simplified to the point of being given as fact instead of proving it. This means that a causal reader can be up-to-date with current scientific advancements without being utterly lost and confused by the onslaught of information. Another tool given to the reader is visual aids.

The use of visual aids and graphs between the two articles helps for the audience of both to be able to see some of the information in a way that will benefit them accordingly; however, the process of framing requires the simplification of some visual aids. The magazine article has images of black holes and how they rest in space. They also include quasars and galactic haloes in order to show how each step contributes in creating a black hole. These images draw in readers and gives them an image to help them understand how these foreign phenomena work. The scholarly articles has graphs explaining the data as well as the derivation of the formulas used. These graphs model the equations used and help scholars compare the data to that of their own and each other. The derivation of equations helps any scientist or graduate student replicate their process and even account for any inconsistencies they found. The raw data in the scholarly graphs and data tables, while understandable by other scientists, will be an enigma for any casual reader to understand. The oversimplification of data through graphs and visual aids helps alleviate the knowledge gap between the two audiences. While the gap will still strongly highlight the differences in audience, framing helps draw the two groups to a mutual understanding.

The magazine article makes a quick mention of Einstein’s theory of special relativity, saying that his theory mathematically proved the existence of black holes even though they can’t be see or couldn’t be observed at the time. This was done in order to relate a difficult topic to an average reader, the main goal of framing. The scholarly, however, makes no reference to Einstein’s theory of relativity. Instead this article fully articulates what his theory means. They use his equations and mathematically prove that the black holes are in fact there and then begin to derive for how the black holes form in relation to the size of the galactic haloes in the galaxy. The equations used in the scholarly article help to increase the credibility of the authors by giving a concrete, easy to follow path through the paper. This credibility allows for members of the audience, such as other professors, to do further research into one of the topics and feel secure in the research that he/she is starting from.

In conclusion, even though both articles had the same author, they were each tailored to a different audience. The Scientific American magazine article used simple diction with references that the common reader could understand in order to entertain them and implant a small bit of new information in their mind. The scholarly article uses complex diction with proofs through graphs and derivation in order to allow other researchers to get a baseline for their own research. The framing of the scholarly article helps the casual reader better understand what events are happing in the scientific community and helps bridge the gap between scientists and the average person.

Works Cited:

Lodato, Giuseppe and Priyamvada Natarajan. “Supermassive Black Hole Formation during the Assembly of Pre-Galactic Discs.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 371, no. 4, 10/1/2006, pp. 1813-1823. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2006.10801.x.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Galactic Halo.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 31 Mar. 2018, www.britannica.com/science/galactic-halo.

Peterson, Bradley. “Quasar.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 22 May 2018, www.britannica.com/science/quasar.

Dunbar, Brian. “What Is a Black Hole?” NASA, NASA, 21 May 2015, www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-k4.html.

Gardner et al. “Popular Media in the Biology Classroom: Viewing Popular Science Skeptically.” BioOne, Aug. 2009, www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1662/005.071.0604

STAFF, WYDAILY. 4 Aug. 2017, wydaily.com/local-news/2017/08/04/read-before-swimming-jcc-pools-changing-hours-nws/.

I applied for a lifeguarding position with WJCC when I was 16, the minimum age. I had been Red Cross certified in CPR and First Aid a few months before, and had passed a drug screening. I started as a guard and was taught the basics by the lead and head guards. By the end of the summer, both though necessity and progress with my skills, I was promoted to a lead guard which included a pay increase and more responsibilities.  I learned a lot my first year. When I came back for my second year, I was asked to come on as a head lifeguard, very unusual for a person with one year experience, and I accepted the position.  That season was different because I wasn’t learning from or assisting other guards, I was teaching them the nuances and tactics on how to be an efficient guard. I had other, larger responsibilities such as fixing the pump, fixing the filter system, taking care of situations where patrons refuse to listen to the guards, and to be the leader in every emergency situation, no matter which pool I was at.  I learned that there were phrases and avenues of conversation that I was using during my time working there.

What is a discourse community? Discourse communities, as coined by John Swales, are “…groups that have goals or purposes, and use communication to achieve these goals.” In an article titled The Concept of Discourse Community, John Swales outlines six criteria a community meets before it can be considered a discourse community. Williamsburg-James City County, WJCC for short, lifeguards demonstrates a discourse community and I will provide personal evidence to support.

Williamsburg-James City County has two outdoor pools that have one team of lifeguards. These guards range in age from 16 to 26, basically late high school to post college, with the parks and recreation supervisor being our boss. Within the community of lifeguards there are different levels of membership and responsibility (Swales 222) the guards, the lead guards, the head guard, and the supervisor. Every guard, including the higher ups and supervisor, has to be certified by the Red Cross in CPR and First Aid. The guards are usually people who have little to no experience working as a lifeguard and are given the basic duties of checking chemicals, watching the pool, cleaning the pool, setting out equipment, and being the first responders. The lead guards have at least two years’ experience and have the duties of watching the pool, checking and adjusting chemicals, cleaning the pool, and being the leader during an emergency situation. The head guard has at least 3 years of experience, I am an exception, and have the duties of managing the chemical shed, watching the pool, teaching the new guards the procedures, dealing with difficult patrons/situations, overseeing all events during emergency situations, and the maintenance of the pump. Only head one guard was scheduled each day and traveled between the two pools. The supervisor creates the schedule, sends emails about weather and special events, makes the final call on closing down early, hires new guards, fires incompetent workers, orders chemicals, and is our spokesperson in emergency situations. Each person starts out at the guard level and moves up with more experience.

The main purpose of lifeguard is obvious. Make sure people don’t drown and try to bring them back if they do, but there’s more than just that. The common goals of lifeguards are clearly expressed by a member of the WJCC lifeguard community. (Swales 220)  A guard, named Sebastian, says that the objective of the lifeguards is “To insure the safety of the patrons and to insure the cleanliness of the pool.” Protecting the patrons is the number one priority for lifeguards but the way we accomplish that goal is by keeping the pool clean, the chemicals stable, and the pool deck clear. We also strive to keep a positive, family friendly environment in order to make the patrons stay as good as we can.

In order to ensure that environment for our patrons, it’s the responsibility of every lifeguard that daily checklists sheets are filled out. Every hour the chemical sheets need to be updated and logged, and an incident report needs to be filled out if an incident occurs. The WJCC lifeguard community uses these sheets to look back on what its done and suggest improvements for the future. (Swales 221) The chemical sheets keep track of where the chemical levels were at during a certain time and can detect when possible inconsistencies could occur, such as too much or too little chlorine. The incident reports are used at in-service trainings to help the guards who were not on duty to understand what happened during the situation and to plot the best course of action if it ever happened again. For example, on July 22, 2017 there was an incident at Chickahominy Riverfront Park in Williamsburg-James City County. A five year old boy got trapped underwater and drowned. I was the first responder to the situation and preformed CPR on him until he had a pulse and was breathing. I stopped when the paramedics arrived. The young boy was Medvac to the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU and released 48 hours later with no further injuries.  I had to fill out a report for WJCC Police, WJCC Fire and Rescue, VCU, and WJCC Parks and Recreation. An in-service was schedule was set for the next Friday where we ran drills and I recreated the situation. Since only three lifeguards out of 21 were working, I had to explain the conditions of when it happened, such as the fact that there were 85 people in the pool, 35 on deck, and the aerator was on. After the in-service an additional guard was scheduled on the weekends and the aerator was only allowed to be used before we opened or after we closed.

Not only do the in-services help with additional training, they are also an opportunity for our supervisor to emphasize new polices if there are any. The communication between the guards, lead guards, head guard, and our supervisor a strong line of communication that discourse communities need or else they will not have the discussions and shared experiences that created the community (Swales 221). It starts with the supervisor’s emails that hold the special events and the schedule and moves toward the group chat between the guards where we would swap shifts and plan lifeguard camping trips. These two avenues were used frequently and effectively throughout the season, I only recall one instance in my two years that someone didn’t show up for work due to miscommunication.

When the lifeguards are on duty, certain techniques are used to communicate more efficiently. The most well know of these is the whistle. I asked Sebastian about the ways the lifeguards communicate on duty he talked about the use of the long whistle, short whistle, and walkie talkies. There are more whistles we use to communicate then he mentioned, a short whistle is just to get someone’s attention, a short double whistle closed the pool, and either a long whistle or 3 short whistles signaled an emergency. The walkie-talkies were used with short codes, Stand “A” was the stand to the north-west of the pool, Stand “B’ was at the north-east, and Stand “C” was at the South end of the pool. We used quick phrases such as “Chem” to signal to check or adjust chemicals, “Pump” meant for either the lead to check the pump room or the head to go in and bleed the filters or backwash the pool, and “Arrive” for a warning that a large group had arrived. The guards also need to able to read the situation going on in or around the pool, including but not limited to the weather and the patrons. These short, quick messages help members of the community communicate quickly and efficiently. (Swales 221)

With Williamsburg-James City County lifeguard team use its own words, phrases, and shared experiences to form a group of like minded individuals who all choose to work for the county and meet all qualifications set forth by the county. Through my experiences I have seen these guards respond to emails and other instructions from their supervisor and effectively communicate together often to switch shifts or to have group trainings based on situations they have encountered. (Swales 220-222)

Work Cited:

Clevinger, Zachary, and Sebastian Lodwick. “WJCC Lifeguard Interview.” 11 July 2018.

Swales, John. :The Concept of Discourse Community.” Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Boston: Cambridge UP, 1990. 21-32.

Ever since I was young both of my parents encouraged me to read. My father was first generation college and my mother was second so they knew that in order for me to succeed in this world I needed as much experience as I could get, as soon as I could get it. The best way they found for me to get that experience was through reading. Although most of the important parts of the books I read, like context, motifs, extended metaphors, and information about the author, were lost on me, I still read them and experimented with the structure. I learned new, complex words and read of places I never knew existed. Thanks to my parents pushing me to read books, they helped shape the way I think, talk, write, read, and other way communicate therefore beginning my journey in literacy.

I have had a few memorable teachers and mentors in my life and each one has taught me a skill that I still use in my reading and writing today. The first major lesson I learned was with organization. My sixth grade history and English teacher, Bryan Simpers, used a chart to help us organize data that we found. The data was organized into three categories: Affirmative, Negative, and Interesting. After reading the question, I was taught to organize as much data as I could into the chart. After reading through all the columns, I would figure out which one was the stronger argument according to the evidence. This organization helped me learn how to sift though large amounts of evidence in a short time and write a strong position with strong counterarguments and synthesis.

When I reached high school, one of the first classes I took was Latin 4. My teacher, Kari Tudor, emphasized the detail I had to put into my work. The main assignment of the year was to read, translate, and rewrite De Bello Gallico by Julius Caesar. For each word I read I had to identify every aspect that word could have held. I had to take in where the word was in the sentence, what ending it had, the context of the text so far, the different meanings it could have, and why Caesar would chose that word. The process of translating into English was difficult. I seemed to run into issues that I could not quite explain what Caesar was saying in the exact way that he meant it. I asked my teacher and her response was to “Learn more words.” I went through my Latin-English dictionary and wrote down every possible meaning for each word. Even with a vast vocabulary in the language, I couldn’t get the literal meaning of the Latin to be represented in the English text. After Latin 4 I had skills to learn new definitions, apply the meanings to the appropriate context, and to identify and recreate the authors tone.

The next skill I added to my list was the ability to synthesize. The Ap U.S. History had essays on the exam that focused solely on how the art of an era was the perfect place to find what issues were starting to arise. The music of the 80s had the happy beat with the sinister meaning, such as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” which has a fast tempo beat but discusses suicide of every kind in small town America. My teacher, Ms. Sandling, focused heavily on how to look past the literal words of music, art, and cartoons and be able to pick apart who the author was, why the piece had been created, what their beliefs on certain issues were, and what they were trying to accomplish. One DBQ I remember writing was on a cartoon of Richard Nixon. The white was seen as being crushed by a large tape. Obviously this referred to the tapes that held all the conversations that Nixon had recorded and thus had the incriminating evidence. But from that picture I had to write a full essay on the meaning. I had difficulty trying to pull a full essay from just a simple image. My teacher taught me to look deeper. What was gong on in the image? What did these things mean? Surely the white house being crushed was a bad thing but why was that so bad? Why did I care about that? I can assume no one got hurt. Why is it a tape? What can be figured out from this image? There were the obvious ones but it wasn’t obvious if the reader  didn’t know any history of Nixon or if they didn’t know what the tape was or what the White House was. By basic knowledge I was able to detect that this was from post-Watergate but before the resignation of Nixon. The tapes were an allusion to Nixon’s recording. But that wasn’t enough to write a full essay. I needed to identify how the author felt and what they were trying to suggest by the image. I determined that the author was probably a general American, without any political bias too evident; except that they weren’t far right. The author was disgusted by the actions that the president took during times of peace. The suggested course of action by the author was the most difficult. There were no words attached with the comic and no action was being completed. The biggest meaning I could find was that the tapes were used by Nixon to ruin his career. But there was more, my teacher told me to keep going and it finally came to me. I had to look to what came after, the presidency of Ford and Carter. I noticed a large change of trends. Voter turnout decreased, studies showed less trust of the government and that’s when I discovered what was really being said. Nixon’s betrayal of privacy destroyed the reputation of not only Nixon but the image of the presidency and the image of the government as a whole in the eyes of the people. My AP U.S. History teacher helped me to gain the skill of how to take into the consider the author and the author’s situation in order to determine the meaning and the it ended purpose.

Most of the papers that I wrote in high school were usually only one to two pages and for exams or tests. I didn’t receive my first real paper until my AP Government class in my senior year. I received an assignment of a ten page research and position page on the issue of gerrymandering. I had two months to prepare and write this paper. I had never done research of that magnitude before so I consulted with a familiar teacher, Mr. Weigand. Weigand was another government teacher at my high school and was also one of my swim coaches. I asked him for advice on how to do research of this extent. Following his remarks, I spent the next two weekends doing only research with websites, the constitution, and library books. I gathered pages of sources of information, laws, and court cases related to the question. After gathering the information I went back to consult with him. He told me that I now needed to go through and create my thesis. And after creating my thesis he told me that I needed to now sift through the information I had and decided what to keep for my thesis, for my counterargument, and for my synthesis at the end. I had already used my ANI chart that I learned to you in sixth grade. I finished my paper comfortably with two weeks until it was due. I was able to have my teacher read it over as a rough draft and suggest corrections. In the end I was able to receive a grade much higher than I originally expected and solidified a way to research for information in future papers, projects, and paragraphs. Through the better ways of research I am better able to communicate my ideas with concrete, proper noun examples.

Since I’ve graduated and picked up creative writing as a hobby. Most of the stories I write, similarly to Ray Bradbury, are based on things I notice throughout the day or dreams I have at night. In the past three months I’ve written seven stories. Ranging from reiterating a dream I’ve had and connecting to my life to having an idea crossing my mind and writing about wat might happen if I follow through. I do not use all of the skills I learned during my k-12 education but I do use some. I use the vocabulary I’ve used, the ability to apply the different connotations for the different contexts. I use the creative writing to get issues off my mind. The creative writing I do helps keep my skill in practice. I may not always write as formal as I do for school

My literary process has been helped by many of my teachers, my peer, and both of my parents. All of these people made it their job to make sure that I was prepared to enter the world of college writing and for life as a whole. From learning organization to new vocabulary to the deeper research and analysis, every step or form I learned was to benefit me and my process into becoming a productive member of society and of the literary community.

Works Cited:

Ben-Veniste, Richard. “Watergate Lawyer: Trump Is Going Full Nixon on Mueller.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 12 Apr. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/04/watergate-lawyer-trump-is-going-full-nixon-on-mueller/557759/.

UCtelevision. “An Evening with Ray Bradbury 2001.” YouTube, YouTube, 1 May 2008, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_W-r7ABrMYU.