18 conventions

Let’s keep this one simple. The OED defines “convention” as “a way something is usually done” or “behavior that is considered acceptable or polite to most members of a society” (Latin. “come together”). Genres come with conventions for organization, style, and grammar, and we will be concerned primarily with those three buckets of conventions. Wanna have maximum impact on a reader? Learn what they expect is usually done in the kind of text you are producing and then give them what they expect OR mess with their expectations intentionally and systematically.

Two other thoughts for now.

1. When you are your primary audience, work with the conventions you need to make sense for yourself. Write in Spanish or Mandarin. Use all lower-case. Meet your own expectations. If someone else also needs to see what sense you are making, rethink the conventions you will use. I can cope with all lower-case in a journal entry; this convention bugs me in a discussion board post. Don’t know why exactly. Just does.
2. Be aware that conventions are usually exclusive. They are someone’s expectations. Most of the time, most college students are interacting with the conventions of Standard English. For every human being, Standard English is other people’s English. Some of us come up in communities where SE is used a lot; others, where using SE can mean not belonging (try using it on a ferry ride in Indonesia, for instance). I like the idea of mashing up conventions. I’m not normal when it comes to school language. Be aware.