Portfolio Updates

I just read the email from Jenn in full text and realized I was supposed to post something regarding my portfolio. I didn't see that part before. D'oh!

Anyway, I have everything organized for the portfolio including rough drafts that were peer edited and such. The essays that will exist in my portfolio are:

• Descriptive Essay because I enjoyed writing this essay and felt I did really well on it, but ALSO because I still didn't do MLA properly and I think it is a nice way to show my progress with MLA over the semester.
• Research Essay as required however I would put it in there anyway because I did feel like a better writer and that the transition with MLA is visible in that paper.
• Reflective Essay

As for my reflective essay I have a good outline and just want to finish my Event/media review to include into the reflective essay before moving forward. 

-AA

Video Project

Follow this link to see our video project for English 121 at Front Range Community College!

(the Google Slides would not embed nicely, this link works better)

Don't be too harsh! :)

-AA, CC, SW

Research Paper Progress: Favorite Paragraph

Prof Jenn asked us to post our favorite paragraph from our research paper thus far. While it was tough to decide which is most appropriate, I thought the following was a decent glimpse into what I am writing about:

Our current medical system is a soup of concepts and methods which vary based on age, pay-grade, employment status, and citizenship. In 2013, The Affordable Care Act presented the idea of a UHC to our country, with a lack of support. The goal, for 44 million people to enroll in health coverage, brought results of only approximately 4.2 million enrolled. Lisa Szczepanski, MD, of Kaiser Permanente Boulder, believes that universal health care is “a health care system that provides quality care to all individuals regardless of their ability to pay”. When wondering the reason why there could still be 38 million uninsured, research showed that the average healthy citizen pays more than $150 per month for a mid-level health plan (NBC Washington). Thus, the Affordable Care Act is a great start in recognizing health care as a necessity for all, but not so “affordable” after all.

yeah, why? image via 

-AA

Solo Blog Review #2

Since I missed out on a group effort Monday, this is my review of the blog: bloggin4eng121.blogspot.com on my own!

To me, this is a clean, well-put together website. Some may think it is boring and lacks color, but I prefer the text to be clear, organized and with fewer distractions. Of the other blogs in our class I looked at, this one appealed to me most.

What made this specific group draw my attention? They post on a regular basis, with few missing posts. Each new post has a clear headline with contributing authors immediately beneath. I think I like that better than at the end. There are few grammatical errors and the content is well built and not sloppy. Every post has an image which is appropriately sited.

The overall structure of the page is organized and easy to navigate. The contributors are easily visible as are the archived posts. I do wish there was a short tagline, image, or "about-me" to introduce me to the authors, but other than that I enjoy the design.

The writing of the posts is also entertaining. The use of exclamation points, structure, appropriate punctuation, and quotations shows that each author takes their time in their posts. The book reviews clearly show they read the content.

Criticism is light here, but there is one author who doesn't have any individual posts, only group posts. They could be doing reviews and other assignments on hard copy or has trouble using the website, but it is one down-side of the blog.

this blog reminds me of fresh air || image via

The clean lines, and lack of chaos of this image is like that of Bloggin4Eng121's blog. It is easy to focus on, you get the point, and it is appealing to the eye. The colors are pleasant and it is definitely a photograph uploaded digitally. You can almost feel the breeze and smell the grass!

-aa

Review of wordexplosions.blogspot.com

Wordexplosions.blogspot.com is one of the many class blogs in Jenn Zuko's English 121 class. The blogs purpose is to be used to post class work so that class mates peers can read each others works and benefit from the input that the other students may have. While the blog fulfills the requirements set for it in terms of content as a class blog, the variable layout and clashing nature of the default view is distracting and detracts from the overall experience.
When you first pull up the website to said blog you may be surprised. This is most definitely not your average blog. Instead of your standard vertical orientation, the authors have decided to create a flip card layout. This would be fine if the authors had not also included seven other designs. This is not a sufficient design because each post changes depending on the orientation you choose. For example, some of the flip cards are left blank and without a title when in fact they do have titles when viewed in classic.
The blog itself leaves the reader questioning which format was indeed intended to be viewed. The layout severely ruins the readers view of the blog and cuts into its quality. The blog as a whole is not all that bad but the content clarity and organization drags the all over quality of the blog itself down.
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(The visual is an example of one of the many templates that blogger offers. The one pictured above is called snapshot.)

Quality Criteria Blog Review

The Ratings of Wordexplosion.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 6 - Not all posts have titles or visuals, content is fairly clear otherwise.
Organisation: 8 - Due to the multiple views the authors have enabled for their blog, the organisation of the website can be somewhat muddled.
Design: 8 - While there are many views available, the fact that the authors did not choose a view themselves muddles the intent of the authors insofar as design is concerned.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Engcouger.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 8 - Each article has a title and visual, but some articles are broken up into multiple posts, making it more difficult to be certain which title and visual goes with which article
Organisation: 8 - The blog is fairly well organized, with a linear structure that allows easy viewing of articles. However, some articles are fairly long and are not truncated with a link to read more, making it more difficult to navigate the blog.
Design: 7 - The various authors of the blog apparently did not come to a group decision about the structure of their articles, and each is markedly different, detracting from the overall appearance of the blog.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Aka121.blogspot.com 

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 9 - Each article has a title and visual where appropriate, and the articles are self contained as a single post each, making them easy to follow.
Organisation: 9 - The blog is well organized, with a linear structure to allow for easy navigation, and the articles are kept to a reasonable length so one is not left scrolling through a single article for an extended period.
Design: 8 - The blog is very simple, but each article appears to adhere to a single standard of appearance, giving the blog as a whole a more well designed feel.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of Bloggin4eng121.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 9 - Each article has a title and visual where appropriate, and the articles are self contained as a single post each, making them easy to follow.
Organisation: 9 - The blog is well organized, with a linear structure to allow for easy navigation, and the articles are kept to a reasonable length so one is not left scrolling through a single article for an extended period.
Design: 8 - The blog is very simple, but each article appears to adhere to a single standard of appearance, giving the blog as a whole a more well designed feel.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

The Ratings of AIRR234.blogspot.com

Continuity of Focus: 10 - There are no posts that are tangential to its purpose as a class blog.
Content Clarity: 7 - Not all posts have visuals where one would be expected. All posts are titled and content is otherwise fairly clear.
Organisation: 8 - The blog is fairly well organized, with a linear structure that allows easy viewing of articles. However, some articles are fairly long and are not truncated with a link to read more, making it more difficult to navigate the blog.
Design: 6 - Due to the color choices the text can be somewhat difficult to read, and several articles violate standard formatting by being right-justified or otherwise eccentric, detracting from the overall design of the blog.
Amount of Relevant Info: 10 - As a class blog used in the posting of assignments, all information and articles posted are relevant to that purpose.

Nuclear Bogeyman

After going through our group's thesis statements intended for the research paper, we chose the thesis statement intended for use by Corey Chaves. In his paper about the fear-mongering and misinformation behind the blocking of nuclear power proliferation, he posits that "Though most people find the specter of nuclear power to be a terrifying one due to media influence, research suggests that it is actually safer and less polluting than any other form of electrical power generation." We chose this thesis statement because it was the strongest argument and the one thesis statement that was structured for use in an essay rather than simply an idea to use for the construction of a thesis statement.

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Part II: Comparing Two Online Sources

Article: “Monitoring Progress towards Universal Health Coverage at Country and Global Levels”

Quality Impressions: Article is peer-reviewed, and clearly lists its authors and organizations. Similar to the website, ScienceDaily, the lengthy text is summarized at the beginning by an abstract. Though I plan to read the entire article, the abstract is helpful in preparing yourself what the content is to make sure it will be relevant to your research topic. The information is not biased, but rather a statement of the current condition. All references can be cited from the database citation generator and also in the body of the article itself. There is no distracting advertisements. This particular article was published on September 22, 2014 and is absolutely appropriate for printed publication as it was peer reviewed by scholarly professionals for scientific journals.

Compare: The biggest difference between the website I chose and this scholastic article from a database is that, the website is a collection of responses and summaries of scientific articles versus a single peer-reviewed genuine article. Of course, the ScienceDaily site links through and cites all source articles, and you are able to read part of them, but unlike the academic database, you cannot always read the full original text. Another contrast between the two is that the academic article is written in a bit more of depth, and scientific terms for a group of professionals in the same field whereas the bits on ScienceDaily are written for all persons with internet access. The group of authors writing in regards to universal health care in this particular article are experts in their field as it states their organization beneath their title: “Ties Boerma1*, Patrick Eozenou2, David Evans1, Tim Evans2, Marie-Paule Kieny, Adam Wagstaff2 [followed by] 1 World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2 World Bank Group, Washington, D.C., United States of America” (Monitoring Progress).

Scholarly Owl via

Works Cited

Boerma, Ties, et al. "Monitoring Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage At Country And 
Global Levels." Plos Medicine 11.9 (2014): 1-8. Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Exercise: In-Print Articles

Author Noah Caldwell writes about the importance of wildfire preparedness, specifically in the home. Noah is a graduate of McGill University & the managing editor of Yellow Scene Magazine in Boulder, CO (LinkedIn). His reputation among the journalist world is good, having written for more than 5 publications in the past 4 years and now being an Editing Manager, a trustworthy writer. Noah was also an environmental educator at ECHO Lake Aquarium Science Center and often writes regarding environmental and agricultural issues.

There is nothing written sourcing the article as a scholarly publication, however it was found in Yellow Scene Magazine, so it is not self-published. This article was published in April of 2014. This magazine is not a scientific journal subject to peer review, therefore the audience intended was that of a popular audience.

Comparing Caldwell's Pulling Our Weight to a scholarly approach: Understanding the Role of Planners in Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation written by Menka Bihari, Elisabeth M. Hamin, and Robert L. Ryan of Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Both author's obviously are making a point of reasons why, how, and when to implement wildfire preparedness on your home. However, Caldwell's writing has a more emotional tone, filled with passion as he says "overhauling Boulder’s wildfire vulnerabilities on a larger scale can’t come soon enough, given the county’s demographic changes and an increased risk of fire" (Pulling Our Weigt pg 1). The authors of the university article word the same thesis in a much different tone, one of strict research and statement "This study explores planners’ role in wildfire mitigation and how they can facilitate collaborative efforts for wildfire preparedness between the varied stakeholders in an at-risk region (Introduction, ISRN Forestry).

Both articles are important documents regarding the safety of lives, homes, and property. The voice behind the text varies, as does the audience and community which it involves. Yellow Scene Magazine is circulated throughout Colorado, but the published ISRN journal is available and speaks for all land in the United States. Though, no matter who's backyard, what state, or even country the fire burns in, the underlying issue remains the same. "Sometimes we don’t focus enough on what we have in common. But everyone wants the same thing—public safety" a quote by Andrew Notbohm in the Yellow Scene publication is the key take-away point from both documents.



Works Cited
Caldwell, Noah. "Pulling Our Weight" Yellow Scene Magazine. <http://yellowscene.com/2014/04/25/pulling-our-weight/3/> 10/8/2014. Web

Linked In. <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/noah-caldwell/68/63b/312> 10/8/2014. Web.

Bihari, Hamin, Ryan. "Introduction" Understanding the Role of Planners in Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation. . <http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn/2012/253028/> 10/8/2014. Web.

PART I: Evaluating & Reviewing a Web Site

The website I chose to review was ScienceDaily. The first thing noticed when the page loads is a ton of information, text, and links which can be a little overwhelming to a first time visitor. The site is full of stories, articles, ideas, and research relevant to the scientific world. Beneath the organized header sorting the articles by topic is "Today's Science News, Wednesday, October 8th, 2014" and directly beneath that, "Featured Research" on the left and "from universities, journals, and other organizations" on the right. It is clear from the very top that this site has credible information and plans to cite all of their information, the url domain .com, is not very relevant to the credibility.

ScienceDaily's editors are Dan & Michele Hogan. They started the site in 1995 and still operate it today. These folks are passionate about their content and readers and welcome feedback with an address and contact information easily accessible. Their statement "with over 65,000 research articles, 15,000 images, 2,500 encyclopedia entries, 1,500 book reviews, and hundreds of educational videos, there is something for everyone on ScienceDaily (About Science Daily)." showcases their pride in the content credibility of the website. Dan & Michele are not the only people working hard on this source of knowledge, there are over 2,000 contributing organizations worldwide (Editorial Staff) writing articles describing new scientific breakthroughs, research, and news. Every image, story, article, and statistic is sourced in all APA, MLA, and Chicago formats at the end of each entry.

The website is updated on a daily basis, hence the name, ScienceDaily. The copyright is also up to date of the current year, 2014. All material is given on three levels of detail. The first level of detail, a brief headline linking to the article page. Second level of detail, a short article summary, generally 1-3 paragraphs in length for those who want the basic idea of the new research and in "lamens" terms. Last, the third level, the full article, which varies in length and includes images. Amidst the material are ads (because the browser I am using does not have ad-blocker), but they are not relevant to the content and not influential to me at all.

Overall, ScienceDaily seems to be a credible site and source for information. The sourcing to universities, journals, and organizations is admirable. I appreciate this site for promoting the importance of an un-biased approach to things that matter, but are often easily missed in a flurry of news headlines involving celebrity scandal, commercials, and political propaganda. This site is dedicated to bringing science to the internet community.

-aa

Works Cited

"Editorial Staff", ScienceDaily <http://www.sciencedaily.com/staff.htm> 08 Oct 2014 Web.

Hogan, Dan & Michele. "About Science Daily", ScienceDaily      <http://www.sciencedaily.com/about.htm> 08 Oct 2014 Web.

Chapter 13 reading response

In this chapter We learned about Argumentation and Persuasion. The one thing that really stuck out to me is the Toulmin model. It is explained in our text book that you can think of the argumentation - persuasion process as the claim, the support, and the assumption. This is my favorite way to write body paragraphs for my essays. I believe that the most important thing to take away from this chapter is how to organize your arguments. One thing the book brings up that I had never thought of was to organize your ideas in a progressive order so that you finish with your most compelling argument.
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P.S. Sorry for the lateness of this post. I have been very sick and have had family issues to deal with over the last week or so.

Joint Reading Response

Hi Blogger Friends & Classmates-

I apologize for the delay in this post, I was sick & at the doctor's all day yesterday. Coincidentally, our ENG 121 class was cancelled, which I am thankful for since I planned to miss class! It is strange how things work out like that.

Anyway, the comic Prof Jenn had us read was really entertaining and I wish more lessons were in this format. I've never been good at arguing. I bend easily and end up "trying to see where the other person is coming from", which ends up with me talking in circles and getting frustrated. The quote "A good argument is actually like a good conversation" was a particularly interesting point in that I suppose you should touch on both sides of the subject because these topics aren't being debated for one black & white reason but rather two ideas as a whole: complex and layered with results and consequences.
The critical parts of good arguments based on evidence pictograph is a nice visual tool when attempting to make an initial argument.
WHAT: facts
HOW: circumstances
WHO: relationships
WHY: reasons
Then, you use your evidence to deduct an interpretation and analysis, which is where you finally get to take sides and defend your statement in an educated, organized, and professional manner.

Logos- Logic, Ethos- Experience, Pathos-Persuasion via

The textbook says "Argumentation is a big part of college writing. To show that you have thoughtfully considered information from a text or a lecture, you will be asked not merely to restate it but to analyze it, consider different points of view draw your own conclusions, and present it and defend these conclusions" (p574) & let me say this is so true! More than 85% of my classes have required a research paper or end of semester review defending what you have learned. And every time, it is highlighted on the syllabus on the first day, forgotten about, and then turned into a stressful scramble trying to argue you learned something. My hope with this class is to finally understand the basic method for writing argumentatively as a showcase of knowledge or belief rather than some mis-interpreted defense against the fire-breathing dragon at the end of the semester guarding the castle where your grades lie.
-aa

Reading Response Chpt. 13

I found this chapter to be very interesting and very informative. I like how it distinguishes the difference between argumentation writing and persuasion writing. Also I enjoyed the chapter talking about the use of purpose, and supporting with logos, pathos, and ethos. I think what a reader should take away when reading this chapter is to know what they are trying to argue, use the proper supporting methods, and use inductive and deductive reasoning. also the reader should know the points and the counter points to their argument.
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<SW>

Blog Review

I decided to review the blog frccwritersblog.blogspot.com. When I first looked at the blog my initial reaction to the look was that it was a general layout and nothing special. Even then the blog was easy to navigate.

Now I will go over the criteria:

• Continuity of focus: The authors did a great job staying on topic. 
• Content Clarity: Most posts are very clear, however there are a few that would be confusing to someone who is not in the class (ex - In class thingie of lifeosuction.) 
• Organization / Design: Like I said earlier, the layout is nothing to write home about but it is easy to navigate. 
•   Amount of relevant information: Each post has just enough quality text to get the point across without tiring the reader or loosing the readers interest. 

Some minor problems I noticed while reading were some small spelling errors and some posts were missing the required visual component. If the authors of the frccwritersblog could fix that then I think that they have a good blog on their hands! keep it coming Rebecca, Cole, Jonathan and Claire! 

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~ AE

Drunk Writer Talk Blog Review

Review a blog from T, Tr Eng 121
Drunk Writer Talk

This blog drew my attention from their title: "Drunk Writer Talk", which could go one of two ways: a sloppy slur of thoughts or a humorous group of folks with something to say. In my opinion, it was the latter (thankfully).

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First impressions: The layout is unique, and obviously took some sort of blogging skill. It is apparent the editors of the blog took time to personalize their webpage and care what people think. There is a small survey on the right side of the page for visitors to rate the page, I thought that was a nifty tool- I wonder where they got it? I suppose I could Google it. Speaking of Google, this blog also has an interesting Google News Bar at the top of their page. I'm not sure the relevance it has to their website, but I found that I liked it anyway.

Quality Criteria Ratings (Scale 1-5, 1 being poor, 5 being outstanding):

• Continuity of Focus? 5- well, since this blog was created for one purpose, the participation and involvement in English 121, the focus is to post responses, reflections, and assignments as according to Jenn, which the group follows. There aren't any random posts of spilled-wine-at-midnight-thoughts to deter from the point, so all points earned here. 
• Content clarity? 3- While each post does have a title and a point, it is a little unclear what the post is overall regarding. I think with a more clear title and structure of post this number could easily be bumped up.
• Organization: 4- The blog has structure, an archive, contributors, a title, etc. All parts are in place, but there are a few outlying images and sub-titles that I am not sure have a point. For example, what is the "Saving Lives One Grandma at a Time" and following icons about? I can't figure out if it is simply an expression of character or part of the theme.
• Design: 2- I have a tough time grading this low, especially since it seems they spent time customizing their blog, but it is not reader-friendly. The italicized white text which is in far too thin of margins is difficult to read. The background, while interesting is distracting from the text. As I said before, the random texts and icons have me confused. My suggestion would to widen the text content margins and make the text box opaque, not translucent. That being said, I do like the calligraphy title and tea time picture. I am a little confused how "Drunk Writer Talk" translates into a Victorian tea blog design, though. I might be missing the point.,, I do that sometimes.
• Amount of Relevant Info: 3- There seem to be a lot fewer posts than I would expect. I only found one chapter five review and two chapter seven reviews. For having three editors, I would expect three of each. There were not any chapter three reviews, but perhaps their blog wasn't up and running yet. 

Overall I think the editors of drunkwritertalk121.blogspot.com have creativity and inspiration, but the blog could use some tidying up. They do their in class assignments, but lack on homework (from the blog perspective, they could very well be turning in hard-copies of the homework). 

-AA

Blogger Review

I chose the http://ridingaturtle.BlogSpot.com. I chose this blog mainly because I felt the name was really catchy. Using our QC that our class came up with I found that the continuity of focus is used very well with this blog group. The content clarity and the organization of the students that use this blog was also done well. Everything is done to what I feel is the class  standards.
I found the design of their blog really cool, and I really like that their name matches their background which is a turtle. The colors I feel draw you into their blog, also the choose of pictures for there blog posts are really catchy and go with what they are writing about.
The information used is relevant to all the chapters and to the in class work that was done. Over all I feel that they are doing a well job at blogging and completing their work.
<SW>

In class thingie:

1) Freaking Point: Everyone agrees that this kind of cosmetic makeover is wrong . But what about lifeosuction - the removal from one's biography of innocuous yet somehow unsightly elements that happen to be true?

2) # of examples:

1. Thomas M. Menino campaign
2. Joseph Ellis - Pulitzer prize
3. The Myan pesant woman
4. Paul Parks - Civil rights
5. Sandra Bullock - High School
6. Jim Morrison - Soon of an admiral
7. Vanilla Ice
8. Bill O' Rilley
9. Mike Barnicle
10. William Henrey Harrison vs. Martin Van Buren
11. Harold Wilson
12. Mmichael Meacher
13. Subcomandante Marcos
14. The sermon on the Mount
15. Edmund Burke
16. Book Publishers
17. Personal ads - web pages

Reading closely and thinking critically:

1. According to Murphy people engage in lifeosuction to defend against attack against their social class or social status. 
2. Murphy saying "It's easy to raise an eyebrow at lifosuction, but hard to be censorious" is interpreted by Addie and Amanda that though it may be obvious that someone is withholding information or "sucking" it from their written biography, it is not entirely false or lies, making it tough to hold reason for being critical. It seems to Murphy, that lifosuction is a serious issue because he has over 15 examples of famous figures who have been prone to the lifosuction scheme. 
3. The elements which are removed in many of Murphy's examples are called "innocuous", but in reality, they are not necessarily harmless. For example, musician Jim Morrison of The Doors, simply removed the fact that he was the son of the admiral. (Ch7, pg 251 Patterns for a Purpose) This hidden information did not hurt anyone, nor Jim himself when it was revealed. An example of an element considered harmful could be a politician cheating on his wife, this revelation would not only hurt their marriage, but the trust of the country as well. 
4. Many of Murphy's examples may result in the removal of privilege to reduce or raise that person in his or her social status. The idea of lifosuction is to protect and defend against rumors and slander at ones status or class, so hiding privilege could be a defense mechanism. 
5. "You're just trying to dig up dirt on me" said by Joe Menino is surprising because the information found by the reporter was not bad or harmful, just that he had a college degree after all. It is ironic for Menino to react this way because he had nothing to hide in the first place. 

Examining Structure and Strategy

1. The general population may be offended or critical against hidden facts or lies. However, is it deemed okay to simply withhold the truth, without speaking on it further to benefit oneself? 
2. Murphy's tone is a serious curiosity in regards to this phenomena, lifosuction, which is consistent throughout his essay.
3. The examples given in paragraph three are legitimate lies about one's past, not lifosuction. This contrast is important because it shows the difference between lifosuction and falsification of biographical information. 
4. Murphy introduces the topic sentence in paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9. These introductions are helpful to keep the essay and examples organized, allowing the reading to follow what the author is trying to say. 
5. Murphy organizes his examples by the topic sentence of the paragraph. There may up to five examples within a paragraph, but all relevant to the general idea stated in the first sentence. 

Considering Language and Style

1. Lifosuction was created by the author of the essay to have a word to explain the mysterious concept he had noticed. How it was created is unknown as the reader, but it could be assumed that he generated the idea from the presently existing term, liposuction- to remove excess fat, and altered it to the removal of excess life. The term is clever in the idea that it helps support his argument, but still kind of cheesy. 
2. Tribune- upholds and defends the rights of people
   Dint-a force or power to cause a dent
   Cadre-a group of trained individuals
   Pugilist- a person who fights with fists
   Proletariat- the lowest class of people, poor

4) Create your own thesis:

Amanda: Will update at home. 

Addie: Technology can prove to both be very beneficial and also an extreme draw back. 

Chapter 7 reading response:

In chapter 7 we learn about Exemplification essays and how to use good examples. Some things that I had never thought about before this reading are that examples are not only for giving the reader something to think about that goes along with the text but also they are there to help clarify a point. Also I learned about hypothetical examples which are "...examples created by the writer as typical examples based on knowledge, experience, observation, and so on" (pg 238). I think Jenn wants us to understand examples and how to use them in an essay and to understand the exemplification essay structure.                                                               Image

~AE

Chapter 7 Reading Response

In chapter 7, it shows how important the use of examples are. I found the techniques that where given in this chapter to be very helpful in writing. the things I found most interesting in this chapter would be the different forms of examples, for instance using different approaches for whether you trying to entertain, narrate, inform, or describe in your writing.

The things I feel a reader should take away for this chapter are use the proper examples for what they are writing to include language whether being humorous or serious. I also feel readers should remember to research their examples if needed for that particular form of writing they are doing. image
-SW-

Chapter 7 Reading Response

This chapter highlighted exemplification-the use of real or hypothetical examples to support your argument or thesis in an essay. The section which I found most useful was "Introducing Examples in a Series" because it clarified how to program an example in a sentence, let alone an essay. I realize now that I have been using my commas, colons, and 'e.g's all wrong. I am grateful to have been shown the correct way and have tagged this page for future reference.

I think that the most critical point in this chapter was avoidance of plagiarism when using examples. I can see how easy it might be to suggest an example without citing it correctly, but had no idea that if you omit a word from a quotation you should provide an ellipse. I doubt that most people intend to plagiarize, just like most people don't intend to get a traffic ticket, but it's useful to know the actual rule or law to prevent yourself from getting into such situation.

Lastly, I especially enjoyed Shona Shequeria's essay "Food for Thought". I felt that her use of description, examples, and personal opinion created a moving piece which left me considering her topic. I think that the length and paragraph structure had excellent flow with supportive ideas to her thesis. The fact that she is not American-born herself brought a raw perspective to her insight and examples, making them seem perhaps more meaningful.

In summary, examples can be important in supporting an idea. For example, as Shona Shequeria states

"...For instance, ask for a Chinese fortune cookie and you will always get the same
bland thing (often containing the same fortune, too). On the other hand, request an

American cookie, and you can be showered with hundreds of delectable options,
including oatmeal raisin, double chocolate chip, macadamia pecan delight, and 

coconut brownie ("Food for Thought." Patterns for a Purpose. 6th edition. 2011. Print).

image original, edited by Amanda Alexander for content relevance.

Reading a political cartoon

The image that drew our attention to review:

We believe the purpose of this image is to showcase the idea that the rest of the world sees the United States as nothing more than a gun shop. The "stand your ground" suggests that the domestic gun owners in the United States are dangerously prone to using their fire arms in lieu of other diplomatic options. 

The artist uses simple lines and shading to, instead of providing depth, act as a defiance of depth. The country is portrayed as a single story building, with no greater meaning or diversification. The texture of the image is very flat as well, almost lacking, which helps portray the identity of the country as nothing more than a source of weaponry and violence. 

The light is angled towards the billboard which casts a shadow behind it, over the rest of the country. 

Color is limited to the title "Guns-R-Us" which suggests the billboard as the thesis of the picture. The only other color which exists in the image is the yellow face smiling from what would be the Gulf of Mexico, perhaps welcoming you into the store, but the meaning remains rather ambiguous. 

Overall the elements of the image come together to paint a very strong picture of the artist's opinion s of America. To the artist, the country is nothing more than a gun depot, simple and undiversified in its purpose. Lacking in color, depth, and texture, America is limited to the singular purpose of being a source for firearms. 

-AA,AE,CC,SW

Correlation ≠ Causation

The general thrust of the statement: "Correlation does not equal causation" is that just because an event has occurred does not mean that it is the result of a recent and unrelated event. For example, a customer complained to a Centurylink tech support agent that their computer stopped working after their internet was installed. In reality, the internet installation had nothing to do with the function of their computer. This common jump-to-conclusions can be found in many news articles, and the reader should always use caution while perusing these articles so as not to fall for this logical fallacy.

When writing ensure that any chain of events that you are referring to or describing has a clear and logical relationship between each event. It is important to show direct ties and statistics relevant to your point and nothing more. Avoidance of this logical fallacy is simple task and will ensure that your article or research is not dismissed because of faulty information.

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-AA, AE, CC, SW

Group Blog Review

Using a class criteria review sheet, our group came to the conclusion that the blog IFLScience, written by Elise Andrew rated best:

• What makes this blog interesting? The popularization of "real" science as opposed to faux science using popular media. It gives sources, hard information linking to articles put into everyday terminology for ease of understanding on social media. 
• Ratings:
• Continuity of Focus- 10 
• Content Clarity - 10
• Organization -11 (*We find it extremely organized and appreciate the filters for different branches of sciences)
• Design - 10 (the color coded content sorting won our hearts)
• Amount of Relevant Information- 10 (overwhelming amounts, consistently updated) 

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-AE, AA, SW, CC

Chapter 5 reading response

In chapter 5 I learned a lot more about describing my work. Until I read this chapter I had never realized that there is much more to it then what you may think. Here is a quote from our text book that I had never thought of, "Description can entertain, express feelings, relate experience, inform, and persuade" (pg 120). I think Jenn wanted us to realize that description is important because it helps readers form mental pictures and she wanted us to learn how to use it with other patterns to add interest to our writing.

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~AE

Response to Chapter Five

I am always looking for ways to broaden my vocabulary but a teacher I had once told me “not to use a thesaurus to write my paper for me”. This chapter clarified what he had meant.  I appreciate the color-coded organization chart visualizing a descriptive essay and plan to refer back to this chart. The checklist for revising description also stood out as a tool I can use to improve my writing. Reviewing the things which stuck out to me has let me understand my learning style a bit more: I like lists, I like organization, and I like examples. 

I did not do them before, shamefully, but the writing assignments at the end of the readings are really helpful in applying what I just read. I plan to complete these “quizzes” more often and look forward to reading back and seeing my progress. 

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Chapter 5 Reading Response

The things I found most appealing in Chapter 5 would be using the description of all five senses to draw the reader in. I also found the use of metaphors really interesting and maybe I will start to use them more often. I fell that the points someone should take out of this is to make sure they are extremely descriptive in writing to interest their readers, and they should use similes and metaphors to show the different ways to look at things. You should also pay attention to the different description methods for example, organizing details, descriptive words general and specific, and supporting details. If you can find ways to use all of these in your writing you will succeed for sure.
http://image.slidesharecdn.com/introductiontodescriptivewriting-110707130848-phpapp02/95/introduction-to-descriptive-writing-1-728.jpg?cb=1310062234
~SW

"This CD-ROM can hold more information than all the paper that's here below me" - Bill Gates,1994

Consider this image a relevant preview to my Mini Essay #1 regarding technology and education. -AA 
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Update 18:46: Blogger, I invite you to read my short essay on technology and education. View here, comments are welcome.

Chapter 3 reading response

In chapter 3 I learned that essay structure is not as ‘structured’ as it may seem. There are still guidelines for the introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion but there is more wiggle room then you may think. I think Jenn wants us (the students) to further understand how to support our body paragraphs with detail, how to establish tone and make one paragraph flow to another. She also probably wants us to learn the difference between revising our drafts and editing them.

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~AE

Hi, I'm Addie.

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~ AE

Hi, I'm Scott.

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<SW

Welcome to our blog! Here you will find responses to reading revisions, the progress of our essays, and other thoughts & assignments we feel necessary to post. Feedback is welcome.

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