Final Course Reflection

This course has helped me develop my writing greatly. Through many of the essays, I have learned how to use rhetorical skills in my writing successfully. The favorite writing for me was the comparison/contrast essay. I liked analyzing the two pictures for similarities and differences. My least favorite was the cause/effect essay because many of the ideas weren't my own. I liked the topic of the essay, but not the way we went about doing it. It was definitely the easiest essay, but just because it's easy doesn't mean it's the best essay. The blog was one of the things that I did enjoy about this class. It kept us involved and it let us type our thoughts out regularly. Though it may have been easily forgettable, I thought it was definitely worth the few minutes it takes to do it. I believe that I've done pretty well throughout this course. This class has prepared me for the college english classes that I will have to take in the future. I have no regrets about this class, so I would change nothing about it.

Crossing the Lines Response

Intrinsic Worth Opinion

Krauthammer states his opinion on intrinsic worth by saying, "I do not believe a single cell has the moral or legal standing of a child." I disagree with this view. The instant that you are conceived, you should have the full rights of a human. People should not be created knowing you must destroy it. For all we know, we could have destroyed another Albert Einstein when he was only a single cell. You never know what the consequences of your actions might be, so you must consider everything you do carefully. Krauthammer asks, "Is [the embryo] entitled to nothing?" The embryo should be given everything. The obvious intention of the cells eventually being destroyed is heartless. Destroying those cells is destroying a future human being. It is worth everything, and cells should not ever be destroyed for scientific purposes.

Yes, Don't Impede Medical Progress

1. What is the thesis statement that the author is trying to support? Why does she place it where she does?
- The thesis statement in this paper is not very clear to me. But I believe it is in paragraph 2 where she states, "Scientists....effective." It is in the 2nd introduction paragraph so you know which side she supports immediately.


2. How does the author connect her argument to the broader issues of scientific progress? What is her implicit argument? How effective is this argument?
- She connects it by implementing genetic engineering and gene selection into her essay. Her argument is that everyone needs to just let scientists do their jobs and don't interfere. It is a very strong argument because she supports it by refuting the opposing argument.


3. The author dedicates a significant amount of the article to answering the objections of critics. Why is is this strategy important? What are the main arguments she answers? What argumentative strategies does she employ to answer those critics?
- It is important because it explains not only why your opinion is right, but also why the opposing argument is wrong. She answers arguments for human rights, improper usage, and gene selection. She argues by using good reasoning.


4. The author uses the word fear though out the essay. How does she use this word and what place does it have in her overall argument?
- She uses it first by saying that politics feeds on it. They make laws so people will fear to do whatever they want. She also says the legislation fears cloning because of "embryo farming." It shows how strongly both sides of the argument feel about the other.


5. In her conclusion, Postrel does not address her main topic of cloning at all. What might be the reason for this strategy? What effect does this have? Is this argument tactic legitimate?
- I don't like this strategy. At the end of the paper, the reader is left not thinking about the main topic, but about other topics. She might have tried to use this strategy get the reader thinking about how far science has come.

Reflection on Researching

As a whole, the researching process is always very helpful to me when I'm writing a paper. The library workshop was a great way to introduce us to the Tri-County Library system. It helped me understand how to research and how many different types of sources there are. I've been able to find plenty of sources in all kinds of the areas. Whether its the Academic Onefile, Opposing Viewpoints, print books, or E-books, all of them have come up with good sources for me to use. So far, I'm not having any problems at all in the process. I'm successful in finding everything. Though it will be a pain when I have to read through every source. As of right now, I don't have any questions to be asked about the process. I have a terrific topic with plenty of reliable resources at my disposal. I think this paper could be a major success for me.

Cause Effect Paper Reflection

The cause effect paper may have been one of the easiest papers I have ever written. Pretty much everything except for one paragraph you had to write was automatically done for you. The introduction, conclusion, and three other body paragraphs were done. In addition to that, revision on the rough draft was done, so corrections were very easy to make. Unless you were like me and wanted to change lots of things in the other peer's paragraphs. I definitely like the format of how we were to write the papers. It was simple, easy, but still quite effective. It's good to only use it on one paper per semester though, otherwise we would not get the full writing experience. I'm looking forward to the research paper for a refresher on MLA citations and researching techniques. I can't wait to see what else you have in store for the rest of the semester.

First Half Reflection

During the first half of this semester, I have not only improved in my writing skills, but also in my grammar skills. At the beginning of this course, my writing was boring and repetitive. It still might be some, but I think I have improved greatly in creating a hook to pull the reader in and in decreasing the repetitiveness of words throughout my papers. I feel that I still repeat words too often, and my papers lack something that attracts interest in the middle of my papers. The grammar sentences at the beginning of class have helped improve my sentence structure so there aren't nearly as many mistakes in my papers. I still have to improve with my misuse of commas though. I have half-way met all of the goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the semester, but I haven't fully completed them. For the rest of the semester, I hope to continue my improvement in all of these areas. I also hope to relearn how to use MLA format correctly. That mainly includes the citation and bibliography part of the format. By the end of this class, I want my writing voice to be loud and heard.

Arguement Freewrite

I've narrowed down my topics to two choices. Either an argument against online classes, or an argument against the current Bowl Championship Series system, and for a playoff system instead. My reasons for the argument against online classes would be the impersonal relationship between the teacher and student, how easy it is to cheat on assignments, resulting in the student not learning anything, and the distractions that can influence the student's participation. These can all give an unfair advantage or disadvantage to the student, and it shouldn't be allowed because of it. For my other argument, the current BCS system gives an unfair advantage to the larger conferences. A playoff system would also bring in a lot more money to the NCAA, which is what its really all about. But I've had trouble finding many other reasons against it, and I also don't think I could find many credible websites on this topic. This freewrite has helped me figure out my topic. It will be an argument against the online classes.

Wordle for Compare/Contrast Paper

Using this program has helped me realize the words that I repeat over and over again. It will help me cut down on repetitiveness. Some of the larger words in the image were control, fire, smoke, setting, and picture. I could have easily substituted a large variety of words for any one of these. For fire I could have said blaze or many other types of words. There aren't nearly as many words for smoke. It can't be described in many other ways. Picture is the word that is most easily substituted for. Photograph, photo, anything is better than repeating that word continuously. Setting is just like smoke, in the way that it is tough to describe without saying the word. Last of all is control. This was one of the words in the title of a picture so of course it is going to be used often. But I could have possibly used the exact title less than I did. This program can be very helpful for me in future papers. It will assist me in cutting down on repetition of words, so I will continue to use Wordle.

Paragraph Revision

2nd Paragraph
One day, she went to the seashore to find some seashells that could be picked up and put into a basket. She ended up with a whole basketful. Later at home, she took the shells out and put them onto the dinette table. With some jeweler's tools, she pierced holes in the shells and put them on small gold and silver chains. She ended up making twenty of them that she sold for ten dollars apiece. Her profit added up to one hundred and seventy five dollars. She used the money to go to the shore again, but now she could afford to stay for a whole week.

Merchants of Cool Questions

I consume media in the form of television commercials, magazine ads, and radio ads most often.
I enjoy sports talk television shows, sketch comedies, and many other types of funny shows. Like Sportscenter, Saturday Night Live, and Friends. The bands I like are Nickelback and We the Kings, mostly rock bands. Web sites I enjoy are Facebook and Myspace. I am not a large fan of video games, but Rock Band is good. If I hear that other people like a certain trend, then I am much more likely to like it as well. That also applies vice versa. Commercials don't affect me as much because most teenagers don't respond to them.
"Cool Hunting" is targeted directly at people just like me, but I don't respond to it most of the time. Most of the items I buy aren't publicly advertised. I don't buy stuff based on commercials for it, I buy it based on how good I think the item is going to be. There are many ads that are directed toward teenagers, but I don't believe that many do a very good job. We as a whole don't respond to ads, we respond to what we like and don't like, and nothing is going to change our opinion of the product. "Cool Hunting" supposedly works on people like us, but I don't believe it does.

Illustration Reflection

There were many things on which I could improve on in my illustration essay. My word choice and diction were very poor. I repeated the same word or phrase in the same sentence many times. I also used a lot of slang terms and cliches. Another weakness was my attention to detail. I was vague in many places in my paper. I needed to be more specific about many explanations. My overall wording was very poor. I think that I did well with my topic sentences. They described exactly what was going to be in the paragraph. I also liked my title. It was not boring, but it caught the reader's eye. My main goal going into the comparison and contrast essay is not to be repetitive and to have much better word choice. I'm going to try to avoid slang terms and use more technical and proper wording. The first essay was definitely a wake up call to what I must start to do with my writing, and I hope that my next essay will reflect my ability much more.

Comparing and Contrasting Writings

These two writings argue over the restriction of immigrants allowed into the United States. Both make good points, but the first essay, Close the Borders to All Newcomers, makes many better points. They both give many their opinions on what they think should be done with immigration, but Give us Your Best, Your Brightest makes many points that don't apply to what the author is actually talking about. Only the first essay gives solutions to what should be done. The author thinks that a law should be made to completely halt all legal immigration. The other author thinks nothing needs to be done. That the laws should stay just the way they are. The first author uses pathos and ethos as his persuading strategies to get the audience on his side, while the second uses only ethos to get his point across. Maybe that is the reason why most people would side with the first writing instead of the second. Both use studies to try to prove their point, but the first goes more in depth in the study while the second uses multiple ones but doesn't say much about them. It has a less personal feel with the audience than the first because of that and many other reasons. The two author's pieces have some points in common, but their opinions could not be more different.

Commercial Fallacies

ASPCA Animal Abuse Commercial
In this commercial, there are many fallacies that try to induce the audience into giving money to the ASPCA to assist them in helping animals that have been abused. One fallacy is the slippery slope. It tries to make you feel like if you don't give money then more and more animals will be abused. Until it comes to the large consequence where millions of animals are abused. Another fallacy it the appeal to authority. The commercial includes Sarah McLachlan. She is definitely not an expert on the topic of animal abuse. She is simply a singer. But they include her just to try to make the argument stronger. The last fallacy that is in this commercial is appeal to pity. There are many pictures of abused dogs and cats to try to make you feel bad for them. It makes you want to help them. If you think about it, almost every advertisement has some sort of fallacy included in it. But they work on the audience over and over, so they continue to use them.

My Writing Style

My writing style is very unspecific and vague. I write in almost any place, at any time, with any amount of noise and distractions. Like right now I am writing this blog in my room at ten thirty with very loud music which could be distracting, but it doesn't affect me much at all. Brainstorming is something I do very little of. My ideas come straight out of my head and onto my paper. Maybe thats why most of my writing is so pathetic. I should start doing that more. Because I have such an informal wriiting style, that is why my writing is not as good as it could be. I am going to work on improving my style so it will reflect itself better in my writing.

Response for Who Am I?: Finding Identity and Voice in Composition

Who Am I? Really? Who am I as a writer? I do not have a clue. Beverly Faryna's paper has certainly gotten me on the right track to adding voice to my writing. There were many great examples of how you can lose your voice in your work, and I've discovered that I do just about every single one of them. I try to enhance my vocabulary unnecessarily, which can confuse my readers. I write in the first person all the time, which I am also doing now. But throughout the course of this semester I plan to find my voice in writing so I can become more successful. I will express my thoughts through my own words and not try to be too fancy. Then somehow I must shake the pesky first person problem. Currently, the voice in my writing is dead. But I am hoping that by the end of the semester that my voice will be heard and very much alive.