Friday, December 17, 2010

Korean education video

Here's the link, you've all seen it by now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JmLqHFZewE

kazakhstan website

www.kazakhstanchanges.com this website is about the changes that have accurred in kazakhstab since it became a country in 1991. I hope that you enjoy.

Insanity Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZP55Gx58Ds

My powerpoint presentation on The NFL Draft

I finally figured out a way to share my powerpoint!

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_uHsq38e39WYzM3YmJhNGYtMWIwYS00NWNjLTk2MzYtNmVhZTljNDAzZTgz&hl=en&authkey=CI7K8p8J

My Video on Chicken Sandwich

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzgTtjhCaYc


This is my video on animal rights exposing the process of using chickens for human consumption. It is supposed to be a dark comedy.
Here is my Multi-mode project about knowing the sport you like to do.

ilocker.bsu.edu/users/msdavis2

Another Web Site...

Film Music Website

I decided to do a website because that was the medium I felt most familiar with. Having made websites in past TCOM courses, I felt almost nostalgic as I rushed through this site and another site I had to create this week. Hopefully you have a look and enjoy the fine craftsmanship (wink wink, nudge nudge). In all seriousness though, mucho criticism requested.

My Website, Enjoy!

Civil War Photography

I decided to do a website for my final project. I have created a website before in my English 103 course, so I felt comfortable to do that again. Especially with my topic I felt a website would be the best way to display my project. I'm really excited with how it turned out.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Website

http://jrhampton.weebly.com

For my multi-modal project, I chose to build a website to share my information. I felt that it was the best way to present my topic. During my presentation, I will begin with a short history of rock band break-ups. Then I will delve into the factors that I believe cause these disbandings. During this information, I will include some sources from where I discovered my information. Finally, I will have a page specifically to cite my references.
http://ilocker.bsu.edu/gabehaworth/users/gjhaworth/Eng%2010/Character%20Presentation.pptx

Character development in athletics is a hotly debated topic. It has been examined since the birth of athletics. Today, with the great and growing impact athletics has on aspects that it was never intended to affect (the economy and political processes), it is important to remember the original intended target which was personal growth and educational experiences and examine whether or not this goal is being achieved.

Power Point to make my point

I chose to use the medium of a power point to present my information that I gathered in doing my research about exercise and eating right. I wanted to do a video, but I just couldn't think of what I could put in it that would get the point across better than stating the facts directly. From my time spent working with the program, Power Point seems get get broad topics across pretty well, so I think I made the right choice. When I do my presentation, I will be going over how much exercise a person needs, of what kind, and give some information about what a healthy diet consists of. Hope you like it!

Website and intro...Finally!!

http://koltman889.weebly.com/

This is my website dealing with the misconceptions behind the reasons that serial killers kill. I have chosen to focus on the sexual frustration aspect of their behavior, where I used examples from their life to support my argument. I also included a bio section about the 2 serial killers that I researched to establish some background.

Powerpoint link

ftp://ilocker.bsu.edu/users/jlhannah64/BSU_SHARED/

This Powerpoint presentation gives an introduction to what is considered Raphael's greatest work "School of Athens". The presentation will go into detail about who the figures are in the painting and who may have inspired some of them. The above link will not work after December 31st, 2010.

My Video

My video shows how you have a better and my intimate experience at a small hotel or inn . It has come to show that people are looking for this new full culture experience. The experience makes the stay so when picking a place you need to think about everything offered.

No video, Website Now

My initial plan was to create a video, however as I continuously tried to edit it and kept running into problems I decided to create a website.

The goal for my website is to show how the manner in which the NFL and its fans interact has evolved tremendously. I wanted to do this by providing a simple introduction and then depict it with images and captions. To provide some validity I added quotes from some of my resources to help influence them that my argument was legit.

Click here for my site!
My video is on how the government tries to stimulate and economy and most of the time just hurts it...They mean well but the government was not created to do that its the free market system that does that. But here is my video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJMY4XwAkYs

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Final Project

video

This video shows that children without disabilities benefit from being around children who has disabilities in the classroom. I chose to do this because it can relate to the general audience.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCQxfafBMJA

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Website

http://johnmihm.weebly.com/

This is the first website that I have ever done. I think that it turned out very well.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

My Website

I decided to go with the topic of gender bias in medical research but not only in heart disease but a website based more on general information about gender bias in medical research. This was really difficult to do! Had a heck of time with fonts and creativeness which I have none:)

www.shortstick4women.weebly.com

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

My video

For my multimodal project I plan on creating a video that is design for an audience of football fans between the ages of 15-34 years old. There reason I am choosing this audience is because I want to position my video that displays how much an impact the internet has made on the interaction between the NFL and its fans.

I will begin the video by shortly describing how the majority of football fans gather information and stay current with their favorite NFL teams and players with rich media content sites. I plan on using royalty free images and music for this introduction.

For the body of my video I will provide do a little comparison of how fans use to interact with their favorite NFL teams and players and how the aforementioned rich media services have changed that in dramatic ways.

My conclusion wills reiterated my main point of how the internet has enhanced the way the NFL and its fans interact and how it has made the NFL such a globalized brand.

To produce my video I plan on using Movie Maker for Microsoft. I have never produced a video before so I am hoping this service is easy to use. From the very short time I spend on it after class today it seemed pretty easy and straight forward. The only thing I am concerned with is as Professor Evans mentioned “How hard it is to time everything”. I am pretty detail oriented so I hope I do not get to stuck up on making everything perfect. Well, its Thursday night and the NFL is about to come one so I am going to have to say good night Blogger and it had been a pleasure using you.

These blog assignments have not been too bad and I could say, “You might run across a personal blog of my own someday down the road.”

Thanks Blogger.


P.S.

I thought I uploaded this post on Thursday Night, but when I went to review what I wrote and get a better idea of what I was thinking about for my video, I couldn't find it. I do not know why it did not load? Any ideas?

Friday, December 3, 2010

discovering the idea of a website!

I have decided to do a website for project 4. I feel like doing a website will make it easier for me to present my information in an effective way. I think I am going to have the website geared more towards misconceptions about the profiles and backgrounds of the two serial killers that I researched. I will have the home page being a welcome to the site, and I will have separate tabs for the separate profiles and backgrounds of the two serial killers. I need to figure out how to present my ideas in an effective way, but I will have a main page mostly saying that they're not all crazy but their problems are more geared toward their childhood issues, and the anger that stemmed from that. I plan to use the pictures that I used in my powerpoint for the website as well. The pictures I think will grab people's attention. I am still trying to gather my ideas but this is a general idea of what I want to do with my website. Hopefully the process is fairly smooth, and the end product is pretty good!!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

PowerPoint

I chose powerpoint because I feel that it is a better medium to get across stats and information about character in athletics. I also feel speaking about it and having the powerpoint backing me up is just what suits me best in terms of presenting or making a point. With the knowledge I already have about this topic and the length at which I can talk about it, I feel ok about doing this. I've done projects like this before so it should be pretty easy.

Video for my media project

For my media project I will be doing the video. my video hopefully will show how a small bed and breakfast is more intimate and will over all give you a better experience. I hope to show this by showing a couple going in to a big chain hotel and a side by side view showing a couple going into a small bed and breakfast. I feel that a video is more effective for my topic. I feel more people will be more likely to take the time to watch a short video about it then go to a website and read about it. I also feel more people would more likely stumble upon a video than a website when not looking specifically for something about why to pick a small hotel. My video is mostly to get people to think about the type of hotel they pick when traveling. I have been working on my story board. I feel more in my element expressing myself without words or very little words. Even if my video isn't very effective I like this project the most even though it may be a lot of work. So if i am working on it and you ask me if I like this project and say no its because I have come to a problem and having trouble doing something. So if this happens and come back later when I am done or had a break through.

Website

Creating a website can be a very tedious process. However people, including students and adults, utilize these sites on an everyday basis. We rely on them for information, data, and even social networking. The question still remains: What does it take to build an excellent website. I believe the site must have reliable and intelligent information, an interesting layout of that information, and links that are able to easily navigate the user to different parts of the website. I chose this medium of presentation simply because I believe that most of the information dispersed throughout the world comes through websites in today's "technology age." While videos can only show an audience member the information only once at a time, a website can be revisited where the information will be viewed over and over again. Websites are also more accessible. This means that people will be able to discover the information with much more ease. The site will also be discoverable through search engines thus giving you more of an audience. I will be sharing information of band break-ups. Not only will I discuss the break-ups, I will depict my argument that band break-ups are primarily caused by personal issues within the band members and the band itself. I plan to include many photos that will go along with the information that I provide. I am going to attempt to display my information as a semi-serious topic. In order to do this, I have to provide a vast amount of issues that are presented to rock stars to deeply show their troubles and how their lives aren't as easy as everyone thinks. I will do this by utilizing the concept of tabs. By using tabs on my site, it will make the accessibility of the website much more simple and easy for the users, or audience. I could also include other sites to give the audience different sources of opinion about the topic. Plus, the other websites will show a more in-depth depiction of the bands that I talk about. I feel that this will be somewhat of a difficult task to create my own website. Hopefully, with the help of a website-creator, it will be much more simplistic than I first imagined.

Raphael Power Point

With the focus of my research paper being on patronage during the Italian High Renaissance and asking the question of who was the most influential pope for the arts, I am focusing on more specific works of art by certain artists of the time. In my group presentation I went into detail about Michelangelo and his work on the tomb of Julius II, so for this part of the assignment I will do a timed Power Point presentation covering School of Athens by Raphael. I will start out with some quick bullet points on what else was going on at this time and about other works of art that were being created, like Michelangelo’s work on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
School of Athens is also known as “Philosophy” by art historians because the artist depicted several figures from history like Aristotle, Plato and other great philosophers, poets, writers, and others throughout history. I will be using the main image of the painting along with details of the painting so I can point out and identify the different people he depicted. The end of the presentation will include more bullet points covering Raphael’s short career following School of Athens which include his patronage under Leo X who made him Commissioner of Antiquities and put him charge of construction of the new St. Peter’s which was begun by Bramante under the reign of Julius II.
I will look into the possibility of using a voice over or music within Power Point but I am also prepared to talk through each of the slides. I am hoping that my presentation will show other people who are not as knowledgeable about art and that there are different levels to the work than just the visual aspects and that there are many interesting stories behind the art.

Multi-Model Project in the works

I plan on creating a website for my multi-model project. I've created a website through Weebly before, in my English 103 class. So I do feel comfortable doing it again. My plans for this project will be including photos I used in my paper and will briefly describe them. Such explanations could include: why they were taken, what they were used for, the reactions they received, who took them, etc etc.

I'm excited about this project because I am passionate about my topic. I plan on organizing the site by the types of photographs. Meaning, the subject of the photograph. Such genres I plan on including are: portrait photography, battle scene photography and life in  the camps. I'm going to keep the images limited so presenting my website doesn't take forever. So the site will be a little basic, but hopefully packed with a lot of interesting information.

Anyone could benefit from the website I will create, but my true targeted audience will be for those interested in photography. Be that they've been into photography for most of their life, or they're just getting into photography, or anyone in between.

My Multi model.

I will be making a power point to display my multi model project. I will be trying to do a little less informing of the history of Jiu-jitsu and give more of a message. Although there will probably be somethings that I will have to give some background on so that you will be able to better understand what I am presenting. This power point should be pretty easy because I have done quite a few, and have learned many good techniques and tricks. Another reason I am choosing power point is because of the level of control that it gives me, I am able to edit and change near everything I need to. I will again be pushing the argument that having a good knowledge of the history and reasons of your sport will make you a better practitioner.

VIDEO!

So, I just wrote a very long blog and it didn't post so lets try again shall we. I've decided im going to be making a video for my multimedia project. I make videos all the time so i have experience. But, i have not made any educational videos before. I am also not very familiar with video editing so that could be interesting. Since my topic is animal rights i have many ideas for how my video will be laid out. First, im going to put the camera in view to where it seems it is my eyes looking out. Then im going to hold a hamburger in front of me like im about to eat it. From there im going to voice over and it'll be like me thinking to myself in my head. The voice over will be me wondering to myself how this hamburger was created and what really goes on. After that im going to include images that will be royalty free so i can use them. These images will be of animals under going cruelty and then im going to voice over and describe whats going on behind the scenes of the food production industry. I am probably going to have my friend play the guitar in the background of my video that way i wont have to search for royalty free songs which will hopefully save me some time. I will be filming the video myself, editing it, and my voice will appear on the video. I am actually pretty excited to start working on this video. I hope i can fit all of my ideas into a one minute video but i think ill be alright.

Video!!

For my final project I decided to do a video. My logic behind this is that, in order to get my point across in a way that doesn't frighten people, a video is the best way. Im incorporating the fact that the insanity defense needs to be reformed and sometimes the thought of "death" or "killing" can overwhelm someone. I plan on making my video somewhat comical to balance out the seriousness of people pretty much getting away with murder. I already did a powerpoint and I don't really think people were interested in what I had to say. So im choosing a video in hopes of getting people getting engaged.

Video.

I have done a multimodal project before in English 103. We were required to create some sort of video, almost exactly similar to this project. For my final project, i'd like to use emotional appeal, and I feel like this is best accomplished with a video. The purpose or argument of my video is that disabled children should be treated like their non disabled peers, and given the same chances and opportunities. I'd like to show pictures, with background music, and quotes and information. First, I need to decide what quotes and informtion I'm going to use, along with pictures. I want to use quotes and information that can relate to everybody, not just those interested in education or special education. I want this to look like something you'd see on tv, trying to get the public to view everybody equally.

It has been 2 years since I have had english 103, so I need to refresh my memory on the program I used. I would like to put it on youtube for easier access, but i've never put anything on youtube before, so I also need to learn how to do that. I'm excited for this project, it seems to be the most exciting out of all the ones we have done thus far.

video

For my multi medial project I'm going to try the video option. I have never done one and thought it would be interesting to do it that way. I thought i could take the challenge with the video since everything we do is on power point so I'm switching it up, going out of the comfort zone. Since I did my research paper on the principles and values of the constitution I thought that i will touch on the part of the government getting their hands in the everything. I do believe that in some cases the government means well but for the most part they are looking at only a small portion of the public and in some instances limit the greater number of citizens. There should be laws and regulations of commerce so there is no unfair trading or sells. When the government enacts programs they rely on the tax payers money to fun those programs and when these programs are not productive it is a waste of the tax payers money. Maybe the reasons they made these programs were to help people but in fact they are hurting them. Some things I'm going to touch on are some of the programs that FDR enacted in his New Deals programs. Such as welfare and tax hikes on the upper class. I am by no means in the upper class but i understand that the upper class are majority small business owners and when the government demands high taxes and regulations on their businesses they are hesitate to hire more people or buy things for their business that will help the economy. Another thing I will focus on is fannie mae and freddie mac. These programs have good intentions by giving families the opportunity to get loans and mortgages but they end up giving these loans and mortgages to people that cant afford it which leads to mortgages foreclosures. This along with the economy is why there are so many mortgage foreclosures. In the 90s, these programs gave out mortgages to these kinds of families that in the long run cant sustain their payments.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Powerpoint's the way to go!

I have decided to go with making a powerpoint. I feel that it will be the most beneficial with my topic. I have worked with powerpoint more than I have with websites, also I think powerpoint presentations are easier to follow and more interesting for the audience. I hope to be able to incorporate as much information as I would like to without having three hundred slides. I have had a few powerpoint assignments in the past, but they have not been super in depth with looks and creativity on the slides. With this project I am hoping to make a powerpoint presentation that not only has good info, but that is also creative and keeps the audience's attention.

Ideas about my website

I decided to do a website for this last project because I am already familiar with some of the elements that I will need to use in it. I had to create two websites for one of my classes in the past and I found it to be quite fun to work on. I have never used Weebly.com so it will take me a little bit of time to learn exactly what it is that I need to know to make it all work well and look great. I have had some practice with doing videos in the past, but I just felt for the time frame that I have to do it, that I am not good enough at it to make it seem well done. I am not sure right yet what I am going to call the website but I know that I am going to have a main page that is just an overview of what I did for the project, then I will have some tabs or links that will take the viewers to another set of pages so that they can look farther into what I have researched and my actual argument. My main audience that I am planning to target will be those who are thinking about traveling to Kazakhstan so that they can see some of the things that have happened in the last nineteen years and to help explain why some things are the way they are.I am planning on adding in some of the pictures that I have taken while I was in country to help add to the look and credibility of the website as well. I wish all of you the best on your projects and hope that we may all be able to help each other out if it is needed.

PROJECT 3 MY ATTEMPT AT A WEBSITE

I just started this project by going to Weebly.com to create a website. First of all, I am not the quickest one to learn new technology. I have never worked with websites and feel a bit intimidated at this moment. On the other hand, because my purpose is to inform on my subject, I really think that a website is the appropriate way to do this. The Website’s name is “shortstick4women” indicating that they did it to women again! Hopefully this will catch someone’s interest. The idea is to provide the reader with links to interesting readings on the subject and a link to the Society of Women’s Health Research which is an organization that offers membership and participation along with information about the subject.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Survey findings!!

For my source of primary research I decided to do a survey. My topic was sort of difficult because I couldn't really interview anyone of serial killers, and I didn't really know what questions to ask through a survey. I decided to ask 2 simple questions and I emailed them to the whole class. I am completing this now because I wanted to wait for as many responses as I could get. I ended up only having 13 respondents but I felt like I answered my questions and my previous thoughts that I had. I only asked 2 questions. My first question was do you think Serial Killers Kill because of childhood issues such as abuse in any form or even just an unhealthy upbringing? The results I got was that 69% said yes, while 38.5% of the people said no. I honestly thought the percentage answering yes would be higher but it is over 50% which helps me out. The second question I asked was do you think Serial killers have Psychological problems such as bipolar disorders, social disorders, etc. On this question I had 98.2% of people answering yes and 15.4% answering no. This one didn't surprise me too much because I figured most people think that serial killers have psychological problems since most people refer to them as "CRAZY!!" I actually thought it was cool to make and collect my own data that I will be using in my own paper!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

About that Survey...

To be honest I haven't done my survey yet. I have been having a hard time to decide what I'm going to ask to get my point across. I have still been working on getting my survey together. So I guess I will reflect on how trying to make a survey has been so far.

With all of the information I have found so far I've been getting a better idea of what I want to survey people on. I think my survey will be focused on figuring out how much people know about the Civil War. I might include photos in my survey (depending on if I can or not). In hopes with adding the photos I hope people can gather more information from the narration of the photos. Because the Civil War was the first war to have photography. So it did have a narration that the other wars did not. I hope my results will provide me with the information I need to support my thesis.

I have learned a great deal of trying to create the survey even without results yet. I didn't think it would be this difficult and it's definitely something that I did not expect.

chapter eleven

This chapter starts out with how to organize an argument. It goes into how to cluster some more to help the paper flow a lot better. This is one thing that I think I need to try to do more often. I always get discouraged when doing it because I tend to draw blanks while doing it. I feel that it would help more argument flow a lot better than it is now though.They then go into different patterns that arguments can follow; such as the Cause and Effect pattern. This is more of this happened and so as a result, that happened. I do not think that I could use this too much in my paper, but I can think f some ways that I might be able to incorporate it in. On thing that I really need to work on is my introduction to grab my audiences attention to make them want to continue reading on. I also need to work on making people think about the topic and motivate them to want to be able to do something about it. This chapter is making me think more in-depth about the structure of my paper, which is a really good thing. I feel that one of my biggest weakness when writing is my structure. I am planning on going to the writing center to see what advice they have for my paper in order to make it the best that I can.

Where does it go

Chapter 11 is about organization and being able to share what you know in the best way you can. they start by saying there are many tools to help you organize you paper. The one way they show is a web map. I myself find this hard to do sometimes,because I find that I have things the could go together and things that support more then one thing. The most important of your paper the opening and closing. This is in anything you read about writing a paper because this makes or breaks a paper. I find it is easier said then done. Sometimes I am lucky and I find a great opening but other times I find myself wondering if this is what the read will enjoy. I read this how to have a good opener or closer and don't know how to apply it to my paper. Coming to the closer you don't want to mess it up you have worked so hard. ( NO presser right !) The best idea I have read not waiting till you are done with paper to write the conclusion.I like this idea of last first I think it would help keep me on track making sure I don't forget what I want to write. So when I come to the end again I don't miss recapping on something I said.

Interview

I have sent my interview through an email, but have not gotten a reply back from it yet. I am sending a friendly reminder out tomorrow morning to them just to make sure that they have not forgotten about it. The questions that I asked were: What years did you spend in Kazakhstan? What was your primary role while there? What changes did you notice happening while you were in the country? Do you feel that these changes were a good move for the country? If yes or no, please explain why? What changes, if any, do you think that Kazakhstan as a country should look into next? I am hoping for some good discussion and thoughts to come from these questions. It is really different to do this through an email because I do not get the ability to catch some of the tones in their voice or get more discussion out of them other than what I asked them. I originally wanted to do it in person, but with both of our schedules it was proving impossible to do.

No Interview Yet

For my interview I had originally planned on interviewing a friend of mine from Germany, possibly even his parents. In my paper I wanted to answer the question of whether or not there is a psychological border between West and East Germany. My friend and his parents were all born on the East side of the Berlin Wall. I was hoping to get some good perspectives on what life was like living in the Communist East. However, I haven't received a response from them so I'm not sure if it will be possible. When I visited them in 2008 I heard some stories about what life was like, especially from the father. He really loves music and told me stories about having to smuggle certain albums across the border. Since I most likely won't be able to receive any interview from them, I plan on interviewing one of my professors. He was born in Poland and he is a geography professor. He didn't move to America until he was 25, so he spent some time experiencing the division. I haven't asked him yet if he is willing to do this for me, but I'm almost positive he won't mind.

Ch. 11

Chapter 11 is really one of my stronger parts of my papers. When it comes to writing I must say the best part of my papes are the Introduction and the conclusion. I do really well in grabbing my readers attention and keeping them interested. Although, introduction and conclusions are my strong points I got a lotof helpful tips for writing my papers. I didn't block out any new information from chapter 11 because i thought i do well in introductions. Instead i actually went back to my paper and changed some things from points in chapter 11. Overall ch.11 was really useful to me!

I asked you questions and you answered! Survey Results

I created a survey on the website Survey Monkey. I was surprised at how easy it was to create this survey and found the process problem free. I sent a mass E-mail out to my this English 104 class and was very pleased that I got 9 responses back in only one and a half days. The results of my survey will be very helpful in writing my paper, especially since my audience is my English 104 class and they will get to hear some, if not all of the results of my survey in my paper. It will be geared specifically to my audience. In my survey I asked a five questions that related to my topic of exercise and a healthy diet. When asked "Why do you exercise?" my classmates responded with 1 "health reasons", 2 "It makes me feel better.", 0 "appearance" and 6 "a mixture of all". I found this to be the result I expected because this is my personal take on why I exercise. My second question asked "Do you enjoy exercise?" I got 6 yeses and 3 nos. It surprised me that two-thirds of of the people that answered the survey exercised. I suppose that if they saw my topic and it interested them, they will be more likely to take the survey. My third question asked "What type of exercise do you do?" The options were Cardiovascular, lifting, and cardiovascular and lifting. I got 5 cardiovascular, 0 lifting, and 4 cardiovascular and lifting. My fourth question was "How many days do you exercise per week?" I got 2 zeros, 0 1-2, five 2-3, and two 3-5. This surprised me, but again, i factored in the people who saw my topic and would be more likely to take it because they had interest in it. My last question had the most surprising results. I asked "Do you think that you have a healthy and balanced diet?" I got 7 yeses and 2 nos. I assume that a lot of people in my class are juniors and seniors, and this could account for the healthier diet because they aren't having to live in the dorms, eating at the dining halls, which don't have the healthiest selection of foods. I assume that the 2 nos are from the people that don't exercise. I will reference the results I got from the survey I gave. They go along with my research question very well.

Interview

Interviews can tend to be very frustrating for most people. Some interviews are filled with hesitation and discontent simply because of the awkwardness of the situation. However, when I interview someone, I always make my greatest attempt in making the other person feel as comfortable as possible to ease the process. I plan on doing two interviews to get a broader range of data. My first interview was completed the other day with my roommate Charlie Fuller. I asked if I could interview him because he is not very knowledgeable about rock music; he mainly listens to rap. I figured that if I got the perspective of someone less intelligent of the topic, it would give me a grasp on how the "common public" viewed things. I first asked him the main question "Why do you thing major popular rock bands break up?" He stated that he believed that rock bands were too greedy with their money. Charlie thought that rock bands are simply concerned about money at all times. Then as I mentioned The Beatles, his argument began to become altered. He then restated that bands could also break up because of disagreements within the band including what type of direction to take their music, and even just not liking each other. Mr. Fuller's main suggestion is that drugs played a crucial role in altering their state of minds in order to make them act out like this. My conclusion from my interview with him was typical. I figure that most people view rock stars as druggies with no real goals. They think of them as party animals that are destined to destroy things. However, if they were to take a closer look behind the stage curtain, they would notice that things aren't how they seem. Rock stars face everyday issues just like us. Sometimes they learn to cope, other times it is too difficult for them.

Interview experience

My research topic is "Why is it that so many criminals claim to be psychopaths and get away with their criminal behaviors"? Wednesday I had a quite interesting interview with my dad. My fathers name is Samuel Logwood and he has been a detective of the Marion County police department for 11 years. He just recently was promotedto an U.S Marshal. Since this is his occupation I figured he would be perfect for my research project. As an U.S Marshal he has encounters with dangergous criminals daily. I started the interview by asking my dad "what types of criminals do you apprehend daily"? Deputy Logwood stated "My specific job title deals with the more serious offenders such as criminals wanted for murders and rapes." The interview took place right after a brief meeting of the criminals they were looking for that day Before I could ask the next question one of my fathers co-workers Deputy Walker chimed in "yea we pick up the crazy suckers". I found this interesting because my fathers co-workers were not aware of my research topic but hinted on where I was going with it. That statement by Deputy Walker lead to my next question which was "On average how many times do you hear a criminal claiming to be crazy?" My father answered "you would actually be surprised that about 80% of the people we arrest say they need their "medicine" or flat out say Im crazy!" I pretty much got more information than I anticipated on getting when I iniated the interview because right after my dad would finishing answering my question a couple of his co-workers would say a few things. So basically with my interview I killed 2 birds with one stone by interview several people while obtaining valuable information. I asked plenty of questions without touching any sensitive spots with any of the deputies. It was quite a successful interview

Interview

For my paper I interviewed one of my friends. I basically asked him about his knowledge of the beginning of America. I asked him what he thought of the way they treated each other and the importance of their lives. Like what they thought were more important and their priorities, for example if their families or their work or religious obligations. I then proceeded to give him some background that i have found. We then went into the more historical development of the government. I asked him what some of the framers thought how the government should be set up. After that I then told him some of the political views of couple of the framers. I then asked him about the present time. I asked him if he was satisfied with how the country is going right now. And what he would prefer the government would do or not do. I asked him does he think that we act and function as our framers did.
The whole process was very interesting. I found out a lot about what my friend thinks of American history and what he thinks is right and wrong about what is going on right now. I think that we need to talk more about this topic with our friends and families, even people we just met at a store or restaurant.

The Interview Process

The interview process seemed very new to me since the last time I had done an interview was when I was a child and I had just received my first tape recorder. I decided I would need to set up an interview strategy. This strategy included sending out a preemptive letter and a list of possible questions that I was going to ask to help my interviewee be better prepared for the interview. Doing this also gave me a better idea of the type of follow up questions I would need to ask.

The actual interviews all went differently with my first interview being more reserved as my subject decided that the use of a voice recorder made them nervous and they had most of what they wanted to say already written out. By the end of the interview the subject had loosened up and it seemed more like a conversation and I was able to ask some follow up questions to verify some of the answers they had written down. The next two interviews went very well and both subjects opened up and gave me some really good answers. I expected this from the Art History professor and most everything he said was like gold to me and very quotable. The other professors comments were of a more personal nature about how the trip had affected him almost in a spiritual way.

The last interview I did was with a graduate student who had traveled on his own for an independent study and his input was also very interesting. At first I had only wanted to interview professors but after much vacillating by one of the professors on whether they would be available or not, I decided the viewpoint of a student would be interesting.

Overall the whole process went well and everyone seemed comfortable talking about the subject which is good since we all have the same interest in art. The most interesting part was that everyone also agreed that Julius II was the most important pope of that time period and for the same reasons.

Chapter 11

I actually just wrote an ethos, pathos, logos paper for my speech class, so I was actually more familiar with adding these to your introduction and conclusion. I've learned through this chapter and my speech class, that before you can even persuade your audience you have to get their attention, respect, trust and you need to establish credibility. The introduction is the place where you set this all up. It's important to grab your readers attention right away, otherwise they will have no desire to read the rest of your paper. Persuasion writing is trying to motivate your audience to act on what you are arguing, but to do this, you need to create some sort of connection with your reader, and present your information in a manner that shows the reader you are backing your argument with evidence, and credible resources. In one of the paragraphs it says that many students make the mistake of just summarizing their paper in their conclusion, which I am guilty of many times. I thought it was interesting that it said sometimes writers will actually switch their intro and conclusion, and find they are more effective as the other.

Interview

I did an interview over e-mail with a professor I had last semester. She was more than willing to anwser a few questions for me, but has yet to respond to my questions. I think the next time I do an interview, it will definitely be in person, as opposed to e-mail. I'm just really busy and our schedules didn't work out to meet. I'm hoping she responds, but if not then i'll have to quickly find somebody else to interview, or conduct a survey. I actually plan on doing a survey today and sending it out to the class just incase she doesn't respond, so that way at the last minute i'm not freaking out trying to get something. I asked her " what she has observed to be beneficial of inclusion, what she observed to be the disadvantages and her overall opinion from her experience as working in the special ed field". I e-mailed her asking if she received my questions, so hopefully she responds.

Chapter 11 and Halloween Baby!

OK, these blog entries are almost over and I’m super excited! So, I just finished reading chapter eleven and its 10:00 and I have to say it has made my day already. Usually I am not a wake until I have my morning coffee, but I just might have to switch that up with some morning readings.
The first thing that caught my eye in the reading was obviously the cluster map example that explains how to arrange your argument. I found it really interesting how they took a main topic and then expanded it out to sub-topics and then went into even further details with sub topics of those. I personally like this approach has it will help me better articulate my ideas and organize them more appropriately. The next section was a nice follow up to the cluster map as it show how to take what you plotted out in the cluster and properly transfer into different patterns. I personally like the comparison and contrast pattern, as I like to see what “thing” is truly better than the other.

The introductions and conclusion section was really insightful and gave me some good ideas to implement in my paper. I think that my introductions are usually pretty descent, but I am horrible when it comes to conclusions. When I come upon the end of my research paper I will certainty implement some of the concepts in the “Develop Closure” section. Another thing I found kind of neat was the technology tip that showed how to use document sharing technologies. I have used Google documents before, but the other services they provide really looked beneficial and neat. I think as collaboration becomes more prominent at the college level these services will explode.

A little off topic but…

Well, Halloween is this weekend and I am so ready for a little scare and could certainly use a little excitement. I have been slacking a little on my costume, but I am either going as Alan from the “Hangover” and yes I will have the baby strap and everything if I do it or Lebowski from the “Big Lebowski”. What are you going as?

Interview with a vampire... I mean a blackbelt.

No, my interview did not include the charming blood sucking versions of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, just a ten minute sit down with my Judo instructor John Hampton. I was able to get a quick interview with John, a 6th dan blackbelt, shortly after practice one day last week. I kept my queries short but hitting the main point with questions like: "How much of the Judo community do you believe knows of the sports history?" The answers I received were along the lines of what I expected, but this was key because it helps re-enforce my argument for my paper. The interview itself was very easy, casual, and pleasant. Whether this was due to it being a subject of both our interest or the fact that we were both too tired to be uncomfortable (like any interview can be), I was pleased with how it went. Now I don't encourage throwing your interviewee around until they talk, I have found that holding the interview after getting to know them through events such as dinner, a sport, or anything else to break some ice, helps the process move along easier and usually gets better info. I am satisfied with the interview, but I am mulling over having another but from an instructor of a different martial art so that I can broaden my horizons.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Survey Results!!!

I was really happy with the results of my survey! I learned a lot from it and it is going to greatly improve my paper. I sent the survey out to the class and ended up with 9 people who responded back. I thought at first that this may be too few of people but once i read all of the results i think that this survey still helped. I only asked 5 questions in my survey and they were all geared towards my topics on animal rights. I asked how many times a week on average does a certain person eat meat. I was not so surprised to see that all 9 people ate meat on average 4-7 times a week. The next question i asked was if that person ever thought about the animals lives that were being effected and 6 out of the 9 people said yes they do. This actually really surprised me because i figured that most people would treat that situation as an "out of site, out of mind" thing. I then asked if they owned any pets and only 4 of the 9 people had. I asked this question to see if there was a correlation between people who own pets and how much meat that person ate a week. I did not see a connection there. I also asked if that person owns an apparel item that is made from animals and only 2 out of the 9 do. This was kind of expected because this survey was conducted to college students and usually college students are on a tight budget and apparel made from animals are often expensive. That could be the main reason for this, or maybe it could be that people feel less bad about eating meat and more bad about wearing an animal. The last question i asked was if that person feels restless if they have to sit in one room for a long period of time. All but one person answered yes to this question. I asked this because all of the animals being raised in the slaughtering or fur houses are kept in extremely small cages in which they can barely move in one way or another. I already knew that most people would answer yes to that question but i just want to prove that people should treat animals how they would want to be treated, even if they are being raised to die anyways. This survey was very interesting and helpful and im glad my classmates took time out of their day to take it for me! :)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11 tells us how we should organize our paper. This was very useful because I was having trouble deciding when I should use my opinion and when I should out my research in. It tell us four different types of arguments that you can use. I haven't quite decided which argument I am going to use. I still need to do more research before I decide that. The best part of the chapter was how to catch the audiences attention with your information. When I was writing my first paragraph I spent along time trying to thin of something to grab attention. After reading this I think I am going to be able to make a more interesting intro. I was struggling with how much actual information I should put in it with out putting into my intro with out ruining the rest of my paper.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Chapter 11

I think that Chapter 11 has lots of good information. Its main goal is to get all of the information together in an organized and effective way. The book talks specifically about organizing your information into four different argument patterns. I think that my project will primarily be either a definition argument or a proposal argument. I still haven’t fully settled on a way to approach my subject matter for our paper. I think that either will work for my project.
This chapter also talked about how to organize the information to catch the attention of the audience. This is a very important thing to do because you want your audience to be captivated by what you have to present, and if your information is all over the place then that is hard to do!
I liked the boxes that the book provided about producing an effective introduction. The free write was very helpful and made me think about my main subject more. Also the box about the conclusion was useful as well.
I will however definitely be using the IMRAD form of delivery. I feel like that will be the most effective way of delivering all of my information! I never thought about planning my paper out like this, but looking back at past projects I have noticed that I tend to put my information in order like this anyways, which will be very handy since I am used to this form already.
For the multimodal presentation part of the project, I think that I will be trying to use an interactive Web site. I think that would be the easiest way to convey all of my information and I would be able to put links to other sites that would give the audience more resources to view. My only concern with this form of presentation is that I’m not sure how easy it will be to make, and I am not very computer savvy!

I Like to Share my Results!

To begin I must say how convenient it is that these chapters seem to match up with what we’re actually doing in the class. Though, it’s obvious why the chapters match up.

Chapter 11 discusses on how we should organize our papers to show the results we gathered. (Go figure since it’s the title of the chapter.) Once again this chapter uses a “cute” example. The example does help put into perspective on how to organize the information we have gathered. By creating a cluster map we should be able to identify our thesis and the reasons that go along with it.

The chapter then discusses common argument patterns. The patterns discussed were evaluation, comparison and contrast, definition, proposal and cause and effect.  The main idea of an evaluation argument is “judging an object against a specific set of criteria.” However, with an evaluation argument you would need to explain why you used the set of criteria you did if someone was to disagree with it. With a comparison and contrast argument it’s just how it sounds. Taking two or more objects and comparing and contrasting them to come to a conclusion.  With a definition argument the author would explain why an object fits in a certain set of criteria. A proposal argument asks for a plan of action, in which case then needs reasons to be backed up for the request for the plan. Last but not least is the cause and effect argument, with this argument the author could possible need to explain why something happened. In which case would need evidence to support the “cause” of what happened.

I found that knowing the differences of these common argument patterns will help with developing my second draft and having a nice final paper in the end.

How we present our reasons or evidence to an audience is also important. I found this to be extremely useful because without being presented with this idea. I would’ve taken the easy way out and just put my evidence in my paper without even thinking about it. I think it might help in my project that I present my information chronologically or most important to least important. That way I can engage my audience (Tess) into wanting to read more of my paper.

Overall, I found this chapter to be useful especially since reading these chapters always suggests ways on how to organize your thoughts for your paper.

11, journal 9 swap option

Chapter 11 will be put to great use when writing this research paper. Because we are making an argument
and being asked to do research to back it up, I will need lots of help organizing my information and
gearing my argument towards my specific audience. It helps to know that with my specific audience,
my English 104 class, is a friendly audience and not one who will criticize my research. I can make my
arguments go from "least important" to "most important" because I will not lose their attention if
I don't make my most important argument first.


Mad Business

Over this nice long fall break I decided to a little school work and get my interview source done for project three. I usually enjoy doing interviews with people, especially on topics that I have an interest for. So, over the weekend I met with Jeff Johnson the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants of the NBA Developmental League. Johnson who has been with the team since their inaugural season in 2007 has witnessed the growing pains of a professional sports organization.

Having personal ties with the team, as I interned with them during their first two seasons, the interview was very informal. During our conversations I did not realize how much I had experience first hand while interning with them. We discussed the sales and marketing side of the buisness, which I personally interned for, it was interesting to learn how they started up their intinal sales process and what it took to get the organization off the ground. The more detailed parts of sales, like formualting ticket prices and packages, sponorships, and contractural realtionships. The one thing that really caught my interest was how the orginzation had to create and drive demand for their product. Fort Wayne is very know as a fair weather city when it comes to sports and starting up a brand new team with no track record was no easy task. Overall the interview gave me an update on the new trends happening with the Mad Ants and in the developmental league.

Being entrepreneurial myself I truly admire and have learned a lot from my time with the Mad Ants. I was able to attain real world experience from a management team that was willing to work with a high school student and teach him the ropes of the sports industry and business.

Primary Interview

My interview as a break through! Asking my question to someone who has answer. I questioned my college professor who has worked in the field for over 30 years. He always has a lot to say in class but getting to sit down with him gave time for a little more. He has worked in many parts of the hotel industry and has gain a lot from them all. Not only did I get help for my paper but also where I will be going with my career. Answers for even two question very similar. I think I am going to add a little to my paper about what kind of a hotel is going to come next. In the hotel industry it is the needs of the guest and with this the baby boomer's getting ready to start retiring we are going to see a new kind of traveler and traveler need's. More travelers means more hotels , more hotel means , more jobs, more jobs means the economy can go up. I know what you are going to say though where are we going to get the money to build these new hotels and my answer is well I am not a math person or an economic person at that, so I dont know. I do know that more hotels mean more jobs and right now i am sure you or someone you know needs a job right now. If you are making money then you can spend money. spend money on a trip, and where are you going to stay ? You will most likely stay in a hotel. see the pretty little circle? I Do !!!

Chapter 11

This chapter of our text discusses multiple issues about writing papers. It essentially focuses on what needs to be done after you have all your information gathered. The text explains arranging your argument, getting your presentation prepared, introductions and conclusions, and finally putting everything together at the end. I really liked how the text explained how to utilization comparing and contrasting arguments. This can help find differences in various arguments. You can also utlilize it by seeing where arguments are strong and where they lack genuinity. I found a very important aspect that the author pointed out was the topic of chronological organization for the presentation part of topics. I believe that it is important to order your points mainly because it helps the readers understand how the argument progresses. Plus, I personally think that it makes the paper easier to read and follow when well organized. When the author discusses drafting your final argument, I thought that this was a very interesting point. I have never heard of drafting out a final argument. I typically just write my thoughts and go with the flow in order to keep my thoughts on a "traintrack" path. This helps me stay focused and get all of my thoughts out. However, I can definately understand how mapping it out would be very helpful. By typing it out, you can improve your main argument without starting your main writing. This would be a good idea to get a honed in, focused argument of your topic. The last aspect of arguments that the text talks about concerns the methods of delivery for the argument. Of course, the main method of delivery is writing an academic essay. This is a general way to get your argument down so others can read it and gain your view on the topic. The text also lists a pamphlet which is awkward to me because I feel as if you have an opinion on a certain topic, you would want it to be taken seriously. A brochure doesn't seem very "reliable" to me. I have never made a pamphlet to introduce an argument so I can't back that up.

The Chapter 11 Option

I liked the concept behind chapter 11, because what is the point of collecting data and doing research if you can't present it in a way that your target audience will understand it? This may seem a simple concept but I have been to lectures before where the speaker talked over the audience's heads. What do I mean by that? I have seen lecturers give a very technical presentation to a very general audience and the results usually consist of yawning, fidgeting and a lack of attention being paid to the speaker. Is the fault of the audience? No, the speaker set themselves up by not speaking in terms that their audience could comprehend.

Most audiences are there because they must have some interest in your subject (unless they are a captive audience, like a school group or prison inmates) so getting their attention immediately seems to be a key point. The title is what most likely got their attention to start with so it might be good to start with information related directly to the title. From there you can start making your argument or you can clarify your title by giving more information about the subject. This introduction is important since most of your audience will decide from there whether to continue or not in reading your work, listening to you speak, watching your video presentation, ect.

Thinking about the ending next may seem a little out of order but this is also important. The ending is where you tie everything together and answer all of the questions that you may have brought up. Unless you are planning on doing a series of writings or presentations you don't want to end leaving your audience asking more questions about your subject than when you began.

The middle is where you lay out all of your evidence and make your arguments that support your side. This is where you want to make sure the evidence and arguments you are making go along with your introduction and conclusion. If you find through your research that the argument you wanted to make is flawed then it might be time to change your point of view and reflect that in the conclusion. There is nothing wrong with expressing a certain point of view to start with and finding through your research that it is flawed and acknowledging that in your conclusion. I often find this more interesting than a paper where the author makes themselves look like they have all the answers and are never wrong.

Introducing Our Essay

Chapter 11 discusses organizing our research project with the proper strategy. The most helpful section for me was about introductions and conclusions. When I am writing papers once I get my introduction finished, the rest of my writing falls into place after that. They say that the introduction needs to motivate the audience to continue to read, or listen to, the argument. So using ethos and pathos strongly in the introduction will grab the reader's attention. The same goes for the conclusion, it needs to motivate the audience to go do something. The book gives a list of questions for guidance in writing an introduction and conclusion. The book also states that as we draft our introductions, to keep the rhetorical situation in mind. Especially the purpose of the argument and the audience you are addressing. It then has another set of questions to answer once you have finished. These are made to help you grab the reader's attention by finding the most compelling point that has been written.

Wadsworth continues to be useful

Chapter 11 was very helpful. I especially enjoyed the part about common argument paterns. The part about making a proposal is what really fits with my research project. This is something that I have been struggling with and now after reading this I think I have a better idea of how best to split my paper. This is something that can be hard to do when you have two parts to your paper and you have to decide which part is going to take up the majority of the paper. The only thing was that it wasn't really clear about how determine which part should be the focus it leaves it up in the air which I suppose is something is that varies based on every indivdual paper. It would be nice if they would at least give some more specific ideas or examples to help in deciding which is more important. It also didn't mention whether it is possible for both sections to be essentially the same size.



I also liked the part about common presentational patterns and have always just summed up to the most important part of the paper and never really considered that if might be best with a hostile or even apathetic audience to use your biggest gun first and then go back and empathesize your most important argument in your conclusion. This is something that sounds like it might be good strategy even if your audience is not hostile to the topic.

Ch 11

Chapter 11 was great. It combined all that we have read about in previous chapters. For me it was helpful because it gave all the different types of arguments and how to arrange them. I knew about different ways to argue stuff but i guess i never thought about how to write each argument and how some ways are better to argue than others so you need to know which way to argue that would be better for the topic you want to argue. It also depends on your audience. Also, I liked that they help us organize our arguments. Usually when I write, I just go with the flow but in this chapter, it lies out how to write or set up your argument. It goes into depth on how to set up your introduction and conclusion paragraph. I always struggle with these. Reading this chapter, i think i have grasp the way to write this kind of paper better.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Just the help I needed!

Chapter 11 was probably the most helpful chapter I have read yet. I liked this chapter because it addressed some of the things I struggle with the most. First of all the type of arguments were defined. If you don't have any idea what type of argument you're trying to write, how will you know what to include? I often just start writing without having full knowledge of what exactly to include. Another thing that was helpful was the part that covered introductions and conclusions. While reading the author said, how is someone supposed to get the audience to believe what they are saying if they can't even get someone to read the argument. I never thought of looking at the introduction like that but it really does make sense. I have so much trouble coming up with an introduction because the paper somewhat depends on the introduction to get the audience interested. WGR also discussed the main types of rhetoric used in the introductions which is ethos and pathos. This makes sense because the audience needs to know that you know what you're talking about and emotional appeals always draw people into the writing. The introduction doesn't have to be where you start writing. Sometimes it may be easier to develop other parts of the argument and them come back to the intro. As far as the conclusion goes, WGR stated that the conclusion should give the audience the knowledge and drive to do something about the issue you're arguing upon. This reminded me to not only to conclude but to make sure I make an impact on the audience. The use of framing was also referenced which I have never heard of before. Framing is just a ways to bring up something talked about in the introduction again in the conclusion, but is put in a way that makes the audience realize the importance of the argument. Lastly, the example argument was also a big help. The side notes on the exmple helped me decide where to put certain things that would help my writing and why it was best for them to be located there. Overall a very helpful chapter. I will be looking at the example argument and comparing some things.

Journal 9: Chapter 11 Reflection

This chapter is very helpful. It says that now after you have gathered all of your information for you paper, that it is time to learn how to arrange your argument to gear towards your audience. I learned that first you have to decide on a pattern of argument and then determine how to organize your argument in most important to least important, least important to most important, or chronological. I also learned that once you identify your thesis and reasons you should consider doing some listing or clustering of your ideas to organize them more efficiently. Then you have to decide on your argument pattern, there are four types: evaluations, definitions, proposals, and cause-and-effect arguments. After you chose one of those methods you should create an outline to help you organize all of that information. I learned a smart trick in this chapter. The book states that it is often times helpful to revise your introduction and conclusion last. This way you will be sure to make sure that they are perfect, considering they are some of the most important parts of the entire paper. You should make sure you are grabbing your audiences attention in the introduction. I learned that ancient rhetors stated that there are three possible sections for an introduction. They are,; you should prepare the audience for receiving the message, include a brief history of the topic, and outline the argument. You can chose to do one or all three of these things in your introduction. Your conclusion is just as important when writing your paper. You should make sure that your conclusion includes; the issue that was raised in your argument, the effects of this issue, how the issue violates the community, and a few other things. I have never heard of the term "IMRAD" before and i think that is very helpful when writing a paper effectively. I think this chapter was very helpful and i will most likely look back on it when i am revising my research paper.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Journal 8: Reflection on primary research

I was glad to see such a big response to my survey, I never thought my cohort would be answered by more than 25 people and 51 people responded all questions. Out of the 51, 14 of them were males, although not every male in the class responded to my survey, most of them did. The majority of the respondents are people 25 and under. I wish I had the money to get more analysis out of it, it would like to separate some male vs. female answers as well as by age group.

This survey will be used to represent people’s knowledge of this health issue in America. Although 82% of the respondents know that Heart Disease is the number one killer of women in America, they do not how serious the problem is. This was demonstrated by questions regarding statistics on Heart Disease. Most of the respondents also have trouble identifying symptoms of heart disease besides the obvious chest pain and shortness of breath. The most interesting data gathered with this survey is that even though the group was composed of a majority of young people, most of them 92% trust their doctors with medications and treatment. In my opinion, you should not trust anyone with your own health. If someone gives you medication, look it up, just google it and find out about side effects and long term effects, you might find out it is a drug that could even be dangerous to your health. Sometimes doctors do not have all the answers; they do not know your history except for what you have told them in a 15 minutes office visit. There is something to say about second opinions before you submit to any treatment, in this information age, there is no reason why we should not take charge of our bodies and not let others make decisions for us.

Friday, October 22, 2010

A time for self-reflection

Chapter nine made a lot of sense when giving examples of the difference
between arguing for a position and just reporting about a position. I find myself
reporting more often in a paper instead of using argument to make a point. Some of
the things we need to be careful about when making an argument for or against a
point is to not confuse this with the other kind of argument we all find ourselves
in at times. This type of argument is based more on emotions and possibly ego. The
type of arguments needed for a research paper include using facts and persuasion to
get a point across. Using facts and persuasion alone is not enough, we have to be
able to analyze the facts and put them in terms that the audience can understand and
this is one of the things that separates an argument from reporting.

Chapter ten follows up on this idea of analyzing the facts preparing them
for each suitable audience. Knowing your audience and the purpose of what you want
to accomplish is also a key factor and sometimes gets lost during the writing of a
research paper. What is the point of taking time to gather all of this data and
write a paper if it means nothing to your audience other than a jumble of numbers or
quotes? Another key component to writing a good research paper is being sure the
facts you use are up to date. In my paper most of the facts have been set in stone
for centuries but on occasion an art historian or museum curator will find new
information and to use the old saying, the history books have to be rewritten. As
writers, we need to be vigilant in making certain that the data we present is the
most up to date and accurate we can present.

Both chapters made me do some self-evaluation and look more closely at how I
have written in the past and now I have a better understanding of my own personal
writing style and the changes that are necessary to take it to the next level.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Helpful Chapters

Chapter 9 starts off discussing something I had troubles with in our first assignment. It talks about reporting versus arguing. In my first paper I wrote a lot on my own opinions, rather than facts. This chapter talks about not summarizing our topic because our audience already is familiar with the specifics. It then goes into details and questions to ask yourself while writing the paper. These guidelines will keep us from writing an argument, but instead write a report. Chapter 9 also discusses another topic I have troubles with, developing a thesis. It says to make a precise claim and not merely be a statement of fact or observation. Then they go on to give examples of thesis statements which will be helpful. Finally, chapter 9 discusses ethos, pathos, and logos. I've only learned these in two classes I've ever had. I believe this will be most helpful to me when I attempt to make emotional arguments. It will help me to grab the attention from my audience. Chapter 10 discusses selecting and integrating evidence. The most helpful section from this chapter for me was about using resources as evidence. It taught me how to evaluate my resources and incorporate them into my essay. This section says to critically evaluate the resource based on its rhetorical situation. Also, to evaluate the credibility of the information it contains by checking its documentation and cross-referencing it with other resources. Both of these chapters will be very helpful when writing this paper. I'm sure I will be checking back with these chapters for help.

This has been a while

In chapter nine they started out talking about the difference between reporting and arguing. I have the same problem that it sounds like a majority of people in this class have, where I write more towards reporting rather than trying to argue about something. The good thing is that they give some good things to go through your paper and make sure that you are arguing rather than reporting in it. I have never been very good when it comes to cluster mapping or outlining, I find myself doing a lot better when I start out free writing, however I can see how the cluster map in this situation could be something that makes the project just that much easier. All in all, chapter nine seems to have some really good things to go through in order to construct an argument.
Chapter ten is about how to gather and make sure that your sources are good enough as well as how to put them into your papers. It starts out with making sure that you know your audience that you are writing to and if it is relevant to what you are writing about. On pages 197-198 they give you a series of questions for you to go through in order to make sure that your evidence is good enough for your criteria. I will have to remember to go through this as I continue my paper.
All in all these two chapters seem to be really helpfully for this particular project, and I will have to keep this book open while I continue my writing.

You Can't Just Say, "Because I said so!"

So after reading chapter 9 I feel like I have a headache. Though it was very interesting and wasn't boring at all.
It was great the chapter included the fact that Sam basically summarized his research and didn't actually create an argument, because I find myself doing that a lot. It’s also great that the chapter suggested keeping your summarization to help you understand what your topic is on. That way you can address your audience more precisely, because most likely your audience already knows a decent amount of information on the topic. The suggestion to remind you of the rhetorical situation was a great suggestion especially with checklists and the charts in this chapter. I just need to remember what the research question is I’m trying to answer. Also the idea of creating cluster maps was really helpful, and I am definitely going to do that for project three. Though I already knew about qualifiers, the fact it was mentioned could be helpful for other. I did not know the exact definition of a “qualifier” which limits the claim.  Adding words such as “always”, “never” etc. doesn’t exactly limit a claim but to instead say things like “suggest”, “consider”, “could” does limit a claim. However, unlike qualifiers I did not really know much or really have thought about “warrants”. This is definitely will be something I want to revisit when reviewing my paper before I turn in the final copy. The warrant is the connection between the claim and reason in your argument. This can really help when forming your arguments to ensure your building valid support for your thesis.
 The title of chapter 10 is what is says. “Selecting and integrating evidence”. It proposes to take into consideration timeliness, relevance and other criteria to determine what evidence to choose. Though timeliness doesn’t have to be current, it has to pertain to what was happening during that time when the content was released. The most important part of chapter 10 (in my opinion) is deciding if the information is relevant, because if it isn’t then why even bothering in using it? It would serve no purpose. Once again the checklists in this chapter proved to be helpful and really helped me to realize how to approach project three and what to make sure I include.

All in all these chapters really proved to be useful and definitely worth the read. I definitely have a clearer understand on areas I want to evaluate in my project. And I definitely won't use "because I said so", in my paper.

Working as I read

In chapter nine WGR really talks about what I feel I have a hard time with. They really work with getting started and taking you from there. Arguing or reporting ? Thats the first question they really bring up. Taking the question they given and looking at what has been said it helps pick it apart, which I don't always find to be easy so this was very helpful. I always have most of my problems in the beginning so I liked the tips on narrowing down the research question. The one thing I still feel weak in after read this part was considering all parts of the arguments. How do you know you have covered it all. I also understand its not always a possibly to cover them all. For me as a someone who has to see everything to know where I am going in a paper the cluster map is a great help. Sometime I feel silly making one but I got to on some things. In chapter ten its always most important first. How you write your paper should be based on your audience. You really want to make sure you don't just think of one primary audience but others that it may read it if a small part applies to them. So really think who will be a reader of your research paper. Don't forget about back up all with evidence! I found it all helpful and I found my self working asI read these chapters.

Perfect Timing

Chapter 9 & 10 was assigned at the right time. Both these chapters are useful for our research papers. Chapter 9 was a great chapter to bring back help on topics and how to use different thesis statements. his chapter also is a great tool to help us guide our paper's information along with the thesis. The rhetoric uses for arguments also is a major help. This can help us keep us from just stating facts and too build upon our argument and take different points of views to defend against multiple arguments. Chapter 10 really reminds us to always keep the audience in mind when we write. The chapter gives the best idea on how to use the logos, ethos, and pathos to prove your credibility as a writer to your audience. In english 101 & 102 I learned just the basics on logos, ethos, and pathos. Now in 104 the text takes a deeper look into those elements of rhetoric writing. Both these chapters are great tools to build on our argument to keep a steady flow through our papers.

Lots of different, but helpful information!

When reading Chapter 9 I found it to be very helpful. I have always struggled with a thesis statement because I feel like it is so narrow. WGR told the different types of thesis statements and that they should be in the form of a statement not a question. The point of the thesis statement is to answer the research question and can also serve to develop parts of the argument. I also thought the section about qualifiers was interesting because I often use them in my writings but I never realized it or what their purpose was. I also think it is important when trying to support an argument that we use rhetoric. These are simple words and things that we can use in our writing to grab the audience’s attention and reassure we know what we’re talking about. I also liked that chapter 9 gave us different methods to determine and include warrants in our writing. Warrants seem simple, but I think add reason and support to what we’re trying to say. In Chapter 10 the part about addressing the audience’s wants and needs was important. Just thinking about what interests the audience and their thought on certain issues can make the relevance of the paper more important to the audience. The rest of chapter 10 dealt with using resources as evidence. Evaluating the resources that we use in our research paper is important because the information can come from all different places and we need to make sure that it is all accurate. I liked how methods were given to design our research and present it to our audience. Sometimes it can be difficult to put all the information that you have gathered together. These two chapters will be very helpful with project 4.