Reflective writing from one Fall 2010 English 104 class, based on class activities, discussions, and readings. As E. M. Forster once said, "How can I know what I think until I see what I say?"
Friday, December 17, 2010
kazakhstan website
My powerpoint presentation on The NFL Draft
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_uHsq38e39WYzM3YmJhNGYtMWIwYS00NWNjLTk2MzYtNmVhZTljNDAzZTgz&hl=en&authkey=CI7K8p8J
My Video on Chicken Sandwich
ilocker.bsu.edu/users/msdavis2
Another Web Site...
My Website, Enjoy!
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
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.
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
Website and intro...Finally!!
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
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
No video, Website Now
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!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJMY4XwAkYs
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Final Project
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
This is the first website that I have ever done. I think that it turned out very well.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
My Website
www.shortstick4women.weebly.com
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
My video
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!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
PowerPoint
Video for my media project
Website
Raphael Power Point
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'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.
VIDEO!
Video!!
Video.
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
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Powerpoint's the way to go!
Ideas about my website
PROJECT 3 MY ATTEMPT AT A WEBSITE
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Survey findings!!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
About that Survey...
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
Where does it go
Interview
No Interview Yet
Ch. 11
I asked you questions and you answered! Survey Results
Interview
Interview experience
Interview
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 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
Interview
Chapter 11 and Halloween Baby!
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.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Survey Results!!!
Chapter 11
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Chapter 11
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!
11, journal 9 swap option
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
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
Chapter 11
The Chapter 11 Option
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
Wadsworth continues to be useful
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
Monday, October 25, 2010
Just the help I needed!
Journal 9: Chapter 11 Reflection
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Journal 8: Reflection on primary research
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
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
This has been a while
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!"
Working as I read
Perfect Timing
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.