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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

right chapter at the right time

I found chapter 9 to be very helpful. It was a nice refresher about some topics that we had already covered earlier such forming a thesis and arguing with ethos, pathos, and logos. The chapter summarizes these again, but also goes into more detail in this chapter and is helpful in allowing you to integrate these concepts back to your research paper now that you have hopefully started work on it. I really liked the example talking about arguing that Muhammad Ali was the greatest fighter of all time. It is interesting how you make the argument three entirely different ways and still arrive at the same argument. The Muhammad Ali example is also very nice in giving you specific examples about how to make your arguments according to pathos, logos, and ethos. I also like the example that talks about using statistics in your argument and being careful not rely to much of your argument on facts that may be hard to prove or that you can’t be certain that they aren’t biased. I also liked the point made on page 187 where it talks about using different kinds of evidence to support a claim and also making sure that you provide adequate evidence for every reason and not just some of them. This is a problem have encountered because some issues I am researching have several sources that I can use for evidence and some may have only one or two sources that support a claim. After reading this I may have to go back and try to find more evidence for these claims or might have to consider not using these claims. The part about warrants is a little confusing. I understand the general idea, but am unsure how you are actually supposed to express these in your argument. I think the logic of warrants makes sense, but I am skeptical about whether they are actually applicable to the types of research papers we are writing. It makes sense that you should think about the idea of warrants, however I see their use probably only pertaining to identifying controversial assumptions that you make, but may have to consider defending in your rebuttal. Chapter 10 makes a good point about making sure to think about whether your material is current and is still relevant, and that you understand the historical signifigance of a piece of information such as the time period it was written when evaluating it. Just because it is old doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t use it, but it may be outdated and their may be new research that is more appropriate.

Evidence//10

Chapter 10 goes into how to get good sources and how to include them in your paper, which is helpful, because a lot of people just randomly stick bits of other people's information in their papers without relating it to their argument. We talked about arguments in class today, and Tess made it very clear that in our research paper, we need to stick to our argument. By doing this, we can use other people's ideas and gathered information to back it up or negate it, but the argument still belongs to us. The chapter went into explaining good ways to organize your argument and how putting it a certain way may end up allowing it to make more sense to people, and become more agreeable to other people that read your paper.

Ch 9 & 10

Here we go again our favorite thing to do BLOG! This time the chapters were really helpful. As I read these chapters, especially 9, it really helped me develop my paper and help point me in the right direction. When I start to write I always do a web to create my format of the information that i have gathered. When it talked about the cluster map it is basically the same thing, which I was surprised that i actually did something that is suggested. I am not a good writer I always get writer's block but I found it easier to overcome that when I construct my web. Also in that chapter, I guess i never really paid attention but there is a difference in reporting and arguing. I never really have written an arguing paper, its always been the reporting paper. One thing i struggle with when writing the arguing paper is that i ramble on a lot, I do that in everything i do tho. In chapter 10, it goes into the gathering and construction of the evidence that is gathered for a research paper. It's important that you gather useful evidence. It's useless if you gather something for earlier when someone has done research on it recently and have proven that earlier it was wrong. So you need to make sure you have the most recent and accurate information so you can have good credibility.

Chapters 9 & 10

It has been a while since our class has had a journal assignment. To be completely honest, the break from them was legit. I don't mind not having to do journals. Chapter 9 starts off with contrasting reporting and arguing. Obviously, reporting is just simply stating facts that are observed. This would include summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and essentially just describing what takes place. Arguing is a completely different story. People argue in order to establish a point they possess. They use claims and proof to try to sway the audience to their side of the topic. Then, the text mentions ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos deals with credibility and authority. Pathos appeals to the emotions. Finally, logos appeals to reason and logic. To have a strong argument, the writer must include aspects of each in his or her writing. Another important aspect of arguments are warrants. These are the connections between the claims made and the evidence that supports those claims. Without warrants, the argument is simply just an opinion without proof to support it. Now with arguments, comes counterarguments. These can also be called rebuttals. A rebuttal is simply a statement meant to disprove the other opinions on the issue at hand. The writer can do this with evidence collected. Chapter 10 focuses on integrating the evidence found in resources. The writer must be able to determine which evidence will be best for the issue. Then they must intelligently place the evidence where it will get best utilized. However, it can't be just random information. It must be able to tie into the writing in a unique way to support the author's view. When a writer includes multiple forms of reliable evidence, a counterargument is almost insignificant. A great written argument will already prove different sides of the issue wrong before they can even have an opportunity to ask questions.

Argument

The chapter started out with Logos, and explaining how this was important to research projects. We discussed in class today how our papers argument should be based on reasoning and logic, which the book discusses. I thought it was helpful how clain, reason , warrant and evidence were broken down into a better explanation of how they relate to your research paper. I didn't know that there were 4 elements to logos. I thought it was important that the chapter summarized ways in which you can provide evidence of your argument, because this is an essential key in backing up your paper. The chapter said researches should select a good balance of different kinds of evidence to make your argument more persuasive. I haven't yet decided which methods of evidence i'd like to use. I'm leaning more on statistical data, experimental results and expert opinions. Observation and personal experience really don't relate to me. Chapter 10 states that you should use the evidence that is most convincing and appropriate to your audience, and I think the methods I mentioned earlier are the ones that are most convincing. I really like how throughout both chapters, they have a list of questions that you should be asking yourself when writing your paper, I think this will be useful when I begin writing, in making sure that my arguments are clear and concise. Chapter ten demonstrates clearly how you should be setting up your argument in your paper and common argument patterns.

Back to The Books!

It has been quite some time since we have been assigned a blog post! In this assignment we were asked to read chapters nine and ten of The Wadsworth Guide to Research. I found chapter nine to be very helpful. I liked how they talked about the difference in arguing and reporting. This will help me when i conduct my interview and write about it. I will have to remember to still argue my position on the topic and not just report everything my interviewee has to say. In this chapter the authors also give a helpful idea. It states that when you are thinking of possible ways to respond to a research question that it is very helpful if you create a cluster map. This will organize all of your answers as well as link some of them together. This organization tool will really help my paper flow. When writing my final paper i need to remember to clearly display my thesis statement so the audience of my paper understands how i feel about my topic and what the topic will even be. I learned that a thesis written in argument form is known as an explicit thesis statement. I have never heard of a "qualifier" before and in the book it states that this term means, a word or phrase that "hedges" or limits the claim of your argument. I will have to remember to include these in my paper. Chapter nine also brings up the terms; ethos, pathos, and logos, which i remember from English 103 from last year. The book says that in your paper you should always offer evidence and i will be doing that in my paper by providing an interview from an expert on the matter. Chapter nine is going to help me out a lot in my final paper!

Chapter 10 is just as helpful to me. In this chapter the book talks about selecting evidence that will be convincing to the audience and relevant to the context. The books reminds you to always remember your audience for your argument. You need to know who you are talking to and who will be reading. Then you must find evidence that will correspond with your audiences interests as well. It says that you should always make sure that your evidence is in a correct timeline that makes sense to what you are saying. You don't want to chose an old piece of information from years prior when there is newer more accurate information out there. That will reduce your credibility and therefore reduce readers interest. Your evidence should also be relevant to the point you are trying to make. This chapter also tells you to chose your resources wisely and to always chose the most scholarly information you can find because it is easy to get false information on the internet. I actually enjoyed reading these chapters, i don't know if it is because i was just very bored, but either way it helped!

Chapters 9 & 10

OK, so Chapter 9 has a really helpful tool for all of you that are struggling like I am trying to write this next paper. On page 175 there is this exercise that really can help you with your first paragraphs of your paper. If you answer these questions in sequence it really works! You will see that it is pretty close to the research proposal we had to do so basically if you reword that proposal you might have a pretty good beginning of the paper. One other part that I am struggling with is trying to report instead of argue a topic. I am used to reporting because I have written scientific papers before. Reporting is my more my style and I keep having to come back to read the differences between the two types of papers. The cluster map was not so helpful to me, I decided to do an outline to organize my paper instead. The concept is the same but it did not work for me. I am still working on the counterarguments, I have an idea of what I need to write, however, can’t seem to find sources for it.

The evidence part on Chapter 10 comes pretty natural to me. Again, writing scientific papers and reporting data and analysis is my thing so I have no problem finding the appropriate evidence for my topic. Now although easy to find, it is not easy to find the appropriate evidence for my audience. You guys don’t want to read some boring statistics about heart disease. I need to find good graphs that would be simple enough for everyone to understand. The complex charts from the medical research sites have been useless. I believe that the evidence from my survey is going to be very useful to illustrate my argument. Again this chapter repeats a cluster map exercise which doesn’t work for me. My outline has been more helpful in matching reasons with evidence. I still have a long ways to go with this paper and I am pretty frustrated with it, however, these two chapters seem to help a bit.

Hi there

WOW, it has been a long time since I’ve written one of these guys! I cannot say that I missed it, but all in all these blogs post could be a lot worst. I enjoyed reading chapter nine and found the material cover relatively interesting. I liked how they compared reporting and arguing and the differences between them. The reading made me consider my approach to writing and I found some new techniques to take advantage of. One of course was the cluster map. I’ve done things like this before, but not in the same means they used it for. I was also introduced to a few news things during this chapter, for example “qualifiers”. I have probably used them before in my writings, but I never knew the technical name for them and with the additional examples given, I probably could point a few of them out here and there. The tools and examples they gave for developing different writing styles such as, emotional arguments and authorial ethos was something interesting and I think I can apply them to my writings in the future.

Chapter ten was short and sweet. It was nice because it integrated lesson from chapter nine in a new style that can be hard to formulate. I personally liked the piece on “Are you addressing your audience’s wants and needs?” I think as a normal college student writer, meaning I keep my writing to class oriented projects and assignments only, this area is something that I do not always address accurately. I cannot say I have ever done a survey of my audience before any of my writing projects or taken any serious effort to really try and understand them. I think as college students we all kind of group everyone together, at least I do for my writing projects. This section certainty made me think about my future writing efforts and how I can apply these new learned lessons appropriately and better understand my audience.

Well, it was nice catching up with the old blog, but it’s time to get back to MNF!!!