"Unemployment Insurance Benefits"

Alice's essay focuses on unemployment. In the first paragraph she describes how unemployment rates have risen and that there are way to too many people collecting unemployment insurance. She then goes on the describe how unemployment insurance is not good because people start to take advantage of it and it only discourages them from getting a job. Alice's position is that she wishes the government would be more strict with their regulations on the unemployment insurance. Alice goes on with her essay by stating the multiple issues that unemployment insureance brings to the economy and gives some ideas that can help to change unemployment insurance.

The first thing that struck me about alice's essay was that it was very well prepared. It had researched facts and measurements that made sense and supported her argument. She did make really logical points and was able to support her claims with sources and references. However, she repeated words a lot. For example, the word "even" was repeated about four times in the first paragraph and the word "overall" was used twice in the conclusion. I suppose that I would have been able to think of another word of phrase for overall, like "in conclusion" or "according to the research."

Response to Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills, and the Harried Hurried Student

Plagiarism has changed over the years with the introduction of the internet. The author argues more info more plagiarism. Universities are trying to stop this with harsher punishments. I believe that there is accidental plagiarism, I worry about it every time I write a paper. What if you coincidentally write something that an author has already wrote?

Response to Annotated Bibliography

This is an argumentative piece that is trying to keep art programs in schools. She states that the pros out weight the cons for keeping the arts in school. does a good job of stating her claim and executing the details.

"A Plagiarism Pentimento"

Moore states that now-a-days plagiarism is really just using a summary in someones own words. Which that should not be plagiarism because you learn something from somewhere so in that case isn't everything plagiarized?  Copy and pasting is a good way to plagiarize but doing a summary is what someone should do in preparation for a paper.

Maureen Hourigan

Maureen Hourigan has been teaching english for over 45 years. She really understands how so many factors play very different roles in certain peoples lives when it comes to how they learn and write. In this essay called "Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills and the Harried, Hurried Student," Hourigan discusses the history of plagiarism and how schools have been cracking down on the problem over the years. In the past, students used plagiarism so frequently and teachers and professors had no way of ever finding out. That has obviously changed and this essay shows that universities are going to such lengths as including this "crime" of plagiarism on their transcripts to make it known to almost anybody they contact for application purposes. Paper mills are one of the main problems, even though the company owners will disagree. Paper mills are supposedly only to be for assistance only, but they influence the students (who use these mills) to make their essay not necessarily 100% original. As big of a problem as this has become, professors truly do not enjoy punishing students for this, but drastic times call for drastic measures. I think that this is true because everyone knows if you were to pay such a high price like the punishment for this crime, doing it again is extremely unlikely.

Response to Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills, and the Harried Hurried Student

Hourigan the author begins the essay with the explanation of how plagiarism has always been around although it was much more difficult to attain others words because of the absence of the internet. She then suggests the argument about how the accessibility to of mass amounts of information leads to more plagiarism. She then goes into to detail about how universities are trying to stop it with harsh penalties and such.

Although I do not believe in plagiarism I do not believe that a accidental plagiarism or not knowing that you had plagiarized results in the same punishment which this day in age results in a terrible amount of trouble. I have also never been in trouble for this but every time I submit a paper to safe assign and see that it under 15% matching it is a weight lifted off my shoulders.

Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills, and the Harried, Hurried Student

This article by Maureen Hourigans who has been a writing since 1964 and talks about plagiarism. She discusses the importance behind it, and why it shouldn't be done. Also she mentions the difference of plagiarism from the 60s to now with Internet where things are more accessible. I don't think every student knows or was taught about Plagiarism in a way to be familiar with. It has become a big issue mostly because people do not want to do their own work and just reuse another'sor do not know the rules following plagiarism. Pushing the rules and making sure they are addressed or presented in a way that is clearly understood.

Of Plagiarism, Paper Mills, and the Harried Hurried Student

Maureen Hourigan starts off the essay by explaining that plagiarism has always been around. She describes a time when it was harder to get other people's words because there was no internet. Also, college students have always had many things to "juggle" in their lives and always wanted a way out of writing to make time for other things. Maureen introduces the argument about whether or not the ease of access to loads of information online has been the cause of more incidences of plagiarism. She then describes how several universities have a mission to stop plagiarism and how they do not want their school to be associated with it. Maureen describes how many academics are deciding to take action on plagiarism. The rules of plagiarism have been re-made according to the department of sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University.

Personally, I have never had a problem with plagiarism. I have never been so desperate for words and time to ever commit the act. However, I know that some people do find it hard to use their own words. I think students need to work on not having enough time to complete the assignment on their own. People who plagiarize should also practice writing more in general. I believe the key problem is the fact that people are starting to forget that writing can be fun and being creative with your words can make it feel that way.

Models of Argument

The Toulmin Model, is best used in an essay regarding an argument, which has no absolute truth at the moment. There are three basic components of the model and they are claims, data, and warrants. These three components are pretty self-explanatory, but cannot also be used sufficiently by themselves. This is why there are three additional components, backing, rebuttal, and qualifier. Backing is what supports the warrant. Rebuttal is the anticipated objections of the opposing views. Qualifier is the language that qualifies the claim to close the argument. This model really has helped me to view actually what my argument for essay three should consist of. Also I learned how to slightly alter components in my essay to give extra back up evidence and things to help improve my essay.

Nora McCarthy, "Flipping the Script"

Nora McCarthy is a writer and editor, who explains that her students taught her just as much as she taught them! She was a magazine editor and one of her writers, Natasha Santos wrote a story about her personal experience. McCarthy helped her edit the article by telling her to change the point of view, and style of her writing. Natasha's story was about her depressing childhood, but she somehow turned it into a inspirational story for the audience, but also Natasha too. She told the story mainly using her father as the main character. About how he abused her, and she did not say anything. She used sentences starting with he, too frequently. It was as if the story was about him. McCarthy wanted her to show the story from her point of view, what was she doing and thinking at this time? Once she started writing using more sentences with I, she really expressed how she was strong in taking care of her sister, and should be proud of herself for being so strong in such a bad situation. I think that Nora McCarthy really showed me and Natasha how to write from a different perspective, in a different voice, to completely alter the voice of the story, to benefit the essay.

A Plagiarism Pentimento

Rebecca Moore Howard is a writing professor and has writing about literacy education and mainly plagiarism. She does not write about what I expected, and actually talks about the other side of the spectrum. Howard explains that students are the main population for plagiarism when really, the students are mainly using a strategy called patchwriting. In Howard's story, she tells about when she taught at Colgate University and her students were plagiarising, or that is what she thought at least. She then figured out that they were just patchwriting, using a source's texts, but altering the grammatical structure. Howard proclaims that students need to be taught how to patchwrite better, and plagiarism all together will not be as big of a problem as well.

Flipping the Script

This article by Nora McCarthy talks about how writers should appeal to the reader.  In Natasha's case, she was so fed up with expressing her anger, she missed what came out of it.  Pauline, on the other hand, refused to use "I" in her essays to show her action.  Instead, she would write about how abusive her father was.  Nora told her to write about what Pauline felt and responded instead of only focusing on the others.
Readers don't only want to hear about the writer's pains and problems.  They want to read about a story with a plot and ending, not just how much the pain the writer is in.  I agree with Nora because she tells writers to express every aspect of their story.  A story should contain viewpoints from all those involved with the story, not just an individual's viewpoint.

Model of Argument

The toulmin model works best for non-established issues.  The simple components are claims, data, and warrant.  If the simple components don't fully explain the argument, then there are three additional parts: backing, rebuttal, and qualifier.  The rogerian model is used to find common ground.  It provides ways of finding commonality with the use of neutral statements from writer's and opponent's views, the analysis of common values, and the proposal that respects both viewpoints.
These two models will serve well to help me expand my arguments.  They will help me see what the opposing viewpoints are and what the common ground is.  I'm glad the article provides examples of each or else I would not understand how to use these models.

Flipping the Spript

"Flipping the Script," by Nora McCarthy is a story about how she tells her students to write a story on something that actually meant a lot to them and ended up being a story called the anger story.


I liked how the teacher actually made them write about things that mattered and their strength in the worst parts of their life.

"Flipping the Script"

"Flipping the Script," by Nora McCarthy, is an essay about how Nora wrote about people's lives in a teen magazine named Represent. Nora talks about a teen named Natasha who sent in a story about her life. The first one is a third- person narrative about how she sits alone in junior high at the lunch tables. Another story she sent to Nora was what Nora called an "anger story," which focused on Natasha not being loved. Nora tried to push Natasha by getting Natasha to change the story to describe her strengths. For example, How did she get by even though she did not feel loved and what sort of strengths did she discover about herself? Another student was writing about how she was raped when she was younger. Nora asked the student what she wanted the readers to understand, feel, or know after reading this story.

I like how Nora pushes the students to write about their strengths and not just what happened or how they felt. I believe that since Nora is writing about these students in a magazine, it will be very influential to readers if they read a story that includes how students overcame their problems in life. It will also be helpful for the story tellers because they can learn how to cope with what happened and actually become stronger instead of weaker.

"Models of Argument"

This passage was about ways to help introduce how to write or guide someone in an essay. The first model was the Toulmin Model which involves a claim, data, and then the warrant. The second model shown was the Rogerian Model, which involves an introduction, neutral statement of the opponents position, neutral statement of the writers position, analysis, and a proposal. Both of these models would be helpful in most essays. I think that the Rogerian Model would work best with my topic for my essay, and help me to set up the main ideas or key points before writing it out.

"Flipping the script: Exploring the Relationship between Form and Content in Teen Writing"

This article written by Nora McCarthy is an editor talking about a young teen namd Natasha who had a life of not feeling or being loved. She talks about her story as McCarthy edits it. The article is set in the editors perspective and then switches to Natasha in third person. It sounds as if McCarthy writes in a way of understanding Natasha's feelings by mentioning not being loved and described why. I liked how McCarthy tried to help Natasha edit what she wrote. In a way it seemed like she was showing she cared for the teen that has not felt loved. Yet this article was different. You had to almost picture or think about the story/conversation to understand what was being said.

Argument Models

This essay was about to specific ways to argue a topic in a academic paper. The first model we are introduce to in the toulmin model which is a model for open ended questions. The 3 main parts for it are claims, data, and warrant. This form of argument would go very well with my topic just as the next one would. The rogerian model is the next one which seems to be more universal and easier to use which is best used for a topic not so open with two sides that are clearly stated in research. Both of these samples are useful for my paper and could become extreamly helpful in the coming weeks as we write our rough drafts

"Models of Argument"

"Models of Argument" by Kristina Deonaldo seems to describe the basic set up and meaning of two separate ways to write up an argument in an essay. The first argument described is the "toulmin model." This model is good for arguments that do not show competing perspectives and are still in question. The steps to this model are, 1) claim, 2) data, 3) warrant, 4) backing, 5) rebuttal, and 6) qualifier. The next model that Kristina explains is the "rogerian model." This model focuses more on writing that feels more neutral and allows for separate viewpoints to be expressed. The steps to this model are 1) introduction, 2) neutral statement of the opponent's position, 3) neutral statement of the writer's position, 4) analysis, and 6) proposal. 

As much as I understand both of these models, I feel as though the Rogerian Model will be the best for my essay. Even though I am going to have my own opinion on my subject, I still will treat the other opinions as if they matter and they each have there own valid points. I like that Kristina described these models because it is going to be helpful for me when setting up my essay.

Annotated Bib and C.P.

Robbie Hankey

Deonaldo

English 151

11 May 2012

Our heart gives us the rhythm and our soul gives us the lyrics. Today, just like in the past, music has evolved with our modern era. It started as a simple, slow tap of the foot and now it’s something very complex. The blues is the essence of music. It’s full of emotion, style, lyrics, double meanings, and subliminal messages. The blues has heart and soul. When it started it changed the world and it’s been inspiring people to do so ever since. There’s something special about one man with a message being able to spread his word to people in style. With a smile on his face, the average blues artist humbly enters a bar then plays his guitar while he sings his heart out because he wants to share his rhythm and his soul with the people. Johnny Cash, B.B. King, and Robert Johnson did this one thousand times. Every day they performed and lived the blues. Their message was deeper than even they could imagine; because the blues is more than one man or one song, it’s in all of us.

How has the blues influenced the modern day artist? To my ears, today’s music has lost its way. The research I’ve done puts blues on a pedestal; it’s a spiritual, untouchable, sacred art form. Although I was skeptical at first to read about something that I listen to and play every day, I still did. In two books four articles and one list “modern day blues” wasn’t even mentioned. The list I’m referring to is the “100 greatest guitarists” article written by the Rolling Stones magazine. In this list John Mayer, who some may consider a modern blues guitarist was listed along with a few other artists as an “up and coming” guitarist. This is the closest any of the authors were to mentioning any style of blues in today’s music; and I’m just implying the fact, it’s not even stated that John Mayer is a blues guitarist. Music today is crazy; it’s even crazier to imagine what music will be in 10 years or 50 years. Maybe the blues is a thing of the past, but I refuse to believe it.

Annotated Bibliography

Cheseborough, Steve. Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues. Jackson, MS:      University of  Mississippi, 2001. Print.

This mind opening book speaks about one author/musicians journey through America and his experiences while he was living the blues. Steve bodily states in his first line a question asking, “Is the blues still a vibrant tradition as we listen and explore in the 21st century? Or is it fading away?”  This question is nearly the same one posed in my critical preface. The books then goes onto give a detailed overview of his and other famous musician’s interpretation of the blues in their lives. The book is a guide to traveling the country while seeing and hearing the blues. Steve gives tips, tricks and suggestions for you when you’re putting your name and music out there.

  Teachout, Terry. "The Man That Jazz Forgot." Commentary Magazine May 2012:       56-59.

The heartfelt article discusses the jazz filled life of Louis Jordan. How did people forget about such a profound icon in the history of rhythm, jazz and the blues?  It is dumbfounding to me that even I, a blues advocate, would overlook such an inspiring and influential person. Believe it or not Louis created 18 #1 hits from 1942-1950. Unfortunately the only one I have heard of is “is you is or is you ain’t my baby?” Honestly the only reason I remember the song is from a Tom and Jerry episode called Solid Seranade where Tom sings this song to his gal. Some may write off Louis but there are those today who still listen to the soul in his sound, and I’m definitely one of them.

Kjorness, Chris. "Delta Dawn." Reason. Reason Foundation, May 2012

This article in the Music magazine Reason promotes blues as more than just music as a tragedy. Blues is often mistaken for sadness, depression, negativity and evil! This is just not the case, sure, the blues would be nothing without it’s “blue” deep, powerful and sometimes “sad” lyrics; but that’s not the essence of blues as this article quotes B.B. King, a legendary blues musician who said “"It angers me how scholars associate the blues strictly with tragedy. Blue is about hope, excitement and love too. The article then discusses in depth the history of the delta blues. Charley Patton, who is considered one of the founders of the blues, is a huge inspiration to me and to other modern day blues artists. The article talks about his life along with other great blues artists including: Robert Johnson who wrote the famous song “Crossroad blues” which tells the story of when he sold his soul to the devil; B.B. King who’s funky style has won the hearts of millions as he’s screamed out his soul while playing his baby/guitar who he named Lucille until his fingers bleed!

Teachout,Terry. “De-romanticizing the Blues.” Commentary Magazine. Nov 2012:        66-70.

Another beautiful article by Terry Teachout is less about the romance in blues and more about its history. Like the other articles, this speaks of the way blues has inspired musicians since the 19th century. “By now, the sounds and rhythms of the blues are so ubiquitous that they seem almost to be embedded in the musical DNA of the human race.” This quote is very relevant and true; there is only so many sounds one instrument can make therefore eventually those sounds are going to start to sound the same, especially core chords like the ones uses primarily in the blues. That being said, from the few months that I’ve been practicing blues scales I have been able to play along with just about any song regardless of the artist, time period or genre. The article gives a brief history about the start or origin of the blues. A common misconception is that artists like Robert Johnson started the blues, but also actually not only did his records sell poorly, it wasn’t until the 60’s “the blues revival” when Robert Johnson was accredited and actually listened to. In fact, it was actually white and black woman from about 1880-1910 who started the sound that we call “the blues.”

Ripani, Richard J. The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999.        Jackson: University of Mississippi, 2006. Print.

This book has an extraordinary amount of information on the history of the blues. Although I did not read the book entirety, from what I read I was impressed. The book is broken down into 5 sections: From 1950-59 Richard Ripani calls this the “soul era.” Then from 1960—69 we are given the “funk and disco reign.” Followed by “The old and the New,” this lasted from 1970-79. Then we have the unforgiving and unforgettable “rap era” or the time period where rap went mainstream from 1980-89. Last but not least from 1990-99 we are left with the “transformation of rhythm and blues.” The author tells his story of growth and learning as a musician as well as the development of other musician’s same journey.

"100 Greatest Guitarists | Rolling Stone." Rollingstone.com. Web. 10 May 2012.             <http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-guitarists-20111123>.

It is only appropriate that when referring to the history of blues the 100 greatest guitarists should be discussed. From Robert Johnson to Eric Clapton; music, sound and guitar have come along way. Each past artist takes bits and pieces of the music before them, which influence his or her own style. The article gives a brief overview of each of the best 100 guitarist’s lives. Some of my favorites: At number 76 is Willie Nelson, whose style has influenced my own. Surprisingly at number 70 some say the “father of blues” is Robert Johnson. Before my research I was disgusted with this rank, but after, I’ve realized that Robert Johnson’s music isn’t as influential as I first guessed. At number 54 we have John Lennon, which is respectable, who doesn’t love the Beatles? At number 19 Rolling Stones puts Carlos Santana whose Spanish style and fast paced playing has always amazed me. It’s hard not to like almost every artist in the top 10, but to choose a few: Number 6 is B.B. King who has more soul than the devil. Then last, but certainly not least, in my head number one and two are equals, them being Eric Clapton at #2 and none other than Jim Hendrix who undeniable tops the charts.

Evans, David. "Blues." Blues. UNC Press, 1989. Web. 10 May 2012.             <http://www.arts.state.ms.us/crossroads/music/blues/mu1_text.html>.

This rather short article on the blues influence in modern music is a solid one. One valid point it makes is how the blues style, which was predominantly started by black musicians in the 1920s, was then combined with a country style, which formed rock in roll in the late 50’s! Unfortunately the article doesn’t go into much detail about its influence on our modern day music but that’s because there may not be any. Through generations and music styles the core essence of the blues has probably been lost by most popular artists today. Then again, maybe since each artist takes something from the artist before him, artists today are actually masters of the blues!

"A Plagarism Pentimento" by Rebecca Moore Howard

In this ariticle Rebecca Howard talks about patchwriting. As a teacher she noticed when someone was writing plagarized work, but realized not all of it was. Some students in her class she noticed was patchwriting or taking pieces from information or quotes. She believed this not to be plagarized, and felt as if the students were being commited of a crime that wasn't. She then knew that students were not really being taught how to do this, so she taught her students to inform them.

I agree with Rebecca's thinking about patchwrting, and I personally do not believe that patchwriting should be plagarism. It is not all the information taken from a piece of writing. I do it time to time with some of my papers, but that's basically the only way I know how to write some papers with evidence without having to write a bunch of quotes. I was never really taught about this in school so I never knew it was a problem.

A Plagiarism Pentimento

The author of "A Plagiarism Pentimento" is Rebecca Moore Howard. In this essay, Rebecca expresses that the rules of plagiarism should be reconsidered- especially for patchwriting. Rebecca pushes the belief that patchwriting is not plagiarism. She gives an example of a class she taught at Colgate University by telling a story about when her students wrote an essay and many of them were accused of plagiarism. However, they were accused of plagiarism because they were patchwriting. At the time, Rebecca gave them all F's and also allowed them an opportunity to re-write it. Now, however, Rebecca understands that  patchwriting is not a crime, but something that should be taught how to do better. Rebecca started to teach her students how and when they should use patchwriting. She eplains that students who patchwrite are students who can challenge, modify, and even replace it's constructs.

Patchwriting is something that I do semi-frequently, however not as much as I used to. I did not know that what I was doing actually had a name and it is reassuring to know that I wasn't plagiarizing. However, what actually surprised me about the subject of patchwriting is that it was actually considered plagiarizing. I did not understand how that could be, because I was always taught that if you "make it into your own words" then it is not plagiarized anyway. I suppose a lot of people do not do a very good job of making something into their own words and, ultimately, that is when they are accused of plagiarizing.

Annotated bibliography and critical preface

The author wrote a critical preface before the annotated bibliography which explained why the argument covered by the sources was significant to other people and also summed up the research in the annotated bibliography. The argument seems to be about whether or not art programs should be in schools. In the Critical preface the author lists some questions  about this subject and then tries to cover them in the sources gathered. The sources in the bibliography seem to center mostly around the pros of having art classes in schools. Given this, the author will have a lot of information to support that side of the argument of having art programs in school.

There are a couple problems that I notice. The first one is that the author does not include some important information in the critical preface. This information missing is the plan for future research and how the author will go about doing it. The second problem is that the author does not provide enough sources to support the other side of the argument on art programs in school. She has plenty of references on the good side of it, but not the bad side/

Annotated Bibliography and Critical Preface

The critical preface comes first and is used to explain the goals and questions of the research as well as its importance. The annotated bibliography is used to show how each source is going to be used as well as which research questions it is going to help answer. Overall, her paper was well set up but only showed the positives and left a lot of questions unanswered. I think that an annotated bibliography and critical preface can help me better set up my paper and realize ahead of time what I may be lacking or too strong on.

Annotated Bibliography and Critical Preface

These samples were about the main idea of the writers essay. It also described as well as told about each cited source hat was being used in the essay based in the topic, which was about the arts in schools. I think this sample given in the course packet was helpful as to set up our annotated bibliography and critical preface. There is things that could be added to the text, but was overall a good way to put the information together.

Annotated bibliography and Critical Preface

The critical preface comes first and Hannah talks about how art programs in schools is extremely important. She includes the relevance and importance of her research in the preface. Then she ask's questions that describe the overview of the content of the research. Then she summarizes an overview of the research so far. That is what makes up the critical preface, and the annotated bibliography is next. This is basically a works cited page, but after the source is cited, you give a short insight about the content of each source. A short paragraph should be extensive enough of a summary.
I think that Hannah did a pretty good job on this critical preface except at the end she should have added a strategy for further research. In the annotated bibliography, she did everything well and summarized the articles for each of her sources.

Xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13394788/beigez-movie

Response to Annotated Bibliography

This whole article is about schools and their art programs. The author argues there are more pros then cons including but not limited to a way of getting away from stress of other classes, the more involvement with other things the better academics turned out to be and more. She plans on researching all of these and this seems to be pretty good but in her annotated bib she seem so missing something that i cant put my finger on. But it seems okay. This is a interesting topic though and i like the way she is approaching it.

annotated bibliography and critical preface

Assuming the proposal is the critical preface, there are several parts that a critical preface addresses: Topic, questions, and why it's interesting.  The annotated bibliography explains why each source was chosen and how it will benefit the paper.  This sample is a good example of how to approach writing the preface and bibliography.  However, these examples are missing some parts.  For example, the critical preface doesn't tell how she would research the topic.

Traveling the Too-Much-Information" Highway

This is a story about how Heather Hunter met a guy through his blog.  They began a relationship through blogging and eventually the relationship fell apart.  Baffled by the situation, Heather decides to snoop around his blog.  She finds that he had been in contact with another woman.  She doesn't confess to him of the information she found at the beginning but eventually tells him the problem and is happy again afterwards.
The internet is a dangerous place.  People should be more careful with the information they put online.  The problem isn't that Heather was snooping, it's that the guy was stupid enough to cheat so openly.  Maybe he wasn't cheating on her at all, which would explain his openness to posting on his blog. 

"A Plagiarism Pentimento"

This reading was about something called "patch writing." I fully agree with Moore when she states that what is called plagiarism today is simply a summary used with different words. I have always found it hard to create a summary after reading an exert. I usually switch up some words, while also using what I remember to create a summary. I don't think something can be called plagiarism if it is not restated word for word. Students should not be punished for trying to figure out new ways to say things or a new form of language to relate to. Instead they should be noticed for taking an interest or an attempt to restate what they read, regardless if the sentence means the same thing, what really counts is that they didn't use the exact same words in the exact same way. I honestly believe that sometimes there is only one way to write something to get the point across, well one meaning. But, there are many ways to rewrite that meaning without it being considered plagiarism.

Sample annotated bib. and critical preface

This was a pretty good example to refer to as I finish my annotated bibliography and my critical preface. Hannah, the writer of this sample essay, did a good job stating the research questions and her motivation to research this topic. She told why the topic interested her and stated some good facts about the topic. She also did a good job with the annotated bibliography even though she didn't include some information that should have been included about the topic. Also, in the critical preface she didn't include her strategy of how to go about researching the project, and she didn't include an overview of the topic. All in all, I think this sample will give me a good idea of what I am expected to turn in at the end of the week.

Five Paragraph Theme

This illustration of a monster in the form of a five paragraph essay was really creative and and a great way to lay out the structure of an essay. She describes the introduction and how it should be "lots of teeth, no bite" and then describes how the middle three should be about whatever the topic is and the points made in it, then the conclusion is a summary of the past four paragraphs. I really liked this because it made it really clear what an essay's structure should be like.

Teaching Standard English Response

This article was interesting because it talked about how kids grow up being always corrected when they speak or write anything and they don't receive as much positive as they do negative. The article talks about how there is a "correct" way of writing and speaking. When the author was a child, she was constantly corrected for her speech problems and it was discouraging.  I agree with her that there should not be a standard way of learning English. Everyone should learn the basics of it, but we all speak it differently.

Brian's Sample Essay

In Brian's sample essay, he compares two alcohol advertisements. I think that he did a pretty good job at comparing them, but he did go on for a while more about alcoholics and their problems more than the advertisements themselves. But when he was talking about the ads, he backed them up quite nicely in a very believable way.

Writing to Connect

This article by Mary Pipher was about how important writing is in our world now. It gets what we need to say across in so many different ways. We use it in poems, songs, scripts for films, books, text messages, all over the internet, writing is the biggest way to communicate now. She also talks about how writing has changed the world and all the things it has done. She mentions Anne Frank and how her diary was used to expose so much information that if it wasn't for writing, we would have never had it.

I agree with her about how much writing is used and especially how much it has changed the world. I cannot imagine going through a day without writing something. Whether it is a text message, an email, a paper, everything I do now revolves around writing.

Traveling the TMI Highway

This article was about how a woman who blogged about everything in her life, like her relationship problems, what she did that day and all of her complaining about everyday things. Her boyfriend blogged and she followed his blogs and found out that the reason he was becoming distant was because he was spending time with another woman. She found all of this out through his blog and pictures, and then she looked at the woman's blog and found out too much information about her. In the end of the article, she realized that she did not need to say as much as she did all the time.

I thought this article was really easy to read and it kept my interest a lot more than any of the other articles have so far. It was kind of relatable because it is really annoying to have people blog about so many pointless things all the time.

Xtranormal Video-Tanning (effects)

http://s3.amazonaws.com/farmprod.content.xtranormal.com/2012-05-06/publish/db4589ae-97ae-11e1-9051-12313b12d0a2.mp4

Xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13370031/gap-year

blues

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13380459/the-blues

xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13379215/pawz-movie

Xtranormal Video-Gambling

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13372800/gambling

Xtranormal Birth Control Debate

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13367577/birth-control-insurance-coverage-debate

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13373516/solar-energy-vs-other

Xtranormal video

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13373061/fashion

Xtranormal video post

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13372858/united-states-economic-problems

Extranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13372875/space-exploration

Xtranormal Video

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13372612/women

Xtranormal

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13371816/technology

Essay 3 Video

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13371508/the-testhttp://www.xtranormal.com/watch/13371508/the-test

Should Welfare Recipients be Subject to Drug Testing?

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"Writing to Connect" by Mary Pipher

"Writing to Connect," by Mary Pipher is a reading that attempts to show how important writing is. No matter what aspect of the world it is, writing can be important and this suggests that raising awareness is important, because many people are not aware of how important writing really is.

"Traveling the Too-Much-Information" Highway

Heather Hunter is a Blogger and she initially wrote blogs about her spicy and intimate relationships, but her most famous work was "Traveling the Too-Much-Information" Highway. This was about her personal experience of being in a complicated relationship, and she does not shy away from including juicy details. Her story begins when she meets a guy through a blog online who she really like, and even goes on to start seeing him and having an intimate relationship. He was a musician and they really seemed to be hitting it off. After awhile goes by, he starts seeing her less and less and says that he is just busy. She does not blink and eye because of the blog he posted containing his full schedule of activities. She snoops further into his blog and finds out he's dating and kissing another girl who is a young photographer. After continuing to snoop, heartbroken, Heather keeps convincing herself that she will never be as good as the young photographer. Heather was stressed and having anxiety, and vented on her blog. When the musician realized this, his relationship with Heather changed, but she would not tell him what was wrong.  Too much information restrained their relationship even though they ended up back together, because she realized that the he had previously broken up with the young photographer. She received a message shortly after from someone she did not know who called her a "groupie." She wanted to find out who this was and why they were saying this, but she restrained herself because she found out what happens on the Too-Much-Information Highway.

Writing to connect by Mary Pipher

This is about how important writing is. People now-a-days get all their info through technology such as phones and computers. This is true, we have all our info and readings online and that's the future.

Too much Highway

This article was about a woman's blog about meeting a man. Social networks can hurt more then they can help. People put personal info out on these that can come back an hurt your chances to get a job, ect. I try not to put my bad decisions on Facebook or Twitter because it might ruin my chances of becoming a teacher.

Response to "Traveling The-Too-Much-Information Highway"

"Traveling The-Too-Much-Information Highway" is about Heather Hunter's experience with blogging and how it affected her relationship and emotional state. Heather describes herself as an avid blogger and she writes about things that are very personal in her life. When she meets a musician through his blog, she writes about him and all of the things that they do together. After a while, Heather wonders why the musician hasn't tried to make contact with her in a long time and she searches through his blog for clues. After searching around, she finds that there is another girl involved in the musicians life and they seem to be really close. Heather then writes more about this on her blog and tries to spend more time with the musician. The musician eventually figures out that the way Heather has been acting emotionally might be because of him and when he asks her, Heather does not say anything. This is probably because she doesn't want to admit to looking through the musicians blog. Heather says that after a matter of time, she was able to tell the musician about her real problem and then she was happy again.

I can relate to Heather's essay, because I have actually had that same problem in my relationship. I think that that social sites like facebook and blogs can make people have some feelings that are very unreasonable. By searching a partner's facebook because you think that they might be cheating, or thinking about breaking up with you is a bad idea. While, sometimes, it can be effective in getting the information you want, I believe that, most of the time, the messages and pictures you see can be easily misinterpreted.

The Traveling Information Too much Highway

This reading was about a woman and her blog as she met a man. To me social networks are full of drama. They enable people to snoop and find out information about peoples personal life, but at the same time, how personal is there life really, if it's all over the internet. I use social apps, but I limit what I put on the web. Blogs can start drama in relationships and even friends. Blogs have even been said to ruin marriages. I think blogs are a good way to spread the word to people about new things in today's world, but at the same time they are taking over people's lives.

Writing to Connect Response

"Writing to Connect" is about the way people write and how writing affects not only people in the world, but the world as a whole. She uses examples of how all types of writing can change people's life and how even films can have a major effect on the world whether they be fiction films or documentaries. 
I enjoyed this reading. I tend to enjoy things that I am interested in. In this reading I really liked the thought of people writing that spreads words around the world to make a difference. I honestly believe that no matter what anyone writes, there should be some meaning behind it. 

"Traveling the Too-Much-Information" Highway

This article by Heather Hubter was about a woman whom liked to blog, which was therapeutic and basically her Dear Diary for the public online to see. The blogs included her romantic life most in detail with a man known as "musician". She met him through their interesting blogs and became close. She then noticed after some time he was dating other people by pretty much snooping on his blogs. He noticed she was becoming snappy and short when they hung out. Things changed when she noticed the blog of he woman he was seeing, which mentioned she broke off the relationship. They then were close again. With this story and many others known I believe that bloggging or writing on online websites can create tension between people. Leaving personal blogs for the public to see can become a big problem. I don't think these messages should be shared to the public unless your comfortable with who will see it.

Writing to connect by Mary Pipher

Mary Pipher brings upon an article called "Writing to Connect". This article discusses how writing can change the world. She mentions many ways to get different forms of writing. Now days we learn information or news through media or Internet based settings where things are released as soon as they happen, but through writing there is more of a viewpoint made. Also writing about what a person cares about makes a difference in a piece of an poem or article. As Pipher mentions, writing an change the world, or change the readers mood/appreciation for something.

Traveling the Too-Much Information Highway

This essay or story i guess is about a woman who blogged every day about her and this guy named "The Musician." Her and this guy had a relationship that started through blogs and email which turned into a real relationship. Then they grew apart and she stumbled upon some other woman's blog who had started seeing the same guy. She was mad and decided to cut all ties from her email and blogging career.

This essay was different i guess the main focus was don't put so much information on the internet like your day to dat diary like she did. Although anonymous you can still have your feelings hurt. In this era all the information we put on the information is accessible by someone somewhere which is a scary thought.

Writing to connect

"Writing to Connect" by Mary Pipher discusses writing as a way of connecting with our world and adapting our minds as we change with it. Throughout history adults sugarcoat the truth to their children and to all kids. Why wouldn't they? A 7 year old shouldn't have to hear about a triple rape/ murder case. Thoughts like that, if a 7 year old could even comprehend them, would drive an innocent mind to insanity.

However now we as freshman have reached the age of reason. We're considered adults in the eyes of the law and should not only hear about, but know and understand what goes on in our world; regardless of its intensity or gruesomeness. Mary talks about writers who write to change, writers who write with style and writers who just write. Moral writing is a way of writing with a level head; you are trying to change the world with each word, with every sentence, but know that you probably won't change a thing. Writing is something that we can control in a world that's spiraled completely out of control. That's why our words must be chosen carefully because talk is cheap, but without writing change would be impossible.

Response to Writing to Connect

"Writing to Connect" is an essay on how writing can change so many viewpoints of ones self and potentially change the world. She continues into the first book to change her opinion of the universe which was The Diary of Anne Frank. After this she continues to more personal effects of not just media books or articles but movies and many other forms of information.
I completely agree with her, she has great insight on the matter and i can relate to it. I feel like the world only changes through media and information, and could possibly be changing even faster with the internet and social media revolution where someone can know something in a matter of 10 minutes of it happening, even though it happened around the world.

My video: Are School Uniforms A Good Idea For Students?

Here you can watch my video on the discussion of whether or not school uniforms are a good for the students.

Writing to Connect

"Writing to Connect" talks about some reasons why people write and how writing can change the world.  A person she uses as an example is Anne Frank.  She explains the difference between expository writers and change writers.  Articles aren't the only form of writing that matters.  The author explains how poems and films can also change the world.
I understand the author's standpoint.  Writing is an important factor in getting the word out.  When people write, they should write about things they care about; even fictional stories count.  Maybe one person can't change the world, but at least spreading the word might help start some spark.

Sample Xtranormal videos

Here are the videos that showed in class today:

Attendance Policies in University Classes
by: kittendeonaldo

Teaching Assistant Salaries
by: kittendeonaldo

Here are some student examples:

uniformszz
by: ac6785102

Affirmative Action
by: beneilers

Presidentz Movie
by: amfalke

"Writing to Connect" by Mary Pipher

Pipher writes about how there are a lot of different ways to get our messages across through writing such as poems or fictional stories and that we can also get them across through song or film. She also talks about how writing has been able to change the world. An example she gave of this was Anne Frank. She talks about three different types of writers (Expository, Socially Conscious, and Change) and describes the differences between them.

I agree with Pipher about how writing has been used to change the world. I think that, sometimes, people lose sight of how important writing can be. It has the ability to do so much and that's why I think that more people need to learn to find their voices through writing. The better you express yourself, the more power your writing has the potential to be.