What have I gained?

I have learned a lot of new things since taking this class. The most important thing I have gained was me becoming a better writer. I use to not know how to do APA format, how to do a wikipedia article, but now I can use MLA format, and do a wikipedia article. Also, I use to always make mistakes in my writing, just little stuff like comma splices and errors. Since this class I have learned a lot, and I do not think I will make as many errors as I did before I took this class.

Portfolio

So far my portfolio is going a little slower then I thought it was going to. I am having trouble finding all of my stuff because I do not remember where I put all of my notes and annotated papers. Hopefully I will figure it out before tomorrow!

Technology

My whole life I have always played video games, watched T.V., and was usually always around computers. I was always hooking up my Sega, Playstation, X Box, or whatever it was. I had it and I was always hooking them up to T.V.'s I think this helped me because knowing a lot about technology now days is important with getting a job, and especially for school. I think I know enough about technology to get a job and to finish school.

Wikipedia Articles for Sources

I did not know that people could change information on a Wikipedia article til this class. I had used one of my sources for wikipedia, and then I realized that this information could be false because people can change it. I thought this was the most interesting writing assignment we did, personally. I also learned that it taught me how to take multiple article summaries and combine them into one article summary.

Free Write Number 3

When I was in high school, all I ever used was MLA format, not APA format. Most of my english teachers told me that was all I would have to know so we never really discussed APA format. So when Mrs. Bowles told us to write it in APA format, I was really confused and was hoping that I wasn't the only one lost. Thank goodness I wasn't because many people had said the same thing. I ended up learning and understanding it a lot more and I think Mrs. Bowles did a good job teaching it to the class.

Free Write Number 2

Over this semester, I feel like I have improved my writing skills because of everything we have done in this class. Before this class, I was terrible at researching, citing, annotating, and knew very little about APA format, but now I feel like I can do all of these things a lot better. Another thing I learned how to do in this class was summarize articles, and this was something that came to me a lot fasther then anything else we did in here. First you have to read the article, then briefly describe what the article was about, and you do not put what you thought about the article either.

Research Topic Proposal

Do you think the UCLA Bruins are the best college basketball team ever? This is a question that a lot of sports analist, teams, and college basketball fans argue everyday. Many people argue that other teams have had more success then UCLA but I just do not see how they could think that. I mean only six schools have gone undefeated and they had four undefeated seasons. They also have 7 consecutive national championships, no one has done that, yet. UCLA Bruins have had a lot more success then some schools combined. They play in the Pac-10 conference and have won the Pac-10 championship more then anyother team in their conference, with 18 conference championships.

Review Letter from classmate

Dear Cameron,

I thought that this was a very interesting paper. Before I read it I would have not believe you if you told me UCLA had the best basketball program in history. Now I can see that someone could present a strong case that UCLA does have the best basketball program. I really liked how you used stats to make a nonbeliever into a believer. Although I did notice just a few areas where you cited wrong and a few misspelled words, but I did not notice anything else wrong. I do agree with you and now believe that UCLA has the best basketball program in history.

Sincerely,
Ross Phillips

Brochure

When Mrs. Bowles assigned us the brochure I really kind of freaked out. I freaked out because I had never made one before and I thought it was going to be really hard. So when I was getting it all set up, the last minute of course, I found it very easy.

What am I taking Away?

When I signed up for this class, I really thought it was going to be a little easier for me because I was usually good at writing in high school and last semester at Henderson State University. Blogs were something I have never done before but I have a facebook so setting this up wasn't a big deal. I was also really good in English in high school so I thought that was going to help me, but it didn't really. This class helped me become a better writer because of the new format I had to use, the research we did all semester, and the wikipedia article we did.

Problems

Throughout my paper, I ran into some road blocks. The first road block I had was not having Microsoft Word. I would type something on my windows works and try to print it but I could never get it to print. It was a huge deal and very frustrating. The next problem I had was getting the APA format correct. I really do not think I ever fixed it but I tried. Another huge problem I had was trying to get enough information on my topic. It was kind of hard to find all of the information because my topic was kind of opioned. I think I made my points clear enough to say that they are the best. I was hoping to get more information but I had a really tough time finding more then I did.

Interesting

When I was doing my research paper, I found out a lot of interesting things about UCLA. I knew that they were more successful then anyone else, and I knew that they had the two best centers to ever play college basketball, but I didn't know everything that I researched. I didn't know that they had won seven national championships in consecutive seasons, and I also didn't know that they had four undefeated seasons. This information was really interesting to me because I didn't know that they were that dominant.

Who am I trying to tell

The audience who i am trying to talk to in my research paper was ESPN, everyone who watches College Basketball, and anyone who thinks otherwise. I do not see how people think anyother team has had more success then the UCLA Bruins basketball team. I guess I am mainly focusing on any member of the ESPN broadcast, any athlete, people who are not informed, and anyone who watches this sport.

Appeals

I learned this semester that there are different appeals and we also learned how to accuratly use them, as in the certain types of papers. One appeal we learned about was ethos, and ethos is based on the character of the speaker, relying solely on the reputation of another. This is something that I used in my research paper. It helped me a lot, and then we would take the information from sources and used them to varify our points on a topic. The second appeal we learned about is logos. Logos is an appeal based on logic or reason, this kind of appeal is usually used with bigger companies or larger corporations. It can also be used sometimes with scholarly documents. The third and final appeal we learned about was pathos. Advertisements are usually looked at towards your emotions. Usually when I see something, like a dog they show on T.V. that looks like he's in bad shape but you want to help him so you send money. All of these appeals are important to know about because you can use them in a wide range of places.

Peer Revision

One of the main things that helped me more then anything else this semester with writing papers was the peer revision we did with the other classmates. This helped me because my classmates would tell me what I should do, and they also helped me find the smaller things that I had missed. It was kind of like they graded my papers before the teacher did so I kind of had an idea of whats wrong with the paper even before I turned it in. They usually gave you good advice so you could add a little more to your paper, or even take something out.

Free Write

My research topic is on the best college basketball program ever. I think that UCLA is the best team because they ahve so many records and good stats. They hold the record of undefeated seasons, they have the longest winning streak, they have more winning seasons then anyother team, and they have the most consecutive 25 wins in a season. They also have 11 national championships, 7 of them were won in consecutive seasons. They have won 13 conference championships, including 27 overall. They have won 98 straight games at home, 88 in a row was the record. They already had 18 first team All Americans by 2000 and they have had 15 consecutive appearances to the NCAA tournament. They also hold the record for 38 straight NCAA tournament wins won in a row. They have had 16 Final Four appearances, and in the Final Four they have won 25 of them. I found that these stats were most interesting about my paper. I thought it was very interesting on how one program has been so dominant in all of these years. I chose this topic for that reason, and also because I enjoy sports and this was easy for me. He is considered the best coach of all time and has won more national championships with one team then anyother coach has all in their career.

What was a change for me?

APA format was a change for me because my whole life going through school, I have used MLA format. I was & still am use to that format more then APA but I am glad I learned how to write a different format. I think it is important to know both formats for later on in other writing or English classes. APA is a lot more confusing personally, but that could also be because I am so use to MLA format.

What is appealing to me?

The wiki-pedia appeals to me because of the author who keeps deleting me article. I have had to do this article over and over because he will not accept it. I sometimes think I am doing everything wrong because I could never get it to stay.

What I've Learned

There have been many things that I have learned in the class. The first thing I learned how to do is a wiki-pedia article. I have never had to do one before this class. The next thing I learned how to do is how to write a paper in APA format. I have always had to use MLA format so this was kind of new to me. Also, by doing my research paper, I have learned a lot about the UCLA Bruins basketball team and their history. I learned how to set up a blog and how to post my papers on there too.

Reflection Page

Things I learned over semester
Writing Skills in the beginning of semester
how to do a wikipedia article
McCracken Article
Wikipedia article
APA Format

Review for Rhetorical Test

We need to know the following for the Rhetorical Test:

-Rhetorical Triangle
-Rhetorical Discourse ( 6 characteristics)
- Definition of Rhetorical
-Konw what enthymeme means- arguement built, in part, from values, beliefs, or knowledge held in common by a speaker and an audience
-Pethos-emotion
-Logos-logic
-etho- characteristics

Peer Review Letter

Dear Cameron,

I would first like to tell you that your paper was really interesting. I did not know that white racism occurred as much as it does. I liked your thesis and how the paper was written. It had a lot of helpful points and your paper helped me on writing my paper better. The only thing I noticed about your wikipedia paper was that your conclusion should be a little longer and maybe more then just two or three sentences. I found your paper to be very interesting and helpful. i liked how you had your paper written; for example, you had your introduction, boby, body, and conclusion. In the body paragraphs, I liked how you compared white racism, and then in the next body paragraph you talked about African American racism. you started each paragraph with good transition words like, "First of All, Secondly, and In Conclusion." The paper was long enough and got all of your points in. I did notice some comma errors that you might want to check. Other then the comma errors, and the length in conclusion I thought your paper was well written and was very helpful.

Sincerely,
Ross

The Evocative Power of Things

Section 6: In section 6, the author is talking about the use of goods to recover displaced meaning is one of the engines of consumption in modern society.

Section 7- The last section, "Displaced Meaning and the Nature of Hope in a Consumer Society," is saying it is absolutely essential for us, as humans, never to recieve what it is we want. It connects between consumer goods and consumer society.

Conclusion- In conclusion, Hannah Arendt had suggested the "drift," and this chapter has made another contrary claim. It mentions consumer goods, and bridges that allow groups to restablish a limited kind of access to this meaning.

The Evocative Power of Things

Section 3- Locations for displaced meaning, the thrid section, is one of the longest sections in all. The section mentions where displaced meaning could be located. The location said was in the "Golden Age." Cultures like to place meaning in the past or in the future or in other cultures where they place their ideals.

Section 4- The section, " Displaced Meaning Writ Small," compares cultures to individuals. It shows examples for each. It also connects societies.

Section 5- This section argues that it is partly through inanimate objects and consumer goods that this problem is addressed.

"The Evocative Power of Things"

Thesis: In the "The Evocative Power of Things,", by Grant McCracken, there are both good sides and dark sides dealing with consumer goods.

Section 1: In the section displaced meaning and consumer goods, it mainly focuses on what displaced meaning is and how it's represented and to manipulate though the consumer system. Cultures use products as objects of displaces meaning.

Section 2: In section 2, displaced meaning, the author only talks about one of the several strategies that at at the disposal of a culture in its treatement of the chronic aspect of social life. That one strategy is the displaced meaning strategy.

Thesis to "The Evocative Power of Things"

5 steps for strategic writing

1. Collect four brochures
2. Look at purposes of brochure... example-whats the tone, or word choices
3. Who's intended audience
4. How's the text organized in brochures
5. What aspects of formatting do you notice?

How do these connect to the purpose and audience characteristics?

Review on House of Cards

In the article, "House of Cards," by Andrew Laperriere, the stock market experienced one of the largest drops since the 9/11 attack. Because the subprime mortgage market has poor credit ratings and is giong to spread, the job losses in construction and real estate could start taking place. This boom didn't take place until the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates in 2001. The lower rates cut monthly payments, and boosting demand for housing and pushing up home prices. The tighter credit conditions are only just beginning, so the worst part is probably in our future. The issue economists and investors are trying to figure out how much lower home prices and rising delinquencies will reduce employment, business investment, consumer spending, and overall economic growth.