11/30/2017 0 Comments Class notes 11/30/17In this blog post, I will be discussing what we learned in English class today. We defined terms, learned about MLA style writing, learned different ways to cite sources, and learned some basic rules. We also played a game show named "Let's Talk!" and reviewed different topics we have been learning about. I will be sharing all of this information with you. This information will further improve my research paper essay, which can be found here. All of this information I copied from our classrooms whiteboard into my notes, and this information was all written by my English teacher Sabatino Mangini. First, I will share the various terms we defined: Rhetoric- this is defined in many ways. It provides truth, not lies. It is not solely the art of persuasion, but persuasion is part of this. Rhetoric means making right choices, choosing what to say, choosing what to do, and choosing anything (by the way, the definition of this word on google is completely wrong, don't listen to it). Propaganda- lies, lacking meaningful content. This should not get confused with rhetoric. Plagiarism- taking and using someone elses ideas and not giving credit. Attribution- giving credit from a source. Parenthetical citation- putting the authors last name in parenthesis at the end of their own quote or idea. Example: Universal care is a social must (Jones 69). (Also, see how the period comes after the closing parenthesis? We learned that too) Embedded citation- adding the source into the sentence without using parenthesis. Example: Jones argues universal healthcare is a social must. Second, I will share information about MLA style writing: MLA style writing is a format that is used to write papers. This is similar to APA style writing, but APA is used for psychology courses, not English courses. An MLA research paper is a genre of writing, and it is mostly the style used in colleges. It exists because of 2 reasons: 1) it provides standards and conventions, and gives readers expectations of the paper with common language. 2) it ensures the writer will reference previous conversations about their topic into their own conversations, and gives background information. To summarize, MLA research papers helps enter a conversation in a clean way ans it helps to continue the conversation. Third, we learned about different ways to cite sources, which is what I will be sharing next: There are 2 ways to cite sources: 1) A work's cited page on the last page of the paper 2) In-text citations There are 3 ways to cite sources in an actual essay: 1) Summarize (using your own words and condensing information into a smaller amount) 2) Paraphrase (using your own words and it is the same length as the original source's information) 3) A direct quote (word for word inside of DOUBLE parenthesis) Fourth, we learned about some basic rules: 1) You can combine a direct quote and a summarization in one sentence. If you summarize part of the sentence and use the sources language in the other part, then you can put quotations around the sources direct language. Example: Universal healthcare is a "social must." 2) You do NOT have to put the authors credentials into your essay. Mentioning them in the work's cited page is enough. 3) You can combine a parenthetical citation with an embedded citation if you want. Example: Jones (69) argues universal healthcare is a "social must" (69). Another example: Universal healthcare, Jones (69) argues, is a social must. As you can see, there are a lot of different ways to cite your sources. Fifth and finally, we reviewed topics we learned about and talked about in class ever since the very first day of the course:
Types of Genres/Subgenres: 1) Creative Nonfiction 2) Memoir 3) Reflective writing Motives: 1) Make meaning 2) Get a good grade in this class 3) Enact writing to travel: past places, past people, and past selves 4) Learn about the narrative mode and its genres 5) Experience the ways narrative writing helps me to make a sense of the world 6) Make connections between material and nonmaterial world 7) Examine my life Rhetorical Purposes (PIE): 1) Persuade 2) Inform 3) Entertain Rhetorical Modes (DEAN): 1) Description 2) Exposition 3) Argumentation 4) Narration
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11/28/2017 0 Comments Research Paper ReflectionIn this blog post, i will be answering questions about my research paper. After watching Reflective Writing and going over notes in class (which can be found in this blog post), I will be making revisions to my Research Paper Draft #1. Before making any changes to the draft, i will answer these questions about my paper so far. Who did you work with to compose your research paper? Was this a good approach? I did not work with anyone to compose my research paper. I think this was a good approach because I was able to include all of my personal thoughts and write the research paper the way I wanted to. What rhetorical mode and genre are you using? The rhetorical mode I am using is Argumentation and the genre I am using is MLA Research Paper. When did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote this project on Friday November 17th and revised it on the 18th and the 21st. I think this was a good approach because I think I wrote the paper early enough so I had time to revise it and make corrections the best I could. Where did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote this project on my living room couch and revised it in my room. I think writing in both of these areas was a good approach because they were both quiet areas and I had no distractions around me. I was able to write all my thoughts down and get the paper done when I wanted to. Why did you choose to write about your chosen topic? Good choice? I chose to write about sex education in America because I think it is a growing problem. Michael Moore's movie Where to Invade Next inspired me to write about this topic. The pregnancy rate and the rate of STD’s are increasing in the country and I think America should try different approaches to lower those rates. This is a good choice because the more awareness is spread, the more consideration there could possibly be in school districts to make a change about sex education. How did it feel to write this argument ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? While I was writing my argument paper, I felt pretty good about it. Since I completed the annotated bibliography, I pretty much had all of the information I needed. I had to pick and choose what ideas and evidence would go where and how I would put together the whole paper. As I was writing, these pieces seemed to flow together and I had a good writing experience. After writing the paper, I felt pretty proud of it. I thought I had a strong viewpoint along with strong pieces of evidence. I knew I needed to go back and switch a few things; and after I did that, I was still proud of what I had put together. I also thought my paper was very organized. Ever since writing the paper, I still feel pretty good about it. We talked about how to make revisions in class, so I know I want to go back to my paper and do some touch ups. My one “if only” moment is if only I did my paper bit by bit. I sat down and wrote the whole paper in one sitting. I feel like if I wrote one paragraph about one idea at a time, I could have thought of more creative ideas and maybe how to flow the paper a little better. How will you revise your argument?
I will revise my argument by going and revising one idea at a time, taking a break, and then approaching the other ideas. This will keep me focused on one idea at a time which will hopefully help me think and write the best I can about that particular topic. I will also go back and define any terms that the reader may not know about. I also will make sure that the exigency in the introduction paragraph is clear to the reader. Next, i am going to make sure that i reference the author or the article in every sentence. Then, I am going to add a header to the top left corner of my paper along with the page number in the top right corner of each page. Following that, I am going to add a works cited page which provides all of the sites I used in my essay and all of the authors that wrote them. Lastly, I will revise my conclusion paragraph and make sure my thesis statement is not word for word from my introduction, will add a strong closer, and ensure that there is no new information given in this paragraph. 11/28/2017 2 Comments Notes from class on 11/28/17In this blog post, i will be discussing what we learned in class today, November 28th 2017. We took a lot of notes which to me was partial review. However, i did learn some valuable information that i will carry on to my future classes. I copied these notes from my Professor Sabatino Mangini. First, the class learned what TPS stands for: Topic (what the paper is about) + Position (what you want to say about the topic; an opinion. If this part is debatable, then it passes the test and its a good position) + Support (what researched reasons you will use to defend your position; evidence). These parts are put together to equal a thesis statement. If a thesis statement involves these 3 items, then its most likely a successful one. The class example used was "Universal health care should be provided to all US citizens because this policy change will save lives, save money for people, and create a more humane society. Don't try to steal this idea, it already has a trademark on it. Next, we learned about parallel structure. Parallel structure is basically keeping order in the essay. For example, the first piece of support from our class example was "this policy change will save lives." Since it was the first piece of evidence mentioned, it should be explained in the first body paragraph. The second piece of evidence was "save money for people," so this should be explained in the second body paragraph. Lastly, the third piece of evidence was "create more of a humane society," which will be explained in the third paragraph. Parallel structure is simple and it can create a very neat and organized paper. We then learned about a research paper's introduction paragraph. There is a structure that it should have, starting with grabbing the readers interest. This can be done through a quote, question, statistic, or an opening anecdote. Next, inform the reader about any background information, context, or exigency they may need to know before continuing through the paper. Then, create a bridge that connects the information to the thesis statement, which is the last part of the intro paragraph. Not including a bridge will take the reader from background information right to a thesis statement, which will make the reader confused making the paper lack structure and flow. We also learned about the thesis statement. The thesis statement is the central claim of the entire paper. It is one sentence and is the last sentence of the intro paragraph. Having a thesis statement will provide focus for the research paper and provide an entryway into the writing. Another piece of information we learned about was a research paper's body paragraphs. These paragraphs job is to develop an argument, support a position, address counter arguments, and provide claims and evidence. Having these components in body paragraphs will further explain the paper, thus making the paper stronger and more believable. When the papers believable, that's when you persuade your readers. Lastly, we learned about conclusion paragraphs. Conclusion paragraphs should revisit your thesis statement but not repeat the statement word for word. The conclusion paragraph should also sum up the authors points, conclude with a strong closer, and the paragraph should not provide any new information All of this information really helped me with writing my research paper. It gave me structure to follow and ideas of how to flow my paper together. I am going to make sure to remember these points for future classes because of how helpful they were to me in this class.
11/14/2017 2 Comments Defining Unknown TermsThis blog post is a little insight of what we did in class today. The class worked in groups and together we defined the terms democracy, capitalism, socialism, social oppressive "isms", and social institutions. I co-authored these definitions with my group members: Kacie Montano, David Miller, and Regina King. Democracy- Everyone equals everyone. People have a say in voting, decisions, and more. The people vote and the majority wins.
Capitalism- More wealthy and higher leveled individuals have more control in government and decision making. Socialism- People do not have that much of a say, they vote on congressmen and state elected officials to decide what is best for the state. Fascism- Led by a dictator. One person makes all decisions. A government that has absolute power. They want to eliminate media, and think that violence is necessary. Social oppressive “isms”- When groups of people are pushed and pressed down by society. Some examples are racism, sexism, and sizeism. Social institutions- People that come together from a common belief to try and push their views accepted into society. They try to influence other peoples’ behaviors and set a certain expectation for them. Some examples are family, church, employment, school, prison systems, and media. 11/10/2017 4 Comments Annotated BibliographyWrite an annotated bibliography of at least four sources for your research paper. In the annotated bibliography, include the following:
A Counterargument:
11/8/2017 2 Comments Revising my Life Choice MemoirIn this blog post, I will be talking about how I revised my Life Choice Memoir Essay. The original essay (draft #2) consisted of 2,422 words when the assignment was to write an essay with 1,000-1,500 words. Since my essay was a little too long, my teacher, Sabatino Mangini, challenged me to get rid of 700 words.
While trying to eliminate these 700 words, I got very frustrated. I did not know what parts I should cut out and leave in the essay. I also liked some parts in the essay, but I knew they were parts and descriptions that were not necessary to tell. Therefore, I ended up deleting them. So, after eliminating as many words as I could, I got the word count down to 1,738 words in my revised essay (draft #3). I eliminated 684 words total. I know it wasn't 700 words exactly, but I thought that 684 was pretty close. Also, I did not see anything else I wanted to delete from the essay. Mr. Mangini told me that he thought I could possibly like my shorter essay better than my original one. However, I do not like it as much. I feel like I had to take out more descriptions than I would have wanted to. I also deleted the ending portion where I talk about hearing about my old job after I left. I liked that part of the essay, but it was taking up too many words and I didn't feel like I NEEDED to include it. I feel like draft #2 is more descriptive and more interesting than draft #3 is. Draft #3 definitely gets to the point quicker than draft #2, but I liked explaining more of what I saw and experienced in draft #2. Even though I do not like draft #3 as much as my original draft, I still liked the challenge of trying to eliminate 700 words from draft #2. 11/2/2017 1 Comment Where to Invade Next? An Argument.
In this blog post, I will be discussing the topics that were mentioned in the movie Where to Invade Next. The summary to this movie can be read on this blog post. I will be discussing 3 different topics from this movie, creating a research question for each topic, and answering that research question.
11/2/2017 0 Comments Summary of Where to Invade Next
In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore travels around the world to different countries. While he visits these countries, he finds different things that the people do in their country to try to be the happiest they can be. The purpose of his trip was to take ideas from these countries and try to incorporate them in America to try and make America a better place.
The first country he visited in the film was Italy, where workers have a 2 hour lunch break, receive 5 months maternity leave while getting paid, and they have 8 weeks of paid vacation a year. Then Michael went to France, where the school cafeteria gives their children a 4 course meal of actual food, instead of the slop us American children got in school cafeterias. France considers lunchtime an hour long class, and the children learn manners and how to eat civilly. France also teaches students about love; particularly, sexual love. America teaches kids abstinence, but France teaches kids how to be safe about sex to prevent outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases and unplanned pregnancy. Moore then went to Finland which has the top education system in the world. The kids do not receive any homework because the people believe that kids should be kids and they should spend time with family, playing sports, etc. The kids go to school for only 20 hours a week, including their lunch break. The people in France do not give their kids standardize testing, and they think that America should stop this tradition because it is not beneficial in our lives. Another country Moore went to is Slovenia, where college students can go to college for free and they do not have any debt to pay off from school. Moore then goes to Germany, and finds out that people work 36 hours a week, they get paid for 40 hours, and when work is done, work is done. It is illegal for a boss to contact their workers for work related things if they are on vacation, and companies are not allowed to email their workers after work hours. The next country that was visited was Portugal, and here, all drugs are legal. Whether someone has drugs on them or they are using them, there is no illegal aspect about any of it. After Portugal, Moore traveled to Norway and saw how the prisoners are not treated horribly like they are here in America. The only thing that is taken away from them is their freedom, and they are not punished in any other way. Even in the highest security prison, the prisoners are given keys for their rooms, good food, clothes, and much more. The next country that Moore invaded was Tunisia, where the governments funds women’s health clinics, which includes abortion. The people here believe that women should have equal rights as men, and so do the people in Iceland. Iceland was the final country that Moore invaded. In Iceland, women had the exact same rights as men. There are women on boards and in almost every business, and having these women has proven that life in Iceland has definitely improved. In the end, all of these countries have particular rules and a way of living life, which makes them happy and appreciative about themselves and the people and the life around them. If America adopts some of these standards, we could too be as happy as these countries. |
Julia ThorntonI am using this blog for my English course and beyond Archives
December 2017
CategoriesAll Life Choice Making Connections Memoir Proust Questionnaire Reflection Research Paper Student Choice Summary Where To Invade Next Writing Process |