Reflection Final

Ginny Miller

English 101

Ms. Epps

4 December 2011       

 As a young student, I was first taught the alphabet. As years passed, I learned to put those letters together to make words, sentences, and finally paragraphs in essays. For a large part of my high school years, my writing improvement seemed to grow stagnant. When I arrived in English 101, I realized there is more to writing than just putting words on paper.

            Expanding your writing ability can be difficult and often times frustrating, but when done well, writing can change the opinions of thousands. In English 101, I learned the first step to writing an advanced essay is to read and annotate the articles that pertain to the essay’s topic. I learned the importance of adding questions to the article as I read it. The questions help me remember what statements struck an interest, and it is a great way to remember what points to cover in the essay. I also learned how important it is to research authors’ backgrounds. Any author with an extensive background on the information covered in your essay can help establish a stronger credibility.

            Another important element of an essay is the thesis statement. Over the course of this semester, I have written various types of essays, and in each essay, the thesis is always the most important sentence. I have learned the necessity of combining the most important information out of an article into one sentence. The thesis statement captures the reader’s attention and sets the tone for the rest of the essay. I also learned that there are different types of thesis statements associated with individual essays. The structure of a traditional thesis statement contains three points that set the stage of the essay. Although the traditional thesis statement is associated with a five paragraphed essay, this semester I have been encouraged to lengthen my essays by thoroughly covering each point mentioned in the thesis with one or two paragraphs. In an informative synthesis, the thesis statement decides if the essay will be written in an alternating or block format. A block thesis statement is composed of a sentence that introduces the articles that will be discussed in the essay, but an alternating thesis statement will resemble a more traditional thesis statement format. This semester, the class focused on creating the most effective and appropriate styled thesis statement for each essay. As a whole, I feel that my ability to form thesis statements has gotten stronger. I can now pull specific points out of an article and recognize commonalities with other articles. English 101 has made it easier for me to formulate a well thought out thesis statement and essay.

            Creating well-supported and detailed body paragraphs is the next step in a well written essay. Throughout this semester, I learned how to summarize, paraphrase, and quote particular information in multiple articles. Summarizing and paraphrasing have differences, but they are commonly grouped together. With both summarizing and paraphrasing, you must have a strong grasp on the article’s argument. To form an effective summary or paraphrase, the article’s main points must be present and discussed in a few concise sentences. The major difference between summarizing and paraphrasing an article is that paraphrasing requires the information to be cited while summarizing gives an overview of the entire article. Quoting from an article can be extremely tricky. Citations are required in an essay in order to avoid plagiarism. I learned that the key to choosing quotes from an article is to choose the sentences that put the most emphasis on the argument you are trying to prove to the audience. I also learned that with every quote, the author’s name must be added in parentheses before the period. During this semester, I feel I have accomplished effectively using all three elements: summarizing, paraphrasing, and quotations. My body paragraphs have gotten stronger and more influential because I have conquered these skills.

            The final step in writing an effective essay is the conclusion paragraph. The concluding paragraph sums up everything that has been covered in recent paragraphs. Not only does the conclusion explain if your argument was proven or not, it is the last information the audience will read and remember. Throughout the semester, I have been taught how to efficiently summarize my own argument or the authors’ arguments that I am advocating in the essay. Also, I have been taught to rephrase and restate my thesis statement with the concluding paragraph. Combining all of these elements in the conclusion makes for a memorable argument and essay.

            Writing is a powerful tool when used correctly. In my English 101 class, I have grown as a writer. Skills that were weak have become strong, and my strong skills have become even stronger. Having the opportunity to write a variety of different essay styles has challenged me to significantly improve my writing techniques. Over the course of the semester, I struggled with writing the informative thesis. I could not seem to grasp the concept of the essay. To ensure that I did well on the essay, I spent extra time outlining, thinking through my topic, and following the steps I was taught this semester. In turn for my hard work, I made an A on the essay. Without the training English 101 has given me, I would not feel prepared to move forward in my English career. English 101 has given me confidence in my work, and with the confidence, I will take English 102 by storm.

WC: 917

Blog Post 6

This year, I have faced many new challenges in my life. College has been a brand new and at times overwhelming experience for me. I have learned to be thankful so much more than I ever thought about before. I am thankful for God because He has been my strength when I want to give up. I am thankful for my family and friends because they always love me. I surprisingly am thankful for the water on the bay at my house. It is what draws me back home. There is so much in this life to be thankful for, but many times, I lose focus on what is important in life. Thanksgiving is a time for remembering and being grateful, and I know this will be one of the best Thanksgivings yet to come!

Blog Post 5

In the articles, “Why Twitter Will Endure” by David Carr, “The Rise of Twitter Poetry” by Randy Kennedy, and “Is Texting Writing,” the authors discuss the helpful content of social media sites and devices. Each author states that Twitter and other social media “texts” are a great source to retrieve information from on a daily basis. The content can be unimportant at times, but at other times, it can be unbelievably important. The stream of information that is collected over time is posted into the social media sphere, and the information more easily accessed by a broader audience. Randy Kennedy states, “the growing popularity of the service as a creative outlet is remarkable.” All three articles argue this point and give substantial evidence to prove that the content is useful. Mostly positive feedback is given on the usefulness of social media sites and devices content. The large amount of information that can be accessed and analyzed now is a commonality discussed in all three of the articles mentioned above.

Blog Post 4

I found Jamais Cascio’s article, “Get Smarter,” the most compelling. The way Cascio compares the growth and progression of human minds grabs hold of the reader’s attention. The logos, or content, is laid out well and has detailed information regarding the topic. The only fault with the logos is the poor organization of the information. Cascio does a great job with reaching his audience. He believes that the human mind is adapting to their surroundings by becoming more knowledgeable with new technological advancements. He strikes fear into the reader when he sets the stage of combatting with adaption. Cascio wants us to see how imperative it is to adapt with the technology around us. Cascio’s ethos, or credibility, is strengthened by the amount of quotes he uses from other credible sources throughout the article. The article is effective with making the reader see his purpose, and the use of the rhetorical triangle helps make the article more understandable to all readers.

Blog Post 3

In the blog, “For the Love of Cooking,” the recipe for chocolate raspberry bruschetta is ineffective due to the lack of content, appearance, and navigability.

The pictures on the blog show each ingredient that will be necessary to make the dessert, but the pictures do not help the dessert look like an easy desert. The photos are also taken at an odd angle which makes them displeasing to the eye. The content is limited and has a lack of personal touch. The author of the blog only lists the ingredients instead of explaining each step. Personal experiences of how making the dessert would be easier could help and add a personal touch to the blog itself. With the lack of information on the recipe, I argue that the blog is ineffective and does not appeal to readers.

http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/

Blog Post 2

                The article “Is the Web dying?  It Doesn’t Look That Way” by Nick Bilton explains why the world believes the web is dying.  Bilton states, “the web is being crippled by a world of apps and screens.” Apps are becoming more prevalent through advancements of media devices. The article also makes the point that the Internet growth over the past two decades has significantly increased. The web seems to be thriving versus dying.

                Through my personal experience, I have realized our society’s dependence on the web. Apps and media devices have become the norm. I have an iPhone, and I use the app store multiple times a week. Every day, I check the weather not even realizing that I am on the web or using the Internet. In my opinion, I disagree with the statement “the web is dying.” I believe the web is doing just the opposite and growing at a rapid pace. As technology grows, the web will adapt to the new advancements.    

English 101-Blog Post 1

   After reading the article "Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text," I realized how dependent our population is becoming on the internet. The article is comical though. I find it funny that just because the article discussed does not come with a neat summary at the end, people automatically assume it is not important. The block of text could have given the cure for cancer, yet majority of the people interviewed say that if there was something important in the document it would be on the news. Technology has advanced so much in such a small amount of time. By the beginning of the nest generation paper my be extinct all together! I think our population to take a step back and realize that regular black and white text can hold just as much important information as the internet. We need to find a balance instead of forgetting about one altogether.
   In my experience, reading online tends to be harder than reading on paper. Online reading restricts you from being able to highlight or annotate the text you are reading. I do not mind online reading, but I learn more read off of paper versus the computer.