The REAL Blog Post #10 ;)

The most important lesson i learned in Professor Fornes English 101 class is that all the skills I learned during my highschool years are technically worthless. Contrary to what was taught in highschool, I learned to try to cut my sentences in half, whereas I used to believe that the sentences which were longer, were better. This semester my writing style has changed. I now spend more time revising and editing my papers. In my other classes, there isn't as much emphasis on the grammatical and sentence structure issues of essays. Therefore, when writing for English, I have to be more careful. My writing process has of course changed. I spend more time on my papers and assignments to ensure they are done better. I am very grateful to my professor for help and of course to my lil buddy, Heather, for making sure I was awake for class every tuesday and thursday.

Visual Argument (BP #10)

Sources

• My first source will be some of the text messages that I have collected from various people that chow a level of emotion. This is very important because it will give a first hand look at the argument my paper is trying to make.


• My second source is an article fromthe departmen of communications about the sociallinguistics of teenagers who have incorperated texting into their everyday lives. http://extra.shu.ac.uk/daol/articles/v1/n1/a3/thurlow2002003-paper.html


• My third source is an article from ScienceDirect explaining a new text messaging system called eMoto. The reason behind including this is to showcase how companies are trying to get the text users to show their emotion while texting

Research ~~> Blog Prompt #8

~Research Questions~

1. How does text messaging affect the people interact with each other?
2. What percentage of Americans use text messaging?
3. How does text messaging affect the way people express their emotions through elctronic communication, as well as personal(Face-to-Face) interaction?

~Search Terms~

1. Text Messaging
2. Expressing Emotion
3. Multi-media Messaging

Prospectus ~~> Blog post #7

It’s happening everywhere, in the car, at home, during class, during church. To some it would seem that an epidemic has hit not just America, but the entire world. The actions have caused wrecks and saved lives. I am talking about text messaging, the easy, convenient, vastly popular new way to connect to each other. It’s a common misconception that texting is very unemotional. This view comes from both those who use the service regularly and those who couldn’t type a text message to save their lives. However, as texting messaging is usually between friends and family members, if a person really knows the person they are communicating with, they can tell the feelings of the person sending the messages. This a very important subject, as it affects most of the people in our society. It is also an arguable topic for the reason stated earlier, many believe the technology is turning us into a mechanical society.
This topic will not have a lot of specific research, as this area has not been researched very much. However, I will be able to find information on the growing trend of texting over calling and the effect it has had on our society. I can use these articles to lay a foundation for not only my argument, but the counter argument as well.
Text messaging is a fast growing trend and as users of this technology, we must learn how to ‘read between the lines’ in order to truly understand the messages being sent to us. While it is true that some people intend to be unemotional while using text messaging, the majority of people express their emotion by subtle changes in the way they type and these changes can be seen by receivers who truly care about the person they are interacting with.

Technology and Personal Life (BP#6)

There are many ways in todays society in which a person can communicate with their friends, family, and others they come into contact with everyday. As a college student living on campus, I use the available technologies quite frequently to stay in contact with people. I use a cell phone, e-mail, Facebook, yahoo, Gmail, and a few other ways to electronically stay in touch with people. This greatly improves the whole 'college experience' because I can get in touch with just about anyone in a matter of hours, minutes, or even seconds. Personally, many of my relationships have been helped by this. I am able to talk to my Grandma, who raised me and is like my mother, everday. Several of my friends also rely on this technology to stay in touch with boyfriends or girlfriends who are back in their hometown or overseas. It is believed by some that this technolgoy is making us very impersonal people. I would have to disagree. One of my best relationships was kept alive thanks top the use of instant messaging, text messaging and cell phone calls. My best friend lives in Florida, and its as if she never left because i am able to talk to her everyday.

Cover Letter

Dear Professor Fornes:

When beginning English 101, I thought the course was going to be a breeze. I was not quite prepared, even from my high school AP course, for the effort I was going to have to put into my writing. While spending time developing and writing my essays, my style has improved. I have learned how to adequatly proofread in order to catch my errors. These developing skills are revealed through my writing portfolio.
I began this course with a fairly decent background in writing and the development of essays. I have always been fairly confident when writing essays for class and my grammer is usually good. Even so, I have still struggled with developing my closing arguements, a skill that I believe can only be perfected through practice.
In my first essay, "Facing the Facebook," I at first had trouble following the claims of the author of the essay. He seemed to have so many claims that I was not sure how to set up my essay. Upon learning that I did not have to align my essay to his, I was able to construct a paper with a good base and develop it into a readable and 'flowing' essay.
As i go on through my college career, i hope to become an even better writer. I would like to improve all of the skills it takes to be a successful writer, not only to pass my courses, but also to be a contributing member of society.

Paper #1
“Foreign Athletic Limits”
Grade:C-
Explanation: This student did have a thesis and a clear stance on the chosen topic. However, his sentence structure was not very good at all, detracting from the presentation. He also seemed to repeat the same issue over and over.



Paper #2
“Online College vs. Online High School”
Grade:C-
Explanation: This student doesn't have a clear thesis and the positioning of the paragraphs is not very good. he should have kept all the paragraphs about high school together and all the paragraphs about college together. Also, his misspelled was rather distracting.



Paper #3
“Predisposed to Divorce”
Grade:B+
Explanation: This student has a clear thesis and provides good evidence to back up his point. the only problem i really had with this is that one of his major sources was of only twins, but he did say this. also, there were very few grammar mistakes, it was bery easy to read this essay.



Paper #4
“NAACP Case Against Gun Manufacturers”
Grade:C-
Explanation: I could not find a well developed thesis and his introduction is very short and not developed. also he did not develop his argument well, its more of fact then his opinion, not much of an argument. the grammar and sentence structure detract from reading the essay as well.

Analysis of Rebecca Hagelin's Article

Rebecca Hagelin relates in her article, "Video Games Violence in Our Sons," the story of the young man who murdered two police officers and a 911 dispatcher in Alabama. By using this story, Hagelin presents an irrefutable example of what video game violence can do to those who play the games. The young man who committed these crimes actually gave a statement saying that "life is like a video game". this statement strengthens Hagelins arguement, video games desensitize the player to real life situations. players look at crimes and death as something that is quite normal, becuase the player experiences it everytime the game is played.

Video Games and Violence

For the next essay that I am required to write for English Class, I have chosen to analyze the article "Video Game Violence and Our Sons", written by Rebecca Hagelin. Hagelin is the Vice President of a major conservative group as well a columnists for two online news groups. She uses very convincing evidence to back up her point of view that video games lead to violence in American teens. Her major example is of the boy who killed two officers and a 911 dispatcher. She claims that though this was the first time he ever committed such a crime in reality, he commited the same crime all the time through the video game Grand Theft Auto. This is true, however there would be many factors that come into play as to why he committed these crimes. What Hagelin does not bring out is his childhood, whether he had any pre-exsisting health/mental conditions, who taught him how to use a gun?? Video games do not teach you how to fire a real weapon... as it is done with controllers that are shaped nothing like guns. If it is games such as Grand Theft Auto that cuase violence then we must also blame games like Duck Hunt... because in that game you actually use a controller that is in the shape of gun. I chose this article becuase I obviously do not agree with Rebecca Hagelin, but she does back up her point with better evidence than the other article author does.

Class Prompt #1

I found out quickly that college life was not quite what I had expected. No, it was in fact a much different experience. I was told that college would be one of two ways, either studying all the time, or partying all the time. The true life of a college student does of course include the occasional 'accidental' hitting of the snooze button and forgetting to set your alarm at night, staying up late into the night, or even morning for some. However, most students keep at least a little balance in their chaotic schedules. Homework is almost always done in time to hand in, even if its done right before class, the syllabus is usually followed quite closely. Friends will actually pass up hanging out in order to study for an upcoming test. Then there are the professors. I was told that professors could care less about a students success. This was far from the truth. Most teachers are very personable, interesting, and helpful. They are available after class if extra help is needed. Overall, college has turned out to be much better than I had expected.

The article i have have chosen to write my paper on is "Facing the Facebook" by Michael Bugeja. The reason I have chosen this particular article is because it is the opposing view to what I believe. Mr. Bugeja believes that Facebook is harmful and counterproductive. Personally I do not believe that facebook is addictive. I have a Facebook account and am in no way 'hooked' on it. The website is so popular because it is very easy to contact friends and find out what is going on in their lives. Bugeja claims that the website is being used in classrooms when students are supposed to be working. However, if there are computers in a classroom, its not just Facebook students will get on. Lets FACE it, barely any student loves goin to class and most will do anything to have a temporary repreive from the daily lectures. It is not a calculated disrespect to teachers, they are just tired of class and if the opportunity arises to stay awake in a boring lecture, they will take it, whether that opportunity is Facebook, texting, talking to their friends, or reading a novel.