week 5.2

This class was a good experience compared to other freshman level courses that I’ve taken. The way that Ms. Williams involved everyone in the class proved to be very effective. I would definitely recommend the class to someone else. I’m a little confused as to why we needed to buy one of our books. We never even opened Technopoly. Also, I think that all of the information found in Easy Writer can also be found on the internet for free. We didn’t have an assigned reading for this final week. Therefore, I’m not exactly sure what to write about. This class really flew by, and taking it in the summer made me really glad that I didn’t take it in the fall. Fifteen weeks of college writing II would have been a little much. This class was also better than the other college writing II class I’ve taken. That one was taught by an extremely boring professor and it was hard to pay attention. One of my favorite things about this class was how well Ms. Williams kept the attention of the entire class. Even in classes where I was tired it was still not difficult to remain awake. Fun class.

week 5.1

This was our final week of college writing 2. The last five weeks went by really fast. The final was yesterday, and it was more challenging than I had anticipated. This week we watched everyone’s presentations. There were quite a few that were very interesting. It seemed like everyone did a pretty good job. I hope mine was OK. I ended up taking a lot of information out because it seemed like it would be way over the time limit. The presentation on factory farms was particularly disturbing. That presentation made it somewhat difficult to get down the roast beef sandwich I ate immediately after class. Also, the presentation on gun control was intriguing, especially the video about the woman whose family was murdered in the restaurant I’m finding it extremely difficult to come up with much to write about at the moment. Oh. The presentation on animal testing was really sad. Those poor rabbits. And dogs and cats and rats. This class was really difficult for me. Probably because of the compressed time period. I’m looking forward to not having to write anything for the next two weeks before the fall semester begins. Next semester I’m in a beginning maracas class.

Week 4 Reading Post

So far this week we have had no required reading. I feel like Ms. Williams did a good job choosing the chapters for us to read from the book. I think that I’ve gained a much better understanding of the mechanics of arguments after reading the three chapters assigned to us. There are quite a few chapters in our textbook, but it seems like she managed to pick out the three that are most crucial to understanding our course material. And Easy Writer, besides having a goofy pun for a title, has proven to be of great assistance in writing my research paper. It’s very interesting to me that the rhetorical ideas and practices we’ve been learning about this semester were developed thousands of years ago. You have to wonder whether Aristotle or Quintillian had even the faintest idea that their works would last for such a long time. Their work has not only survived, it has flourished. Ancient Greek rhetorical concepts have been transformed into required courses for millions students of higher learning around the world. I have enjoyed this course far more than the first time I took it. That was about four years ago when College Writing II was still centered around the analysis of literary readings (gag).

Week 4 Post 1

This week in class we have been focusing on completion of the research paper. Feel like my topic (hydraulic fracturing) requires much more explanation than others’ topics in the class. Most people don’t even know what it is. Other people in the class are writing about more everyday issues like gun control and drug testing welfare recipients. We have also begun work on the Powerpoint presentations that will go along with the papers. It’s easy to get distracted by all the flashy animations and other features of Powerpoint. The presentation is what really worries me about the whole project. I’m almost finished with the paper, but a seven to ten minute Powerpoint show is intimidating. Public speaking is not my strong point, and I feel like that ten minutes is going to seem like an eternity. The class also received our grades for the second paper this week. I did noticeably better on the second paper than I did on the first. I’ll be really excited if the grade for this third paper goes up as much as my second grade did over the first. I feel like this class really has improved already how well my papers are written and my writing in general. Only problem now is finishing the presentation before I have to go to a wedding in Kansas City this weekend.

the textbook

Our assigned reading for this third week was Chapter Eight, "Extrinsic Proofs: Arguments Waiting to be Used". I found the information about proofs and authorities particularly interesting. One thing I have taken away from this week's reading is a new interest in sources used in journalism other literature. It can be interesting to find out more about the background of sources used in newspaper and magazine articles. I have had to write research papers for classes before, but this chapter has helped me better understand the mechanics behind putting them together. The credibility given to proximate authorities can easily lead to false accusations. Another interesting section of Chapter Eight was the explanation of how scholarly disagreements occur. What I don't understand is how "rhetors should never accept facts at face value". Say for example you are reading a scientific paper. Most scientific papers that are published cannot be published without peer review, so why would you not be able to trust data from these papers? Also, it confused me a little that they wrote that 'rumors' were considered an extrinsic proof. How can just a rumor with no witness backing be considered proof? However, I guess a witness testimony might also be falsified by that individual. On the whole though, this chapter was slow reading, a little dull.

english

This week's classes focused on the subject of our research papers. Among other things we learned about MLA guidelines for research papers. There are so many rules that I did not know about previously. What is especially difficult is the format of the works cited page. It seems like there is a different method of citation for every one of my sources. This is going to be a busy weekend. I have a research project and Powerpoint presentation due in my other class on Monday as well as a rough draft for this class. It will be so nice when this summer school business is over. The class debate this week was about the legal drinking age her in the U.S. It was very interesting to hear people's beliefs on the subject. Just for kicks I decided to argue the position that there should be no drinking age. The debates can be challenging because of the requirement that we must respond to the previous speaker's statement. So last week I talked about writing about immigration for my research paper, but now the topic is hydraulic fracturing in the drilling industry. Some of the details about the health risks associated with hydraulic fracturing are quite disturbing.

Week 2 Post 2

Arguing both sides of contentious topics is proving to be more difficult than I had originally believed. Especially when there exits more supporting evidence for the side of the argument that I disagree with. For my second paper I'm attempting to prove that the United States government should provide roughly ten million undocumented immigrants with a path to citizenship by ratifying immigrant amnesty legislation. This is something I believe to be true -- mainly because the idea that immigration authorities can somehow locate, detain, and deport millions of individuals seems totally ludicrous. For a number of reasons such action strikes me as a serious waste of time and money. However, a number of arguments for why we should not provide amnesty are quite convincing on paper. Because of this I have been thinking about switching up my statement and arguing against immigrant amnesty legislation. This weekend I have to go to Austin to help someone move. Revising and finishing this second paper by the deadline just became more of a challenge. The research paper due at the end of this five-week summer session has been floating around in the back of my mind. Immigration in the United States sounds like an appropriate subject. My only concern is that it may prove to be too broad an issue to adequately address within the page limitations of the assignment.