Core Value I. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.
My first experience within Comp II included a writing titled “Stone Money” in which I discussed the value of money, our faith within economic systems, and even more abstract concepts. In high school I obviously experienced writing through stages full of drafts and revisions before my final submission. However, the revisions were nothing more than fixing spelling or grammatical errors. My “Stone Money Rewrite” was more than that, Professor Hodges encouraged us to include new content. Which is evident in my description of Brazilian URVs (units of real value) and how they worked through a story about buying a carton of eggs. We discussed elements such as this within class and it helped to stabilize an idea of the concept, and thus helped me to create a more complex and fulfilling piece of writing.
Core Value II. My work demonstrates that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.
I understand that writing conveys meaning, when writing you have to have a purpose. My “Visual Rewrite” is an example of a writing that conveyed something with a purposeful intent. My goal was to completely describe the events of a 30 second public service announcement, I needed to do more than just describe characters and setting. I had to give a clear image of the entire visual, otherwise the purpose would be lost. This was a unique assignment for me, within a discipline I have never ventured into. Writing a research paper or an argumentative essay involves different language compared to my visual rewrite. My first “paragraph” has vocabulary revolving around angles and lighting “The commercial starts with a fade in from a black screen, it is nighttime, and the angle of the camera is from the left side of a road. It is focused on the taillights of a car (not directly, but from the left side) seen on a dimly lit woodsy road. The car appears to be moving fast because the image is blurred.” so that the image could be clearly pictured.
Core Value III. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.
Typically, I have never been good at writing rebuttal arguments, I either fail defend my own argument by contradicting myself, or completely ignore any factual points from the opposite arguments. That being said, my “Rebuttal Argument” essay was no different. My essay was used as an example for other students to place feedback on , which reading their comments and suggestions really helped me to see where I faltered on my rebuttal argument (which as I previously stated is a problem area of mine). I focused too much on my own opinion and not on formulating the opinions of my readers. What was supposed to be an essay acknowledging opposite view points and clarify mine turned into a rant based solely on my own ideals. I failed to think about my audience, and the feedback from my peers helped me to realize this so I could fix it for my rewrite.
Core Value IV: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.
GOAL 4:
Writing a paper full of citations and quotes is nothing new, my first research paper was in sixth grade, and that is when I learned the difference between reliable and unreliable sources. Rules like, Wikipedia is never to be found on a works cited page, or a Facebook article is not a credible source for an academic paper, were things that I stood by. Finding sources to convey my argument then becomes difficult because a good forty percent of materials is eliminated for not being reliable enough. My “Causal Essay” contains citations from a few journals and other reliable sources. I have used Google Scholar in the past and it can result in some tasty sources, however utilizing the Rowan Library’s online database was my best decision. Professional discussions like the one I found within Pantea Farvid and Virginia Baum’s “Casual Sex as ‘not a Natural Act’ and Other Regimes of Truth about Heterosexuality,” proved to be very moving within my essay.
Core Value V. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.
As I have already said, writing an academic paper with meaningful citations is not a new procedure for me. Citing sources that I use for direct quotes is a no brainer, however, it is also necessary to cite authors whose words help me to formulate my own thoughts and argument. I am taking their ideas and using them to help inspire my own, and that is deserving of citation. Not only is plagiarizing another’s words unethical, plagiarizing their thoughts is equally as scandalous. My entire “Stone Money” essay is based off of the ideas of another author, Milton Friedman, he deserved the appropriate acknowledgment for his inspiration for my writing. I also included material and ideas from other sources and authors that were equally deserving of reference.
Rowan Counterintuitive 