Category: P12: Self-Reflective Statement

Reflective Statement – PaulaJean

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

My White Paper and my final research paper show how much my ideas and research have changed. I started with a very different topic then I ended up with. Throughout the semester, I have researched a lot about the placebo effect, confirmation bias, and stereotype threat which led me to my final thesis. I have had multiple drafts and forms of peer review from my classmates and professor. Feedback from my professor was a very important part of my success in my research position paper. I learned how to take the feedback and apply it to my next assignment and revisions. During the semester, my research has taught me a lot and prompted me to think differently than before this course.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

A lot of my research included studies and experiments pertaining to my, at first, very broad topic. Majority of what I was doing “behind the scenes” was analyzing, comparing, and contrasting articles or journals to further strengthen my position in my final paper. I carefully selected journals that proved my point and provided different aspects of it to the reader. In my final research paper, a lot of my points are made by different studies. I used them and analyzed them to create a better final product. I did my best to read them and analyzing what the authors said rather than what I interpret it as. Synthesizing was something introduced to me in Comp I and further mastered in Comp II.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In my definition argument, I created one or two scenarios that could help my audience really grasp my topic and position. I figured out who my target audience is and carefully picked out certain sources and examples to demonstrate my side. As the course comes to an end, I really see a difference with my mechanics and grammar due to my professor’s time and effort into making sure we understood each concept. Not only did we review, but he would go over it multiple times throughout the semester as a reminder which was a very helpful tool. I learned how to use grammar, mechanics, and other elements to target my audience. Creating arguments using rhetorical strategies was something definitely  demonstrated throughout my work and especially my definition argument.

Core Value 4: 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.

Research is something I have been working on for a long time, and with each course I take, I improve. During my Comp II course, I really had to dig for some sources which challenged my research abilities. Although my causal argument contains one source, it was the best source to prove my point. This source was on my mind the whole time I was writing. I feel as if have improved my use of finding and citing sources in every course I take. (Comp I & Comp II, especially) Within one school year, I have been introduced to a completely new citing and formatting style. This was very difficult for me to transition to as my whole life I have used MLA formatting. With the help of multiple professors, though, I feel as if I have gotten pretty well acquainted with APA.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Although I spoke to my success to academic honesty (or integrity) in CV4, there is much more to it than just citing your sources. I have learned to use close reading while evaluating other authors’ work. I focus on what they are saying rather than what your mind is telling you to interpret it as. I learned how to say what I think and feel and what other people think and feel (due to their work) while using differing voices to differentiate who is talking and whose claim it is. Other than this, I have gotten better at APA formatting. I have learned how to properly cite in-text and in a reference page. Academic integrity is a very important thing and I feel as if I really made good use of my sources in my final research paper.

 

Reflective- paTricKStar123

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Throughout the semester, our assignments in the class were formatted to be a social process continually keeping a line communication open and getting constructive criticism. My professor helped me find sources that offered statistics for mentally ill college students. More importantly, he made me understand that sources are not equally reliable. During one of our meeting for my causal argument, he introduced me to the rowan databases as well as google scholar. I was amazed by the quality of the sources compared to previous sources that stated the number of mentally ill with no statistical evidence to back it up. For example, Some sources exaggerated the number of mentally ill students to make political points. That advice made me a more discerning researcher. Not only did My Professor helped guide me into narrowing my topic from

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

Throughout my research paper, I have shown a variety of references to the information I researched. when citing quotes I didn’t place them where ever in the text. I made sure ever quote and sentence went with the flow of my writing so that it wouldn’t stray off topic. There I explained I have I used the knowledge learned from either the articles or journals into my paper. An example of this is when I got a quote describing the effectiveness of self-mindfulness I made sure it was grouped with all the other method of coping. I also introduced the topic and give detail before just placing it anywhere in the report. In text quotes would be in APA format with authors name and year.The process of doing so was tedious, but it let readers know where the credit comes from and refrains me from stealing someone else’s work.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

When I first wrote about my topic for the casual argument, it was a complete mess. In my writing, I did not have a clear set audience to who I was writing about. I contracted myself a lot and did not choose a side. For example, I was arguing for universities to pay for mental health services on campus because many students are in need. The only problem with this was I would continue by defending them and say I although it is expensive some students need this resource to function with their conditions. My professor talked to me about it because he explains that not staying firm on one side kills the strength of your argument. He helped me narrow not only my topic but also which types of college students I was addressing about in my work. He was the one that helped me determine my focus was on college students with mental illnesses.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my ideas and interpretations.

I would say that the visual rhetoric assignment was an excellent example of this core value because I analyzed and interpreted images of the commercial. My commercial was a cartoon clip of animals from the forest finding a nearby garden full of plentiful crops. The ads central theme was about saving food and not being wasteful because there is always someone that could use that food. During this assignment, we looked at second my second frame by frame. I wrote down every detail I saw. the whole commercial had to be watched in silence to see if we can understand the theme by visual images and background cues only.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.

I use Core value number five consistently when writing. The project where I pieced this all together would have to the Bibliography and finally my Research paper. In the bibliography we had our references, there I included what the article was about and how I used the information in my writing. For my reference paper citing my source was a key factor because if not that would be considered plagiarism. Whenever I found an outside resource, I gave full credit to the author by using APA format. With my quotes that I pulled I made sure I stated the article and the author as well as the publication date. During my writing process, I informed the reader about where they can find these quotes by making a reference page. An example of my in-text citations would be when I took statistics about suicide from a publication I made sure the reader knew the source. I wrote… Statistics show that “80-90% of college students who die by suicide were not receiving help from college counseling centers” (Beresin, 2017). Even while summarizing knowledge from an author I stated where these ideas came from.

Reflective- Myrtle View

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

My definition and definition rewrite arguments have accomplished Core Value 1 by refining my thesis and finding sources that identified with my thesis. I had to first explore what I wanted to do through the internet and somehow form that into my thesis which was frustrating work. Unfortunately, it was even harder to find sources that I could tie into my thesis. This pushed me to discover more articles and books about my concept and develop my mind to reach beyond what is already given. In the rewrite I felt more comfortable to using more sources and making corrections because I understood that this was a work in progress.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Part of writing a research paper is making sure that the sources being referenced make sense with the argument being made. My work demonstrates Core Value 2 since I correctly used my references and explained its relevance in my research paper. I also showed comprehension during the Summaries assignment because I summarized the purpose of the sources chosen correctly without any confusion.

https://wordpress.com/post/rowancounterintuitive.com/36685

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

My Definition rewrite argument shows that I was able to determine my purpose, audience, and contexts successfully. When I received the necessary feedback to fix my mistakes I realized that this first part of my research paper could have been better written. This allowed my to go back and correct my mistakes and add information that is essential for my research paper to flow and make sense.

https://wordpress.com/post/rowancounterintuitive.com/38187

Core Value 4: 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.

My research paper demonstrates that I have completed Core Value 4 because it shows that I took a concept that has not been written before and made an academic paper in 15 weeks. My paper interprets ideas that were never written of before and references credible sources as well.

https://wordpress.com/post/rowancounterintuitive.com/36685

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

My causal argument rewrite is a good example of Core Value 5 since that has the most of my sources and I took the time to properly reference them. From this assignment, I understand how important it is to give credit towards others when they are used because it would be unjust to take someone else’s work and claim it as your own.

https://wordpress.com/post/rowancounterintuitive.com/38206

Reflective- Nreina34

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

During this class I was taught many ways to revise and work in many stages so that it is the best that it can be.  During this process interacting with others to receive feedback on your piece is essential to getting everything just right.  This made me come to the realization of how much feedback is needed to construct a well developed writing piece. This helped develop my White Paper which progressed throughout the semester.  After receiving feedback from my professor in my conference, he really got me in the right direction which really made me focus on the sources needed for my research.  

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

Using citations in your writing pieces really help strengthen your argument by giving outside sources of information to backup your claims.  In my definition rewrite, I used a research study to show that there is a direct relationship between social media and violence with law enforcement.  The results from the study were clearly in favor and my argument and by incorporating it into my writing piece, it strengthens it even more. Also, by doing this you create the general idea based off the ideas and how you formulate them into your essay.  By reading critically and using the evidence to back up my claims, it made for a better argument.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.     

When writing my rebuttal rewrite, I decided that I really need to understand the audience that I was trying to get across to and who I was trying to prove wrong.  After analyzing the purpose for their argument, I understood where they were coming from which helped me formulate my rebuttal. Comprehending who you are trying to prove wrong is essential because if you don’t even have an understand of what they are trying to say then your own arguments are probably not going to disprove them.  During my rebuttal I analyzed why people think police officers are supposed to be perfect but they are in fact protected for when they make mistakes.

Core Value 4: 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.

Being able to evaluate and describe illustrations in your own writing piece was a skill that was taught in this class and really helped me write my visual rhetoric.  It was very difficult to describe a 30 second video without any audio, just based off of what I can see on the screen.  This core value relates directly to when you must evaluate the ideas and then get them to the paper so that it is incorporated into your own piece correctly.  The visual rhetoric helped me exercise this core value and will definitely help in future assignments with illustrations.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.  

My annotated bibliography is a list of every source that I used in my research on this topic.  By fulfilling my responsibilities I give credit to the authors in my bibliography and make sure that is properly cited.  You must always give credit to the author if you incorporate their work into yours. This semester we were required to use citations in all of our writing pieces and must incorporate them into our writing pieces effectively.  A reference list is at the bottom of each assignment citing where we got the information from, because if not it is not fair to the original author who actually did the work.

Self-Reflective Statement – AmongOthers13

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I did extensive research and discovery during the course of this semester. You can tell from my White Paper 1 that I visited many websites and looked at multiple sources in order to find the ones that best fit my argument. I started off with just 5 sources, and then as each new short argument assignment emerged, I added another 5. Some sources I learned in the end were not exactly the best fit for my paper, but they did offer me insight as to what direction I wanted to take my research. From each source I picked out facts and insights that would suit my paper in a beneficial way to make my writing stronger. Through this research I feel as though I have been able to identify reliable sources with strong backgrounds to develop my writing skills.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

In my Rebuttal Rewrite argument, I synthesized ideas from two opposing sides and introduced both in a way that made my side of the argument stronger. I was able to analyze the meaning behind the opposing side, and the ideas they had, and tell my readers about them while also defending my side. I made the arguments contrast by doing so, and was able to create an argument that had a lot of depth and information while persuading my reader. I found the rebuttal argument difficult, as it was new to me, but I talked to my professor who helped me distinguish a path I should take to go about my ideas. He was very helpful, and I was very confident after speaking with him that I could conquer this assignment with ease.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In my Definition Argument I feel as though I had a clear purpose throughout my writing and made arguments that were visible to the reader. I analyzed the purpose of education and how valuable it is. I also discussed how low-income students are suffering from low-income areas and more importantly for my argument, unequally funded schools. I made my best effort to use a lot of sources that talked about the effects these schools have on the students, their success, and their lives. These areas provide the students with the bare minimum, their home lives are not the greatest, and they deal with social-emotional disadvantages as well. I included various sources that all portrayed how detrimental the effects are of low-income schools in this argument to make it clear to my reader that this is  not the way things should be. I tried to really reach out to my readers by using ethos to demonstrate the tolls on the students and how difficult their lives are.

Core Value 4: 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.

In my Visual Rewrite assignment, I demonstrated the power of illustrations and evidence to support my ideas and interpretations. I watched a video that had to do with smoking and lung cancer screening, and through my work, I analyzed clip by clip and second by second what was happening in the video, what could be inferred, what could be determined, and the message the ad was trying to spread. I pointed out specific details in the video while giving my interpretations to a full extent. I analyzed the video over and over again to see if there was anything more that I could add. I dug deep into the literal meanings of the video to portray my ideas to the reader so that they, too, could see why my ideas were as so.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

In my Causal Rewrite  I respected my responsibility to determine the cause of the achievement gap in schools all around America by discussing a fair reason along with many sources that verify my thinking. I stated that the achievement gap is due to the property tax funding of schools and the amount of money given to the rich community schools versus the poor communities. I made sure in my writing to cite my sources correctly and I used each source to my advantage. I found sources that not only verified my thinking, but offered me more and more information to use in my writings to back up my ideas even further. I took this assignment as my way to point out a distinct problem in our society as well as identify the cause in a confident, mature manner. I am someone who believes strongly in equal education, so this assignment really meant a lot to me and I put a lot of effort into the assignment, as well as my final paper.

 

Self-Reflective statement- jdormann

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Throughout the semester I used feedback from the professor and other peers to hone my work. I received feedback on the blog posts from the professor and revised my work accordingly. Sifting through my own work to correct what others recommended also opened my eyes to other improvements that could be made. The difference between my definition first draft and the rewrite is a clear example of my recursive development over the semester. I explored many sources that supported my claims and also ended up being of no use by my final revised research position. These sources have been compiled in the white paper over the semester, and are now part of my annotated bibliography.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

The sources I used to compile my final research essay come from a broad spectrum. I used websites, brochures, peer-reviewed studies, and other types. The information I utilized from my sources helped me develop my overall conversation and explain my points with factual information to support it. An example of these sources put to use would be the quotes I used in my causal argument rewrite. The way I synthesized my sources may not have been the same way that someone else would have, but I used textual clues and interpreted the author’s message how I believe it was meant to be.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

The visual rhetoric assignment is an example of how I analyzed the purpose, audience, and context of a visual argument. I watched an advertisement and explained in detail each couple of seconds and what happens to develop the argument. The purpose was directed at a broad audience and had the purpose to open people’s eyes to learning and attention issues. Watching a video second by second and explaining each frame can be confusing until the viewer reaches the end and reads back on what they wrote. There are small details that are skimmed over and seen as insignificant, but they all play a part in the overall message of the visual argument.

Core Value 4: 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.

In the stone money assignment, I demonstrated academic writing by incorporating the ideas of the NPR broadcasters with my own ideas. I incorporated the words of Milton Friedman from the NPR podcast. I was able to locate specific evidence within the podcast to help support my ideas. Friedman explained how the American dollar no longer was back by gold. I used his explanation to help support the idea of money having no actual value and only being a piece of cotton fiber paper.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

In my rebuttal rewrite argument, I was able to think ethically and explain my ideas thoroughly with supporting evidence. The evidence I used was cited properly using APA formatting. I used the information provided by a database article to support and help explain my argument in a logical way. The author made a statement about the dangers in open field tackling and I used their words to support my claims on why it is dangerous and what can be done to prevent it.

Self Reflective Statement-DoubleA

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

My work truly does demonstrate that I used stages of development, exploration, and discovery. In all of my writing and especially my White Paper I used multiple stages of research and rewrites. My professor started off by assigning the task of finding 5 sources based on my hypothesis. I took the assignment seriously because in the end I knew that I would have to find more than 5 sources. I started off by finding around 8 sources, but later found out that these sources were not acceptable because they were not academic sources. These sources seemed to be legit and I was content with the information they provided but after researching and talking to my professor they all provided the same statistics, so I had no diversity in my facts. To fix this problem I simply found sources using databases through the Rowan library and sites like google chrome to find academic journals. Once I found these articles I then found an additional 5 to come out with around 11 sources. I researched all my articles again to find every important piece of information possible and that information is what would help me write my 3 arguments and 3000-word essay. After all that was said and done I then found out that I had to write out what the article was about and the purpose it had to my writing. So finally, in my third attempt at my White Paper I was able to come up with a solid and useful bibliography full of sources for my academic and argumentative writing.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

In my writing I always try to think from the perspective of the reader and to lie hidden images and devices in my writing. The best kind of writing is the writing that makes people think. In my assignment on Stone Money it made me think of money as a completely different way of thinking. I was told one day in lecture that on a small island called Yap people literally use stones as their way of currency. They trade among themselves in stones. The weird part about it all too is that they don’t even take it with them they literally just leave it there and just put their name on it or just somehow the entire island knows that that stone is now his or hers. In my writing about Stone Money I tried to describe the relationship these people on the island of Yap have with each other. How could an island of people literally just trade rocks around it’s insane to think about? In my writing I described the situation between the people and their trading. In my everyday life I always use cash and carry purchasing and to think about people trading stones and not even taking them, it is very counterintuitive. The Stone Money assignment made me think differently about the world and it made me paint a picture of reality that people really do live differently around the world and it is amazing how the people of Yap can get along like that.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Nothing shows core value 3 more than my rebuttal argument essay. To write my rebuttal essay I had to think about the arguments that people are going to have against your argument. I had to come up with an essay that refuted all of the arguments people could have against grass field instead artificial surfaced fields. I looked at my target audience, there are people who agree with me and people who totally disagree with me. That being said my target audience would be the people in the middle trying to be swayed by a single argument. If I could knowledgably argue the points against artificial fields and plead my own case respectively I could draw the people in the middle towards my side. In my Rebuttal Argument essay I looked at the arguments people could come up with against my claims and refuted them. By using sources, I was able to find valuable information to refute these claims and make my own writing look professional. Analyzing these sources was the key to my essay as I would draw the important information from these articles to back up my claims and make my target audience fall right into my trap to bring them to my side.

Core Value 4: 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.

This core value is all about analyzing images and being able to think outside the box. I think I depicted this value mostly in my Visual Rhetoric assignment. I actually had two attempts at this assignment because I got the chance to rewrite it. My first time through we had to watch a video very slowly frame by frame and guess as to what would happen next. It makes you think a lot about little details like the background and the frame work the depth of the image. Something can be happening in the background that viewers had no idea about and suddenly, they’re in the picture and people are left gasping as to how that could happen. My second time through I looked at the same video, but I analyzed it in a more in-depth way. I paid close attention to all the people depicted in the frames and looked at their movements. I also noticed that a lot of information can be found by simply looking at the objects in the frame. In my assignment it was all about texting and driving and the video showed how one guys day could go from happiness to unsettling just from people looking at you on your phone. It is unsettling to people when they look over at the car next to them and the other driver is on their phone. I believe that this assignment made me look at text more carefully and the images and made me think about the “what if” factor. I could then apply this technique into my writing as I posed questions to my readers and even to myself.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

This value is the most simplistic but it the most important. My work should be my work, and nothing should be plagiarized from a source. Therefore, the most important part was citing my sources. I demonstrated this core value in my White Paper. In my white paper I have my sources and the details about the sources that I would like to use in my writing. Later this would come to be my annotated bibliography. Throughout my writings over the course I had to use these sources in order to write my argumentative essays. By doing this I would use quotes from my academic sources and once I used a quote from the source I had to cite it in my white paper. Once I had at least ten sources my white paper was said to be complete.

Reflective- Dancers

Core Value 1 states that writing is a practice that involves a multi-stage, recursive, and social process.

All of these skills were mastered throughout the semester. Mastering that writing is a multi-stage practice by finding resources, gathering information from the resources, and putting the appropriate resources found into each of the individual arguments written in class. In the beginning of class we were told to brainstorm a hypothesis we took our hypothesis slightly changed and turned them into a proposal for what we will be researching throughout the semester. Showing that writing is done in many stages and not just one. Writing is a recursive process, writing our first draft of any paper and later going back to revise it shows that writing is recursive. I am not one that writes a paper perfectly the first time around, meaning that I had to go back and clean up all my drafts which would have been hard if feedback wasn’t available to me. Luckily it was mastered that writing is also a social process for every draft. Anytime I wrote a draft of one of my arguments I would check feedback please. The feedback that was provided was very helpful and eye opening, being able to discuss my work made my writing better.

Core Value 2, close and critical reading/analysis is necessary for listening and questioning texts,arriving at a thoughtful understanding of those texts, and joining the academic and/ or public conversations represented by those texts.

This skill was mastered by reading different sources of information closely, checking the background of who wrote the sources and how credible they actually are. By bringing each of the sources together into the different arguments and papers showed that I completely understood the texts and would thoroughly bring them together. When reading each source and continuing to find information to back my theory, it showed that I dug and read critically. My Causal Argument is a good example.

Writing is shaped by audience, purpose, and context is Core Value 3.

When writing papers you have to think of who your audience is, in class we have to write professionally because it is being graded. You also have to write in a clear and concise way so your audience doesn’t get lost while reading, or paper is meant to persuade them to think or see as you do. Each student wrote on a different topic making us each have our own purpose something we wanted to show/ prove. Personally my purpose was to show that not all bullies are just malicious and rude kids some are honestly misunderstood and don’t really know how to act around others. The context of my research paper other than it was required to write was that I always wanted to further explore as to why children bully. Bullying is an issue within schools and is only growing, me personally wanting to teach I wanted to gain more information so maybe one day when I in a school I can help.

Core Value 4, information literacy is essential to the practice of writing.

While researching and writing my arguments I had to take the authors ideas and combine them with my own in order to draw a bigger statement. I took the authors ideas combined with mine through the process of synthesis to make claims more substantial and mean something. If I had no background information or ideas to provide into my arguments it would sort of worthless. Being able to pick your own topic made sure that every student had the opportunity to write about something they were interesting. Having existing knowledge and combining it with what you found out while researching showed information literacy was mastered.

Core Value 5 states that writing has power and comes with ethical responsibilities.

When researching and writing each argument we had to cite our sources making us master the ethical responsibility in writing. If we did not cite sources it would mean that we plagiarized and would end up failing, making it unethical. Writing on our own topic of something that interests us, proves that we have power and a voice when writing. We had the power to pick what we wanted to write as well as having the power to try and get our point across as to how we view a certain topic/ situation.  

 

Reflective- DudeInTheBack

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

When I receive feedback from my professors on something that I thought was a semi flawless assignment, I usually would imagine hearing all positive things. Most of my teachers in my past usually would only comment positive suggestions only when something in my paper was really wrong. This unfortunately has blinded me from the amount of feedback I actually needed. The social and interactive practices I have with my professor in Comp. II, is the extensive feedback I receive on posts along with feedback in the conference meetings. While discussing my Definition Argument position with my professor, he made my thoughts clearer on what should be my main focus argument. I was split between two directions I could take on this topic; comparing Adderall to Meth and saying they’re practically the same, or argue the dangerous effect of prescribing Adderall to children. He directed me towards arguing the negatives of prescribing, since I was more passionate and filled with positions about the prescription effect itself.  Eventually, I explored and discovered a lot about the effects of prescription, making my argument stronger.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

Using textual evidence to back up an idea in a writing was always hard for me. The aspect I struggle with is having to find sources, analyze them, and be able to fit them in an assignment correctly. While researching for my stone money assignment, I actually had a very easy time analyzing the given sources and placing them into my paper. The reason for this was due to how interesting and clear subject matter. After reading about the Island of Yap,  listening to the NPR broadcast “How Fake Money Saved Brazil,” and learning about bitcoin, I wanted to use what I learned in my writing to prove my idea. I The outside information I had perfectly correlated with my topic of money’s complexity, which made the process of incorporating outside information in my assignment much easier. If the information I find is strong, relevant, and clear to me, now I know that it I easy to utilize, rather than a cumbersome task.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Being able to analyze the purpose of a visual or a point of view an author has is pertinent in understanding where they are coming from. This assessment of purpose can come from many things, like the tone of the speakers voice, the grammar and phrases someone uses in an argument, even compelling visuals in an ad. et cetera. In my Visual Rewrite, I demonstrated my value of analyzing a visual argument made by the American Lung Association. I came to the conclusion of their argument based on the visual metaphors that were deployed. Things like the mounds of tobacco, and the main character of the commercial climbing up these mountains made the message of the company very clear. There is a lot of detail that goes into a visual, and each little detail does a lot to an argument by either helping or hurting it.

Core Value 4: 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.

The creation and growth of my White Paper can be credited to all of the academic information that I have acquired from my sources while researching my topic. In this document you will find all of the sources I have found through researching about Adderall. Along with the sources, is short descriptions, or summaries of the source. I can look back Whether the source helps my case, or has a differing idea than my position, I still put it in there.  I even included an illustration of a picture of meth’s chemical makeup side by side with Adderall’s chemical makeup, showing their similarities. The ability to locate academic sources, analyze them, and make that information augment an argument is pertinent for persuasion.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.

I always make sure to cite my work correctly. In fact, If I, or any other student does it incorrectly, we could get in serious trouble. Academic integrity is a big issue at Rowan, and not complying can cost you a grade. Taking an idea from another person and not crediting them is an example of how you will disobey the academic integrity law. In my Rebuttal, I cited an “Analog Classroom Assessment” study of 30 children with ADHD, the effects of different dosages (5mg, 10mg, 15mg, 20mg), and a placebo to show how the drug performed. After writing, I put the full information about the article, and my other citations in my reference section. In other works like my Visual Rewrite, I even linked the original video to my assignment.

Reflective – picklerick

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I feel that my work throughout this Comp. II course has definitely been an interactive and social process. With each piece of feedback and each revision, I have acquired an increased sense of improvement for my work. My professor, Dr. Hodges, provided me with thorough feedback on my Causal Argument essay. His feedback included critique on my reference section, which I was then able to fix. It also included advice on how to change my approach to the topic. My approach started out very linear, and with this advice, I realized I needed to take a different path. I feel like my work made some great improvements by the second draft (the Causal Argument Rewrite). I basically changed my approach from “reading fiction is bad for you” to “reading more nonfiction is a great way to sharpen your brain.”  After then showing my revision to a friend, I was able to fix some wording and grammatical issues.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

I have experience with reading text critically to analyze it. This is apparent in my Safer Saws assignment, where I analyzed the claims made by five separate people about a table saw called the SawStop. The saw is special because the blade stops before your hand can touch it.  Each claim I analyzed had a different view of the saw. For example, an article written about a competitor saw (the Whirlwind) saw the SawStop as an inferior product. I was able to analyze the type of claim made by this article and whether or not it is reasonable, logical, and persuasive. I also feel like I learned a lot about close reading through my Research Paper. This is because I happened to write a lot about close reading in my paper, thus informing me more on the topic.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I feel that when I first wrote my Rebuttal Argument essay, I didn’t fully take into account the audience and context. I aimed to make the essay about how I think teachers should rethink the way they teach reading to kids in elementary through high school. With the help of prof. Hodges, though, I was able to state my claims much more effectively in my Rebuttal Rewrite essay. I acknowledged that my target audience was grade school teachers and restated my claims in a manner that would be more well-received by them. My tone in the original essay was more harsh toward this audience, using phrases such as, “teachers have the wrong idea.” After revisions, my tone was lighter and more logical, using phrases like, “Grade school teachers often have a difficult time expressing the joy of reading to their students.”

Core Value 4: 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.

The Visual Rhetoric assignment was great practice for using illustrations in writing. I gave a thorough analysis of a thirty-six second Ad Council video. I did this by pausing the video every few seconds, taking in what I just saw, and putting it into words. This improved my ability to describe a scene in such a way that if someone hadn’t seen the video they could still visualize it with ease. Throughout this semester, I have discovered many sources that I have incorporated in my writing. In my Whitepaper, I provide a master list that contains all the sources I used in my Research Paper. For each source, I give a brief explanation of the content of the article and describe what the article proves. This was a great way to organize my sources and keep my research feeling more clean.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

I always make sure to cite my sources properly when using a quote or paraphrase from them. This can be shown in my Rebuttal Argument essay. I found an article from the Pennington Publishing Blog that describes why students don’t get much out out reading assignments when they chose their own books. I used the quote in my essay and made sure to attribute Mark Pennington in the essay. I also used proper italicization for the title of the blog. It is unfair when people take information from others without proper attribution, and downright wrong to steal someone’s exact wording. This highlights how important it is to credit sources properly. All the sources I used can also be found in my Whitepaper, along with a description of what each source contains and what they prove.