Post 14: Write in response to what 2 of your colleagues have learned this term.

So Long, Farewell, 
Auf Wiedersehen to You

Well this is the last official blog for English 1101 and it is bittersweet. I cannot tell you how glad I am that it is over but, then again, I did enjoy the writing and the assignments. I was forced to stretch myself past what I thought I could achieve.

In my last post, I wrote about what I learned in this class. Now, I was asked to wrote about what two of my classmates wrote about what they learned.

First up, I truly enjoyed Luke Maloney-Grimes’s blog as it demonstrated that even though we are in an English writing class, you can learn more than just English. He stated that he learned how to be more organized by stating “That if you are organized, the average time taken to get your work done can be cut in half”. That's a huge savings. He also stated in his blog “I have learned to further develop my reading and writing skills in order to be a better communicator”.  If I dare read between the lines, he is stating that it is practice that makes you a better writer, or in this case, a better communicator.  

As I wrote in my blog, I can relate to what Tiffany Dunham wrote in her blog.  She said "Writing is something that I have grown to like so I hope that I can take the skills what I learned with MLA and how to correctly format a document in my future course."  This is what I feel as well. We will take what we learned in this course and apply it to almost every class we will take in the future. (God help us.)  This continues the theme that it is practice that will make us better at writing, better at whatever we do.

In summary, the bottom line is practice. We have been given the tools in our textbook which contains so much information, one class couldn't go through it all.  So like my title says, So Long....

I hope we will talk again.

Post 13: What I learned in English 1101.

When I was taking my first college class, Math 1101, I kept thinking to my self that "I will never use this crap", not so with English class.  

We use English every single day of our lives so it is only natural that we should be as proficient as possible. I was so fearful that we were going to have to conjugate verbs and do drills on proper English rules and such. Thank goodness it wasn't like that at all.  It was "just about writing".  Proper writing is everything.   

One thing I got out of this class is practice.  I realized I haven't written an essay or letter or anything larger than an email or text in, dare I say, decades.  It actually felt good. I may even keep up my Blog.  Who knows.   

I will say that I learned a lot about MLA and its use in an academic writing.  I still need more practice but that is what I was talking about before.  Practice, practice, practice.

 

This class has helped prepared me what is coming in future classes, helped me realize what may be expected of me, and to continually stretch myself to do just a little better. 

Until we talk again.

Post 12: A recent argument by a politician that is illogical.

What Did They Say?

I do not envy English Proffers, writing professors in particular.  They have to come up with new writing assignments that will engage their students but not make the subject to broad nor to narrow.  My writing professor asked the class to write about a recent argument by a politician that is illogical.  I think I would have had a smaller list of things to write about if I were to discuss the meaning of life.  This is an election year with the top job at stake.  The political crap is being flung with intensity of a super nova.  How do I narrow it down?

The topic that I would like to bring up is the wearing of masks in public businesses or public transportation.  The police will throw you to the ground if you even dare dispute its legality or other implications.  However, if you are protesting, its ‘A OK”. What?  

Case in point, Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said this about citizens on lockdown due to the Corona virus "I don't think it's too much for people to be asked to wait until they get the all-clear to do the thing that's safe, to do the thing that's healthy because these numbers, these are about human lives."  In other words he is telling people that he will let you know when you can leave your home .

When the protesters came to protest the police, he “made an exception for protesters but maintained lockdowns and curfews for New Yorkers who were not protesting, looting or rioting” (Epshteyn).

I think this is an example of “Ad verecundiam” which means an appeal to authority.This is a type of   He is telling people that he is Mayor and what he says is the final word.  

He could have done several things differently like allow businesses to reopen or put a tighter rein on the protesters but no.  Even his own daughter was arrested during the protest.  (I bet daddy was proud.)

These are crazy times in which we live.  My advice is to always listen with a critical ear and check the fact checkers.

Until we talk again.

Epshteyn, Boris. Democrats' Hypocrisy on Riots Reveals Political Nature of Coronavirus Lockdowns, Newsweek, 12/6/2020 www.newsweek.com/democrats-hypocrisy-riots-reveals-political-nature-coronavirus-lockdowns-opinion-1510325, accessed 15 Jul 2020

Post 11: Arrangement of Texts/Emails.

Managing Emails

The 20^th century saw an explosion in technology.  One of the most influential was the invention of electronic mail or more commonly referred to as “Email”.  Although this has crippled the Postal Service, it has drastically expanded our ability to communicate by making writing and sending messages so simple and convenient.  As a result of this, email platforms have evolved into a user friendly interface between the user and the internet.  Programmers have made this interface much better sense the first email systems came to be by packing them with features that make this interface seam seamless.  Below is an example of my Gmail page. You can see that Google adds other ways to organize the emails by adding additional folders specifically “Social”, “Promotions”, “Updates”, and “Forums”.  They also will inform you if you have any Unread” mail.  They do this by adding a colored box by the specific folder.  Below is an example of this in my “Promotions” folder.

 

Emails are arranged in several folders. These folders are based on what the system thinks is the proper folder to place the email based on such items as the Subject and/or the sender.  You, the user, can override this for only this email by manually moving the Email to the new folder.  You can tell the system to move all of the emails from a specific sender by clicking a star or flag in the header or information section of the email.  Some email systems allow the user to further organize in other ways by clicking on the column header.  Some examples of this are; alphabetically by sender, chronologically by date received, by the size of the email, or lesser used criteria like if the email was flagged as "Important" or if it has an attachment.  It is up to the user to determine how they want them displayed and thus organized.

Attachments are one of the best features of emails.  This is the ability to send an email with something else like a picture, video, or even another document like a spreadsheet.  Previously you would have to print out the document and Stuff it into the already small envelope, add sufficient postage and finally place it in the mailbox.  You can do the same thing with just a few clicks of the mouse and best of all, it’s free.

I wouldn’t say the possibilities are endless but the tools that are part of the system interface make organizing emails much easier than what it would have been with paler files.  You can manage just a few emails per week to hundreds a day with relative ease.  Got to love the age in which we live.

Until we talk again.

Post 10: about how you have typically organized your academic documents, especially Doc2 that you just completed. Look back at your document for details about how you put it together. Suggest an alternative arrangement.

Who is on First.

This is not about the famous Abbot and Costello skit. No, this is about organizing your writing. Second only to the thesis statement, the way you organize your writhing is the most important element of your essay. If your paper wasn't organized, it would be difficult to read and your message would be lost.

After you decide on what to write about, you will need to figure out how you will organize the information.  There is a lot of things to consider.  Some types of writing work best with specific types of organizational methods.  If you were to write a police report, you would not want to use a narration style as if it were a novel  

Some examples of the different types or ways to organize your writing are:

    Narration: telling a story

    Description: relating what you see, hear, taste, feel, and smell

    Process: describing a sequence of steps necessary to a process

    Definition: illustrating the meaning of certain words or ideas

    Division and Classification: grouping ideas, objects, or events into categories

    Compare and Contrast: finding similarities and/or differences between topics

    Analogy: making a comparison between two topics that initially seem unrelated

    Cause and Effect: explaining why something happened, or the influence of one event upon another

    Logical explain the first step before they can understand the next.

    Chronological Order, First, second, next, last.

These are not the only way. Use whatever way works best for your specific writing.

A way to distinguish which way the author used is by looking for key words or "Linking Words".  An example would be for an essay written in chronological order the linking words could be first, next, and then, and so on.

Even thought I did not use the standard connection words, my Doc 2 is written with the "Process" style in mind. It started with training and then testing and that lead into what to expect on that first job. Next I discussed further education by earning a 2 or 4 year degree and its benefits. 

I could have used a Chronological style but the two are very close in style. 

Until We Talk Again.

Post 9: My greatest difficulty with MLA formatting.

MLA. What a Pain.

I find that the MLA standard is confusing and contradictory.  There, I said it.  Now I need to go hide before all of the English professors in the world take out a contract on me.  Well that felt good to just let it out.  All of that MLA tension.  You see, for me, I find that the information used for formatting MLA in-site quotations and on the Works Sited page are contradictory.  Why?  Well that is the million dollar question.

First lets go back and I will give you a little history lesson. When I was in High School, we were taught to do a Bibliography when we did an essay.  We had to site sources but, we mainly used printed material as that was the most prevalent.  The material was referenced in the footer area of the page in addition to a Bibliography page.  Around the late '70's, a new standard came out called the Modern Language Association, or more commonly referred to as the MLA standard.  Also in use at this time is the APA format.  This standard was designed primarily for scientific papers and writings.  In total, there are about two dozen recognized writing formats siting works.  I am so thankful that I only have to be concerned with the MLA!

"The purpose of MLA citations is to document where information used in the essay was found and to provide credit to the authors for using their works" (AIMS). The in-text citations provide basic information and, essentially, refer readers to the Works Cited page where more information can be found and verified if necessary.

Sounds simple right?  Well, for me at least, not so much.  Because I have been away from writing (but I should say academic writing) for so long, I have to learn MLA formatting from the beginning.  It seems like the more places I research the correct way to site something, I run across another site which has a slightly different way of doing the same thing.  

My solution you ask? Is to do just that, ask. I ask my writing coaches, English Professors, and family who are scholars (in other words, they know a thing or two about writing).  If I still have conflicts, I have to bite the bullet and go the the source itself, the dreaded MLA style handbook.  Rumor has it there are students who have gone to research a MLA issue, and have never been seen again.  Well, maybe not as there is no reference. 

In some ways it does make sense why the academic community does it like they do but, that does not make it easy, but it is necessary   

Like anything new, it takes practice. Even the MLA states that it is evolving and it doesn't have to be picture perfect. Thank Goodness. There is hope after all.

Until we talk again.

Work Sited

AIMS Community College. 

https://www.aims.edu/student/online-writing-lab/common-formatting/mla-   format/in-text-citations.php  Accessed 7 Jul 2020

Post 8: Your main problems with academic writing and why texting is so much easier.

To Plan, or Not To Plan...

When we write an academic paper, like an essay for example, we know our work is cut out for us. We know we are in for late nights doing research in the library.  Spending to much time in front of the computer looking for that perfect reference that will blow everyone away. 

To properly write an academic paper takes planning, lots of planning.  I like to use 3x5 cards to write down notes, thoughts, ideas and the ever important Thesis Statement.  I will organised them in an attempt to make the ideas flow in a manner that makes scene.  I'll add some and throw some cards out. Add some quotes and references.  After all that, I'll fill in any blank places.  Next, I'll give it another once over and my even ask someone I trust to read it over and give me their opinion.  After all this is done, I'll rewrite it again and again. With each rewrite, I hope to make it just a little bit better.  

Add to this, the fact that college students will put off the assignment until just before it's due and rush the process leaving no time for proper rewrites.  In so doing, they are not writing to their potential.  So proper writing takes time and effort and must be planned.

This is the opposite when we write a text.  When we write a text, it's short, sweet and to the point. Well, it may not be that sweet, but they are to the point.  We also write them off the top of our head with usually no prior planning.  (Of course, this may get us in trouble with the family as we might say something that should have been kept quiet.)  We also have a very limited audience as we usually text to only one person at a time.  Add the fact that we use abbreviations and acronyms, no punctuation to speak of, and let the machine auto correct the spelling errors.  It is almost mindless. 

I guess I’m old school as I don't use acronyms and I capitalize when needed and always use proper punctuation (Well I make a strong attempt at it anyway.)  I hope this makes my texts easier and more enjoyable to read.  Isn’t that what we should always strive to do, whether it is a text or an Essay, is to not require the reader to put in effort but to simply enjoy our words.