ME, A WRITER?

My attitude towards having to take a composition course is one of hoping to learn

something new. I know that I will have to take this, so I am trying to approach this with an open

mind. If I can improve upon my writing through this class, that will be great. I know that there

are some things that I struggle with. I would appreciate being able to improve upon myself as a

writer through this.

I think that what I learned about myself the most in working through the inventory

exercise was that I need to be able to stay on target with what I write. I know that I can go off on

tangents in where I stray away from what I should be writing on. This is one of the things that I

would like to improve. The other thing that I would like to improve as a writer is my grasp of

proper grammar and punctuation. I think that this is something that could use a little work.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY2:

PREWRITING

Positive effects that computers have:

Research tools at my fingertips

Online banking

Keep touch with family and friends more quickly than a letter

Portability makes it possible to work anywhere

Ability to attend school remotely

Easy comparison shopping

Job search made easy

Ways to make money online

Buying through auctions/cheaper retailers like eBay and Amazon.com

Negative effects that computers have:

Losing touch with one on one interpersonal communication skills

Losing ability to use long hand to write actual letters

Wasting time

Keeps kids indoors when they should be outside

Distraction

Procrastination

Although there are times when computers can be a hindrance, there are benefits to using a

computer in academic life as it allows a person to attend school and can be a great tool for doing

research.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY3:

DRAFTING

Three different types of evidence that I can use to develop my working thesis from

Journal Entry #2 is that individuals are able to continue working while attending school, there are

valuable research resources available online and the portability of a laptop makes it possible to

continue working on classes no matter what is going on in life. Each of these can be evidenced

by my own personal experience, but I’m sure that there are plenty of resources that speak onto

these topics. Plenty of information is available on how remote learning is becoming popular

with individuals that work full time. There are some research resources online that are not very

useful, but many libraries have information that you can access online that includes peer

reviewed journals. Life is not always easy to deal with, especially when you add up all the parts

that make up your life. There are times when a student may need to travel for business or

personal reasons. Having a laptop allows them to not miss out on any of their class work.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY4:

REVISING

: Purpose and audience –

I think that the purpose of this paper could be improved by focusing on their audience. In

a way, it seems that the author changes the audience from speaking about the grandparents in

certain paragraphs, then speaking as them in another paragraph. Remembering who the audience

may help to keep this focused on what the actual purpose of this essay is. It would be better if

they stuck with the point of view that they started with, rather than changing it as they went

along. They do stay with the purpose of determining whether letters or emails are better.

: Thesis statement, topic sentences, and paragraphs -

In this essay, I am not very sure which sentence is the thesis statement. The first

paragraph does give me a general idea of where they are heading with this, but could be pulled

together better with a thesis statement. With the topic sentences, I think that the last paragraph

does not work for this. It states what is better with email, but this essay is more focused on

letters being better. I think that the last paragraph could be better written as it really stands out

from the rest of the essay.

: Evidence –

I think that the evidence in this essay is very well presented for the most part. I do agree

that letters are something that some people cherish over getting an email. Having something that

they can hold, such as a child’s drawing or a photograph, is better than just seeing it on the

computer screen. Again, the last paragraph seems to be focusing mostly on the negatives of both

computers and emails with just a little positive about letters thrown in to cover the topic. It does

not make for a very good ending paragraph.

: Organization Rough Draft: E-mail vs. Letters –

I think that the organization of the rough draft needs work. The last paragraph is the

thing that keeps popping in my head as something that needs to be fixed. It is giving the

negatives of both, but does not stand up well enough for the conclusion. This essay should either

have a new paragraph to wrap up the concepts or have this one rewritten that helps to show the

negative, but focusing mainly on why letters are better to send than emails. The essay itself does

have a rough flow it for a rough draft that can be polished into a better paper.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY6:

NARRATION

The scene is one of chaos. My family is trying to get me to agree to spending the day on

a picnic when I know that I really should be using my one off day to study for a test that I know

is going to be tough for me.

The key actions that I take are trying to make a hard decision on whether I stay home on

a beautiful day to get some more studying in or give in for a visit with my family. All while I am

trying to decide on what to do, my family is giving me a lot of reasons why I should go with

them. This was making it even harder on me to decide to stay home to go over something that I

was not very interested in learning.

The key participants in this are myself, my mother, my father and my siblings. Each

wanting me to come visit with other relatives that I had not seen for a while.

The key lines of dialogue include me trying to get the point across that I need to study,

while my family continues to say that I study too much. That I need to take more time for

myself between work and school. My mother continues to tell me that I do not spend enough

time with my family.

My feelings throughout this whole episode are of tension, stress and guilt. I really feel

bad that I am not spending quality time with my family. I am upset about the fact that I am not

able to spend time outside on such a nice day because I am working and dealing with school. At

the same time, I am feeling a lot of tension and stress over the upcoming test.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 7:

DESCRIPTION

Think of an experience in which you faced an important test

(either in school, work, or a personal situation).

Sensory Details: For this journal entry, list two specific,

concrete, original details for each sense describing that

particular testing event (Open):

: Sight – cover of the textbook and blank paper

: Sound – the sound of pencils writing on paper and each individual getting up to turn in their test

before me

: Smell – the smell of fresh paper and the doughnuts from breakfast in my backpack

: Taste – the mixture of orange juice and toothpaste, along with the taste of my pencil eraser

: Touch Comparison: - grainy feel of the wooden pencil and the smooth softness of the exam

booklet

The sound of the tests being turned in was like the ticking of a clock in my mind.

The one of the senses that was easiest to write about was the sound because that was

something that stuck with me. Each time I heard someone getting up to turn in their paper it

made me feel even worse about how I was going to do on the test. The most difficult sense for

me to write about was the sense of smell. I was so fixated on the sound, that I really didn’t

notice what I was smelling around me. I did remember that the doughnuts had sat so rough in

my stomach because of my nerves that I only finished a small portion of one, so they were still in

my bag.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY8:

ILLUSTRATION

Stress

Composure

Insanity

Chaos

Intrusion

Falter

Tight-rope

Direction

Intersections

Juggling

Composure is a word that I would use to illustrate my feelings because, without it, I

would be lost. I need my calm exterior to help me deal with making sure that I have time to get

everything done in a day. It is what allows me to continue to function even when I am feeling

overwhelmed inside.

Intrusion is a word that I would use to illustrate my feelings because it seems as though

the different portions of my life are interacting with each other. It never fails that I want to do

something, but have an obligation from another part of my life making it hard to do what I want.

I try to keep each part separate, but sometimes that seems impossible.

Juggling is a word that I would use to illustrate my feelings are trying to find a balance

between all of the different aspects of my life because it does seem like I am in an act. I am

desperate trying at times to keep each of the parts of my life up in the air where they are not

having a negative impact on each other or my life in general. It is very trying at times because I

do not want to fail at anything by letting the balls drop.

It is true that it can be hard to juggle work, school and the rest of your life, but using a schedule

for time management can help with balancing your life as you are able to keep track of what has

to be done.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY9:

COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

I went to the emergency room because I had been in a car accident the day before. At the

time of the accident, it did not seem to be a very big deal. The next day, my neck and head were

very sore. The first doctor that I spoke with did not seem very interested when they found out it

was just a small jolt. He did not do much to help me feel better other than tell me to take aspirin

every four hours until the pain subsides. A few days later the pain was worse, I visited with my

regular doctor who told me that I had a concussion from hitting my head on the steering wheel.

In my own experience, the emergency room doctor seemed more like the man mentioned

in her article. He did not seem very interested once I told him that it was a small accident. It was

almost like being on the TV show, House. My case just was not interesting enough. My regular

doctor was more interested in the fact that my pain had grown worse and ordered tests to try to

get an idea of what was happening. This made me think of the female intern that actually cared

about her patients.

One of the differences between my own experience and the interns in the article was that

the intern in the article seemed to at least deal with his patients as a doctor and ordered tests.

The emergency room doctor barely looked at me to even order the nurses to do any kind of

testing. Another difference was that I was dealing with a full-fledged doctor rather than an

intern. He may have been different when he was an intern himself. With my regular, doctor he

always appears neat and tidy, unlike the female intern.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 10:

CLASSIFICATION AND DIVISION

Time Constraints –

Dealing with school and other activities

Over scheduling

Taking on too many classes at once

Laziness –

Waiting until last minute to study

Putting work off while they do fun activities

Poor Time Management –

Not paying enough attention to their schedule

Scheduling too many activities at once

Forgetting about tasks that need to be done

Lack of Understanding –

Avoiding learning about topics because of lack of basic understanding

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY11:

DEFINITION

I think that the term cheating has a very negative connotation to me, not matter what the

context is for it. When it comes to cheating at work, it is hard for co-workers to want to work

well with someone that had done something unsavory to get where they are. They may have

cheated by brown nosing with the supervisors, doing something that they should not have or

even bribing their way to the top in some way. No matter what they would be looked down upon

by those that worked hard to get where they are.

Cheating on your family is even worse. There is a few ways to cheat on your family in

my mind. One is that you do not spend time with them when you should. You lie about having

some other kind of plan because you do not want to spend time with them. When someone

cheats on their significant other, they are taking all of the trust out of the relationship. They are

hurting those they love and even hurting themselves by doing something so stupid as cheating.

When you cheat on your personal needs, the only person you are hurting is yourself. For

instance, cheating on a diet that you have been trying to keep only takes away from what you

have been trying to accomplish on the diet. You are going to be the one that pays with extra

pounds. This is just as bad as other forms of cheating.

Two of the words that Dictionary.com use to define cheating are swindle and dishonest. I

think that both of these terms really get down to how horrible cheating is. No one wants

someone to swindle them or be dishonest with them. I really do not think that there are many

exceptions to where it is okay to cheat someone. Maybe, telling someone a little white lie may

be okay in some cases, but in this case you are not taking advantage of the person as cheating

implies.

Cheating is when a person does something that takes advantage of another person in that

they are being dishonest. This will usually involve them gaining something from the action that

they took in which they were cheating. They are trying to get something that should not belong

to them. This could be something that is real such as money, or an ideal such as trust. They

have acted in a fashion that makes them unworthy of what they receive.

An example of cheating would be if they told a person that their car broke down and

asked to borrow $100 to have it towed and fixed with no intention of paying the person back.

They are swindling this individual out of their money because of a lie that they made to them.

Another example of cheating would be if someone looks over a friend’s paper while taking a test

to copy an answer. This academic cheating could get them into big trouble with their school and

possibly even their friend if caught. Cheating on a relationship may be the first thing that people

think when hearing the word, cheating, and they are destroying the trust in their relationship with

their actions.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 12:

ARGUMENT

Selling a dead loved one’s organs versus Being able to sell your own kidney

How to treat our dead versus Helping the poor combat their financial straights by selling a

kidney

Donation versus Sales

Gift versus Commodity

Small financial gain ($300 towards funeral/or knowledge of helping someone) versus a Big

payday

Both are dealing with how to tackle big issues, such as poverty and lack of organs on the market

Not taking advantage of the benefits that a person that is deceased can give to the living

would be very idiotic. In most cases, the person themselves designated that they want to share

the benefits of their former life with someone else. We should be respectful of what individuals

request for how their body is taken care of after they pass away. Bickering about how their body

should be divvied up takes away from the dignity of gifting someone else with the possibility of

a longer life. I think that respect is probably the key to this whole issue.

I do not believe that body parts should be sold to the highest bidder. That is taking away

from the gift of life that the person is offering. It would be a sad thing to say that only the rich

deserve to be able to continue their life on through this kind of donation. I can understand there

being some financial stakes involved as these organs will not transplant, store or travel by

themselves. I just do not believe that people should be profiting off this type of thin.

Now, that I have taken a chance to look at that thesis, I do agree with it. No matter what

happens to the person, if they chose to have their body parts donated to others or science, they

should be treated in a certain fashion. Just because a body may no longer be considered a person

by those that are a stranger to the person that they used to be, they still deserve to be treated as a

human being. Living or dead, it should not matter in how they are treated. It should also not

matter if they decide to have their organs live on or wish to be buried intact.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 13:

WEB SITE EVALUATION

Switching jobs is a particular career need that I have faced in life.

I think that the site that is more satisfactory for my purpose is Careerbuilder.com. The

main reason that I think that this website is going to be more helpful in getting me information

on switching jobs is because it is well-known. It does not have a large number of ads on the

page or look unprofessionally set up. It is very easy to navigate to the information that I am

looking for on the article gathering side. Also, it has more going for it in that I can start my job

search for a new career from the same website.

Careerbuilder.com is a recognized name in professional circles for the place to look for a

new position, get information on the hiring process and post your resume. It acts as a one-stop

shop for careers. It is very easy to navigate, whether it is the first or hundredth time visiting the

site. The articles that are located here are clearly marked by topic, making it very easy to see

which title you want to click on to read over. Even better, the author of each title is given a short

bio give the source credibility.

Rileyguide.com does not have the same polished look as Careerbuilder.com. One thing

that this website does have going for it is that it does not claim to be a website like

Careerbuilder.com where you can do everything that goes along with the hiring process. With

this website, it acts more as a guide to other websites that would be helpful in getting a new job.

This could be helpful if you were unaware of Careerbuilder.com and needed to find a website

like that. Another thing that I find that makes this website a little less helpful than

Careerbuilder.com is that the individual that operates this website does not mention their

credentials other than what they are not.

The reason why I feel that Careerbuilder.com is more reliable for my purposes is because

each article is located in a central place rather than just having some links to click to go to a

variety of sites. Also, the author information included why they are considered an expert in the

particular field that they are writing about in their article. It can be hard with internet sources to

determine how credible an author is on the subject since in some cases, anyone can post an

article on anything. I prefer this website because once I have made some headway into learning

what career I am interested in searching to, I can do some research on current job postings. This

can help me with determining what I need to achieve to be able to make the switch.

Rileyguide.com does not work for my purposes because I am more leery of a website that

I am not familiar with. It does have a lot of information, but it seems to be more of a listing of

other websites that I would find useful. The fact that it is updated by one woman, who does not

give her credentials, also makes me more leery. Things are always changing in the world of

employment and the internet which makes me wonder how often I may click on a link that does

not work with this website. Overall, it seems like a good starting place if you are unfamiliar with

some of the larger websites, but you probably would get a link to Monster.com or

Careerbuilder.com from here.

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 14:

NOTES AND CITATIONS

In the article “Five Ways to Negotiate a Better Job Offer … Despite the Economy”, the

article discusses the best way to go about getting a good salary or other perks that make a job

worthwhile. One of the most interesting things that they say is to not jump on negotiating salary

right way, but to let the employer know how interested you are for the job. Letting them place

the value in you as a potential employee they want to snag. The author also talks about why it is

important to know how to negotiate correctly, having self-confidence going into an interview, do

not make demands and think outside of the box in case a larger salary is not possible for you.

MLA format:

Miller gives encouragement that “most employers are not trying to hire based solely on whom

they can get for least amount of money”.

APA format:

According to Miller (2009), “Once the employer has decided to make you an offer, then, and

only then, should you start discussing the terms of employment” (para. 8).

REQUIRED JOURNAL ENTRY 15:

COURSE REFLECTION

When I first started this course, I was hopeful that I would actually learn something new.

I was a bit worried that I would not take anything away from this course. I knew that I needed to

make changes to the way that I write, but was not sure if this would help with that. Now, that I

have been through this course, I feel as though I have changed as a writer for the better. This has

been a positive learning experience for me.

I think that understanding my own tendencies as a learner has helped me with my course

activities. I can sometimes push things to the backburner that I think that I might not have an

easy time with this. I also know that I can sometimes not plan out what I should be writing to

help my paper flow easily. Being able to keep this in mind when working on this course has kept

me more on target. I made sure that I sat down and pushed through any parts of this course that I

wanted to procrastinate on that I might have before.

I think that this has changed how I am as a writer as I am paying more attention to the

way that I tackle my writing assignments. I believe that I am better able of staying on target with

what I am writing. This course has also changed the way that I read what others have written. I

no longer just read it to see what they are saying, but I also examine their flow, audience and

other important information. Along with that, I think that when it comes to pondering different

topics, I am more willing to keep an open mind.

I found this course to be overall very helpful. For me, I think that the reason why it was

so helpful was in the way that it was structured. I feel that each topic flowed into the next in a

way that made complete sense. I felt that each lesson built upon the last. I did not feel as though

I was expected to do something before I had completely mastered the one before it.

I think that some of the journal topics should be expanded on with more information. For

instance, I think that it might have been more helpful to have some additional tips in the citation

portion. I was not sure if I should have used the same line to show the difference between the

two or not. I also think that it might have been more helpful to have each journal entry be about

the same length. Some weeks did not take as long as others to finish, making it a little harder to

determine how much time to set aside a week for it.