Survey Questions

April 5, 2012

This survey is to measure the nutritional eating habits of students on and off campus enrolled at UofL. When answering questions about eating food, consider ONE portion of food is about ½ cup.

There are 9 questions. Please mark your response with a check or X.

1. Gender:

______Male _____Female

2. What is your living situation while at UofL?

____Commuter (Off-campus) ____Dorms (On-campus)

3. I eat meat (beef, chicken, fish, other protein) PER WEEK:

___Never/infrequently ___1-7 times (once daily) ___8-14 times (twice daily) __15-21 times or more (three or more daily)

4. I eat vegetables/fruits (raw, cooked, etc.) PER WEEK:

___Never/infrequently ____1-7 times (once daily) ___8-14 times (twice daily) ___15-21 times or more (three or more daily)

5. I eat starches (bread, cereal, rice, food w/grains) PER WEEK:

__Never/infrequently ___1-7 times (once daily) ___8-14 times (twice daily) __15-21 times or more (three or more daily)

6. I eat/drink dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.) PER WEEK:

___Never/infrequently ___1-7 times (once daily) ___8-14 times (twice daily) ___15-21 times or more (three or more daily)

7. I eat/drink products containing sugars/fats (snack foods, candy, chips, sports drinks, etc.) PER WEEK:

___Never/infrequently ___1-7 times (once daily) ___8-14 times (twice daily) ___15-21 times or more (three or more daily)

8. Based on a traditional food pyramid, which pie chart would you say describes a balanced diet? (Pie charts are provided but are unable to be loaded to blogger).

9. Has eating on campus negatively effected your eating habits?

___Yes ___Somewhat ____No

Plan for Research for IMRaD Report

April 3, 2012

Plan for Research for IMRaD Report

For my upcoming assignment regarding the IMRaD report, I have decided to form a survey for college students based on their nutritional awareness and health while in college. My two research questions are:
1. What are the eating habits and general health of the average college student?
and
2. What are their current levels of health awareness (regarding food and their nutritional properties)?

These two questions combined will form the background for my main research question: How does the health awareness of a student effect their eating habits?

I will survey a group of my classmates (15-17), a few other college students (2-4), and then have a phone interview with a post-college graduate to see her perspective on her eating habits while in college and whether it effected her future view of health, etc. This will provide additional research to my paper in a different depth of the field.

Once I gather the data, I will compare the two sections of the survey (section #1 which asks questions about the current eating habits of the student) and (section #2 which asks questions about health awareness) to see the correlation of current health and nutritional awareness. I will also consider factors such as whether the student lives off campus or on campus and the gender of the student, amongst others. Lastly, I will use the interview I conducted to see whether or not attention paid to college health should effect college students in their future life after the world of academia.

Difference Between IMRaD and Research Paper

Mar. 29, 2012

Difference Between IMRaD and Research Paper

When it comes to the differences between an IMRaD report and a research paper, there are quite a few points to address. However, one of the main differences between the two is how their results are obtained. For an IMRaD report, the author of the work is looking to directly procure results from personal polls or surveys they conduct, while in a research paper, the author is borrowing and citing materials and information from sources and not from their one-on-one experience with individuals.

The second difference between an IMRaD report and a research paper is the IMRaD's compilation of gathered research in separate tables or graphs as opposed to a research paper sharing information within the body of the text.

One of the final differences that can be clearly seen between an IMRaD report and a research paper is the structure of the paper. An IMRaD report includes sections on an abstract, introduction, methods, results, and discussion, while a research paper may interweave multiple sections without subheadings or necessarily clear cut distinctions between sections.

Outline for Research Paper

March 1, 2012

Outline for Research Paper on Zero Tolerance Policies

I. Introduction:

1. Hook: An example of zero tolerance policies gone wrong, prompting a question about whether or not zero tolerance policies are effective and just.

2. Thesis: Zero tolerance policies have certain aspects which protect the lives of students, but the effectiveness of some of their integration into schools is questionable. This paper will argue that portions of zero tolerance policies' protection to students can still be maintained without the repercussions and harshness of other aspects of the policies.

3. Implications: Do zero tolerance policies really lower the crime rate in schools as opposed to non-policy schools? Are zero tolerance policies entirely just regarding their choice of targeting former badly-behaving students or choice ethnicities? What rights can changed policies provide for students, parents, and educators to make the right decision regarding punishment?

II. A Solution for School Crime Emerges

*An explanation of what disciplines were used previous to zero tolerance, and why zero tolerance was initially seen as a good idea.

*An example talking about the Columbine shooting which prompted the creation of zero tolerance policies.

*A basic description regarding what zero tolerance policies are and what they do in schools. Other information included will be where they are instituted (how many schools in the US).

III. Kids Will Be Kids: Students and Deviance

The Cold Facts About Crime and Kids

*A brief paragraph explaining the need for discipline and how children will commit crimes under all circumstances (the need for a policy)

Does Sparing the Rod Spoil the Child?

*Reveal the personal opinions of what zero tolerance proponents say about the crime rates in schools with zero tolerance policies by presenting an informal opinion (blog) and a formal opinion (academic)

*Compare these opinions with the actual statistical amount of safety in schools with and without these policies and instituting the first foundation against policies' completely appropriate use in schools.

*Source: Billitteri, Thomas J. "Discipline in Schools: Are Zero-Tolerance Policies Fair?" CQ Researcher 18 (2008).

IV. Discipline Which is Not Colorblind

*Transitioning into the next paragraph by further questioning the validity of the policies by revealing not only what the policies don't do (compared to schools without them), but what damages they do present to children

*Analyze and reveal those in authority who control the zero tolerance policies

*Discuss examples of prejudice and stigmas of color and gender from policies, and discuss extreme examples of zero tolerance gone wrong

*End portion of paper by reiterating the faultiness of such authority figures controlling the discipline

*Source: Skiba, Russ, and Reece Peterson. "The Dark Side of Zero Tolerance: Can Punishment Lead to Safer Schools?" Kappan Magazine (1999): 1-11. The Professional Association in Education.

V. Hope for a Fair Future of Policies

*Reveal parents, educators', and students' frustration briefly and provide a hopeful intro into the solution

*Provide a solution of more parental and student involvement in discipline rather than relying solely on those controlling the policies

*Summarize and re-cap the arguments and the final solution to them.

Larger Questions:

*What do parents say, as opposed to the opinion of academic sources? What counter-arguments would zero tolerance proponents use to combat those provided against it? Have there been any positive examples of zero tolerance policies succeeding?

Web Sources Cited MLA Style

Feb. 30, 2012

Web Sources Cited MLA Style;
T. B, S.S., J.B, M.L.

The following sources are cited MLA style and were all found online:

27. Entire Website:

Schultz, Sam. Kinder Kreek Farm.
Yahoo Small Business, 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

28. Work from a Website

Riley, Jim. "Morning Corn Commentary." Farms.com.
Farms.com, 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

30. Article in an Online Scholarly Journal

Rice, Todd W. "Initial Trophic Vs. Full Entreal Feeding in Patients With Acute Lung Injury."
Journal of the American Medical Association. 307.8 (2012): 749-874. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

31. Article in an Online Newspaper

McWhiter, Cameron. "Georgia on Gingrich's Mind." Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones &
Company, 28 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

33. Blog Entry

Benedict, Tabitha. "Beauty and the Beast." Smileymorning.blogspot.com. 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

*Note: This particular blog setting prevented us from tabbing in when citing sources so that they would be aligned properly.

Similarities and Differences of APA/MLA Styles

Feb. 28, 2012

Similarities and Differences of APA/MLA Styles

Writing papers for any assignment, whether it's in your career, school, or for personal use, requires one of two styles of writing and citing in the text: either MLA or APA citation.

The similarities between the citation forms begin with the in-text citation. Both require that you provide the source information within parenthesis (i.e., Bond) if it is not already provided within your text. Alternatively, both require some kind of guideline back to your works cited page even if you already quote the author in your text (i.e, in MLA you would quote the page number even if you had shared the name of the author in the text, while in APA, you would quote the year of the publication the author you already quoted had published his/her article or other document). Both include works cited pages and similar structure of always providing source information, no matter what the citation is.

The differences between the citation forms are mainly in what information each considers relevant. In MLA, page numbers (along with the author) are cited, while in APA, dates of publication (along with the author) are cited. Although APA does provide page numbers, it places more of a stress on years and dates than MLA. Another difference between the two consists within the works cited page, where information is rearranged slightly differently when providing the citation sources.

Analysis on Mckay's Essay

Feb. 23, 2012

Analysis on Joanna McKay's Organ Sales Will Save Lives

For Joanna McKay's essay, Organ Sales Will Save Lives, McKay begins her essay by supporting her opinion on whether or not governments should ban the sale of organs in a two-sentence thesis 'statement': "Governments should not ban the sale of human organs; they should regulate it. Lives should not be wasted; they should be saved."

In the body of her paper, McKay goes on to support her opinion with various paragraphs devoted to opponents of her argument, which she addresses and defeats to solidify her own reasoning. In paragraph 10, for example, she argues that proponents of the illegality of organ donation for profit are affluent and don't understand the desire poor donors have to willingly receive money for the services given through their donations. In other paragraphs, McKay argues that donors will begin disappearing if not given the incentive for money (¶11), and also that despite current bans on the poor donating organs, they continue to participate in such behavior, which translates into allowing something that will occur despite laws (¶12). In the upcoming paragraphs, McKay encourages regulation---not illegality---because this will benefit not only the patient's long wait, it will cut back on the criminality of illegal organ donors and reward donors instead of punishing them (¶13-16).

McKay breaks her essay into several different sections: First, she addresses the problem and states her thesis. Secondly, she cites some statistics dealing with the need for organ donors. Thirdly, she speaks about the facts of illegal donations of organs. Once she has set up this backdrop, she begins to discuss the protests of others against the legalization of poor donors and their main complaints. She addresses these with her own viewpoint on such matters, and finally, explains her own way of fixing the problem through regulation of legal donations of organs. She ends her paper with a thought-provoking question and paragraph.

Peer Reviews for Synthesis Papers

Feb. 23, 2012

Two Peer Reviews for Synthesis Papers

For J.'s Synthesis, Male Nurses

1. For J.'s paper, Male Nurses, J. discussed the controversial topic of male nurses in the work force. The introduction of J.'s paper properly introduced the topic and gave it a thesis for the body of the paper. The first source, a statistic, suggests that J. will handle future sources in his paper in a similar manner---statistics and website sources. I would suggest tying together the multiple unrelated sentences J. uses talking about nursing in general to a specific sentence about why those aspects tie into male nursing, instead of splitting it up.

2. A total of five or six sources were used in J.'s paper.

3. J. connects his sources with summaries of those sources in his own personal opinions; however, J. could provide further sources to support those sources instead of relying solely on his personal opinion about the quote or source.

4. Since J. does not have more than one source per paragraph, he connects them in separate paragraphs, not necessarily with one another, which could be improved. There are one or two sources provided with use paragraph.

5. The majority of J.'s statistical and informational citation appears correctly connected to his own writing. Grammatically, however, he could improve minor ways of citing websites or quotes, such as placing the period after the parenthesis, such as the website quote 'minoritynurse.com' in the second paragraph (i.e., "like him" (Bundt). In paragraph three, the quote about relationships and men seems to be too broad to relate to male nurses.

6. J. does a good job connecting his conclusion back to the problems he addressed in the body of the paper. He reiterates his thesis statement discussing the controversies in the field and then bases his conclusion around them. The question of male nursing being appropriate is clearly understood and questions/research are utilized well.

7. Each paragraph accurately addresses individual questions about male nursing. However, paragraph three seems to sidetrack with male nursing and relationships.

8. The paragraphs address problems, but they could transition more smoothly instead of jumping into topics. One way that J. could do this is by beginning each paragraph by a sentence which connects to his broad idea of male nursing being objected to, such as "Another area that male nursing is criticized about is because they are seen as effeminate..."

9. J. does an excellent job of repeating key ideas of phrases in each paragraph so that the reader understands what he's talking about.

10. The order of each of J.'s paragraphs is appropriate because he addresses each problem of male nursing in order.

11. The writer cites the majority of his sources except the beginning source (minoritynurse.com), and some of the cited information is not shown in the body of his paper, but simply provided at the end in the works cited page. However, he does provide a clear works cited page.

12. I would suggest J. works on:
* His citation within the article, citing it appropriately
* Paragraph 3 talking about men and relationships having a smoother or clearer connection to male nursing
* Some minor grammar, such as paragraph 4 and 5: "Some male nurses get criticisms, people...", "who wanna be doctors but is rejected".
*A title which catches the reader's eye and says more about the paper

For A.'s Synthesis, Inefficiencies of Green

1. It appears that A.'s topic relates to green efficiency; however, it does not seem to apply to later sources which talk mainly about cars' green efficiency as opposed to other aspects of green efficiency. I would suggest A. clarifies that the topic will be mainly about cars and green efficiency, or else change the body of the paper.

2. There appear to be five sources.

3. A. uses his sources to dwell on some of his own sentence structure about certain issues; his sources could have more summary to become clearer.

4. Since A.'s essay is only made up of three large paragraphs, it is difficult to make out transitions---rather, they seem to be relating to separate ideas in one paragraph. There are three or four sources in one paragraph and one in the last paragraph.

5. The quotes each have separate ideas and background, but they need to have more summary and broader ideas connected to them instead of simply stating them and quickly addressing them.

6. A. uses his conclusion to make a few broad statements about hybrids and their efficiency, which despite his unclear thesis statement, tied into the body of his paper and clarified his research question. His research question---whether or not certain cars were helpful from being green---was addressed in the body rather than the introduction, which is where his conclusion showed its strongest similarity.

7. Since each paragraph is so long, several ideas are competing, especially in paragraph two. If A. broke these up his paper could become more clear.

8. The connections between paragraphs are few---the introduction, the main body paragraph, and the conclusion paragraph. Paragraphs two and three most clearly tie together because they both talk about hybrid cars and their efficiency. Transitions could be improved by making more paragraphs.

9. A. does not repeat concepts or themes, but dwells more on a specific topic briefly. He could do this more frequently in his paper.

10. The order of the paragraphs is logical in basic form, but need to be more numerous.

11. There was no works cited page currently given, but A. told us that he was still improving it.

12. The four things that A. could improve would be:
*Make individual paragraphs to bring about clearer, more specific topic ideas
*Cite his information correctly within the paper (i.e., putting cited material in parenthesis)
*Provide a more solid, accurate thesis statement and paragraph for his paper
*Dwell more on each topic he briefly touched on to broaden his paper

Summaries of Three Sources; Library Advice Gained

Feb. 16

Summaries of Three Sources for my Synthesis Report
&
Advice Gained from the Librarian

Summaries of Three Sources for my Synthesis Report

For my upcoming synthesis report tracing a controversy in my field of current study (Elementary Education), I decided to research and comment on zero-tolerance policies about discipline in schools. There is quite a fair amount of controversy and disagreements swirling around this issue, and I found several articles which interested me.

One of the first journal articles by Thomas J. Billiteri, Discipline in Schools: Are Zero-Tolerance Policies Fair?¹, interested me because of his depth of information on the subject and discussion of several different aspects of why or why not the policies are hindering school discipline. I will be using this as the main information source for my report because of credibility and strength of further resources.

A second periodical article by Judith Browne-Dianis, entitled, Stepping Back from Zero Tolerance², also provided me with some further specific stories about children who had been convicted as delinquents for breaking zero tolerance policies, which I will integrate into the paper for a more personal effect to the reader.

The last source I found was an online article published by Russ Skiba and Reece Peterson, called The Dark Side of Zero Tolerance: Can Punishment Lead to Safer Schools?³. This source discusses the negative aspects of zero tolerance policies (one side of the controversy), which I will use to support my own opinion. I will then use another source for the other side of the issue.

1 Billitteri, Thomas J. "Discipline in Schools: Are Zero-Tolerance Policies Fair?" CQ Researcher 18 (2008).

2 Browne-Dianis, Judith. "Stepping Back from Zero Tolerance." Educational Leadership 69 (2011).

3 Skiba, Russ, and Reece Peterson. "The Dark Side of Zero Tolerance: Can Punishment Lead to Safer Schools?" Kappan Magazine (1999): 1-11. The Professional Association in Education.

Advice Gained from the Librarian

For our recent trip to the library, I was interested in learning more research techniques which would help me with my upcoming synthesis report.

Firstly, the librarian mentioned the importance of making sure your online resources were credible. When I was browsing the internet during the time he allotted for looking up research topics, I found a lot of information regarding my topics, but the most credible were the ones the librarian and Prof. Paudel had mentioned once--- “.gov” or “.edu” sites. This helped me to understand what can be credible sources for those I choose to cite in my paper.

Secondly, the librarian advised us to utilize the EBSCO database on the University of Louisville's library catalog. He suggested narrowing down our search by using different key words for our search terms, which I found helpful when the current search words I was using weren't helping me find the correct articles relating to my topic.

Thirdly, the librarian showed us how we can use certain questions about our topic to narrow down our search. Prof. Paudel also mentioned in the previous class-time how doing this will help us to keep things precise while still giving us room to find the answers as long as we aren't too specific. I utilized this when I brainstormed questions I wanted to know about the topic I'd chosen for my synthesis report.

Discussing Citations of Johnson

Feb. 9, 2012

Discussing Citations of Johnson

In Debra Johnson's article, Balanced Reading Instruction: A Review of the Literature, Johnson includes quite a bit of citation to support her case of reading instruction and its importance. Johnson cites eight sources to cover her subject thoroughly, and when she cites, includes various aspects of the cited source to show it is credible. This includes showing the title of the article or book entry, where it originated from (book, journal, or magazine), its date, and its author. To integrate the citations properly into her text and provide an accurate flow of her words and the provided information, Johnson uses various techniques such as quoting directly from the citation to support a point she is making and referring back to a citation's ideas by putting it in parenthesis beside her own summary of the idea (i.e., Johnson 1998).

Johnson's article is supported well by outside information because of her amount of sources, their credibility, and the accuracy and ease with which she interweaves them with her own material.

Reviews for Peers, Questions for Peers

Feb. 7, 2012

Peer Reviews of Informational Reports

Three Reviews for Peers on Their Informational Reports
&
Three Questions for Peers' Reviews on My Essay

Three Reviews

For A.'s essay, I really enjoyed how she integrated her interview with the rest of her material. She let it flow naturally into her paper so that it was easy to see how the two connected. The three things I would recommend for A. to work on were,

1. Her citation. Although A. provided the sources in the test and a good works cited page, she did not include the citation for her “MBA Writing Tips” article in parenthesis. For the rest of her citations, she did not include the date when they were written beside the name of the author.

2. For one of her sentences about phone vs. email communication, I was confused about how this tied into the rest of the paragraph about just emails, and would recommend getting rid of it or starting a new paragraph (it seemed like an extra thought).

3. For her paragraph dealing with reading improving writing, I would love to see an article or citation (such as the interview) which supported this personal thought of hers.

A.'s essay had such a rich vocabulary, so I enjoyed reading it in depth!

For C.J.'s essay, I really liked his thesis statement about writing being required in all fields, especially his field of justice administration. It provided his paper with a great springboard to the rest of his essay.

The three things I would recommend C.J. to work on would be:

1. His citation. I didn't see any citation in parenthesis (i.e., Rawdon, 2008), although he did provide a works cited page.

2. I would recommend clarifying the first quote that the officer made at the beginning of the paper to make it clearer. It seemed to be grammatically confusing for me.

3. To give the paper more depth outside the interview, I would recommend C.J. Perhaps devoting at least one paragraph to one of the forms of justice administration writing he mentioned through an article, such as discussing what “briefing” is defined as from another source.

C.J. definitely made me understand what writing was involved in his field of study.

For S.'s essay, I enjoyed the third paragraph the most about the interview information she gained about writing in dental hygiene. It definitely clarified what fields were involved in choosing it as a major.

The three things I would recommend S. to work on would be:

1. Some of the information in the paper (such as the sentence about suicide with dental hygienists) didn't seem to apply to writing in the field, although it was interesting! I would recommend taking those few sentences out.

2. In the third paragraph, I saw that her interviewee mentioned what types of writing hygienists did---I would love to see the titles of a couple of academic journals mentioned in that sentence as well to support what the interviewee mentioned (“Dentists Today”, etc.?)

3. I'm not sure how S could reformat some of the material, but if she could integrate the interview with the articles she mentioned at the end by tying them together somehow with a common point of interest, that would be neat.

S. had a great interview that seemed to cover so much about her profession, and it showed through in her writing.

Questions for my Peers

The top three questions I would like to ask my peers would be these:

1. How would you suggest citing a website within the text? Have you found any information pertaining to this in your own citations?

2. Did you feel as if the wording I used talking about the use of the template/lesson plans made sense?

3. Are there any sentences in my paper which you feel are too run-on (some professors have told me this was a problem with my writings in the past)?

Advice from a Fellow Student for Informational Report

Jan. 31, 2012

Advice from a Fellow Student, Integrated

For my most recent assignment for ENG 102-42, I was asked to collaborate with a fellow student about the process of writing our Informational Reports. J. read my summaries of my interview and listed sources, helping me to understand what to change.

J. advised me to not simply use one newspaper article, but the two I listed, since together, they would clarify my points in my paper better. Since I was struggling to make things as deep and understandable with only one article, J. agreed with me that it would probably be better to include both.

J. also confirmed that I should stress my interview, since it had provided me with the strongest sense of writing in my profession. She agreed with me that if I structured my paper with an emphasis on the interviewee's answers, it would make my paper better constructed.

Short Summary of Interview/Brief Analysis of Sources

January 26, 2011

Short Summary of Interview/Brief Analysis of Sources

Short Summary of Interview

For my upcoming informational report in ENG 102-42, I have been asked to conduct an interview with a professional in my future career choice. For me, that professional was Nichole Hutchins, a Kindergarten teacher for eleven years and an expertise in my field of elementary education.

Hutchins' passion for children and her profession had been obvious to me in the past, when I had a long conversation with her about teaching before I finally ended up choosing my major of elementary education. In the interview, her enthusiasm for her students---and even for the copious amounts of writing she admitted having to do---was evident in her optimism and cheerfulness about her work. “My favorite type of writing is for the parents and kids,” she shared, “the rest of it is a lot of busywork.” 'The rest of it', Hutchins had explained earlier, consists of a lot of regulatory work that is required by the state for school records, but despite such repetitive and often time-consuming forms to fill out, Hutchins still maintains her joyful attitude about the work, berating very little despite some of the difficulties such required work provides.

During my interview, I gained a deeper and surprising insight into how much writing teaching requires. A fellow student in my ENG 102-42 class shared before the interview with Hutchins, “My sister and mother are elementary teachers, and they do a crazy amount of writing.”, but it was only after my interview that I realized both the amount of writing and the many genres that teaching requires. From notes to children, forms for the district, and other writings, both formality and informality is used. Following the interview, such insights will definitely broaden and solidify the scope of my informational report.

Brief Analysis of Sources

For the three sources I have prepared for my informational report, I had difficulty at first choosing articles that related to my profession---elementary education---and how much writing or what genres teachers utilized the most. To structure my paper properly, then, for the requirements given in my informational report guidelines, I am using different aspects of each source to intertwine with the stronger details given to me in my interview.

Although I may use two newspaper articles, the first I will include will focus on the need for teachers to have strong and appropriate writing skills for their profession (Northeast Arkansas Teachers Explore Writing Development at Summer Institute; Targeted News Service). For this approach, I will also share details relating to teachers' writing included in the academic journal article I found, entitled, Teaching Writing to Elementary Students in Grades 4-6: A National Survey. The second newspaper article I will include will revolve around the written media now being explored that teachers often share in their classrooms (No More Pencils; The Village Voice). Lastly, for my website, I will be using the Kentucky Department of Education's webpage (www.education.ky.gov) to share the standards of writing children are held to, and thus, teachers must have as well. Combined, these articles will give a broader picture of the media, genre, and requirements a teacher must possess before being able to accurately teach themselves. With the combined information from my interview, I will also be able to accurately represent writing in the teaching profession.

Analyzing Two Quotations from an Essay

January 24, 2012

Analyzing Two Quotations from an Essay

Say What?

Analyzing Two Quotations from an Essay

One of the most important steps to take when writing a formal essay is using citation of your sources properly. Whether it's for a college assignment, a publication for a research paper, or an article for an academic journal, the formation of solid citation should be set in place to avoid plagiarism and to give credit to the author of the source.

For a recent essay of mine I wrote while in college, I was asked to share a fair amount of sources. The essay was assigned as an informational paper based around the true events of Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation as Emperor in the French republic.

For one of my quotes, I wanted to use a first hand account of what a fellow commander in the military thought of Bonaparte's skill as an officer before his coronation. I introduced the quote first by discussing Bonaparte's military success thus far; then, after I quoted the commander's opinion, I ended the paragraph by concluding with other information relating to Bonaparte's success in war, to solidify and tie together the truth of the commander's statement. I cited the quote from a book about Bonaparte's life.

For another one of my quotes, I directly quoted Bonaparte himself from another book about his life. I opened the paragraph with a passage talking about how the French people were not quite ready for Bonaparte to be Emperor (several years before his official coronation), and through that passage, quoted Bonaparte agreeing with the people that they were not prepared for his leadership. I used this quote from Bonaparte as a springboard for my following paragraph as I introduced at what time the people were ready.

Through this paper, I learned a significant amount about citation. I look forward to using the skills I was able to foster in future essays as well.

Citing a Resource for my Informational Report

January 19, 2012

English 102-42: Intermed College Writing

Citing a Resource for my Informational Report:

A Brief Description of Genre and Summary of its Utilization in the Paper

For one of my cited sources in my upcoming informational report, I will be using an article entitled, Teaching Writing to Elementary Students in Grades 4-6: A National Survey¹. This article is taken from the academic educational journal Elementary School Journal, which will add relevancy to my topic since it relates specifically to elementary teachers, as opposed to other, higher level professionals in the teaching field. The genre of academic journal articles should have reputable sources, and in keeping with this ideal, this specific article is published by the University of Chicago Press. It was originally published as well by two professors from Vanderbilt University.

To utilize my source to its utmost, I will choose a specific quote or quotes which are pertinent to my informational report. Since the latter majority of this article relates more to the students'---instead of the teacher's---writing, I will focus more on earlier portions of the article speaking about how much writing the teacher does compared to the students. I will also focus on the statistics the article cites about what types of writing the teacher formulates to assign to his or her students. The combination of both of these viewpoints will lead to useful information for my report.

1Gilbert, Steve Graham. “Teaching Writing to Elementary Students in Grades 4-6: A National Survey.” Elementary School Journal June 2010: 494-518.

Rhetorical Analysis on an Informational Report

January 17, 2012

ENG 102-42: Intermed College Writing

Rhetorical Analysis on an Informational Report

A Rhetorical Analysis on an Informational Report

For my most recent assignment from my ENG 102-42 class, I have been asked to write in the genre of an informational report. An informational report is meant to include both the broad picture and some smaller details of the issue the writer is addressing, so I will attempt to include each of these aspects when writing my paper. Since the purpose of this report is to share the different aspects of the profession I am currently pursuing---for me, this would be elementary education---I will begin with a general overview of teaching and then break into smaller details regarding how much writing the profession requires. My audience is a group of college students considering this profession for their own future careers, with an emphasis on needing to know how much writing the profession includes. My stance will be formal and deal with outside sources (such as an interview with a teacher and scholarly articles in the educational department) to present the information with as little personal bias or opinion as possible. My media will be a typed copy for the professor as well as sharing my report on a blog for students in my English class to read. This report will overview both the teaching profession as a whole and the usage of writing in the profession.

Rhetorical Analysis on Essay

January 11, 2012

ENG 102-42: Intermed College Writing

Rhetorical Analysis on Essay

A Rhetorical Analysis on My Second Home, A Narrative Essay

In a recent narrative essay I completed for my last college semester entitled, My Second Home, I discussed my attachment and experiences with a historical village in Kentucky called Shaker Village. My purpose for the piece was to convey to my audience--the professor of my English class---why I held certain fond memories for Shaker Village, as well as to describe the physical attributes of the location.

Since my genre was narrative, I wrote my essay in first-person, which allowed me to convey my deeper thoughts instead of the aloofness of a third-person party. This lead to my stance being poetical and serious, since it revolved around a desire to inform the reader of my own introspective emotions at the time when I walked Shaker Village's grounds. In a passage such as the following, I wanted the reader to grasp both my inner thoughts and understand the context I wrote it in: “I remember sitting out on a bench in the middle of one of the Village's outlying fields[...]Why I had never recognized before that silence could be forgiving and cleansing, instead of lonely, was suddenly a complete mystery to me, and it crossed through me that I would be content to remain in this state of reflection for dozens more sunsets to come, continually lost in the last threads of evening.”

For the media of My Second Home, I used a computer to type and edit it, and then printed it out on a hard copy for the professor to read.

My Second Home encompassed all aspects of genre, audience, media, stance, and purpose in different ways as I shared my personal memories and thoughts on Shaker Village, KY.

This blog is for the specific purpose of submission writings for ENGL 102-42.

Thank you for reading!