1.   The essay that I chose was the descriptive essay. I enjoyed writing my own personal experience with detail, especially since I remember the event very well. I accidentally gave a guy a black eye by throwing an orange. That's not very common to hear about and it is something that I will never forget. The first major essay assigned in the class was the descriptive essay. I still am nervous when starting a paper, but have improved by writing what's on my mind, even if it doesn't quite add up with my thesis. I do care how I do in school and with my writing, but with rough drafts, I've tried to not worry too much how it turns out, since it's only a rough draft. I thought that my first draft with the descriptive essay was awesome. Unfortuantly, it wasn't as well done as I hoped and thought. I had it peer reviewed and revised it a few more times before turning in my final draft, realizing how much better it was after each revision. I became more confident in my writing and not as afraid to write with my own personal style during and after the descriptive essay. It was fun to write about and helped me overcome fear of failure by improving and learning that one rough draft isn't always enough.

2.   The typical answer and probably the expected answer for the grade people think that they should receive on their portfolio is an 'A'. I honesly don't think that I should reveive an 'A' because my work doesn't feel 'A' quality. Thats my reason for that. I do think that I should receive a 'B' or a 'C' depending on whoever gives me the portfolio grade because not everyone grades the same. I think I should receive a 'B' at the highest because I have learned quite a bit from my mistakes. There are quite a few mistakes in my papers, but from the teacher's revisions and comments, I know what my strengths and weaknesses are and where I need to improve. When writing involves creativity and detail, I do well. If writing requires research and citing my sources, I struggle more since my own opinion and experiences usually aren't valid for a research paper. I have learned to improve on this by writing three research papers this semester total from my all of my classes (with my english paper being the weakest our of the three). My portfolio shows that I know where I need to improve with my writing and that I am willing.

3.   As "humbling" as this may sound, my own portfolio was my favorite. I can explain to people and tell them how I have improved, but I am the only one who truly understands my own improvements and strengths and weaknesses.

Benjamin Weakland

1. What essay did you choose and why?

•  I chose my exemplification essay because I believed that it portrayed my writing skills the best. It was also my highest essay grade, so I know that it was the strongest essay I wrote as well. Once I revise it again I am confident that this essay will be one of the best I have ever written and it was also the most fun for me to write as well. 

2. What portfolio grade do you think you should receive and why?

• I believe I should receive an A on the portfolio because after all the revisions are completed my essays will prove that I have learned a tremendous amount from this class and that I am able to reflect what I have learned in my essays. I also have put more voice and better vocabulary in my essays which was needed in the rough drafts, so with these additions I believe my writing was better as a whole.

3. What is your favorite portfolio you looked at and why?

• Because we have had limited time to view other portfolios I do not actually have a favorite. I have read only little bits and pieces of other essays: Sierras', Bens', and Ahnuns', and they all equally have proved themselves in their writing.    

By: Sydney Evans

All About My Portfolio

1. What essay I chose and why.
• I chose to put my review essay into my portfolio because it has a more structured layout than my other previous essays have had.
• It also was written with all of my added up experience from this semester.
2.  What grade I think I should receive on my portfolio and why.
• I believe that I should get a B on my portfolio because I believe that I am a decent writer and that the teachers who review my portfolio will find things wrong with my papers that other people may not have.
• I also know that I do have issues with grammar and not very much time to find people to revise my essays because of finals so there will probably be some issues within my pieces.
3. My favorite portfolio I looked at and why.
1. I cannot say that I have a favorite portfolio that I have read due to the fact that I have not read very many. I can say, though, that the pieces I have read were all unique and each had a different voice to them, they each had their own style based on the author.

By Sierra Baumann

One Portfolio to Rule Them All...

well it seems that the semester is ending and the final looms over the class. Passing, or failing sits upon a knife edge;one which is wielded by not only our instructor, but one of her peers as well. We must prepare an end of year portfolio and it must include papers to which prove our competence on the field of English 121.

The research paper, the shield in which I hope can guide me to a passing grade, is still weak. My examples need photos, like the shield needs ribs for strength. I must add more facts to polish my perspective, then I can truly blind my foes with the glare of research.

To add to my success, an essay, sharp as a spear, the reflective essay can be the point which can lead my way through this battle. Assessing my papers for the class, I'll be able to create an reflective essay  that will confirm my victory. The instructor and her peer will see how my skills have improved from my start, where i was only armed with a rock and now have come to battle with a well crafted spear.

In the heat of the battle, I have only one trick, like magic or sorcery, my Media review essay will distract my foes though humor and charm. With this essay, the battle I will win, because it shows my paper writing talent and ability that my instructor armed me with. So with the grammar, and structure skills I have learned I will build my shield, and sharpen my spear because this will be a fight to pass.  

The Portfolio Plan

1. What will I change in the research paper:
• Fix the formatting that makes the spaces between paragraphs appear double spaced.
• Clarify my first thesis.
• Fix in text citations and capitalization errors.
• take out unneeded words and add more expressive verbs in places were they are rather plain.
• ALTER THE TWO PLACES WHERE I USED THE SAME QUOTE.
• Clarify some points about Banksy. Probably remodel the whole paragraph about him to fix the reasons why, what his work does, and the prior to what point.
• Add in figure 1 in the Banksy paragraph.
2.  News Report on Reflective Essay:
• The thesis will introduce that I have made a few important improvements in my writing this semester.
• I probably use my media review essay as the basis for my reflective essay, describing how sub-par my prior writings were in comparison that leads me to believe so.
• I will use the essays in my portfolio to show my strength with active verbs and better wording that improve the overall aesthetics of the papers.
• I will bring up where I started using an outline to help organize the structure and clarity of papers.
• I will express how I need to improve my understanding of grammar in writing papers since I am generally able to be moderately grammatically correct but I do not understand WHY it is grammatically correct.
• I will conclude my paper by express my belief that even though I have not made a major jump in progress from the beginning, I have learned a lot through the baby steps I have taken. Overall the outcome has improved my current writing skills and I've taken one step closer to becoming a proficient, competent writer.
3.  Which Essay Will I Choose and Why:
• I feel like I will probably choose the event/media review essay to demonstrate my writing skills because this essay will be the one in which my more refined skills will be used to write the essay and it will be more thought out than I feel that the other two are. I also feel like I will be more passionate about the subject and understand what I am doing so much more than I was in the prior essays.
• I might choose the descriptive essay because I feel more comfortable with descriptions than I do with examples. I will only do this, though, if I do not feel comfortable with how the event/media review is turning out.

By Sierra Baumann

The Portfolio Plan

1.) What to change in the research essay:

• Intro. - Do not begin with a quote, begin with personal statement on what eating disorders are. Also, define the thesis more (state clearly that there should be a weight limit.)
• Fix run-on sentences in 1st body paragraph
• Relate binge eating to over-all eating disorders and how relates to models (clarify) in paragraph 2
• Go back to Kylie Bisutti's story and add in in-text citations. Also, add in that models are not strictly to blame because the standards to be a model are strict (clarify) in paragraph 3.
• Take out some rhetorical questions in paragraph 4
• For support bit number 5, show how models aren't directly to blame , but play a role in the psychological factor that leads to eating disorders, so that's why there should be a weight limit.
• Find  a source for the standards of beauty support bit.
• Clear up conclusion by making a statement about how although models are not the sole reason for eating disorders, they play a role in the beginning phases of developing a disorder, so the U.S. should create a weight limit in order to emphasize what true beauty is.

2.) News report on reflective essay:

• Introduce essay with how I started out in class, what I knew what I didn't, my thoughts, ect.
• Thesis: Eng. 121 has improved my overall writing skills...
• Explain writing the mini essay and revising is (my initial thoughts)
• Comparing essays and seeing the growth and new understandings
• Discuss my preferred type of writing (creative) vs. my least favorite type of writing (research) and how my creative writing  is better than my research essays.
• How I can improve my writing from all the feedback I have gotten (from both peers and professor.)
• Conclude with my overall journey ( the ups and downs)
• Thesis #2: My writing may have be rough at the beginning of the semester, but I have seen myself grow and am excited to continue to grow.

3.) Which essay I will choose and why:
I will choose to add the descriptive essay because I believe that it showcases my strengths the most. Because I typically enjoy writing creative pieces, this essay exemplified why I enjoy writing them and how descriptive I personally feel about certain topics. I do still need to go back and fix pieces that I was given feedback on and even add in more personal descriptions. After I have completed a few more revisions I am confident that not only my strengths in writing, but my personality as well will shine through.

By: Sydney Evans

Date or Die: Grammar Edition

By: Sierra Baumann, Ben Weakland, Sydney Evans, and Ahnun Brainerd

Internet Sources - Part 2

·         Evaluate

o   This article is very credible because it can be found in professional databases, has associations with medical departments, and is listed as a scholarly journal. The author also gave both perspectives on if the weight of models is truly to blame for eating disorders. They also gave facts on the Canadian BMI, deaths of being too thin, and websites like “pro-ana,” where girls can find starving techniques. By having other credited sources, this author assures the reader that this article is credible as well.

 

·         Compare:

o    This article is more in depth than the previous article and gives more credible sources to back up the information given. The information in this article also was more factual rather than opinion based so it would also be better to use in a research paper. This author was more of an expert on the topic which is apparent by how much research they did themselves on the topic as compared to the previous author. Overall this article is more credible and better presented because they gave quite a bit more information to back up what they were saying, as well as was more convincing than the previous author about their opinion on the topic.

 

·         Record:

o   N/A – No reference  list

 

·         Works Cited:

o   Agrell, Siri. "Thin Police." Proquest. N.p., 15 July 2008. Web. 16 Oct. 2014.

Evaluating Internet Resources Part 2

Database Article:

Source

Christian Nutt, author of "Tales of Symphonia; Like delicious RPG candy" in the GMR magazine, reviewed the original Tales of Symphonia game for the Gamecube. This article briefly goes over the pros and cons of the original game, mentioning it has great graphics and a fantastic battle style. It also conveys that the story lacks luster but does not detract from the game as much as a plain, uninteresting story line could. The author seems to have experience with these types of games, expressing important aspects of an RPG game and relating it to the level of advancement in graphics the game has in comparison to the industry. However, this article was written a long enough ago to no longer be relevant to the current game industry today. The graphics of games now far exceeds the graphics of when the game and article were the creme de la creme of the industry.

Although the authors are comparing different versions of the Tales of Symphonia games, they have moderately the same things to say about the game. The authors describe the games as great, lovable RPG's with an uninspired, boring plot. They describe the game as great for the style of game-play and spiced up with the additional optional character dialogues. The articles mainly differ in how the information is presented to the reader. The information in the GMR magazine is for people who have not played and know nothing about the Tales of Symphonia game where as the article from IGN is fro readers who have played the original games and have interest in purchasing the re-release of the beloved game. These differences are due to the differences in when the articles were published and the game the article was based on (though there are not many differences between the two).

By: Sierra Baumann

Works Cited:
Nutt, Christian. "Tales of Symphonia ; Like Delicious RPG Candy." GMR Aug 01 2004: 94. ProQuest. Web. 16 Oct. 2014 .
Plagge, Kallie. "Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Review - IGN." IGN. IGN Entertainment, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.

Internest Sources - Part 1

Record Your Impressions: My impressions of this website was that it is credible and provides helpful information on starting a career in fashion merchandise. The information is presented in an easy way to read and navigate as well as provides related articles that could also be useful for writing an essay on fashion merchandise. The URL appears to be credible because it is a global post. There are advertisement on this article which makes me believe that they are connected with other credible sources, making them credible as well.

Gather Information:  Although there are many opinion based arguments in this article, they use facts to back their opinion up which makes the information legitimate. The article also has references to bring the reader to the site that they got their information from, as well as give some information about the author, and why the author is credible.

Select: “Fashion merchandisers are responsible for creating store displays, fashion buying, attending fashion shows and expos, marketing, and even forecasting upcoming trends. The field may sound glamorous to fashion industry hopefuls, but fashion merchandisers put in a lot of hours and the work can be extremely demanding. Having a true passion for the field is only the beginning of having what it takes to become a fashion merchandiser.” (Everyday Life)

Embed: Many individuals believe that fashion merchandise would be an easy and fun career to have. What they don’t realize is how much work really goes in to this job, and how many hours it will take in order to be successful. As Everyday Life presents, “Fashion merchandisers are responsible for creating store displays, fashion buying, attending fashion shows and expos, marketing, and even forecasting upcoming trends. The field may sound glamorous to fashion industry hopefuls, but fashion merchandisers put in a lot of hours and the work can be extremely demanding. Having a true passion for the field is only the beginning of having what it takes to become a fashion merchandiser” (Caldwell).

Works Cited:

Caldwell, Christina. "How to Start a Career in Fashion Merchandising." Global Post:America's World New Sit. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.

 

By: Sydney Evans

Winning Thesis!

Creative people use and explore many different sites. Some of the most common ones include deviantART and Pinterest. Which one is more useful though?

Source

Riding a Turtle Deathmatch!

Riding a Turtle, a fellow class blog, presents information very well per the assignments given to the authors, despite that the subject matter is difficult to make entertaining.

The information on the blog itself is not very original, very cut, dry and professional. The Visual of the blog, on the other hand, is aesthetically pleasing with good, clear word choice and paragraph structure. All authors post frequently in accordance to the class schedule and their posts are proper lengths for the assignments given.

Each author has a unique style despite the professional tone of their writing. Although the information is clearly only academic, each author is able to portray their information using their own views on the subjects.

The blog is laid out cleanly in a basic, simplistic form. This makes it easy to navigate so searching for specific posts or authors isn't difficult. As for the information presented, it's relevant to the class and the topics we are covering in class.

Overall, Riding a Turtle is a good blog, but it does have some room for improvement. The authors are able to convey academic in a visually interesting way.

Source

The picture portrays, similarly to the blog, slow information in an interesting fashion.

By: Sierra Baumann, Sydney Evans, Ben Weakland, Ahnun Brainerd, Connor Hicks

The Muppets

• Attack of the English Teacher: 8
• It's easy to navigate, it looks pleasing, but it's not regularly used for blogging purposes.
• Riding a Turtle: 8
• It's eye-catching but also not regularly used.
• Unconventional English: 7
• It is VERY intriguing at first glance but not being able to just scroll through the posts is inconvenient.
• FRCC Writers Blog: 7
• It's easy to navigate but some of the posts lack in some way or another and the color scheme is off-setting.
• Drunk Writer Talk 121: 5
• The attempt  to make the blog look original is nice but the layout is poor. It is difficult to read without something behind the posts and the font choice was not effective.
• Eng 1 Blogger: 5
• The blog looks boring and lacks visual stimulation but it's readable.

By: Sierra Baumann, Sydney Evans, Ben Weakland, Ahnun Brainerd, Connor Hicks

Evaluating Internet Sources Part 1

Tales of Symphonia Chronicles

IGN is a site mostly for video games and a little bit for other geeky things like superhero shows and the like. Even the advertizements are for video games. It's home page shows articles on popular games like Halo and Borderlands. It seems like a site where gamers mostly can find information on games that are out or will be coming out. 

IGN clearly labels authors as well as sponsors. All of the information this site presents is clearly relevant to the purpose of the site itself: to inform about games (mostly). The authors themselves, though, are experts in their own opinions. For reviews, authors play the games to state their opinion about the game and attempt to support their opinions with information they collected about the games. There doesn't seem to really be any outside references besides the physical games themselves. When an article talks about a game, on the left-hand side of the screen is a small blurb about the game with a link to the game description and other informative information like walkthroughs, weapons, achievements, and so on. This site is used regularly by many and is updated with information constantly. Depending on the author, the content, and what type of article you read, different information will be covered in varying depths. The most determining factor of the depth of the article is the authors take on the purpose of their writing.

An example of this is Kallie Plagge's Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Review

This review goes over only a few points of the re-release of the two games included. Kallie has mostly raves about the first of the two games, Tales of Symphonia, stating, "It’s a decade old and certainly feels that way at times, but it has a charm that extends beyond nostalgia." She comments on a new option for the voice-overs, the battle style, and the inconsistent graphics update. She makes a point of stating how great the Tales of Symphonia game is in comparison to its sequel Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World that is also included in the Chronicles package. She clearly feels that the original of the two is superior to the sequel and gives opinions of in-game information to back up her arguments.

Kallie accomplishes her goal of reviewing something that has already been released to the public years before, focusing instead on the differences of the re-release vs the original and the two games themselves. Unfortunately, to someone who hasn't played or read up on either of these games, this review wouldn't make much sense.

By Sierra Baumann

Plagge, Kallie. "Tales of Symphonia Chronicles Review - IGN." IGN. IGN Entertainment, 20 Feb. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.

Argument Beyond Pro and Con

After reading issue 4 of this graphic novel I realized how interesting argumentation essay can really be. The comic book layout made it easier to read, and makes readers want to keep reading to find out what would happen next. Although this was an informative (educational) piece, the author was very successful in keeping the reader entertained. I found it very intriguing that the author used well known fact and books that each reader can recognize, such as the three bears in Goldilocks. Not only did they get their point across about argumentation pieces, but gave the reader common ground to relate to. Throughout the piece I found myself connecting previous knowledge to the new information I learned, making this piece quite successful in teaching about argumentation essays.

A graphic novel was a fantastic idea for this author to use in order to teach as well as entertain their reader. They not only made it relateable and interesting, but also gave some step-by-step processes to go through in order for the reader to understand how to use this information in their own writing. The author also knew the right times to crack a joke or to add in an educational piece, such as the essay by Marissa Osato. By understand when and where to place certain pieces the author walked the reader through the steps to create a well-written essay, but also kept them wanting to read and learn more. All students should read this graphic novel and learn new ways to write argumentation essays, and see what they have been doing right and what they could do better. They will learn more from this piece because of how engaging it will make them, and how informative it really is.


 By: Sydney Evans

Finding Fallicies Through Friendship!

Just because something is normal for you doesn't mean that the same thing is normal for everybody else. Everybody is different, ranging anywhere from their culture, to their belief systems, or even their personal values. Even words may be perceived differently to each individual due how unique their concept of reality is.

To avoid making this logical fallacy, stay open minded to accepting differences in opinions. Understand that flexibility and utilizing pro's and con's as well as counterarguments help build a better relationship with the reader.

Image Courtesy of Ami Toben

In Toy Story, Woody and Buzz are from different genres and cultures of toys. Woody, on the one hand, knows for a fact that he is simply a child's toy. Buzz, on the other hand, believes he is the real character his toy was designed for. Woody believes that toys are and can be nothing more than simply toys. Through interaction with Buzz, Woody realized that his logic contained a fallacy, accepting that yes, toys are toys but they can also do great things.

By Sierra Baumann and Sydney Evans

The Art of Argument and Persuasion

Image Courtesy of Lee Odden

The point of an argument or a persuasion essay is to convince the reader of a certain point of view about a certain topic. One of the most important tools in writing an essay of this kind would be Logos, Ethos, and Pathos in the support details. Logos appeals to logic to make a point through facts, statistics, examples, and authoritative statements. Ethos appeals to the author's credibility through means of honesty, integrity, and reliability, which, in turn, creates trust in what the author has to say. Pathos appeals to the reader's emotions of feelings, attitude, values, and beliefs. I had completely forgotten these useful appeals. I consider them to be the most important tools one can use to truly convince their reader of their argument.

For a student, this chapter has many important tools to write an argumentative essay. The chapter outlines the basic pieces of an argument essay and explains WHY each piece is important. It also gives guidelines and strategies for the process of writing an argumentative, persuasive essay.

By Sierra Baumann

Chapter 13 Review

                  I was surprised at how many different parts there really are when writing different types of essays. I was also intrigued by new ways to get across information in an argumentation or persuasive essay like inductive and deductive reasoning as well as how to appeal to a readers emotions at the right time. I also thought it was interesting how this chapter used guideline for how to write an argumentation or persuasion essay. I hadn’t thought about all the different steps that go into a well-written essay, so that was nice for me to read in order to better understand how to correctly write these types of essays.

Grete Pasch and Kent Norsworthy, Using 

Internet Primary Sources to Teach Critical 

Thinking Skills in World .Languages 

(Greenwood, 2001).

                  This chapter was aiming to make the reader understand every detail on how to write argumentation and persuasive essays. They take the reader step-by-step through the into, body paragraphs, and conclusion, and then go beyond that in order to give details and examples on what each of these should look like. It also give many examples on types of claims and how to give support for those claims. By giving all these examples and details the reader is able to better understand how these essays are supposed to be written, and how that makes the essay better.

By: Sydney Evans

Argumentation: More than Simply 'Pro' and 'Con'

Image Courtesy of Barnes & Noble

Argumentative essays. We've all written them. In fact, they seem to be the most common of the numeral essay structures English teachers expect us to utilize. Common knowledge of the basic structure of an argument essay is giving pros and cons, the good and bad, to support a thesis argument. Understanding Rhetoric by Elizabeth Losh, Jonathan Alexander, Kevin Cannon, and Zander Cannon brings the basics and some of the finer details of argumentative essays to life with a spunky graphic novel based on informing the reader of rhetoric.

Due to argumentative essays being a popular, basic essay, most of this comic is a review of already known details and important information. The style of the writing and art made educating myself on argument essays rather enjoyable, more enjoyable than it has ever previously been. The issue on argument consists of digging deeper about the concepts of pro's and con's in an essay through everyday situations. It shows arguments, counter arguments, and thought provoking ideas. This issue challenges the reader to go further than simply right or wrong: this issue stresses that there is middle ground between two issues since they are never starkly black and white. The authors even went as far as to use a simile and a visual image of that simile to describe the different pieces of an argument essay and how they fit together.

Image Courtesy of James Arnold

Unfortunately, all of this information is not new news. Although, the emphasis of importance this issue put on common ground between two opposing points is refreshing. To a student who doesn't know the first thing about argumentative essays, this engaging, funny, fast paced visual based interpretation would be a great introduction to the basics and more important aspects of an argumentative essay.

By Sierra Baumann

Blog Review: Cougars

Benjamin Weakland
Blog Review

       The EngCougar blog has a very interesting name. If they're referring to the animal, then the posts have my full attention.
        I may not have looked hard enough, but there was one group member who didn't have any posts. That person could have just wrote out all of their assignments so far, like I currently have for this class. That is my only constructive criticism, making sure that all group members post on the blog.
        This blog has quality. I wasn't expecting the organization to be the quality that it was. There is an archive of the member's blog posts that will take me there with a simple click. The posts are frequent and not too frequent. It's not like there needs to be a post every day, but the time span is where it should be. Each blogger has a different and unique voice. I didn't feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again. Some of the posts were pretty feisty, but I suppose that is good, since cougars typically are feisty. It is hard to determine how much passion is in each blog post, but the blog posts that I read seemed legit and didn't bore me. Each writing style is also unique. Every person has a differen't feeling in the writing that isn't identical to the others. The writing on the blogs was interesting. Some of the posts might have seemed generic, but when I read them, there was more soul in the writing than what I expected.
        This blog is definitely user friendly. I'm sure both males and females will read this blog, due to the title. I Googled "cougar" and learned that they live in North America. I also live in North America. Because this blog relates to an interesting wild animal predator, there's no reason to not read this blog.
        I found the blog user-friendly. The layout was fine, because it had the right amount of detail. There wasn't too much detail and there was enough to keep my focus on the blog posts. Originality is a key component. The posts were from the blogger and not another source from the internet.
        Overall, this blog is better than the average blog. I have come across a couple of uninteresting blogs. This one has quality and thankfully wasn't boring. Good job to you, Cougar Team!





















http://alloveralbany.com/images/cabelas_cougar_killing_deer.jpg

Student Blog Battle!

Blog vs. Blog: Battle One!

Today's in-class assignment was one of choice, review, and criticism(constructive). I was task with choosing a blog from another one of my professors classes. Then I was told to take it apart, sentence by sentence, word by word, and even die-sect their layout and originality. 

Like a Sith apprentice I disemboweled my fellow students' blog and came up with this review of WordExplosions.blogspot.com.

RATING SCALE: Not Awesome(NA) /"So-So"Awesome(SS)/ Awesome(A)/ Way Awesome(WA)/Totally Awesome(TA).

 

1. Frequency of postings: The blog has been active for 20 days now with several postings but only on three different dates, each about one week apart. The infrequency of posts would lower their awesome score but each member of the blog post on these dates. FREQUENCY: SS

2. Voice: Each member of the blog has a different writing style although many of the blogs are about the same subject/topic. VOICE: A

3. Passion/Expertise: The Blog has a feeling of passion as the writers appear to be unafraid to write boldly and at length about the subjects in creative and personal details. PASSION: WA

4. Good Writing: Well cited, descriptive, and accurate. WRITING: A

5. Aesthetics:The Blog allows for the users choice in layout which is convenient but the graphics and illustrations could be more interesting. AESTHETICS: SS

6. User-Friendly: The users choice in layout makes the blog easily navigable and easy to read. USER:A   

 

Written By: Ahnun Brainerd

    

           

Quality Criteria: AKA121

Photo by Dinuraj K

Out of the list of blogs given, I picked AKA121. The title of the blog doesn't particularly stand out. The following is my quality criteria.

• Voice: 7
•   The authors of this blog each have a voice of their own, but not many of them are very engaging or exciting.
• Passion/Expertise: 7
• Though the authors have an idea of what they are talking about, they are not very passionate to write a blog for an English class.
• Clarity/Organization: 10
•  The blog itself is very simple and organized. The blog posts vary in structure only slightly depending on the subject and the included picture is always at the end.
• Aesthetically Pleasing: 7
•  The blog isn't displeasing to look at but it could definitely look nicer. The authors could try to learn the software a bit better and use text links instead of copying and pasting links into the blog so crudely.
• User Friendly: 10
•  The blog layout isn't very complicated and the stark, simple black text on a white background is easy to read.
• Interesting/Original: 7
•  It's hard to be interesting and original with a topic that the authors don't find particularly interesting but the pictures used in the blog definitely help draw interest to the blog. In fact, my favorite part of this blog happens to be the pictures.
• Relevance: 10
•  The posts seem to follow the class and are completely relevant to what I am experiencing in the same class on a different day.
• Frequency: 6
•  The authors are not posting every day, they only seem to post weekly at most. Though it seems to yet again exactly follow the schedule of my class.
• Good Writing: 8
• The writing on this blog is fairly simple and straight forward. It's somewhat bland in most posts but there are some posts where the writing is more thought out, careful, and fluent.

AKA121 isn't a bad blog but considering the content and the visual of it, I personally would not follow it.

Review of CAAS121 Blog

Photo Credit to AACRAO Consulting

Constructive Criticism: CAAS 121 is very detailed and organized in all of their blog posts. By being so organized, these bloggers make it easier for the reader to navigate the page and find what they really want to read. There was not a lot of color or objects, which hurt these bloggers because it made the blog appear a little boring as a whole. All together this blog was put together nicely and was updated frequently, showing that each blogger is actively posting.

Blog Quality Criteria (1-10):

Voice: 4 As a whole, this blog lacks luster when it comes to voice. They are very thorough and serious in their writing, but not very descriptive or enthusiastic which in return brought the voice score below the average 5.

Passion/ Expertise: 7 It was apparent that the bloggers in this group know what they are talking about, and understand the material that they have learned so far. Due to this, their expertise score was raised above a 5, but their writing didn't make it apparent that they were extreamly passionate about their topics, so I was unable to raise the score above a 7.

Clarity/ Organization: 10 Clarity and organization is what made this blog great. The blog as a whole was friendly to the eye and easy to navigate making my score here a perfect 10, there is not much more they could do to make their blog more organized or clear.

Aesthetically Pleasing: 4 By the looks alone of this blog many people will skip over it and move on to another one. There is not much visually to the blog except for a few pictures in a couple posts. If they added some more pictures and color to the blog my score would raise to above a 5, but because it was pretty bland I had to give a score below a 5.

User Friendly: 9 There are seperate links on this blog so that the reader can see the topics they have blogged about and then choose which one they want to read and easily find it by clicking on the link. Because it was easy to find each topic on this blog I gave this category a high score of a 9.



Photo Credit to Johns Hopkins University

Interesting/ Original: 5 They were pretty average when it came to originality and how interesting the blog is. There was nothing that made it super original, but also nothing that made it completely uninteresting, so I gave this components an overall score of a 5.

Relevence: 9 The blogger were very relevent in their writing. They alway wrote, and wrote in depth, about each topic we have been discussing in class which increased their relevance score to a 9.

Frequency: 9 It is apparent that each blogger has been doing their assigned posts and doing them in a timely manner. They have posted about each topic we hvae done so far as well as discussed each topic thoroughly. Due to this I gave them a frequency score of 9.

Good Writing: 7 Finally, the writing was all pretty much grammatically correct and punctuations looked fantastic which increased this groups score above a 5. On the other hand, because there was hardly any voice in their posts I did decrease the score to only a 7.


By: Sydney Evans

Bloggin' Hard or Hardly Bloggin4ENG121

Most immediately striking about Bloggin4ENG121 is it's minimalist aesthetic. With a blank background, basic text coloring and a healthy amount of negative space in between images, bloggin4eng121 sets an unprecedented, dare i say inspirational, standard for not trying hard. But if this most apparent level of blunt-force minimalism isn't enough to prove that it's creators aren't way too cool for school, the total absence of uniformity in font should be enough to tip any proverbial scales.

In terms of actual content, i'm finding myself digging deeply through Bloggin4ENG121's comprehensive and complete archives, mostly in the interest of finding posts that are not also blog reviews. The writing I've found therein is clean as it is accurate to the subject matter it focuses on. Though as proficient as the writing may be, abrupt breaks in front mid-post can be somewhat disruptive to the flow of the actual writing.

Seamless incorporation of images into every post is another hallmark of Bloggin4ENG121. Fancy text wrapping and total displacement with the images ensure that the actual writing goes uninterrupted by required visuals. Beneath each lies a proper citation, ensuring full points with minimal obstruction of the actual writing.

http://www.quickmeme.com/img/8f/8fc1ca3c719455b43670ca7dd37387a25605baf19b094da17b305685cd0f02ca.jpg

Lifosuction Questions

Cullen Murphy's thesis seems to portray the idea that we're used to people adding fake information to their resumes to heighten the image of themselves. People also detract information from their resume to appear more humble. It's not always a bad idea to detract information in order to appear more relatable.
There seem to be approximately 19 examples in this essay.

Reading Closely and Thinking Critically: 

1. People engage in lifosuction to appear as or closer to the average Joe and appear more relatable.
2. It's easier to completely omit information than to explain it to public. He believes that it is commonplace in society today to use lifosuction but he believes maybe people should expose even less about themselves. He states, "Rather than discourage lifosuction, perhaps we should encourage people to subtract even more about themselves from the public view than they currently do" (253).
3. Yes they do. Some of the omitted truth can cause greater harm even though it may have been unintentional.
4. Most public officials delete information to appear more relatable to the public majority.
5. Even though his degree was only a 2 year degree, he still chose to omit that information to relate to his constituents, resulting in his 3rd return to office by reelection.

Examining Structure and Strategy:

1. Public figures use omission to establish increased perceived credibility. Paragraph 2 best displays this thesis.
2. The tone is moderately serious but mockingly rhetorical and it stays pretty consistent throughout the piece.
3. The idea of resume-padding helps to give an issue to contrast the main point of lifosuction to the traditional method of adding false information to someone's biography.
4. In all paragraphs but the first and second, Murphy uses topic sentences to introduce the supporting subject of each.
5. He used subject, verb, object in his examples.

Considering Language and Style:

1. It's clever for the essay because the removal of facts from one's life is to the removal of fat from one's body.
2. Word definitions:

• Tribune: a person who upholds or defends the rights of the people
• Dint: mark (a surface) with impressions or hollows
• Cadre: a small group of people specially trained for a particular purpose or profession
• Pugilist: a boxer, especially a professional one
• Proletariat: workers or working-class people, regarded collectively (often used with reference to Marxism)

By:
Sierra Baumann (Sometimes a lie is better than the truth)
Sydney Evans ( Purchasing something pretty will make you pretty as well.)
Ahnun Brainerd (life is better with a dog)

Exemplification

            Chapter 7 proved to me that organizing details in an exemplification essay is actually very important, even if it is just a small aspect of writing an essay. From this I learned that there are multiple orders of organization, progressive order, chronological order, and spatial order. I was also interested in examining visuals, which was exemplification in a cartoon. This proved to me that exemplification and generalization can be formed anywhere, not just in essays, such as in a cartoon.

Photo Credit to COMNERD.ORG

            Throughout this chapter, I believe that students are supposed to learn and understand exemplification, and how to clarify, support, or explain a generalization they might make. By supporting generalizations writers will be able to better inform and persuade their readers. Also, this chapter aims to show how exemplification can be used in many ways, and not just forms of writing, like an essay. Finally, details and visualization are key concepts to help explain exemplification, and students need to know what kinds of details and visuals to use, when to use them, and how to organize them. By providing many examples, this chapter helps paint an image in a student’s mind of what exemplification looks like, so they can better understand how to use it.

By: Sydney Evans

Works Cited: 
COMNERD.ORG. Digital image. PR Examples. N.p., 28 

          Sept. 2013. Web. 18 Sept. 2014

A brief view o' chapter VI

Chapter VI: A narrative in narration.

In chapter 6, the book breaks down what it is to create a narrative essay. The text state that a narrative essay should recount an event which should change the readers personal opinion about someone or something. These events can include dialog of individuals or personal memories and events, but must answer the "who, what, where, when, and why?" The chapter continues with the importance of past/present tense and transition worlds, in conjunction with organizational methods and critical analysis techniques, to create a more effective essay.

The text book stresses the use of personal experiences, both humorous and tragic, to help establish entertainment value to the reader, as well as, project the writers feelings through strong descriptive details. Including these experiences in an essay also creates a "cause and effect" to further perpetuate the writers narrative.(Sally got gun in her hair so she had to got a hair cut).    

  All essays need supporting details so a narrative is no different. The chapter explains that the supporting details in a narrative essay are the "who, what, where, when, and why", all of which should come from a personal event or experience. The use of dialog between subjects can enhance a readers immersion but be aware of tense shifts (go, going, gone).

The chapter goes on to articulate the subtle importance of  organization and how critically thinking about one's essay can improve its reading value. Analyzing the essay for fiction or consistency, determining the writers intent, and if the essay is even entertaining are all critical questions a writer should ask themselves.

Overall, chapter 6 was not only successful in relaying the importance of a narrative essay but also explained the methods to create a truly entertaining and informative story.

How the Elements of Art are Used

Oil Painting of the Venice Canal

Although this painting isn't a line painting, the use of line is prominent in the foreground. Line is visible in the water and to create highlights on the people and objects cast by the explosion. Shape is more commonly used to describe the subject matter. It emphasizes the stature of the characters as well as the instability of the situation with the curve in the poles.

The painting is comprised of mostly warm colors to express the visual aspects of the explosion, though it is laced with cool colors to describe the time placement of the explosion and smoke.The texture is very organic, displaying the rough texture of the wooden boats and the smoothness of the water. There is a vary large contrast between the lights and shadows of the piece, making the scene more dramatic.

This piece is an impressionist oil painting and is very well balanced. It has visual ques, imaginary arrows pointing in from the left and right sides, towards the center of the piece.

Overall, with the use of the elements of arts, our focus is drawn to the excitement of the middle of the painting,filling us with emotions of danger and urgency towards the explosion.

By: Sierra Baumann, Sydney Evans, Ahnun Brainerd, Ben Weakland

Can Fools Really See?

Logical Fallacies.

Photo Courtesy of Banksy (Probably)

They're annoying and misleading unless you know how to catch them.

The "as any fool can see" approach may be the most irritating of all the fallacies. This approach assumes that everyone will agree with the idea and those who don't are uninformed or unintelligent. In writing, the best approach to avoid this fallacy is to assume that the reader does not know anything about the topic and may not agree with you. In reading, the most logical way to not be persuaded  by this fallacy is to question every "fact" which might actually be the authors opinion.

By: Sierra Baumann; Sydney Evans:, Ahnun Brainerd, Ben Weakland, Connor Hicks

NerdsinBabeland Blog Review

Image courtesy of NerdsinBabeland

Comic books have been popular in the nerd culture for decades, spawning many fanatics to write blogs with their opinions. NerdsinBabeland is a blog dedicated to reviewing comics (both mainstream and obscure) as well as popular TV series. Is this blog worth looking at?

What makes this blog interesting is that it's relatable to both younger and older generations of the science fiction fan-base. It reviews comics and shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, and even Sailor Moon in addition to other various titles. In one post it even goes as far as to give advice in "How to Date a Non-Nerd". Despite how ridiculous "How to Date a Non-Nerd" sounds, the majority of the blog posts are serious, critically reviewing and aptly informed.

Our Quality Critique:

• Voice: 6

The voice was informative and straightforward but lacks color.

• Passion/Expertise: 9

The contributors are very educated on the subject of their choosing, showing their underlying passion for it.

• Clarity/Organization: 7

The blog is average but straightforward for a typical blog.

• Aesthetically Pleasing: 5

The layout of the blog is simple, almost boring.

• User Friendly: 9

It's easy to access and to navigate for a new blog user.

• Interesting/Original: 6

The content is interesting but not all that original in comparison to other nerd review blogs.

• Relevance: 8

The contents of this blog is high for the target demographic.

• Frequency: 4

For the amount of contributors of the blog, the frequency of posts were low, posting weekly to bi-weekly.

• Good Writing: 7

The writing was well though out and informative, but lacked entertainment value, color.

By: Sierra Baumann, Sydney Evans, Ahnun Brainerd, Benjain Weakland