Response to "Know It All"

I think that this article on Wikipedia is very interesting. It shows how different this online encyclopedia is from any other source of information in the world. It holds so much information in so many different languages and anyone can access it for free. "The promise of the Internet is free knowledge for everyone," and I agree with that statement. I think that the idea Jimmy Wales had for an encyclopedia that everyone could access and edit was very innovative and something that we all have benefitted from. I have never edited an article on Wikipedia but I have visited the site countless times and have used it as a start to research and just to gain knowledge on a topic. Wikipedia shows how much the internet has changed the world and how different this technology can make our lives. It also has an impact on our education and the things we do in school. For research projects, some may object to the use of this online encyclopedia that anyone can change. There is some conflict over using Wikipedia as a reliable source, especially since anyone can alter the information that is presented on the site.

The fact that anyone can change or edit the information on the site makes it very different from any other place where one would get material. Because of this some things can be hard to trust when found on Wikipedia. It also says something about the creator of the site that he has edited his own article on Wikipedia eighteen times in one year. This shows that even he has a problem with the whole truth being out there. He does not care about having all the facts straight on his biography, but I do not know if this necessarily means that he does not want the truth put out on the rest of the website. He may only care about this because it is about himself and he does not to be associated with pornography. So I kind of think that it's not that big of a deal that he does not want that information posted about himself, but it is the truth.

I also found it funny that one of the top contributors of the website turned out to be a total phony. Essjay, who claimed to be a professor of religion with a Ph.D. in theology and a degree in canon law, ended up being a twenty-four year old with no degrees to speak of. He was living a lie on Wikipedia, claiming to have credentials and gaining praise for his additions to the website. This shows how easily the Internet can be used to give oneself a false identity and to make claims that are no where near the truth. On the Internet, you can be whoever you want to be and you can post whatever information you want to be out there. This is what makes Wikipedia a sometimes unreliable place to go for the information that you would want to be completely accurate.

Response to "Her Point Is" & "As He Himself Puts It"

When writing, "Her Point Is" states that it can be hard to not place your own biases and opinions into information that you are trying to summarize. One can easily summarize information incorrectly and this makes the audience less convinced by the author, especially if the author is trying to persuade. I know that it's important to summarize text accurately, and this will eventually make your own words more reliable. It's useful to include the author's opinion about what is being said about the topic to further your argument, and to include all information that could help with proving your claim. I know now that in a summary, you should focus on what you as a writer are trying to argue against or support. The information that you include in your summary should be directly related to what you are discussing in the essay but it should not have any bias included in it. It should be true but focused. I think that it could be hard to not add your own opinion in a summary sometimes, but it should come after the summary is made as to not confuse the audience and you will be seen as a more reliable writer if you practice this. Something I have never thought about before was that sometimes what you think could be a claim that supports or denies your thesis could actually be only part of someone else's argument and not actually related to what you are talking about. When looking for information to include in a paper, I should always check to make sure that what the author is discussing actually has to do with my topic and is not just being interpreted as related.

I've realized that I am guilty of including "list summarizes" that just use boring words like "and," "also," and "in addition to" so I should probably work on this in my future writing so that I do not bore my audience.

I found the section on summarizing satirically to be entertaining and I enjoy seeing it in others' writings, but I think that I would be too scared to actually use this approach in my own essays. I think that if I were to use this form of argument then I would have to be very confident in my opinion and criticism.

I think that the section on using signal verbs that better describe what the person is saying was useful. I feel that I always use the boring ways of introducing an opinion, and these examples will be helpful when writing my next research paper. It gives a lot more emotion to the essay and it makes it more interesting to read.

I have always found that I like to use quotations in my essays and other writings a lot more than summaries. I think that it is easier to include them in my writing and it shows the opinion of someone else clearly compared to my own opinion. I've found that when reading my peers' essays and if they include too many quotations and not enough analysis or explanation, it is frustrating to read. It's especially annoying when a quotation is at the end of a paragraph with no commentary about it. I think that it is very foolish to assume that a quotation says everything that you mean to say and to just leave it without any response.

I think that sometimes, however, I do include quotations that are not directly connected to my main points of my writing. I think that every writer needs to make sure that when their essay is done, the quotations they have included all tie in with their thesis.

It is also very important to keep in mind that every quotation needs to be introduced properly into the text and then followed by your own opinion. I think that creating a "hybrid text" is something everyone should try to do. The essay should be balanced and include enough evidence and commentary to show the author's point.

I think that I sometimes do include too much commentary, but I was glad to read that too much analysis of a quotation is more appreciated than having too little.

I found the templates that were included about introducing quotations also to be helpful. It is so boring to just say "he says" or "she thinks" and I think that I will use these next time I am writing an essay. Also, the templates on explaining quotations will also be useful next time I am composing a paper. I think that most of these templates provided in this book are very functional for writing essays and make it a lot easier.

Response to "Developing a Search Strategy," "Researching the Web Wisely," & "Using Sources and Avoiding Plagiarism"

I think that with previous research projects, like the ones that I did in high school, I had trouble with getting a good search strategy. I think that if I work on my research early in my project, it will give me a lot less stress and developing a good search strategy is probably one of the keys to this. I think that the Questioning Method, described in the section 28a will be very useful to me. This strategy involves asking smaller questions and looking for answers to them. This sounds like it will be easy for me to do and it will make the researching process less overwhelming. I think it will also help me to keep on task while looking for information on my topic, since sometimes I do get distracted with my research, or look too far into a part of the subject that has nothing to do with what I am trying to accomplish with the research.

I think that it would be really interesting to include a primary source in any research project; I have never done that before with previous projects. I think that it would make it more authentic and reliable. I am familiar with secondary sources and have always used those for my research purposes. They are useful, but I don’t think they contain as much of an impact on your audience if your audience does look at what kind of research you did.

I think that including some filed research as a primary source in a research project would not only be fun to collect but would also improve any argument tremendously. I have actually done surveys for classes in high school for my statistics class, and I thought it was fun polling students and finding out their opinions. Interviewing would also be really helpful to a project, especially if the person interviewed is an expert on the subject. This could establish a lot of trust for your audience and give the writer good credibility.

I think that with the research that I do from now on, I am going to try and do a working bibliography. I have never done this before in the past, and I have noticed that it is very frustrated to, at the end of the project, have to go back and find all of the sources I used and log all of the information down.

Before reading this section on researching the web, I did not know that there was such thing as subject directories. I think that this could be very helpful, especially when you know what your topic is and you just want to find general or even specific information on the subject.

I believe that it is very important to know who wrote what on the internet too. As this section in the book was saying, anyone can write anything they want on the internet, so it does not mean at all that the information could be true. It could be anyone pretending to be a doctor or an expert or anything and they could give you any information that they want to about whatever subject. To make sure that I do not include any information that could be inaccurate in any research project, I always try to find two reliable sources that confirm what I am using in my writing. One random website with whatever information does not mean that it is a fact. It’s also helpful to look at what the ending of the web address is, as stated in the Quick Access book. The website ending can be a clue as to if the information should be trusted or not. It also helps if the author’s name is listed and to find out if they are reliable and if the publication source is reliable. I am definitely going to look for these things when doing research online now.

Plagiarism is something that I am scared of accidentally committing while doing research papers, so I hope that I never do it. I kind of knew about the different forms of plagiarism before, but I did not know that phrases could even get you in trouble for plagiarism.

When I did research projects in high school, we had to use footnotes and endnotes in our papers, and I think that these helped with knowing not to plagiarize. It made you consciously think about what information you were using and what part of the paper was not yours.

I’ve always felt weird about summarizing or paraphrasing material that I include in my paper. I never know how much I need to change the words so that I do not have to include quotations, but I know that I will have to include a citation. I guess that any ideas that I do not come up with myself need to be cited and that is important so I don’t plagiarize.

With quotations, I sometimes have trouble with intergrading them into my work smoothing. It’s hard to not make it awkward in your writing when adding quotations. I think it’s difficult to also add who said it and put your citations in while simultaneously working the quotation smoothly into your essay. I am familiar though with editing quotations with brackets and ellipsis, and I have used this a few times in my writing of essays and in research papers.

I found the section on using certain verbs to help add your sources into your essay to have some potential. I think that I do have a lot of trouble with trying to find what words to use when saying that someone else said “this.” I never know what word to use other than, for example, “so and so stated this,” and that gets very boring. So hopefully, I will use these words, such as “refutes,” “confirms,” “asserts,” and “proves” more often, as they will help me with this part of my writing.

Response to "Portfolio Guide"

After reading the requirements for the writing portfolio I will be turning in at the end of the semester, I have become a little nervous. I think that it will make a difference, hopefully positive but I am not sure yet, because the people who will be evaluating my portfolio do not know who I am. I think that previously, such as in high school, teachers grading my writing, or any other students' writings, had a bias towards that student. But here, since there is no way of knowing who I am because they do not know my name, just a number, there is no bias for or against me as a writer.

I am a little confused on the evaluation process of the paper, I would like to know more information on how my paper will be scored. It would be nice to know what getting a 6 would mean compared to getting a 4.

I think that it is interesting that our cover letter is a genre of writing that we just covered in class - reflective writing. My cover letter will be a reflection of the works that I put in my writing portfolio and I will be able to discuss my feelings about my writing, which I think is going to be beneficial towards the scoring of my portfolio. It will make me less nervous about the portfolio process since I will be able to put in a my last thoughts about my progress in class and the people grading me will see how I feel about my own writings.

Response to "General Apache" & "Simplicity"

I found the essays "General Apache" and "Simplicity," to be very interesting reads. The essay "General Apache" kind of confused me at first. It seemed weird to write about writing.

In "General Apache,"the author, Dick Harrington, reflects on his experience with an old student that changed his point of view on war and life. Harrington seems to really respect and admire his old student, General Apache. He states, "What's so special about him, given his history, is his capacity to make peace with the world and his tremendous desire to communicate his experience." General Apache enlightened Harrington by showing him a new kind of person that Harrington had not seen before. Someone who was able to flip his life around and make it for the better. Someone who has been through so much in their life and has been able to overcome obstacles that many cannot. Harrington also reflects on how he gets "much more and better writing these days by learning what stimulates them to think and write," when talking about his students. They inspire him to write more and he realizes that now. Harrington even took his experiences with General Apache and wrote a poem about him. This shows how much his students' lives affect and impact his own.

I liked the essay "Simplicity" a lot more than "General Apache." I found it easier to read and I could relate to it a lot more. The author, William Zinsser, made good points in stating that writing has become too complicated and people never want to just put out what's on their mind. They feel as if they must complicate things in order to seem more sophisticated or to make their writing seem important. He also brings up the point that, "The man or woman snoozing in a chair with a magazine or a book is a person who was being given too much unnecessary trouble by the writer," he reflects that people do not need extra words and complication to enjoy a piece of writing. It's actually better to have simplicity; it keeps your audience on track and does not usually frustrate them like long, drawn out, unnecessary language can. Zinsser makes a good point that writing is hard and that clear sentences are difficult to write, but it's worth it.

Response to "Learning Styles Inventory"

After taking the VARK Questionnaire Learning Styles Inventory, I discovered that I am a multimodal learner. A multimodal learner is someone who uses reading, writing, visual, aural, and kinesthetic ways of learning new material. My quiz results also showed that I lean a little towards reading and writing learning; I scored a nine in that category and sevens in the other three.
I think that it does make sense that my reading and writing score is slightly higher than my other learning style scores because writing things down for me helps me remember them. I love to organize all of my notes, making categories and subcategories. When trying to study for French class in high school, it would help if I made flashcards and read them to myself. Also, if I was having trouble with the spelling of a certain word, I would write it down over and over again until I was able to memorize the correct spelling. Knowing that I do better with reading and writing forms of learning, this can help me study for classes such as chemistry. It will probably be most beneficial if I make flashcards and if I write my notes in an organized outline list kind of way.
I also think that my visual learning may be one of my strong points even though it scored equally with two other learning styles, aural and kinesthetic. I love reading graphs and charts. It always helps me understand a concept if I can see how it works in a graphic or other visual representation.
I know that I also scored high in the aural learning style because I enjoy listening to stories in class that relate back to the subject I am learning. It helps me connect the concept in the classroom to real life and it’s nice to hear it instead of reading examples in a textbook. But I do not think that I can absorb all of the information a teacher says just by listening to them. I think that I have to read it or write down the information for myself. So, for harder classes especially, I should always take notes on the lecture.
I feel that actually doing the work, like in kinesthetic learning also helps. Experiments in school and actually trying to do the task really help me in understanding the concept. I know that paying attention in chemistry lab or other lab classes will help with comprehension.

Letter of Introduction

I think that language is very interesting. I loved doing grammar in English class because it comes easily to me and it makes sense. I also find grammar to be very fascinating in other languages, like French. I took French for four years in high school and it’s pretty cool to see the differences in the two languages. There are many similarities and also a lot of differences!
I love reading for fun, but most of the books I read are kind of silly. I read all of the books in the original Gossip Girl series; they’re so addicting! My other favorite books have been The Great Gatsby, White Oleander, The Lovely Bones, and Huckleberry Finn. I also enjoy reading memoires and realistic fiction because those are usually the books I cannot put down until I finish them. And I absolutely cannot stand books such as Twilight and Harry Potter.
I have had to do research papers before in high school, but I felt that it was hard to not get distracted. Whenever I would be reading on a subject that interests me, I would just keep reading and stop taking notes or highlighting important details.
I decided to go to Humboldt State because of the change of atmosphere. I am from Manhattan Beach (Los Angeles area), and it’s nice to be somewhere so different from home for a new experience. I also like that Humboldt has my major – nursing. I chose nursing as my major because I love to help people and I have also been interested in the medical field. My grandmother, who was a nurse, has also influenced my major and career choice. I remember I used to always play around with her stethoscope and bandages when I was little.
Writing for me is sometimes difficult. I am horrible at creative writing. I can never write a good story but I am able to write an acceptable essay. I usually need to do a lot of planning though for my essays, so I always find that making an outline beforehand helps a lot.