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.