Reading Response No. 11

Getting Ready to Read:
One way that my community encouraged reading was having summer reading programs and book sales and the library. These activities draw in many drew in many children and adults; when the library started an adult book club. The reasons for being a good reader and writer are usually gven by the people who host the events. The reason that I heard the most was that being a good reader and writer would help me in school.

Synthesis:
This piece seems to be an entirely new topic. While it is interesting, I can't think of any past readings to compare it to. We haven't talked much about literacy yet but maybe you could compare it to the article we read about the writing process and how it differs from person to person; much like the writing process.

Summary:
In her article, "Sponsors of Literacy," Deborah Brant attempts to show her audience that one becomes literate not on their own, but with things she calls sponsors. She argues that literacy is shaped by a person's evniornment, and their enviornment also shapes how literate they become.

Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2. I can't remember any literacies being withheld from me, but my school did have approved reading lists for most book projects we did. The lsits included many books written before the 1980s. So our approved reading included a lot of classic novels or novels that are famous and have won awards. If a book had been banned from my school, an alternative sponsor would be a public library or a bookstore that carried it.

Personal Response:
I thought that this article was interesting and truthful. I had never considered the concept of sponsors and literacy,and as I read I began to remeber my sponsors in life as I became literate.

Reading Response No. 10

Getting Ready to Read:

1.      How has technology changed the way we speak to each other? Is it grammatically correct? Does that affect your understanding of what others are saying? Can you come up any examples of ‘new’ words?

 Technology has greatly changed the way we talk to each other. Some of the new ways we talk to each other is grammatically in some aspects, but not usually. If one is up to date on the new ways that technology has changed our language, it would change their understanding of what others are saying. All of the examples of new words I can think of are thoughts that are abbreviated such as "I don't know" being abbreviated as "idk" or the word "obviously" being shortened to "obvi." Another new word that has been created due to technology are the different variations of the word text. Text is now not only a noun, but a verb. One can say "I texted your mother after work" and this would now be an acceptable sentance in the eyes of society.

 

Summary:

In his article "Good English and Bad," Bryson attemps to challenge the standards of good English and bad English, and show society why we speak English the way we do. He argues that the "rules" of English are not so black and white due to its history and the preferences of others. This is because, over the years, English has been changed and fought over. However, only one set of rules is taught to this somewhat democratic language in schools.

 

Synthesis:

This article could be compared to Dawkins' article "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool" because of the way that they both put such emphasis on how grammar is a democratic thing, but it also matters a lot in writing. Both articles also examine how lots of people don't seem to grasp correct grammar, even though it has been taught to them multiple times in school.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1.      Why does Bryson say English has such a complex grammar structure? What about its history makes it so complicated?

Bryson says that English has such a complex grammar structure because its rules come from Latin-a language that English has very little in common with. It has also always been assumed that classical languages serve as models for others, therefore, even though it has been somewhat changed, no one has challenged the old rules of grammar.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1.      “One of the undoubted virtues of English is that it is a fluid and democratic language in which meanings shift and change in response to the pressures of common usage rather than the dictates of communities” (67).  What does Bryson mean when he says that English is fluid and democratic? What examples of that fluidity have you seen in your own and others’ writing in different rhetorical situations?

What Bryson means when he says English is fluid and democratic is that one can slightly bend the rules of English without facing much opposition. English can be easily changed by anyone who feels the need to do so. I have seen some fluidity in other's writings such as novels or short stories. Like in some short stories when a charcter is speaking and there is no puctuation for their whole speech.

Meta Moment

Make a list of some parts of speech. Are these things you consciously think of as you write? Have you learned them in school? If you did not, has that affected or inhibited your writing thus far? Do you think knowing the parts of speech and grammatical terms can help you to write better? Why or why not?

Parts of speech:
verb
noun
pronoun
interjection
I have learned these parts of speech in school more than once. I think that knowing these parts of speech can sort of help your writing. Most of the time, however, you could get along just fine without knowing what an interjection is.

Personal Response:
I thought this article was interesting on an educational level. I didn't know that English grammar is based on Latin grammar, and also all the history behind the changes of our language. It also gave valid points about the fludity of language and how it varies from person to person when they are writing.

Project 1 Introduction Draft

Plagiarism Project Introduction

 

          At some point during their American education, every student learns and is warned of committing plagiarism. While most teachers and students could give practically the same definition of plagiarism, however, educators and students may have a distorted view of this writing construct. Now, there’s another word a student may not understand; construct. A construct is a sort of a misconception about something; and one can say that plagiarism is definitely a writing construct. Plagiarism is a bit blurry in the writing world because society has put a sort of double standard on this concept.

          For example, when professional writers “borrow” things from other texts, no one bats an eyelash at this, but when one college writer borrows something from another college writer, it spells expulsion for the both of them. So why is using someone else’s work acceptable in one situation but not the other? It has been said that no piece of writing is truly original due to the fact that writers are always borrowing things from other writers. Take for example Tim O’ Brien’s book Going After Cacciato and Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland. One is about the Vietnam War and one is about a silly girl who dreams she follows a talking rabbit down a hole in the ground. O’Brien couldn’t have borrowed anything from Carroll in his book about Vietnam right? Wrong. In Going After Cacciato, the characters fall through a hole in the road, and one even says that the only way out of the hole would be to fall up. From there, the characters in Cacciato discover an alternative world after they fell down into the Vietcong tunnels, much like Alice did when she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. By looking at these parallelisms, one can tell that Tim O’Brien borrowed things from Lewis Carroll (Foster).

            Going After Cacciato and Alice In Wonderland are both acclaimed as great novels on their own merits, even though one borrowed a few things from the other. Couldn’t a student write a great paper if they borrowed an idea from another student or even another writer? In the eyes of the American education system, no. The rules of plagiarism are more strictly enforced in high school and college than when the pros submit writing. There is even special software to detect if students are plagiarizing. This double standard with plagiarism can get confusing when it comes to avoiding it. What exactly counts as plagiarism? What doesn’t? Curiouser and curiouser!

            The current definition of plagiarism is to steal and pass off (the words or ideas of another) as one’s own. It is useful to have a law that prohibits literary theft, but how exactly can one steal ideas? (What is Plagiarism?) Besides the fact that everything that is written down is protected by copyright, an idea, since it isn’t a physical object, seems like it cannot be stolen.

            In fact, with this double standard, one could view the current take on plagiarism as a contradiction. This is apparent when students are told to develop a topic on something that has already been written, but by using something new and original, or give credit to sources but also make their own contribution (Brizee, Paiz, and Stolley). This can get confusing to students who are unsure about what counts as plagiarism and probably don’t care; they just want to get the paper done.

            Furthermore, while there is a technical definition for plagiarism, it is evident that it can still be confusing when a writer is trying to avoid plagiarizing. Also, there is a great double standard surrounding plagiarism that perhaps benefits one group of writers but not another. What we need to assess is, if we could change the definition of plagiarism, could that change the double standard that goes with it?

 

 

Works Cited

"What Is Plagiarism?" Plagiarism.org. Web. 19 Sept. 2012. http://plagiarism.org/

Brizee, Allen, Paiz, Joshua M, Stolley, Karl. "Welcome to the Purdue Owl." Purdue OWL.            Web. 19 Sept. 2012. <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/>.

Foster, Thomas C. "Now Where Have I Seen Her Before?" How to Read Literature Like a            Professor. New York: HarperCollins, 2003. 29-30. Print.

Reading Response No. 9

Getting Ready to Read:

●      Look at text heavy advertisement. Analyze how the text is working in conjunction with the image. Where are you most drawn? Does the image emphasize the text, or does the text emphasize the image? Write out your thoughts.

When looking at a text heavy advertisement, I am usually drawn to the text. However, I think that the image could emphisize the text or the text could emphisize the image. This would depend on how the advertisement is et up, or which one they are trying to sell you; the text or the image. If the advertisement is for a physical product, then the text would compliment the image of what it is trying to sell you. However, if the advertisement is for something like a service, an image would compliment the text telling you about the service being provided.

Summary:
In his article, "Seeing the Text," Bernhardt attempts to show writers the importance that visuals play in writng. He argues that communication can be done not only with the written word, but with pictures as well. This is because pictures can not only compliment writing, they can also help get the message across to the audience since humans identify and communicate with pictures so often and well.

Synthesis:
This writing can be related back to the "Vocabulary of Comics" article we read by Scott McCloud. Both articles discuss how images are a great tool that humans use to communicate, and that simple words on a page are not the only way to convey ideas.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1.       Bernhardt characterizes the typical classroom essay as consisting of “full, declarative sentences, arranged in paragraphs with low visual identity” (36). Do you struggle with generating or reading this conventional, low-visual type of writing? Why or why not?

I do sometimes struggle with this type of writing only because it's easy for me to lose focus or lose my place when I'm reading. When there are pictures or some sort of visual model, however, it is easier to understand a concept if there is a visual example of it along with a written explanation.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1.       Think of the writing projects you have been assigned to do in this course, in other college courses, or in high school. Have there been any times when you used an unconventional visual structure outside of usual essay format? How might you use visual strategies to present your writing in the future?

In high school, I was assigned to write a paper about education reform. The topic that I focused on was the high school dropout rate and how it can be improved. In the begining of the paper I gave a little backround on the topic and used a couple graphs to show different statistics of the dropout rate through the years. I may use visual strategies such as this to show things like statistics in a paper or to give a visual example to the reader.

After You Read:
How would Scott McCloud have represented Bernhardt’s argument?
McCloud probably have represented this argument by explaining the whole argument in pictures instead of writing about it, like he did in his article, "Vocabulary of Comics." This, however, would perhaps make the reader see the entire argument in a different way.

Meta Moment:

Bernhardt writes, “By studying actual texts as they function in particular contexts, we can gain an improved understanding of what constitute appropriate, effective strategies of rhetorical organization” (44). In what particular contexts do you consider visually thinking about text to be most appropriate? Of all the formal writing assignments in this course, which one calls for the most visual thinking about presentation of text?

Thinking about text is most appropriate when one needs aid in understanding the material they're reading. Reading something then looking at a picture of it could help them comprehend their reading. I think out of all the reading I have done in this class, this article and the article by Scott McCloud both call for the most visual thinking about text because that is what those two articles are about; visual images in text and how we identify with them and use them in writing.

Personal Response:
I thought this article made interesting points about thinking about texts visually. I believe that trying this in reading and writing would be useful to both myslef and my audience.

 

Reading Response No. 8

Getting Ready to Read:
Make a list of all the ways you get "help," of any kind, with your writing. Where do you get ideas, advice, feedback, and assistamce.
I get help with my writing by talking to other people about it, having them read it, or reading something simalar by another author to see how they wrote through the problem I'm having.

Reading Response:
In his article "Intertexuality and the Discourse Community," Porter attempts to educate writers about how plagarism may not be as black and white as we thought it was. He argues that the writing communtiy is full of intertextuality, because every piece of work has pieces of other works in it-that nothing is truly original.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
4. Evaluating a writer's work by acceptability is simalar to the way I think writing should be evaluated, but much different than how my writing has been evaluated in the past. In the past, my writing has been evaluated by a cut-and-dry set of rules or criteria that it had to meet. If the work did not meet the criteria, it would either drop the grade or the paper would be failed.

5. Porter's work fails to reflect the principles he writes about because all through his article he talks about how every piece of work is never truly original, but he never talks about his inspiration for this particular article, or if he recieved help from anyone, or if there are traces of other articles in this one.

Applying and Exploring Ideas
2. if i were to write a new definition based upon Porter's standards, it would go a little something like this:
Plagarism: Purposely copying all of someone's work to call one's own.
The original definition of plagarism and the one I just wrote have some simalarities. Both do not condone copying another person's work to pass off as your own, however, the new one specifies that plagarism is copying all of someone's work and not just parts of it.

Meta Moment:
This study does change the way I feel about writers. I feel that now I know why writers borrow things in their work. This will change the way I write when I feel like I'm plagarizing other authors when there is actually no need to worry about this.

Personal Response:
I thought this article made good points about intertextuality and plagarism. It made me rethink the concept of plagarism and some of the things I've read with traces of other works in them.

Reading Response No. 7

Getting Ready to Read:

1.      How do you construct an identity using your Facebook profile? What do your different choices of what to include within your profile say about your identity online versus your identity at home?

One constructs an identity on Facebook based upon the information they choose to put on it. If one is friends with people on Facebook that they do not know in real life, then all they know about each other is what is listed on thier Facebook accounts. Identity on Facebook and identity at home can be very different. For example, I don't put everything I say and do on Facebook due to the fact that I'm Facebook friends with my Pastor and his wife. One could also put false information on Facebook and live a completely different life at home.

2. When you typically write academic papers, professors will often outlaw the use of "I" within your writing. How would your writing be different if you were able to use the first-person within this assignment?

If I could use "I" in wiritng assignments, it would be easier to convey to the reader what my argument is and also give examples to support my argument. However, using "I" could make the work come off as biased if the writer does not use it carfully and correctly.

Reading Response:

In his article, "Voice in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries," Elbow attempts to show writing teachers the role that voice plays in writing and reading. He argues that voice is everywhere in all types of writng. Although he says that voice can help both the reader and writer, he says that writers should not use voice in their work, due to the fact that voice can distort the way that the audience interperets the text.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1.      When you look at infographics online, are they voiceless? Can they have an agenda? Based on your answer, do you agree or disagree with Elbow's statement made in paragraph 67 on page 55? why or why not?

Infograpghics are not voiceless and can have an agenda. I do agree with the statement Elbow makes. Teaching writing without voice will force students to produce stronger pieces that are deliever the message effectively.

2. How do you define voice? Have you encountered different definitions of voice in the past and how do they compare to Elbow's definition of voice?

I have not encountered any different definitions of voice, but I define it as the tone of how the author speaks to the audience. This is simalar to the way that Elbow defines voice, but it is also different because Elbow argues that the voice of a piece holds more meaning to the way that the piece is precieved by the audience.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1.      What happens when you listen to a passage rather than reading it silently? Elbow asserts that it often makes your reading less complicated. How has "ear training" affected your comprehension of something in the past? Based on this, do you believe it's a tool you should use and when should you implement it?

Listening to a passage can make your reading less complicated, but also make you comprehend the material better. By hearing it, you have a better chance of remembering what it was about. Ear training has helped my cromprehension in the past by helping me remember key points of the passage. I believe you should implement ear training either before or after you read it silently.

2. Elbow identifies two kinds of voices linked to any writer: sincerity and resonance. Can you write single sentence definitions, using your own words, for sincerity and resonance? And if you struggle with this exercise, what does this say about trying to use them in your own writing?

Sincerity means to say something and truly mean what you say. Resonance is to reflect on something in writing. Since I srtuggled with the word resonance, I have a feeling that I don't use it in my writing often, if I even have the correct definition.

Connections to other readings

1. Elbow says that our inherently rhetorical voice is used to make arguements. When Kliene said that we adopt a scienttific voice, we use that to make arguements as well. Therefore, the two are interconnected because of the fact that writers use both their scientific and rhetorical voices to make arguments.

2. I do not think that voice is a part of the myth that Allen fights against. I think it is a way out of the "haunting ghost" because one uses their voice to make arguments and influence the audience.

Meta Moment

I do think this is possible. I make this happen in my own work by finding a happy medium of the two when it is appropriate for either side.

Personal Response:

I thought this article was a little confusing when it was talking about the two sides to voice and how they can co-exist, but I also thought it was very informative about voice in writing; something that I had never took the time to examine.

Reading Response No. 6

Getting Ready to Read:
Consider whether you have any writing rituals. For example, do you have to have a cup of coffee while you write? Du you need to write on paper before typing? Do you have to take a nap or clean the house?
I don't know if I really have any writing rituals. I usually write to music, unless I really cannot focus on what I'm doing and have to turn it off. After I'm done writing for the day or for that time, I usually read over it and write notes on a piece of paper about what could be changed or improved.

Reading Response:
In their articles "Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer," and "Response of a Laboratory Rat-or, Being Protocoled," Berkenkotter and Murray attempt to show college writers that writing is a process; the actual words you put on the page are the final step. They argue that everyone goes through a different process to come up with their finished product, because some people have different methods of writing, as well as collecting their thoughts and revising their work.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
1. What was your impression of Murray's writing processes as they're described here? How do they compare to yours? What do you do the same or differently?
Some of Murray's processces are the same as my writing processes. When he revises work and writes down his thoughts exactly as they come to him is simalar to what I do when I revise a piece of writing.
3. How did this study change Berkenkotter's understanding of writing processes, particularly planning and revision?
Berkenkotter discovered that the writer can go back and forth between planning, editing, and drafting. The writer can do this rather than going from planning to drafting to editing.

Applying and Exploring Ideas
1. I usually spend my editing time going through the piece little by little to check for grammatical errors. It's rare that I wil go back and dramatically change the actual text. I would characterize my level of writing experience as a "beginer's level." Writng is something I enjoy doing and I'm fairly good at, but I am nowhere near the level of an experienced writer. I think these two are very closely related. A more experienced writer would spend more time on revising their work than I do.

Meta Moment
One thing I learned from these articles that will help me write more effectively are the techniques that Murray uses when he is revising. Some of the things he does would be helpful to try.

Personal Response:
I think that these articles are very helpful to those who want to write. It gives a lot about revision, editing, and he writing process from the study of an experienced writer. To see "how a pro writes" can help one get on the right track with their wiritng.

Reading Response No. 5

Getting Ready to Read:

● Imagine that you are going to draw a picture of a woman. Which way would she be facing and why? Is she the only object in the picture? What kind of scene do you put her in? Is she naked or nude?

If I were to draw a picture of a woman, she would be facing the left, she would be the only object in the picture, and there may not even be a scene in the backround for her to be in. Since the woman I'm drawing would probably be a stick figure, she would be naked or nude on a technicality. However, I most likely wouldn't go that far as to draw clothes on a stick figure.

Reading Response:

In his article "Ways of Seeing," Berger attempts to show society how both men and women are precieved in classical oil paintings and how gender roles are clearly defined in such paintings. He argues that due to the separate gender roles, the way that society sees women has not changed, and that women are often dipicted much differently than men. This is because the intended or assumed audience are men.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling:

1. Do you think artists of these paintings knew what they were doing when they created? Why? Would Berger agree with you?

I think that the artists of these paintings knew what they were doing when they created the images. If anything, painting nudes was a way to express sexuality in a time when it was unacceptble to do so. However, if the painting was of Adam and Eve, perhaps the artist didn't quite have sexuality in mind when painting a biblical scene. I think Berger would agree with me because in the last paragraph of the article he says that women were painted that way to flatter the male audience.

2. Berger mentions that a woman’s presence is defined by her mannerisms, her attire, her surroundings, and how she expresses herself. This presence is in contrast to a man’s presence, which “is dependent upon the promise of power he embodies”(208). Are these assumptions about culture any different now than they were when the article was published in the 1970s?

 

I would say that yes these assumptions are different now than they were in the 1970s because of the changing times and the changing gender roles. The gender roles that were around since the begining of time began to change in the 1970s, therefore, when this article was published, the gender roles that were in place were basically the same gender roles that were in place when those paintings were created.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1. Can you think of artwork that represents men in a particularly viewed way? Is there a generation gap between the paintings Berger chose and the one you can think of? Do you think that gap contributes to how the image is viewed?

I think that most artwork portrays men as the dominant figure in society. Wether he is in a painting with a woman, or a painnting of a battle, men are usually always dipicted this way, once again, due to the set gender roles. I can think of one painting that does have a generation gap between some of the paintings that Berger chose. The painting, whose title I cannot remember, is of a man and woman dancing. The woman is wearing a red dress, and the faces of both dancers aren't visable. The generation gap between this painting and the classical era paintings does have an impact on the way thisi image is viewed because of the fluid gender roles our society accepts. The two look more like equals rather than the man being the dominant one in the image.

4. How does humor define a person? Is humor something that is compensating for something else? Or as Berger states, does humor fall on gender lines? Explain your answer.

In some respect, humor can define a person. Depending what what kind of jokes they are telling, wether they be smart jokes or a simple "why did the chicken cross the road" joke. Not only could humor define how smart a person is, but also how uptight someone is. I think that humor fell on gender lines when gender roles were stricter than they are today. In old movies or movies that take place in the past, a woman who is funny and likes to tell jokes is usually pinned as strange or someone who doesn't quite fit in with the other women around.

Meta Moment

Why do you think you need to read an article concerned with the similarities and differences between nudes, nakedness, spectator, viewer, art, and advertisement? How could any of these concepts be connected to writing, audience, and authorship?

Since writing is an art form, I think reading an article like this could be beneficial. Putting together the pieces that connect nudes, nakedness, men, women, gender roles, and so on could be beneficial to writing because this article paid attention to the way women were portrayed in paintings and how the audience responded, which is a very good thing to pay attention to in wiritng; how the audience responds.

Reading Response No. 4

Getting Ready to Read:
Consider why some children use stick figures when drawing pictures of themselves. Is it possible that stick figures show the development of a child in relation to his own self-awareness?
I do not think that children draw stick figures of themselves due to self-awarness. If a child is small enough, a stick figure is the easiest way to draw people, therefore, that is the way a child draws people. Usually, children do not develop the skills to draw people in detail.


Try to recall what your favorite cartoon was or still is. Do you relate to a character and find yourself connecting? What features do you think help you connect?
I will admit that my favorite cartoon to this day is Spongebob Squarepants. As a child, the character I related to most was the tomboy squirrel (the somehow is able to live underwater) Sandy. I felt that if it was okay for Sandy to be a tomboy, then it was okay for me as well. Now that I think about it, that show is kind of rediculous, and it would be hard to relate to much of anything in it, but that's what I got from that character.

Reading Response:
In his article "Vocabulary of Comics," McCloud tries to educate his audience about the interaction between icons and the connections that humans have to them. He argues that humans' self-awarness can be compared to cartoons. As if the way we see ourselves can be as simple as a cartoon sketch of a person, which is why our minds automatically see faces when we see two cirlces and a line arranged in the right way. This is because, as humans, we easily see oursleves in things such as cartoons or different icons.

Questions for Disscussion and Journaling:

1.      Why does McCloud use the comic book format to convey his ideas to the reader? How would his points have suffered if expressed them only through writing?

McCloud uses the comic book format to convey his ideas to the reader by showing how humans respond to icons rather than trying to tell them. The fact that he uses pictures for this piece gets his point across better than it would with just text. His point would have suffered had he used just text because he couldn't make the point about the narrorator being a blank slate and a part of the audience. It also would have been hard to explain any of his points without using the pictures.

2.    McCloud suggests that if the narrator looked more realistic, and less like a cartoon, you would be more preoccupied with him as the messenger and less with message at hand. Is this true? Are cartoon characters, overall, a “blank slate” that we fill with our own identity? Why or why not?

I don't think that if the narrorator had been more detailed that I would have been more focused on the drawing than the message. However, that does not mean that others would focus on the message rather than the narrorator; this could just depend on the person. Since humans do connect with cartoons and icons so much, characters could be blank slates that we fill with our own identity. This is why we can relate to characters so well.

 

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1.      Why does McCloud contend that we are more likely to see ourselves in generic, cartoonish images that do not accurately resemble human faces? Contrary to McCloud’s argument, have you ever looked at a photograph or realistic portrait of a person and identified with the subject?

McCloud says that we are more likely to see ourselves in generic cartoons rather than detailed cartoons is simple. When one sees a cartoon face that resembles a human face exactly, if one does not look like this, then they are less likely to identify with it because the two do not look alike. However, if a cartoon face is more generic and does not resemble a particualr human face, one is more likely to identify with it becuase it is easier to see themselves in it.

2.   Why do you think some adults “grow out” of watching cartoons, or at least say that they do, when it is clear that they encounter icons or cartoons every day?

Adults say that they have outgrown cartoons due to the social stigma that cartoons ar efor children. Cartoons also usually explore situations that children or young adults experience, or childish themes. However, this does not mean that they stop indentifying with cartoons; making it clear that everyone sees icons and cartoons everyday.

 

In my opinion, this article gave good insight to the complicated subject of self-awarness. The concept is new to me, so I liked the fact that it was "to the point" for most of the article. However, I'm still figuring out how this connects to academic writing.

Summary of library tutorials

How to find scholarly full text articles using articles plus:
Scholarly articles are sometimes known as academic articles. What makes them different from regular articles are their title, author(s), abstract, introduction, article texts, conclusions, and references or works cited. These are things one should look for when reading scholarly articles. Go to articles plus and search the topic of an article. When you have more results than you want or need, click on "refine results." This will take the number of articles down and they will al be full text, reviewed items. Most of the time an article will come in a pdf; you can also print, email, or save the article to your drive. If the article does not come in pdf, you can click on the words "find it with link source" which will open a window with a citation at the top. The window will also tell you if full text is available anywhere else on the library database.

How to find a book:
Type in the subject of the book you are looking for. (Try to use key words of the topic you want to search. For example, if you want a book about marketing for Hispanics, use the words "Hispanic" and "marketing" in your search.) When that's done, scroll through the list of books on your topic and see if one or more is available. Write down the call number of the book, or you can have it sent to you as a text. On the same page, it will tell you what floor the book is on. By clicking on that, it will tell you where on the floor the book is. When you get to the floor the book is on, there will be signs telling you where your call number is located. On the shevles, there will be more signs mapping out where call numbers are located. Find the appropriate asile and look for your call number in those books. There, you should find more books on your topic. Take your books to the fourth or second floor desk to check them out.

How to request books through Ohio link:
If Alden library does not have the book you want or its checked out, you can request one from Ohio link, which should deliver in three business days. Click on "search Ohio link" to see how many copies are available in Ohio. Click "request" and put in what school you need the book delivered to-Ohio University-then click "submit." Log in with your Ohio ID and password and slecet a pick up spot (Alden library, Athens) before clicking "submit" again. After clicking "submit" the screen will tell you if your request was successful, and you will recieve an email saying when the book will arrive. (Three business days).

Project I Topic

One constuct of academic writing that interests me is the construct of plagarism. I have heard it said that no piece of writing is truly original because writers are constantly borrowing things or influenced by other writers and their work. However, this contradicts what society considers plagarism. To me, this is like saying that plagarism is acceptable in some cases and not acceptable on other cases, such as writing a paper for a college class. Therefore, I feel that investigating this construct to see what plagarism means to different people and why they feel that way about it, what is considered plagarism and what is not, and if the concept of plagarism is changable would be interesting and useful to research and write about.

Reading Response No. 3

Getting Ready to Read:
Write down, in a few quick sentances, how you define the terms fact, claim, opinion, and argument.
A fact is a true statement, or describing something in a truthful manner. A claim is suggesting something that may be true or not. An opinion is someone's view about an issue or topic that does not have to be correct in the eyes of others. An argurment is when one presents an opinion or claim to others to make a point.

Reading Response No. 3
In her article, "Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persyasively," Kantz attempts to expose to college students the correct way to take in research and read rhetorically. She argues that students often do not research and write in the correct way because they read texts as stories or assume that the truth is always expressed in factual texts; due to the fact that they have not been trained to see texts as arguments.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling
1. Kantz argues that facts, opinions and arguments are claims. When one thinks rhetorically, one sees that the real difference bewteen a fact and an opinion is the way they are recieved by the audience.
2. A few things that Kantz says that students do not know or misunderstand about how texts work is how students assume that "factual texts" are one-hundred percent truthful, read texts as stories, and failing to read texts as arguments. Based on my own experience, I believe that Kantz is correct about these things. I also feel that I understand them after reading her article.

Applying and Exploring Ideas
2. Before this class, the relationship between creativity and research in my opinion was almost non existant. I thought that research had little importance when it comes to being creative. However, after reading Kantz's article, I have found that writing creatively and research go hand in hand. My previous ideas do not really overlap with Kantz's ideas at all, but her thinking does influence mine. Her views about research being an important-if not the most important-part of being creative.

Meta Moment
One of the constructs that Kantz analyzes in this article is argument (in which one does not simply report facts in an essay but constructs an argument). It would be useful to me to understand her findings for future papers I write.

I thought that this artcile was imformitive and important because it brings to light the meaning of facts, opinions and claims, which are all things that academic writers need to know. It also reveals mistakes that students make when researching and writing.