wrapping up the class
So the end of the semester is really here. I hope everyone had a good first freshman semester, things can get very shaky specially when their new to everything. The research paper and Bibliographies are due on Thursday and its getting very tight. I went to the writing center and they have convinced me that my paper is finally on the right track. I should be able to wrap it up on thursday and feel confident when turning it in. Until then working hard on it !
NKORA
Reflection
As I sit and think about all of the things I learned this semester I think about my AP English teacher from last year. She and Professor Ludeker are similar in so many ways. They both focused their curriculums around this whole idea of building works. If you haven’t noticed you should take note. This whole time here this semester we have built three things which make up our final grade: Annotated Bibliography, Final Paper, and these blog entries. One time I had a discussion with Professor Ludeker about why she did this and she didn’t go into great detail but she did say that there is a whole group of people who study this type of learning and that she feels this process is very effective; which is why she uses it. Last year my AP teacher was trying to drill all of the concepts into my head that we discussed in Professor Ludeker’s class, but hey didn’t sink in then. Now, I feel like I have finally grasped these concepts and although I am not an expert at them yet, I know I have come a long way in these past few weeks. And over time I will improve.
Conference
When I had my conference with Professor Ludeker, I really did not know what to expect. It was not that bad. She told me that I needed to revise a few things and be more aggressive in arguing my position. If any of you are having problems like this you can look in the book under the part 2 section. This whole section assists you in how to write your argument, it helped me with my revision. The aggression piece has to come from somewhere else. In the beginning of class Professor Ludeker told us to pick topics that had something to do with us. She told us to do this for a reason. The reason is so we can argue compassionately about these topics that are close to us and that we care about. My problem is that I like to be right all the time and I am kind of scared to argue this topic and be wrong. I have come to a realization that if I am not confident in how I present my topic, how can I persuade people to agree with or even listen to me. If you are having a problem similar to this you should just feel it inside of you to take your position and not fear being wrong that’s what I did and when you all see my paper during peer-review time you will hear it.
Fancying up your paper
Once you have completed your draft, you can go back and find words that kind of makes your paper sound better. To elaborate, I mean we as college freshman do not always chose the best words to get our points across. I know I have serious problems with transitions. I thought maybe some of you did to so I’m posting this link http://jc-schools.net/write/transition.htm It will help you in finding words to help your paper flow more smoothly. You can also just google transition words and other lists will pop up that will help you as well. I also noticed that I tend to restate the same words over and over so I sometimes use a thesaurus to help me out. Now you want to be careful not to pick words that sound too much like you picked it out of a thesaurus. For example if you keep saying happy, you could use words like joyful, glad, or merry. You wouldn’t want to say something like I was exultant or convivial. But if you use word like this everyday then go for it but if you don’t stick to what you know.
Summary, Critical Analysis, and Sythesis vs Final Paper
I discovered that the final argument paper is essentially a combination of what we learned in class throughout this semester. When you think about it you already have half of your paper done. All you need to do now is broaden it and give more of your thoughts and ARGUE. This final paper is your time to show off what you learned and finally take a position on this issue you have been talking about for weeks. There is no more summarizing or critiquing articles. Now its time for you to pull it all together, take a position and argue your side. The way I outlined my paper was by the what is called the toulmin model outline. You can find this outline at http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4728056/The-Toulmin-Outline. Now this might get you started but you don’t have to stcik and commit to this way you can move things around to best suit it for you.
Logical Fallacies
Logical fallacies are sometimes a difficult concept to grasp. The logical fallacies we discussed in class kind of made me feel stupid because I realized that I always use them. Emotionally loaded terms and the faulty cause and effect fallacies are always present in my writing. I know that I do not mean to do this on purpose, I just try to hard to get my points across that I do it in the wrong way. Maybe some of you do the same thing that I do without knowing it either. The first step in trying to fix this is by first finding out what logical fallacies are. The book gives a few on them on pages 65-69. I found another list at this link http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/. Once you figure out what you are doing wrong, it is much easier to correct the problem. I hope that this helps all of you who are struggling with the concept of logical fallacies. I know it has helped me.
Introduction
As I began the introduction of my paper I knew that I would start with an anecdote. Anecdotes are the most simple way of starting an essay next to rhetorical question in my opinion. I was told that the introductory paragraph must have a lead, position and thesis. You must also introduce all of the points you will discuss throughout the paper. This may seem like a lot of writing for one paragraph which is why you can use multiple paragraphs when composing a good introduction. On pages 240-246 of the text-book, it discusses how to construct an introduction. These pages were helpful to me so I hope they will help you to.
Peer-review
Hi everyone,
I hope everyone had a good conference. I am finishing up my paper for tomorrow and I am nerveous but I hope that tomorrow you guys can give me advice so I can fix it up for Thursday. Good Luck.
Final Paper!
After my conference, I am very confident in finishing my paper. I went in with about three pages, now im up to six. Professor Ludeker and I went through a great outline that would assist me in finishing my paper successfully. Since, Tuesday is a peer review for our final papers, I am using this as an advantage to see what my peers can pick out of my paper. I am hoping everyone has had a successful conference with the Professor like I did and i am hoping that come Tuesday, we’re all ready to help eachother out!
Final Draft
Now that we have only two one more class before our final draft of our paper is due, I feel confident that we are much better writers then when we started in the beginning of the year. This semester flew by and I am proud to call myself a student of professor Ludeker. I would also like to thank her for all the help she has given me and how grateful I am to have had her as a teacher. I hope everyone does will on their papers and good luck next semester.
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