The Exciting 1101 Class Blog!

(Kate Zephyrhawke) Here’s a place for you to express yourself! When you find yourself tingling with anticipation and counting the hours until class meets again, you can dialogue with your classmates right here. I’ll have both classes use this same space– that way you’ll have to consider your audience when you write (i.e., how you may come across to people who have not had the pleasure of experiencing your charming personality in person). Remember to include your name and a picture (follow this model) so it will be easy to keep track of who’s who.

Amelia Lackey Overall Writing

Through this course, I have come face to face with my strengths and weaknesses. I write well, have a decent vocabulary, and am capable of making my point. However, I need to work on my tone, and learn to not be afraid to make a point in my paper. I also need to take a closer look at counterarguments, and I need to make my refutes of those arguments more clear and concise. This semester was full of pressure and emotional upheavle for me, but I can honestly say this course has helped me discover more about myself and my writing habits.

Amelia Lackey Project 3

This project was the one where I felt the most, I guess you could say, at home. I have always been told I argue my points very well, and it has been easy for me to do the same thing in a written text. However, I have also always heard that my voice varies throughout my writings. I sound both passionate and indifferent within my paper. I realize that I need to be more constant, and I think if I can conquer my shyness in real life, it would shine through in my wiriting as well.

Emily Rizzo reflection essay

I know that reflection essays are usually simply written to express how you’ve changed in your writing skills. It is true, I have bettered my writing, or at least I hope so, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I figured the writing I had been doing over the past years in high school and middle school would suffice me in college, but that wasn’t true. I do not want to mention any names, but Composition one didn’t teach me as much as I thought it would. I was willing to learn and wasn’t taught how to really break through in my writing. However, in Composition two, I feel like I was asked more questions and told to expand in certain areas more, and really pushed my writing. I had known, or at least heard of ethos, pathos, and logos, but I had never put them to use in a paper before. I was told to doo in my first paper of Comp II and learned why those aspects were so important to ones piece of writing material. Now I know that in order to persuade someone of something it helps to have an actual professional on your side. Also, the emotion drawn out from a paper is a huge deal. When you write to hit someone’s feelings you will get extremely far compared to just stating facts. Those were definitely the big lessons of the year, and what I felt was most important. I feel as though I really did learn enough in order to make it through with the rest of the papers and essays I will be told to write throughout the rest of my college time. I know that I have learned what it takes to hopefully succeed in the future.

Amelia Lackey- Project 1

Project 1 was the most difficult for me. I had AP classes, and I did not have to take Comp 1, so I thought I could come into Comp 2 writing as I did in those AP classes. Well, I was wrong. I needed to learn new jargon, and not only that, but reference it within my essay. I always feel extremely blunt with describing when having to use a particular vocabulary. Eventually though, I think I was able to see what I needed to do, which helped me prepare for project 2.

Project 1 blog Amy DiBongrazio

Now, that I look back on project 1, I realize that I did not conduct enough research to properly support claims that were made in my paper. Although I feel my sources are valid, i think that my paper did not flowed well, did not have a strong thesis, and/or conclusion. I am glad that now that I have completed this course I can see the mistakes that I made in project 1.

James Hartman- Reflection

Composition two proved to be markedly different from its predecessor in one key way- I felt as if to do well on my projects I must put more of myself into them. Before this course essay writing was a much more removed process for me. I would be given a prompt, then answer it as best I could, but never think of myself while writing. Since composition two highlights persuasive writing I was required to draw from my heart as well.
Project one was my introduction to the concepts of ethos, logos and pathos- ideas that I had of course previously used, but never consciously. The distinction between the three helped me realize the need for each and allowed me to then draw from a much deeper pool of persuasive energy. Where before I had viewed an essay as being only logos, I can now better self diagnose my writing for its weaknesses. This awareness also translates into an improved ability to analyze other’s arguments and successfully find their flaws. Project two was where I was truly required to put myself into my writing. In order to effectively craft an argument my approach had to be changed. Writing for my own personal enjoyment has always been a matter that I approach much differently than my school related projects. The same strategies I have always employed to personally engage myself turned out to have more place in my academic pursuits than I would have imagined a year ago. While writing this was something I attempted to keep in mind, though in retrospect all of my work certainly could use more attention. Project three in particular stands out among these, for while I had the best opportunity in this essay to interject myself I don’t think I thoroughly took advantage of it. Florida knife law was something that I did feel strongly about, but after rereading my paper I feel that this was something I didn’t fully take advantage of. If ever I had an opportunity to exercise my often underused pathos I don’t think I capitalized on it as much as I ought to have.
Overall Composition two has been a drill in more than the technical aspects of putting together a smooth essay, or the coherent progression of logic, instead drawing from the core of what really holds an argument together. This semester demanded I involve aspects of essay writing I had not yet put thought to- the ethos and pathos.

James Hartman- Project 3 Blogzilla

Project three was far more difficult for me than the previous two projects. I knew going into the project that I wouldn’t be satisfied with myself if I picked a more conventional topic and ended up writing a cookie-cutter style essay. With this in mind I decided to pick something close to heart, regardless of how easy it would be to support my argument. For this reason my social injustice was Florida knife law. In retrospect this might not have been the soundest decision, as writing the essay turned into a nightmarish affair. While in my heart’s heart I know there is something unjust about the law, presenting it in a way that makes it seem like a social injustice, not a “James injustice”, proved to be my biggest obstacle. While picking this topic wasn’t the most prudent thing I could have done as a student concerned about his Bright Futures, I feel that the difficulty I had wasn’t for naught; improvements aren’t made by repeating what has been done and what one knows they can do.

James Hartman- Project 2 Blog

My project two was written on why religion is not the root of all ethics. I argued that ethics are a cultural construction- one which all human groups have had to create, and as a result share much in common. Ethics are the glue which hold groups of people together and allows them to cohesively work together for a common good. This project was my favorite of the three because it gave me ground and reason to test and forge the convictions I had always held to be true. This project was also a turning point in composition two, and brought me into types of writing I had never done before. This project, along with the following proved to be more than an exercise in writing skills, but a dynamic engagement and solidifying force with my own beliefs.

James Hartman- Project 1 Blog

My project one analyzed the rhetorical differences between the arguments presented by John Ashcroft and Ali Al-Ahmed. In this project I was introduced the concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos. While these where all strategies of persuasion I had previously employed in my writing, this was the first time I associated a formal name with them (ah, and then it all made sense). Since this project I can state that I have been better at picking apart others arguments, simply because I can identify their method of attack. Project one offered the least creative license of the three projects, but in terms of improving my actual writing ability without doubt was the most effective.

Project 3 – Brandon Thames 1102

Project 3 was definitely my favorite project I enjoyed the whole premise of the project. Enacting social change through awareness is a great idea. I just wish we had done more than our presentation. Hopefully next year there will be some changes in the SG elections, and hopefully in the future things will change on the local, state, and national level. We could use some fair politicians who are unbiased by corporations or special interest. As special interest is even more harmful to society than party loyalty.