ENG 1510 #1 Project Rough Draft

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-20-12

Writing Constructs

The writing construct that I have been researching is the importance of a rough draft.  I have found tons and tons of different sources that talk about different ways a rough draft is relevant to writing a good paper.  One of the sources everyone will be most familiar  with is, Anne Lamott.  We read an article from this crazy lady and how she believes that everyone has a “shitty” first draft, or a couple of them.  Anne explains that no one can sit down and write the best paper of their life.  Everyone makes mistakes.  She feels that in writing rough drafts you learn from your mistakes.  

The author of “Keep your Rough Drafts Rough” in SparkCollege (couldn’t find the exact person), feels that you shouldn’t keep worrying about your grammar, spelling and punctuation.  He/she feels that you will lose your ideas and not get the information you wanted out into your paper.  They believe that you should write in short, quick increments.  If you write freely for 15 minutes, you will get everything that you are thinking at the time, into the paper.  After that 15 minute writing session, take a 5 minute break to recollect all your thoughts and to clear your mind.  Maybe even eat a little snack and grab a drink.  This author also believes that you must focus on the task at hand.  Most of the time you are writing something that doesn’t interest you greatly, so stay on track.  I feel any author or writer would feel this way too.  Another helpful tip they give for typing rough drafts is to save your work every 5-10 minutes.  I really agree with that, you could be typing and not realize your battery is about to die, or even your computer could crash.  Many different things could happen unintentionally.

The next author I found was Joe Landsberger.  Joe is responsible for the Studying Guides and Strategies website.  He believes there are 7 stages to writing a paper.  Believe it or not, a rough draft is number 5!  Below are his 7 stages.

1. Develop your topic
2. Identify your audience 
3. Research
4. Pre-write
5. Draft/Write
6. Revise
7. Proofread

These are Joe Landsberger's 7 stages to writing a good paper. His views on the rough draft are that you need lots of time to think and write, a clear study room to where you can focus, have good preparation tools and research, and do a few pre-writing exercises.  I feel Landsberger’s way is a lot more complex and organized then others, like Anne (the nut) Lamott’s.  There are also a few things he doesn’t believe that belong in a rough draft.  He feels no rough draft should include a title, quotes, or any type of editing.  I will have to agree with him on this part.  If it is a rough draft then there shouldn’t be any revisions.  Not making revisions and then having a peer review with help your paper tremendously and will help you learn more to prevent from future mistakes.

An article I found that I think plays a role with rough drafts is by Joseph M. Williams.  This article is in our Writing About Writing book and is called, The Phenomenology of Error.  I feel it plays a role in my writing construct about rough drafts because the entire article is about errors.  An interesting statement that he says is that people think if they don’t have any punctuation, grammar, or spelling errors, your paper is perfect.  He compares this logic to a game of baseball.  “Nobody thinks you know how to play baseball by just catching the ball, there is a lot more to the game”.  This is very important to writing, you can have correct spelling and the whole 9 yards but maybe you didn’t frame it well or aren’t using the proper voice.  Many things alter your paper from being perfect.

To many people, a rough draft is pointless, boring, and a waste of time.  They think you should be able to write a paper one time, fix a few things and turn it in. I too believed all of those things before I started researching the topic.  It’s not that easy though.  There are many things that a rough draft will help you with.  Not only fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes but many other things.  A rough draft or pre-writing assignment will prepare you for future papers.  Maybe the mistake you made a lot in this paper, you won’t make it again in a different one.  If you learn from that mistake, maybe during a peer review you will pick up that same error on someone else’s paper.  So not only are you learning, you are helping someone else fix problems.  It’s an ongoing process.  The best way to get started on a paper is to find a topic, make an outline of strong facts you want to bring up, and just write.  Just write non-stop for short increments of 15-20 minutes and take a small break of 5-7 minutes.  This process will get all your ideas onto the paper.  Once you do that, you’ll have a place to start.  You will have processed new ideas you want to bring up and you can slid them into the right spot.  As Anne Lamott says,”Everyone has a shitty first draft”.  This is a very strong statement and expresses her views toward pre-writing tactics.  This is reassuring to any young writer.  It gives them a sense of comfort to know that even the best and most famous writers cannot write a good first draft like Stephen King or J.R. Tolkien.  As a current young writer, I see where she is coming from with this logic.  It is hard to do anything once and be good at it.  The first time I shot a basketball I most likely wasn’t very good.  As I have practiced more, I have gotten to have a pretty nice shot (at least I think so).  There are thousands of pre-writing exercises but I feel the rough draft is most common and most effective, not only because you learn from your mistakes, but you can help others with the same mistake as well. 

Learning from your mistakes is a big part of using a rough draft.  Your peer’s or instructors will fix your errors and give you ideas of how to make it better.  You can do two things with that.  One, you can just fix it and move on.  Or two, fix it and analyze it.  You look at your mistakes, go over them, and actually understand why and what is wrong with them.  That is the whole point of a rough draft in the first place.  If you didn’t learn from your mistakes then you might as well just turn the paper in as is.  The whole point is to actually take something out of the editing to use in the future.  Like I said before, you might not help yourself, but you could help a fellow student.

Not very many, but some people believe a rough draft is a waste of time.  They think you don’t gain anything from it.  They think there is no other way to write a good paper than the first time they write it.  Those people are vulgar thinkers.  They believe one thing and stick to it no matter what.  If you look at the facts, a rough draft absolutely helps in just about every way possibly.  Once someone looks at it, they can give you more ideas about what to put into your paper.  They can tell you if one paragraph should be taken out or moved to some where else.  They can fix your spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.  There is unlimited amounts of different tips people can give you to help with your writings.  I am not saying to listen to everybody’s opinion, because no one is right all the time, but to be open minded and take someones constructive criticism. Not only will it help you with the paper soon to be due, but also any future papers you have coming up.

There have been many times when I should have used a rough draft or some kind of pre-writing assignment, but failed to use one.  For my senior English class, we had a big paper due the first month.  Since it was my senior year, and it was supposed to be easy and fun, I kind of put it off.  We were supposed to get together with someone from the other English class every Tuesday and edit each others paper.  Every Tuesday, it turned out to just be me editing my classmates paper.  The due date finally came around and I did turn my paper in on time.  It took two weeks for our teacher to grade all of our papers (we graduated 112 kids so that explains how big the papers were).  I got my grade back and got a D on it.  From then on, I had to work my ass off to get to an A.  If I would’ve taking my paper serious and did the different rough drafts and pre-writing assignments, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time.

ENG 1510 Peer Review practice

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9/26/12

Peer Review Practice

All around, this was a pretty good paper.  You had a lot of very strong facts.  I like how you incorporated the way you procrastinate before explaining in detail the other ways to do so.  I feel that makes your paper more original.  Also what really tricked me, is when you put off the assignment till last minute and had everyone thinking it would be terrible, then shift the topic to the teacher explaining how good your paper was, and how much thought you put into it.  That was a really good use of trickery.  I also liked how you put John R. Perry’s 5 step process regarding types of procrastination.  I can really relate to some of his ideas and logic.

I was a little weary on a few topics of this paper.  When you explained the 3 types of procrastinators, that was really good, but you didn’t explain the 2nd one very much, and the other 2 were in a lot of detail.  Another thing, at one point in the paper, it almost seemed you were encouraging kids to be procrastinators.  I don’t believe you should tell kids to try it, but for them to find out for themselves if it works the same for them.  Encouraging them to do so could possibly get them into bad habits.

Overall, it was a well written paper with few, minor and fixable mistakes. 

ENG 1510 #1 project Synthesis/Intro

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-20-12

Writing Constructs: Synthesis 

The writing construct that I have been researching is the importance of a rough draft.  I have found tons and tons of different sources that talk about different ways a rough draft is relevant to writing a good paper.  One of the sources everyone will be most familiar  with is, Anne Lamott.  We read an article from this crazy lady and how she believes that everyone has a “shitty” first draft, or a couple of them.  Anne explains that no one can sit down and write the best paper of their life.  Everyone makes mistakes.  She feels that in writing rough drafts you learn from your mistakes.  

The author of “Keep your Rough Drafts Rough” in SparkCollege (couldn’t find the exact person), feels that you shouldn’t keep worrying about your grammar, spelling and punctuation.  He/she feels that you will lose your ideas and not get the information you wanted out into your paper.  They believe that you should write in short, quick increments.  If you write freely for 15 minutes, you will get everything that you are thinking at the time, into the paper.  After that 15 minute writing session, take a 5 minute break to recollect all your thoughts and to clear your mind.  Maybe even eat a little snack and grab a drink.  This author also believes that you must focus on the task at hand.  Most of the time you are writing something that doesn’t interest you greatly, so stay on track.  I feel any author or writer would feel this way too.  Another helpful tip they give for typing rough drafts is to save your work every 5-10 minutes.  I really agree with that, you could be typing and not realize your battery is about to die, or even your computer could crash.  Many different things could happen unintentionally.

The next author I found was Joe Landsberger.  Joe is responsible for the Studying Guides and strategies website.  He believes there are 7 stages to writing a paper.  Believe it our not, a rough draft is number 5!  Below are his 7 stages.

1. Develop your topic
2. Identify your audience 
3. Research
4. Pre-write
5. Draft/Write
6. Revise
7. Proofread

These are Joe Landsberger's 7 stages to writing a good paper. His views on the rough draft are that you need lots of time to think and write, a clear study room to where you can focus, have good preparation tools and research, and do a few pre-writing exercises.  I feel Joe’s way is a lot more complex and organized then others, like Anne (the nut) Lamott.  there are also a few things he doesn’t believe that belong in a rough draft.  he feels no rough draft should include a title, quotes, or any type of editing.  I will have to agree with him on this part.  If it is a rough draft then there shouldn’t be any revisions.  Not making revisions and then having a peer review with help your paper tremendously and will help you learn more to prevent from future mistakes.

An article I found that I think plays a role with rough drafts is by Joseph M. Williams.  This article is in our Writing About Writing book and is called, The Phenomenology of Error.  I feel it plays a role in my writing construct about rough drafts because the entire article is about errors.  An interesting statement that he says is that people think if they don’t have any punctuation, grammar, or spelling errors, your paper is perfect.  He compares this logic to a game of baseball.  “Nobody thinks you know how to play baseball by just catching the ball, there is a lot more to the game”.  This is very important to writing, you can have correct spelling and the whole 9 yards but maybe you didn’t frame it well or aren’t using the proper voice.  Many things alter your paper from being perfect.

Introduction:

To many people, a rough draft is pointless, boring, and a waste of time.  They think you should be able to write it one time, fix a few things and turn it in. I too believed all of those things before I started researching the topic.  It’s not that easy though.  There are many things that a rough draft will help you with.  Not only fix your grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes but many other things.  A rough draft or pre-writing assignment will prepare you for future papers.  Maybe the mistake you made a lot in this paper, you won’t make it again in a different one.  If you learn from that mistake, maybe during a peer review you will pick up that same error on someone else’s paper.  So not only are you learning, you are helping someone else fix problems.  It’s an ongoing process.  The best way to get started on a paper is to find a topic, make an outline of strong facts you want to bring up, and just write.  Just write non-stop for short increments of 15-20 minutes and take a small break of 5-7 minutes.  This process will get all your ideas onto the paper.  Once you do that, you’ll have a place to start.  You will have processed new ideas you want to bring up and you can slid them into the right spot.  As Anne Lamott says,”Everyone has a shitty first draft”.  This is a very strong statement and expresses her views toward pre-writing tactics.  This is reassuring to any young writer.  It gives them a sense of comfort to know that even the best and most famous writers cannot write a good first draft like Stephen King or J.R. Tolkien.  As a current young writer, I see where she is coming from with this logic.  It is hard to do anything once and be good at it.  The first time I shot a basketball I most likely wasn’t very good.  As I have practiced more, I have gotten to have a pretty nice shot (at least I think so).  There are thousands of pre-writing exercises but I feel the rough draft is most common and most effective, not only because you learn from your mistakes, but you can help others with the same mistake as well.

ENG 1510 Bernhardt IWA

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-19-12

Informal Writing Assignment 

I really enjoyed this article.  It was a nice change to learn about gestalt and the effects it has with ads.  We see ads everywhere, from magazines, on YouTube, Television, and even on some walls.  We are surrounded by advertisements.  The tricky part is getting the reader/watcher into it and attracted to it.  Some ways people and companies will try to attract people doesn’t always work.  Examples of that could range from small letters, a lot of reading, no color and no pictures.  A good way to attract people is by the opposite of that.  You want bigger letters, less letters, more color, and more pictures.  That is,  depending on the age group you are trying to attract.  For kids through people in there late to mid-twenties, I’d stick with the colors and pictures.  If they are older, they might not like all of that and find it childish.  After reading this article from Bernhardt, it got me thinking of different ways to attract readers.  I want to take over my dad’s business and make it larger and these tips are a great way to start.

ENG 1510 Bernhardt Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-19-12

Summary

This article is based on what we see and how we feel about it.  It tells us what gestalt s and how it plays with our minds.  Mostly in ads, they will have different strategies to catch the consumers eye.  This is a very effective way to get people to attend your function or to buy something.   Not only does it show the positive sides to gestalt, also the negative side.  An example would be if they are trying to sell you something, and the brochure is black and white, small text and a lot of it, and basically just boring.  That is a very big negative side to gestalt.

Synthesis

Compared to other articles we have read, this one talks more about the way we see things and how to increase the attention of someone reading it.  Basically if the information is boring, like black and white, not many pictures, it isn’t going to bring any attention to the reader.  If for instance the ad had pictures, bright colors, different shapes, different font and bigger letters, it will intrigue readers and get them interested in whatever it is you’re showing them.

Questions for Discussion

4.  I feel that instructors in High School made you write in a specific format so it was easier for them to grade.  It kept them all similar so they didn’t have to do as much thinking as to trying to understand everybody’s point of view.  I really don’t agree with this system.  It is not helping any student further their learning process.  The public school system is turning kids into mindless consumers.They teach them all the same thing, regardless of there education level.  The smarter students cannot learn as much and the slower students cannot keep up.  So not only are we supposed to focus on one particular format for writings, but basically every other aspect in school.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

3.  Gestalt in my way of saying, is kind of a way to represent something that you feel is important.  Like today in class, we were asked to bring in an ad of some kind to discuss with the class.  I brought in an ad for the Ohio Snowcats Organization represent an up and coming white water rafting trip.  The gestalt in this ad was not up to par in my eyes.  It was black and white with few words and few pictures.  You could tell it was printed on regular paper and copied a bunch of times.  It was promoting a rafting trip, yet didn’t have a picture of a raft.  They had a picture of the bus ride, the worst part.

Personal Reflection

This article was pretty entertaining.  It got me to think about different articles and ads that I see everyday.  It is kind of neat to look at them and kind of know where they are going with it.  Anytime I see an ad from now on, I will judge it on the gestalt.

ENG 1510 IWA James Porter

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-17-12

Informal Writing Assignment 

James Porter’s article in Writing About Writing was very interesting.  It contained information on intertextuality.  I found this really neat and I was excited to see the different examples in class today.  It gave me a better understanding of the whole idea.  The example of the intertextuality in Family Guy was absolutely hilarious, and they portrayed it so everyone could follow along.  I think that ran very well with his idea of acceptability.  A lot of people watch and “accept” Family Guy which makes it a perfect example of intertextuality.  After reading these past couple articles, I have an understanding of how many different ways there are to write.  All this time, I thought you would just write what you thought was right.  But no, you can change the way you write by the voice you use, your point of view, you can even trick people to think different things.  So far, I have found the topic of intertextuality to be pretty neat.  I have never been introduced to such a thing.  I mean I had seen it in different shows: South Park, Family guy, The Office, but I never knew there was a name for it and different articles written about it.  I think we should keep studying this topic and keep watching example(Family Guy!).

ENG 1510 Porter Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-16-12

Summary

James Porter writes an article about his way and ideas of how a good paper should be.  He explains his idea that no body is original.  He believes that somewhere, someone has written something similar to what you have written.  Porter feels that if you read an article and want to write a similar paper that some of the prior authors ideas will have rubbed off on you causing you to take some of his/hers understandings or ideas.

Synthesis

This article has some similarities and differences between some of the past articles we have read.  It is similar due to the fact that it’s just an author explaining his way of writing a paper to its best potential, just a different way from others.  Some of the other articles we read told us to frame the writing or to have your own voice in your writing.  This particular article talks about having “acceptability”.  He explains the differences between plagiarism and not plagiarizing.

Questions for Discussion

4. Porters way of mastering writing is on the acceptability of the paper.  Before reading this article, I’ve been told a few different ways to view writing.  One way that Stuart Green explained to be the best way was to frame the paper.  Framing the paper got your views out there and didn’t explain the other sides of the argument.  Another way that I have been taught recently, voice.  Having a voice in your writing gives it a sense of originality and puts it in your own words and tells how you think/feel toward a certain topic. This is different from the way I normally lean when writing. I will try and stick with voice.  I feel it is easier for people to get where you’re coming from just like in Stephen King’s article we recently read.  He tells what the topic is about, then tells the reader a little bit about himself.  This shows everyone how and why he thinks the way he does.

5. I feel Porter’s article most definitely reflects itself.  There are so many authors and professional writers in the world that this article cannot be one of a kind.  There has to be at least one, if not more article that talks about the same problem.  He brings up a really good point, even if it isn’t his original thought.  If you read an article and want to write an article similar, you will have to take a few examples out of the text and at least put them into your own words.  That isn’t original.  You are taking the idea of someone and putting your thoughts an ideas into it.

 Applying and Exploring

2. Plagiarism: Cheating—whether by claiming another’s ideas or work as your own (fraud) or making up or falsifying information (fabrication)—will result in a course grade of F and a report to Community Standards. You are at all times responsible for handling sources ethically by acknowledging the author and source of directly borrowed ideas and language in your writing.  The way that Porter is talking about is not cheating.  You are just using there idea but putting it into your own words.  It is cheating if you copy it word for word or even paraphrase it.  You have to be careful about how you do it.  It is very easy to think you are doing it correctly and screw up.  You must know all the criteria to plagiarism.

Meta Moment

Porter didn’t really change my view on writers.  The one thing that did stick out to me is the importance of not plagiarizing, especially in college.  That is the quickest way to get thrown out of school.  Unless you try to burn down Shivley Hall or something.  You have to be very precise when using the ideas of a different writer.  You have to cite them correctly, or else it is basically stealing.  

Personal Reflection

I personally agree with James Porter’s ideas.  It is pretty hard to be original.  There are billions of people who write everyday so it’s pretty impossible to find one paper that is completely different from any other.  The one thing I didn’t agree with totally is his view on calling that plagiarism.  If you have no idea what the person who you “copied” wrote then I wouldn’t call it plagiarism.  Simply just a mistake.  Even though it is a slim possibility, it could still happen.

ENG 1510 Peter Elbow IWA

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-14-12

IWA

Peter Elbow’s article is explaining the differences there are when using a voice in a writing.  Whilst reading his article, I noticed that he contradicts himself quite a bit.  For instance, he explains how important it is to use a voice in every aspect of writing.  Then later in the passage he says that you should use very little voice when teaching someone to write.  It just doesn’t make any sense to me.  Also he writes that all kids should be taught one, very strict way and should have set ways to write.  I really disagree with that statement.  If you are only letting students think and write one way then they won’t learn any new strategies or what works for them.  If the strategy he gives them doesn’t work, then they are basically screwed.  If you don’t let them think for themselves they won’t be creative and learn new things.  Learning new ways to study and write are an important role in learning.  By limiting them like this, it completely takes it away.  The only real thing I agreed with is using voice in your writings.  It gives it our own ideas so the readers can see where your coming from.  Just like in the Stephen King article, he tells what the paper will be about then talks about himself so you know where he is coming from and past experiences.  Overall, I didn’t agree with Peter Elbow and I feel I would personally not get along with him in person.

ENG 1510 Elbow's article Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-14-12

Summary

Elbow’s article explains different ways to view “voice”. He tells the two different ways he sees some writings, Sincerity and Resonance.  The two are hard to comprehend because he doesn’t explain them that will.  It was a good article but i feel he didn’t explain himself the best.

Synthesis

This article was different in my point of view based on the information given.  On most of our readings I see their point they are trying to get across.  With Elbow’s article, I couldn’t pull anything very helpful out of it. This article was a lot different then any other.

Before you Read

1. My Facebook profile is pretty open.  I don’t act differently for people so I always am being myself.  If I’m mad or something I’ll just be silent and ready to explode but thats a different story.  I think it is extremely dumb for people to put there addresses on Facebook though.  Needless to say, if the wrong person gets that information, who knows what could happen.  There are some people that will look completely different online and in person.  Damn you Instagram!! But how you would see me in my profile is how you would see me at home.  

Questions for Discussion

1. When I think of voice, I think of the writer as trying to get their point across.  If they are writing an argument chances are it will be biassed.  So there voice is the argument.  They are telling you what they think and why.  Another way I think of voice is when you are reading something and you read it with a voice you think they would have.  What I think Elbow is trying to say is that there isn’t much voice in writing today.  Like writing used to have more “voice” but has died down and he believes all writing would be better with the so-called voice.

2. I think online is the place to find the most “voice”.  There are so many writers online, it’s unreal.  There are probably more writers online than not.  Online you don’t have to go to school or anything.  There are many different types of voices online.  There are sports, blogs, news, weather, and even little Johnny talking about how much he hates math on Facebook.  Unlimited amounts of examples of voice online.  I disagree with this “logic” tremendously.  He wants to change the way kids are thinking and writing.  I don’t think that is right.  That is taking away their freedom to express themselves and will limit their ability.

Applying and Exploring

1. I feel that sincerity means that you have an idea when your writing but you don’t back it up or it is a weak argument.  Resonance seems like it means that you have a sort of attitude toward your article.

Connecting to Other Readings

I think the voice is a part of the myth.  The voice can be many different things and doesn’t have to be viewed just one way.

Personal Reflection

I didn’t find this article to be very helpful.  Although, there was a lot of different information to take in.  Like what a voice is and different types of voice.  It did help me understand voice a touch more than I had prior to reading this article.

ENG 1510 Anne Lamott Article Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-13-12

Anne Lamott

When I opened Writing about Writing, I found Anne Lamott in the table of contents and turned to page 301.  Not very excited to read, I began with the first paragraph.  After the first sentence, I finally read the title “Shitty First Drafts”.  This really intrigued me.  I started reading more and got really into her way of thinking.  Anne seems like a real free spirit and says what ever comes to her mind.  She is really blunt with everything which I respect.  She says that no one can sit down and write a perfect paper in one try.  She then proceeds to say that “one person” can but they do not like her.  I really wish she would inform us on who that author is.  That would be pretty funny and interesting.  Everything she says I can relate to which is a good change of pace, since everything else I read I understand six words.  I really agree with one of her quotes.  She says,”Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts”.  This is very true because you always do more than one draft.  Like she had stated before, no one can sit down and write a perfect paper.  Towards the end of the article it started to get a little weird.  She started to talk about how she talks to people who aren’t really there and explaining to imaginary cops what had happened.  I wish most our readings were like this, it keeps things exciting.

Sarah Allen IWA response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

September 12, 2012

Informal Writing Assignment

I normally do not get into my readings.  I will normally read it and will draw a blank about what I had just read.  Not with this article, this article really interested me.  I always feel like I am struggling whenever I am reading or writing.  I feel like I don’t understand what I am reading and don’t know how to put it into my own words.  This is a pretty big problem, according to the fact that I am in college.  This article shows many examples of different people who struggled at first and then became successful (hopefully the same will work for me).  Even the author, Sarah Allen, struggled with writing at first.  One quote I could really relate too came from Sarah Allen herself.  “More Hamlet-like, more like a battle with a ghost-the ghost being the “inspired writer””.  The author says this talking about herself at an early age of writing.  I feel like she means she could never get motivated to write.  I feel the same way when I have to write a paper.  Nothing I have to write about inspires or interest me.  Sarah explains that to motivate yourself you have to connect yourself to something that does in fact interest you.  Once you find a connection, the writing material will come to you.  Just like the case with Patricia Bizzel.  She says, “but for all the misunderstandings, all the fears and so-called failings that happen among writer and paper and reader, there’s always another white page”.  This quote can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.  To me, this means that everything you write won’t get an A, every argument you have someone will disagree and test your theories, but you can keep working and be yourself.  Just like in the movie Joe Dirt, where David Spade plays a “white trash” guy who gets picked on by everyone in every town, and he still ends up with a beautiful girl.  One of the famous quotes in that movie is, “keep on, keeping on”.  This means to keep doing what you’re doing even if you’re getting picked on, even if you don’t get an A on every paper, just live your life or keep writing.

Research on Jack Kerouac

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

September 12, 2012

I did my research on Jack Kerouac because I was a bit stumped with the assignment.  After reading different articles, it was very clear that one thing that influenced him was definitely music.  Mostly jazz music though.  Some people call him the “father of the Beat movement”.  He says he doesn’t like to be labeled as that, which to me symbolizes that he is humble and doesn’t like a lot of attention.  Another thing that seemed to influence him greatly was his experiences and the people around him.  He would write autobiographies about his friends and family and the experiences they took on together.  

Jack Kerouac is a very interesting person.  I really got a lot out of one of his quotes.  “I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they are the same that far down.” — Jack Kerouac.  To me, this tells that he wanted to write different then all the other people.  He didn’t want to make up silly stories, he wanted to tell real life events that he or someone around him had experienced.  It is said that he was known for keeping tons of little notebooks that he would take little notes, write little stories, and also draw.  

Not only was Kerouac influenced by the people that surrounded him, but he also influenced great writers.  Two writers liked his free style writing so much that they mocked his style.  They were also all friends.  Their names are William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

On the Road, is said to be Jack’s most famous novel.  It has two characters, Sal and Dean who travel across the world doing drugs and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.  Amongst their journey they met lots of people.  From famous jazz musicians, to drug addicts and hitchhikers.  The funny thing is, the two main characters; Sal and Dean, were actually based on Jack and his close friend Neal Cassady.  This is a perfect example of how he incorporates his own experiences into his writings.  

After doing this research, I am going to go to the library when I have time to see if they have the novel On the Road.  It seems like an exciting read nd would be very interesting.

ENG 1510 Murray & Berkenkotter Responses

Alex Gilkerson 

ENG 1510

9-11-12

Summary

These articles are trying to get across to us the fact that planning out your writings can help you tremendously.  Once you plan out your writings, it will make everything easier.  It will cut down the time of working, it will keep you organized, and it will help you work efficiently.

Synthesis

These articles were a lot different then the passed ones we have read.  Most other articles talked about what to do and what not to do while writing.  This article explains to us the importance of stages leading up to writing and after the writing.  It explained how to plan correctly to keep you time management in check.  It also talked about revising and editing.  That is a very important part of writing.

Questions for Discussion 

1. What stuck out to me the most was when Murray said he was surprised on the amount of planning he does.  Planning something out can make your writings ten times better.  If you set out all the information and get everything in order, it will make your time a lot smoother.  I feel that I need to do a little more planning.  Sometimes I will procrastinate or just rush into an assignment and not take the time to sit down and really think about it.  Like I said, one thing I do differently is the fact that I do not plan very well.

3.  Berkenkotter, after doing this research, found out how much time Murray spent on planning is writings and revising them.  She seemed a bit shocked.  She tells how the editor was editing the final draft and found more errors.  They had to take it back and buff out the problems.  On Murray’s Journal of Basic Writing, it tells that he planned 45% of the time for the writing.  That is a crazy amount of planning if you ask me.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1.I feel I need to change some of my writing habits.  Sometimes, I’ll be focused and have good work, but other times I just rush and not have as good of writings.  When I rush, I don’t plan anything out and I will just skim the material.  It was a very bad habit to start.  When I’m focused, I believe my writing level is pretty good.  I have had to write plenty of papers in my day and have taken a lot of writing courses.  From my experience, I tend to spend a lot more time on the writing part, rather than planning and editing.

Meta Moment 

The biggest thing I got out of these two articles was definitely to plan my writings.  Planing your writings will benefit you so much.  It will keep you organized, help you understand the material, and mostly help you write a good paper.  The biggest thing is to have zero mistakes in your paper.  If you don’t plan time to revise, you may make simple spelling mistakes or punctuation mistakes.  Making little mistakes could ruin your paper and harm your grade.

Personal Reflection

I took a lot from these articles.  It really showed me that I need to plan my papers ahead more.  I normally wait till last minute and that won't cut it at the college level.  Once I get the due date for an assignment, I need to start organizing times to do parts of the work.  Breaking up the assignment would cut down time immensely.

John Berger's "Way of Seeing" Responses

Alex Gilkerson 

ENG 1510

9-10-12

Before you Read

I Googled a picture of a classical female picture and a model.  In the classical picture, the female was dressed in toga looking clothing and was more thick and normal looking.  The picture of the model was way different.  She had new flashy clothes but she was way to skinny.  She didn’t look healthy at all.

Questions for Discussion

2. You see images of posed women all over.  They are on billboards, buses, TV commercials, magazines, and even the posters they put in our dorm halls.  Berger explains that the nude pictures are more of a sight for men.  How they are viewed as objects and not humans.  I believe they have stayed pretty much the same.  Women were viewed as sights back then for the nude pictures, and nowadays they have plenty of magazines and websites that have the same concept, a sight.

4. The way I see it is that the audience to this article is more focused on the men who treat women like “objects”.  Some men will judge a female on how they appear to them. It will alter how they treat them.  I feel this is a horrible way to act.  You should treat everyone the same.  Berger explains the different views from the classical nude picture and tells how the men will treat them differently by appearance.

5. Berger is asking why we view people they way we do.  The other, in this case, is the female.  She is viewed differently because of her nakedness.  If she were clothed, people would view her completely different.  The nakedness or nudity of it, changes everything tremendously.

Applying and Exploring

1. I do not know any artworks, but TV ads or magazine ads have men viewed in a particular way.  One that comes to my mind would be like Ralph Lauren, or Calvin Klein ads.  They have male models that are in very good shape wearing those brands, driving nice cars, and with beautiful women.  I feel they make you feel like with there clothing you would have all those things.  There is a generation gap and that is because the paintings are from so long ago that the people look different and two completely different styles.

Meta Moment

You need to read article with those topics to get an idea of the writers point of view.  Sometimes it can have information on both sides of the argument.  Other times it will be one-sided and you will have to either agree with their side or have your own side of the argument.  You can test there theories and even see how they framed their writings.  These are connected through writings because the authors will sometimes frame the writing to limited what you see and read.  If they frame it well, it will only get you to think about their side of the argument.

Cartoon Article and Responses

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

September 9, 2012

Before you Read

My favorite cartoon was Spongebob Squarepants.  I feel I do connect with him, but probably not in a good way.  Our family has a lot of parties and get togethers and later on into the night we play music.  Pretty loud.  I connect with Spongebob in a way that I’m probably an “annoying” neighbor.

Summary 

The Vocabulary of Comics talked about different icons and symbols and how we view them.  It asked the reader different questions about why we think certain things.  Why do we think a cartoon face is an actual face?  Why do we think of the American flag as a country?  It talked about the way people think and why they think that certain way.

Synthesis

This article was very interesting.  It is different from any article I’ve read dealing with education.  The comic form relates to the younger generations and will get their attention much easier than a huge paper.  I felt I was able to understand his point of view much clearer. 

Questions for Discussion

 2. McCloud uses the comic book form to relate to the young readers.  College students will get bored of the same old format, long writings and small words.  This was a change to attract the readers.  Some people will read an article but not really understand or comprehend the material.  The comic form is an effective way to get people to actually read and feel more comfortable reading.  Like I said, it was a good change as a reader to see a different, more fun type of writing.

3. I totally agree with the statement that if the narrator were more realistic, the reader would pay more attention to him instead of the task at hand.  I believe this because if the figure was more realistic, it would have more features and more things to look at.  A more realistic character might have writing on his/her shirt or a hat with writing and different facial expressions.  A cartoon is simple and has just a few characteristics.  Typically a cartoon would have a round face, plain clothes, and not many features.  This would keep you more in tune to the readings.  When you see a cartoon, you make up your own ideas, or that cartoons story by looking at them.  If the cartoon were wearing high top shoes, a shirt and shorts, you would think they were doing something physical like a sport.  If the cartoon had long pants, dress shoes, and goofy glasses, you would view them as a “nerd”.

Applying and Exploring

4.   McCloud’s outlook on the mask, to me, is what gives us characteristics.  Our “mask” or face, is how we are viewed.  The characteristics of your mask will alter how people will view you.  If we didn’t have a mask, we would all look the same.  There would not be any judging.  I believe our “mask” is what makes you, you. 

Personal Reflection

This article was very easy to relate too.  Since it was in comic form, I felt its form was more interesting to read.  It was also an interesting article.  It really got me thinking differently on how everyday people think about different icons.  I never stopped to think how cartoon faces aren’t real faces and how they relate to the human thinking.

ENG 1510 Video Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-6-12

Response to Online Videos 

These videos were very informational! The only thing I knew about Alden Library before this was where my class is inside and that the President lives across the street.  I had no idea that there were different themed floors.  That comes in handy if I ever need to research government documents or different maps. 

What I found to be reassuring was The Academic Advancement Center.  I feel that is a great system to have, not only for the new students but anyone that is struggling in a topic.  Having someone teach you one on one really helps you understand the material better.  Some people are embarrassed or scared to ask for help.  I feel tutoring is a very effective way to learn.  Some people get distracted or side tracked in really big classes.  Having a tutor would eliminate that and get you back on track.  I recommend these videos to ALL freshman.  They are very helpful to get to know the school a little bit better.  It differently helped me understand all the floors of Alden and how our library system works.

Eng 1510 pg. 85 QD:1,2 AEI:2, Meta Moment

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

9-4-12

Questions for Discussion 

1. Kantz describes facts and opinions to be the same type of statement.  She present them as claims.  The deciding factor is on how the audience or they people listening, take in the information.  For example, saying that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all-time.  In the records, he has accomplished the most, but some people will disagree.  An argument, can be questioned by the audience but must be supported with evidence to create another argument or to state a fact.

1. -Concept of the rhetorical gap

             -Plagiarism

             -Longer and More sources

             -Subtasks

             -Rhetorical reading strategy (discovering what is worth writing about)

          From my experience I think she is correct on some aspects and I think there are some exceptions on other topics. The topics I agree with are plagiarism and longer & more sources.  I feel students don’t know everything about plagiarism and still commit minor offenses.  Also I feel that students don’t use enough sources.  There are millions of sources that we are capable of using yet we limit ourselves to few.  

The topic I disagree with is the rhetorical reading strategy.  There are many students out there that are exceptional readers and can look passed the nonsense information. 

Applying and Exploring Ideas

1. Creativity and research are a bit similar but there is one thing that makes them different.  Research is just facts about something.  You can bring creativity into research by presenting your own ideas and different things to question the topic.  Our ideas overlap on the point that creativity can change the research.  I feel that it can make a research paper better.  It brings your own ideas into the mix.  It seems to work with me all around.  I agree with her ideas.

Meta Moment

Kantz is trying to analyze the difference between facts, opinions, and arguments.  This is important to understand because it is crucial in the writing world.  Knowing that the main thing that separates facts and opinions is how the audience receives the information, is a big part in writing.   

Summary

In this reading, they explain the differences between facts, opinions, and arguments.  They go over and try different things to fix they way that students learn and take in certain information.  Things that stuck out to me were that using different and more sources will help gain information and knowledge.  Also I found it interesting that a big difference of facts and opinions was based on the audience.  I never thought of it like that and completely agree with it.