Reflection

Nora Hixson

English 121

Professor Jenn Zukowski

Reflection

At the beginning of the semester, my goals included being able to narrow down my topic, as well as being able to get my point across clearly and effectively. I also hoped to become better with citations and finding reliable sources, and how to use them to my advantage. Another goal for me was to work on my time management and how to not get super overwhelmed. I believe I have improved on being able to narrow down my topic, but I think I still need to work on the clarity of my writing. I still don’t have a very clear writing style and sometimes it’s hard to follow. I also need to continue to work on my time management because I found it was easy for me to fall behind in the process of writing each essay.

While researching my topic, I learned that the number of children with body image issues between the ages of eight and ten was much bigger than I had originally thought. I also learned about the EBSCO database, and what a useful resource it can be when looking for reliable sources. From random articles and websites that I had found through Google Search, I discovered that it’s very hard to find unbiased writing about body image and the media.

I think the best part of my paper is the topic that I chose, because it is something that I am passionate about. Unfortunately, I don’t think my writing did justice to the topic and how much more in depth I could’ve gone, which I am disappointed about. I don’t think I spent enough time working on it and I didn’t ask for revisions from other people who could’ve helped me.

I think my instructor will hopefully like the number of sources I used to support my writing and how I used them. I unfortunately don’t think my writing was clear or concise enough for it to be easily read and understood.

I feel like I have definitely gotten better at researching on the web and being able to find reliable sources online. This made the research process easy because I knew what I was doing, but also difficult because it would become super easy for me to get distracted while I was researching online. I also don’t think I spent enough time researching in general and I don’t think I spent enough time thoroughly reading my sources. I think when I revise my essay before turning it in for the portfolio that I will be sure to match up my in-text citations with my works cited, as well as double checking that I am properly quoting the information that I read.

In the research process I discovered that EBSCO was easier to use to find reliable sources as 
opposed to just searching in Google. I also discovered that the more specific I was in the wording I used to search, the easier it was for me to find results that applied to my topic.  

Essay Rubric Evaluation

By Nora Hixson

-My thesis I think would be Strong, but not Superior. I think this would be because The people who reviewed my rough drafts were able to find two Freaking Points instead of just having one clear one.

 -I think my Clarity/Coherence would also be a Strong because I do have a few run-on sentences and sometimes my paragraphs don't really flow together.

-For Use of Sources I think I would be either a Strong or a Competent because I have not used nearly enough of them in my rough drafts and sometimes I will use them incorrectly in my writing.

In-Class Essay Review

By Nora Hixson

Ways I improved: 

1. My body paragraphs were not at all complete, so I turned them from being one sentence each to almost all of them being long paragraphs.

2. I started using my sources and citations to back up my claims and to make them more specific.

3. I tried to re-word all of my awkward sentences and made them sound more professional and clear.

Ways my partner improved: Sarah Moore

1. She took my feedback into consideration and re-worded some of her sentences.

2. She added more sources and information into her arguments and added citations.

3. She also explained the difficult terms and ideas more thoroughly and made them easier to understand.  

Reading Response: Chapter 17

By Nora Hixson


Personal Response: This chapter was very useful to me because it talked about how to properly use sources in your writing. It focused on the different ways to integrate the support into your writing, like paraphrasing, summarizing, quoting, and synthesizing. I think these are all very useful, especially as we work on our research papers in class.

Professional Response: I think the most important part of this chapter was the lay out of all different forms of plagiarism and how to avoid them. It gave guidelines for the best ways to avoid it, as well as examples of the most common mistakes that end up in plagiarism. I will definitely be using this chapter as we continue to work on our research papers.

Picture: Here

Pathos, Logos, and Ethos

By Nora Hixson

Definitions:

-Pathos: the use of emotion in an argument to appeal to the reader

-Logos: the use of logical statements to appeal to reason

-Ethos: the credibility of the author to prove that they know what they are talking about

Support Bits for Essay:

-Pathos:
      1. Many people suffer from eating disorders and other body-image issues, but never tell anyone.
      2. The number of people who are comfortable with their bodies and how they look is significantly smaller than the number of people who aren't happy with themselves.
      3. Most girls would rather starve themselves to look like the photo-shopped model in a magazine than be the way they are.

-Logos:
      1. A study done showed that 40% of girls between the ages of 9 and 10 have tried to lose excessive amounts of weight. ("Teen Health and the Media")
      2. The obsession with appearance is obvious in movies and TV, as it was shown that 58% of all female characters in movies had their appearance commented on, and 28% in TV shows. ("Teen Health and the Media")
      3. A test done showed that the longer a person spent on Facebook, the more likely they were to have long-lasting anxiety related to body-image. (Mabe)

-Ethos:
      1. According to the medical journal, "Women's Exposure to Thin-and-beautiful Media Images: Body Image Effects of Media-ideal Internalization and Impact-reduction Interventions," there are ways of possibly decreasing the affect that the media has on body-image. (Yamamiya)
2. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University did a study about the massive increase in the use of social media over the past few years, and how people love the idea of controlling who they are to people online. (Madden)
3. According to analysis of teen profile pictures, a teen who read more magazines was more likely to post a picture of themselves in revealing clothing, due to the provocative images that are frequently shown in the magazines. (Kapidzic)

Works Cited:

Kapidzic, Sanja, and Nicole Martins. EBSCO. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Madden, Mary, Amanda Lenhart, Sandra Cortesi, Urs Gasser, Maeve Duggan, Aaron Smith, and

Meredith Beaton. "Teens, Social Media, and Privacy." La Tele Di Penelope - Pre Home Page. The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, 21 May 2013. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

"Teen Health and the Media." UW Departments Web Server. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

Yamamiya, Yuko, Thomas F. Cash, Susan E. Melnyk, Heidi D. Posavac, and Steven S. Posavac.

"Women's Exposure to Thin-and-beautiful Media Images: Body Image Effects of Media-ideal Internalization and Impact-reduction Interventions."ScienceDirect.com | Science, Health and Medical Journals, Full Text Articles and Books. N.p., Mar. 2005. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

Mabe, Annalise G., Jean K. Forney, and Pamela K. Keel. "Do You 'like' My Photo? Facebook

Use Maintains Eating Disorder Risk." EBSCO. International Journal of Eating Disorders, n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2015.

Chapter 16 Reading Response

Personal Response: This chapter was completely focused on the importance of using reliable sources to back up your arguments. It stressed the importance of using library databases that hold scholarly articles and other writings instead of using a random page off of a random website.

Professional Reaction: The most important part of this chapter was the information on evaluating sources, and the qualities that go into reliable sources. The qualities, according to the chapter, are: the source is authoritative, accurate, objective, current, and comprehensive. If a source is all of these things, then it is a good one to use for backing up arguments.

Found: Google images search "books"

Grammer Video: They're, Their, and There

Music Credit:
"Elevator Music Part 57." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. 

"Elevator Music Part 56." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Nora Hixson: Evaluation of Website

Part 1:
The website Education Week is a form of a blog central with many different topics, ideas, authors, etc. The article I chose to read was called "Technology in Education." 

There was no clear author of the article, but the organization, Education Week, was clearly stated at the top of the website no matter where I was on the site. The article, although written in 2011, had over twenty different sources cited at the bottom. The URL of the website contained an ".org" at the end, meaning it is a government-sponsored website. The rest of the links on the website led to different articles, ranging in topic, viewpoint, and length. 
All of the claims in the article "Technology in Education" were supported by facts and outside sources, leading me to believe that they are not purely opinions of the author. The material presented was covered in depth, with five subtopics for support, each having its own section that was usually about five paragraphs of information and statistics. 
The sources that the author used were mostly from other articles on the Education Week website, but each one provided more information on what the "Technology in Education" article was siting them for. 

Found: http://eduerp.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Use-of-Technology-in-Education1.jpg

My writing:
A widely debated topic, education in the education system today is either beneficial or harmful in our schools. "The rapid evolution of educational technologies also makes it increasingly challenging to determine what works best. Longitudinal research that takes years to do risks being irrelevant by the time it is completed because of shifts in the technological landscape. The iPad, for instance, became popular in schools soon after it was released and well before any research could be conducted about its educational effectiveness." ("Technology in Education") With the always-changing nature of the education systems, technology itself, and the people involved in both, it is nearly impossible to keep up in an effective way. 



Part 2:
Using EBSCO, I found the article called "Faculty Views on eTextbooks: A Narrative Study" by Jenny Bossaller and Jenna Kammer. This article was very well laid out, having different paragraphs for each argument and many facts to support each one. It presented both the pros and cons to the argument about eText in the classroom, and had interviews of faculty members to support both sides. 

In comparison to the website that I used for Part 1, this article was much more formally written, as well as being more thorough with the information. In both instances the authors seem like experts on the topic, but the second one, the academic journal article, seemed to go much more in depth into every argument. 

Resource from article: Bok, D. 2004. Universities in the Marketplace: The Commercialization of Higher Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Chesser, W. D. 2011. “The etextbook Revolution.” Library Technology Reports 47 (8): 28–40, 58

Works Cited:

"Technology in Education - Education Week." Education Week American Education News Site of         Record. Education Week, 1 Sept. 2011. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.

"Use of Technology in Education." Photograph. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2015.

Bossaller, Jenny, and Jenna Kammer. "Faculty Views on ETextbooks: A Narrative Study: EBSCOhost." EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Nora Hixson: Blog Review

By Nora Hixson
Blog chosen: Rock-&-Iron

I thought that the blog Rock-&-Iron was very neat and orderly when I first looked at it. I really liked the photo of the mountains that they had at the top, but I then realized that the rest of the blog seemed a little plain, as it was all just white with black or grey text. I definitely liked how easy it was to navigate though, it enabled me to see the beginnings of each post, and then I could click and read more if they interested me.

For our class, the Blog Quality Criteria List was as follows: organized, current, quality content, creativity, visually pleasing, author credibility, and consistency. The blog Rock-&-Iron was most definitely organized, current, and had quality content. In terms of creativity, I feel like it lacked a little bit, with not very many pictures and a very plain background for each post. It was visually pleasing in the way that it was so organized and easy to navigate, but it did not interest me or capture my attention at all. The blog seemed pretty consistent, with posts every few days and always about relevant topics.

Overall I liked this blog, but I don't know that I would follow it outside of class because of the lack of visually pleasing details. The content was more boring than what I would normally look for when considering a blog to follow, but that is because it's all assignments from class so it's understandable. I liked being able to read the authors' different perspectives and ideas about the assignments, and I definitely didn't have a negative experience with this blog!

Found: http://www.theblogstarter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/1.jpg

Nora Hixson: Chapter 14 Reading Response

Personal Reaction: In my personal opinion, I think that Argumentative essays are harder than most essays because they require tons of opinions and facts to support the main point. This is hard because you have to be really good at developing your ideas, as well as having to be good at making your point clear and concise in your writing.

Professional Reaction: Argumentative essays are all about credibility, facts, opinions, common knowledge, and refutation. The evidence has to be relevant, representative, and sufficient for the essay to be clear.

Essay Outline for Sarah Moore

Nora Hixson

Outline:

       Thesis: It was probably one of the most physically grueling, emotionally draining, uncomfortable on-so-many-levels trips, but hands down the most raw, eye-opening, and life changing I have ever been on. When people ask about it, I tell them an intensive backpacking trip is something everyone needs to try once in their lifetime. 

       Example 1: The physical aspect of this trip included the 20 miles of hiking with a 45 plus pound backpack, sharing water, passing food with our bare hands until everyone had something, and looking our worst in front of people we really didn't know that well at the beginning of this trip.

       Example 2: The emotional part of this trip mostly came during the part of the trip when we had to share our life stories. 

       Example 3: The mental experience on this trip was exhausting, from having to chant in our heads to keep walking, to the night of solitude, to the difficultly sleeping at night.

        Conclusion: This backpacking trip ended up being one of the most physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting experiences I have ever been on, but the people who I became so open and close to have made the whole experience worth it. I believe that everyone should go through the experience that I was able to. 

Fallacies: Personal Attack

Personal Attack:
This fallacy means that the author is attacking another person for what they said or believe instead of attacking the idea itself. The attack is directed towards there character instead of being towards the issue or point being made.

How to Avoid: Keep your bias about the other person to yourself. Attack their opinions, not them.

Nora Hixson: Exemplification Essay Thesis

Nora Hixson

Topic: Dancers are much more than people who move to music

Title: More than Tutus, Tights, and Tiaras

Thesis: Dancers, often thought of as girls in tutus spinning around on their toes, actually have to be incredibly strong in all aspects of performing in order to be successful.

(rough draft of thesis, I will most likely change it)

Just Walk on By by Brent Staples

Chapter 8: Just Walk On By 

Comprehension: 
1.Because she saw herself as a potential victim of what she thought he was, as well as a victim to the ignorant assumptions of what America thought African Americans were.
2. It was Staples realization that he had the power to change the atmosphere in the space around him.
3. Insomnia.
4. The obsession with the power to intimidate. Young, poor, and powerless men crave the control that can come with power.
5. Moved with care, stayed in the shadows, avoided nervous people, let people walk ahead of him, and whistled classical tunes.

Purpose and Audience: 
Thesis: "It was in the echo of that terrified woman's footfalls that I first began to know that unwieldy inheritance I'd come into-the ability to alter public space in ugly ways." (page 239)
2. He uses a combination of logic and emotion, and his strategy worked because it could hit you on different levels and gave the reader empathy of what Staples was experiencing.
3. He seems to assume that the audience has prejudice against African American people. He challenges that thinking with his side of the story and how it makes him feel to see people basically run away from him.
4. His intent is to hook the reader to want to know more, makes them wonder if he's dangerous, etc.

Style and Structure: 
1. Staples mentions Podhoretz to have more credibility and support. Podhoretz grew up in fear of black men, which enforces Staples' point that most Americans are prejudice. 
2. It was the best introduction, I don't see how it could've been better. 
3. Since there are twenty or more examples, all direct in what he's trying to say and making a solid point for him, there is enough support. Some examples that could be more convincing would be some studies, or statistics.
4. His order was perfect for presenting his argument, and even if the examples had been in a different order, the paper still would've been just as effective.
5. Assassin, bandit, bully, mobster, criminal, gangster, goon, gunman, hooligan, murderer, rioter, rowdy, troublemaker, delinquent, gorilla, hood, killer, punk, ruffian, gang member, hired killer, professional killer. They absolutely differ in connotation.

Journal Entry:
Nora Hixson: In my experience, there was a time when I was in the mountains with my family for Christmas break. I was injured at the time, so when my family went out to ski, I stayed in the lodge by myself. While sitting there, an older man came up to me while getting ready to ski himself, and began asking me personal questions, such as where my family was, why I wasn't skiing, and if he could see my injury (which I had told him was my knee.) He got uncomfortably close to me during his questions, but I do not know if that was just my paranoia. After reading Staples' essay, I do not think I would've reacted any differently.

Amin Halimovic: When I was traveling back from Bosnia, at the London airport my family and I were boarding the airplane. My family is Muslim and my brother had a moon and star pendent dangling from his neck. This trip we took was shortly after 9/11 happened. We were waiting in line to board the plane as we got closer and closer to enter the plane my brother was randomly pulled aside so that they could search his carry on. I feel they did this just because we are Muslim.

Sarah Holzmeister: For the last five years I have worked with violent
male offenders as being a female in a predominantly male environment there was differently stereotypes for what i could do and what i was capable of handling as a female.

Sarah Moore: I can't recall a particular experience in my life where I was blatantly afraid of a person or perceived them as dangerous, but there were certainly times when I was younger and walking the streets alone, when I'd prefer to cross the street not at the cross-walk where lone men walked. I've always had this sense of caution, unfortunately against people who may can appear more rough (?), but after reading Ben Staples' account, my perception has changed. I want to change how I view people, ordinary people walking on the streets. Most likely they're just that, ordinary people. 

Writing Workshop:
3. Staples observation is fairly accurate; we've all seen examples in our own lives that support this as well. The male upbringing comes to play when fathers teach their sons at a young age, for example when they begin grade school, to not let other children hit them, and if they do, to hit them back. What he means by the male romance statement: getting that rush from seeming more powerful by using intimidation.

Nora Hixson: Chapter 8 Reading Response

Personal Reaction: From this chapter I learned how incredibly important examples are when writing, not only to support your statements but to also be able to capture the interest of the reader. I also learned that they suggest that you put yourself in the reader's position when you read your essay to see if it would capture your interest. Another thing I learned was that in an essay it is sometimes best to start with your weakest argument and then progress to your strongest to enforce your point.

Professional Reaction: I believe that the most important points in the reading were that thorough and detailed examples are extremely important when supporting your point, organization of your examples has a massive affect on the way your point is supported and how your readers will see it, and that you always need to end your essay with what you want the reader to remember.

Picture found: www.slideshare.net

Blog Review: whatever.scalzi.com

     
    It was a difficult tie between blogs lifehacker.com and whatever.scalzi.com, as they both had quality content and received high ratings from the group, but in the end whatever.scalzi.com took first place for best representing the quality criteria list used for determining a good blog. The quality criteria list are things such as credibility, posts being up to date and consistent, organization, and creativity so that the blog is visually appealing. Evidently, all of these factors were found in this whatever.scalci.com. Out of the four blogs each group member reviewed, this one was superior. 

    The author for whatever.scalzi.com, John Scalzi, is credible as a famous science fiction writer, former president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and creative consult for many science fiction television shows and video games.  Because of his identity as a well-known author, the information in his blog posts are intelligent and relevant to the literature world, and he often has thoughtful insights on varying books. The blog is also organized, for example there is a small calendar on the right of Scalzi's website that shows where each post is and what day it was posted on, making it easy to navigate, and therefore user friendly. Something that the rivaling blog, lifehacker.com, lacked was the overall visual appeal and creativity. Whatever.scalzi.com has an image on nearly every post, a header image at the top of the blog which changes regularly, and Scalzi sometimes even incorporates his own photography. 

    Using the quality criteria that was developed in class, it was decided that whatever.scalzi.com was the ultimate choice from the four blogs that were reviewed. It's creativity, organization, consistency, and author credibility set it apart from the other three, and made it the favorite in the group. This blog was captivating, credible, and creative, and would definitely be worth reading.

Nora Hixson: Mini Essay Thesis

       Topic: Arts in the schools

Specify:

• Performing Arts 
• Visual Arts

I chose Performing Arts

Specify Even More:

• Dance
• Theatre
• Music
• Circus
• Mime
• Illusion
• Musical Theatre
• Opera
• Stage Combat?

I chose Dance

Specify Still More:

• It has changed a ton over the years
• It's being offered in more schools than ever before

Arguable Sentences:

• Dance, a popular form of Performing Arts, has seen drastic changes in it's field over the past decade, making this industry more easily accessible to everyone.
• With the growing popularity of Dance as a chosen major, the number of schools that now offer dance programs and majors has dramatically increased over time.

Chosen Thesis:

• Dance, a popular form of Performing Arts, has seen drastic changes in it's field over the past decade, making this industry more easily accessible to everyone. 

Blog Ratings

Whatever.scalzi.com
     Sarah Moore gives this blog a 9, because it has everything but diverse topics. It was mostly focused on book reviews, as the author is a book author himself, there wasn't a lot of varying content.
     Sarah Holzmeister gives this blog a 7, because although it's creative and organized, it lacks variety.
     Nora Hixson gives this blog an 8, because it lacks current events.
     Amin Halimovic gives this blog an 8 because he posts very frequently and has many interesting blog posts about whatever.

Mental Floss
     Sarah Moore gives this blog a 6, because there were very current topics, but it lacked organization and easy accessibility.
      Sarah Holzmeister gives this blog a 7, because everything seems interesting and diverse, it's just hard to get to.
      Nora Hixson gives this blog a 6, because it was ridiculously hard to find specific topics to read about.
     Amin Halimovic gives this blog a 6 because even though the blog is creative and has a lot of pictures it is just hard to navigate.

Lifehacker
     Sarah Moore gives this blog an 8 because it had a little bit of everything, the topics were useful for everyday life, maybe could be a little more visually appealing but otherwise it's very good.
     Sarah Holzmeister gives this blog an 8 because of the consistence of the posting and the quality of the content. It lacks humor and doesn't pull the reader in.
     Nora Hixson gives this blog an 8 because it seemed to have current topics as well as diversity, and it seemed easy to navigate and read.
     Amin Halimovic gives this blog an 8 because the blog is organized and easy to follow, the blog posts are also very appealing to me.

Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men
     Sarah Moore gives this blog a 5 because the posts were based more on her opinions only, and the content is a little dry and hard to relate to.
     Sarah Holzmeister gives this blog a 4 because of the lack of credibility and isn't visually stimulating.
     Nora Hixson gives this blog a 5 because the content was dry and unappealing as well as mostly being just based on her views.
     Amin Halimovic gives this blog a 5 because the author does post a lot but the things she posts about do not draw my attention to her posts. It is somewhat boring to me.

Thesis statement     “The E-blurt like so many other forms of communication is about power.”

Supporting bits-  

•   I am busier then you hence I am more powerful than you.
• Hip for spelling errors more powerful for them.
• Reminding people that you’re the boss by making them work it out.

Counter Argument

1.       Legal implications for subpoenaed emails. ( not professional)

Conclusion “Which only confirms what I’ve always felt about power; the people that really understand it doesn’t say anything at all.” 

Chapter 3 Reading Response

Reading Response: Chapter 3

Nora Hixson

Personal Reaction: While reading this chapter, something that angered me was the fifth sentence of the first paragraph, which began with “If you are perceptive…” implying that they believe the reader is most likely not perceptive.

Also while reading this chapter, I learned about several types of essays that I didn’t know existed, as well as ways of writing conclusions that I had never considered. I also learned that they suggest that you write the body paragraphs of your rough draft before the introduction so you can establish what tone your overall essay will have.

Professional Reaction: The most important points in the reading were that you should be able to tell what format your essay will have based on the questions you answered for it, your body paragraphs need to be unified, coherent, and well developed, and that the conclusion needs to reinforce your thesis and main points without repeating them exactly.  

Photo found: Jack Bauman College Essays