Juan Cedillo

RWS1302 Blog

[juancedillo01-blog]

Future Students

My advice to future students is to do their work and go with the flow of the class. Professor Villa ia pretty cool but she has high expectations for her class. If you follow her rubric and listen to what she has to say you will do well. Don’t procrastinate like I am right now and she will help you do well. She gives out plenty of extra credit opportunities in case you do mess up but she does not make exceptions for any one. It is very important to check your calander often so you don’t forget to turn something in like I did on multiple occasions because every point is going to matter when finals time comes around.

[juancedillo01-blog]

AVA Reflection

This assignment was the most fun for me. I usually hate working in a group but working with Edgar and Paulina was very enjoyable. Everyone helped out and did their part and we got along pretty well. We chose to work on Paulina’s topic because it lend itself the best to do an AVA on. I was surprised there wasn’t that many people who did a video because I think it can be more effective than a website or a poster. I personally enjoy making videos with my friends so it was exiting to use a skill normally used to make people on the internet think we are cool for school. I wish we had a little bit more time to work on our project because our deadline got moved a week closer than we were prepared for so we had to record and edit a little faster than I would have liked. My original plan for the video was to make a news broadcast style video but that would have than much longer both in recording and specially in editing time. Overall I think our presentation and project were pretty good. It would have been pretty cool to see more people create videos to see different approaches to presenting an argument. Maybe this project will lead to me finally creating my youtube channel about my passions of cars, computers/gaming, and firearms. I feel like the fast filming and editing used would help in becoming a hobby content creator in the future.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Lit Review Reflection

This assignment sucked so much. The size of it didn’t bother me until the laptop I was working on it with stopped working and I couldn’t recover what I had worked on the day the second draft was due. I had to start over with hardly anything I had other than most of my sources. I had to be quick to put something together and even skipped going to the conference to try and do so. I felt good about my final because the girl who helped me at the writing center said she liked it but I ended up getting a not so good grade on it. I don’t want to complain about that because in life sometimes things like that happen. The assignment also felt like a big summary which in a way it was and that felt kind of dry to me. The sources I used were also mostly academic engineering papers which are super dry and long. To be honest I wanted to use some of the equations presented in those papers but I didn’t even understand what they meant but I knew what they were proving. Most of the things I read in order to complete the assignment were also fairly long making the assignment suck even more. As much as I didn’t like this assignment I think this is fairly close to what I will be doing as an engineer. I would like to thank caffeine, nicotine, and the mystery chemicals in red bull and monster because without them this assignment would have never been completed.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Genre Analysis Reflection

The genre analysis was the most strait forward of the writing assignments. I feel like mine was pretty easy because my topic for the semester was about cars which I love outside of school. The genres I chose to analyze are typical of what I read and watch when I am bored at home or between classes so I think it was fairly easy to do so. It felt weird using something I enjoy for school because most school projects are on a subject that I don’t find fun or even interest me. I feel like I had a hard time explaining my genres because I didn’t know if our professor had seen the media I used even if it was in the works cited page. It is hard to exactly describe a video to someone because I don’t know what they are picturing in their mind. The humor in that video can be hard to understand without watching it and even more so because the TV show it comes from is from England and there are themes in the show one would not understand without watching it for a fair amount of episodes. The article I used was a lot easier to write about because of how strait forward it was. I feel like anybody could read the article and understand it because it doesn’t use inside jokes or a particular theme in order to reach its audience. Breaking down both genres to explain how they give their argument was not that difficult but effectively writing about it was tricky for me.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Tumblr Reflection

To be completely honest when I heard we had to create a tumblr for this class I taught it was going to suck. I’m not big on writing on social media, I’m more of a share pictures on social media kind of person. Maintaining a tumblr for the class was actually not that bad specially since we could be as creative as we want with how we present our information or assignment. I enjoyed using the GIF’s because it brought some humor into the posts. Replying to classmates was fun at times too but at the beginning felt sort of awkward. I had a good laugh when I used a pimp my ride reference as a response and according to professor Villa it made a few people laugh as well. I feel like the use of tumblr kept the class from being boring like most other RWS classes. Social media keeps our generation interested better than just writing on the blackboard discussion. I had to use the blackboard discussion in my first RWS class and that got boring super-fast and I don’t think anybody enjoyed it. Being able to be creative and use images and GIFs made it feel like we weren’t doing an assignment for the most part as well as keeping the theme of it light hearted and not stressful. That being said it did take a fair amount of time to complete the tumblr assignments because of the reading we had to do. I wish more classes implemented this multimedia type of learning.

[tonykwan-rws1302-blog]

AK AVA Outline: Homeless Vets

I will be creating an advocacy website through Wordpress.com to argue for policy changes when it comes to veteran outreach programs and their housing assistance programs which are funded by the VA.

I have not decided yet on things like what template to use, but I’m leaning towards a more simple, professional look. Some guidelines I am trying to adhere to:

Minimalist: Not trying to make someone read a lot on the main webpage. I want the majority reading to be in the op-ed

Preface statements then links to more detailed information rather than all the details on the page.

Problem:

Although there are many programs to address veteran homelessness, providers do not adequately address those in a guaranteed process of becoming homeless. They simply wait until you are fully “homeless” (by their standards) before they provide assistance even though the programs are designed to also address those who are “at risk.”

Website:

There will be a section that gives the overall background of veteran homelessness, that it is a problem needing to be addressed.

I will point out the unique issues veterans face that make them prone to homelessness.

I will provide current stats on homeless vets, and some ways they differ from the general homeless population. (most vets that are homeless are not hopeless and only need a little help)

http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/

(Maybe I will simply preface the issue with a statement and provide links to the above.)

I will explain the existing programs designed to combat veteran homelessness, and their inadequacies.

Provide links to the various program websites that describe their mission and basic eligibility criteria

http://www.va.gov/homeless/for_homeless_veterans.asp

Issue: program rules versus provider interpretation do not coincide.

individual case-workers decide who they feel “deserves” assistance.

(should not have to fit the “stereotype” of a homeless person to get assistance. Eligible means eligible.)

El Paso shelters require “chronic homelessness” to receive assistance. There is no clear definition of this, and does not reflect program rules established by HUD-VASH.

Advocacy/Solution:·      

Policy changes (still working on more specific change)

make case-workers more accountable to program rules so that there is no ambiguity regarding one’s eligibility for assistance.·      

establish preventative measures for veterans at risk of homelessness. (simply catching the problem early before it becomes a bigger issue)

this is a secondary mission of most vet programs but there is no mechanism in place to administer

this could reduce program costs to provider, meaning more money to help others

address imminent homelessness (homeless in 14 days as per HUD-VASH). This means the veteran “bounces” back much faster, with less assistance. (See previous bullet)

adhere to program definition of “Homeless”§

https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/HomelessAssistanceActAmendedbyHEARTH.pdf

versus personal definition from the case-worker point of view of what a homeless person SHOULD be like. 

Audio/Visual:

I will conduct a short interview with a member of the veteran social services to get her inside perspective of the processes and some of the inadequacies of providing assistance to veterans.

A second interview will be conducted with a veteran who is an active volunteer for different veteran services, and helps other veterans with finding resources including housing assistance.

Depending on willingness, this may be a short video interview that can be embedded on the website.

The stats mentioned earlier will be in the form of a graph.

I would like to find a patriotic song to play in the background, or perhaps an opening photo montage to show the sacrifice made by veterans. This is to help establish having to go through so much in service and come back only to be homeless.

I want to use pictures of younger veterans who look normal, rather than the stereotypical desperate veteran indistinguishable from other chronically homeless people. I want to paint the picture of a strong modern veteran who has simply hit a wall, and needs minimal assistance to get over it. The message is that veterans will not take assistance only to fall back into the same cycle of despair. Also to help combat the image of what a homeless person is “supposed” to be.

 Op-ed

I have first-hand experience going through the various veteran services in El-Paso. I will share my experience and the inadequacies I observed while navigating the different programs, and talking to the various representatives.

[juancedillo01-blog]

I think your AVA is for a great cause and I really hope your message gets out beyond our class. I think your advocacy is really strong because of the people who you will be interviewing specially people at the VA who themselves might want to help veterans who are homeless or even better prevent veterans from becoming homeless.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Week 12 Reading Response

Chapter 8 talks about arguments and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the presidential election which I will go into more detail later. The chapter talks about how an argument is not necessary something presented to win. An argument in different disciplines means different things for example in engineering an argument is more of an explication of why certain design choices were made while in history an argument can debate the meaning of a certain event or what really happened on a certain day. An argument should be evidence based not personal preference and should spend enough time finding evidence to support your argument.

 Now back to why this reminds me of the election, the reason I used this picture is because I feel that as a country we have become everything the founding fathers fought to destroy. We live in a time where rights are being taken away based on peoples feelings instead of evidence. To me this falls under hasty generalization logical fallacy because if these politicians did their research about anything I’m sure states like California would not be under tyrannical rule which is the reason many refer to California as Commie-fornia. Ad hominem comes to mind when talking about presidential candidates because so many people are making their choice based on emotion rather than evidence for example, “..... said something really mean so I am not going to vote for them”. I hope next elections we still have a country and the candidates are not as trash as they are this year and as a country we get away from this politically correct mindset.       

[tonykwan-rws1302-blog]

AK W11 Read Response

In the article “Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key”, the author points to the evolution of how we define the concept of “writing.” It has gone from the traditional “words on paper” to include modern genres such as visual rhetoric, social media, blogs, etc. Writing is also traditionally viewed from the classroom context, but with the emerging technologies, writing has expanded outside the classroom, where people are simply writing for personal reasons rather than for academic requirements. Just as the printing press gave more access to reading material to the masses, technology has given greater access to writing by the public. Each of these things has transformed the landscape of literacy. As such, traditional methods of teaching English as simply reading and writing may be inadequate. The author implies that in order for students to advance in life, they must be literate, and in the modern context, means that they must understand using a combination of words, pictures, videos, and audio to “speak.” So the question presented is how to go about teaching students, what should the writing curriculum focus on, and the like.

In the criminal justice field, being literate in modern communications methods is essential. As an agent of any organization, one must communicate with colleagues, and present information to supervisors. If you are that person who cannot summarize a situation so that the decision makers will understand the problem and actions that need to be taken, then you will not find yourself in that position much longer. 

As a CJ major, I foresee myself having to present information effectively through briefings, and powerpoint. Perhaps I will be garnering public support for a community issue through social media. In each case, I have to be able to use the concepts alluded to in the article to communicate the information.

(With all the new writing mediums available, we must learn to move past Death by Powerpoint.)

[juancedillo01-blog]

A very good friend of mine is a correctional officer for the Sheriffs office and what you said about having to write to communicate with coworkers and supervisors is absolutely true. He tells me anytime there is an incident big or small he has to write a report to his corporal and sergeant. He says that the hardest part about writing the reports is getting the information of everyone involved. A few days ago he told me he had to write two reports in one shift. I used the Reno 911 gif because he and I have been friends since elementary school and I always make fun of him saying hes the cop that wears short shorts from Reno 911 

[karinagarcia0909-blog]

In the article “Made Not Only in Words: Composition in a New Key”, by Kathleen Blake Yancey compared and contrasted the 19th century and the 21st century. Back in the 19th century technology played a major role with the new steam printing press and cheaper paper, reading material became more accessible(19th century) now in days people read much less due to technology, people only read through social media. the article told us that around this time it was called the Industrial Age. before paper was used to be simple only putting ideas now the new literacies you have to develop certain steps.it also talks about how writing now and days is shown or expressed by social media, blogs.  the main point of the article was basically literacy is a powerful thing we use in our lives now matter how much it changes we approach writing through out our days. like the author said what we might call a series of newly imagined communities, communities that cross borders of all kinds—nation state, class, gender, ethnicity we all participate in writing.

( I picked this gif because we all start of with tools to write and create on a paper)

I liked this article a lot I learn a couple things about writing, it helped me a bit in my assignment, if I never need help on my topic I can always refer back to this article, this also relates to my major quite a bit because as a teacher I am going to be writing and reading a lot which helps both me and my students.

(I picked this gif because we use social media everyday to read and find out either gossip or news but we still read throughout these)

( I also picked tis gif because I’m going to be a teacher mr.feeny is a teacher and who doesn't  love this show it was a good one.

[juancedillo01-blog]

I think one of the reasons we do these tumblr post is to try and learn these new forms of literacy. I remember Jasmine mention this was considered to be a new concept when she asked us to sign the student work release forms the other week. For me this goes back to the week we talked about summaries because we write in our daily lives but don’t really realize it.   

[juancedillo01-blog]

Yancey

The article “Made not Only in Words” talks about how literacy has evolved due to technology. Yancy argues that the change in literacy has made teaching English change as well. The article talks about how people aren’t reading print material or writing on paper but rather go online and write on social media outlets. The author goes on to say traditional methods to teach are starting to become dated because of this change in genre. One thing that really caught my attention was the mention of repurposing a word processing program to compose emails and that is kinda what I am doing now writing this blog post. Although the article made some good point I feel that it is already dated because it is 12 years old and social media has changed significantly ever since.

[juancedillo01-blog]

AVA Topic

My topic doesn’t lend its self too well in my opinion for advocacy so I am open to work with somebody else.

My visual argument would be about the environmental damage created by mining for lithium. Lithium is the most important element need to create the rechargeable batteries in our cellphones, laptops, and hybrid cars. I would create a documentary showing the lithium mines, presenting research with data about how lithium can be recycled and alternatives to it, and interviewing people asking them if they know where the lithium in their devices comes from.

An other topic I would like to try but I know is probably going to be denied because it is over done and not related to my lit review topic is the side of gun ownership that the media fails to recognize. I would conduct interviews with gun owners asking them about their background and why the second amendment is important to them. I recently started participating in action shooting competitions and would bring in footage of either competing or practicing for an event. My advocacy for this topic would be bringing a willing person who is either afraid of firearms or who has never shot one before to come out and try it as well as informing people who are not part of the gun community that people who own firearms are some of the nicest and most law aiding people out there.

[pmalegria-blog]

Week 7 Reading Response

Chapter 5 is about summaries, debunking myths about them, and how they serve different purposes (lmao a summary about summaries, there are so many times of summaries!) I liked how early at the beginning of the chapter they debunk myths about summaries, it is a nice way to catch your attention and continue reading one. I had never thought before about how summaries are not objective, but depend on the context and purpose they were written for. I will be using summaries throughout my professional career. In marketing, you write communications and strategy briefs to officially define the job you are going to perform. It is basically a summary of expectations and resources that the client will turn in, or that you will turn in to your supervisor before starting a project. The information from this chapter will be helpful when it comes to summarize information from sources for the literature review and writing the abstract. It is not about summarizing the paper you are reading but the information you need to fulfill your purpose. It prompts me question how many correct or accurate summaries i have actually written  before.

(mythbusters felt like the right choice for a gif after reading about some summary myths being debunked)

Chapter 6 is about synthesis, their purpose, and the criteria to write an effective one. I learned that a synthesis is not only a written thing, Stonehenge is a synthesis because it was multidisciplinary engineered, it was a put together from different elements to make something quite complex. In my understanding, a marketing strategy is a synthesis from different disciplines, some psychology, some publicity, some accounting. I am still thinking about how I might use the synthesis in the literature review assignment, but I cannot come up with something at the moment. Maybe down the road I will find it useful. I did not like to see math as an example, flipped the page real quick. Oh, after reading 2 more pages I realized that the whole literature review is a synthesis of multiple sources! It makes me wonder if we can use different types of synthesis on the same text.

(now everytime I hear the word “synthesis” im going to picture this. Breathtaking)

Chapter 3 from the Handbook, goes on about how to start doing research, primary and secondary, and how to use existing resources, such as the UTEP library to help you do so. I attended a brief workshop last year to get an idea on how to use the library’s resources but it is always nice to go over it again, and keep it fresh now that I am going to be doing a ton of research. Researching skills will come in handy in all majors, research does not suddenly stop after you graduate. I usually use scholar.google.com for all my research necessties but I might give the library’s online resources this time.

(^ us the next few weeks)

Misleading Interview and Survey Questions is an article about the 7 most common mistakes when writing questions. for my primary research I am not going to be doing a survey, but an interview still requires of carefully crafted questions to get answers that can be used in the literature review. I liked that they give more than one example. When surveying customers, or a sample target market, the questions you ask will determine the accuracy of your results, so these tips are a good start, and something I will definitely be using later on.

[juancedillo01-blog]

OMG the first part of your blog reminds me of the show ‘Pimp My Ride’ it’s like “yo dawg I heard you like summaries so here’s a summary about summaries so you can summarize while you summarize”. Myth busters was one of my favorite shows growing up and now that I think about it at the end of every myth they would summarize their findings. Hopefully we don’t have to run around like chickens with their heads cut off when we are doing research since the book explained how to use the library and the data base as well. I have to interview somebody for my lit review hopefully I don’t mess that up.

[karinagarcia0909-blog]

week 7 RR

this week we were assigned chapter 5 and 6 from writing in transit book and also chapter 3 from the handbook and then also the misleading interview and survey questions.

(this was me when I was reading everything)

chapter 5 was about correcting common myths about summaries, and requisites for writing summary, different occasions and effective summaries across context. during the chapter it talked about three myths during summary objective and easy to write summary’s and summaries aren’t used in college. then it gave us prereuisites for writing summaries. some critical prerequities the chapter told me was careful reading and understanding the occasion for the summaries. but my favorite part of this chapter was where it gave me the criteria for effectives summaries it helped me a lot.

(how I was like in the chapter, everything was important to me or it had a good important point that I wanted to remember.)

chapter 6 was about synthesis, and what was the purpose and question, criteria, and the modes of synthesis. the chapter talked about the purpose of this and I liked how it explained everything like making connections and apply one or more ides to contexts, and show disagreement and then combining ideas. I really liked the examples the chapter gave me. this chapter was very complex and gave a lot of good information.

( how I felt with all this information after reading everything. )

chapter 3 from the handbook was about research, technology and the library. the beginning was about primary research and that talked about planning and composing. then it talked about plagiarism . then towards the end it talked about the UTEP library.

I really enjoyed all these chapters it really helped me out a lot with all the info it gave us, I feel like it will help me with my research in my lit review. I cant decide if I want a survey or interview but I’m leaning more towards a survey.

[juancedillo01-blog]

The chapter about summaries opened my eyes to the myth of summaries not being used in college. Maybe it is because they are not called summaries in college but things like abstracts and conclusions. The synthesis chapter was interesting to me because it talked about how to blend ideas in writing together to be more effective. I’m going to put on my foil hat here and say the reason we are reading these chapters right now is to do better on the lit review. The handbook section talking about the library should help with getting a source from an academic journal.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Week 7 Reading Response

This week’s readings were about synthesis and summary. The way the book presents these subjects helped me understand how to write a better abstract and blend my ideas for the lit review. I liked how the book provides different examples of how summary is used and then a section of an actual paper that was a summary. I found it really interesting how the book mentions what to and what not to include in the summary which reminded me of the news for some reason because it seems like they all leave out information in order to make the viewer feel a certain way.

The synthesis chapter talked about how to “blend” information together in order to write a better paper as well as more clearly present information. I think I do this automatically when I write but I really enjoyed the section on how to use synthesis to compare and contrast information from different sources which I sometimes struggle with. The chapter also included examples of synthesis in academic papers which really helped reinforce what it was trying to say.

There was also a chapter on the handbook about research for the lit review. It was fairly short and to the point. It basically talked about how not to ask bias questions for primary source research and how to use the resources at the library including the data bases and books. The last part of the chapter talked about how to avoid plagiarism which is super important because even a small mistake while writing an academic paper can haunt one for the rest of their life.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Questions

My topic deals with the future of technology in cars changing due to technological advancements as well as environmental concerns.

1. What current technological limitations are restraining the development of autonomous cars?

2. How will hybrid technology progress in the next 10 years?

3. What legal liability will be placed on car manufactures if a self driving car kills its passengers in the future?

[gustavorodriguez89blog-blog]

Week 3 Reading Response

Chapter 7 of this weeks reading focused on Analysis and the importance of it, with the Genre Analysis paper coming up this helped me immensely. Analysis is gathering information through different types of genres and coming up with a conclusion that makes sense. As a History major this is huge for me, nothing in History can be published unless data analysis is explained and experimented over and over again. With History its hard to come to a conclusion so effective data analysis is a must, without this none of your work can be taken seriously. The GIF below shows us an evolutionary progress that requires data analysis in order to become accepted as truth.

Something I will definitely use from this chapter is how to analyze different types of data which include visual, aural, tactile, textual, quantitive, and others. This will be essential for the Genre Analysis final due in the near future. 

Something that I really enjoyed in this weeks reading was the different examples given throughout the chapter, from  the very beginning with the petroglyph drawings to the small pox article. These examples gave me an idea of what I have to do as a writer to explain to my audience my findings using different types of genres.The reading also gave an example of a photograph and directed it using analysis. The biggest question I had coming into the genre analysis was how to write it without making it sound like a persuasive paper and how to write it in third person, this was more than explained to me in this chapter. The importance of analysis cannot be ignored, this is how we the authors make our point to our readers and use effective ethos and logos, if we want our work to be taken seriously then this becomes a must. After this reading I feel comfortable and ready to take on the genre analysis task.

[juancedillo01-blog]

Some of the most intensive analyzing I have done has been in history classes in order to prove my argument. The chapters in this book do a pretty good job of explaining in detail the points they are trying to make and I think this will help quite a bit when writing our genre analysis paper. I also like how the book uses more than one discipline example when applying what its teaching us to the real world. Writing in 3rd person can be tricky but at least personally after a few paragraphs it starts to become 2nd nature and even at first it is just a little annoying.

[karinagarcia0909-blog]

Week 3 reading response.

   Chapter 7 was about analysis, analysis in academic writing. Analysis has many purposes some examples are; to understand data, explore relationships between entities, draw conclusions, and identify patterns. Academic writers analyze many different types of data, like visual, aural, tactile, textual, quantitative and of course many other.

I chose this gif because one I love the show bones, but most importantly because bones is always trying to analyze everything that happens through out a case.

I find myself analyzing aural data more in my daily life, for example if I hear an animal noise or a car crash I will analyze it in my head and be like “ oh goodness what was that.” This chapter gave us a lot  of helpful hints into analyzing anything really, which I liked a lot. This chapter even gave us the modes of analysis that we are more then likely going to encounter. I liked this reading a lot because it explained analysis very well, I believe the chapter covered every possible area. It didn’t leave me asking questions because it was all very nicely put and detailed.

I chose this gif because I believe this could be a person trying to analyze the situation in front of them. like me trying to figure out what I am going to write next.

This  reading is connected with my major because as a teacher I will be analyzing a lot through out my days with my kids. I will have to grade their essays and I will have to analyze what they are saying, I will have to try to understand their message, try to see with the student is trying to communicate through out the text.

I chose this gif because this will be me in the future grading papers well hopefully not but maybe.

[juancedillo01-blog]

OMG I used to watch bones all the time a few years ago and I always found it so mind blowing how they could basically start from nothing and come up with more than enough evidence to solve the crime. Moreover, I think as humans we naturally analyze everything in our daily lives without thinking about it bit it seems so much harder when it comes to something academic at least for me. The chapters in this book are very thorough and it’s still weird to me how there is so much to analyzing genre, in my major we normally just analyze forces and material properties (at least so far).