Jayson Van Hook

RWS 1302

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Advice For Future Students

Hello future 1302 students, my name is Jayson and I will provide you with some advice for this class. On the first day when the professor is explaining all of the work we have to do for the course, it may seem like a lot. That’s because it is a lot. It is important to keep track of when assignments are due so that you do not fall behind because it could very easily happen. Check blackboard constantly if need be to ensure that you are on track with the flow of the course. The big assignments for the class may seem scary too. That’s because they are. The class activities and examples of past students work help with understanding the purpose of each assignment so remain engaged in class and on blackboard. The use of Tumblr is big in this class.Its a great way to stay connected with what your fellow students think about specific readings for the week. Reading responses and topic proposals for the big assignments are posted here. Pay attention to the readings because they help with the assignments you have to do at that time. All in all, this class is very helpful for your future classes and your future careers so have fun and pass!

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AVA Outline

Homepage:

A.    What is the issue?

The issue for my advocacy website is discrimination against African American males within U.S. police departments.

B.     Why is advocacy needed?

1.      Studies have shown that police officers often do not represent then community that they serve.

2.       Discrimination within the police force may carry over into discrimination within the community against African American citizens.

3.      Lately, the media has been full of cases of white police officers reacting with deadly and unnecessary force against African American citizens.

a.       I plan to include a couple videos of police shootings that had been made famous by the media, such as the Philando Castro shooting and the Tamir Rice shooting.

C.     Purpose of Website

1.      Advocate for hiring processes that reach out to African Americans and encourage more African Americans to join the police force.

2.      The purpose of this website is to shed light on the disparity between police demographics and community demographics.

D.    History

1.      When Africans were brought over to America and forced to be slaves, they rebelled, so as a result, slave patrols were set up to search for, whip, or even kill slaves that either ran away or engaged in illegal activities.

2.      African Americans have been heavily policed throughout the history of police systems.

3.      This has been carried over into modern police systems; African Americans are largely underrepresented in criminal justice careers.

E.     Specific Example of Issue

1.      In Ferguson, MO, Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was shot and killed by a white officer: later on, the police officer was found not guilty.

2.      In effect of the event, the U.S. Justice Department ordered Ferguson to overhaul its criminal justice system and also evaluate its hiring practices.

3.      Citizens in Ferguson are demanding more proportional representation within their police departments.

About Me Page:

A.    As a Criminal Justice major, I have been interested in this topic and believe that the issue of police reform will come up in my upper division courses.

B.     As an African American, male this topic related to me because of the discrimination within police departments and against African Americans by police.

Resources Page:

A.    Link to the Black Live Matter homepage

http://blacklivesmatter.com/

B.     Link to a New York Times article titled “The Raw Videos That Have Sparked

Outrage Over Police Treatment of Blacks”

           http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/30/us/police-videos-race.html?_r=0

C.     Link to research report titled “Diversity On The Force: Where Police Don’t Mirror Communities”

           http://media.navigatored.com/documents/policediversityreport.pdf

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Yancey

Yancey’s article Made Not Only in Words compares literature from its origins from the printing press in the 19th century to now in the 21st century. Going from a time when books and novels were distributed in monthly sections to today where literature can be found not only in pen and paper but in social media, blogs, websites, instant messenger, and many more genres. This new technology has created a new form of writing not taught in a classroom and its delivery is more complex than the traditional pen and paper, it now includes visuals, videos, graphics, and many other medias not available before. This picture above shows newspapers being printed, a media of literature that used to be a major source for information to the public but over the last couple of years has become less and less relevant to the newer generation.

Yancey goes on to explain how the printing press crated a more powerful middle class that now had a more educated state and demanded more authority. With the industrial age at full swing and globalization being a big part of it, literacy was used for economic and political reasons among many. Yancey also explains the difference in how literacy was presented to the public, for example they would hold reading circles while the author read his work to the public. Now today we have different means of communication that don’t necessary require reason for it, having a blog or social media doesn’t require you to worry about the grade of your writing, there is no deans list you are trying to achieve by posting your personal blog. My picture shown below depicts Hermonie Granger from the Harry Potter series, here she is visibly upset at her friends for not reading their textbooks. I felt this related to the topic as fewer people today are sticking with the traditional forms of reading when online media gives you other ways to receive the same information. 

Yancey proceeds for the remainder of her article in explaining why the education system must now move on from the traditional “English” subject. As noted in the article, the English department has seen big decreases in not only its program but students graduating in that field. New subjects like Humanities and Communications have implemented many of these english techniques and morphed into an entire subject all together. In order to be successful in this new era of literacy it is not only important to understand the traditional pen on paper writing but also the online media that so many people now a days prefer. Its the ones that can communicate with both genres that will be considered the educated ones coming out of college, this according to Elizabeth Daily a professor at USC. This is only enhanced when looking at how colleges have implemented new medias into their classrooms, medias like blackboard, tophat,WebCT, and personal E-protflios just to name a few. Today we in society are linked together closer than ever before, we don’t require mail to communicate which could take months back in the printing press days of the 18th century, we are now all linked through the web, as quoted in the article James Porter tells us, “the revolution if there is one, is the social one of interconnectivity”. The picture below simply represents how we are all connected through the web with a single push of a button. 

This weeks reading related to my major in education in a big way, as we in society move forward with technology it will continue to alter the way we educate. Even comparing college today to a decade ago is completely different and I must keep that in mind as I progress as a future educator. New forms of media are used today and in 3 years when I graduate it would not surprise me if more are available. As an educator it is important for me to stay on top of these medias as I will surely use them with my own students in the future. For these reasons I found this weeks reading to be extremely helpful and something I must keep in mind going forward. This reading has made me think about the following questions, what more can I do to remain current in the different medias available? How important is the traditional pen and paper literacy compared to the new forms available in technology? and how do I balance the different medias? 

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i agree that information on paper is becoming less and less relevant in today”s world because of the advancement of technology. Back in the 19th century the printing press was the greatest source of technology for literature while today in the 21st century there are social media platforms, blogs, and instant messaging. I also agree that people now use the internet as a source for information much more heavily than they do from books because its an easier and faster way to get the same information. This reading connects to your major very well because the advancement in technology has created a different dynamic in the way to educate. For some it would be an adjustment and for others like yourself it would be a smooth transition into your career because you use this technology for class everyday.

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Reading Response WK11

The main ideas of Yancey’s article, Made Not Only In Words, is the comparison and contrast of the reading and writing in the 19th and 21st centuries and also its importance in society. It also discusses how education is much more accessible to people in today’s world. I liked how Yancey made the contrast between the 19th and 21st century because its true how in the 19th century the printing press had come out and people became more knowledgeable because of how much they read like newspapers and books. Today in the 21st century less and less people read while more and more people write. Examples of writing today include all social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. This article connects to my criminal justice major well because of what is going on with the criminal justice system today. People across the country talk about its issues on nearly a daily basis through social media and writing about these issues have brought people together. I have gained more knowledge on the importance of reading and writing and I may have to buy a few books to read on my own instead of going on Twitter.

This gif is to show how “great” reading really is.

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Advanced Visual Argument Proposal

The option i chose for the visual argument assignment is using an advocacy website. The topic I will be talk about throughout the website is the issue of police brutality. On this website I will provide steps on how to handle a situation where you or someone you know have been assaulted or harmed by police.   

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Week 7 Reading Response!

This week we had to read chapter five and chapter six. Chapter five talked a lot about summaries, the myths that come with it, and overall how to write an effective one. In my honest opinion, I don’t really think it was the most important chapter to me, since like our teacher told us in class, our abstract, as long as we have one, we will get credit for it. Yet, since the abstract is the first thing a reader reads when it comes to our lit review, I do think it was still an important read, and plus, I could always learn how to summarize better since I do use that a lot. Chapter six talks about synthesis, which is basically taking everything you have researched and written and putting it together to make it one paper. I thought this chapter was pretty useful, since that’s where I think I will struggle, taking everything and putting it together, while still making it flow. As for the blackboard reading, that one talked about misleading questions (mainly for our interview or survey that we will use in our lit review). Out of all I think this one helped me the most, I’m probably going to do an interview over a survey and this really helped with what type of questions to ask and refrain from asking. It also helped how to word them to get the information you need, which is incredibly important for this review. This went really well with chapter 3 from the handbook which talked also about questions for our lit review, but also how to do the research and where. I already know most sources we can use for this, but like I said I think the whole part where it talks about our questions is so useful, the questions we will ask can make or break our paper. (this particular gif is me processing everything and trying to prepare for the lit review)

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I agree with you 100% on what chapters were most helpful in regards to the lit review. Although summaries aren’t all that important, we will still write them throughout our college career. I agree with you that taking all the information and putting it together is difficult, that’s what i mostly struggle with when writing a paper. The readings that talked about how to ask the right questions in an interview or a survey were very helpful because like you asking the right questions could make or break your paper.

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Reading Response WK7

The main theme for chapter 5 is about different types of summaries. The one thing I liked most about this chapter is that it provided common myths that students have about summaries because for myself I do not find summarizing all that useful. This chapter connects to my major very nicely because if you are a responding officer to a crime scene you must be able to clue in investigators who arrive after you of what your assessment was on what happened. I may use this chapters strategies on conducting a summary while writing my paper because I feel it could be useful in getting to the point in my writing.

The main theme for chapter 6 is synthesis, what it is about, and its purpose. What I liked most about this chapter was the many purposes provided for synthesis. Synthesis should connect to all major because it is all about having multiple ideas and creating a solution. I may use this chapters ideas in my paper to connect ideas from others to ideas of my own.

The main theme for the blackboard response was poor questions asked in an interview or a survey. I like that this website provided common survey question mistakes so that I do not make them myself. This website connects to my major because like I said last week when coming up with good questions to ask as a detective you figure out who is guilty or not quicker.

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W6 Reading Response

This week we had to read chapters three and four of Writing in Transit and watch the video “Holy CRAAP A Writer’s Holy Grail to Analyzing the Validity and Reliability of a Source”

In chapter three of writing in transit it talks about developing questions. It goes into the it talks about effective questions, what makes a question effective maintaining significance. In this it talks about originate from a disciplinary context, maintaining significance, keep a pointed scope, spur further research. It talks about what makes a research question good. In Chapter four it goes into detail about what to read, this talks about how we need to do more research than just typing it into the search engine. The video talked about currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose.

What I find the most helpful was chapter four. It helped me understand more of what I have to get such as primary material, secondary and tertiary material. This are all things that we have to look out while doing this literature review.

This helps me with my major because we need to ask good question when it come down to law and order if we want to get the answers to unsolved problems.

(I used this picture because it shows how seriously research has to be taken)

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I agree that Chapter 4 was the easiest chapter to understand. Basically what the chapter talked about was what you mentioned. That it is good to know what to read for a source and what exactly is a good source or bad source. And like you said it is best to stay away from simply typing in a broad question into a search engine to find a source for your topic. It is better to be more specific when researching to find the best sources. I also agree with you that it connects to your major because it is good to ask the right questions to people involved in a case to solve it faster and proficiently. And also to figure out who is the suspect or not and to see if that person is guilty or not.

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Reading Response

The main idea of chapter 3 is coming up with meaningful questions for a literature review. It is important to have meaningful questions because the answers will point you in the right direction when trying to find sources. I like that the chapter provided examples that showed me different questions that were posed and gave me ideas of how to make my own questions. The chapter connects to my own major because coming up with meaningful question in the criminal justice field would help solve a problem or case. I could use the techniques within the chapter to help right away with my literature review.

I chose the picture because there are so many questions someone could ask about a topic but some questions are more important than others.

  The main idea for chapter 4 is finding the right sources to read for literature review. The chapter provided graphs and charts to help understand the concepts better. The chapter connects to my major because it helps by narrowing down what exactly needs to be researched. I may use the ideas from this chapter by using the strategies on how to locate reading materials. This chapter prompts me to ask: how do I know what source is credible or not, would the writing center help come up with more questions, what are the best sources to try first?

The main ideas from Holy CRAAP A Writer's Holy Grail to Analyzing the Validity and Reliability of a Source video are: currency, relevance, authority, accuracy, and purpose. I liked how the video broke the ideas down in easy to understand ways. I will definitely use the ideas from this video in my literature review.

I chose this picture because the video simplified things so much and actually took ideas from it.

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Literature Review Topic Proposal

The topic I have chosen for my Literature Review is discrimination within the police force. The reason I chose this topic is because I am a criminal justice major who wants to become a police officer in the future, as a stepping stone to becoming a U.S. Marshal. Given my race, I am concerned that I might face discrimination in my future career. By doing this research, I hope to gain insight on our criminal justice system. 

Research Questions:

1. Is there any discrimination based on race, age, gender, or sexual orientation when recruiting new members to the police force?

2. Is there any discrimination within the police force when it comes to pay and promotions?

3. Is there any discrimination within the police force when assigning jobs and beats to police officers?

4. Do police typically represent the population that they are serving?

I am concerned that my topic is a little too broad and that I might have trouble finding enough research. Should I just focus on the police force in one state or on the country as a whole? Should I include many factors of discrimination or just one, like race?

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Topic Proposal

The topic i will be discussing throughout the semester is police brutality. I choose this topic because it relates to my major here at UTEP and is something i could gain even more knowledge because its something i am interested in.