mavasquez1

First time blogger.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Final Reflection

I started this course with confidence, since I did fairly good in my previous Composition class. But after the first assignment I panicked. It has been about 8 years since I took my previous Composition class. I thought I would remember, but I was wrong. From the first assignment, I had a nervous breakdown, I still don't understand Tumblr, and majority of the time I have to watch YouTube videos on how to post. However, I believe this class helped me improve my writing skills by far. I say with confidence, I hope, that the area where I improved the most was the APA format. The previous college I attended used MLA format, and even then I must say I wasn't that good at it. Now I can site my sources with confidence. The assignment I enjoyed the most was the Digital Source Analysis. I struggled with finding adequate sources for the Literature Review. And when I had to search for sources to complete the DSA, it was like night and day. It was faster, it was easier, I did not worry as much. I am still pending a grade for that assignment, but I have confidence I will be a good grade. I do believe that when discussing writing we use the audience and the genres, at least now I do. Even when I am writing an email, now I think about who is the recipient and what message am I trying to send. The thing, I feel would help me the most in my future classes is definitely the APA format. During this semester, two of my other classes requested that format for work to be turned in. Thanks to this course I am now confident in this area and I know I will succeed in my other courses as well. Overall, I had a love hate/relationship with this class. I turned in a wrong assignment and got a zero, which made me cry by the way, since I was the only one to blame. I dreaded posting on tumblr, since I had never even heard of it before. The only thing I am going to miss from tumblr are the gifs, some of them are pretty funny. But after this class, I am positive I won't be returning to tumblr. On the positive side, I will miss the research.I did truly enjoyed researching my topic. As for my career goes, the extensive research I did on my topic will help me understand my future patients better, and hopefully guide them in the right direction.

[mavasquez1-blog]

DSA Presentation

I wrote about Immunizations and the controversy currently surrounding them. My main purpose was to properly educate parents on immunizations. To help them make an educated decision toward them, and avoid hearsay. I chose a YouTube movie for this assignment which uses pathos. The following YouTube video link, takes you to a movie called the Greater Good. This movie manipulates the emotions of the viewers, and entices fear. It narrates the stories of children that had immunization injuries, and how they have to cope with them everyday.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nWp6ZHA2Q

[jdominguezutep-blog]

It seems that Vaccinating is very important and most if not all people should be vaccinated although there is potential of risk with some people. What steps do you think should be taken to prevent the side affects of immunization. Do you believe everyone should be vaccinated? Should a law be placed forcing everyone to have proper vaccinations? 

[mavasquez1-blog]

States have laws already in place that require children get vaccinated. Each state have different rules and regulations, but overall only children with weak immune systems and who have religious beliefs prohibiting vaccines, are the only one exempt from said laws. Some parent chose to home school in order to avoid having their children vaccinated.

[mavasquez1-blog]

DSA Presentation

I wrote about Immunizations and the controversy currently surrounding them. My main purpose was to properly educate parents on immunizations. To help them make an educated decision toward them, and avoid hearsay. I chose a YouTube movie for this assignment which uses pathos. The following YouTube video link, takes you to a movie called the Greater Good. This movie manipulates the emotions of the viewers, and entices fear. It narrates the stories of children that had immunization injuries, and how they have to cope with them everyday.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nWp6ZHA2Q

[rlfire-blog]

As a parent you should always want what is best for your child and want to protect them. As the general public we trust that pharmaceutical companies and the federal agencies that regulate them are looking out for our children too but who is going to regulate agencies like the FDA? In your research, did you come across any organizations that have such authority? 

[mavasquez1-blog]

The only agencies monitoring immunizations that i could find where the CDC and the FDA. Pharmaceutical companies only have to comply with FDA regulations set in place. However, I do believe that agencies need to look closely into reducing the vaccine side effects, which is in the best interest of our children.

[mavasquez1-blog]

DSA Presentation

I wrote about Immunizations and the controversy currently surrounding them. My main purpose was to properly educate parents on immunizations. To help them make an educated decision toward them, and avoid hearsay. I chose a YouTube movie for this assignment which uses pathos. The following YouTube video link, takes you to a movie called the Greater Good. This movie manipulates the emotions of the viewers, and entices fear. It narrates the stories of children that had immunization injuries, and how they have to cope with them everyday.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nWp6ZHA2Q

[aler5683-blog]

As I watched the video, I realized that vaccines can and do cause other health issues in some patients. However, getting vaccines can help by keeping away other diseases like the measles, polio, or tetanus. So my question is do you think that getting the vaccines is worth the risk of the side effects? Or do you think it is better to not get vaccines and be exposed to getting the measles or something else like that?

[mavasquez1-blog]

Personally I am pro Immunizations. I do believe that getting vaccinated is important and prevents horrible illness. However, I also believe that their side effect should be monitored and measures should be put in place to reduce them as much as possible.

[christopheryoo]

DSA Presentation Week 15

The use of analogy or the comparison between one thing and another in this case the Syrian Refugee Crisis and the Holocaust was used to establish pathos in my source. The rhetorical choice is used quite a bit in the genre I choose because it is something people use in order to clearly get their point across to others. By comparing the United States reaction to bringing in Jewish refugees in the 1930s and how many U.S. citizens feel about bringing in Syrian refugees today the author intended to put this situation into perspective for readers and urges them not to make the same mistakes which lead to death of many of those Jewish refugees in German concentration camps. attached below is the link to the full source.

http://salon.tumblr.com/post/134474845892/in-1939-the-united-states-refused-to-let-the

[mavasquez1-blog]

This is a very interesting and controversial topic. But what kind of impact do you foresee if the U.S.welcomes Syrian Refugees, from other countries seeking shelter in the U.S. as well?

[sdnava-blog]

Doc Presentation

One specific rhetorical choice included in my documentary was the use of an allusion. I did this by including the deaths of famous NFL players due to CTE. It is specific to this genre because I was able to connect concussions to CTE and from there it led to the NFL. Concussions are a major problem within contact sports however it is the most popular in football because the NFL is so popular in America. Creating a video allowed me to establish my advocacy because I was able to include visuals such as videos and pictures that showed the dangers and the long term effects of concussions. In my video, I included the use of emotional video clips to help establish the use of ethos, statistics to establish ethos and I organized the video to establish logos. By establishing ethos, pathos, and logos it helped me create awareness about the dangers of concussions.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Wow, your video has a very powerful message. Sadly in my workplace, I see head concussions on children playing school sports. Do you think maybe the coaches and sports trainers should teach these kids, the future athletes, the proper ways to avoid a concussion?

[mavasquez1-blog]

DSA Presentation

I wrote about Immunizations and the controversy currently surrounding them. My main purpose was to properly educate parents on immunizations. To help them make an educated decision toward them, and avoid hearsay. I chose a YouTube movie for this assignment which uses pathos. The following YouTube video link, takes you to a movie called the Greater Good. This movie manipulates the emotions of the viewers, and entices fear. It narrates the stories of children that had immunization injuries, and how they have to cope with them everyday.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_nWp6ZHA2Q

[mavasquez1-blog]

DSA Reflection

1. What was your process in selecting your sources?

My topic was Immunizations, which have a lot of controversy around them. I knew that in YouTube I would find most if not all the sources I needed, which I did. There were so many available, and so easy to find. I just had to find sources that would talk about both the sides of the argument.

2. How do you understand the difference between traditional and non-traditional sources?

In regards to my topic, Immunizations, there are many non-traditional sources. A lot of people have personal opinions in regards to their experience with immunizations. They are not experts in the topic and our posting their believes in regard to the subject, which to me are non-traditional sources. For my topic a traditional source would be the Centers of Disease and Control, who are an accredited and reliable source.

3. What did you enjoy/dislike about using non-traditional sources?

The traditional sources I used for the LR where just information, they were not personal in nature. The non-traditional sources were the complete opposite. They would filled the audience with emotions. I personally got teary watching a documentary from YouTube. The documentary manipulated the viewers emotions into agreeing with their views on the subject. I overall enjoyed it very much.

4. Select one of the questions listed and explain the rhetorical choices you made toward answering the question.

For answering question number three, I used pathos. I described the feelings I went through when watching some of the sources online.  

[mavasquez1-blog]

Week 13

I chose to complete the Digital Source Analysis since I have no knowledge on how to make a video, much less uploaded to YouTube. This assignment was much easier for me. There are so many videos, blogs and websites on Immunizations and the controversy surrounding them. I was unable to used said resources before, since the credibility is questionable and it is mostly people's opinion and not actual facts on Immunizations.  I found an interesting YouTube video from the SciShow that explains how people's minds can be influence into forming an opinion. This video talks about how easy it is for our brains to react to what we hear and form an opinion without researching facts. In regards to the Immunizations controversy particularly, this video explains how easy people can be persuaded by the media, gossip, and friends, instead of actual research.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Literature Review

In developing my research, I kept going toward one direction. It was hard to stay neutral. I am still unsure if I did. I kept rewriting, and starting over. However, I do believed this assignment improved my research skills by far. It had been a while since I had to do a research paper, and even then this Literature Review was a whole new experience.

My assessment of sources did change. After reviewing my research numerous times, I had to modify some sources. I had to improve and change sources in order to obtain a neutral answer. In some cases, I used the same source but different information. In other cases, I had to discard some sources and acquire new more relevant choices.

I do believe the methodology I used worked. It forced me into become a better researcher by trial and error. Not only that, but I believed my writing skills improved enormously.

In answering question 1, I used pathos. The GIF along with my response, describes my feelings of frustration during time I was working in the literature review, and my fear of the outcome.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Literature Review

The research process in my case is daunting. I keep hitting a brick wall. All the credible websites and literature are answering my pro immunization related questions. However, I am struggling to find credible resources for my against immunizations questions. I had to take a break from it today, because the frustration was getting the best of me. Tomorrow is a new day, and hopefully with a clear mind, I can find what I am looking for.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Week 5

1. Before this assignment, I was under the impression that genres where a music classification. Of course, not is certainly not the case. The genre analysis paper has improved my writing skills. Now when I have a writing assignment, I can properly choose a genre for my intended audience and help convey my message better.

2. Genres are very complex. They are part of our everyday life, and as such they keep evolving. Genres can be adapted and modified to fit the audience's needs. If at first a magazine article could provide the required information, now that same information can be found on a video, to better suit the audience's needs.

3. As mention before, studying genres has improved my writing skills. Not only in this class, but in the other classes I am currently taking. I recently received positive feedback from an essay in another class. I am confident, I put my new knowledge to good use, and my grade proved it. For this I am thankful and value this new skill.

4. For question 1, I chose an image of batman lost, saying "What's that?" I am a big batman fan, hence it is meant to be a reflection of me. He is as lost as I was at the beginning of this assignment. I had no idea what genres had to do with this class or their complexity, and at some point I that same question pop up in my head. 

[mavasquez1-blog]

Week 3 Tumblr Post

I decided to grade the analysis "Campus Violence Against Women" by Maria Eugenia Martinez. This tittle caught me interest as did the introduction by being very descriptive of the topic being discussed. The information presented in the introduction is important in order to visualize the message being conveyed. The introduction also provides the reader with descriptions of the genres being analyzed. In my opinion, the author gave sufficient examples to support her analysis, though in instances, they were vague. Overall, I would award this genre analysis an 'A' based on the rubric. The analysis was well written and interesting. Though, for the supporting details category i would give a 'B'. Even though the author provided sufficient examples of the genres, to me they were not comprehensive enough. Needless to say, I enjoyed evaluating this genre analysis.

[mavasquez1-blog]

My genre is Iconography. My topic is Immunizations. Wether you are pro or against Immunizations, it is of vital importance to make an educated decision. Young parents are my intended audience. Logos is used to educated on common beliefs and misconceptions. As well as pathos, to influence readers on making a choice. As this image suggest, a parent should base their decision on proper medical research and not follow what someone who is uneducated is doing.

[mavasquez1-blog]

Week 1 Introduction

Hi my name is Melissa Vasquez. I live in Brownsville, which is literally the lower tip of Texas. It is located next to the gorgeous South Padre Island and the Mexico border. I am a Nurse and work at the local hospital. My passion is my job, I love the feeling of knowing that I helped save someone's life. Working the night shift is the hardest part. I trust this class will help me be a better writer, blogger maybe not. As you can probably tell, this is the first time I use Tumblr. Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.