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My theory of writing is that with the use of proper rhetorical skills one can produce an effective rhetorical piece. I used to say that transfer is the most important rhetorical skill when making a rhetorically effective piece because you must use prior knowledge to at least get started. Now I believe that there is not only one skill that stands out above all and you must use many skills to produce a rhetorically effective piece. I still believe that transfer is a super effective tool when creating a rhetorically effective piece, however, I have come to realize that transfer cannot be the only skill when trying to produce a rhetorically effective piece.

From my maps, I can see an overlap in the skills used to write effectively. Words like audience, transfer, and rhetorical situation are all words that have overlapped when thinking of my own theory of writing. In my first two maps, I used the word transfer which is a big part of my writing. When I learned about transfer I saw the direct benefit to my own writing and knew that it would be a key tool for the rest of my writing. I am still under the impression that transfer could serve as a base for writing because without prior knowledge we would never be able to write.

I think that from my maps I am a type of writer who likes to use large concepts. When first starting a piece I always ask myself who the audience is for that particular piece of writing. This applies to all of my writing now and not only to my writing class assignments. When writing any academic paper even for my Spanish class I take into consideration who will be reading and grading my work and write in a way that would appeal to them. I like to think in terms of big concepts and then write in detail from then. I like to dissect the rhetorical situation into key terms and answer each of them in my writing.

My maps take 3 was a basketball hoop to symbolize my theory of writing. I made a basketball hoop to show how you must take chances to succeed. If you want to write effectively you must make the basket but if you do not even try to shoot the ball there is no way you will be able to do so. Also, my theory of writing involves the use of all key terms and if you make a basket it symbolizes one using the terms properly through their writing.

#writ1133du

Week 8 Research Journal

This week was by far the most hectic when talking about my writing class. However, it is over now and I can relax a little (until tomorrow lol). From conducting my primary research I feel that I have learned a tremendous amount. I found that most of my primary and research have a lot in common. From my secondary research, I found that one major problem that governments face when legalizing marijuana is the youth and the ease of accessibility to them. When I conducted my primary research I found that when asked what problems people can foresee with the legalization the majority answered with youth using the drug and the effects it has on them. Through the process of my research, I learned that you must take action early. Time flies and if you do not start early it will really bite you in the end. I had a late start to finding someone to interview and in the end did not interview the person that I originally had in mind for the interview. Also, from this process, I have learned some effective ways to gather primary research. After only a few days of my survey on the internet, I had over 70 responses. People were very willing to take my survey and I feel it was because I of where I posted it. Instead of asking my classmates to take my survey I asked a group of people on my swim team back home. I have learned from my writing practices that if I am writing about something that is interesting it is not as hard as writing for something that really does not interest me at all. I am excited because I feel that as time goes on I will have fewer assignments where I have to write about something that I'm not interested in and finally be happy with what I write. Lastly, from this process, I have learned that one of my most valuable sources at DU is the writing center. I will for sure be using the writing center for all of my big papers.

#writ1133du

Transfer Pt. 2

When it comes to transfer in college I believe that it is the most important tool that we will need in order to succeed. The entire purpose of college is to prepare us for the real world and prepare us to become professionals in our specific fields. Without transfer college is pointless. We learn critical skills that we must use in our lives and we use transfer to apply our previously learned skills after college. The reading discussed how students basically learn to write for writing classes. They realize what the goal is and use their previous knowledge just to get the work done. Students are not looking into the future and seeing the importance of their writing classes now (our first year). Writing classes can teach more than just how to get a paper done with. They teach critical thinking skills but if the students do not realize this they are less likely to use the critical thinking skills later in life and not use transfer.

If students do not see the point of a writing class and how it can be applied later in their lives then they are less likely to use transfer. Transfer is when someone uses previous knowledge and applies it to a different situation. In order for this to happen, you must first learn the skills that you would like to transfer. If students do not see the benefits of the skills that are being taught they are less likely to use transfer later. I know that if I cannot see the usefulness of something I am not as likely to pay attention during the lesson. This means that if you do not see the application to life then you will not be using transfer later. This leads to negative transfer. We as first-year students have come to college already knowing how to "bs" writing from all of our assignments in high school. We were taught the proper skills but as young naive high school students we cannot see how useful the information being taught to us will apply in our lives in the future as well as college. In the reading, it stated that students had even said that they would characterize their first-year courses with words like fluff and bs. This shows how students cannot see the usefulness of their first year writing courses.

I believe that as students move through college they start to see how the classes they are taking can be directly applied to their future. When students find a major that they enjoy and care about and start to take classes geared toward their interests their attitude toward school changes. Transfer starts to play more of a major role as students advance through college. When you are able to realize and see how what you are learning now will be necessary for your future then you are more likely to pay attentions and learn the skills now so that later you can apply them and use transfer. I feel that this reading is actually eye opening for me. I have not even realized that I am just like the rest of students and only utilize transfer when they can see a direct application to their lives. From the reading this quarter I can see that writing classes can be applied to other aspects of our lives. A first year writing course has many valuable skills and lessons that are taught and will be useful later in our lives. The music video that I chose was Started from the bottom by drake because I have felt that from my writing courses I have learned valuable skills that I will use later in life like audience and transfer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87ZhNtOqvSg

#writ1133du

Week 7 Research Journal

This week was the most crucial week for my primary research. My survey is not complete as I finally have more than 60 responses. From the survey, I found many interesting things. Also, from my survey, I have raised a new question about my topic. I asked in my survey: In relation to tobacco where would you regard marijuana in terms of negative effects on the body? The answers were that people feel that tobacco is less harmful to the body than marijuana. After seeing this I started to wonder if marijuana could become the new tobacco. I also was thinking if marijuana became the new tobacco and was sold like tobacco then would it have the same political power. If people think that marijuana is less harmful then they are more likely to accept marijuana over tobacco. This means that marijuana has the potential to have the same social acceptance as tobacco. Tobacco also has a lot of political power and if it is becoming less popular than marijuana governments might start to accept it more giving marijuana more political power of tobacco. Another survey answer that I found interesting was the age requirement to purchase marijuana. I made this question a short answer and for the most part got two answers. The majority of people said 21 and some said 18. From my secondary research, I found that the brain is still developing at age 18 and I feel that if the people taking the survey knew that piece of information there answers might vary. In all, I was happy that my survey is now complete and I can move on to the interview which I might be doing on Wednesday which is pretty cool.

#writ1133du

When I first learned about transfer I didn’t fully understand it and therefore pretty much just forgot about it. When I read more about transfer in the article called Transfer of Learning by David Perkins I was astonished at first. After this reading, I now have a much better grasp on the concept of transfer and I believe that it is the most essential tool when writing. Without transfer, there would not be writing at all. To me, transfer means taking previous learned concepts or skills and applying them to similar or different conditions on a separate piece of writing. Also, in the threshold concepts reading (1) by Shirley Rose it discussed that in order to become a stronger writer you must practice. Transfer applies to this perfectly. By practicing writing you are building essential skills that you will eventually transfer to another piece of writing.

From my picture, there are many conclusions that can be drawn. Some are stronger than others but still, there are many conclusions. When creating my map I thought about the word transfer and where I have heard it before. Many students talk about transferring colleges but when I think of transfer I think of the trains I use back home. Every time I am on the train I hear the word transfer. One conclusion that can be drawn is that transfer does not only apply to writing and knowledge but it can apply to anything we do in our everyday lives. This map will better help me understand the theory of writing by showing how you can use the same thing is hundreds of situations. My theory of writing is that with transfer and constant learning one will be able to write in all genres well.

#writ1133du

Transfer

Before this reading, I would define transfer as using a particular skill in different settings. Although, after this reading by David Perkins I have grasped more of an understanding of transfer. Transfer does not apply to one specific situation. Transfer applies to many different situations in life. As people go through their lives they learn and use transfer from what they learned to apply it to the next time a similar situation comes up. We can see transfer in all parts of our lives. There are many different types of transfer used through learning. Four important types of transfer are near and far transfer as well as low road and high road transfer. In my writ 1122 class, we discussed the difference between low road and high road transfer. In summary, the difference between low road and high road transfer is that low road is more of a trigger while the high road is more complex and taking something from one situation and applying it to a different situation. High road transfer not only involves a transfer of knowledge as well as a search for connections. There is also a major difference in the near and far transfer. Near transfer can be described as applying what you have already learned in a similar situation to where you originally learned it. Far transfer can be described as transferring what you have learned to a different context. The Far transfer is useful to me when writing because it is useful in all forms of writing and transferring knowledge between works.

#writ1133du

Week 6: Research Jornal

This week was mainly spent on my improving my primary research and writing my second draft of my lit review. I spent the majority of my time this week editing and adding to my lit review. In the lit review, I further developed my thoughts on society's view of marijuana and I also stated the problems surrounding the legalization of marijuana. I found that the majority of the problems that we as a society face with the legalization of marijuana is the youth. Many parents and doctors believe that youth will use marijuana during brain developing periods if it is in a legal state.

With my primary research, I reached out to my coordinator for an interview with the CEO of Native roots. Native roots is the largest chain of dispensaries in Colorado. My coordinator said that when she had asked him before and he declined to talk with a student but she also said that she will try and reach out one more time. My coordinator also mentioned that this for this quarter there was a class started about the marijuana industry instructed here at DU. She recommended that I reach out to him. I am currently in the process of drafting an email to him.

#writ1133du

Threshold Concepts and Metacognition

Practicing writing is essential in learning and evolving new skills

I believe that in order to master one's writing they must practice their skills in a different genre to produce rhetorically effective pieces of writing. When learning to write it is essential to practice your skills so that you have a good writing foundation. Writing can be thought of like sports. If the player or writer wants to get better they must first build a strong base and then they can work on fine-tuning their skill set. If one practices writing, it will both help them build a strong foundation and with practice one can fine tune their skills in particular genres that appeal to them. When practicing your writing skills metacognition will be an important tool. "Metacognition requires that writers think about their mental processes." After reading this quote I really started to grasp the concept of metacognition and saw the benefits of it. Along with practice, it is important to reflect on your writing. Using metacognition to deeply think about the process that you used to write will in return make you a better writer.

My meme was made to resemble me thinking if I practiced enough for my writing. In reality, I do sometimes wonder if I have or do practice writing enough but unfortunately, in this photo, I was not thinking if I practiced my writing enough or not lol.

#writ1133du

Week 5 Research Journal

My secondary research is still coming along very strong. I feel that every time I work on my secondary research I am learning more about this paper and becoming more and more comfortable with writing it. I made a connection between what society think and the legalization of marijuana. Also, I have made a connection between the legalization of marijuana and the problems that society faces with it. I am excited to finish up with my secondary sources and finally move onto my primary sources.

Primary research will be a key tool used in my final essay but there is a process that must preface it first. With primary research I will be conduction surveys, interviews, and observations. Since observations are solo and do not involve others I will only need questions for my surveys and interviews.

Some questions that I was thinking to ask on my survey are:

Do you support the legalization of marijuana?

If so, do you believe there should be an age requirement?

What problems can you foresee with the legalization of marijuana?

Do you believe that marijuana has positive or negative health benefits?

Would you live in a recreational marijuana legal state? (for people who I send it to outside of legal states)

For the interview a few questions that I thought of were:

Has marijuana had a positive/ negative/ neutral impact on your life?

What problems can you foresee with the legalization of marijuana?

Which is more of a risk? marijuana or alcohol

Do you support recreational/ medical marijuana?

In your opinion do the health benefits of the legalization of marijuana outweigh the health cons?

#writ1133

bestsince2003-blog

The Outdoors and DU

Methods:

In order to get an accurate look into the relationship of students at the University of Denver and the outdoors, our group divided the research into four separate collections. These methods included observations, a survey, interviews, and secondary research. We started by looking into what the University advertises as the benefits of living in Colorado. DU’s website hosted our secondary research and allowed us to get a good feel for the University’s official stance on students and the outdoors. Secondly, we sent out a survey to the DU population on our various social media accounts. This allowed us to receive an anonymous look into what the students perceived as their outdoor lifestyle. Next we went outside Graduation Green, Driscoll Green, and the front of Centennial Halls, and watched students over a period of twenty minutes each. We followed this up by interviewing an active outdoor club activity, the club rowing team, to see how they saw the “active Colorado lifestyle” coming into play in their club.

Results:

From our survey we found that the majority of people spend 5-7 hours outside per week (41.9%). Students spend most of their outdoor time going to class (91.9%) and also enjoy their time outdoors (91.9%). Similarly, all four seasons are within 17.6% of each other with summer being the most popular time of year to spend outside (97.3%). Denver weather impacted college decisions (30%) of DU students. The survey we conducted also found that students generally wake up around 8-10 and weekends remain the most popular time to be outside (52.7%).

The observation results revealed similar findings. We watched upwards of one hundred people walk to class during our observation period. Besides the walkers, we observed a variety of social events such as talking with friends, listening to music, tanning, and playing with pets. These people were outnumbered by the walkers but still retained numbers around thirty people each session. Similarly, we found people doing business outside. Activities we categorized as work included studying, tabling for clubs or Greek Life, and activism on campus. These numbers held the lowest population with Driscoll Green holding the highest population at twenty people participating.

In order to get a feel for the student club population we interviewed Kat Silver, Secretary of the DU rowing team. In our interview we discovered she considered DU students to be more active off campus than on campus when it comes to the outdoors. She told us that weather did affect club participation while offering a variety of trips did not hurt nor help her club’s numbers.

We looked into the way the University advertises Colorado as a perk of attendance. By looking at the website under prospective students, we found it highly advertises the ideal of a Colorado Lifestyle, including the Rocky Mountains, Alpine Club, and the boasted 300 days of sunshine. The website also listed different mountain activities that are easily accessible such as natural parks, whitewater rafting, hiking, and mountain biking. After all, “you’ll have plenty of reasons to get outside” (du.edu).

Discussion:

Our hypothesis proved correct in that DU students remain active outdoors and live up to the ideal Colorado Lifestyle. What surprised us the most came from our survey where people stated the weather in Colorado impacted their decision to come to DU positively and reasons to go outside varied greatly between submission to submission.

Our findings echoes this point; students at DU live up to the advertised ideal of DU’s Colorado Life. This is shown by the survey results for mountain and off campus activities boasting second highest population of 63.5%. Similarly, Kat Silver touched on this when she stated that off campus clubs draw more participation - displayed on the DU website as the Alpine Club’s 300 members. The off campus outdoors are calling to DU students and they are answering with a resounding here we come.

Secondly, we found the weather as a huge factor in nearly everything we researched. It affected student’s college decisions nearly 30% from the survey and continued to appear in our other research, Kat Silver claimed that weather impacted her club’s participation, “if it’s cold, raining, or snowing less people show up for practice or meetings. No one likes to be outside in it” (Interview source???). The observation we took happened on a sunny, warm day and showed the most common results for spring - an active on campus outdoors. We have no doubt, however, that if we continued this into the fall and winter, the outdoor population would decrease. Finally it was covered again by DU itself, boasting the 300 days of sunshine in Colorado in order to pull in prospective students from other states. This shows how the weather not only impacted on campus activities but also affects people who have never visited DU.

In conclusion, our hypothesis found support from our research. DU contains an active student body that find the outdoors a necessity in their everyday lives - from walking to class to social events to off campus activities. University of Denver students remain active and ready for their next adventure, no matter where it may be.

#writ1133du

Week 4 Research Journal

This week I found a quote that I now will be in my final writing piece for this class. The quote is, “ The three forces—scientific knowledge, social-political acceptance, and laws—play a role in the direction that medical marijuana takes in society.” (Political and Medical Views on Medical Marijuana and its Future. (14, February). After reading this quote I thought to myself how perfect this would be in my essay. I believe that this quote is true and these three forces do play a major role in how society thinks of something. If the government or other people start to accept something I feel that the rest of society will follow. After my conference, I realized that I was going to need more academic sources. I went on the library’s website and found a few more academic sources but none of them really stuck out to me. Then I found one source that was discussing the problems surrounding the legalization of marijuana. After reading it I thought that it had the potential to become a theme for my essay. After this, I dove a little deeper in and found great sources from google scholar about the problems surrounding the legalization of marijuana. I found one scientific piece that was called Legalization of Marijuana: Potential Impact on Youth. This was an interesting piece because it discussed the problems surrounding marijuana for underage users where marijuana is legal for adults. I am excited to learn more about the problems surrounding the legalization of marijuana and also I am excited to add another theme to my lit review with a common theme of the problems surrounding the legalization of marijuana.

#writ1133du

Research Check-In

On Wednesday our group met to figure everything out. We had to solidify our question which is why do people go outside. We decided that we should make an online survey using surveymonkey.com. After posting our survey on Facebook we got a total of 73 surveys. It was nice to see that people were willing to take our survey at the DU community. After sending out the survey we decided that we were going to do our observations. We paid attention to our scenes. We listened to people playing music and we heard dogs barking. We also saw many people studying and hanging out on the grass outside. When classes let out we saw a swarm of people come for around 5 minutes and then campus started to calm down again. We first observed outside of the library. Then we walked to Driscoll green and Sturm and after we observed at halls. From our online survey, there were many interesting things found. I found it interesting that when we asked, "Did Denver weather impact your decision?" The majority of people answered with a 7 out of 10. I did not realize how much weather made an impact on students going to college. I also found it interesting when we asked the question, “Why do you go outside?” The answer that got them most clicks was Walking to class followed by mountain activities. I feel that this is an accurate representation of DU. Many people are here for classes and then they go to the mountains in their free time.

#writ1133du

Threshold Concepts

After reading Naming What We Know there were many key aspects that I agree with. There were two threshold concepts that stuck with me after this reading. The first concept that stuck with me was the concept in section 4.2 and 4.4. I would like to start with a great quote from that section. The quote is, “We often forget, however, that successful writers aren’t those who are simply able to write brilliant first drafts; often, the writing we encounter has been heavily revised and edited…” This quote really hit home for me. I believe that it is always helpful to get all your ideas down first before writing a paper. This will help organize your thoughts and will also lead to other thoughts that might be beneficial to your writing. I call this process planning my essay. Although, I really like the idea of this I rarely do this. In section 4.2 it discusses that your first draft or rough draft is not and should not be your final/ good draft of your writing. It says that it is good to just get something on some sort of media so that it can be heavily revised and edited. I like the idea of planning out a piece of writing before actually doing so and I also like the idea of just getting out a rough draft so that you have something to work with and can revise it to perfection.

The second concept that stuck out to me was when the author compared swimming to writing. All my life I have been a swimmer and I swam competitively on the high school varsity team for four years. In section 4.3 it states, “When someone wants to swim, they get in the water: if we want to write, we put pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, or fingertips to touch screen.” I know from watching people who are new to swimming struggle when they first get into the water. When I was a kid I was a decent swimmer because I already had good technique from many years of practice. When adults would come to the pool and watch me they would be amazed that this little kid was a better swimmer than they were. This was only because I have had years of practice with professional swimmers who know proper swimming technique. I agree with the author of this article because I believe with anything practice makes perfect. I have had other cases where this is very true even if there is minimal practice. I never thought about practicing writing before. I thought I knew how to write so there is no need to practice. After reading this, I now know that I am wrong. I would love to become a better writer and know that I must practice in order to do so.

#writ1133du

Research Journal Week 3

This week we did a lot of work on secondary research. I am starting to feel a lot more comfortable with my research skills. I know that I still have so much room to learn more about research but I feel that this past week has significantly helped me with my research skills and confidence. The librarian who came to do the in-class workshop was extremely helpful for me. I learned about the library’s web page and how useful it will be for my research. What’s more, I finally figured out my research question (I know a little late, sorry). When Peggy, the librarian, came to speak to us I saw that my previous research question was going to be hard to find good research on. So, I changed my research question and I have been finding great scientific research based on my new question. I know that this is supposed to be about secondary research but I am starting to get a little worried about the primary research. I am worried about forming the correct questions to ask when I interview people on campus. On the other hand, I am getting less worried about the secondary sources. After Peggy’s workshop, I learned many valuable skills that I know will help me with my research throughout this quarter. So far I have found two previous studies done by scientists about society’s views on marijuana. One study looks at the younger generation and in particular college students. The other study that I found looks at more of a general view on how the views of marijuana has changed over time.

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Maps: Take 1

1. The prior

Prior knowledge: Coming from high school I would say that I have minimal prior knowledge for the type of writing we are doing. I would say that writ 1122 has prepared me the most for this class. Although, for my prior knowledge of research I would say that my high school history and science classes have taught me the most. I am familiar with some databases and I can usually figure my way around a database. Coming into college I was not confident in my writing at all and I did not like writing. My prior attitude to writing was not good but I now can see the importance of writing in life and feel that my attitude about writing has changed slightly since coming to college.

2. My map

My map represents all of the key terms coming together as a puzzle. Puzzles can be hard and confusing at times just like writing can be. The map represents the key terms all forming into one piece just like writing. If a puzzle is missing one or two pieces it will not be complete. The same goes for writing. If you miss one or two key points then your writing is not complete. I put the key term rhetorical situation right in the middle of the map. This is meant to show that everything is connected to the rhetorical situation. In other words, all the pieces that come together create or make up the rhetorical situation for a writing piece.

3. Conclusion

My map represents how I understand writing because it is meant to all come together in the end. My understanding of writing is that there are many important aspects you must use in order to create effective writing. Writing would not be as effective if you forgot to consider the audience in your writing. The map represents all of these key terms coming together in order to create the rhetorical situation.

#writ1133du

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