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Inigo Montoya obviously took ENG 101.

Journal XIII

The writing process is very useful when it comes to writing essays, papers, and all other academic work. However, outside of the classroom it can be very useful when writing processional emails, letters of motivation, and reports to employers. Knowing how to build a develop ideas is a skill required in all areas of life and a crucial one to have.

Journal XII

Having never written a rhetorical analysis before, I felt that the paper I wrote on Coleman Hughes' “The Case for Black Optimism” was the most challenging. Going from simple reader to critic was a big leap and I'm glad I had the opportunity to learn about the process of breaking down an author's chosen rhetoric because it's truly developed my critical thinking skills.

This semester I've gotten better at organizing my ideas so my writing flows better and overall makes more sense. I now know how to go from my usual mess of brainstormed ideas and build a paper that really displays my ideas the way I see them. I'm especially thankful that I now know what writing process works best for me as it’s made writing much less stressful.

Journal XI

While in my infographic I defend this claim, I play devil’s advocate in order to, later, harmer in my point.

“Not only are black Americans healthier and longer lived then they were two decades ago, they’re also more educated. [...]The number of black students who earned bachelor’s degrees increased by 82%, from 108,018 to 196,300”

- Though this is a great achievement, the Hechinger report shows that black students have a disproportionate amount of debt at the end of college in comparison to white students.

- Due to a lack of scholarships, higher interest rates due to loans being private, etc. The US still had great advancements to make in the domain of affirmative action in order to provide black Americans with higher education that does not put them disproportionately in a fragile financial place.

Coleman Hughes intertwines logos and pathos to both give hope for the future of black Americans and lock in trust with facts and statistics. The targeted audience is Americans who have gone blind to black progress.

#oneforallforone

Journal X

Evaluating sources is key because it helps determine credibility by trying to find sources of information’s potential biases and limitations. In HTWA’s chapter, “Evaluating Sources”, I was reminded of how to preview source materials for their key features and strategies.

This knowledge helps me quickly and efficiently scan articles for any red flags that might indicate the source isn’t credible. In the long run, it saves me a great deal of time by saving me the trouble of reading the whole article and only realizing its weaknesses at the end.

It’s shown me that any and every article needs to be evaluated as it’s always possible for a source to have limitations. The web is a melting pot for all kinds of information and it’s important to watch out for news that might be skewed to fit the motivations of sponsors and/or authors. In summary, no matter the source, it’s important to read with caution.

Journal IX

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/black-progress-how-far-weve-come-and-how-far-we-have-to-go/

Authors: Abigail Thernstrom and Stephan Thernstrom

Audience: Those too quick to dismiss, or have become blind to black progress. Most likely educated Americans as the article is published by a research group.

Purpose: To shed light on often overlooked black progress.

Setting: 1998, the article was written before the recent rise of social justice movements.

Format/Medium: Article in the by the American research group Brookings.

#oneforallforone

Journal VIII

The design was made by a team of artists for an Esty shop called SheltrCo, they aim to make social justice and protest items. The design features a quote by Desmond Tutu, a South African cleric best known for his opposition to apartheid and for winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

The intended audience of this logo is people who care about social justice. The image’s purpose is to denounce silence and lack of protest in situations of injustice.By presenting silence as a black and white situation with no room for interpretation, the image uses pathos to force the audience to take a stance.

The use of the fist, a symbol of rebellion, is meant to push people to speak up on injustices. The image uses repetition with the blue tones of the fist and the writing, these colors contrast with the otherwise white background. Both text and fist are alined within the blue circle drawn around them, creating a clear and concise design.

The image symbolizes the act of speaking up in times of injustice which I believe to be the founding principle of social justice.

#oneforallforone

Journal VII

“make each sentence worth reading, and something in it will lead the reader into the next one”

Too often I find myself thinking that good writing must be complex. Really, when you’re lost in a sea of moreovers and furthermores, you forget the point of a sentence. These boatloads of words are only put together to embark the reader in an emotional journey, that is what makes a sentence worth reading. Joe Moran wrote: “The writing finds a hidden unity that has no need of the mucilage of linking phrases.” - meaning there’s no need for these added connectors, write from the heart and it will come together.

Journal VI

Unfortunately I’ve never had a paper peer-reviewed before, but I can think of suggestions that I would consider most and least helpful.

Giving specific, detailed examples of elements that could be fixed is an example of helpful feedback. By recommending that someone shorten the summary in their introduction or add partial introductions and conclusions to their paragraphs, you’re pin-pointing errors that can be fixed.

An example of bad feedback would be saying that you “just don’t like it” or that the paper “sounds bad”, vague critiques that don’t focus on specific fixable mistakes, are not helpful.

I’m not a fan of peer-reviewing, simply because I don’t think I should be judging someone else’s work when I myself struggle with writing. Most of my knowledge on writing is based on French writing, I came to the US my senior year of high school and therefore only have one year of American English under my belt. I’m American and can write in english but I’d be afraid of giving bad advice that doesn’t apply to english rules of writing.

Though it is not my favorite thing to do, I think the peer review process is helpful to students because it acts as “field work” where they can test drive their knowledge on a certain topic.

Tumblr Journal V

In a country divided by citizens’ stance on racial inequality, Coleman Hughes uses fact and feeling to convince readers to view black progress through a past-lens.

#oneforallforone

Journal number IV

Something that surprised me :

I never thought an article I read in an English class would tell me to write at a 7th grade level. That would probably have to be the most unexpected part about the “The 11 Golden Rules of Writing Content for Your Website” article. Another surprising component of the Jimdo piece, was the advice to leave space between paragraphs. It’s true that often, when the text is blogs is blocky, and “mushed together”, my desire to read is significantly diminished. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to convince my sociology professor that my four page paper with only two paragraphs should get full credit.

I found the “inverted pyramid model” very intriguing. I had never thought to compartmentalize and redistribute the topics covered in a text in such a user-friendly way. Because, like most Gen-Zers, my mind works in a “get to the point” fashion, I often find myself using images instead of text in my notes. It was comforting to know that that, in fact, is not the wrong way to do it in this day and age. I had never thought to consider that my Tumblr posts had an audience, but it’s true that I should be writing college professor/freshman friendly posts.

In this fast-paced world of instant gratification, it’s very hard to produce eye-catching content. Techniques like paragraph spacing, and relevant headings, help make text more readable, and keep the reader engaged.

Good things come in threes

For the first time ever I didn’t have a pre-writing process, because I’m a more visual person I usually draw “mind maps”. For this assignment I took a pen and paper and started writing until I had three pages. I then broke down the main parts of what I had written and put it in chronological order. I went through the paper to look for grammar mistakes and fix the tone of certain sentences. Sitting down and letting words flow without worrying about tonality or grammar and going back and fixing the mistakes after the fact, was much easier than my usual writing process is. For the next project I’d like to have a more concrete writing plan because I can’t imagine this way being very sustainable.

Thanks mom

When I think of a person that positively impacted my writing, my mind automatically goes to my mom. When I was younger, putting my thoughts and ideas into words was definitely not my favorite thing to do. I found myself constantly frustrated with my own mind, luckily I had the privilege of having a mom that was both a writer and very patient. She would sit down at the kitchen table with me until the early hours of the morning, often ignoring the grading she needed to get done, to help me with my English literature assignments. My mom never gave into frustration and was always there to help me solve the problem instead of focusing on it. She showed me that when writing, you need to be patient with yourself in order to be productive. However, that didn’t stop her from making me re-write sentences over and over again until it was perfect. If I’m being honest, if it wasn’t for my mom teaching me rigor and stamina, I never would’ve made it past middle school.

My experiences with writing

When I think about my experiences with writing I automatically go to my senior year of high school. I grew up in France and most of the writing I did was focused on its technical aspects and less about the passion one can pour into it. When I took my first english class here in the US, I fell in love with the newfound opportunity I had to dive into my more creative side. Every week we were asked to write chapters in what was called our senior book. We answered prompts such as “Talk about the changes you’ve made and would like to make” and “what is 1 trip you’ve taken that you found memorable?”. In class we got to hear about the Disneylands and the family vacations to Myrtle Beach, but more importantly the memories students had to share. I’m sure it doesn’t come as a shock when I say, there was a drastic difference between that and my junior year French classes. Back then, we would have to sit in these huge (and freezing cold) testing rooms every week for four hours. Our teachers would walk up and down the rows of seats as we would try to read their glares to determine if the quality of our work was up to standard. Needless to say, I’m overjoyed to be in an American college right now. What I find most difficult is trying to find words that correctly fit the feeling I’m trying to convey. I often find myself wanting to connect a cord from my brain to Microsoft Word, but I’ll leave that invention up to the engineering majors.

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