Final Thoughts

This year has definitely been challenging. I’ve never put this much effort into an english class before, but it was totally worth it. Overall I feel like I learned a lot and understand better why knowing how to make an argument is so important. I liked how our assignments bridged into different mediums. Although more work was required in order to make our arguments happen, when you use different mediums, like websites, you can propose your argument in a way that can be more effective than a traditional essay. Anyways, I also liked how we had a final project instead of a traditional final exam. It gave us time to work hard on our projects before finals week, which freed up time for us to study for other finals. I can see why even engineering majors are required to take this class, because there is a lot more to it than one may originally think. bye everyone 🙂

Website.

So, hurray for this post not working the first time!

Anyways, all I asked before was if you all could give me advice on what to fix on my website. I think i should add more informaton to the “Will it work?” section. What do you think? What else would you change/ fix?

stephwind.weebly.com

Thanks!

Stephanie T

Can you guys look at my website and give me tips?

Hey folks,

So, I’m using weebly.com to create my website. It has some nice layouts, and is relatively easy to use. I made my first draft, and turned it in already. I know that Ms. Ludeker is going to look through my website and give me suggestions, but since my website is directed towards the general public, I thought it’d be a fun little experiment to see what you guys think.

The website is stephwind.weebly.com

Does it make you interseted in the topic of wind power?

Do you like the layout?

What can I improve?

Does the website make you take the information seriously?

Anything else?

Thanks!

Designing Arguments (ch. 14)

Chapter 14 has a lot of useful information for our next projects. I like how it specifically has a section called “Design Pages for the Web,” since I will be making a website for my topic of wind power. It explains how to make an attention grabbing theme by making a consistent and simplified look. It also shows how properly dividing your information into smaller parts will make the page easier for the reader to read. Also, the proper text is important. Ariel is a nice one to use since it’s easier to read.

I will definitely use this information to benefit my next project. By using the proper format and mot cluttering up my page, I feel the readers of my website will have an easier time reading what I have to say. There is also a section on taking better photographs. I have a plan to go to a wind farm, then post the pictures on my website. Since I’ve read this chapter, I will take it’s advice and cut out the non-essential parts out of my windmill photos. This can be done by zooming in on what is important in the shot.

Anyways  I feel that using the information in this chapter will really benefit my website.

Proposal Project

So…. after putting some thought about it, I think I’m going to do a proposal. I think I can build a strong case for my side, so it make more sense for me to do a proposal as opposed to a rebuttal. To be honest, the fact that this is a media project makes me really nervous. In Tuesday’s class, Ms. Ludeker went over some of our options for creating our projects, and I haven’t ever used any of them before. I don’t know how to edit a movie or create a website. But I think I will make a website. I’m sure there is some sort of tutorial or something that I can use. I could ask my sister too, I guess. Anyway, it should be really interesting to see where this project takes me.

Chapter 6 Example.

Well, if there was ever a student’s example I could approve of, it is the one on page 101 with Andy Roddick. lol.

But seriously, the written example was really nice because is showed me more ways to analyze an advertisement. To be quite honest, when I saw this the first thing I thought the add was saying was “this attractive athlete drinks milk, if you want to be like him, so should you.” But, the example essay provided so much more insight into what the “got milk” people were actually trying to achieve. I never thought about how they are trying to point out how healthy milk is by choosing someone who is healthy themselves. But now that I read the analysis, it makes sense. This ad proves how effective a visual aid can be. The author of the paper even said that the “got milk” campaign stopped the downwards trend in milk consumption. The visual aid is rather ingenious if you think about it. All in all, This chapter taught me the true importance of using a visual aid, and how it can even save an industry.

Evaluation Essay Draft One

So… I don’t know who said that the evaluation essay would be easier, but I thought it was really challenging! I know our writing definitely isn’t supposed to follow a cookie cutter format, but the evaluation essay seemed to give us much more room to make our own judgements, which I felt made it tougher. It seemed like since there was so much more research involved, making each piece of information connect and flow took a lot of thought. I dunno… maybe it was just me, but this assignment is by no means easy. Not that any of the other ones were either. But this one in comparison was more challanging.

Evaluation Essay v. Definition Essay

So, it’s finally time for another paper. I thought yesterday’s conferences were especially helpful in setting me up for my next paper. Going into the conference, I was a little bit confused on how not to make this like another definition essay. This was because in our papers, I still believe we have to have definitions in our essays to make sure the audience knows what exactly we mean by using certain words. But, where an evaluation essay is different is that we’re judging it using words like good, bad, ethical, unethical, etc. Chapter 10 lays this out very well with the diagram on page 157, and explanations throughout the chapter. There will be more research in this essay, because now we have to back up our claims with credible information. Overall, although it is similar to a definition essay, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

MLA

I found this chapter on MLA citation to be very helpful. In high school, we always used MLA, but I never really understood it. I would just go to easybib.com, and let the computer so it for me, and hope that it was right. That is not to say that online programs aren’t great, just that I didn’t know what I was doing. The colorful examples on pages 281-284 made it easier to see exactly what I am supposed to, and exactly how I am supposed to arrange certain information. Yay citations!

~Steph

LP chapters

So, I must say that at first, I wasn’t so sure about this LP handbook. But now I’m really starting to like it. The chapters this week provide helpful advice like eliminating wordiness, writing with emphasis, and finding the right words to use. I thought that the Jargon section could really relate to my topic. Since I’m writing about green technology, I’m going to have to be careful about defining words that are particular to that field that some people might not understand. Also, it was interesting how they noted that using jargon when common language is appropriate will just make u sound “self important”.  Also, was it just me or was the examples for slang on page 164 in the yellow LP book hilarious? They said something like “Joey’s ride is totally pimped out”. Who says that and means it? I thought that was funny 😛