Chapter 1. “They Say” “They Say I Say” by Generald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst, tell us how to write a reasonable argument by using certain templates. To make an argument sound professional you need support, words that are professional with meaning, and make sure your readers know what you’re talking about. “They Say I Say” isn’t just the title of this book, but think of it as a template with blanks you need to feel in. In most literature nowadays authors like to argue or set controversy so it receives the readers attention.
I make sure that at least my sentences are easily read and I try to avoid run-ons. I feel I could use a lot of improvement particularly in grammar and my vocabulary. I am hoping through this class my weakness list will lessen as my strengths increase. Overall, writing is nor my forte. I would really like to improve so my essays and other important papers become
Unit one also taught me to reevaluate how important certain priorities when it came to writing. I learned from the other unit one authors, Joseph M. Williams and James E. Porter, that when an essay is read by someone who is looking for grammatical error or plagiarism instead of content, they will often find the error and ignore the content. Although I do still know the importance of grammar and originality, this class and the grading style has let me put those constructs in the back seat until the editing process, instead of making them something I had to constantly worry about. I don’t believe that good writing revolves around grammar, but rather how well your words can convey a message to the intended audiences.
Know what you believe in and be gracious in conversation with others. Listening to other viewpoints does not mean you agree but you may be able to understand how the other person feels. I feel taking the time to listen quietly to others is a first step in our private lives to prevent arguments or heated debates. I was checking the Thesaurus for ideas on replacement words for this essay and ironically enough this is what I found: discussion= conversation, debate, argument, dialogue, chat, talk Argument= quarrel, fight, disagreement, dispute, row, spat, squabble, contention This is amazing, apparently we can choose different words but all comes full circle and we land back in the argument culture. The first step is to follow Tannin's advice and stop and look at all sides.
Final Paper My Thoughts on Ideology and the Class This English class, specifically Ken McGraw's English class, had quite an effect on me. I really liked how the discussions of ideology expanded my interpretation of the world as i see it. Everything i see from being with my family to reading fiction books has changed in my eyes. Something that i really enjoyed was coming to class, and hearing everybody else's views on what ideology is. It was different to each person and i guess that is kind what the definition of ideology is.
The way I improved my paper was taking my instructors constructive criticism and making the necessary corrections, to the best of my ability. I had obvious problems with the comma usage, dangling modifiers, and it was no question that I have to improve my vocabulary. Referring back to the text book and using the Thesaurus definitely helped me make the best revisions that I can make. The most challenging part of this assignment for me was to expand the use of my vocabulary. I know a lot of words; I just don’t use them in my everyday conversation, thus making it more difficult to incorporate in my essay.
According to Vonnegut , you should fine the subject that you care about In which you in your heart feel other should be care about. This is natural caring which will be the most interesting and teased element; don’t ramble, we may not discuss too widespread because it will make a paragraph out of focus; keep it simple, use simple language in order to the reader easy to understand what you mean; have guts to cut, If a sentence no matter how excellent, don’t afraid to scratch the sentence out if it doesn’t support the subject that you talk about; sound like yourself, no matter what your first language you should treasure it all your life; say what you mean to say, select the most effective words ,and relating words to one another unambiguously; pity the reader , they have to be able to identify thousand of little mark paper and make sense of them immediately; In addition , there are several elements are considered in order to make style in writing , they are :
Carr also reveals how it is the innate bias of the human mind to be distracted, or rather our predisposition to be as aware of as much as possible, which was once critical to our survival. But by reading from the printed book, we are able to focus and gain greater control over our attention and mind. After reading Nicholas Carr’s article, I couldn’t agree more for several reasons. First, is his point about the Net, with its constant distractions and interruptions, is turning us into scattered and superficial thinkers. Second, is his point about the human brain adapting to the information tools we use.
Jordan Taylor 4/24/12 Composition II Polites Reflective Statement In this course, College Composition II, I have learned many forms of writing effective argumentative pieces. The main thing I learned this year is how to effectively use sources to aid me in my argument. Along with that I learned that some sources are not credible and will not influence my writing much, if even at all. This helped me get better support in my arguments because I had credible sources that supported my argument. This course helped me utilize my sources better, made me realize my true freedom as a writer and understand how text may represent and have different meanings to other readers.
All of this is easily learned and understood, but when you begin to learn when to use comas, colons, and semi-colons, that is when the work becomes difficult. The boring subjects are the last issues that I have with the essays we are assigned in English classes. The subjects are almost always on some novel or a person we have read about in history. If the subjects were on something I liked, I might like English a bit more. Yet and still, I find myself writing my essays on less exciting subjects such as, “Why I hate English.” Second on my list are the thick novels I always find myself not reading.