EXTRA CREDIT - JK

This class really surprised me. It being just a writing class, it could have went into so many directions. I really enjoyed a lot of the topics discussed. I also enjoyed a lot of the readings we had to do. I think this class was extremely modern and up to speed with what's relevant today. I thought this class was going to be like a typical English class, but we got to write about ourselves a lot more and that, to me, makes it so much easier to write in the style I'm best at. I used to love writing, but somewhere in High School I started dreading writing assignments and they made me feel like I was an awful writer. This class made me like writing again. I actually remember what it's like not to dread doing a five page paper. I also liked doing the blogs. I liked how we really could just go off on tangents on the blog. After reading something that you like it's easy to just talk about, and the blog allowed us to do that. I also liked all the clips that were played in class. All really went along with what was being discussed and I think they helped me better understand, not to mention funny. I really hate peer editing. I don't really find it helpful only because they just show you the spelling and grammar errors. I just really hate it. I really loved that we could turn in a our papers and then re-turn it in after you checked it. Since your opinion is the only one that really matters, it's nice that you offer that. Overall, I really enjoyed your class ! Good luck next semester.

Extra Credit - TH

While reflecting back on our writing class, a lot of things come to mind. First off, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed the class and all the different discussions. To tell you the truth, I actually enjoyed doing the blogs once a week. I liked the blogs because you could see how other interpreted the information compared to your own views. I noticed that most of the time I had very different interpretations than my classmates. The best part in my eyes of the class was watching the different YouTube videos randomly throughout the year. I really enjoyed these because if you wouldn't have shown us these videos in class, I would have never watched them. The best video of the year was the British comedian that sang the national anthems. As far as the papers go, I feel that the last paper of the class was the hardest by far. The topic was rather easy but it was tough to find credible information that was usable. My favorite paper by far was the one about learning styles. I feel that with this paper I could write all day because it was all mostly based on your personal experiences. Also while doing this paper I realized some different learning styles that I never thought I had. I feel that in this class I learned a great deal of information that will benefit me throughout my college years. Finally, I just want to thank you for answering my emails so quickly, you’re the only one out of all my professors that even answers.

Extra Credit Blog (BG)

As my experience in college writing comes to an end, i like to think it was a success. the class really had me thinking the entire semester and it kept me interested in everything we did in class, read, blogged about, all of it. I really enjoyed the class because it was relaxed and that helped the learning process for me. I liked doing the blogs. At first i didn't think i would like them, but it was a lot of fun and easier than writing out the assignments on paper and turning them in. there were always questions that had me thinking and i really liked that. I am going to miss this class. It really has taught me a lot that i will take with me to my other classes. My favorite part was our discussions, especially the cat vs dog argument. our discussions were always fun but always stuck to the message in the end. This was an awesome class and i am really going to miss it. Maybe i will have the same professor down the road, that be awesome. :) But time will tell, and i cant wait to take what i have learned and put it to work in my other classes.

Extra Credit Blog

Overall I think my College Writing experience was a success. I like the way the class was set up and the laid back atmosphere. The topics we had to write about in the papers were manageable. They made you think, however I did not have much trouble starting them. I really was surprised when I got my first paper back with an attached report on what you liked and did not like. It was constructive criticism that I really appreciated. That was the first time a teacher or professor took the time out to do that for every student. Next are the blogs. At first I was a little sceptical given the fact I have never written on a blog before, but I got use to it and enjoyed the creative way of earning points. It also exposed me to a different way to write. This definitely helped me because I just received a job at the campus BURR as a online writer and blogger. So not only do I feel comfortable with my tasks, but I have experience.
I also enjoyed group work. I learned and made friends at the same time. My table was fun and made me enjoy the class even more. I can probably say that this class was my favorite this semester. I liked the way you related and had discussions with the class and now am actually looking forward to College Writing 2.

extra credit

I was very interested in a lot of the topics we discussed in this class, and the whole aspect of media's influence on the world, and our society today was different, and fun to write about. There was focus with our assignments but also a good amount that we got to decide on our own which is a nice change from the classes I took in high school. It was nice to actually enjoy writing sometimes. Especially with the final, which was a lot of work, and hard because i was using a program i never worked with, but not something i dreaded using, and im happy i know how to use imovie now. After talking to people in other college writing classes I am even more pleased with the focused theme we had in this class because other classes seemed to have either very random topics, or just plain boring ones. I am happy with my performance in the class and feel that i learned a lot, improved and have more confidence in my writing.

Final Paper

While starting my final paper, I have come across a few challenges. One of the biggest challenges I have encountered so far is the part of finding reliable sources to use within my paper. When searching for sources I found many opinions rather than proven information. So, you have to be careful because no one cares about someone's opinion unless they back it up with facts. Another problem i have had is that I have to decide which topics I would like to use and which I would not. I think my paper would be more effective if I go into depth with information on less topics rather than just brush over many topics. Overall, this paper isn't too challenging it just takes time to find credible sources, which is a lot different than our previous papers where it didn't involve research. At the point that I'm at now, I feel that I have found enough information to complete my paper. All I have to do now is figure out how to structure my essay.

Obstacle in Writing

I would have to say my biggest obstacle in doing this final paper is finding sources that I want to use and incorporate into my paper. Valid sources at that. I’m looking for someone, other than an opinionated regular citizen, who agrees with my point of view. I chose to write about whether I think that certain ways we communicate with each other is still considered writing. Most scholars think that writing has taken a turn for the worst in terms of communication. Another difficulty that is perhaps evenly matched is that is, that I cannot seem to get my paper to the page limit without those extra sources and content to talk about. One cannot write a lengthy paper without enough content.

complications with paper

I would say that right now my biggest difficulty with this paper is getting the motivation to get into it. It's not a subject that's particularly interesting to me it's kind of a tiring topic. I'm also just very bad at procrastination as it is so although I have done a little bit of work on it, I always have difficulty working on a paper when it's not the last minute when I know it must be done. Since this is a paper that requires much research and planning, it would be very difficult and un-wise to choose to wait last minute. Also, doing all the research is seeming a bit overwhelming it's hard to pick the perfect credible sources and citing is not fun for me. I would say my main struggle is just the type of paper and keeping an interest while writing it so I can maintain a solid argument and not be too focused on just getting it over with.

Biggest Obstacle

I would have to say that my biggest obstacle in writing this final essay would have to deal with my thesis statement. I chose to talk about the question asking if electronic media will ever replace the written word. I have had trouble with my thesis statement because I want to completely agree or disagree, but I also want to take both sides. I am finding it very hard to try and agree or disagree without mixing in both. Another obstacle that I have run into is trying to break up my thoughts. I tend to write a paragraph, but the paragraph is a page long. I need to figure out how to slipt my paragraph up so it is not a long boring essay. I would much rather someone read multiple paragraphs instead of having to read one long reading.

paper

Well this is kind of embarrassing but i honestly have not yet started this paper yet. I have somewhat of an idea of what I am going to write on but have not yet fully developed my ideas. The biggest of my problems is figuring out everything I am going to write. I have to brainstorm my ideas or else I will not have enough to write about. Starting the paper is THE hardest part for me. Another thing I have trouble with is finding sources for my paper. I want the sources to be good ones so I always have a hard time finding them. Developing my main ideas I know is what I have the most trouble with. I plan to start on this paper this weekend. I know I should have started it earlier and I highly regret waiting. I just need to find reliable sources and I will feel better.

Final Essay

My final essay/project is actually coming along quite well. I've almost finished the video taping and it went smoothly. I just need one other person and then myself. With each person it was a little awkward at first because not many people are used to talking to a camera, but eventually each person loosened up and made some very thought provoking points.

I thought the hardest part was going to be tying everything together into one thesis statement but I've got some ideas. Everyone was pretty much on the same page with interviews so I think it will be pretty easy. What I'm not looking forward to is the editing. I've used MovieMaker twice before but never like this, I'll probably get the hang of it but it will be time consuming. Another hard part is knowing that I don't have all of the time in the world. I keep wanting to interview everyone I see! However, I know that I won't have enough time to edit it all and put it together. So I'm tyring hard to keep it small. I'm also trying to keep a narrow enough focus but incorporating many ideas. With a topic like this, alone I could probably talk for hours but I would probably get off track.

Overall I'm very excited about the project. I think the work will turn out to be worth it because it's something I'm interested in and talk about all of the time with my friends.

road block in final paper

This essay I would have to say has been the hardest essay to write and come up with ideas for. When I picked this essay topic I was going to write about I was very excited because it was an interesting topic that I kind of always wondered about. My topic was about " will electric media replace the written word as the go to sources of information and entertainment". I would have to say yes and no. I really don't have too much trouble with this paper in the beinning it is mostley for our next part that is due on friday. I really just don't understand what all of what I want to say for this essay and how I am going to word it really. I know that is supposed to be an argument and I have a good argument about it, but I just don't know how I can take the argument statement and turn it into something grand and well written persay. I am a person who loves to argue and loves to express her own oppinion, but when it comes to writting essays about my oppinion it kind of tends to drift off of the argument and doesn't sound as forceful as I would like it to be portrayed. I had done a paper like this in high school with an argumentive statement and had thought it was great then turned it in and got a really low score because she said my thoughts were not clear enough to see what I was arguing and that I think is where I need the most help and need to stress more.

Roadblocks on final paper

I'm actually kind of excited about this final paper because the medium I chose should be nice break in the old type and hand in way. I chose to do the audio essay where you speak your essay and record versus writing it on paper. There is only a few difficulties I foresee in this project. The first of which would be finding the right topics to talk about that have to relate to the question I chose. Another difficulty I see is using the sources in the paper. My guess is that Im just going to say something like "according to blah blah 60 percent of people believe this" or something along those lines. Another possible problem I see is getting my audio essay to work on other peoples computers. Not that it is a huge problem, it is just something that could be time consuming or tedious.

Project

My project is coming along so far. I am doing a power point instead of a paper. The only thing I am unsure of is how to incorporate modalities. I understand what they are, but I am unsure on how you want them put into the project. I am also a little concerned on length. As of right now I have about 17-18 slides. I seemed to have answered the questions with supportive sources, but I am thinking maybe I should add more. Lastly, since it is not a paper, should I physically hand you a junk drive or email the final product to you? Overall, I feel like it will be a persuasive argument with pictures and video to help support.

Last essay (Kyle Baker)

So far I haven't gotten much progress on the final essay. Part of my problem is i'm not to clear on the sources that we have to give. I'm n ot completely sure whether i just pull qoutes out of convergences that agree with the fact that I'm arguing. Despite me not beginning the essay i have began to brainstorm quite a bit on the direction of where my paper is going. I also have a couple question as to how you want the set up. Are we supposed to give a qoute and the direction that it's going and some background and then relate it to what our argument is? Other than that most of the ideas that I'm going to be arguing are pretty clear.

Final Paper Issues

I think my biggest obstacle will be finding enough to write about. I think this class has allowed me to see that one of my greatest challenges with writing is knowing how much to say. I either know what I want to say and have trouble expanding on it or I write and write to the point where my thought gets lost a big mess of unnecessary words. For this paper, I'm pretty sure of the arguments I want to make but am uncertain of my ablities to stretch those ideas to fit the page requirement. I'm not too worried though because usually while writing papers I'll get new ideas to expand on. I'm also worried about finding enough time to write the paper in the way that I'd like because, of course, finals are coming up and I want to make sure I have time to study and sleep. But again, I'm really not too worried and if worse comes to worse there's always coffee.

Final Paper-Greg Knapp

To be honest I haven’t really thought too much about this paper. However, I did come across some problems when doing part 1. I am worried about sounding crazy in my paper. What I mean is that I know that we have to do a preemptive strike, but when thinking of arguments, I thought I sounded like I was talking to myself. I need to figure out to make it sound like I am not arguing with myself. I also found trouble in answering the questions listed at the bottom. I am not really sure if you want us to simply answer them with a paragraph or throughout the essay. So far these are the only concerns that I have. I think that once I start doing more in depth research on my topic, things will become clearer to me.

In Class Blog (Kevin Farr)

For our final paper I came across two main roadblocks, procrastination and coming up with a good thesis statement. When working on our first part of the paper, the one page summary, I had so many thoughts in my head of which was i wanted to take the paper and what essay topic out of the three I wanted to choose. As i started to write i couldn't come up with a clear thesis, I have many thoughts of which way to take my paper but after i sit down this weekend and work on it a little i should have a better idea of how i want my paper to go. This leads into my second problem, procrastination. I haven't really worked too much of the paper so far and this weekend i am really not looking forward to getting a head start on it. With two weeks left in the semester all i can think about is getting home to some of my mom cooking and not having to shower with sandals on anymore. I hope that my preparation for my other finals, which i am starting this weekend, will also include me writing some of this final paper. It all depends on how i feel this weekend, which i hope is ready to work, but most likely ill be sleepy all weekend and have to push through it to get my work done.

Struggles with the Final (BG)

So far the final essay i have had little struggles. but i have the feeling that iam going to struggle with not being repetitive. its been a problem in my past essays and iam still trying to get the hang of it. other than that the only other thing that might be an issue is grammar. i tend to not look at grammar or i look over it when reading a paper. i don't know why but ive never given it thought. these things i hope to be very cautious on in my final since theres really no do overs this time. i plan to look back on my essays and see where i have the most troubles in grammar and re read my paper many times to make sure i don't sound very repetitive. i might struggle with some citations but i think these are all little things that i can be aware of.

FINAL In-Class Blog

Well considering the only part that I've done for this final paper is part 1 I still have a lot of work left to do. I haven't begun to think about how I'm going to start it. I do know I have ideas formed from the first part. Earlier today I made up a schedule of how I'm going to deal with both of my final papers for 2 of my classes, both due next Friday. I guess that's a good start, better then nothing. I hope that I can make this paper my best one yet even though it's the hardest one and will probably be graded pretty strictly, seeing as how this is a writing class and this is our final paper. I hope my sources don't cause me a lot of trouble when I begin the paper. Those are probably the main concerns I have about the paper at the time. I'm sure more issues about it will pop up and then I'll be able to know what I'm going to have trouble with.

my final paper problems

So far my largest obstacle would have to be the issue of not starting yet. I tried to make an honest attempt to start my paper somewhat today knowing that we were going to be blogging today. When I tried to start my paper today my first thought was Where do I start !? Do I need to do research? Do I just start writing? So I kind of just didn't really try to write my paper today. Those questions are probably the rest of my issues so far. With this being our last and largest amount of points worthy I feel like I am also a bit overwhelmed when it comes to this paper because I feel like there should be so much going into this paper because it is worth so many points. I do think having my thesis somewhat prepared already does help because it kind of gives me like one foot into the paper of where I now need to go with the rest of my paper. Other than that I am pretty lost. I am hoping once I make an honest effort into starting my paper I will feel better about my paper and won't have as many questions.

final essay

So far the biggest difficulty with the final essay is that i decided to use imovie which I am not exactly familiar with. Using imovie isn't so bad but I am having a hard time expressing everything i want to with the essay. Im pretty sure my thesis is clear throughout the video but the transitions from topics is a little awkward. I had no trouble finding sources but have not begun to cite them yet, which is something I always leave to the end because it is so frustrating and tedious to make sure citations are accurate. Also I keep finding myself mixing the three topics of choice and feel like my point is less focused that way, I had trouble with this in the proposal as well but hopefully the message will be clear when i am finished.

Paper

I think that this paper is going to be a bigger challenge than all of the other ones have been so far. This one is going to include a lot more research and time taken to write it. I have not yet started it, but when I do I think that it will not be that hard to write. I feel that most of the time being put into this paper will be the research part of it. Research always takes the longest to do out of anything for me. Most likely because I always get distracted while I am trying to find it online. Also because there is so much information to read, which takes time to find what I am looking for. I feel that I can write a solid paper on the topic that I chose.

paper

I think the hardest part is going to be doing the sources and makeing sure they are right. I also think cerditiable information is going to be hard to i have to find wed sites that are good sources. I havent started my paper yet but i intend to start it this weekend and work through out the week. i also dont like that i am not gettin someone elses feed back on the paper i am going to have to have people from outside of the class to check it. I need to have strong points and i think that might be hard to because i feel this paper can go in a lot of different directions Im not very good and making effective arguments so i hope this goes well. I feel i will be fine once i get going. getting started is the hardest part but once i have all my info then i can start making ideas off those and put together a good paper.

Obsticles with the Final Paper

Well, so far on the paper I have struggled a lot with just getting things to flow. It is a topic I have a lot of ideas on but getting things such as quotes from people who may possible matter opinions I have been struggling. I have also found it difficult to build a good intro to things. Since this is the last essay and due basically at the end of the semester I know that there will be no chance to revise so this is the one that really counts. (not that previous final drafts did not count before) I have been spending a lot of time trying to make sure my ideas are flowing, and well basically they are not. ha. With the end of the semester so near I think it is my fault just based on the fact I am ready to move on. Besides these two things, my idea and putting on paper are going well. Once I get over this case of writers block the essay should be great. (I hope)