Multimedia Brainstorm

For our multimedia project, our group is going to make a video. The argument that we are making in our video is that the freshman housing dorms are not worth the money that we pay for them. We are going to make a scary movie to illustrate our argument. In the movie we will show all the scary stuff that actually happens in the Byrnes dorm that people on the outside don't know bout. Within our video clip we will conduct interviews and give the results of the surveys that we have handed out. When our project is finished it will show a good representation of how the freshman housing is overpriced.

Instructor Conference

The conference that we had with our instructor went well. We showed her the parts of our video that we had recorded so far. She told us what we have to do to the film to make it better. She also said that we had a good start so far for our project. She also said it was a good idea for an argument. Overall, our instructor conference was positive and helped us find out what we still had to do.

Page 174 At a Glance

When revising my rough draft, I used some of the strategies that were given on page 174. Most of the strategies that I tried helped and made my final draft much better. I tried reading my rough draft aloud, but it didn't really help because i didn't find many mistakes this way. One thing that did work was putting my essay for a while then going back over it at a later time. I finished writing my rough draft, then instead of going over it when i was finished, I looked at it the next day and found that I could have gone a different way with some paragraphs. I then revised these paragraphs when it came time to write my final draft. We then did a peer review in class which helped out a lot. It allowed me to see what revisions I could make to my essay. Most of these revisions I would not have come up with by myself. I tried one more strategy, but it didn't help out at all. I tried revising my paragraphs out of order, but it was just messing up the flow of the whole essay. I tried several of these strategies on page 174, some of these proved to be beneficial, while some did not.

Page 440 Three Examples of Remixing Culure

It is very easy to see something these days that is a new creation that is based something in the past. It is very common to see this in the entertainment industry over the past decade. Just over the past few years, it has been a popular idea to make a movie based off of an old television show. Most of these shows have been based off of action shows during the 1970's for some strange reason. Some examples of these movies are The Dukes of Hazzard, Starsky and Hutch, Miami Vice, and also Get Smart. Most of these movies did not do well in the box office. Just recently the automobile industry has been "remixing" styles of older automobiles. Just this year Chevrolet has brought back the Camaro, and Dodge has brought back the Challenger. Both of these cars have not been produced in a while by their manufacturers. The new models are styled to look like how they were in the 1970's. Another form of remixing is mashups. Mashups are when someoun, usually a dj, combines two or more songs together to make a new song. An example of this is Dj Dangermouse's album, "The Grey Album." It combines songs from a Beetles album with songs from a Jay-Z album. Many things have been "remixed" as of lately. You can see that this doesn't always work for the better, in the case of the movies based off old t.v. shows.

Rough Draft Peer Review

The peer review that we did during class was quite beneficial for me. The person that looked over my essay found many mistakes in my essay that I overlooked when I was writing it. He also gave me some helpful information and some useful tips that I can implement in my final draft. One of the things mentioned was that I needed to improve the framework in my rough draft. He also said it might help if there were some quotes from George Bush in the section talking about why Bush decided to go to war and his plans once we invaded Iraq. He also said that there was a lot of information on public opinion. When I wrote my final draft, i took this into consideration and i shortened the paragraphs about the public opinion. There were many more suggestions that my grader made that helped me out when i revised my rough draft. All in all i believe this helped out a lot and my final draft was much better than my rough draft.

Strategies for Drafting

Before i start to write my research paper, I must make a rough draft. There are several ways in which i can approach this rough draft. My first objective will be to gather all of the information that I need to type this research paper. This would include any book sources, websites, magazines, and also any encyclopedia sources. Once I have found all of the sources that I need for this paper, I will gather information from the sources and start to organize the information. I will organize all of my information by using an outline. In the outline, I will organize my data in chronological order. Finally I will use my outline to write my rough draft.

October 23

When it comes to drafting for my research paper there will be several steps involved in this process. First I will gather all of my sources. After I have all the sources that I need, I will then start to take information from them and organize them in a chronological matter. Next I will come up with a thesis statement for my essay and then start building around that. My next step will be to analyze information from my outline and then start building my body paragraphs. After I am done writing my body paragraphs I will continue on to the conclusion paragraph. In the conclusion I will restate the thesis and give a summary to the facts that I have made in the previous paragraphs.

Note Taking Method

My methods for note taking are to first gather together all of my sources. Next I will read over all of the sources that i found. After I have read over these, i will high light all the information that will be useful for my essay. After all the information is gathered, I will then organize it and put it in logical order.

Interview Questions

Do you support the U.S. invading Iraq in 2003?

Do you think we should pull out of Iraq right now, or wait until all of the conflicts are resolved?

Do you think our next elected president will pull our troops out of Iraq, or keep them there?

Do you think invading Iraq has hurt or helped our economy?

Now that we are 5 years into this war, do you think Invading Iraq was a good idea or a bad idea?

4 Source Observations

Primary Sources- There is several types of primary sources. Examples of these are novels, poems, speeches, letters, diaries, blogs, and eyewitness accounts. Primary sources are mainly someone’s original words. They are mostly about them or accounts that they witnessed themselves.

Secondary Sources- These is sources that are written about a person, event, or topic. Some examples are biographies, encyclopedias, and news articles. Secondary sources are just as good as primary sources; they are just not about the person who wrote them.

Popular Sources- Popular sources are usually made by authors, journalists, or reporters. The sources are not listed and the topics are briefly addressed. You would most likely find these at newsstands and stores.

Scholarly Sources- These is written by authors who have academic credentials. These authors have studied the topic in depth and know how to present both sides of the topic. These sources are more credible that popular sources.

Research Process Observation

As of right now, the research process is all right. I can find a ton of information on the internet. The only thing that is not helping my research process is the databases and catalogs. I can find information about the Iraq War on the catalogs and databases, but I cannot find any authors opinions of the war. The visual mapping is helping with my research. It helps me get more organized and helps me construct my essay. I have done much research so far, but I still have a long way to go in order to have a sufficient amount of information for my essay.

Creative Practice Page 113

When researching my topic on the internet, I received great results. I searched the words ‘Iraq War’ and I received a ton of results. These websites were mostly facts and information on the Iraq War. I was looking more for people’s views and opinions on the Iraq War. So I refined my search to ‘people’s opinions of the Iraq War’ and there was not sufficient information on people’s views. So my next idea was to look at the library catalog. I typed ‘Iraq War’ into the catalog search and there were 716 results found. I then tried typing in ‘opinions on Iraq War’ then ‘views on Iraq War’ and received useful information for my essay. My last search was the library’s database. There was no information about any wars or international affairs. The library database was pretty much useless to me for this topic.

DK Handbook Google Search

Audience: People care about this topic because many people are big fans of Major League Baseball. This issue is also something that is on going right now. They might know the players that are involved and the records that may be tainted.

Purpose: This topic will expand my learning because my research and writing skills will improve from completing this essay. I can interest my audience by finding information that will be interesting and appealing to them.

Context: This topic is rich enough to give me enough information for this essay. There is so much information that can be found on the internet about this topic. It seems complex enough because there are many sides to this issue in the MLB. There is a major investigation going on nationally right now surrounding the issue of steroids in baseball.

Google: There is a lot of interest in this topic because it is always on the national news giving updates in this investigation. The majority of the people believe that there should be allowed no steroids in the MLB. Most of the webpages follow the same opinions of the general public.

Research Topic

The topic that I will be researching for my political cartoon paper will be the use of steroids in Major League Baseball. In the essay I will talk about and explain the political cartoon. I will show the effect that steroids have had on baseball in the past decade. I will then tie all this information in to visual rhetoric.

Page 55 Creative Practice

There is a very unique photograph found on page 55. Photographer Todd Heisler took this photo. The picture is of a soldier’s coffin returning home on a civilian flight into Reno, Nevada, being draped with an American flag prior to being unloaded from the plane. There are several people on this flight that are watching this unfold. They are looking at this with blank faces. I think the photographer is trying to show that the expression on these people’s faces is how American’s view the war in Iraq. The people look interested in what’s going on but are not shocked about what they see. They are so used to hearing everyday that a soldier has died that it doesn’t even phase them when they see the coffin of the dead soldier in person. I would say that American’s don’t realize how serious and terrible it is when a soldier dies in the Iraq War.

Page 34 Collaborative Challenge

There was a commercial that caught my attention online. This particular ad was for Nike. The main character in this advertisement was Michael Jordan. In this ad he was getting out of a car and walking to the arena. As he’s walking, there is people all around him taking pictures of him as he walks by. Everything is silent around him and you can only hear him talking. The thing that makes this commercial so special is that they are not trying to sell anything in this ad. Michael Jordan is talking about all the times in his career where he failed. The commercial ends with Jordan saying “I have failed over and over and over in my life, and that is why, I succeed.” This ad is not meant to sell anything, its meant to teach young athletes to never give up how ever many times you fail. It is a great inspirational commercial with one of the greatest athletes of all time in any sport.

C1 Assignment

There are several factors that influence a person’s grade. You can split this up into two sections, what that individual does inside the classroom and outside the classroom. I believe that I have done well enough in both the classroom and outside of the classroom in order to receive an “A” for my grade so far this semester.
My hard work has been evident inside the classroom. I have shown up to class on a regular basis so far this semester. I’ve never been tardy on the days of class. When it comes to classroom activities I always take part in them. I work with my classmates to the best of my ability in these activities. I have done everything necessary inside the classroom in order to receive a good grade.
I have done much work outside of the classroom that should reflect in the grade that I deserve. When it comes to the homework, I always accomplish it on time. Even though my blog was not working for the first couple weeks I still handed in the homework via email. When it comes to the complicated MyCompLab, I have turned the work in on time and to the best of my ability. That is the hard work that I have put in outside of the classroom.
I have put in the time and effort inside and outside the classroom to deserve a good grade. There is something that I have not yet mentioned that is a factor in the grading process. I try my hardest to always get the best grade that I can. When I didn’t understand what was going on in class, I either stayed after to ask questions, or I stopped by during your office hours. I hope this gives clear reason to why I deserve an “A” so far this semester.

B1 Assignment

There are several areas of English that I have improved since the beginning of the semester. Some of these areas can fall under the course strands. Not only have I gotten better in some areas, but I have also acquired some new skills. These improvements have made me a better writer and student so far this semester.
I can honestly say that I have learned many new skills in the technology category this year. One example for me this year is learning how to use My Comp Lab. I wouldn’t say that I have mastered the skills needed for My Comp Lab, but I do know how to turn in assignments. I also learned how to set up my very own blog this semester. It took me a couple weeks and several tries but I finally got it working. I now have the ability to point out visual rhetoric every time I walk to class. It hasn’t just been new skills that I have gained this year; I have had several areas of English that have gotten better. If you look at the course strands, there are many areas that have improved. Since the beginning of the year it is much easier for me to recognize ethos and pathos. I have learned new strategies when it comes to researching topics for essays. Finally, I have gotten much better at revising rough drafts and editing final products. These several improvements have helped me be a better writer and student.
I have learned a variety of different skills so far this semester in English class. I have improved in the several course strands. I have obtained so many new skills that I did not have before. Although this change is very subtle, it has made me a much better English student.

Page 91 At a Glance

The topic that I researched and found a political cartoon on is something that I am interested in. I have been a fan of baseball my entire life and I have grown up watching it since I was a small child. I am also very interested in the scandals that are involved with the sport. I can effectively take a position on this topic and do a good job arguing it. This will be an easy topic to find research on because there are so many documents and articles written about the topic of steroids in baseball. There are many documented papers about this subject and news interviews and articles. This research appeals to me because I love watching baseball and I have also played the sport since I was 5 years old. This is a good topic for me to research and form an argument about.

Argument Strategies

I observed two different essays and I was able to pick up useful information from the both of them. The first essay that I read did a very good job making a valid argument. I was able to see how they constructed their essay and now I can use it to make my essay much better. The second essay I read was a little weaker than the first essay I read. They had a little trouble getting their argument across and their transition from paragraph to paragraph was not fluent. I took some notes on what I saw in this essay that made it not as good as the first. Now I know in the future when I’m writing my own essays which methods are effective and which methods are not.

Page 22-23 Thesis

With recent news of Barry Bonds using performance enhancing drugs, the real question on everyone’s mind now is what other players used performance enhancing drugs to taint other records?

Page 21 At a Glance

The image that I have chosen is very persuasive towards the audience. Someone who knows about what is going on in the MLB right now can figure out from this cartoon that steroids are the major problem. There are several sufficient elements in this cartoon that can be analyzed. A person can analyze this and come up with several questions to ask. For example, why is the baseball falling apart, why is the word steroids written on the inside, and why are the words Major League of Baseball written on it? The intended audience is any sports fan or any Major League Baseball fan. This group can either be male, female, child or adult. My interpretation is that this is a creative and well-crafted cartoon. It gets his view across to the audience and its simple.

Avatars

Avatars are a computer user's representation of themselves, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games, a two-dimensional icon, picture, used on internet forums and other communities, or a text construct. It is an object representing the embodiment of the user. The term avatar can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name of an Internet user. There are several places where you can find avatars. These places are computer games, internet forums, instant messaging programs, blogs, and video games.
The users of these programs create the avatars. I believe that since the user creates them, and they are meant to represent the user. In doing so, then avatars reflect a person’s identity. If you’re making a representation of yourself to show to everyone using the same program as you, you want to make it an accurate representation. When you create it, you may dress your person in the same way as you; make them have the same haircut, hair color, eye color, or any other way to make that character represent yourself. Avatars don’t necessarily have to look like you; they could just be a symbol that represents one of your interests. A common example is the instant messaging program AIM. On AIM, each person can choose a buddy icon. This buddy icon can be anything from your favorite sports team to your favorite band. Although this isn’t a character that looks like you, it still reflects your identity.

A2 Assignment

As of right now in my life, I have come developed in the categories of Rhetoric, Argumentation, Information Design and Technology, Research, and Collaboration. Over the years, these skills flourished making myself a better writer.
Whether you notice it or not, you are constantly surrounded by rhetoric. Over the years, I have been able to take in all the information around me and discern; what is important and what is not important. When you’re a child, you notice everything around you and pick it apart. For example, you’re walking down the street and you pass a pizza restaurant, a sales ad for women’s clothing, and a store that sells guitars. When you’re a child, you will go up to each of these different places, explore them and see what their all about. Even if these places do no apply to you, you’re still interested and want to find out more about them. But over the years you develop the ability to understand texts rhetorically. When your older, if your not hungry, not buying women’s clothing and not a fan of guitars, you will pass all these places without even paying attention to them or focusing on them. Also, as you get older you develop the ability to analyze texts rhetorically. You can look at a political cartoon and if you look closely at the details- the choice words, the composition of the image, the particular colors, layout, color placement, and design- then you can gain a deeper understanding of the cartoon’s message.
The skill of argumentation is something that develops, over time. You learn several organizational strategies that help you compose an argument. Some examples of these strategies are chronological structure, cause and effect, problem solution, block structure, thematic structure, and deferred thesis. When making a convincing argument, your style is also a factor. Style concerns choosing the appropriate expression for the ideas of your argument; these choices relate to language, tone syntax, rhetorical appeals, metaphors, imagery, quotations, level of emphasis, and nuance. Learning these different skills of argumentation can make it easier proving your point of view and stand on an issue when writing essays.
These days, information and technology are big factors for students. Students are constantly surrounded by new information and technology. We are being enticed by the big technology companies to buy their new products whether it’s a new computer, gaming system, dvd player, ipod, or any other technology. Students are barraged every minute of their day with information of new technology. This is evident when you walk into a store, see a bulletin board, hear your friend talking about the new item that they bought, or even on television commercials.
Recently it has gotten much easier to do research for projects and work. Ever since the internet was invented, information has become more available and easier to find. With more information available, researching topics has become almost effortless. More websites have been founded to help in this research such as Google, Yahoo, and Wikipedia. Also as you get older, you learn different and better methods and strategies for researching a topic. Right now finding research is easier than it has ever been in the past.
Collaborating is when several students work together on assignments. As you get older, you tend to work in groups with students more often. Working in groups helps students to understand the assignments better. It is also easier for students to talk to their peers with problems with the homework rather than ask a teacher. Studying and completing homework in groups also helps students receive better grades in the class.
As students get older, these several strands constantly surround them. At all times of the day whether you know it or not, you are encountering these five strands. Being exposed to rhetoric, argumentation, information, technology, research and collaboration makes them better students.

A1 Assignment

Q. What are my strengths academically?
A. You’re good at completing assignments on time. You’re very focused on your schoolwork. If you’re given work, it is always done on time and to your best ability. You’re a hard worker. You’re always studying for tests and also motivated to take challenging courses. Finally, you work well in groups.
Q. What are my weaknesses?
A. One weakness is that you don’t ask for help because you think you can do it all by yourself. You’re slow at taking tests. You don’t take advantage of extra help when it’s offered.
Q. What can I do to improve my weaknesses?
A. Identify all of the opportunities that the college provides to help you excel. Identify them and put them in your schedule so that you can take advantage of them. Identify people in the class that you can study with. Feel comfortable asking professors for help.
Q. How have I developed over the years?
A. As you went through high school, you became more motivated to take tougher courses. Even though I told you they would b tough, you said that you could handle them. In 12th grade almost all of your classes were either AP or college courses. You became more involved in extra curricular activities and sports. You became more well rounded.
Q. Is there anything that has gotten worse over the years?
A. You procrastinate more. You wait till the end and do everything last minute.
Q. Can you see a change over the years?
A. You’re a more mature and focused student.
Q. What can I do to help myself in the future?
A. Learn to manage your time so not only do you focus on class work, but get involved in intramurals and other activities that will make you a better student.
Q. Is there a person or persons that have influenced me to be a better student?
A. Your family motivated you to do your best by having both parents go to college and be successful and having an older sibling go to college also.
Q. Out of all my strengths, which is my strongest?
A. You want to be successful in your college experience.

Daily Rhetoric, Page 4

Today I walked to my classes and I observed many different forms of rhetoric. This morning I woke up to my roommate’s television as usual. The point at which I woke up was in the middle of a commercial break. The first commercial was an advertisement for a new cell phone from Verizon that just came out. The next commercial was one of those apple commercials where they compared the apple computers to personal computers. At this point I was running late for class so I decided to leave. Walking to my class I noticed several bulletins posted on walls. I decided to take a short cut to my engineering class today so I walked through the union. Once I was inside, there were bulletins and advertisements everywhere. There were posters for upcoming concerts at Little John, bulletins for new clubs to join, a poster notifying when intramural sign ups were, and many other. After walking through the union, I figured that was enough visual rhetoric for me for the day so I decided to ignore all other rhetoric for the rest of the day.

Page 96

The Iraq War has been on the minds of many Americans since March 20, 2003. When we declared war with Iraq, there were a majority of Americans that were against this idea. President George Bush stated that the reason we were invading them was to stop the war against terrorism, find Osama Bin Laden, and find all of Saddam’s weapons against mass destruction. It has been five years since the start of the war and none of these have been accomplished.
There are several sources in this war that can be identified. I plan to look through old articles on the internet to find information. There are also several government websites that give information about this topic. There are also videos on this topic that further investigate it. Finally I can look at government documents on the internet that are on the topic of the war in Iraq.
There will be several problems that I may come across when researching this topic. The first might be false information given out. The second might be someone’s opinion rather that fact. Finally there could be information given out that is not up to date.

Biography

I guess I’ll start with my full name, which is, Michael George Ziobrowski. I was born in Lewiston New York at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital on May 23, 1990. Lewiston is a small town about five minutes from Niagara Falls and about a half hour away from Buffalo. I have lived in Lewiston my whole life but I have moved once. I am 18 years old and I have one older sister. Her name is Alyssa and she is a senior at St. John Fisher College. I have two parents who are both retired. My mom’s name is Jane and my dad’s name is Glenn. My mom used to work at city hall in Buffalo and my dad worked at a company named Washington Mills.
At my high school I played varsity baseball and varsity football in my junior and senior year. For my baseball team I was a pitcher and played infield. For football I played wide receiver and cornerback. In my free time I like to hang out with my friends, play ultimate frisbee, golf, and play Xbox.
In my life I’ve had two different jobs. For a little over a year I was a dishwasher and pantry chef at a local Italian restaurant. This past summer, I worked at the boat ride at Niagara Falls called The Maid of the Mist. At Clemson I am majoring in engineering and will be playing several different intramural sports.