READY OR NOT, HERE I COME!

Only one more week of school and one week of finals until the relaxation and the warm summer sun. However as the end of the school year approaches I ask myself am I ready for Eng 104? Has my writing developed effectively and am I ready to take on the new challenges next fall? I know I can honestly say I have tried my best and worked to the best of my abilities in this course. I can notice a significant difference in my writing, and just how more easier writing is. I use to dread writing a paper, but I believe now it really is not that freighting. I have learned the right approaches to take when forming ideas; like using a clusters or a web. I have become 100% better in locating academic sources and citing them in my paper. For most of my papers, I would use Academic Search Premier, to find scholarly journals and see where those ideas take me. I have learned how to incorporate appeals into my papers such as: logos, pathos, and ethos. Even my mother who will occasionally read a paper or two of mine even expressed my growth and development in my writing skills.
With this year coming to an end, we are preparing our final portfolios for this class. These portfolios are one last look to see how our work demonstrates our best writing we have done in this course. I have chosen to do projects one, two, and three. I am trying my best to rethink, and revise my papers and ideas. Like they always say practice makes perfect!

Conjunction Junction

This week in class while reading papers out loud we focused on grammar. Grammar is the most common mistake found in papers. Grammar has always been a tough subject for me; and I still have to go back and check that each of my sentences has a subject and a predicate. A sentence must express a complete thought. A sentence could be as simple as “Dogs bark.” The noun being dogs, and the verb being bark. What I struggle the most on is commas, semicolons, and colons. I always get these confused, and some times use the wrong one. A comma connects and links the sentence. (I love English, but I hate math.) A semicolon links related independent clauses. In addition, a colon links independent clauses that define or explain each other. (My favorite class are: English, History, and Science.)

However, when it comes to grammar, no one knows it better than School House Rock! We all remember this animated musical educational short film. The topics covered included grammar, science, economics, history, mathematics, and civics. Airing on Saturday morning children's programming on the U.S. television network ABC The series produced original episodes between 1973 and 1986 with 37 episodes. The famous “conjunction junction what’s your function” is well remembered, and the catchy tune that will never be forgotten. Just incase you need a refreshment of this song, the video is below!





- Works Cited -

BallPoint 7.2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Rock!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkO87mkgcNo

Revisions

Revision means to see again, revision are the idea to look carefully at all aspects of the paper. This week we have focused our time on revisions. Each class, two students were able to read aloud their papers, allowing them to see any errors they have made, and for constructive criticism. When reading aloud you hear how your paper sounds, and could catch many silly errors. Classmates then look at the writing program grading continuum, and are assigned a current topic such as: convincingly, thesis, organization, development, syntax, research, mechanic, and format. The readers get much more feedback then how we use to do revisions. Usual we would only have a short feedback from only about two or three students. This way everyone gets to really think about each other’s papers and give helpful feedback. Although this method takes so long, I really enjoy this beneficial way to revise and rethink papers.

Relaxation

This week, class was a relief and very relaxing. It is always a relief to present a project and know you have completed it to the best of your ability. In this case, but not always others, we worked as a team to get our project accomplished. Andrew Carnegie once said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” I was nice to watch the other groups present and see what they did, and how they worked through the projects with the same goal. Though we had the least amount of fans, I believe we had the one of the most interacted pages with statues, pictures, and even a video. We had a total of 71 fans. Overall I think my team and I did a great job! Below is a video that is on the Carmichael facebook fan page. This video interview a couple individuals about there thought on the smoking section, and why they enjoy it!

GIS

What is GIS? How is it useful? Before class on Monday, March 22, I asked myself these questions. The GIS Research and Map Collection (GRMC) is an included GIS lab and customary map collection found on Bracken Library’s second floor. This collection consists of a wide range of resources, including over 145,000 paper maps, GIS data, atlases and more. I had no idea GIS had so many maps and atlas. We learned how to locate, and make a map that all of us have access to. Maps could be used for papers, speeches, and especially our facebook project.

Located under our classes GIS section there are useful resources that we could use for our projects. For my project I used the “smoking location maps” (left) and “a photo of Carmiacheal and Johnson B building.” Both are photos on our page!

Also this week we had a timed writing on Friday, which was a controversy about Alaska's governor Palin, and American's animated sitcom Family Guy. (right) In this writing were to demonstrate our progression in our writing and our knowledge about logos, pathos and ethos. I really like the article, and thought it was easy to write about, and it allowed students to have different views to write about.


Furthermore, projects will be presented on Monday, and I believe my teams progress is quit well. We are following the time line and the page was created pictures are up, a video is up, and fan are being added!


--Work Cited--
GIS under Ball States Website.

Carmichael smoking section

Our group has chosen to do Carmichael smoking section for our facebook project. Our strategy for deciding upon this area is that there are a lot of smoker at Ball State University and we could get them to become a fan of our page. I myself do not smoke, but a lot of my friends and family members do. The first thing I thought to do with this project is research Ball State smoking policy. Ball State University is committed to the health and wellness of its students, faculty, staff, and visitors. On March 17, 2008, Ball State became a smoke-free campus, creating a healthier environment for living, learning, and working. Smoking is prohibited in all university buildings and outdoor campus areas except designated locations. Anyone who fails to comply with this policy may be fined $50 per occurrence.
According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year. Indiana has the fifth-highest smoking rate per capita in the United States, and smoking-related diseases cost Indiana residents more than $2 billion each year. A smoke-free campus is important for the health and vitality of the university community.
Ball State is among dozens of other colleges and universities around the country that are smoke-free. (“Smoke Free Campus”) This is one of the most common yet nicely and conveniently hidden smoking sections. I decided I wanted to observe this spot twice once during the day and get a nice look around the place, and once late at night, and observe more of the actions, and people there. On Wednesday around 4:30, I went there and took my picture. (Above) It was a nice day out and there were about eight people sitting on the picnic tables, smoking, talking, and hanging out. This area is surrounded by a brick wall, and has a few trees. While I was sitting there observing I had a conversation with a few people at the table. I ask if they enjoyed coming to this smoking section? They replied “ It’s not bad, you meet alotta people and can even bum a cig here or there.”
This project is actually a lot more fun then I attended it to be. Next week should be good, when I go to observe the nightlife!

--Works Cited--
"Smoke Free Campus". Ball State University Website. 18 Mar. 2010.

Facebook is addicting...

Facebook is everywhere! Before you go to bed, between classes, and even during classes students are on facebook and updating their pages. Facebook can be very addicting, many of my friends are always on online checking status and know the latest gossip about everyone. Before facebook, news took longer for it to get out then the news or in newspapers. Now with facebook news goes around instantly. People all around the world learn things a lot sooner, then having to wait for the news to come out. In addition, it is not just news, its all gossip, and this could lead to drama. “OMG did you see that status or that pic?” It also allows people to stay in touch with people you normally do not see. Facebook is what socially is in.

Everyone has one. Facebook is a great way to use it for academic purposes. It is a way for teachers to understand students and get on their level of learning. This could catch on if more educators see this as an effect way of learning. Facebook is a social networking site, but making it for educational purposes would be a great idea. I am excited about project four and to see how it goes.