Journal 8

This is one of the most memorable quotes from Jane Austen's famous novel Pride and Prejudice. It is stated by Elisabeth Bennett near the very beginning of the novel, when they are discussing the arrival of Mr. Bingly. He is "a single man in possession of a good fortune." But does Mr. Bingly really seek a wife? In England during this time, most people married family friends or acquaintances that they had known most of their life. So if a young man did move into the area, they may have thought that he was possibly looking for a wife. But today, I think this quote is funny and satirical because probably not all young men with a lot of money are looking for a wife!

Journal 8

This billboard is a type of horatian satire, it is light hearted and intended for fun. It is a parody of Donald Trump's show The Apprentice. It is commenting on Donald Trump's famous saying, "You're Fired," from his show. It is saying that if you work for God He will never fire you like Donald Trump does to his apprentices. I find this persuasive because it puts a religious twist on a medium that had nothing to do with religion. It makes a person think twice about their life and what really matters.

I chose to discuss this apple satire stating "there's an app for just about anything- iPray". This is an indirect satire because the language is communicated through characters (the picture of the iphone) and the satirical message isnt simply stated but is shown. It is more of a horatian because it does not directly attack or offend anyone, but rather lightly points out the issues and perception associated with the iphone and apple world. I personally respond to this message because I am bothered to a point of almost disgust by the rapid growth in technology and how much it takes over our world. I have a 13 year old cousin who literally spends over 12 hours a day on some type of technological advice. Her communication and interpersonal skills are lacking and I blame this fully on her exposure to technology and less exposure to face to face contact. This is a light way of saying that the applications have gotten so insane that you might as well have them for personal things such as praying.

Journal 8

Refer back to the satire handout on Blackboard and perform a brief analysis of your favorite satire. What is it commenting on? How does it work? Why is it funny, biting, or persuasive?

Due: Tuesday, April 3

Journal 7

I'm scared of where the environment is heading.

Journal 7

I'm terrified of squirrels

I'm afraid of wild dogs.

I am afraid I'm running out of time.

Journal 7

Journal 7

Journal Seven

I barely know any main-stream music; I know mostly about soundtracks and their composers.

Journal 7

I accept and respect human mortality. I dread being burned to death.

Journal 7

I can't upload mine so I'm going to email it to you.
-Lindsey

I've been all over the world and the thing I dread the most is home.

Journal 7

I'm proud to be an American.

Molly Babbington Post secret

Journal 7

I am scared for the future.

I want to travel the world.

Journal 7

Create your own PostSecret card. Don’t worry about sharing your deepest, darkest secrets- you can make something up, or share something silly. You don’t have to create a digital masterpiece, or even put your text on top of the graphics. You can just post a visual, and type the accompanying text underneath. Have fun with this, but please try to keep in mind all that we’ve talked about in class.

To get you started, here's mine:

Due: Tuesday, March 29

Websites

www.amazon.com/

Visually, amazon is extremely well organized. There are links to each page on the bottom. There are not things flying all over the page. The color choice of their website makes it one that is easy to read. Rhetorically it appears very credible. This is first and foremost because it is visually organized. Second because of the name amazon has out their people, know its a good website. Last the crisp designs make it clear this is a credible website.

http://www.chimesdesign.com/fugly_site/index.html

This website is extremely disorganized on the other hand. The information is all over the page. The pictures are not detail oriented. The type face of the text is very unprofessional. The background does not work with the foreground, making it hard to read. Rhetorically this does not work because it does not appear credible at all. Again stuff is all over the place, the color scheme doesn't work. In addition there's things flying all over the website.

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Best/ou-wallpaper.html

This is an ugly website. There are too many adds and distractions that it is hard to figure out the meaning behind this website. There are so many links and places to click all over the page which helps to disguise the theme of this website.

http://www.intbadfed.org/

Though this is a simple website, it is easy to read and follow. There is a color theme and no adds to distract the viewer. The website gets right to the point. This is an attractive website because of it states is purpose effectively.

Journal SIx

The attractive website I have is http://www.clockworkcouture.com/. It is laid out with a unique and interesting background and it has plenty of pictures to attract the eye. This is very good for gettin people to look at their products and hopefully buy some. I am more likely to look through a website and its' items if it is nice to look at and easy to navigate.

The ugly website I found was http://yvettesbridalformal.com/. It has a bunch of neon boxes with writing in them all over and pictures forming the background. I looked at the website and immediately wanted to navigate away from it. Even if I was desperate to find an item (in this case a wedding dress), I would probably leave and keep looking elsewhere. Almost nothing about this website works, even though some of the dress pictures are pretty.

Journal 6

I think Bing is a great example of an appealing website. It is simplistic enough that it is easy to navigate to different pages and find what you are looking at. It does not overwhelm the viewer with too much color or unnecessary images or design aspects. However, it also catches the audience's attention with a new and interesting picture every day, and the different interesting facts that the reader discovers when moving the mouse over the picture, keeps them intrigued and wanting to learn more.
Wikipedia is a website that I feel is not very appealing, because it is boring, and does not capture or keep the reader's attention at all. The background is plain white, and the site usually contains just paragraphs of information with, occasionally, a few pictures thrown in. There are no interesting colors, or images or even different fonts or text organization to interest readers.

Journal 6

1. The one of the websites I find to have the best presentation is the Jeep website (http://www.jeep.com/en/). I frequently go to this website to look at different parts and add-ons and each time I visit, the site has been updated with new pictures or news. The site is well formatted and has interactive pictures, slideshows, and 3-D models to keep the viewer's attention. And unlike some sites that are hard to move around, the Jeep site is very simple and easy use.

2. One of the worst websites that my friend actually helped me find was http://www.ebaumsworld.com/. The site is for anyone who wants to watch random youtube videos. The site was poorly designed with steel blue background and a ton of ads. Almost the entire site is one big ad. On one page alone I counted 9 different ads. Just the entire presentation of this site was bad and it has to be one of the ugliest sites i've ever come across.

Journal 6

http://columbus.craigslist.org/

My unattractive website that I picked is Craigslist. Right away when I look at this website it looks like I went to the wrong website because it is very bland and just has a bunch of words that are links. It reminds me of a website that scams people and gets you to give information about yourself for nothing. Although craigslist is a very helpful website for certain things there homepage and even when you search is very boring.

http://espn.go.com/

My attractive website that I picked is ESPN. ESPN's website is very colorful and always has a good photo on the front with a catchy title. The main goal of ESPN is to give sports updates in a quick way and that is exactly what happens with the score bar at the top. The colors of red and gray mixed with videos and pictures make it very attractable to the eye. It's a very simple and user friendly website for all.

Journal Six

http://verabradley.com

This website is very clean, exciting, and inviting. The cool blue background gives visitors a sense of relaxation and the pictures of merchandise are also cool colors so the merchandise colors stand out. I think the creator of this website designed it with a solid color background that is not distracting so the visitors eye will go straight to the colorful, patterned products in which vera bradley has available.

http://www.wikipedia.com

Every time i stumble upon something on Wikipedia I can only read a few sentence in and then I go look at something else. All of the white space just makes it look very bland and the small black writing done not compliment it. It doe snot catch readers attention and does not excite or draw visitors eyes to certain topics. Overall it is just bland and boring.

Journal 6

http://www.ge.com
This website has a good design. The beginning of the website has a video known as the GE shpw which shows new designs and contract challenges the company is partaking on. Above the video are links the company's products, services, information, directory, and mission statement. Also, world facts and the annual reports for shareholders are open to any viewers interested in the company or part of the company. The use of motion pictures and bright colors on the website presents the viewer with the idea the company is successful and shows the intellectual innovation of the company.

Journal 6

http://www.i-am-bored.com/

This is a very ugly website. It’s ironic that this website is created for bored people and still it is not pleasing to them. The color scheme, font, and the annoying pop-up advertisements are all other reasons that this website won’t work. Moreover, nothing on the website is in a clear ‘organized’ way, which makes it difficult to use.

http://www.msn.com/

This is a very good website. The color scheme is a subtle one, which is soothing to the eyes. All the content on the website is organized in a proper fashion. As you open the website, you get a full palette of things you want to do, in particular the options makes the website work.

Journal Six

http://thebiguglywebsite.com/ --- This website is really ugly because of its design and image choices. The whole site is unorganized and the images do not relate to each other. The text is not appealling and the format of the whole page is very messy and seems to have no pattern. The background color is also very unattractive.

http://www.freshcupcakes.com/ --- This website is very appealling because of its design, text, images and simplicity. It is easy to read and know exactly what the website is selling. The images are pleasant and relate to the product; cupcakes. The text is very pretty and simple which doesn't make the site confusing. It is organized and uses light happy colors.

Journal Five

I found this ad to be very interesting. It is a perfume ad for Express. In this ad I see a lot of gender stereotypes going on. I think it says a lot about the rewards of being physically attractive. Obviously the woman in the middle of the ad is beautiful and skinny and this ad is
saying that if you look and smell like she does men like the ones in the ad will flock to you. I think this is really sad because if I were a heavier woman I would feel like after seeing this ad that men wouldn't find me attractive.

http://tv.disney.go.com/tv/

This site I found to be pretty because it is fun and colorful. This works because it is a childs website and it is supposed to be inviting and easy to use for kids to watch their favorite shows and play games online.

http://sites.infowest.com/life/

This site I think is ugly because it is really ugly colors and it doesn't really mesh well together. It doesn't work rhetorically because it is not easy to use and easy to understand for those that are looking at it and wanting more information.

Journal 6

http://home.techsoup.org/pages/default.aspx

I used this as my "ugly" website example. This website is extremely bland. The background colors consist of purple, blue and white. When creating a website, the background and details should be colorful and eye-catching. If I came across a website that looked like this, I would refer to another one, because it's just boring to look at.

http://www.hotelbellwether.com/

I found this website to be more attractive. It's advertising a hotel to stay at, where this is a big, beautiful picture featuring the building. The page is very organized and the background reflects what the hotel is like: sophisticated and upscale. The whole page has a nice flow and while scanning through a variety of websites, this one caught my eye.

Ugly and Attractive Websites

http://thebiguglywebsite.com/

This website is called the big ugly website, because that is exactly what it is.  There is no information about what is being sold or advertised on the website.  The color scheme doesn't match, there is a contrast in colors- there is way to many different colors, images are posted over top of other images.  There also aren't any links to click on and there either isn't any banners or they are really hard to find.  This website does not use rhetoric to persuade its customers into buying their products.

http://www.nba.com/

This is an example of a good looking website.  The color scheme and contrasts of colors fit perfectly.  There are links and banners that are organized and that you can click on.  There is also live feeds of each NBA game that is being played.  There are links that direct the user to each teams specific website.  They also have a link that directs you to the NBA store, which is where they sell all of their merchandise.  The reason why this websites works rhetorically is because it persuades the users into buying their products and the website does exactly what it is supposed to do, which is to talk and explain what is going on in the NBA.

Journal 6

http://online.wsj.com/home-page is a very well put together website.  It is a plain colored background because it is a newspaper.  It is nothing special with effects because it does not need special effects for people to go to the website.  It is very well organized and contains a number of sources with different categories that contain tons of material and information.  Also, the front page contains the general idea of what the whole website is about.  It gives a basis of the different categories and the information they hold with the top stories of the day. 

http://paleysplace.net/ is the worst food website I have ever been too.  To start, the websites opens up with a loading screen and an intro drawing a picture of some guy standing in front of the website.  Is that really needed?  After entering the website, there is little information about their food and there are audios included about their reviews.  I feel like they went way over the top with special effects and decided not to focus on what is really important, food. 

Post a really ugly website, then a really attractive website. Tell me why they do and don’t work visually and rhetorically

http://www.transfairusa.org/

This first website is done very well. It shows a clear , crisp, picture of the workers- with an overlapping translucent text box that embodies their theme and mission. Directly below the picture, they hae clear tabs that will direct you to different location. Everything is straight forward, yet asthetically appealing. It isnt too simple-yet not overly complex and wordy. There is this "feel good" vibe when connecting to this page. The colors coordinate, everything is legible and easy to navigate.

http://www.panart.com/molainfo.htm

This next webpage is somewhat harsh on the eyes. When opening it up, the blue is a little much and then followed with the white text- it is a little intense. In addition, the first page is the "about molas". Sometimes the about on the front page can work, but here it makes the reader confused and not sure what the webpage is about. Is this a page you can purchase molas? Or is it simply for more information? It is not clear. Perhaps having a main page with the separate tabs is a more straight forward direct way to allow the audience to know what the purpose of the page is. In addition, the tabs on the top of boring and do not add any personality to the page. I do , however, like the print on the side as well as the pictures as visuals. Molas are wonderful an the Kuna Culture is amazing! You should all check it out:)

Journal 6

The website http://home.stelladot.com/ is well put together.  It has a coordinating color scheme and a great balance between ascetics and advertisements.  Also, the advertisements coordinate with the rest of the website are pleasing to look at.  It follows a common theme throughout the website which gives it a cohesive, put together feel.  The website http://twitter.com/ is not very well throughout.  There's a lot of unused space and it doesn't look like there was much thought put into the fonts and color scheme/images.

Journal 6

On the first website I found, http://www.claysfamilyrestaurant.com/, it has a plain, simple format, that does not attract the viewer to the restaurant. It displays a picture of the facility itself, which is somewhat unattractive looking. The colors it displays are green and tan, with black lettering, which doesn't add any enthusiasm to the page either. On my second website, http://www.olivegarden.com/default_f.asp, the colors green and tan are also used in the format, but they add color by showing pictures of the food they offer. The pictures are very attractive looking and really make the viewer salivate for the food. This website also provides more links so you can learn more about the restaurant.

Journal 6

Bing is one of my favorite websites because not only does it filter my search to give me the most relevant and recent results, but also because I love its chic yet simple design. The picture changes every day, and it always something colorful and thought-provoking. The image on here was from a few days ago.

However, the website for the Fayette Fire Department is wrong for many reasons; namely, it is hard to read the information listed: the red lettering does not go well with a darker backdrop. Even if the background were lighter, it would still be hard to read because the red is much too bright. The picture of the actual fire department as the background is not a great choice, either. The page is meant for information on the happenings of the fire department, not the building itself. That being said, I think it would be appropriate to have a picture of the building, but maybe somewhere off to the side, or can be accessed via link.

Journal 6

The website I found for an unattractive website is http://thebiguglywebsite.com/. It has no theme, there is random color all over the place, things are poorly organized and laid out to the point where they cover other pieces of information. The attractive website I found is http://www.cedarpoint.com/. This website is very well done, it is organized, full of color but it has a purpose to it. It is easy to navigate and it isn't painful to look at where as the first one was.

Journal 6

Post a really ugly website, then a really attractive website. Tell me why they do and don’t work visually and rhetorically.

Due: Thursday, March 24

Models

This add was published by a modeling company that represented Isabelle Caro. She has suffered from anerexia nervosa. She knows that what she is doing is bad but also knows that she has to start something to act against eating disorders. This add definitely is disturbing and hard to look at but since it is it gets the point that she was trying to reach across to its viewers.

Journal 5

I chose to look at a bud light picture.  Bud light uses women to endorse their products.  The term 'sex sells' is very true for most beer companies.  People look at this and think that drinking Bud Light will make girls that looks like this be attracted to you.  The phrase life is good with a bud light also further emphasizes this notion that drinking bud light will improve your life.  This picture is a very smart way of advertising and selling a product.

This is an advertisement by Ralph Lauren that brought about much controversy. The model for this photo was later fired for gaining weight. In society today there is a lot of pressure for women to be thin. Models going down the runway, and women on magazine covers and advertisements are all very tall and thin. It makes everyone think that women should be thin to beautiful, when in fact being too thin is actually worse than being a little over weight. Women think that they have to look like this image, and are starving themselves and becoming anorexic. Gender does play a very important role here. In general women models are around 6 feet tall and wear a size 2, but men models are also 6 feet tall and are more average in weight. There is too much pressure from every avenue for women to be thin in today's society.

Journal 5

The ad I chose is a Calvin Klein Jeans billboard in NY. The billboard shows a guy and a girl cuddling off to the left and a guy on the right just chillin. The billboard says "Good looking people buy our product. Didn't you see the guy on the right?" and "If you wear our jeans, women will have a sudden urge to stick their hands down your pants." Simply put, it is a "buy this and these cool things will happen to you" ad. By utilizing sexuality they can then make a profit.

Journal 5

In this ad it depicts a woman driving who is dolled up with make up and seems that her hair has be done. Also, the women carries this clueless look on her face giving the viewer the assumption she has no idea what she is doing behind a wheel of a car. Underneath the face it state's "The MiniAutomatic For simple driving." This ad clearly portray's that women can't drive and they are completely lost on the road when it comes motor skills and directions. Men often assume cause most of the wrecks on the road. In today's society males often look down on women driving and associate them as bad drivers. Males see themselves as excellent drivers and always assume they know what they are doing on the road.

Journal Five

The ad I chose to analyze was an article I found in this week's issue of People magazine. Its talking about Diet Pepsi's new Skinny can, and how it seems to look better. However, in order to portray this great look, they took Sofia Vergara, who is a skinny, good-looking actress to be in the same picture with the can. The caption on the picture says: "The new skinny can." It's illustrating how this can might look better, but why use a skinny, beautiful actress? Couldn't it have been anyone?

Journal 5

http://www.genderads.com/Fem._Roles.html#12

This ad show the well known World War II icon. Rosie the Riveter. During World War II, Rosie the Riveter empowered women to work in the factories while the men were away, fighting in the war. Originally Rosie the Riveter played an important role in making both men and women feel that women could do a man's job too. But in this ad, the product is Clorox cleaning supplies. Although, this may seem like another way to try and empower women, it actually does the opposite. It creates the image that women are only powerful and and useful doing household work. The ad claims that "we have the power... the power to clean anything". I feel that this ad goes against everything that women have worked for during and after World War II.

Rosie the Riveter

This specific ad was first created to depict the women who worked in the factories during WWII.  Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon that helps other Americans to realize that women can do the same work men can do.  This poster eventually became an icon for Woman’s Rights. This poster alone has motivated women in a number of countries around the world to fight for equal rights, mainly including equal pay. 

Journal 5

This is an add for the movie The Ugly Truth. As you can see the heart is placed on different parts of their bodies. On the female figure the heart is on her head leading people to think that women fall in love with their heads. Where as on the male figure the heart is over his genitals leading people to think that men using other parts of their body to fall in love.

Journal 5

[The words above the tunnel translate to, 'the axe effect'] This ad is trying to say that if you wear axe women's legs will just part for you undoubtedly.  Though, what it says about our culture is that we're all shallow.  It says that men have to wear a certain scent to get a woman to have sex with him and for women, if a man just happens to smell nice she'll part her legs like the red sea.  It's actually a kind of gross ad and it degrades women by portraying them as some sort of sexual prize or object that men get for wearing axe.  The values it projects are ones of promiscuity, male chauvinism and shallowness.

Journal 5

This is an advertisement for the car, Corvette. Clearly, there are gender roles being formed to help market the car. The advertiser has portrayed that women like this car. This is a good reason for some men to buy a particular car to impress a woman. At the same time, the “Twin Turbo” and “STS” logos reach out to guys who love speed.

Journal 5

When we think inexpensive internet provider, do we picture a promiscuous young woman, puckered lips and all? Probably not. Then again, if we were to pass this sign while speeding down the highway would we make the connection between the words and the picture?

Ads have bloopers from time to time, and I'd like to give the benefit of the doubt to FAST Internet, but the message is clear: The girl on the billboard represents customer experience with FAST Internet; she looks like a prostitute. Fast. Cheap. Perhaps not all that expensive.

At the very least, the marketing team that put this advertisement together associated "fast and cheap" with a prostitute. It seems unlikely that their target buyers would be females aged 18-24; therefore, I think this billboard was carefully crafted to appeal to all audiences, anyone that can readily associate a cheap looking woman with inexpensive, maybe gratifying service.

But rather than questioning the company and its beliefs, I think we should be questioning our culture. At first glance, I personally didn't see anything wrong with the ad. We have come to accept the idea of an underdressed young woman as something negative. It's a stereotype we continue to enforce.

This Men's Health magazine cover projects the image that all men want to be jacked. On top of this it says that the most important thing to men is sex as they show this by the tag line "DRESS FOR MORE SEX". This cover paints a false image of what many many men desire to be their most important values.

Journal 5

This is an advertisement for Giorgio Armani depicts both genders. The main point that the ad is trying to get across is that if you're a male and wear this cologne then women will be over all fighting for you. The man in the ad is treated as if he was a celebrity. The woman in this picture is good looking and is grabbing and pulling the man. This ad depicts the bachelor status of men and is promoting the cologne to men who want to have that appeal.

This Billboard is for my most recent favorite reading-eat pray love. When discussing values in relation to gender there is a lot of symbolism in this ad. To begin, Julia Roberts is clearly enjoying her icecream(this is the focus of the ad). This book is all about the travels or a female or , to put bluntly, analyzes every small aspect in her life and is trying to reach a happier state. Men simply do not think this way. They don't spend pages and pages and hours and hours disucssing their love to food or specifically, icecream. However it goes along with the theme of this novel-which is essentially to live in the moment and appreciate all you have. You notice she is also standing netx to a nun and looks as if she is in front of a church. This ad is geared towards introspective women who are interested in her journey. This draws attention to the different elements that are involved in the film. The small print says "Let yourself GO". Again, a phrase that is much more geared towards the female mentality.

Journal 5

In this ad, the women are displayed doing stereotypical household roles society places on women. This ad projects that women are only good for housework and sex. It displays all the women in sexy apparel and seductive poses. I feel this ad it is trying to attract a male audience, but it also gives other women the impression that they need to look this way and take care of the household chores. Although it may make an impression on males, I feel this ad is very demeaning to women.

Journal Five

This is advertisement for the movie The Ugly Truth. Clearly there are gender stereotypes being depicted in this ad. The female character is seen holding the heart near her head. This may be trying to say that women go after love with the intentions of finding happiness. The male character seems to be demonstrating the stereotype that men feel sex is important and may even be above love in the first place. This ad displays this well known stereotype rather well.

journal 5

This issue of Life & Style displays two of the Kardashian sisters and their "diet secrets". This depicts a gender and identity stereotype where in order to be considered "attractive" or "beautiful" we should lose weight, just like Khloe and Kim Kardashian did. Kim is known for her looks, and by putting her on the front page of a magazine, it's going to influence other girls that look up to her to go on a diet. They may think that's the only way they will be pretty or be accepted into society. Today, we have become obsessed with how we look by being in shape and continuously trying new diets. Magazine covers prove this by always displaying some kind of article about the latest "diet secrets" or weight loss story.

Journal Five

This ad depicts the gender stereotype that females want to be skinny. It targets that idea because it is widely believed to be a common thought amongst women and in turn it will aid PETA's cause. The value behind this ad is the fact that it is projecting the thought that if you are vegetarian you will be skinny. This makes being a vegetarian more valuable to women because it is directly benefitting them if they lose weight and don't have any blubber.

Journal 5

Find and analyze an ad that depicts a specific vision of gender, identity, or sexuality. What values does the ad project? Include an image of this ad in your journal, if possible.

Due: Tuesday, March 22

Journal 4

So far this semester my thinking as improved with the in depth assignments I had to complete. Orginally with Inquiry 1 I found it difficult to start the paper. Looking into V for Vendetta pondering on what I needed to accomplish in the paper. My ideas were good, but some of the connectivity seemed off. English 111 and English 112 are drastically different. In 111 the papers didn't seem difficult to write and in the end I recieved a good grade for the class. In 112 I noticed I needs to stray away from the conventional writing tools used in 111. Instead, I have deveopled more analytical skills when writing my papers. Overall I feel good about my papers, but can stand to improve on my connectivity skills.

Journal 4

At this point in the semester i feel as if I've actually learned a lot. I have not been in an english class for 4 years (since high-school) and I forgot the process of really deeply analyzing your writing. I feel that I have improved on simply being able to interpret and analyze my work as well as others. The first assignment was really interesting for me because I felt like something "clicked" and reminded me that I truly enjoy writing and reminded me how powerful writing can be.

I think I have a lot of room for growth. For Inquiry 2b I am attempting a kind of big thesis and am interested to see how it turns out. I would like to improve on structure, mainly. learning how to organize my thoughts and pull them together into one overarching theme. Also, deciding when to keep parts of writing and when not to(I tend to ramble in writing).

Journal 4

Throughout this 2^nd semester I do not believe that I have grown significantly as a writer.  Although I have learned a lot about myself, my writing, what I am good at, and what I am bad at, I lack certain capabilities that I believe I need to be a great writer.  One thing I have accomplished this semester is persistence.  Throughout the first semester I lacked persistence, or the idea of not being able to progress my thoughts in my writing.  Basically, I would give up hope that I could make my paper better.  2^nd semester has forced me to consider alternate ways to improve on certain aspects of my writing and has focused my attention on organization techniques.  One thing that I need to improve is making my thesis clearer.  I have a tendency to bull shit around my thesis to make my words and sentences sound logical.  However, this tends to beat around the bush on making my thesis to the point.  I look forward to making further progress in my writing. 

Journal 4

I think that my writing has improved a lot during this semester. I feel that this class, in addition to last semester's class, has really helped me to develop a style of writing that I feel is relevant to issues and ideas, and that is unique to me. In high school, I felt that we always were expected to write in the same way and about the same themes in different novels, which I felt was unrealistic and irrelevant to the real world. But in this class, I feel that I have been challenged to write in a more creative way, which I think has better prepared me more for my future as a student, and in my career. While I feel that my writing has greatly improved this year, I feel that I have a lot to improve upon. I have always struggled with the organization of my papers, so I would like to continue to try to improve this. I also think that I could work on adding more details to support my paper.

Journal 4

I believe I learned a lot about writing this semester. The annotated bibliography was a very challenging part this semester.

Through the course of the semester I believe I will be able to more effectively and convincingly express my opinion. The new kinds of writing styles have really helped me improve my understanding of writing papers.

I have been having problems with run-off sentences and finding scholar resources, which I believe can be solved with the help of peer review workshops.

Journal 4

I think most of my progress as a writer came from my last semester English class mainly because the goal of the class was to get a better understanding of writing at a college level. The main reason last semester was so helpful was because of how different writing papers in high school and writing papers in college are. This semester is the first time I have ever really had to focus on gender when writing a paper, which has altered the way I think when I write my papers. This semester has allowed me to focus more on the topic I’m writing about and focus more on the details in a given text as well as the actual context of the text itself.

What I would like out of this course it to be able to have papers that are more clear and concise. I would like to write a paper that I am proud of. Something that shows that the reader has their own unique writing style and that they know what they’re talking about without having pages of completely useless filler.