Public Debate

Last week, we read an article about the privacy settings on Facebook and then had a debate in class on what we thought about them. Everyone had different opinions on how they felt about the issue. I was very interested in the topic because I really do not know that much about my privacy settings and who can look at my profile. After our class debate, we were told to post a question about the privacy issue on our Facebooks or some kind of article that people would respond to and hopefully start a debate or at least get some responses. I decided to ask questions on my Facebook and I asked : How many people really know about your privacy setting on Facebook and Do you know who is allowed to look at your profile? I received two responses with two different opinions. One of the comments was from a young mother and she said that she loved the privacy settings especially because she post different comments and photos about her children on her Facebook and the other response was less positive because he said that privacy settings exist but most people do not even know about them or care to use them. I can not argue with either of the responses because I understand both of their answers and why they said what they did. Everyone has their own opinions about different issues and no one person is right when giving their opinions. Different people think in different ways and have their own set of strategies and tactics when handling a situation or giving their opinion about something.

Rhetorical Situations

Throughout the newspaper article, there are many examples of rhetorical situations that the author uses to enhance his writing and get his message across. Rhetorical devices attracts the reader's attention and it also makes a person's writing more interesting and enjoyable. There are specific words in the article that the author uses that have emotional appeal and enhances the article. Some examples of these words include:"devastating" and "flabbergasted" which are used for emotional appeal and shows how intense the woman's feelings are.I think these words made it easier to sympathize with the woman and her situation and it truly showed how angry she was with the situation and that she was not allowed to have her choice of delivery. Other examples of rhetorical situations include the names of the different sections of the article such as "a woman's choice" because it makes the article more intense and heightens the emotions of the family and the situation. Another example that we talked about in class was the different words such as "uterine rupture" or "episiotomy" because the actual words are bad but the what the words mean invokes emotions and are something that most women do not even want to think about. All of these examples caught my attention and I think it was a very smart decision of the writer to incorporate them in this article. It made the article more effective and portrayed the family's situation in a very detailed way.

Certeau's Ideas

Michael de Certeau's s key concepts from The Practice of Everyday Life can be applied to the text we read in class. His first key concept-production and reproduction/consumption can be applied to the article because there is a consumer and a producer and they are both trying to defend their points in a rationalized way. The consumer would be the lady having the baby because she is paying for the services of the doctors and hospital and the producer is the doctors because they are the ones making the rules and supplying the services to the woman. The hospital will not allow the woman to have her baby naturally because of the health risks involved. The woman argues that she knows the health risks and there are also health risks involved with having a c-section. Both parties have legit reasons for their opinions and way of thinking, but ultimately the hospital's decision is final and the woman decides not to have the baby in that hospital but will travel three hours to another one. The second concept- poaching can also be seen in the article because the woman wants to have her baby naturally and fights to have the baby naturally because that was the way she was able to have her last child. She poaches the hospital's policies and the choices she has to make. Tactics and strategies, the third key concept can also be applied because the woman uses the strategy of a woman's choice to decide while using different tactics to support her strategy. The woman knows the health risks but still wants to have her baby naturally. She uses the tactics of talking to the CEO of the hospital and by giving different examples of different situations when women get to make different decisions about their pregnancies.

Project 4

For project 4, I decided to make a power point that corresponded with my research paper. I used the topic of the One Child Policy and decided that it would be a good idea to make a power point presentation so that people can see it in a different way. The goal of this project was to change my audience and give them another way to look at my research paper. I think the One Child Policy is very interesting and I think that everyone should learn about it or at least be introduced to the topic so I believed there should be several different ways of presenting the information that will appeal to everyone. I tried to give it a different message and appeal to a different audience who maybe does not like to read or is a visual learner. I broke down each paragraph of my paper into a different slide and tried to only write the main points and not the whole paragraph. I also tried to incorporate pictures into each slide to give my audience something to grab their attention and to try to give them a visual. I kept the information the same but i changed the format of my research paper. I used local and global revision to give my research paper a different spin but also stayed with the same ideas and research that I found for my research paper in my power point. I thought the power point would be a good idea because it would give people who did not want to sit and read the whole six page paper a chance to still learn about China's One Child Policy and the general idea and back ground of it. Some people also like more visual ways of learning about and comprehending a certain idea or subject.

Research Paper

I did my research paper on the One Child Policy and everything that revolves around it such as the adoption process and baby trafficking. My paper is important because many people may not know about the One Child Policy and all of the details of the policy. Many people consider China a blessing but the One Child Policy is not the most humane way of controlling the population. I did a lot of research and found that the topic was very interesting and I learned so much about the Once Child Policy. I want my audience to learn about what is going on in China and the background of the policy and why it was started. My paper will hopefully encourage someone to adopt a baby girl from China or encourage them to learn more about the One Child Policy. I tried to inform my audience and intrigue them about somewhere else in the world that they may not know about.
I tried to incorporate all of the elements of rhetorical situations that we talked about in class. The topic of my paper was was the One Child Policy and my purpose was to inform people about the policy and give them a better knowledge of what is going on in China. I used MLA format when citing my sources. I incorporated pathos in my paper because I tried to explain the consequences of the One Child Policy and what happens to baby girls in China. I used credible sources and reliable research to establish ethos in my paper. I was fortunate to find these credible sources and they were all very helpful while writing my paper. This topic has always been something I have been interested in because a few years ago, my family almost adopted a baby girl from China. Unforunately, we were unable to but I have always thought that the One Child Policy in China was interesting and I can not believe how the policy controls the population and how the government does not care about precious baby girls.

Difference between local and global revision

Local revision is using similar things, for example, songs and changing one small detail while still keeping it the same. In the example in class, the beginning of the two One Republic songs were the same except for the different instruments used in the beginning and Timberland was featured in one of the versions. The basic composition of the two different versions were very close to each other and basically the same. Some people could probably not even tell a difference in the beginning of the two songs and except for the fact that Timberland is featured, would probably think that the two songs are exactly the same. Many artists use local revision and create different versions of their songs that are very similar, just like the way One Republic did. Global revision is a lot different from local revision. The background and concept of the two different things being compared are completely different but you can still tell that the two are comparable. In the example used in class, the Daft Hands song and the Kanye West song, the basic beat of the music was the same but the two songs were completely different. The Daft Hands version had no words but the words written on the hands and just had the beat of the song while the Kanye version was the full song with words and a different beat and style. The influence of the two songs were the same but were completely different from each other.

Thesis

A good thesis statement is essential to a paper and is necessary so that writers know what the focus of your paper will be. It expresses the main idea of your paper and helps the readers understand what the paper will be about. The thesis is usually in the introduction of the paper and is a single sentence that gives the readers an understanding of what the rest of the paper will focus on. A good thesis should use only action verbs and avoid first person. The thesis should inspire people and make them want to read your paper. It should grab the reader's attention in the beginning so they keep reading. A good thesis should include a topic, precise reasoning, and an opinion. An example of a good thesis would be something like this:Black Elk Speaks accurately represents Indian lifestyle through its attention to cultural detail, its use of Indian words, and its direct quotes from Black Elk. The writer introduces the subject and the the three different points that he is going to talk about throughout the paper. A thesis sentence is a single specific claim that your paper supports. The thesis sentence can be simple or complex depending on the length or focus of the paper. Short papers may have only one thesis that incorporates your thesis but longer papers can have multiple sentences. An example of a simple, one sentence thesis would be something like this: A first water rafting experience can challenge the body and spirit and transform an adolescent into an adult. The thesis sentence should be strong, clear, and easy to point out. The opening paragraph helps support the thesis and give an introduction to the topic and the thesis should be very specific. The best way to develop a great thesis statement is to pick a topic that you like and is excited about writing about it. The more excited and the more knowledge you know about your topic will help develop a good, creative thesis sentence. A thesis also keeps your paper organized and gives it a focus. Another example of a good thesis sentence would be: Thomas Carew's depiction of John Donne as "The universal monarch of wit" declares the supremacy of the poet's humor and intelligence in relation to contemporary circles. However, such a depiction fails to consider Donne's shortcomings and his conversational approach to writing. This thesis is very specific and sets the tone for the paper. Good thesis sentences are not hard to write once you have a topic and know what you what your paper to be about.

Narrative

My narrative took me a few days to write and it took a while to organize my ideas in my head. I thought a long time about what my topic should be and I decided that my experience of being a twin was the best topic that I could come up with. I decided that the best way to write my paper was to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of having a twin sister.I had multiple drafts and had to fix many mistakes. The visor center helped me a lot and my tutor gave me some very good ideas. It was very beneficial for me to go there. I think I would maybe use a different format and have a different point that i was trying to get across to my audience. There are not a lot of twins in the world so I thought my audience would think it would be interesting to see different experiences and what it is like to have a twin sister. I tried to be very descriptive and not leave anything out. I incorporated ethos by giving different specific examples and pathos by incorporating emotion and how i feel about my sister into my paper. I used kairos because I met and even went beyond the number of pages required and thought that my paper flowed well. I think my paper is good and I worked very hard on it. I am who I am and I wanted people to have a look into my life and see what shapes who I am.

I am a part of the UPB Entertainment committee on campus and that is what I decided to design my button around. I got the idea for the button from our club t shirts which we just currently designed. The shirts are blue with the name of the club on the front and on the back is a play on a quote from Kanye West when he interrupted Taylor Swift at the Grammys. Instead of saying “greatest video of all time”, our shirts say “greatest committee of all time”. We decided to use the quote because we are an entertainment committee and revolve around music and different forms of entertainment. I tried to use colors that symbolized the committee and club as a whole and that would also stand out. I made the quote the focal point of the button and made sure there was proximity. I used ethos by incorporating the quote from Kanye West who is a well known celebrity and also I drew the UPB symbol on the button to make it relate more to the club. I used pathos because Kanye is also a very controversial person who invokes different emotions to different people. I also incorporated logos because it was logical to include the picture of Kanye West with the quote so people could relate him to the quote and if they did not know who he was, they would have a visual. I also tried to align all of the aspects of the button so that it would stand out and used the red writing to contrast the blue background. I tried to do my best to have the best visible rhetoric possible and make my button creative and one that related well to the club.

The narrative style of writing is probably one of the easiest forms of writing. They are about your own personal experiences and are told from your point of view. It is writing that shapes who you are and your different events in your life. Narratives are personal and informal and you can write about anything that you want. In "On Being A Cripple", Nancy Mairs reflects on her life and the struggles she has had to overcome. She has learned to live with her disease and even though she has struggles, she is is grateful to be alive. I think that it was awesome that she shared her story because it is very inspiring and we were able to see what she has to go through in her life. Narratives can be about personal struggles, successes, or just any story of your life that has importance to you. Personal narratives allows readers to explore other people's lives and find out who they really are. When writing in the narrative style, the writer is able to communicate with the writer directly. The narrative style of writing has always been really easy to me and it has always been my favorite form of writing. There are not a lot of restrictions or a specific form that you have to follow and you are able to incorporate your feelings and thoughts into the paper. I have had many different opportunities and life experiences that shape who I am and that I could share with others. You do not have to be the best writer to write a narrative and anyone can write one. Narratives are just like keeping a journal and you do not have to hold back. You can write about pretty much anything you want. I have not written my narrative yet for class and I am still not sure what I want to write it about. It is hard to pick an event that explains who I am but I am sure that I will come up with something to write about. I hope that others will get to see who I am and what my life is about.

Reflection

I just read all of the readings we were suppose to read for class and I was a little bit surprised by them. I think that visual messages are very affective and creative. The cartoons helped associate the idea with the message and people could portray them in different ways and have their own reactions towards them. They were really short but I think both of them portrayed symbolic messages and made a good point. The first one, "Montage of a Dream Deferred" uses a creative message to get across the message. I think that it means that we should give up on our dreams because we might never know what could happen to them. I think that you should never give up on your dreams and you should do whatever to it takes to accomplish them. The next one, "Poem 288" is symbolic because it represents all the people who feel like they are nobody and how they wish people would notice them. A lot of people may feel this way at one point in their life but I feel like there is always someone who thinks you are special and not a nobody. I thought the cartoons were very insightful and they were interesting because they made you analyze the pictures that went along with the text. It makes you think and I thought it was a good way of interpreting the message that the author was trying to make. Good writing really does matter and it is very beneficial to a person to be a good writer. Bad writing affects your image and it can be very unprofessional. Using bad grammar can be confusing and people may have trouble comprehending what you are trying to say. I make mistakes but I always try to fix them or learn how to fix it so I do not do it again. I have trouble writing sometimes and I would not consider myself to be a very good writer but I am always trying to improve the way I write. There is always someone who thinks you are special and not a nobody. I thought the cartoons were very insightful and they were interesting because they made you analyze the pictures that went along with the text. It makes you think and I thought it was a good way of interpreting the message that the author was trying to make. Good writing really does matter and it is very beneficial to a person to be a good writer. Bad writing affects your image and it can be very unprofessional. Using bad grammar can be confusing and people may have trouble comprehending what you are trying to say. I make mistakes but I always try to fix them or learn how to fix it so I do not do it again. I have trouble writing sometimes and I would not consider myself to be a very good writer but I am always trying to improve the way I write. I envy when writing comes easy to people and they are able to get their point across so creatively and in a way that it really affects readers. My goal for this semester is to become a better writer and to try to analyze the way other people write so I can become better because of it.

Hello, I'm Nicole Placek and I am currently a freshmen at Illinois State University. My major is Public Relations but I am not sure what career I want to pursue. I am from a very small town called Elwood which is about an hour away from Normal. I have an identical twin sister named Jamie and we are the only two children in our family. I love hanging out with my friends and family and I am very close to them.