My Palmetto Writers used this online class to reflect on their learning over the past eight weeks of Composition 1101. The following is a sampling of the reflections. These writers were to address the following questions:
1. What did I learn?
2. How did I learn what I learned?
3. Why is this learning significant?
4. How will I use this learning in my future courses or in my career?
The Essentials of a Modern World
Reid G.
Taking a composition class is essential for a student making his or her way into the working world. Not only has this class been a great mentor for learning the proper and improper ways of writing, but it has also been on top of what the new generation needs to know about technology. Now that the internet is slowly becoming the main source of information and entertainment, it is essential that the rising generation learns how to use it to advance in work and education. The one tool that I have learned from this class and will use to my benefit is the use of websites designed to organize and better understand my literary knowledge.
Because of the transition that that has rapidly taken place the past few decades, the computer is now important and often required to earn and keep a successful career. Without the invention of the internet it would be difficult to perform some jobs, especially ones that require immediate communication with foreign alias. Now that we have such inventions as Skype or Instant Messengers, communication is simple and instant. With this in mind it can be seen why the internet should be used as a tool instead of entertainment. The most effective and useful tool learned in this class so far is the Ediscio Flashcards. With this website I am able to not only keep track of what words I want to learn, but also learn them just as I would with any other flashcards. Included in this is also the ability to share my words with other classmates. I could see myself using this in many different cases. For example, I may be in a business setting where I need to have a group learn a topic or facts about a certain subject. Using this website, I can put down what the subject is and what we need to know about it, and then send it to everyone working on this project alongside me. This tool can be used for more than just vocabulary words.
Another website that can be used in a work environment is Poll Everywhere. This website has an unlimited amount of uses and possible subjects. If I am in a meeting and I need to get a good idea about how a group of people thinks when it comes to a certain subject, I can just ask them to text in their vote and prevent anyone from having a false vote due to nerves or fear. This will eventually be a key tool for most businesses that need anonymous opinions on a subject. If a business needed to know how the staff would feel about homosexuals openly discussing their sexuality, it would be less hectic and much safer to do the voting anonymously.
Many of the websites learned in this class would be perfect for the working world, such as Wall Wisher. Each one can get a large group of people to discuss a topic in a variety of different methods. Wall Wisher is similar to Poll Everywhere, except participates can write in their own opinions instead of voting for pre-determined ones. The posts can either be anonymous or not and are all in one area for a specific group of people. This is perfect for those companies wanting to know what the opinions of the employees really are in their own words. This is much more useful if the question the company is asking involves an open-ended question, such as “What do you think the company’s slogan should be?”
Although it is very important to learn how to type in proper MLA format, using technology in the working world has become something that is almost second nature. It’s hard to say where the world would be without the internet because it has become such a big part of everyday life. We must use and understand this technology for our benefit in order to become more successful in life. The internet is more than just entertainment; it is also a tool for higher learning.
12 October, 2011
Dear Professor Bolduc-Simpson,
You are the most enthusiastic professor I think I will ever have throughout my college career and it is a joy to be in your class. To start out, you have taught me more in this class than I have learned in one year of high school. Critical thinking was the first thing I learned in your class. Lack of respect for reason or evidence will destroy one’s ability for critical thought. If there are more than 2 options to something but someone only chooses to see 2, then that is considered black and white thinking. It reflects an intolerance of something that may be unclear. Many black and white thinkers search for a comfort zone by jumping to flawed conclusions. The activity that helped me to understand critical thinking was the summary and creation of the Wordle. It is significant because if you can improve your critical thinking, you will be able to create your own effective solution to a multitude of problems. I can use this learning to acknowledge my problems and weaknesses, which in turn will help me think and assess information more comprehensively.
Descriptive writing is probably the most intense writing style I have ever endured. For the most part you have to completely get out of your comfort circle and start thinking outside the box. I feel as if someone stamped a “show more, tell less” onto my brain, telling me to use similes and metaphors in order to create a mental picture in the readers mind. With these images you describe, you are able to entertain, express experiences, and advise the reader. The rewrite of the cliché paragraph, the descriptive paragraph of my pet peeve, all the blog posts and our first paper on describing an abstract term helped the most when learning it. This learning matters because it will enhance what you are saying through words and allow readers to see what you want them to. Hopefully I am able to stay on track with my major and later become a physical therapist; I will use this learning to describe in reports what the patient is feeling during certain exercises and will also have to describe thoroughly how to do certain exercises when written on paper.
I also learned how to spot sites that are authoritative and others that aren’t very authoritative. Authoritative sites have ethos, which means credibility. Anyone can buy a domain name available for purchase, such as “.com” for commercial sites, “.org” for organizational sites, “.Gov.” for governmental sites, “.edu” for educational sites, and “.net” for network sites. Although a site might be .org it may not be an organization, just because the site is on the internet does not mean it is credible. News sites are mostly authoritative because they contain gatekeepers, or editors who check the validity of the facts before the story is able to be published. Many sites contain clues to whether they are reliable or not; connected to TV and radio, interviews with known people, nationally known companies advertise on the site. At the bottom of the homepage you may or may not find who published the site, and you can also check in the sites “About” page if it contains one. The C.A.R.S. checklist is also helpful in finding credible sites. C.A.R.S. stands for credibility, accuracy, reasonableness, and support. Credibility is a trustworthy source with author’s credentials. Accuracy is when a site is up to date, factual and detailed. Reasonableness is a source that engages the subject thoughtfully and reasonably. Support provides listed sources and contact information. The most helpful thing when learning about credible sites was the YouTube video “Evaluating Web Sites Tutorial”. This is very significant when you are looking for websites with accurate information. Some sites could be unreliable and others may not contain all the facts. I will use this learning throughout my undergraduate and graduate career when I need to cite websites that contain information that I utilize in my field of study.
MLA format is huge part of writing an essay that I have learned about. Although I already knew where to write my name, my professors name, the course, and the date. Also that it has to be double spaced with 1 inch margins; there were several things I did not have a clear understanding of. The in-text citations and the work cited page was always a gray area for me. But now I know how to correctly cite websites, books, and articles. The reason we use in-text citation is to give the reader a way to find where we found our information. The information given in the in-text citation is enough to get them to the source listed in the work cited page. After paraphrasing you must provide the authors last name and the page number in parentheses. When the in-text citation is a website with no page number, you either use the name of the website or the author. The first time you refer to an author you use both, first and last name, but every other time after that you can just use the last name. Whenever you summarize, paraphrase, or quote someone directly you use in-text citation. I have also learned that there are many sites other than Easy Bib to help with your work cited page; Citation Machine, Rapid Cite, and Knight Cite. The work cited page goes at the end of your paper on a separate page. The page should be labeled Work Cited and should be centered at the top of the page. The work cited page is extremely important because it shows where you found your information and the in-text citation shows that you didn’t just copy and paste without giving credit. I will be using this every time I write an essay. When I look to the internet or a book for information, I will ensure the work is cited properly.
Plagiarism, which goes hand in hand with in-text citations and work cited pages, is the stealing of someone else’s words, if no credit is given. Some forms of plagiarism include buying papers off the internet, having a friend write your paper for you, or using a paper that was from a previous class. A way to avoid plagiarism is by paraphrasing, which is where you use your own words to restate the main idea while still giving credit to the author. Some times while paraphrasing it is a good idea to keep some of the author’s own words, because it is the best way of communicating them, but they must be in quotations. The activity that helped me was the paraphrasing activity, with the guidance of the YouTube video “Stop, Thief!” This learning is significant because it keeps you from taking others words as your own, which is highly frowned upon. With paraphrasing and the two thirds rule you are able to take information from your source safely and legally. The goals I will set would be to paraphrase more and to quote less to help me improve at summarizing.
Compare and contrast is something I always struggled when putting into words, but seems so easy when you’re just talking about two things. I learned that when you are writing a comparison and contrast paper that you must choose a purpose to your writing, also that you never want to choose a topic that is already well known to the reader. Then there is a way to organize your details, either block pattern or alternating pattern. Block pattern is where you make all points about one subject and then make all the points about the other subject after. Alternating patter is where you make a point about one subject then one about the other subject and continue alternating between them. The activities that helped me with comparison and contrast were blogs four and five, in four we used block pattern and in five we used alternating pattern. This way of learning helps when you have to compare two people, places, or objects together. Going back to my major and becoming a physical therapist, if there are patients that could only do a certain amount of exercises, I would have to choose between them, and comparing or contrasting them would help me decided what is the safest and most productive course of action.
Sincerely,
Eric Wilcox
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