My first blog

I beleive that the reason that we were asked to write a proposal is for the simple fact that the instructor wants to see that we are going in the right direction.  It is somewhat of a pre-rough draft.  This gives her the opportunity to direct us in the right direction in what is probably our biggest assignment of the class.  I beleive that it also shows that we ubnderstand our topics well enough to fill up the required length of theh paper.  It shows that we are familiar with the issue and that we have an idea of how we want to present the topic.  I think that learning how to write a proposal gives us the opportunity to learn the steps of writing before we enter some more in depth writing courses.  Perhaps some of us are considering grad school and there we will be asked to submit proposals in almost everything that we do.  It can also be seen as an opportunity to understand just what the instructor expects from our final research paper.  The proposal also lays out ideas for us that we can build upon in our research paper.  It may help us to better understand where we want to go with our papers.  In these same ways, writing a proposal in other classes even if they are not assigned can be very helpful.  It gives us a preliminary work to put all of our overall thoghts together.  I could see myself writing in this genre in a future career.  Let’s for example, say that we are working for a business in the Human Resource Department and we have to give a presentation on safety.  We would want to find sources that backed our opinion on why safety is so important.  Before we just go in and give a presentation, we will want to give a short outline of what we are trying to accomplish and how we will go about meeting our goals.  The best way to do this is to write a proposal.  I can see this kind of writing being encountered in a lot of future career choices.

After looking at the six steps to identifying an issue, I have come to th eissue of steroids in baseball.  As an avid sports fan, I feel like this is a topic that I can relate to and have a lot of fun writing about.  This is the first step in identifying an issue as it is something that is important to me.  It is something that I feel strongly about and something that has puzzled me ever since the first accusations were brought about.  Curiosity presents itself in many different ways with this topic, which is also very good.  It will lead me to a lot of different research topics.  Looking through some of the literature and works of others, I have found that MANY people think in a different manner than I do.  There are a lot of different people that would challenge my stance on the issue.  This also allows me to think about the issue in multiple perspectives.  Reading through som eof the articles, I find that there are many different aspects of the argument that I never eluded to.  Some of the aspects are good and some bad.  I agree with many and disagree with others which leaves the option to include and argue the points in my research paper.  I look to extend and build on others ideas of steroids in baseball.  Many ideas are used to shape these writers arguments including thoughts of the court systems involvement, athletes interests in steroids, the question why would they even do them and so on.  These ideas can help me to shape my arguments in that I agree and disagree with the ideas.  Some of the arguments will strengthen my argument and some will challenge and I will use them in the correct manner.  My audience will be the politicians that find it necessary to pursue this topic through the legal system.  I will use language that will persuade them to stop the legal battle with Major League Baseball.  I am very interested in this topic, as it deals with sports and the American athlete.  I played sports all the way throughHigh School and hope to someday coach.  These things are important to me for these reasons.  The issue with steroids in baseball is that many believe that they do not belong in the sport or in sports at all for that matter.  The issue goes beyond that though.  It is now becoming something that is going  to court and wasting taxpayers money and time that could be spent on more serious issues that need to be dealt with.  My question is, if professional athletes choose to ruin their lives with steroids, why not let them, instead of wasting time and money trying to stop them?  If they want to ruin themselves for the entertainment of others, that’s their perogative!  After all, it is a parents job to teach their parents right and wrong, not an athletes.  I may be looking at this in a completely different aspect than others, but I feel strongly about this!  It will be a lot of fun to argue my stance!

Prompt: Discuss whether or not you are practicing the writing process that the authors of our textbook suggest.  Why or why haven’t you used their writing process?  Describe your writing process if it differs from the one suggested in From Inquiry to Academic Writing.

While I do try to keep the authors style of writng in mind, I usually just go my own way and try to do my own thing.  I do refer back to the book a lot to be sure that I am staying on track with them a little bit, but for the most part I just go my own direction.  I feel as if it is more important to study the requirements that the instructor gives us and focus more on what she wants out of me rather than the book.  The book offers a lot of important information, but in the long run we have to accomplish these papers by doing what the instructor asks.  My writing process does, though, follow what the book suggests as far as prewriting, developing a thesis, etc., so I feel like I am keeping up with the text pretty well anyway.

My synthesis story deals with the difference between LCD televisions and plasma televisions.  In order to make a choice, I wanted to know all the details about the two sets of televisions.  I needed to know the pros and cons of both.  After careful deliberations with my fiancee, we decided to get the plasma.  The reason that we made our decision was because the salesman informed us that sunlight would not affect the plasma television by means of a glare as bad as it would with an LCD.  Another selling point was the fact that the salesman informed us that the plasma’s typically last longer than the LCD’s.  To further address his point the salesman showed us the consumer report on the televisions which backed his information, as the site suggested that plasma televisions typically last 5 years on average, longer than the LCD’s.  The report also said that there was virtually no glare off the plasma televisions.  By introducing his information and supporting it with the website, the salesman offered synthesizing information in my purchasing process.  Luckily I found the perfect television to watch my perfect Patriots lose their perfect season in an imperfect Superbowl. (#@!$#@!%^&)!!!!!!!!!!