My first blog

After viewing the presentations, write a BLOG post regarding one that really stood out to you. Share how it impacted you and why.
After veiwing all of the presentations, I must say that the one that stood out to me is Kelly Parratt’s powerpoint on Suicide.  This was a very informative presentation that included a lot of facts that need to be recognized by the public.  It is unfortunate that people don’t know the effects that depression can have on somebody, and the state of mind that a person suffering from depression is in.  What I really liked about this presentation is the fact that she went the extra mile to ask people to help in the fight.  Instead of just giving a buch of information on the topic, she tried to prevent it.  This was a very good presentation and something that should be used for suicided awareness.  I think this would be beneficial for a lot of parents and teachers to read and become aware of the warning signs.  It impacted me because it showed that she really cared about the topic.  She had a real passion for the topic and showed that she really cared to stop suicide.  Very very good presentation.

After taking this course I have learned a lot about myself.  Most importantly I learned that I can do a lot of things that I didn’t think I could.  Namely, a lot of new technology!  I have always avoided technological advances such as wiki, blogging, twitter, and Flickr.  It has opened up a lot of doors for me technologically speaking and I am happy that I am now familiar with these things.  I am now confident that I can do anything that is thrown my way when dealing with computers.  I am glad that I had the opportunity to learn about all of this stuff, as it always looks good on resumes to say that you are computer literate.  The second biggest thing that I learned is time management.  This course had times when things were due, and when balancing a full time job, a preparation for a wedding, and buying a new home, I always found a way to have my work in on time.  Although sometimes it wasn’t until the last minute, it got done none the less.  While it was very stressfull at times, I always found time to focus on school and made the time to try to write a quality piece of work.  Time management is something that I will use in everything that I encounter and this class is great for learning how to manage.  Las but not least, I had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of the writing process.  I learned how to critically read a book or article and make sense of them.  I ultimately learned how to use sources effectively in a paper, which will be a huge benefit in the rest of my college journey.

Prompt: How do you plan to apply what you learned in ENG 112 to writing assignments in other classes (i.e. your major classes or classes in other disciplines)? Be specific.

I plan on using a lot of the things that I have encountered in English 112 in my other classes.  But most of all I plan on using my time management.  I learned to balance work and school in a way that has proved to be successful over the past few months.  I worked long and hard on all of my assignments and managed to perform at work as well.  That was the most difficult thing to do throughout the semester.  I have also learned how to analyze my sources in a way that is meaningful and productive.  I have long thought about pursuing a career in journalism and especially sports journalism.  This portion of the class will come in handy because it has taught me to use the research that I find in a more usable manner, and it will make my findings better utilized in any sory that I may have to cover.  Also, we learned how to write a proposal, which can also help in other courses that I will encounter.  This has given me the opportunity to basically make a plan in everything that I do.  Having a plan in advance is something that can be used for every aspect of life, and can be useful especially in an educational aspect.  Most of all the sheer thought of making it through a class that required a lot of time and dedication has given me the optimistic attitude that I can make it through the collegiate ranks.  This class has been a great learning experience for me and I am glad that I had the chance to experience it and ultimately the chance to learn about what is to come for the next few years.

My writing process started with first trying to come up with atopic that would be relevant to today’s society and have enough to do with popular culture to keep the readers interested. The hard part to this process was was also finding something that I could relate to and be interested in enough to spend a considerable amount of time on and not lose interest. My conclusion was sports and I found a topic in that field. My next step was to find sources that would be relevant to my topic. This was probably one of the most time consuming parts of the whole process. I searched the internet, the library, and even thought about interviews, but ultimately came to the conclusion that an interview would not be very beneficial. After hours of research, I was ready to start the writing process. I started off by brainstorming ideas and even made a “web” of thoughts and where I could go with my essay. The Source Analysis made the process of breaking my sources down a much smoother process. It helped me to understand two of my sources in depth and led me to analyze my other sources to a deeper extent as well. I broke down all of my sources and marked them up to find key points of the sources that would help to support or argue my point of view. After analyzing, I went back through and highlighted the points that would make it into my essay. After that I was ready to start an outline, which would be what my paper would look like and what it would cover in each paragraph. At that point I knew that I was ready to start the rough draft. I would compare my writing process to blind driving. I didn’t know where I wsa going but when I got there, I was happy that I chose the path that I did.