Isaac Abed’s Blog

• 1. What I did this week?
• Worked on Autoethnography
• 2. What went well
• Drafting outline
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Figuring out where to start
• 4. To do list
• Complete draft
• 5. Left off
• Brainstorming
• 6. Challenges
• Management

Writers Journal

1. Parrott writes about metacognition and the idea that writers aren’t necessarily prolific and definitely aren’t just lucky or naturally gifted, but are instead persistent. How would you define and describe persistence in this course and in your writing experiences? Do you consider yourself a writer?

During this course I was challenged with projects and assignments I haven’t seen. Moreso, I have never wrote a writers journal and my writings haven’t been exactly the most clear. This course taught me that as I continue to write and read, I improve by the day.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Worked on more Research
• 2. What went well
• Readings
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Editing the research
• 4. To do list
• More sources
• 5. Left off
• Brainstorming
• 6. Challenges
• Completing the journals on time

Writers Journal

• How were your expectations met or countered? Were your concerns or fears justified? How so?
• When Writing my research paper, I was extremely scared and confused I didn’t know where to start or where to find sources for my writings. It was challenging. Nonetheless, I figured it out and thankfully my professor helped guide me what to think about.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Worked on Research
• 2. What went well
• Feedback
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Searching for sources
• 4. To do list
• Fix my draft
• 5. Left off
• Brainstorming
• 6. Challenges
• Completing the journals

• (M): State a main point with a transition
• (E): Incorporate evidence using citations and signal verbs
• (A): Analyze what the evidence means in your voice
• (L): Link your main point and evidence to your thesis

This week I am working on fixing my thesis statement. After learning about MEAL, I came to the conclusion my thesis needed some more spice. A thesis is supposed to be a clear claim, a side you choose. My research didn’t seem to be clear enough, I have to be more clear.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Draft my Research
• 2. What went well
• Reading some sources
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Publishing blogs
• 4. To do list
• Fix my draft
• 5. Left off
• Brainstorming
• 6. Challenges
• Finding sources

Now, look to the sources you have. Use a technique like mapping or charting or even just listing to identify similarities and differences, agreements and disagreements between your sources. What seems to be “settled” (the sources generally agree it’s fact/the truth) and what is “unsettled” (the sources don’t agree or it seems up for debate)?

While finding sources are difficult it is important to realize that sometimes a source can conflict with another. One thing that I have come across that is certain– revision and study is the main task in writing improvements. This common knowledge is useful in my research in order to tie everything together.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Review and thought of how to draft my research
• 2. What went well
• Study sessions
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Homeworks
• 4. To do list
• Draft the research assignment
• 5. Left off
• Brainstorming
• 6. Challenges
• Time management

How can writers improve their writing strategies?

List of search terms:

• Writing strategies,
• Improvement in writing
• Writers improvement methods
• Writing improvement ideas
• Learning to write

Source evaluation Checklist:

• Who is author?  Her bio: Elizabeth Wardle is Howe Professor of English and Director of the Roger and Joyce Howe Center for Writing Excellence at Miami University (Oxford, OH). She has directed the writing program at the University of Central Florida and the University of Dayton, experiences that have contributed to her ongoing interest in how learners use and transfer prior knowledge about writing, and how courses and programs can best help students learn to write more effectively. She regularly gives talks and workshops around the U.S. on how threshold concepts and knowledge about writing and knowledge transfer can be used to strengthen writing courses and programs.
• Audience? Students who want to transfer knowledge to the next course, as well as teachers who should teach a certain way.
• Purpose? The misconception that students automatically transfer knowledge from course advances.

 

• 1. What I did this week?
• Reviewed
• midterms
• 2. What went well
• Study sessions
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Homeworks
• 4. To do list
• Research
• 5. Left off
• Microeconomics study
• 6. Challenges
• little backed up on work

Writer’s Journal Prompt

In the past, what I have found helpful in creating writing ideas was to just write anything that comes to mind down on paper. This allowed me to flow my thoughts and process in order to create the most thought to work with. By seeing all the ideas I came up with on paper, allowed me to pick and choose which ideas work best. My research question will be on the topic of understanding how to write. I will present the question, How can writers improve their writing strategies?

• 1. What I did this week?
• Finished my analysis
• midterms
• 2. What went well
• Study sessions
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Balancing my schedule with exams, homeworks, and work.
• 4. To do list
• Research
• 5. Left off
• Done analysis paper
• 6. Challenges
• little backed up on work

In your response, please describe the problem or issue you see at the heart of the chapter you’ve chosen. Do some informal research (Google is great here) and see what conversations are happening around this issue.

• Who is talking about it? In what way?
• What are the arguments or positions around this issue?
• What’s your relationship to the problem? Is it relevant to you?
• What do you notice about the issue or problem?
• What do you still wonder?

Face-to-Face Courses are Superior to Online Courses

The pandemic reconstructed the entire world, causing the education systems to adapt. Many teachers had to covert from face to face teachings to online lectures. Many present online learning as a inferior way of learning for various reasons such as students not interacting and less attention is put into the individual students.

The argument presented is brought by assistant professors who understand the pros and cons of online learning due to their experience teaching both Online and face to face. This is debate is very is relevant to me because right now I am submitting a post for an online, asynchronous course. I do notice that in some classes online is beneficial such as, writing courses and history courses, where we must rely on writing more frequently and research; whereas math and other major course work where we need to interact with the professors are better off being face to face. I wonder how we can improve online learning or if one day we see all classes become online because of the convenience factor it provides.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Analysis work
• A few midterms
• 2. What went well
• Reviewing previous readings to refresh my thoughts
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Balancing my schedule with exams, homeworks, and work.
• 4. To do list
• Analysis
• 5. Left off
• Writing my polished draft.
• 6. Challenges
• Was a tough week to get all my work in.

Chart or record the rhetorical situation this book (BIAW) is responding to

• Society & History – what history or social norms exist
• Audience – who is being communicated to (be specific)
• Speaker – who is communicating (be specific)
• Message – what is being communicated (just one thing? many things?)
• Purpose – what is the mission or goal?
• Context – What is the Kairos/timing/exigence?

After learning about rhetoric and the use, we can understand the role they play in a story or even in life. In the book Bad Ideas About Writing, the history or background are the ideas created about how writing should exist. The audience are teachers and students who are looking to learn the proper form of writing and the message is to teach them that not everything previously categorized is true. The speakers are a group of many different teachers who realized the limits the ideas many gave on writing were actually hurting the future scholars. This book is used during modern times like today where the art of writing needs revival. Bad ideas about writing was created to help eliminate the misconceptions on writing, and to rekindle the original fire of passion we all had towards writing when we were younger.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Analysis rough draft
• Finally back into full force
• 2. What went well
• Setting time to do readings
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Figuring out what to write about in my analysis assignment.
• 4. To do list
• Microeconomics, Finish weekly readings
• 5. Left off
• Thinking how to continue my analysis.
• 6. Challenges
• It was my first ever analysis, I did have trouble understanding what to do.

Carroll describes several ways we might already be using rhetoric in formal and informal ways throughout our lives.

1. How do you use rhetoric in your daily life? What messages do you try to communicate? To what audiences?

Carroll starts off by showing us how we are involved in rhetoric everyday. When we enter class, examining our professors, friends, classmates- we are involved in analysis. Constantly analyzing your environment everyday creates an idea in our brains on the personality of the looked at person. We analyze so often that we don’t even realize how quickly we make assumptions, it’s almost second nature. Taking the train or sitting in the office, we are involved in rhetoric almost ALL day.

We use rhetoric to communicate to others and to relate with others. By creating this analysis of what type of person they might be, gives us the chance to interact. We can choose to use rhetoric to communicate with anyone we want. Especially in today’s world where millions of people can interact with the same images, writings, news, and advertisement. Rhetoric creates a constant influence in our thoughts and opinions.

• 1. What I did this week?
• Analysis ideas
• Fixed up my schedule
• 2. What went well
• The fact that I had set up a proper schedule.
• 3. What I had trouble with
• Making time for my work because of the holidays and helping around the house.
• 4. To do list
  • Create a rough draft for my Analysis Assignment
• 5. Left off
  • Creating an outline.

   

• 6. This week was a bit challenging as well during the holidays because I cannot complete work certain days. I am writing this during my long car-ride home.
• Roberts-Miller describes the extreme consequences of negative rhetoric or rhetoric that intentionally misleads an audience (11). Think of a time you have seen rhetoric in action. Was it positive or negative? Was it used to get at the truth or to mislead? What were the consequences?
• So often our words and writings influence others.
  Roberts-Miller stresses that rhetoric isn’t bad or good, but it’s almost never neutral. I recall reading an article about the famous gorilla, Harambe, when a youth fell into his pit was shot as the friendly gorilla only was helping the kid. This article was an example of negative rhetoric because of the image they gave the gorilla. They claimed it to be a beast and attacking. Many used this excuse that it was okay to kill an animal. If they simply tranquilized him we might have saved it’s life. We can face consequences based on our writing. Creating rhetoric which negatively influences, can backfire because of the ideas it’s brings to people. Creating reasons for killing doesn’t negate the fact of the death. I’m not saying it was right or wrong to do, but I will say that rhetoric definitely helped create your and my opinion on this topic.