Organize This!

Chapter 6 Envision and Organization

One of the most important steps in writing a paper is organization. The outcome and quality rely solely on this because without organization it is just a bunch of bullet points and ideas hanging in the air. There are many ways to organize all of your thoughts and ideas so that you can get an idea of how your paper is going to flow. Many people use bubble webs, flowcharts, and other mapping formats to see all of their ideas in front of them to form them into one paper.

Visualizing what you have makes it easier to form all of your ideas together to make your thoughts flow and make sense. This is extremely important and is used by film makers and writers all over the world. Visual maps help sort your thoughts and help you to write an outline. Outlines are like a more detailed organization tool and can help you see where you want all of your ideas to go in the paper. This is where you really see how well your paper flows. Every good paper has a good flow to it and it doesn’t jump all over the place. This is where transitioning techniques come into play

Transitioning makes the jump between paragraphs smooth and change bullet points sometimes without the reader even realizing it. You should identify links between different points of your paper in your organizational map at the beginning of the process and put those ideas next to each other in your outlines and drafts for good flow and transition.

Once you start completing your drafts you should always read over it and have your peers read them to ensure you have good flow and transition among other things.

hey look its another journal

Chapter 5 Envision

When you begin to research your topic for a paper the first thing you do is type in your topic into Google and sift through all the articles and pages that come up for your topic but are any of these web pages really reliable? Some of them may seem legitimate and have good information but they are not necessarily a good source of information. And the web is not the only source of information out there either. There are books, surveys, journals, and historical texts that all have good information about your topic and all should be utilized to draw your information from.

When researching for a topic you need to gather as much information as possible for your paper. Not all of this information will make the final cut but the more you have the more quality information you will have that will make the page. There are numerous places to find information but you have to be careful while choosing the magazine or article that you will ultimately draw your information from. To determine whether the source you have chosen is credible or not just look at it and see what they are trying to accomplish. Does this magazine or article have a lot of ads in it or is it trying to persuade you to think one way or another? If the sites main goal is something other than general education of a topic or anything close to it, that article is probably not very reliable. Also check to see where the article got its information from and who the author is. All of this can tell you whether the information you are receiving is good or not.

During this process don’t forget to write all of the necessary information down for your works cited page. You should be keeping track of this in your research log so that you don’t have to dive through the internet trying to pull up the sites information up for the siting. This will make the final process of your paper a lot easier.

envision journal chapter 4

Chapter 4 Envision

There are many argument articles and essays out there and we see them every day in magazines, newspapers and, online articles but how are they formed. Writers go through an extensive and detailed process to plan and research their topics before the final product is produced. This process includes asking research questions, constructing a research log, narrowing down on a specific topic, and finally starting the writing process.

Before you begin writing you need to find a subject that interests you. You shouldn’t pick a topic that doesn’t have anything to do with you or that you don’t care about because you will have no motivation to create a good paper. This is when you ask questions. Asking questions about your research topic is important because it will help you focus your broad topic to a specific subject. For example if you wanted to write about the military that topic could be focused to only one branch or specific job in the military for a better more focused paper. During this whole process you should be keeping a research log. A research log keeps track of your ideas and sources of information so you don’t lose any of your thoughts throughout the research phase.

Once you have your topic you can start brainstorming different ideas and points about your topic using a web or mapping format so you can visually see what you are thinking. Once you have your ideas sitting in front of you, you can start writing it down in freewrites, your drafts, and ultimately your final paper.

Evil Dead

Spencer Teeter

English 103

Ms. Tess Evans

November 1, 2011

Evil Dead the Musical

The “evil dead” is a musical about five teenagers going to an abandoned cabin for spring break. Once they get there weird things start happening and eventually all but one of the characters turn into zombie demons. The play was full of very mature content and even had a disclaimer in the pamphlet and at the beginning of the show, for example one of the songs in the musical was called “what the fuck was that” and another was “blew that bitch away”. A common theme in the musical was blood, adult language, and sex…lots of sex. Although the title suggests that the musical is morbid and scary in nature it was a rather funny play. There were a lot of funny sex innuendos and I’m pretty sure the most common word in the play was “fuck” to pull extra laughs from the audience. However there were darker images shown during the musical. There was a lot of blood spurting from body parts as they were being sawn off with a chainsaw or being hacked with an axe. About 5 people were blown away by a shotgun to add to the gruesome story line of the musical.

The room that the musical was held in was tiny and only seated around 40 people in one seating. This effect made the audience feel like they were in the cabin with the characters and it was way more personal and interesting. Everyone was on the edge of their seats wanting to see what happened next. Everyone was engaged in every scene and had plenty of laughs. It was an overall great experience for the whole crowd.

journal 3 janett walls presentation

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 21, 2011

Janett Walls Presentation

Tonight I went to see the author of the freshman connections reader The Glass Castle. At first I really didn’t want to go and the only reason I went was to get a journal done, but this presentation was not what I thought it would be. The presentation was lively and the author, Janett Walls, really drew in the audience with emotion and made us feel like a part of her stories. The approach Janett uses is pathos because she pulls in her readers and fans with emotional stories of her life.

During the presentation Walls told many of her personal life experiences with the audience going into a lot of detailed and emotional information. What surprised me the most was that she was very upbeat about all of her stories which were about poverty and how her family was homeless at times. Despite the sad mood given off by these stories Janett seemed to always have witty jokes about the situations and things she found funny or ironic. There was one story she told about her alcoholic father that I found particularly interesting. When she was young Janett was afraid of a monster under her bed. Most parents would tell their child that there is no such thing as monsters. This is not what happened. Janetts father immediately told her that they need to go out and hunt down this “demon”. So they proceeded to check the house for this “demon” which obviously they didn’t find. What Janett did not realize was that her father was teaching her to face her fears.

Despite her difficult past Janett has found the positive in all situations. Through her mentality she has become a stronger and successful person and now an award winning writer. She serves as an inspiration to all different types of people all over the world.

envision journal chapter 3

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 20, 2011

Envision Ch. 3 Composing Arguments

When an author begins to compose a persuasive or a paper of an argument they need to carefully construct it to properly capture their audience. There are a number of steps an author needs to go through in order to properly compose and argument. These “cannons of rhetoric” are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Each of these is essential in the construction of persuasive communication.

Invention is the process of coming up with ideas. Authors need to gather enough information and have a strong topic to discuss before they can begin to arrange their thoughts into a paper or article. Next is arrangement which is when you will organize your thoughts into a well constructed paper. If points and topics are spread out all over the place and don’t flow into a smooth paper readers will become confused and not finish reading the article or not pick up what the writer is putting down. Organization is key in all papers. Style is also very important because it complements the writers’ arrangement of the paper. Without style a paper is just notes and it doesn’t flow as it should. Style is a big part that is going to keep your readers interested and continue to read your paper. Memory is where the writer recalls supporting ideas to emphasize certain parts of their paper that they really want the audience to take away from the publishing. The final part is delivery. This is the single most important part of the whole process. Delivery is presenting the main argument points to your readers in such a way that you will swing them to go along with your argument. This is what is going to make your audience leave your paper physically but keep them mentally.

envision journal chapter 2

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 20, 2011

Envision Ch. 2 Logos Pathos and Ethos

This chapter focused on the different approaches to rhetorical writing authors or advertisements may make. These three different approaches are called Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. These terms are Latin and date back to 500 BCE. These terms don’t always have to be separate, they one or more of them may be in the same article of ad you encounter. Now I will explain what all three of these terms mean, how they are used, and how they appeal to different people.

Logos is the approach of rhetorical writing that would be more aimed at people who are persuaded mostly by logic and statistical evidence. Many advertisers using the Logos approach will opt to have a before and after shot of what they are advertising to show that it actually works, or they may throw out a bunch of percentage numbers at you on how they are cheaper and more economic than their competitors. Many times these techniques exaggerate the truth by not specifying how many people were interviewed for their stats or including that number in fine print quickly. People watching will think the facts include all of the U.S. and could be convinced on the spot that what is being advertised is the real deal.

Pathos is the technique utilizing the emotional factor of viewers. Advertisers and writers will try to capture their audience by attempting to draw them into a certain emotion. For example for ASPCA (animal rights) ads they play slow, sad songs and show pictures of big eyed droopy eared animals in cages who appear to be in despair. This sight will draw in most tree hugging liberals to donate money to the cause. The approach can also be happier in nature like adding humor in ads or cracking a witty joke in an article.

Lastly Ethos is a persuasion strategy that uses the speaker’s character to influence readers. This relies on the credibility and authority of the writer. Most major companies use Ethos every day with one little symbol such as the Nike swoosh, Arbys hat, or the Shell gas stations shell symbol. Just by seeing these symbols we already know all about the company who owns them and that they are a reliable source of what they sell. Ethos can also use major athlete stars and celebrities to endorse their products. If you see David Beckham using a certain pair of cleats you know they are good.