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Woohooo!

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Making sure to cite sources correctly and logically I forgot about writing an abstract of the paper. I quickly wrote the abstract jotting down the general idea. Reading the abstract after the project was submitted I felt that the effort was clearly lacking. If I were to re-write this argumentative essay the first thing I would do is modify the abstract, comparing it to the paper as a whole to ensure a unified reasoning, abstract and all. This achieves the second and third class outcome by maintaining a consistent writing voice in a logical, unified way.

            During the peer review a student made a good suggestion to clarify what animal therapy is exactly and what it entails. At the time of this suggestion I was finalizing my paper and -if I may be candid- wanted this assignment to be completed. I do not think the paper was lacking significantly in this area since I mentioned the various benefits of the program which hints at the nature of the program. If this paper were to be re-written then I would clarify what animal therapy entails. I would also have more information on the services currently being offered at the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, supporting the central idea that animal assisted therapy is a viable option for Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. These suggestions satisfy the course competency of integrating sources to support my papers main idea.

Before this class I viewed reports as presenting the information in a cut and dry reporter like style. I soon learned how the rhetorical situation affects the paper and that writing argumentatively is a good skill to acquire. Although I have grown in my writing skills I would have liked more objections for my argument to give the argument a well rounded feel. Once I secured a narrowed topic half the semester was over and found that I had a difficult time finding people that were against animal assisted therapy. If I were to revise this argumentative essay I would use various sources to seek a variety of opinions on animal assisted therapy. Having multiple perspectives in my argument would achieve the course outcome of finding and evaluating multiple perspectives.

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By the time I had narrowed my audience down to a suitable selection the first draft of my second writing project was due. This affected the sources that I had accumulated; the majority of them did not have a wide range of opinions. Were I to write this annotation again I would explore the technology avenues like blogs or RSS feeds pertaining to my topic. Locating multiple perspectives fits the course competency of finding, evaluating, and analyzing information from multiple perspectives.

      English 102 is the first class I have taken that uses APA instead of MLA format. Being used to MLA format I consulted multiple print and online sources on proper APA format which has improved my formatting skills and made me more comfortable with APA formatting. However, I still double check the correct APA format to ensure academic integrity. Part of the frustration I had with documenting APA was that some sources varied on how to input the information in the reference list.  If I were to revise this writing assignment I would correct some of my APA formatting discrepancies; some journal titles and books were not properly italicized. Properly using a documentation style to cite and format a document is a course outcome.

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Two suggestions I have for revising my research proposal are to reorganize the paragraph order and have chosen a specific audience.

In my final draft of WP#1 I introduced my role as the writer before acknowledging who my audience was and what their needs are. This did not meet the course outcome of organizing writing into a logical development which supports a central idea. Revising the paper to reflect the audience and their needs first then explain my role as the writer is a more logical development that builds upon and towards a central idea. This revision would achieve the course outcome of organizing the ideas into a coherent paper that maintains a central idea.

The scope of the audience is another revision I would make. The original audience for the research proposal was college students; at the time I thought that was a narrowed audience. When compiling information I felt overwhelmed as the vastness of the information; this caused me to be disconnected to my topic. After the conference with Shelley I realized that the audience I choose was too ambiguous to write for which explained my feelings of being overwhelmed. Through brainstorming I was able to select a suitable audience by my second writing project. Choosing a specific audience for the research proposal would have improved the quality of my paper and satisfied the first course outcome of writing for a specific audience.

This week’s podcast was on the differences of the abbreviated Latin words i.e. and e.g. I.e. which translated into English means “in other words” is used to introduce a further clarification.  E.g. English translation is “for example” which introduces an example.   Abbreviations need periods to be present after each letter and commas usually follow the abbreviation. I never knew what the differences between the two were, nor thought about using them in my writing; I now feel confident in using these abbreviations in my writing.

     Since one of our class’s outcomes is to properly document and format our writings based on a particular style to maintain academic integrity I thought listening to a podcast about choosing a style guide would be enlightening. Areas where each style guide is commonly used e.g. MLA is for writers of research papers in the liberal arts and humanities while the sciences use APA and while I have never seen the Chicago style guide is used by authors since it is so comprehensive. What I found particularly interesting was Grammar Girls insight into the evolution of style guides in response to the fast developing technologies around us like the internet. As technologies grow, so will the style guides. Learning about the style guides has given me a greater appreciation for their purpose.

I peer reviewed Madolyn and Jeremy’s WP#4. All of our papers up until this point have been a variety of topics, so no two papers are naturally the same. It was interesting to see the different approaches that they each took with their paper. Madolyn concentrated on the outcomes that she felt especially good at and those that she needed to work on. Jeremy provided excellent examples of how he learned all nine of the course outcomes.
After reading their papers I realized that I had forgotten to properly format materials that require quotations or italics. My paper also needs more reflection on the task I have done, more analytical than technical. If space requires I plan on going into the paper and fleshing out my explanations of the projects. As for the exact content that is to be included in this paper I am a little perplexed about the paper; it calls for three pages double spaced, but there are nine outcomes to be listed with demonstrations as to how they were achieved. I do not know whether listing all nine outcomes is correct or if we are to highlight ones that we exceeded at and need to work on. Reading my fellow classmates papers has giving me some helpful advice on how to revamp my paper.

Dustin and Jeremy peer reviewed my paper. Dustin liked how the course outcomes had examples weaved in them to show that the outcome had been attained. He suggested clarifying minor assignments referred to in the paper and adding a concluding paragraph to tie it all together. In terms of grammar he recommended more commas to make the sentences run smoother. One of my sentences expresses the likelihood of using APA format at a university; he asked how I came to that conclusion.
Jeremy liked that my paper was concise and to the point. He asked whether any other reading sections, besides grammar, helped me achieve the course outcomes. One of my sentences had an improper spacing that he informed me of. He also pointed out my need for a concluding paragraph. The most challenging part of this writing project is its size; I have been assessing what is pertinent to the paper and what I can leave out. My goal is to incorporate the suggestions made by my peer reviewers, thereby improving the overall quality of my paper.

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Suggestions I would make… 

•-         Revise the abstract; at the last moment I realized that I had forgot to write one, so I jotted down the general idea.

•-         One of my classmates suggested a good idea that I should go into detail about what animal assisted therapy is exactly and what it entails. Explaining animal assisted therapy and having more information relating to the services currently being offered at the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control would support the central idea that animal assisted therapy is a viable option for Maricopa County Animal Care and Control

•-         List more objections for my argument; I had a difficult time finding people that were against animal assisted therapy. By having multiple views in my argument I would achieve the course outcome of finding and evaluating multiple perspectives.

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 Revisions I would make…

•-         I would choose sources that had a wider range of perspectives. When I finally decided on my topic which changed from the original my first draft of WP#2 had already been submitted. I located resources in a quick manner, not exploring avenues that interested me like blogs or RSS feeds pertaining to my topic. The sources I choose were relevant to my topic, but lacked a difference of opinion.  Expanding on the views would fit the course competency of finding, evaluating, and analyzing information from multiple perspectives.

•-         Pay closer attention to the correct APA format. During WP#3 I found that some of my journal titles and books were not properly italicized. Properly using a documentation style to cite and format a document is a course outcome. Documents like websites were hard to format; some of the sites did not have any dates of modification yet events were recent, so they are current I just couldn’t tell when. I am used to MLA format, so I used multiple sources to refer to APA format. That made it in part frustrating since some of the sources varied on how to input the information. 

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Revisions I would make…

 - I would flip the second and third paragraphs in order to build a logical development of information being presented. The original order presented my role as the writer without identifying who I was writing for. I would even see about combining and shortening the first two paragraphs into one paragraph. These revisions would achieve the course outcome of organizing the content to support the logical development of the rhetorical situation.

- I would also change the audience; the one I originally choose was way too big and ambiguous. After conferring with Shelley and overall narrowing my topic did I choose an appropriate audience for my topic. Choosing a specific audience to target is part of the rhetorical situation.