Final Exam

I was very worried about the blog when I first heard about it at the beginning of the semster. I was worried that I would forget about them since they were on the internet and not something on paper that I would see all the time and remember that I need to do it. I have to admnit that sometimes I did however, forget about some of my blog assignments.

Although some people, including myself, did not really utilize the idea of the blog as a great thing, it actually was a good idea. It helped me in many ways with my writing. Both the in-class and out-of-class blog assignments were very helpful in helping me further explore my writing topics and then helped me get started on my essay.

On the other hand, I kind of saw the blog as a kind of journal to express thoughts and feelings through writing. Thus, thought the blog should have been more of just a in-class journal or writing warm-up instead of an out of class grade; which is what I think should change  about the blog. It is good for the extra points added on to your grade, but with all of the essays and other homework you have in other classes you sometimes forget about the blog.

Seeing as though I am not too much of a person who loves to write, keep journals, or anything like that, I probably will not be keeping a blog in the future unless it is for academic reasons and I have to as a part of my grade. All the same, it was a great experiment that my instructor tried, and hopefully she will get the kind of feedback she was looking forward to for her future students.

Essay Questions

1. What will the exam cover?
2. What kind of essay will it be? Argumentive? Persuasive? etc.
3. Is a certain length required?

What I Learned From the Readings

As I stated in my previous blog entry I am not very good at writing essays. I find it very difficult interpret then remember all of the information that I need in order to write the essay. When it comes to essay exams I have a lot of trouble remembering all of the information that I have learned no matter how long and hard I have studied. Not remembering the information results in a short essay, and I know instuctors like to see lots of elaboration in essays.

After reading the information provided in the readings I feel that if I start using some the pointers that they gave such as analyzing the question, then using some of the organizatioal cues I will feel more comrfortable about writing essays.

Whenever I am writing an essay for an exam I may read the question or prompt over and over again, but I do not really analyze it and break it down. Like the book says, I see a word or phrase that I do not know and I start to panic. However, the book also says on page 718 that “The question itself can show you the best way to organize your response.” If I break down the question into the specific points it is asking about, and then look for key words such as or, and, as well as to know how much of the question I am actually supposed to address.

These are only minor adjustments, but I think that if I really work hard at them, then I can feel a lot more better about writing essays in general; not just exam essays.

Essay Tests

I dislike essay tests very, very much. I am not that good of a writer, and therefore have trouble getting started and then knowing where to go with my essay. This has been a real big problem for me in college, because most of my tests are essay based. I am very good at the multiple choice, true/ false, and matching portion of the test, but I have a lot of trouble remembering information when it comes to the essay portion of the test.

 Not only are essay tests very difficult to me, they just seem

Annotated Bibliography

Charles Colson. “Destroying Abortion Myths.” CBN.com. January 21, 2005. www.cbn.com/cbnnews

Charles Colson is saying in “Destroying Abortion Myths” (Jan. 21, 2005) that abortion is really the woman’s issue. He lists three different myths given by three different sources on the importance of abortion and how many women have been seriously effected, and even died because of this. He later proves some of this information to be false and irrelevant. However, Charles leans toward the side that is against abortion, pleading that readers do not agree with the aborting of babies.

This article could be used as an opinion article but it is still only one-sided.

Honey We Shrunk the (Developmentally Disabled) Child

This article was basically a spin-off of the “Ashley Treatment” article. It talks about how parents can stunt the growth of their child and make them stay that way forever which makes it a lot easier and more convient for the parents. After reading both articles, I feel that even thought the parents say they are doin this for the children, I really think that this is really just to make their life easrier. If they chose to take care of the child after finding out that the child was diagnosed with a disability, then that means that they wanted to deal with the situation and love the child for who God them. By doing all this stuff to them they are saying that they really don’t love the child for who they are.

Abortion

Abortion

Why is it such a big deal?

• Many women, or girls, really don’t have a choice about the situation
• Should this really be considered a legal matter?

Who is really affected by this?

• When it all comes down to it the mother bearing the child has the last say so.
• People should remember that this is the woman’s issue.

Does age really matter?

• Should age be a major factor when considering abortion?
• Could this be a risk for developing breast cancer?

Reading Assignments

The last assigned reading that I read was over the Culture Understandong. It was very interesting to read and obtain a bit of inforamtion that did not know anything about. It really broke some things down for me and made me realize a whole lot.

Culture

Culture is one’s beliefs, traditions, and lifestyles.

I belong to both African and American cultures. Africa is my background, but America is my actual way of life.

1. Chinese- they celebrate the Chinese New Year

2. Middle Eastern- worship in temples instead of churches

3. Mexican- they celebrate Cinco De Mayo

4.American Indian- most live on reservations  rather than residential areas.

5. Italian- food is a major part of their culture

Guiding Questions

It’s time to legalize marijuana. By Monroe Anderson

In this article Anderson argues that it is time that marijuana be legal. His argument is clear, yet one-sided and very opinionated. He does not state many facts, but does however give many opinions, which he could use less of in his argument.

He used pathos very well in that he reached out to the young urban audience to get them on his side. However, if he is trying to legalize this substance then he is targeting the wrong audinence.

My opinion on this topic before I even read this article was the same as Anderson’s. I believe that if marijuana was legal jails would not as over-populated as they are. There would be less arrests, and I think our young men of the next generation would not be harrassed as much as they are.