Blog #8
The article titled “The Introductory Paragraph” breaks down the different parts of a good introductory paragraph:
- The first sentence should engage a reader. Anecdotes and quotes are effective to hook a reader.
- Humor, surprising facts can also be used to hook a reader.
- The best way to end an introductory paragraph is with a good beginning.
In the article I found called “Guide to writing a basic essay” it touches on the important parts of a good intro paragraph which include:
- The introduction should start with a good attention grabber.
- A good attention grabber could include startling information, anecdote, dialog, or summary information.
- Add a couple sentences to lead the reader from the opening paragraph to the thesis statement.
- Finish the paper with the thesis statement.
In my opinion I feel that a good introductory paragraph is important any paper because it is the main hook that a writer can use to a reader interested in his or her paper. The introduction is the first impression of the writers style and can show early strengths or weaknesses of the paper and writing style.
Blog #7
I actually found two articles with the same title that cover exactly the same material. The articles name’s are Critically Analyzing Information Sources splits up the process of critically reading sources into initial appraisal and content analysis. During the initial appraisal I am supposed to look at the sources in the works cited page themselves and look at their authors. I ask myself “What are the author’s credentials–institutional affiliation (where he or she works), educational background, past writings, or experience? Is the book or article written on a topic in the author’s area of expertise?” (Ormondroyd). I look next for the most recent publication or revision date to see if it is still recent and up to date. Next I take a look at the publisher to see if it a scholarly press or other reputable publisher. The last thing I should do in a the initial appraisal is note the title of the journal in which the article was published and see if it is scholarly or otherwise reputable. Next I move on to the content analysis in which I first look to see if I can tell the author’s intended audience and see if it is the same audience that would be interested in what I am writing about. Next, I use objective reasoning to see if the information seems valid and factual. I also look to see if the information simply regurgitates what the sources say or if it actually adds new information and draws its own conclusions. Lastly, I look at the authors writing style and evaluate some reviews of the article.
Ormondroyd, Joan. “Critically Analyzing Information Sources”. Cornell University. 2-15-10 <http://www.library.cornell.edu/olinuris/ref/research/skill26.htm>.
“Critically Analyzing Information Sources”. Texas A&M University. 2-15-10 <http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/may/analyzingsources.pdf>.
Blog #6
In Diana Hacker’s Book “A Writer’s Reference” she explains how to format an MLA style paper. Some the important points include:
- Form a one or two sentence long thesis that states a central idea.
- The body of an MLA paper should be composed of evidence in support of the thesis.
- Use sources to inform and support the argument.
- Cite quotations and borrowed ideas in this manner:
- The source is introduced by the author’s name
- The material being cited is followed by a page number in parenthesis
- At the end of the paper the paper, a list of works cited that are arranged in alphabetical order by the author’s last names gives complete publication information about the source.
- Use quotation marks for any borrowed language.
- Ellipsis marks can be used to omit parts of a quote to make it shorter.
- The period goes after the parenthesis that the authors cite work is in.
- I the authors name is not available use the title of the article in quotation marks.
- Multiple author’s names are to be separated by commas.
- For works with more then three authors list the first one and “et al”.
On Purdue’s web site i found an article explaining MLA formatting and it gave these rules:
- “Double-space the text of your paper, and use a legible font (e.g. Times New Roman). Whatever font you choose, MLA recommends that the regular and italics type styles contrast enough that they are recognizable one from another. The font size should be 12 pt.
- Leave only one space after periods or other punctuation marks (unless otherwise instructed by your instructor).
- Set the margins of your document to 1 inch on all sides.
- Indent the first line of paragraphs one half-inch from the left margin. MLA recommends that you use the Tab key as opposed to pushing the Space Bar five times.
- Create a header that numbers all pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner, one-half inch from the top and flush with the right margin. (Note: Your instructor may ask that you omit the number on your first page. Always follow your instructor’s guidelines.)
- Use italics throughout your essay for the titles of longer works and, only when absolutely necessary, providing emphasis.
- If you have any endnotes, include them on a separate page before your Works Cited page. Entitle the section Notes (centered, unformatted)” (The Purdue OWL).
Purdue OWL. “MLA Formatting and Style Guide.” The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 10 May
2008. Mon. 15 Jan. 2010.
I personally think that formatting is important to create a uniform medium in which people can submit written works for the same purpose. Also, formatting a paper makes it easier to read and understand because then it is not a jumble of thoughts but rather a clearly spelled out and lined up group of ideas. I think that formatting also helps with the writing process, it lets me know where what ideas are going to go. Lastly formatting is important to avoid plagiarism through citing texts properly.
Blog #5
Critical Reading
Both of the articles that I read about critical reading say basically the same thing. They both start of saying that critical reading is not so much about what the says but rather what it means or says. This means that when I read a text I’m not looking for just basic information but more drawing conclusions for my self about what that information means. There are several purposes of critical reading including recognizing the authors purpose, understanding the tone of the piece, and recognizing any bias in the piece.
So when I start reading a piece I should start off asking myself several questions including what is the author ultimately getting at? In order to this there are several things that can help including highlighting and taking notes on the most important passages and examples. This will help me go back and look at what I can draw from to come to my own conclusions and ultimately come away with a better understanding of what I am reading so that I can write about it better.
The articles that I chose to summarize for this blog were:
http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading.htm
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/reading-and-researching/critical-reading
Writing for an Audience
The articles I read about writing for an audience both again say basically the same thing. The first thing that I must ask myself when writing is who am I writing this for? This very basic question dictates how I am going to write anything that I do write. The next thing that I have to ask myself is how my audience will relate to what it is that I am writing. This will let me know what information is relevant in my paper and what information I should leave out for the sake of boring the audience.
Grabbing my audiences attention is the first thing that I want to accomplish in my paper so that they will actually read the whole thing. How I do this is also dictated by who exactly my audience is in the first place. I have to take into consideration my audience’s attitude towards whatever it is that I am writing about. I also have to take into consideration what the assumed knowledge on my writing subject the audience already posses because I don’t want my audience to feel like I am treating them like retards by going over the basics.
The articles that I chose to summarize for this blog were:
http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~shale/humanities/composition/handouts/audience.html
http://marlenharrison.com/images/flower_writing_for_an_audience.pdf
Blog #4
My major research question is how has the reducing role of major music labels affected independent artists in the music scene. I’m going to focus more on the heavier bands more along the lines of metal, punk, and pop-punk. I am curious about this because I have heard a lot about how more and more artists and bands are finding it easier to release albums, build fan bases, create larger tours, and just get heard without having to go through the traditional path of finding a major label and having to use relations firms to make tours for them. These bands have managed to make from there garages and basements to large venues and expansive tours on their own using there own resources and I am curious to know what impact that has on the artist and the music that they make. What stresses does this extra work load create? What freedoms do they find without corporate deadlines for albums and mandated tours/shows to they find? What lead me to this research question is that I am a musician that has been in and out of a number of bands and has done solo work and I want to see what this shift in power can do for me, both the good and bad effects.
My first assumption is that tours would be a bigger stress putting together without a labels help to get a hold of venues outside of the artists home fan base. How much extra stress does finding venues outside of an artist’s home fan base create? How does this stress effect the artist as far as writing, practicing, and preforming?
My second assumption is that releasing albums would be harder without a major label to get an album recorded and released to stores. What means do artists use to release an album or demo without a major labels help? Where do unsigned bands record? How does this effect the songs them selves?
My third assumption is that without a label to tell an artist what to do that it would be easier to create better music and not rushed to make the next album. How much stress does not having that pressure relieve? Could this result in apathy and laziness in writing new material?
My fourth assumption is that with myspace, youtube, purevolume, and iTunes it is getting easier and easier for artists to get their music heard by a wider variety of people with no bounds to geographic location. How has the internet made breaking into the music scene easier? What are the down sides? Is this allowing for to much music to be made hence negating the point?
My fifth and final assumption is that it is becoming much easier for bands to be found without the help of music labels and touring firms. Even though it is becoming easier to be “found” with a music labels help, is it worth it to do it on your own?
Where I can submit for publishing:
Amarillo Bay
http://www.amarillobay.org/submit/submit.htm
EZineArticles
http://www.ezinearticles.com/submit/
Speak Mag
http://speakmag.com/mainframe_guide.html
Reality X
http://realitytimes.com/submit.html
Public Culture
http://publicculture.org/info/submissions
Free Writing (freaking out about my topic)
ok so what i am thinking about tresaerching for this paper is the gorwing trend of the lessening of music label’s role or rather major music labels roles in getting bands out there and heard. not only bands but just artists in general. since youtube and myspace bands have found it eaiser to be heard by a vast populace without have ing to submit themselves cooperate laws and such what not. did i really jsut use the phrase such what not? wow. any way. i have been playing in my home areeas local music scene for abnout 4 or 5 years now and i have seen bands and artists rise from playing nothing but bars and open mics to opening for blink 182 this past summer. one of my friends bands just got off tour with the plain white t’s not to long ago. neither of those bands have ever been signed to major label and they do just fine. i also would like to concentrate on who that lack big major label input effects what kind of music is being produced. now my problem with all of this is that to me it sounds great and i am realy connected to it but im not exactly sure how to research it. i know that i can do interviews but other then that im really not sure how much there is in the way of other research alread ydone on the subject. i know for a fact theat there is something out there. so i gues spart of ythe reason that ii am freaking the fuck out is because i really havent donew as much work on this project as i should have at this point. basically i really htink that this idea would make for an excellent documentary style resaerch paper video type thing ( wow valley girl moment) but im not even really sure where to startt
Blog #3
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/02/
The article that I chose was Genre and The Research Paper by Jack Raymond Baker and Allen Brizee, the first part of the article defines what exactly a research paper is, or should be, as “culmination and final product of an involved process of research, critical thinking, source evaluation, organization, and composition.”(Raymond). The article goes on to say that a researcher should treat their research like it was a living thing that is meant to grow with the researcher as they learn more about whatever it is that they are researching. In the next section the article goes on to explain what a research paper IS NOT. The article makes it clear that a research paper is “not simply an informed summary of a topic by means of primary and secondary sources” (Raymond). This means that there mus be a real effort that shows through the writing that the researcher really took time to draw on what others have said on the topic to draw real conclusions of their own and not simply just organize other people’s thoughts and research on the subject. After that the article goes on to explain the two major types of research paper’s which are argumentative and analytical. The article says that an argumentative research paper poses the fact of a debate in order to persuade the reader one way or the other. As for the analytical research paper, the article goes on to describe it as starting with a question and is usually an evaluation on a certain subject rather then an argument because the writer does not take a certain stance on the subject.
As for my two topics I chose to stick with the two that I used in my previous blog entry, the first of which being about how musicians have been effected by the transition from major music cooperations to smaller indie labels or no labels at all. I really like this topic because I can relate to it pretty closely because I have been heard in several bands and even with my own work because of myspace and youtube with no help from any music label or any help from the industry. Also I think that it is a prevalent issue in the music community that was run for so long by music labels and large conglomerations of businessmen and women making the decisions of what was heard by the general public and what wasn’t. I also find it interesting to look at this shift through the view point of the musical landscape become to large, by to large I mean there might be point where there is so much music to listen to on the musical landscape that some music gets lost and is never heard because it is buried beneath so much other music. As for what genre I would write this in, I would have to write this in an analytical style because I am not challenging anything only stating and exploring an idea and evaluating it in an exploratory way. I would like to see myself completing this research in the for of a documentary style film with interviews of touring bands that got “youtube famous” or famous without the help of a label and see how not having a someone dictating what they may or may not release music wise effects their music writing and possibly what hindrances that lack of help brings to touring or exposure.
My second topic of choice is how living together as a couple in a collegiate atmosphere effects the couple’s relationship not only with each other but with friends and family. Also, i would like to research how this living arrangement effects the individual social habits of each of the people in the relationship, like how often they party, who they party with, do their study habits change, and how the relationship works in and outside of the residence. I chose this topic because it intrigued me and I have had this experience and wold like to see how it works out for other people. I would like to see what problems there are along with the upsides and how the mentioned couple balances those problems and upsides. As for the genre I would again not voice and opinion on the subject but rather take a more analytical view on the subject to be able to see all sides of the subject area. I would like to interview couples that are currently living together in college and couples that are still together and some that it didn’t out for after they move out. I could very easily see myself doing this research paper in either documentary format or the 40 page book format the first one being mostly composed interviews from which the viewer could draw opinions and the book option being a short story about a couple and how things work out in the end after college is over.
Raymond , Jack. “Genre and the Research Paper”. Purdue University. 2-1-10 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/02/>.
Blog #2
I have narrowed down my possible research topics to these two:
1. How have musicians been effected by the transition from major music cooperations to smaller indie labels or no labels at all?
2. How does a person living with their boyfriend or girlfriend in a college setting effect their relationship?
My first topic is how have musicians been effected by the transition from major music cooperations to smaller indie labels or no labels at all? What I want to really know more about is how the use of myspace, youtube, and purevolume over major music labels to get an artist’s music out there into the public has effected the types of music being produced by these smaller artists. This topic is important because it effects me personally along with my felloe musicians, is this freedom to produce music and actually have it heard a way to allow more freedom to the artist or is it just broadening the countries musical landscape to a such an overpopulated area that no one is ever really heard outside of the top 40? As for new research I would like to be able to interview not only musicians but local radio DJs to see how they think the output from the music scene has changed because of this shift. My research question would be the same as stated above which is how have musicians been effected by the transition from major music cooperations to smaller indie labels or no labels at all thanks to myspace, youtube, and purevolume? I could see myself doing any of the three options for the paper but I am definitely leaning towards the multimedia option.
As for my second option I would like to research how a person living with there boyfriend or girlfriend in a collegiate setting effects that persons relationship not only with their partner but with their friends and family. What I would like to know more about is how this living situation effects the couple socially, academically, and what happens after the couple graduates whether they are still together or not. As for bringing something new to the research I would like to actaully do some interviews in various age ranges from people currently in the situation to people who have graduated and been through it. I could really do any of three options for the research paper but I think that the 40 page book would make for an interesting read.
Blog #1 Research Writing
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/01/
The article I choose was titled “The Research Paper” by Jack Raymond Baker and Allen Brizee. In the first paragraph the article basically tries to reassure the reader that writing a research is a very rewarding experience that doesn’t need to be feared by students and should rather be embraced. It also goes on to point out that research writing is important because most all students will have to research later on in there careers . The second paragraph goes on to explain the attributes of a good research writter which include diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn, and patience. The article concludes with a short list of explanations of genre, choosing a topic, identifying an audience, and where to begin.(Raymond)
So what exactly does research writing mean to me? For me its a part of everyday life, I do it every day when I google random song lyrics to post in my facebook status or when I look up guitar tabs. To me research writing is writing down or telling someone something that I had to look up, which is research in my mind. That means that as research writer is anyone who looks up information and relays it in a medium of there choosing whether it be a text, a status update, or even giving driving directions to a friend that they had to map quest on line. As for how research questions are developed it all starts with a question, just simply something that someone wanst to know. From there that person narrosw down their question to an educated guess that makes it easier to search for information. After they have their educated guess they go out and do their research!
After looking looking through several teaching and research philosophies I can safely say that I pretty much have a pretty simple research philosophy. I believe that anyone’s research should be on a close and sometimes even personal subject matter, that way they have more of a connection to what they are writing and that will give them as a writer more motivation to dig deeper. The second part of my philosophy is that a researcher’s final product should be published for others to see and use. After all, what good is research if one just keeps it between them and their professor?
Bibliography:
Raymond, Jack. “Writing A Research Paper”. Purdue. 1-15-10 <http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/658/01/>.
