Academic Writing 14

At first I was skeptical of academic writing because I saw it as being dry and boring. Due to this way of thinking, I did not give it a chance; I unfairly group them in a category of bed time stories because of their capability to put me to sleep. Reading such material I always imagine to be difficult as reading an encyclopedia on a topic I have no interest in.

At the same time I do value the process of gathering information and reading is an effective way. I was more at ease when we cover mixing formal and informal writing to develop ones voice. Now I feel more at ease writing a  research paper because I know I can add a bit of humor which is part of my personality. A persons personality should be a part of person’s writing that should not only be reserved to creative writing.

I coming to realize that it takes more work in academic writing to balance between formality and informality than it would take in creative writing. This is the part that I need to invest more time in; balancing on the tight rope between informal and formal technique in academic writing.

On the fence about my thesis

At this point in my research process I didn't fully utilize all the skills that was presented to us in the library sessession. So far the research that I've done was solely to structure the format of the my paper. For one of my sources I only typed in "Keystone XL Pipeline". I choose to go broad because I was a substantial amount of articles to look through because the aim was to get information on the issue. I was trying to start with a blank slate. After this I tried to find articles that support and did not support the pipeline. The other two articles gives information on what contributes price determination. I took this approach because I did not have any prior knowledge of the issue and also I see Mary Thill the use this technique. She would pull up an article then look for the keywords that is used in that article and then use it to find more articles. So I'm planning to go through these articles and use them as a basis of inspiration for more detail search.

The issue that I'm covering in my paper, which is the foundation of my thesis, is that the Keystone XL Pipeline will not bring down gas prices in the United States. From the research that I have been doing this issue seems not to be a topic of relevancy, so I'm assuming that maybe it is openly understood by a majority that it will not bring gas prices down. That maybe the real issue which is what I'm keep coming a cross in my reading is will the pipeline make the United States less dependent on foreign oil. So I'm at a stand point of where I should go with my thesis. My new plan is to do more research and be more fully verse on the issue and find out more about what are the reasons for those that support it and those that don't then try to build my thesis somwhere there.

My thesis as it stand would be the Keystone XL Pipeline will not bring down the United States gas price because supply and demand do not determine the price fuel at pumps but instead crude oil speculations. Also if supply and demand was a determining factore it still would not affect U.S gas price because the oil is meant to be for the world market and not the United States.--This is the thesis that I'm on the fence about but I'm investigating the following.

The Keystone XL Pipeline will not make the Unite States less dependent on foreign oil because the oil is meant for the foreign market and also the sole motivation is not bring down domestic pump price but to protect the state that Austin Texas refinery company has in the pipeline.

So it is between one or the other but I need more research to determine on the direction. I don't want to write an argument paper about price if no one is argueing about price. But the argument could be about dependency on foreign oil.

School?

I believe education is very important if not essential but I beleive many people including myself is hiding in school instead of taking big risk in life and follow their dreams. The positives out weighs negative when come to going to college but many times we hear those story of those people who commit themselves one hundred percent in chasing their dreams. I like learning and I love knowledge but sometimes I do get bored sitting in a classroom and I just keep toughing it out because it is supose to be good for me. I will definitley stick to pursuing a degree because I like to finish commitments that I started. But I wonder sometimes, what will I hide behind after I receive that deploma? What will I hide behind when I graduate from college?

Will I go through the motions of creating a resume, going to job interviews and then sit in a cubicle eight nine hours of the day depressed and not satisfy. Will I justify a career in the same manner I justify school? Then another question arises, should a person be in a place where there heart is not in it completely? Should they just keep going because they don't know what they want to do or should they put in all their effort in trying to figure out their passion.

Like I said I like learning and the skills that I have acquired so far in school is helpfull but I wonder if I would be better off chasing dreams and goals without the back up plan that a college degree provides.

The Keystone Pipeline

My research question is, what effect would the Keystone Pipeline have on U.S gas prices. The Keystone Pipeline is a crude oil (unrefined oil) pipeline that is already constructed in Canada and within the legislative process of approval to be constructed in the U.S. The pipeline is meant to transport crude oil from Canada through various points in the U.S-Illinois being one of the points-to be refined into useable fuel such as diesel and gasoline that is used at the pump.

After continuously hearing about the effect both political ideology believe the Keystone Pipeline would have on gas prices, I was curious on finding out which one was true. Those that are for the pipeline say that it will create jobs, stimulate the economy, loosen Americas’ dependency on foreign oil and bring down gas prices because we are so close to Canada. Those that are against the pipeline not including environmentalists say that the pipeline will not effect U.S gas price by bringing it down because the pipeline is not to provide fuel to the U.S market but to other regions such as South America. There are good points on both sides but I really want to find out what will happen to the U.S gas price if the pipeline  should ever be ran through the United States.

In choosing this topic the double entry journal did help because I was able to choose from a number of potential topic. Some of the topics that was in my journal did not fulfill the requirement of this paper, so they were terminated. The journal also gave me an idea of how many issues that I am interested in.

Thinking more about the topic, I think that after all the research and observing similar situation that is similar the pipeline argument, that it will not bring down U.S gas price even if it was going to be used by United States customers. This is because the price of fuel is determined on a world market not on a domestic market like the U.S. We would probably only see a difference in the suppliers cost of bring fuel to the market but suppliers don't usually tend to drop the price of their product due to the the fall cost of production but due to the falling demand of customers. After the research I will be able to back this claim up or discover otherwise.

Assignment 7

At the beginning of the semester I expected more grammar and mechanics but then I realize that, that is not the purpose of the class. English 1102 offers an aspect of writing that I usually do not put a lot emphasis of importance on. The main objectives of 1102 is to think critically when analyzing other peoples writing. Along with thinking, but to also accurately interpreting the goals of other writers and responding or adding to whatever point they are making. I thought this aspect of writing wasn't important because I though I had a good handle on reading and interpreting other peoples work but I was faced with a new challenge when I had to analyze multiple works on the same topic. Being able to accurately understand the goal of what an author is saying is difficult because each writer has different techniques. This is a challenge especially when a writer do not explicit make their points.

I discovered from the argument essay that I need to work on elaborating and making my points more clear. I did not know this was an issue before but after thinking about it I do realize I am making this mistake. This is because I focus so much on the creative aspects of writing of making inferences and making the reader come to the conclusion on their own but this not a tool that should be used in academic writing. The new realization of this issue may not immediately be seen in my writing but I am aware of it and will continue to work on it.

I don't understand the point of a peer review. I know it gives students the opportunity to look at other student work and critique it but the peer review process do not have any feed back. I have done peer review senior year in high school and last semester in English 1101 but I never got a feed back on if I’m doing it right. The student who review my work usually provides a lot of feed back and I usually give the bare minimum. It is not because I don’t want to provide a multitude of comments to help a student out but it is because I don’t know what I’m looking for. Usually I just answer the question that is provided in the check list of a peer view critique. I don’t know how to improve on this process but I would like to do a better job at peer reviewing so I can give students solid sound feed back the next time I should participate in peer review.

Contentions

There are many debates on the value of a college degree but three points seems to be a recurrent source of debate, and that is cost, personal satisfaction, and employment reassurance.

Both Ungar and Wilson talked about cost in different lights. Ungar believes that the benefits of receiving a liberal arts degree out weighs the cons of the financial debt that a person may have after college. He believes that the degree that one receives from a liberal arts education is valuable for a changing complex world. Wilson explains that even though college debt is higher now that it once was, that the astronomical college debt numbers that gets attention is only an outliers. The average college debt she says is a much smaller number that what is portrayed by the media.

The second point of controversy is the personal satisfaction a person might receive from attending college. On this topic Murray believes that only people who scored in the top percentile of the ACT are capable of enjoying and meeting the demand of the rigor of a liberal arts program. With that said he also believes only those people should attend college because they are capable of providing a higher service to society with their ability. Wilson would disagree with this because he believes everyone should have the opportunity to reap the benefits of a liberal arts degree and with the skills they derived will make them a better person and at the same time society would be improved. Wilson also says sometimes the person have no background on a topic can provide a unique outlook and are usually quick to catch up.

The final point of debate is the ability a college degree has for job assurance. Murray is displeased with employers using a college degree as an hiring check mark. He says that a person who may not have a degree but is able to do the work better would get pass over. Wilson feels that a liberal arts degree would prepare a person to take on any challenges that a career my presents.

These points are important because they are factors that helps a person determines whether or not they want to go to college. The ability to pay for a college degree is important is important to many people. Many do not want to have massive debt after school. People want comfort in knowing that after the four years or more they dedicate for a degree they will be able to find a job afterwards. Personal satisfaction is also important because a person may think they are better off getting real life experience instead of siting in a class room.

Bachellors Degree???

A bachelors degrees' worth is priceless because it offers so much to so many. It is very difficult to measure its worth because of what it might mean to a person that is the first one in their family to achieve a bachelors degree or a person who believe it provides job security. To others it can be a intellectual journey or a place to net-worth or where many meet their spouse.  For me a bachelors degree is a way for me not to place my eggs in one baskets. I believe education is very important, even if that means not going to a university and just self study. But I do believe its important to be stimulated and challenge by other ideas which is more difficult if one is just self studying. A bachelors degree is a way for me to tell my children-if I should have any-to follow my foot steps in higher learning. Also the time it take for me to complete the degree is time for me to realy figure out what I want to do. Instead of siting around doing nothing trying to figure it out, I might as well go to school.

BLOG #4

Trickle down economics is the most effective way to stimulate an economy and create jobs.  Who owns majority of the wealth and business in this country? The people in the top percent of the earning bracket; then why wouldn't it no be a good idea for the government to provide tax relief for the top percent earners. The money that they dont have to pay in tax they will use to higher more workers, invest in their company and spend more.  Isn't that what people do when they have more money in their pocket, don't they spend it. Provide tax relief for the rich and create a job for the poor.

Rich people are very frugal. They would rather spend money on paying lawyers and accountants to find way to bring their tax burden percentage close to zero. These wealthy people also known as job creaters the ones who own all the businesses main goal is to maximise profits. What is profit?  Profit is sales minus operational cost. How do you maximise profit? One way is to increase price but that is never a good idea especially if your competitors is not. The next thing is to cut workers and ask the remaining workers to do more. Another proof that trickle down economics don't work is year 2000 to 2008, enough said.

Don't Blame the Eater

In the article Dont Blame the Eater by David Zinczenko provides a different side of the story on child obesity in America. When some people see an obese person they tend to say why don't that person stop eating and do something about their weight.  Zinczenko believes that some of the blame should be shifted to providers of the goods that are making these children obese-fast food company. His arguments suporting his claim covers the easy accessibility of fast food restaurants, time and financial scarcity of consumers and the growing cost of medical aid to tax payers due to the increase of diseases linked to childhood obesity. He also says that it would be in the fast food industry to take responsibility of their part in childhood obesity epidemic because it could later threaten their industry.

Choosing this article was an easy choice, for one because it is a light read but most importantly increates and open up a new avenue for a topic that many would say is one sided.  That one sided view point is that fat people other than those who have a thyroid problem is fat because they want to be.  In other words they need to take it on themself to exercise personal responsibility and stop eating.  Zinczenko brought another posible reason to the conversation which is maybe the producers of the fast food should be blame.  He is well aware of what type of claim he is making when says this and it is also clair that he also believe in personal responsibility. He opens the gate for other people who reads the article to think without descriminating that when they see a person that is overweight there might be a gazillion reason why they are like that other that personal responsibility.

Some Things are Not What it Seems

I stumbled on a pictue on my facebook wall, posted by a friend with a lady in mid stride crossing a street.  The woman is wearing an all white outfit, a tightly fitted pants and also a tight blouse.  The picture is taken from behind at an angle a bit to the left.  There is more going on in the picture, but what got my attention was the woman’s figure, especially her buttocks; so I clicked on the picture for a better look, and also because I wanted to read the text beneath the picture that was too small to read.  The text which was written by the woman in the picture boyfriend, explain that he was walking holding hands with her, but stop to take the picture.  He continued to explain, that he didn't know why he was slapped by his girl for taking the picture because all he was trying to do was capture an unbelieveable event, which is a dog driving a car.  The moral of the story is that somethings are not what they seems.   

This is a common lesson that many people learn in their life by personal experience.  People tend to not give others the benefit of the doubt unless they had a similar experience.  In the picture, it’s easy to assume that the focal point or the main reason to look at the picture-if you are a man-is to admire the woman’s rear end in a tight white pants.  It is easy to assume that if you see a man pointing his camera in the general vicinity of the woman the he must be a pervert objectifying women.  Many people rarely step back and say wait a minute, let me not assume if I don’t have all the information.

The Pen Vs the Sword

I was always unsettled with the saying “the pen is mightier than the sword”.  I know it is not a literal statement, even though  many times I had imagine two warriors battling to the death;  one equipt with a sword, the other with a pen and for some reason the warrior with the pen came out victorious.  I then would imagine him standing over his oponent with his pen to the heavens screaming at the top of his voice "the pen is mightier than the sword!".  In a more serious note, I thought of all that has come from the edge of a blade-both good and bad-and wonder if those who have ever heard the saying give any thought to the might of the sword.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 At the same time I didn't want to take anything away from the saying because it was very powerful, but I felt it was lacking something, then it came to me.  I believe the statement needs to be revised and be written as “the pen is mightier than the sword only if it has a good writer”.  I was much more comfortable with such a statement.  The statement was no longer lacking, it was now complete.  I also believe this revision gave it more power.  The revision create a distinction between good writing and bad writing, and that the good writing is what that is able to destroy the symbolism of the sword.

With that said, I’m in English 102 with hopes of improving on the basic fundamentals of writing and also become more comfortable with writing.  It’s one thing to have brilliant ideas, insightful thoughts and outlooks, but it is very frustrating being unable to formulate them in words or distract potential readers with grammatical errors and poor organization.  I understand that it is important to create a proper foundation in any craft, if one has any aim at becoming a master.  I am taking English 102 with hopes to create a sturdy foundation in writing so I can later express my ideas in any and all style of writing.  At the end of the semester I hoping to accomplish this by improving on my grammar and mechanics so my pen can be mightier than the sword.