[welcome from Google images]

Hope you enjoy my portfolio, and I hope you learn from my writing experience!

When I submitted my assignment to the plagiarism catcher, I only plagiarized four percent because my sentence was too closely worded to the actual sentence in the article. The plagiarism catcher missed one of my sentences where I quoted the author, but forgot to cite it. It didn’t highlight anything that wasn’t plagiarized material. Because I didn’t remember that paraphrasing is supposed to be cited, the plagiarism catcher failed to catch that. I think this tool does bring up ethical concerns because it helps me understand using someone else’s words as my own is considered an offense. With this tool, teachers can help students understand that plagiarism is wrong.

Collecting seashells: A Metaphor for Academic Search (EBSCO)- a Research Tool

Seashells are known for their beauty and intricate detail. Collecting seashells are a fun hobby, especially during the summer months. From my own experience, collecting seashells isn’t something that takes five minutes. I grovel in the sand and waves to find the most beautiful seashells.

When gathering scholarly sources for my research paper, using Academic Search (EBSCO) as a research tool is quite time consuming. Spending time to find the best sources for writing my research paper is a must. I’m not going to simply choose an article that doesn’t relate to my intersecting topics for my research paper because my research won’t be relevant or support my argument. Academic Search is a collection of the most beautiful seashells because only the best sources ( the most beautiful seashells) can improve the quality of my writing (the quality of my seashell collection). 

After I spend time collecting the most beautiful seashells, I create necklaces and bracelets. Because I put the time into collecting only the most beautiful seashells, my necklaces and bracelets are so beautiful. I am happy with my necklaces and bracelets because I collected most beautiful and intricate seashells.

Because I spent so much time gathering the best sources for my research paper, I’m happy with the quality of information that pertains to my research topic. I expect to write an exceptional paper because of the exceptional sources I found through the Academic Search (EBSCO). If I didn’t spend time collecting only the best and most scholarly sources, I wouldn’t expect to be able to write a quality research paper. Similar to if I didn’t collect the most beautiful seashells, I wouldn’t have been able to create such beautiful necklaces and bracelets.

Race defines and becomes social injustice

Race has become such an important issue that it has come to determine social identity. It doesn’t matter the race, but how society perceives the issue of race. If we continue to think society is just as racist as it was, progress will never be made if it is never recognized. Race becomes injustice for everyone everywhere because the issues that are improved upon never seem to be acknowledged. The race issues in the past must stay in the past if the issue of race is to be perceived any differently.

Response to “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”

White privilege is said to be a problem of race in today’s society. I think the term ‘white privilege’ is very offensive to so many people. There is no such thing as white privilege, but only the skewed perception that success is simply handed to a person because they are white. If anything, reverse racism is very prevalent in today’s society, whether people want to acknowledge it is another issue. Some of the the effects of white privilege recognized in the “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” handout in fact have nothing to do with white privilege. Not being able to choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color so it can match various skin tones is more of a first world problem than anything else. I can’t say much that I can actually walk into a store and be well assured that I won’t be followed or harassed by men of colored skin (another example of reverse racism). I will have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism because an impoverished student of a different race will be accepted to an ivy league school rather than a “white privileged’ individual. The facts don’t lie. If people stop recognizing white privilege a real issue and focus on the real problems in society, racism won’t have to be an issue.

For my first Critical Response paper, I did well using sophisticated vocabulary and connecting ideas, as well as elaborating on them. I need to work on not making my sentences too long; I’ve noticed this problem in many of my papers. Making the sentences too lengthy often confuses the meaning of the sentence. I can go for help at the English Building, or reference the assigned notebook for this class. I have educated myself about this problem by learning to use semicolons more often and separating longer sentences into two complete ideas. To get a better grade next time, I plan to acknowledge the mistakes I made on my first Critical Response paper and improve on my errors in the next Critical Response paper.

As of now, I am not planning on going out on Friday, but I am a little nervous about going to classes and walking around campus. If anything, I plan to go to classes and then go back to my dorm and finish up on homework before the weekend. This “holiday” could really negatively affect the campus, especially because of the excessive consumption of alcohol. Negative consequences can include vandalism and sober students skipping class to avoid students who decide to go to class drunk.In addition, students can become unconscious because of excessive alcohol consumption and seriously injure themselves and others. Because Unofficial is such a large event, the negative effects are pretty much inevitable. At this point, students planning to attend Unofficial should be cautious and avoid excessive consumption of alcohol.

I have decided to write my research essay on the relation between the media and body image and self-worth (self-esteem). Although I believe that the media had an overall negative effect on body image and self-portrayal, I also want to discover the psychology behind the reasons why the media has such a negative effect on body image. I am in the process of gathering multiple resources that focus on different parts of the media that affect various body image image and self-esteem issues. I can personally relate to these issues because I still struggle to look a certain way. It would also be interesting to look into the ways that schools and other institutions attempt to deal with the issue of the media’s negative effect on body image and self-worth. I still agree with my former view of Gerard’s idea of writing about a totally foreign topic in term’s of one’s own knowledge. In my opinion, I am writing about media and body image because I have little knowledge about the topic, but I am interested and want to know more. The idea that I could familiarize myself with the topic spurred my interest to write about it. I continue to disagree with Gerard because I would find it hard to write about a topic I have no knowledge about or interest in to say the very least.

The Gerald interview presents the approach of writing a research paper about an unfamiliar topic; write about something you want to know and not what you already know. I agree to a certain extent that writing about an unfamiliar research topic can be beneficial in terms of creating an opinion or bias about an important issue. On the other hand, I want to take the approach of writing about a topic I am well-informed about. I want to be able to strongly defend by views and opinions in a well-written and informative essay. The approach mentioned in the Gerald interview doesn’t seem most helpful when writing a research paper; a research paper is meant to be written about a topic that the reader is already well-informed about in order to illustrate a successful argument. For my research paper I will be writing about the ethics and politics of abortion; I am well-informed about abortion and I can strongly defend my stance on the issue (as well as properly inform the reader). I already know that abortion is a very controversial topic, and stances on the issue depend on a variety of views and opinions. My opinion is rooted in that I am totally against abortion, and my opinion will definitely affect my writing; I am attempting to convince the reader why abortion should be illegal and why others have no problem with it. By presenting the facts at the beginning of the paper, I can simply inform the reader and allow them to formulate their own opinions. Although the topics blog post presented a wide variety of potential ideas, I wasn’t as informed about the topics (especially the politics and current world news). Using  scholarly articles to my advantage will help me write an informative, yet biased research paper while letting the reader observe both sides of the issue.

Dear Maria (sister in high school),

Although you haven’t yet had the college experience, you should know that college is definitely not easy. One of my harder classes is Rhet 105; I am expected to write a critical response every week along with quizzes and other time-consuming assignments. I’m one of the lucky ones to start class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 8am. Although I am probably sleep-deprived, I make sure I turn in all my assignments on time and follow the given instructions. Hopefully you will prioritize your time and focus on the academics. For Rhet 105, I am expected to write a full-blown research paper! I might have an idea of what I would want to write about, but I’m not set on an ideal topic right now. I want to have enough to write about but not anything too overwhelming. My two options right now are the drinking age of alcohol and the “issue” with parents spanking their children. I decided that a more argumentative topic will be easier to write about. It’s an important decision, and it would be great if you could give me some feedback.

From

Elena

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