Author: Jumaan George

After receiving my originality report, I noticed only two things were highlighted in my paper. The two things that were highlighted were my source’s title name. It was first highlighted when I introduced it in the first paragraph, and it highlighted the source title a second time in my works cited list. I believe these highlights were a glitch in the plagiarism checker because the essay prompt required me to introduce the source title and its author.

The plagiarism checker did miss couple things within my essay, however. There were areas in my essay where I paraphrased the author’s idea but failed to provide in-text citations. This is considered plagiarism, and I believe the originality report didn’t identify this because I rephrased the author’s ideas in my own words. Another area the originality report failed to report plagiarism was when I used more than three words from my source and failed to put it in quotation marks. I believe this error occurred because the three words that I failed to put in quotation marks were very common words that could have appeared anywhere.

After analyzing the plagiarism checker, I believe this is a tool teachers have to work with carefully in order to identify plagiarized materials. While the plagiarism checker is more than capable of identifying large length of texts that are directly stolen from a source, it will fail to identify areas within the paper where the student uses 3 to 4 unique words from the source and fail to put it in quotation marks. A teacher’s judgement comes in play here because the teacher would need to figure out from what part of the source these words come from. These mistakes could also be an honest mistake from the student’s side as well. There are times when students fail to provide in-text citations after paraphrasing or quoting a material. Thus, I believe the teacher needs to use his or her own investigative abilities alongside with the plagiarism checker in order to figure out whether if the student is actually attempting to commit plagiarism.

In my first major essay, I analyzed the source “Zombies vs. The Joy of Canning: Motivation in the Productive Home” by Erica Strauss. I was able to successfully identify the central thesis of this source and provided ample amounts of evidence discussed by the author to support the thesis. The author of this source was addressing her exigent circumstance to household mothers and other productivity-seeking individuals. I discussed this briefly when explaining how the author employed pathos in her source. I believe my organization was good because it was logical and focused for the most part. I never went on tangents and developed my essay as a whole. The progression was very natural and each of my paragraphs provided new information. I believe I could have done better regarding my source boundaries. I was able to alert my readers with signal phrases, quotations, and in-text citations when discussing  ideas of the author. However, there were times when I failed to provide in-text citations after using a signal phrase.

A certain grammar error I made frequently within this paper was placing commas and periods outside of quotation marks. I believe this is a simple mistake I can fix by reviewing it in my handbook. In fact, Professor Hays provided me with the specific page on the handbook that discusses this problem. Besides this grammatical error, I did not have any other issues with spelling, apostrophe use, run-on sentences, etc.

In this paper, I believe I did an excellent job analyzing and synthesizing my source.  I provided an insightful analysis regarding my source’s thesis and supported it with a variety of evidence. I displayed that I understood the topic with complexity. However, I do need to work on addressing all parts of the essay prompt. Within my paper, I completely failed to address backing, a component of toulmin analysis. I also need to work on improving my grammar skills. I need to start placing commas and periods inside of quotation marks when citing a source. I can achieve a better grade next time through careful proofreading in order to avoid simple grammatical errors. I can also improve my grade by keeping a checklist and crossing off parts of the prompt I address as I progress through my essay.

 

After further consideration, I have decided to focus on the intersection between the environment and food. My research question is, what effects has genetically modified food had on the overall environment? Like I discussed in my previous post, I’m approaching Gerard’s method in order to research this proposal. The reason I really want to discover more about this topic is because genetically modified food has had a great impact to improve food production. However, genetically modified food has also had an immense role in negatively affecting the biodiversity of our environment. I’m also interested in this topic for the fact that I would like to discover the long term effects of GMO’s on our environment. This is an important matter because with a growing population that is bound to reach 9.5 billion by 2050, GMO’s will play a key figure in feeding an increase of 3 billion people.

In order to proceed with my research, I will begin by using the various databases provided by the UIUC online library. Many of the academic journals and articles I will find here relating to my research will serve as secondary sources. I can also utilize the Student Life and Culture Archives center to find projects and essays related to genetic modification of food that were done by Illinois students and faculty members. This will serves as primary resources for my research. Overall, I believe I have access to good resources in order to obtain credible sources for my research proposal.

Great research papers tend to result from new discoveries as opposed to pre-existing knowledge.  This was the same concept suggested by Philip Gerard in his interview “An Interview with Philip Gerard” conducted by Frank Tascone. By learning and understanding new information, the pieces fall in place together to unlock “something really important and exciting”, according to Gerard. Approaching my research topics in a similar fashion, I chose two topics that I have an interest in but very limited amount of knowledge about: the impact of DACA on the U.S economy and the impact of Graham-Cassidy Health Care Bill on American citizens. Using these two topics, some intersections I can create with food are the economy and food as well as government regulations and food.  Considering my background knowledge on these topics are very limited, I would need to read a wide array of scholarly articles that touch bases with the pros and cons of both my topics. In order to guard myself from assuming the answer before I begin my paper, I could pose possible rebuttals to my arguments that are in support of my topics. Through this manner, I prevent myself from making my research paper too biased.

I have an important decision ahead of me. I need to choose an exigent topic for my research paper in Professor Hays’ rhetoric course.  With countless issues surrounding our society today, it’ll be quite a task to focus on a specific one. On one hand, I’m very passionate about the recent DACA statement made by the Trump administration. The decision to end the deferred action for childhood arrivals (DACA) crushes the dreams of nearly 800,000 young people who had a stake within the American dream. Not only does this harm the United States from an economical perspective, but it also undermines the foundation on which this country was built on. Besides DACA, I’m also equally concerned about the Graham-Cassidy Health Care bill that will affect countless Americans. Citizens with pre-existing conditions could be denied coverage given that states have the power to waive that requirement due to the new changes made for the bill. This is very problematic because individuals with chronic diseases, etc. will find it difficult to afford insurance. With such  concerning issues surrounding our society today, it will be difficult for me to pick a topic that I want to research about. These obstacles currently facing our society will eventually need a proper solution. I hope I can be a valuable asset to our society that will bring about a positive change.

I learned quite a lot from my first written assignment in Professor Hays’ class. Within my first Critical Response assignment responding to the Adler, LaMott, and Bradbury sources, I was able to analyze and synthesize my sources well. I utilized evidence from all three sources and displayed that I understood them with complexity. However, I do need to work on improving my grammar skills. I need to better learn how to use quotations, commas, and periods when citing a source. In order to fix this mistake, I can utilize the Easy Writer book as well as online resources such as Purdue Owl. With these resources, I practiced and learned where to place my commas and periods after quoting a line of text from a source. I can achieve a better grade next time by avoiding grammar errors thus ensuring clarity to my paper. I can also work on making my paragraphs more organized and focused by inserting transitional words.

Welcome to my page! Exciting new things to come.