When people lack teachers, their tendencies are not corrected; when they do not have ritual and moral principles, then their lawlessness is not controlled. -- Xun Zi – Confucian philosopher
People are born good but need a positive environment in order to fully prosper with the “Way”, Xunzi argues that it is only the environment which can save a person from immorality.
LAWLESSNESS
I was driving down the road and looked at my speedometer, the school of cars was doing about eight miles an hour over the maximum speed limit, with a few strays weaving in and out to gain position. I thought to myself when the cat is away the mouse will play…no enforcement. Why must man reject authority, think outside of the orthodox box, think of themselves as above the laws of the land, and just do whatever it is that suits their fancy, contibute to the lawless behavior and have little concern for the safety and welfare of others, just because nobody with authority will witness it, they wouldn't be punished. I sounded like an old man expressing desires that the denizen acheive progress into a higher plateau of awareness.
Why is it so hard to obey the speed limit? It doesn’t matter what the posted speed limit is, people exceed it by at least five miles an hour, more if they can influence other drivers by pushing them or making frustration gestures. Is it the effects of the caffeine, the peer pressures, or the competition. Are they still lawless and immature jerks when they are not behind the wheel, usually not. Usually they return to their non- Andretti normal-selves, hidden in the deep recesses of their complex minds during the driving experience. Is it that childhood sing-song “Well, everyone else is doing it….” rationalization? Do I have to say, “If Johnny jumped off the cliff, would you jump off the cliff too?”
I think it just must be some sort of a ‘venting’ personality that drivers acquire once they get behind the wheel and their engines start, “Gentlemen, start your engines.” Venting is O.K., much better than holding all of your frustrations in, then reaching the point of explosion, enduring internal rants of a silent cacophony of antisocial schizoid hysteria I suppose, or going completely nuts, losing it, and shooting people like they do in Southern California. Does it do any harm? probably. Is it safe?, no, not really. Why don’t we change the laws, make the speed limit seventy again, would people supersede the limit to eighty miles per hour then… yes. It’s just the way things work, but I don’t like it.
Maybe Xun Zi was right. We live in a poor environment, we have no teachers, we need role models, we need to re-think our principles, fully prosper by following the path, learn to know ourselves and control the animal instincts within us, and avoid the influences of the crowds in an unmonitored environment. We need to save ourselves from a mortal immorality, become better people, far above the animals and insects of the world, and take our places on the throne, instead of becoming carrion on the battlefields of unfufilled desires, incessant frustration, and constant confusion. We need to survive be alive, mobile victors, and undead; where we have the ability to write the history of our actions as we see it, as it really happened, clean and right, without feeling guilt or remorse. The way that we were intended to live our mortal lives. To better understand ourselves and why we do the things that we do, control them, become disciplined and resist the temptations to fall back into the fold, uneducated and without a doctrine. People, slow down, smell the roses, enjoy life and reduce your stress, chose the right because you want to, not because you have to, be what you should be, happy and enjoy the time you have here. Peace.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a wood, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Writing Process Reviewed
I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
Everyone can write, it just takes a little practice to get good at it. You can start out by following a recipe, follow the step by step instructions, be sure to include the right amount of all the ingredients, in the right order! This will get you going. Then you have to add a little personal flair, put in a little of your own 'secret sauce", and exercise working with your weak points, they will never get better if you don't, lift those pens and wiggle those fingers in a nice little dance on the keyboard. Don’t have any fear, if you need a little time to think, be sure to take it! After all that’s where writing comes from in the first place, your mind, thinking, your research, your thoughts and ideas. If those aren’t there…. Then you are just doodling, and that’s fine…it’s called pre-writing in high society, but then when your mind kicks back into gear, rev up those motors, give it the gas! And go baby go! Cause sometimes you run out of gas, and there ain’t nobody goin' to help push ya up the next hill, you got to build up your momentum….
..and that’s how you write! 'dat’s the process..now go and do it! don't be shy, everything is going to be just fine.
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard American Novelist and Screenplay writer
Everyone can write, it just takes a little practice to get good at it. You can start out by following a recipe, follow the step by step instructions, be sure to include the right amount of all the ingredients, in the right order! This will get you going. Then you have to add a little personal flair, put in a little of your own 'secret sauce", and exercise working with your weak points, they will never get better if you don't, lift those pens and wiggle those fingers in a nice little dance on the keyboard. Don’t have any fear, if you need a little time to think, be sure to take it! After all that’s where writing comes from in the first place, your mind, thinking, your research, your thoughts and ideas. If those aren’t there…. Then you are just doodling, and that’s fine…it’s called pre-writing in high society, but then when your mind kicks back into gear, rev up those motors, give it the gas! And go baby go! Cause sometimes you run out of gas, and there ain’t nobody goin' to help push ya up the next hill, you got to build up your momentum….
..and that’s how you write! 'dat’s the process..now go and do it! don't be shy, everything is going to be just fine.
I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard American Novelist and Screenplay writer
Saturday, August 7, 2010
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.” – Socrates
THE END ...THE BEGINNING...
Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A parable.” – Frederick Nietzsche
Our course has almost ended, we knew that it would come someday, the final paper has gone through all the stages of development, modification, reflection, review, proofreading… and now the grading shall begin.
Our futures will be brighter because of the work we have done here, the lessons learned, the application of those lessons to the work must now begin, better products, better communication, better understanding, and better lives. Our dividends have matured; we reap the bounties of our labor, glory in the fruit of the harvest, rest, reflect and then move on. Thanks everyone for your support and sharing your thoughts, your human thoughts and feelings. May the force be with you always, live long and prosper. Grok on...and on and on...keep writing.
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”--Winston Churchill
Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A parable.” – Frederick Nietzsche
Our course has almost ended, we knew that it would come someday, the final paper has gone through all the stages of development, modification, reflection, review, proofreading… and now the grading shall begin.
Our futures will be brighter because of the work we have done here, the lessons learned, the application of those lessons to the work must now begin, better products, better communication, better understanding, and better lives. Our dividends have matured; we reap the bounties of our labor, glory in the fruit of the harvest, rest, reflect and then move on. Thanks everyone for your support and sharing your thoughts, your human thoughts and feelings. May the force be with you always, live long and prosper. Grok on...and on and on...keep writing.
“This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”--Winston Churchill
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Let the Rain Come Down, Let the Rain Come Down, Let the Rain Come Down on me
"I’m an excellent driver." – Raymond Babbitt (Dustin Hoffman –Rain Man 1988)
Do you sometimes feel like everybody is an idiot, you are the only sane person in the world, everyone else is crazy. They’re the ones that are crazy, not me. It’s like living in Raymond Babbitt’s world, your mind is so much keener than anyone else’s, they don’t understand it at all and it’s an useless effort to try to explain it to them, it’s a waste of time, yet another frugal cause. Then you can’t remember how to tie your shoes, so you go buy some cheap penny loafers and put dimes in the slots because you heard that it was good luck.
I accept minimum wage employee incompetence at the cash register, you check out and the penny loafer bill is $13.67; you give them a ten and five dollar bill and seventeen cents, three nickels and two pennies, and they wonder why. You think to yourself, do they ever forget how to tie their shoes too, which string goes where, something about around the tree and back down the rabbit hole, or was that Alice in Wonderland? Am I in some sort of rabbit hole, an hallucinogenic trip, some brain in a bubbling jar of green liquid with wires attached to it, leading to somewhere in a dark room, to an "Ender's Game" simulator, left here and forgotten after the battle with the Formics, did we lose? Maybe I'm unattended and just imagining all of this, the universe, the entire world, people, penny loafers. Why do they call them that if you put dimes in them? Is that why it’s so crazy all the time, it's my brain in a bubbling jar of green liquid dream? Did Einstein often forget to put on his shoes and walk in the New Jersey snow, or was that just something my mother told me when I was young to make me feel better, more normal? I was so strange, I am so strange, why do we want to be normal? Idiots that can't figure out that I like quarters and not nickles and pennies, I can still use dimes for the penny loafers, maybe it's me and not them, maybe I should put the two quarters in the penny loafers then give her the dollar as a tip; make her think she is doing a great job, make her feel normal. Prove that I have love, a body and am really walking around in a real world wearing penny loafers with quarters in them instead of a brain in a bubbling green jar, without a body, a brain that doesn't need shoes, a brain that doesn't need to know what coins to put in his shoes, or even need to know how to tie shoe strings. It just sits there in a bubbling green jar going crazy, making up crazy stuff, making up the Universe, making up shoes, shoestrings, coins. Why doesn't my brain just dream that the penny loafers cost $14.98, put the two pennies in the penny loafers, keep it succinct and simple. Do brains in a bubbling jar even have a mother? I’m leaning towards the brain in the bubbling green jar theory lately, it makes a lot more sense. An Avatar in this unreal world.
This week we learned how to shorten our three page rough drafts for the seven page minimun length Final Project, make them clearer, easy to understand, simple, succinct in APA format with 30% references and 70% original thought about a subject that you haven’t a clue about until two months ago. “Ten minutes to Wapner. We're definitely locked in this box with no TV. (Raymond Babbit, Rainman, 1988).” Two more weeks until the Composition II for Healthcare Professionals course will have concluded. Three terms to an Associates Degree in Medical Assistance, that should be interesting, more crazy people, more normal people, just like -- that’s the way things are supposed to be. Let the rain come down on me, let it come.
Do you sometimes feel like everybody is an idiot, you are the only sane person in the world, everyone else is crazy. They’re the ones that are crazy, not me. It’s like living in Raymond Babbitt’s world, your mind is so much keener than anyone else’s, they don’t understand it at all and it’s an useless effort to try to explain it to them, it’s a waste of time, yet another frugal cause. Then you can’t remember how to tie your shoes, so you go buy some cheap penny loafers and put dimes in the slots because you heard that it was good luck.
I accept minimum wage employee incompetence at the cash register, you check out and the penny loafer bill is $13.67; you give them a ten and five dollar bill and seventeen cents, three nickels and two pennies, and they wonder why. You think to yourself, do they ever forget how to tie their shoes too, which string goes where, something about around the tree and back down the rabbit hole, or was that Alice in Wonderland? Am I in some sort of rabbit hole, an hallucinogenic trip, some brain in a bubbling jar of green liquid with wires attached to it, leading to somewhere in a dark room, to an "Ender's Game" simulator, left here and forgotten after the battle with the Formics, did we lose? Maybe I'm unattended and just imagining all of this, the universe, the entire world, people, penny loafers. Why do they call them that if you put dimes in them? Is that why it’s so crazy all the time, it's my brain in a bubbling jar of green liquid dream? Did Einstein often forget to put on his shoes and walk in the New Jersey snow, or was that just something my mother told me when I was young to make me feel better, more normal? I was so strange, I am so strange, why do we want to be normal? Idiots that can't figure out that I like quarters and not nickles and pennies, I can still use dimes for the penny loafers, maybe it's me and not them, maybe I should put the two quarters in the penny loafers then give her the dollar as a tip; make her think she is doing a great job, make her feel normal. Prove that I have love, a body and am really walking around in a real world wearing penny loafers with quarters in them instead of a brain in a bubbling green jar, without a body, a brain that doesn't need shoes, a brain that doesn't need to know what coins to put in his shoes, or even need to know how to tie shoe strings. It just sits there in a bubbling green jar going crazy, making up crazy stuff, making up the Universe, making up shoes, shoestrings, coins. Why doesn't my brain just dream that the penny loafers cost $14.98, put the two pennies in the penny loafers, keep it succinct and simple. Do brains in a bubbling jar even have a mother? I’m leaning towards the brain in the bubbling green jar theory lately, it makes a lot more sense. An Avatar in this unreal world.
This week we learned how to shorten our three page rough drafts for the seven page minimun length Final Project, make them clearer, easy to understand, simple, succinct in APA format with 30% references and 70% original thought about a subject that you haven’t a clue about until two months ago. “Ten minutes to Wapner. We're definitely locked in this box with no TV. (Raymond Babbit, Rainman, 1988).” Two more weeks until the Composition II for Healthcare Professionals course will have concluded. Three terms to an Associates Degree in Medical Assistance, that should be interesting, more crazy people, more normal people, just like -- that’s the way things are supposed to be. Let the rain come down on me, let it come.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
The Value of Peer Reviews
Peer reviews are a very useful tool if done correctly. My experience with them in other writing classes is that those who review my works of art are too polite and only tell me what a great job that I’ve done and really offer no constructive criticism. The draft stage is a perfect time for peer reviews, it’s not done yet and still in the formulation stages, there are going to be mistakes both in style and organization because of that. It’s easy to spot errors and it gives the peer review person every opportunity to point those out, and learn more about their own papers in the process.
It seems like when we are in the revision stages of a paper, we often miss obvious errors because we’ve gone over the paper so many times, a second sight is worth a million bucks! I often have my wife read my papers, let me know which paragraphs need work on, or which sentences aren’t clear, but also what I left out or what is unnecessary. She’s a great peer review person and a wonderful proofreader. On the other hand I am not!
Sometimes I see it and other’s I don’t, then I have difficulties explaining what I think is wrong, there is a void between my mind and my mouth and it doesn’t always communicate effectively, I suppose that is because I don’t often have the opportunity to perform peer reviews now that my daughters are gone and no longer ask me to do it for them.
We need to know the TRUTH, it may offend some, but it’s better than being too nice. We are supposed to express what we like and don’t like about the paper, help identify the thesis statement if we can, and then figure out if the paragraphs follow the thesis structure and fulfill those statements or not. The only way that I could think of doing that, was to use the post draft outline tool, which we learned in the last unit.
APA format is hard enough for me to figure out in my own paper, how the heck will I point out these types of errors in other student’s papers, then what if I am wrong and they follow my advice, how would I feel, who is to blame? It’s a dilemma and I feel that the best way to do this, was to examine all of the papers and decide which ones are correct and which ones are obviously wrong, then go to the Writing Center and verify your findings! After all there is only the title page, first page, in-text citings, and then the reference page and those citings.Sounds like a good learning process to me, maybe the course designers knew that, the blind leading the blind! Oh boy!
Other characteristics that are open for analysis would be the flow of the paper, the writer’s voice and tone, their structure, each paragraph and then down to each sentence, techniques which they probably learned in Composition I, and which I missed out on.
Introductions and Conclusions would be hard to really evaluate, but if we actually read the paper, break it down with the post draft outline, we should be able to see if everything fits, what’s missing and what else needs to be removed or placed into the introduction or theisis, thanks to the new post draft outline tool.
I went back to the Writing Center and reviewed some writing basics, sentence structure, writing a good paragraph, logical fallacies, how to write a good introduction and conclusion and feel a lot more confident in my abilities to be able to give a few good peer reviews during this unit, and hope that I get some good input too.
This is the seventh week and there are only three more to go before the end of the course. The clock is ticking and time is getting short, it’s good to have these checkpoints to help us remember the deadlines and commitments ahead of us.
It seems like when we are in the revision stages of a paper, we often miss obvious errors because we’ve gone over the paper so many times, a second sight is worth a million bucks! I often have my wife read my papers, let me know which paragraphs need work on, or which sentences aren’t clear, but also what I left out or what is unnecessary. She’s a great peer review person and a wonderful proofreader. On the other hand I am not!
Sometimes I see it and other’s I don’t, then I have difficulties explaining what I think is wrong, there is a void between my mind and my mouth and it doesn’t always communicate effectively, I suppose that is because I don’t often have the opportunity to perform peer reviews now that my daughters are gone and no longer ask me to do it for them.
We need to know the TRUTH, it may offend some, but it’s better than being too nice. We are supposed to express what we like and don’t like about the paper, help identify the thesis statement if we can, and then figure out if the paragraphs follow the thesis structure and fulfill those statements or not. The only way that I could think of doing that, was to use the post draft outline tool, which we learned in the last unit.
APA format is hard enough for me to figure out in my own paper, how the heck will I point out these types of errors in other student’s papers, then what if I am wrong and they follow my advice, how would I feel, who is to blame? It’s a dilemma and I feel that the best way to do this, was to examine all of the papers and decide which ones are correct and which ones are obviously wrong, then go to the Writing Center and verify your findings! After all there is only the title page, first page, in-text citings, and then the reference page and those citings.Sounds like a good learning process to me, maybe the course designers knew that, the blind leading the blind! Oh boy!
Other characteristics that are open for analysis would be the flow of the paper, the writer’s voice and tone, their structure, each paragraph and then down to each sentence, techniques which they probably learned in Composition I, and which I missed out on.
Introductions and Conclusions would be hard to really evaluate, but if we actually read the paper, break it down with the post draft outline, we should be able to see if everything fits, what’s missing and what else needs to be removed or placed into the introduction or theisis, thanks to the new post draft outline tool.
I went back to the Writing Center and reviewed some writing basics, sentence structure, writing a good paragraph, logical fallacies, how to write a good introduction and conclusion and feel a lot more confident in my abilities to be able to give a few good peer reviews during this unit, and hope that I get some good input too.
This is the seventh week and there are only three more to go before the end of the course. The clock is ticking and time is getting short, it’s good to have these checkpoints to help us remember the deadlines and commitments ahead of us.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Solving the World’s Food Shortage Problems
I’m writing about genetically modified foods, are they harmful or helpful? The world population has been growing exponentially; today there are 6.3 Billion people in the world. Normally disease, famine, war, and natural disasters control the population of the species according to the natural resources, space requirements, and food supply of the population’s ecosphere; but Man is so smart that he has out-foxed Mother Nature once again, defeated the inevitable, and overcome some of the natural population control mechanisms. Silly Man, when will he ever learn?
We have too many people and not enough food, we can either increase the amount of food, the quality of the food, and food production, or we can decrease the amount of people we have to a proportionate number according to the amount of food that we can currently produce. We have to do something, why not use science and the knowledge of genetics to achieve the desired results instead of letting things go natural and have people dying inhumanely or becoming unhappy and hungry?
Some of the issues I’ve discovered in my research are absolutely ridiculous and that others are eye openers and surprised me. I often consider knowledge a valuable asset and that wisdom is hard to find, especially in Man, perhaps the facts presented in my final project, preserved in a hermetically sealed chamber will become the new Bible - according to Doc, or cause the formation of a new religious cult, similar to Scientology and Hubbard, which will enlighten future generations about the vast numbers of mistakes we have made in our time and help them to achieve the truly idealist but great goals that we have fallen far short of and allow them to live in world peace, a Zion like community of Eutophia, Love, Happiness, and Prosperity. NOT! It’s a dang final project paper not the Dead Sea scrolls.
We have too many people and not enough food, we can either increase the amount of food, the quality of the food, and food production, or we can decrease the amount of people we have to a proportionate number according to the amount of food that we can currently produce. We have to do something, why not use science and the knowledge of genetics to achieve the desired results instead of letting things go natural and have people dying inhumanely or becoming unhappy and hungry?
Some of the issues I’ve discovered in my research are absolutely ridiculous and that others are eye openers and surprised me. I often consider knowledge a valuable asset and that wisdom is hard to find, especially in Man, perhaps the facts presented in my final project, preserved in a hermetically sealed chamber will become the new Bible - according to Doc, or cause the formation of a new religious cult, similar to Scientology and Hubbard, which will enlighten future generations about the vast numbers of mistakes we have made in our time and help them to achieve the truly idealist but great goals that we have fallen far short of and allow them to live in world peace, a Zion like community of Eutophia, Love, Happiness, and Prosperity. NOT! It’s a dang final project paper not the Dead Sea scrolls.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Prewriting Techniques
Sensory Prompts
I use prompts to get the gears going, prompts from my rich life, cartoons, television shows, and movies that I've seen, prompts from pictures or a screen saver, vivid life long memories, magazines, nature, people in the mall, insects crawling in the garden, birds or clouds floating in the air, trees and squirrels fighting the blue jays, women I’ve loved and women that I’ve not gotten along with, friends, friend's problems, problems with friends, all sorts of interesting stuff will come up with prompts to inspire your lists and free writing. Audio learners should also include music and/or ambient sounds which are in sync or out of sync with the visual prompts, you could even burn incense, or spray air fresheners, perfumes, cologne, cooking smells if you wanted some fragrant stimulation. Certain tactile stimulations might help some people, a blanket, a teddy bear, a sword, a yo-yo, a pencil, toys to play with. I would avoid taste sensations, but if it works for you then go for it! It’s fun and should not be considered work, but play. Be creative and entertain yourself, it's your little prewriting party, you might be surprised what may become useful material for your project. Don't really think about listing yet, just become stimulated, inspired, and enthusiastic about your pre-writing.
Listing - Freewriting
I usually start out with a listing method; pick something off that list then freewrite about it for two or three minutes. Pick another item off the list and do the same thing. This helps stop procrastination, generates some ideas, and begins a little structure and analysis of what must be done in order to complete a paper. Some of the items of the list don’t necessarily have to obviously pertain to the topic of your paper, start out with a wide margin concerning the general topic then narrow the items on the list down to your specific topic, title, or thesis statement.
Bubbling-Clustering-Doodling
Bubble some of the items from your lists, connect the bubbles, establish relationships between the bubbles, doodle, cluster bubbles and doodles together, then create an outline, not a formal outline just from the groups that you’ve doodled together, see how many you can fit into a one page outline. It’s a great exercise to spark the creative flow and inspiration to begin your project. Some people like music, or ambient sounds of waves, wind, forest in the background, the more stimulation you have the more likely you are to come up with something really good for your project, no matter how silly it may seem at the time, make notes about your thoughts as you play around with the lists and freewriting.
Post Pre-writing exercises
After about twenty minutes or so, stop and take a count, what subject was the most or least abundant, were there any surprises? What is confusing or inclusive, what other questions might need to be answered here? How much of your freewriting was honest, did you do enough research yet? What parts are you uncomfortable with, do you need to clarify a few points in this dark zone?
The next unit will be reflection and sketching to a draft.
I use prompts to get the gears going, prompts from my rich life, cartoons, television shows, and movies that I've seen, prompts from pictures or a screen saver, vivid life long memories, magazines, nature, people in the mall, insects crawling in the garden, birds or clouds floating in the air, trees and squirrels fighting the blue jays, women I’ve loved and women that I’ve not gotten along with, friends, friend's problems, problems with friends, all sorts of interesting stuff will come up with prompts to inspire your lists and free writing. Audio learners should also include music and/or ambient sounds which are in sync or out of sync with the visual prompts, you could even burn incense, or spray air fresheners, perfumes, cologne, cooking smells if you wanted some fragrant stimulation. Certain tactile stimulations might help some people, a blanket, a teddy bear, a sword, a yo-yo, a pencil, toys to play with. I would avoid taste sensations, but if it works for you then go for it! It’s fun and should not be considered work, but play. Be creative and entertain yourself, it's your little prewriting party, you might be surprised what may become useful material for your project. Don't really think about listing yet, just become stimulated, inspired, and enthusiastic about your pre-writing.
Listing - Freewriting
I usually start out with a listing method; pick something off that list then freewrite about it for two or three minutes. Pick another item off the list and do the same thing. This helps stop procrastination, generates some ideas, and begins a little structure and analysis of what must be done in order to complete a paper. Some of the items of the list don’t necessarily have to obviously pertain to the topic of your paper, start out with a wide margin concerning the general topic then narrow the items on the list down to your specific topic, title, or thesis statement.
Bubbling-Clustering-Doodling
Bubble some of the items from your lists, connect the bubbles, establish relationships between the bubbles, doodle, cluster bubbles and doodles together, then create an outline, not a formal outline just from the groups that you’ve doodled together, see how many you can fit into a one page outline. It’s a great exercise to spark the creative flow and inspiration to begin your project. Some people like music, or ambient sounds of waves, wind, forest in the background, the more stimulation you have the more likely you are to come up with something really good for your project, no matter how silly it may seem at the time, make notes about your thoughts as you play around with the lists and freewriting.
Post Pre-writing exercises
After about twenty minutes or so, stop and take a count, what subject was the most or least abundant, were there any surprises? What is confusing or inclusive, what other questions might need to be answered here? How much of your freewriting was honest, did you do enough research yet? What parts are you uncomfortable with, do you need to clarify a few points in this dark zone?
The next unit will be reflection and sketching to a draft.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Plagiarism and the Internet
I remember digging through the rows of Dewey decimal system file cabinets full of 3” x 5” index cards looking for reference books that pertained to a report that I was writing, going to the sections of the library, pulling the books, if I could find them, off the bookshelves, taking a stack over to the table and going through them, copying down the author’s name, title of the book etc., to make a bibliography. We walked to school barefooted back then, uphill both ways, through the snow, and we liked it!
Today, we just type in a few words at Google, popping up thousands of references to use, just copy and paste sentences in the paper, paraphrase it and then consider that we haven’t really stolen an idea or plagiarized the work of someone else. However, while attending school here for three terms I found out that you CAN”T DO THAT, they will take away your birthday, spank you, and destroy your entire life. They have the CIA type of tools and software to find out exactly where you got your information. Now how is that fair, they want me to work, use my brain and write my own ideas, which need to be supported by someone that actually knows what they are talking about because I’m just a student who knows nothing and hardly worth the effort of reading, especially when it’s not even my own ideas and I haven’t properly cited the work that I’ve stolen! How is that fair!
I admit I wouldn’t want anyone to steal my work, but I don’t really consider it stealing. Stealing is downloading 9,000 MP3s off of BitTorrent, a file sharing application, with nobody paying anything for them. Nobody having the incentive to compose music anymore. The thieves not even having enough time to listen, appreciate, and enjoy the music anyway; their greed to have everything keeping them so busy downloading, “I GOT TO HAVE EVERY ONE!, madness because of some compulsive-obsessive disorder passed onto them from their “long haired Vietnam protesting,hippie, drug damaged parents!” not a law-abiding, conservative, Mr. Rodgers do-gooder like me! Yeah right.
I have this bad habit of stepping back and looking at the big picture. I see myself stealing other’s ideas and not liking it, I see myself being lazy and inconsiderate of the time and efforts of others, I see the wrong in the whole situation. I just don’t see how the heck I am supposed to compose a paper with less than about 30% reference material and 70% of my own ideas when I’ve never done a darn thing in my life concerning most of the topics worthy of writing about for a academic research paper, it’s a real dilemma.
It’s time to put the nose to the grindstone and figure this out. My plan is to read about ten academic journals, get their ideas and then consolidate their opinions into an argument and then derive a conclusion from it all in my paper. Give credit to their ideas, rebuttal and/or agreement without much foundationn or qualification, and hopefully get a passing grade on the papers that I write in the future.
Then I have to FORMAT it in a very precise manner,it's like syntax for the literary community, imagine that, them telling me how to do something, who do they think they are anyway! I guess they got PHDs and know what they are talking about, I'm just venting, it's part of my healing process, I hate to look at the real world, see where I am in it, at the bottom of the food chain, the off cast chaff, the tenement worker, the laborer, a tool for the guys on top. I have little or no responsibility, is this how you get ahead, you gather responsibility, you start thinking, writing and publishing papers in an accepted format, pull the sword of "Excelsior" ( Excalibur) from the stone! Become the great King Arthur of Camelot. Oh, well at least I still have my dreams, they can't really take away my birthday, my life is already a shambles and can't get much worse. Maybe there is something to this giving credit where credit is due. Something to this learning and using APA format, maybe my dreams will come true, maybe I’ll rise from the ashes and become the Phoenix, bring joy to the world and everlasting happiness to those around me, maybe I’ll just pass this course and owe a few more thousand dollars on my student loan!
Does that seem a little bit melodramatic to you? Have a great day! I did.
Today, we just type in a few words at Google, popping up thousands of references to use, just copy and paste sentences in the paper, paraphrase it and then consider that we haven’t really stolen an idea or plagiarized the work of someone else. However, while attending school here for three terms I found out that you CAN”T DO THAT, they will take away your birthday, spank you, and destroy your entire life. They have the CIA type of tools and software to find out exactly where you got your information. Now how is that fair, they want me to work, use my brain and write my own ideas, which need to be supported by someone that actually knows what they are talking about because I’m just a student who knows nothing and hardly worth the effort of reading, especially when it’s not even my own ideas and I haven’t properly cited the work that I’ve stolen! How is that fair!
I admit I wouldn’t want anyone to steal my work, but I don’t really consider it stealing. Stealing is downloading 9,000 MP3s off of BitTorrent, a file sharing application, with nobody paying anything for them. Nobody having the incentive to compose music anymore. The thieves not even having enough time to listen, appreciate, and enjoy the music anyway; their greed to have everything keeping them so busy downloading, “I GOT TO HAVE EVERY ONE!, madness because of some compulsive-obsessive disorder passed onto them from their “long haired Vietnam protesting,hippie, drug damaged parents!” not a law-abiding, conservative, Mr. Rodgers do-gooder like me! Yeah right.
I have this bad habit of stepping back and looking at the big picture. I see myself stealing other’s ideas and not liking it, I see myself being lazy and inconsiderate of the time and efforts of others, I see the wrong in the whole situation. I just don’t see how the heck I am supposed to compose a paper with less than about 30% reference material and 70% of my own ideas when I’ve never done a darn thing in my life concerning most of the topics worthy of writing about for a academic research paper, it’s a real dilemma.
It’s time to put the nose to the grindstone and figure this out. My plan is to read about ten academic journals, get their ideas and then consolidate their opinions into an argument and then derive a conclusion from it all in my paper. Give credit to their ideas, rebuttal and/or agreement without much foundationn or qualification, and hopefully get a passing grade on the papers that I write in the future.
Then I have to FORMAT it in a very precise manner,it's like syntax for the literary community, imagine that, them telling me how to do something, who do they think they are anyway! I guess they got PHDs and know what they are talking about, I'm just venting, it's part of my healing process, I hate to look at the real world, see where I am in it, at the bottom of the food chain, the off cast chaff, the tenement worker, the laborer, a tool for the guys on top. I have little or no responsibility, is this how you get ahead, you gather responsibility, you start thinking, writing and publishing papers in an accepted format, pull the sword of "Excelsior" ( Excalibur) from the stone! Become the great King Arthur of Camelot. Oh, well at least I still have my dreams, they can't really take away my birthday, my life is already a shambles and can't get much worse. Maybe there is something to this giving credit where credit is due. Something to this learning and using APA format, maybe my dreams will come true, maybe I’ll rise from the ashes and become the Phoenix, bring joy to the world and everlasting happiness to those around me, maybe I’ll just pass this course and owe a few more thousand dollars on my student loan!
Does that seem a little bit melodramatic to you? Have a great day! I did.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Back to Basics, the Basics of Writing
When you build a home, you need a good foundation. The building blocks and boards are place on the framework, then some modern conveniences are integrated such as plumbing, electricity, and gas, then a nice finish is applied to make it pretty on the outside.
When you write a paper you need a good foundation too, good spelling and grammar skills are essential, too many errors in this department distract from the message that you are trying to convey. A strong vocabulary is required to do the necessary research, to understand what the ‘experts’ are saying, and to be able to express exactly what you want to say fluently.
Your building blocks and boards are your sentences, then paragraphs. The sentences should vary in length, so as not to become mundane, thus keeping the reader’s attention and cognitive thought process flowing. They can be fast, short, and exciting. They can be long, thorough and in great detail. According to VanDam (2008), “It is important to think of your reader and structure your paragraphs accordingly. Look at how they appear on the page. Paragraph lengths should invite the readers in, neither seeming too daunting to read through nor appearing incomplete (p.45).” Each paragraph adds tone to your writer’s voice and should have rhythm appropriate with the topic.
A paragraph helps organize your thoughts and each point that you would like to bring out is the topic sentence for that paragraph, supported by the other sentences in the paragraph offering details, emphasizing certain aspects or points of view. There should be a purpose and relationship to the topic sentence, it can be an introduction to the topic sentence, offer subtopic explanations, wrap up the thought as a conclusion, or a transition to the next paragraph. Paragraphs break up massive amounts of information into easy to follow logical thought patterns, allow stopping points for the reader to ponder your message, and cascade or buildup the thesis statement in some way
Your paper’s framework is the outline and notes you made during your research. You mount your paragraphs on the framework and fill it with supplemental information using citing from those with authority you found during your research. . The plumbing, electricity, and gas of the paragraph are the quotes that you use, interlaced into the framework. This establishes reader trust that you know what you are talking about , that you have done your research, and may help to convince them, if that is the purpose of your paper, of the truth of the message that you are writing about
Finally the finish is the layout of the paper, does it look good? In APA format specific guidelines must be followed in order for your paper to be accepted and to receive a good grade if it is a requirement of the course. The writer must do research to insure that they are following those guidelines and use the writing center as peer review and criticism about their papers. Getting back to basics with each paper that you write should be part of your own proofreading technique, details down to each sentence should be considered during the rough draft stages, and detailed paragraph analysis during the final drafts should be implemented.
Reference
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
When you write a paper you need a good foundation too, good spelling and grammar skills are essential, too many errors in this department distract from the message that you are trying to convey. A strong vocabulary is required to do the necessary research, to understand what the ‘experts’ are saying, and to be able to express exactly what you want to say fluently.
Your building blocks and boards are your sentences, then paragraphs. The sentences should vary in length, so as not to become mundane, thus keeping the reader’s attention and cognitive thought process flowing. They can be fast, short, and exciting. They can be long, thorough and in great detail. According to VanDam (2008), “It is important to think of your reader and structure your paragraphs accordingly. Look at how they appear on the page. Paragraph lengths should invite the readers in, neither seeming too daunting to read through nor appearing incomplete (p.45).” Each paragraph adds tone to your writer’s voice and should have rhythm appropriate with the topic.
A paragraph helps organize your thoughts and each point that you would like to bring out is the topic sentence for that paragraph, supported by the other sentences in the paragraph offering details, emphasizing certain aspects or points of view. There should be a purpose and relationship to the topic sentence, it can be an introduction to the topic sentence, offer subtopic explanations, wrap up the thought as a conclusion, or a transition to the next paragraph. Paragraphs break up massive amounts of information into easy to follow logical thought patterns, allow stopping points for the reader to ponder your message, and cascade or buildup the thesis statement in some way
Your paper’s framework is the outline and notes you made during your research. You mount your paragraphs on the framework and fill it with supplemental information using citing from those with authority you found during your research. . The plumbing, electricity, and gas of the paragraph are the quotes that you use, interlaced into the framework. This establishes reader trust that you know what you are talking about , that you have done your research, and may help to convince them, if that is the purpose of your paper, of the truth of the message that you are writing about
Finally the finish is the layout of the paper, does it look good? In APA format specific guidelines must be followed in order for your paper to be accepted and to receive a good grade if it is a requirement of the course. The writer must do research to insure that they are following those guidelines and use the writing center as peer review and criticism about their papers. Getting back to basics with each paper that you write should be part of your own proofreading technique, details down to each sentence should be considered during the rough draft stages, and detailed paragraph analysis during the final drafts should be implemented.
Reference
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Commonly Used Logical Fallacies
The KU Writer’s handbook states (p. 64), “…even logical reasoning can result in incorrect conclusions. These are called logical fallacies.” We are discussing these patterns in seminar this week, Unit 3, and I thought that it would be a good topic to write about parallel to the course.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Have you ever seen a magic show or an illusionist, they use some of these fallacies and sleight of hand tricks to deceive the viewer and call it “magic.” Our own minds can often be predictable, we draw conclusions and are misdirected. The same can happen with statistics, certain peer groups, in mob psychology, and in our own arguments in support of those things that our hearts believe to be true. Awareness of these fallacies makes us wiser consumers, businesspersons, readers, and writers. On occasion, depending upon our audience, we might even elect to use these techniques to persuade a weaker mind into a proposal that a more knowledgeable person would never consider, they are often used by parents to control their offspring and I think that’s where the trouble begins, we had parents that used these upon us during our childhood and the logic is passed on this way from generation to generation.
These are the names of some examples according to the KU writers guide (pp.64-65)
The Anecdotal Fallacy or False Analogy (True Statement + True Statement= False conclusion)
False Cause, Mistaking Time for Cause and Effect , Post Hoe (a True Past Event + a Present Condition=False assumption)
False Authority, Appeal to Authority (Using the reference of a valid authority to sustain a statement of one without authority)
Slippery Slope (False conclusions derived from a series events that could or could not happen as a result of the preceding event in a chain reaction or domino effect)
Either/Or Dilemmas (Misleading or misdirection, leaving only one option for the audience as the result of an event, there are always other options they could take, but they are presented with only one)
Circular Reasoning or Begging the Question (supporting the same false conclusion through assumption by stating it again in a different way, or assumption that something is the truth)
Ad Hominem (Where a conclusion is based on a prejudice (against/favorable) of a person and not really on the statement or facts at all, but upon the person (good or bad))
Some other forms of Logical Fallacy mention in "The Curious Writer" by Bruce Ballenger and during this week's seminar are:
Hasty Generalizations (A judgement about something or someone or first impression which was not allowed sufficent time to make a true judgement about it)
Straw Man (Side tracking, ignoring or misrepresenting the actual position of the opponent. Making it easier to knock down with a logical argument)
Appealing to Popularity (because something is popular in the polls it must be good or true)
So, what is an appropriate way of presenting evidence? I'll write about that in my very next post.
References
VanDame, K. PhD. Kaplan Handbook for Writers 2nd Editon. 2008. United States. Cengage Learning.
Ballenger B. The Curious Writer 2nd Edition. 2009. New York. Pearson Education Inc.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Selection of a Thesis Statement
We didn’t write a scientific research paper in my other writing classes. We wrote personal essays, reviews, proposals, arguments, and critical essays. When I was working in the ER we were required to write a report on a subject selected from a list of subjects that the charge nurse wanted to discuss that month in the group meetings. I specifically remember one that was a scientific research paper on the process of blood clotting and the use of anticoagulants that I had selected and was asked to do a presentation of because she thought I had done a very good job on it. I was nervous because several of the doctors had come to see the presentation. I guess that I must have impressed them and received a commendation letter from the base commander a few weeks later.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Ok, so one of the reading assignments this week was to read the section 5b “Writing a Thesis Statement “(p. 41-44.) It was enlightening to me and I thought I’d write about the process in my blog this week. For the project there are very specific instructions to follow about placement of the thesis statement, but not really how to derive one for your topic, this reading assignment covered it pretty well, answered all of my questions.
The reading assignment explained, “A thesis statement is one or two sentences that explains a paper’s argument, focus, or purpose. It is usually found in the paper’s introduction.” We were told in seminar to put ours as the last sentence of the introduction. The first step of formulating a good thesis statement was to do research on the topic and take a few notes from them about subtopics that interested me, and if I used direct quotes to be sure to get the citing information and record it in my notes so that I wouldn’t have to go back and re-read the paper, a time saving tip I thought was going to be very useful for doing this project.
The second step was called “Brain Storming” where I should analyze those notes to get a few ideas about subtopics and specifc aspects of the topic to generate some more notes about what other things I had left to do for research and try to formulate a few possible thesis questions from them in the third step.
The reading assignment stated, “To generate a research question, all you need to do is complete this sentence: I want to know why/how/what …” about this topic. Then from here, in order to formulate my research paper’s thesis statement, was to answer that question. Sounds pretty simple to me, but I’ll see how simple that is sometime later this week because the thesis statement is due!
Reference
VanDam, K. PhD. The KU Handbook for Writers. 2007. United States of America. Cengage Learning.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
It’s Fun to Get Stuff in the Mail
I obtained two more reference books that I thought would be useful for this class and useful in my writing process today in the mail.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Bryson. B. 2008. Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors. Broadway Books. New York
Hendrickson R. 2008. Encylopedia of Word and Phrase Origins 4th Edition. Checkmark Books. New York
I’ve only browsed through them for about ten minutes each, and find them to be quite interesting tools that I can reference should the need occur. I found phrase origins from “the almighty dollar” by Washington Irving first published in his sketch “The Creole Village” in 1836 to “tooth and nail” being the Latin equivalent phrase of “toto corpora atque omibus ungulis”- with all the body and every nail and the French phrase, “bec et ungles”- beak and talons, all meaning the same thing , to fight with tooth and nails, biting and scratching, with weapons, with all the powers at one’s command. These will be good sources of information for me when writing different types of papers for school. Don’t you wish you had one! My wife did, so now I have a carrot to wave in front of her to start writing again, she’s retired and needs things to do to keep her busy and out of trouble to fill up the time left over from retirement. Retire- comes from the French term 'retirer' meaning to draw back, to draw out, endure and unfortunately partially from a derivative of Martyr, possibly because martyrs were often drawn out of "the rack" almost beyond the limits of human endurance.Yeeech.
Wasn't that an interesting tidbit of knowledge? This is going to be fun.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Topic Selection Process
“A good way to come up with a topic is to think about your own personal and/or career interests and then see how they might fit with your topic” - Academic and Professional Sources and How to Find Them Unit 2 resources In the Extra! Extra! tab.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
I used this suggestion to determine what I might use as topic for the scientific research paper (Health Care Professional) 1- Advances of Emergency Room Equipment and Techniques Over the Last Forty Years 2- Legal and Ethical Issues in the Civilian Healthcare Market as Opposed to Military Health Care Policies 3- Future Developments in the Proposed National Healthcare Plan 4- How The Human Genome Project has Affected Health Care Insurance Provided by Employers 5-Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Homeopathic, and Chiropractic Alternatives to Medical Care 6- Star Wars, Star Trek and Other Sci-Fiction Adventures and Their Influence on Modern Medicine Advancements 7- Medicare and Healthcare, What is the Difference?
I had to narrow it down for two topics within the next week, what questions could I ask myself in order to determine which ones I should choose? I decided to place them all on post-its and put them into my Merlin’s wizard’s hat, randomly remove two and those would be the ones that I’d use. On my first roll of the dice I selected two which I decided I wouldn’t like to write about after all, the second attempt one was inappropriate for the assignment and the other was completely ridiculous, the third attempt was also unsuccessful, so was the fourth. Now I’m back to trying to decide which topics to select from. This is going to be harder than I thought it would be, I’m already stuck and the gyrations of the mind are skipping, what shall I do? Back to the drawing board I suppose and I mean drawing and doodle-bugging and whatever it takes to reach my short term goal of topic selection by tomorrow.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
If you like movies, movie trivia
Comcast is giving away a lot of prizes this summer for movie trivia buffs. Big screen TV, tickets to movies, and laptops. They will give me some more chances to win if you follow this link, and you too can become a big winnner, ha!
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
http://www.truefantrivia.com/?o2mguid=31E6E8E8-71F7-47E0-B65A-EACF6DE09A5B&cid=NET_82_27
So, if you like trivia games go play.
Creativity in the Computer Age
Novice writers have a tendency to sit down in front of their computer and compose their entire project in front of it without gaining the benefits of freehand writing, doodling, bubbling, or other forms of prewriting using a pen and notebook away from the computer. Computers and word processers have definitely simplified the process of editing and formatting drafts and final paper as compared to the old clicks of the typewriter and correction tape, but just don't rely on them completely for the whole project, you will limit your creativity and cramp your thought process.
I usually carry a pen and notebook around with me to jot down ideas and notes about the projects that I am required to do. I use pen and paper in the prewriting and draft stages of the writing process, some people prefer to record their thoughts on a tape recorder or mp3 player/recorder such as Creative Zen, or perhaps a combination of both notebook and voice recorder. The computer limits your creativity, creates blocks in the thought process and isn’t as portable for spontaneous enlightenment, not even a laptop would be as quick on the draw, and you might lose your thoughts before you were able to access it and record it.
Use the tools you have which are the most practical and productive for each portion of your writing process; the task will be easier, more enjoyable, and you will produce a higher quality product. Don’t clog your creative juices with the handicaps of the computer and word processor, get retro and go with a pad and pen, you will see the difference in the first few projects that you do.
I usually carry a pen and notebook around with me to jot down ideas and notes about the projects that I am required to do. I use pen and paper in the prewriting and draft stages of the writing process, some people prefer to record their thoughts on a tape recorder or mp3 player/recorder such as Creative Zen, or perhaps a combination of both notebook and voice recorder. The computer limits your creativity, creates blocks in the thought process and isn’t as portable for spontaneous enlightenment, not even a laptop would be as quick on the draw, and you might lose your thoughts before you were able to access it and record it.
Use the tools you have which are the most practical and productive for each portion of your writing process; the task will be easier, more enjoyable, and you will produce a higher quality product. Don’t clog your creative juices with the handicaps of the computer and word processor, get retro and go with a pad and pen, you will see the difference in the first few projects that you do.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Complaints About Anemic Millennials
In today’s world we classify everything, even generations. I belong to the Baby Boomers, my daughters are called X-Generation, and the adolescent youths of today are known as Millennials. I wrote research papers about the mixture of these generations in the workplace and in online education. To summarize, Millennials were raised by their “helicopter parents” of the X-Generation, are newcomers to the workplace and are independent techno-savvy, entitlement freaks, who are apparently good networkers that live in their own isolated cubical world.
Well, this is what I think about that! We are required to make an initial post and then two responses on the discussion board each week in every class that I’ve been in since enrolling at Kaplan University. It seems to me that in order to be “politically correct” you must paraphrase three important elements into your responses. This is their procedure. Firstly, procrastinate until around Monday to browse the posts, don’t want higher education to interfere with your weekend activities, which have already been made, don’t actually read the entire post, just scan it for key words. Then respond to a few with interlaced phrases of 1- I agree with you. 2- You are right about (insert keyword (s) here) 3- Then the all famous exclamation of “GOOD JOB!” Then they pat themselves on the back thinking that they have fulfilled the requirements for that unit and go ask mom for a twenty dollar reward because they have done such a great job at school.
I ask you, Is this some politically correct all purpose response absorbed throughout their lives from their parents and teachers during the previous twelve years of education? Has it come to this completely useless, nonproductive input from a majority of them? How about they consume some of those forbidden carbohydrates and red meat to raise their thought processors (CPU in Millennial terminology) to slightly higher clock speed or perhaps isolate them and force them to think about something else besides getting to a higher level on the video game that they are incessantly playing? This is one of my pet peeves; I can’t complain about it in public on the discussion boards, but I feel free to do so on my own blog.
Excuse me as I rant and vent cranky, old guy frustrations into the Internet. I will be back on topic with the next post, sometime later this week. Oh, by the way that's probably a Baby Boomer trait, also very unproductive.
Well, this is what I think about that! We are required to make an initial post and then two responses on the discussion board each week in every class that I’ve been in since enrolling at Kaplan University. It seems to me that in order to be “politically correct” you must paraphrase three important elements into your responses. This is their procedure. Firstly, procrastinate until around Monday to browse the posts, don’t want higher education to interfere with your weekend activities, which have already been made, don’t actually read the entire post, just scan it for key words. Then respond to a few with interlaced phrases of 1- I agree with you. 2- You are right about (insert keyword (s) here) 3- Then the all famous exclamation of “GOOD JOB!” Then they pat themselves on the back thinking that they have fulfilled the requirements for that unit and go ask mom for a twenty dollar reward because they have done such a great job at school.
I ask you, Is this some politically correct all purpose response absorbed throughout their lives from their parents and teachers during the previous twelve years of education? Has it come to this completely useless, nonproductive input from a majority of them? How about they consume some of those forbidden carbohydrates and red meat to raise their thought processors (CPU in Millennial terminology) to slightly higher clock speed or perhaps isolate them and force them to think about something else besides getting to a higher level on the video game that they are incessantly playing? This is one of my pet peeves; I can’t complain about it in public on the discussion boards, but I feel free to do so on my own blog.
Excuse me as I rant and vent cranky, old guy frustrations into the Internet. I will be back on topic with the next post, sometime later this week. Oh, by the way that's probably a Baby Boomer trait, also very unproductive.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Ways of Inquiring to Decide What You Really Want to Write-
Using the Bruce Ballenger Curious Writer Recursive Technique When Writing
I haven’t really decided on my topic for the project paper yet, I’m throwing ideas around about Overwhelming Evidence of the Evolution Theory, Global Warming - Fact or Myth, Modern Genetics -The Human Genome Project, or Cigarette Smoker’s Violations of Rights in Today’s Society.
A few years ago I took a Writing 121 class at my local community college; the text book used was “The Curious Writer” by Bruce Ballenger. I was inspired by the class and have been developing my thought generation techniques using the ideas that I learned.
Ballenger’s technique is called dialectical thinking, a recursive process. His argument is that writers don’t always begin at the beginning and often go back over portions of their own writing process for revision. So why use a linear model for the writing process?
Ballenger’s explanation of dialectical thinking is that you use both your creative thinking and your critical thinking as the opposing dialectic forces.
Exploration is used upon a topic to help you discover what you think about it; provides a critical analysis of your existing ideas or beliefs about a subject. Some examples of exploration inquiries would be, what does this mean to me, how do I think about it now? What do I notice first, and then what, and then what, and then what? Implementing the recursive technique of questioning for you exploration inquiry? How does the way my own personal knowledge and experiences affect the way that I see and feel about the subject? What surprises me about the way I feel or see the subject?
Explanations are then used to help you understand what you already know. They are also used to help you clarify those understandings to yourself and others. They help you define, describe, and compare the subject matter. Explanatory inquiries ask the what, who, and where, but they also ask the purpose, how does it work, why doesn’t it work, what it looks like, and compares the subject to other subjects, and whether or not you really understand what you are trying to explain. If not then you must do some more research.
Evaluation is a judgment about a subject. Evaluation inquires test the subject and compare it to other subjects. It is used when you are trying to prove something rather than finding out more about it. You’ve analyzed and formed an opinion about the subject. You can judge quality, relevance, or the significance of something. Evaluation provides you with the reasons that something is true. Evaluation type inquiries consist of what is my judgment on this subject, what are my reasons for this judgment, do I feel the same way as others do about it? What is the most and least convincing argument for this judgment? What do I see that supports my judgment and what are the weak points that complicate it?
Finally reflection is thinking backwards about how you did something, how you came to these conclusions, why you made this evaluation, how you came to these explanations for the subject. What do I think about it now?
Then, since the Ballenger system is recursive, you must start over at a different spot and do it over again using a revision process and refine your notes a few more times before actually starting on your project or paper.
Reference
Ballenger, B. 2009. The Curious Writer. New York. Pearson-Longman
I haven’t really decided on my topic for the project paper yet, I’m throwing ideas around about Overwhelming Evidence of the Evolution Theory, Global Warming - Fact or Myth, Modern Genetics -The Human Genome Project, or Cigarette Smoker’s Violations of Rights in Today’s Society.
A few years ago I took a Writing 121 class at my local community college; the text book used was “The Curious Writer” by Bruce Ballenger. I was inspired by the class and have been developing my thought generation techniques using the ideas that I learned.
Ballenger’s technique is called dialectical thinking, a recursive process. His argument is that writers don’t always begin at the beginning and often go back over portions of their own writing process for revision. So why use a linear model for the writing process?
Ballenger’s explanation of dialectical thinking is that you use both your creative thinking and your critical thinking as the opposing dialectic forces.
- CREATIVE thinking < > CRITICAL thinking
- Fastwriting < > Composing
- Showing < > Telling
- Specifics< > Generalizations
- Collecting< > Focusing
- Observations of< > Ideas about
- What happened< > What happens
- Then< >Now
- Generating< >Criticizing
- Exploring< >Reflecting
- Seeing< >Interpreting
- Playing< >Judging
Exploration is used upon a topic to help you discover what you think about it; provides a critical analysis of your existing ideas or beliefs about a subject. Some examples of exploration inquiries would be, what does this mean to me, how do I think about it now? What do I notice first, and then what, and then what, and then what? Implementing the recursive technique of questioning for you exploration inquiry? How does the way my own personal knowledge and experiences affect the way that I see and feel about the subject? What surprises me about the way I feel or see the subject?
Explanations are then used to help you understand what you already know. They are also used to help you clarify those understandings to yourself and others. They help you define, describe, and compare the subject matter. Explanatory inquiries ask the what, who, and where, but they also ask the purpose, how does it work, why doesn’t it work, what it looks like, and compares the subject to other subjects, and whether or not you really understand what you are trying to explain. If not then you must do some more research.
Evaluation is a judgment about a subject. Evaluation inquires test the subject and compare it to other subjects. It is used when you are trying to prove something rather than finding out more about it. You’ve analyzed and formed an opinion about the subject. You can judge quality, relevance, or the significance of something. Evaluation provides you with the reasons that something is true. Evaluation type inquiries consist of what is my judgment on this subject, what are my reasons for this judgment, do I feel the same way as others do about it? What is the most and least convincing argument for this judgment? What do I see that supports my judgment and what are the weak points that complicate it?
Finally reflection is thinking backwards about how you did something, how you came to these conclusions, why you made this evaluation, how you came to these explanations for the subject. What do I think about it now?
Then, since the Ballenger system is recursive, you must start over at a different spot and do it over again using a revision process and refine your notes a few more times before actually starting on your project or paper.
Reference
Ballenger, B. 2009. The Curious Writer. New York. Pearson-Longman
Friday, June 11, 2010
Chip off the Writer’s Block
As student writers we will often acquire writer’s block, I thought that this would be a good title for my blog. In another writing course we discussed dialectical thinking, a recursive model for writing to help avoid writer’s block and ease the writing process. Some of the techniques that I learned in that class will pop up as subjects for my blog. Hopefully this will help my classmates should they develop writer’s block, need to think of a topic, or need to find some process to follow as a template until they develop their own writing styles and voices.
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