Just A Little Advice For My Friends... (Journal #7)

As the semester draws to a screeching halt, it dawns on me that I am finishing my freshman year already! First year composition really has developed my skills as a writer and student. When I write papers my purpose and direction are much clearer from the beginning. I have also gotten a lot better at relating my body paragraphs to the thesis through their topic sentences. When it comes to organizing my paragraphs, I used to be very unsure and didn’t really care where the paragraphs were placed and I did little to smooth the transitions between paragraphs. The skills of rhetoric analysis developed in FYC will stay with me all of my life whether I notice it or not. I feel the ability to analyze a piece of literature or even an advertisement or a movie is a great skill to have. When the audience understands the author’s purpose, the art becomes clearer. The greatest writers of all time share the quality of clarity among their stories. I have taken this semester to develop my voice and understand how to use my tone to get my purpose across to the readers. By reading other books and understanding different styles of writing, I was able to create my own style of writing more easily.

Five pieces of advice I would give someone entering First Year composition are:
1. DO THE READING because it will help your skills as a writer and as an editor, both peer and self.
2. Take the journal assignments seriously because they are a great way for you to explore your abilities. It is a great testing ground for you as a first year writer.
3. Edit your peer’s papers as if it were your own and really spend some time giving them sound advice from an alternative perspective.
4. When asked to choose a topic, choose something that interests you so that you can enjoy your analysis.
5. It is much easier to make a paper a bit shorter than a bit longer. If a student tries to cut corners it becomes obvious and simply looks stupid. Aim for a page or half page longer than the requirement so that when you go to edit your paper you can truly trim the fat. A paper with the weaker parts edited or cut out is better than one splitting at the seams from filler sentences that don’t support your thesis.

Voice vs. Tone: Whats the Difference??? (Journal #6)

The difference between voice and tone can be hard to distinguish so I will try and give you some insight on the matter. The tone of a paper can be something that’s very difficult to explain. Often, problems with tone make a paper feel awkward or just not right somehow. The formality of a paper, is it approachable, does it encompass all a specific subject matter has to offer or does is seem like a mere primer for a topic. The tone will effect how your audience will view your paper and it can be manipulated to achieve the right feeling for your audience.

Voice is a bit more personal when it comes to qualities of a paper. Instead of finding your voice as many writing classes ay emphasize I am partial to the theory that one must develop their voice. Reading and more reading is the best way I know of to develop your voice. When you read different styles of writing and you experience the voices of different, often accomplished writers, you are more aware of ways to edit and tweak your own voice to make it unique. The danger is in developing your voice to the point where it is so unique and personal that you begin to lose touch with the audience and clarity begins to slip away. There is no set of magical rules for the highly personal quality of voice, but it is important to realize that your voice is a very useful tool that allows the audience to read a sentence and know that you wrote it.

Holding it up or knocking it down? (Journal #5)

I like the statue outside of Harvill. I’m an art student so I had spent some time earlier in the school year studying the piece. I knew going into this project that it was a representation of the border issues between Mexico and the US. The way that the figures are holding up the wall and trying to push it down at the same time makes me think of the ongoing conflict and the ways people deal with it. Some people will try and come to the United States illegally prompting the Americans to “push” back harder to keep this wall standing strong.

I found it interesting with the muscle definition and the way that the artists left the figures with no skin. Does this represent a lack of ethnic color? Is the audience supposed to see these people as individuals, as groups of opposing minorities, or as part of the same human family? The muscles immediately make me feel like the figures are working or physically exerting themselves either trying to hold this wall up or knock it down.

I like to think that the statue serves as a piece of awareness for the issues surrounding our border and that the more people can figure out their individual role with the border issues, the better off our society will be. Statues like this provide awareness and it is this awareness that might lead to a groundbreaking change in policy or culture to ultimately resolve this issue.

You Learn Something New Everyday (Journal #4)

As far as editing papers goes, I feel that I am particularly capable of finding spelling and punctuation errors. When I am revising a draft, I find that the majority of my corrections involve spelling, punctuation, but rarely involve overall structure, tone, or voice. This could be because I outline my paragraphs and structure my paper before I begin to write it. When it comes time to revise, I generally read my papers and feel that my grammar and tone of voice is appropriate regardless of whether or not my peers would agree. It takes reliable peer editing and an open mind when reviewing an essay because sometimes the hardest mistakes to fix are your own.

I enjoyed the list the University of Wisconsin put out for their students and I now have a better understanding of how to correct any misplaced or dangling modifiers I might find misplaced or dangling from my paper. In all seriousness, I recognize those mistakes less than a missing comma or a misspelling, and I am still developing my eye for catching passive voice, if you couldn’t tell, so I found this to be a very useful resource.

12 Common Errors To Keep In Mind When Editing Papers

-University of Wisconsin at Madison

http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CommonErrors_Spell.html

When to go to the dog park..... (Journal #3)

Last week my boyfriend and I decided that we were going to take our dogs to the dog park. I thought it would be a good idea to take the dogs earlier in the morning around ten so we could run errands afterwards. My boyfriend, Estevan, thought that it would be a good idea to take the dogs after the errands were over and then we could all go home for the evening.

I thought that going in the morning made more sense because, although it was getting warmer during the day, the weather at that time would be gorgeous.

The dog park is a little quieter in the morning, which is nice for our littlest puppy Brody who is still getting used to the whole park scene.

If we take the dogs earlier then they will wear themselves out and be tired while we are out doing our errands. If they’re all sleeping at home, they will be less likely to engage in separation anxiety induced bad behaviors such as shoe chewing or couch mutilation. I would rather have the opportunity to go home as soon as our errands are done. If we are able to get home directly after running our errands then we can go to the grocery store and I won’t have to worry about any of our temperature sensitive groceries thawing, something he’s less likely to consider. He would rather take the dogs later in the day so that we can go get the errands taken care of right away. He also said that whenthe dogs come home from the park later that they’ll be tired when were making dinner and decompressing from the day, which would be nice.

I think that we both had reasonable and just motives for taking the dogs early or late but at the proverbial end of the day, a decision had to be made. I was considering the efficiency of our outing and the convenience of being able to come home with fresh groceries and make a fantastic dinner. He, on the other hand was trying to make sure that we took care of what needed to be takencare of that day while still attempting to make quality time for us at home. Both options considered, he agreed to go earlier to the dog park and then take care of the errands. As we got home from the grocery store later that evening, I made a delicious meal and luckily for us, the dogs were still heavy into their recuperation and pretty much stayed asleep all night allowing us to watch a movie and enjoy our time.

I don’t know whether or not this justifies the argument because it seems as if we both got what we wanted without it ever needing to be discussed, or rather argued over. The argument could have turned out worse too. If one person was really determined about going at a certain time, they might be hurt if it doesn’t work out in their favor and it might really ruin their day. The crucial point of information is that neither Estevan nor myself could know for sure that we would: a) get the groceries home as I wanted, or b) be able to have a relaxing night together. If we could somehow know that we would both be getting what we wanted, keeping in mind that they were both for the greater good of the group, then there was no need for the argument in the first place…long story short, life is too short to be worrying about too many little details, so be flexible and see where it takes you.

Dear Class,

  My name is Kelsey Rausch. I am from Phoenix, Arizona. I went to Arcadia High School. I was on varsity cheer and danced. Now I am a freshman at the University of Arizona. Im an active member in the campus greek life, in Kappa Kappa Gamma. My sisters are my world. My current major is Studio Art, but lets be honest... I hate it. I'm exploring the option of Retail and Consumer Sciences. Its pretty 'legit'. 

  I usually don't enjoy writing about myself. I never know what to and not to say. I find it much easier when it is an interview situation, with pre-planned questions. What am I suppose to tell you?

  Right now I am watching a movie classic, Big, with Tom Hanks. I think its all and all a pretty clever concept. Which alludes you to wonder, how do screen writers create such wild story lines? The same applies for authors, where do their concepts grow from? Ah, to have such an imagination is a wonderful life.