Reading Journal: Designing Writing Courses

Summary: This chapter emphasizes how both the teacher and the studnets analyze writing. According to the text, "no two writing courses are exactly alike...just as writers confront unique possibilities in every act of composing, writing teachers discover with each group of students different ways to engage the process of teaching." The chapter acknowledges general principles of course which were the act of writing, the purposes of writing, the scenes of writing, the teachers of writing, and the mean of wriiting instruction. There were several authors who were pointed out in the chapter that explained their reasons for why writing is the way it is.

Response: I definitely agree with the chapter in that two classes are not alike. There is so much difference when dealing with two classes. As a junior in college, I am currently taking five classes, where any of them have anything to do with one another. They are all similar to one another as far as the standards, but are all based on different sources. Designing a writing course can be quite difficult but with extra help and special attention, it can actually be a rewarding experience.

Plagarism: Is it a Victimless Crime?

After listening to an online radio program last night by Donald McCabe, many ideas arose about why students plagarize. According to McCave, the internet provides such a vast resource that is so easily accessible. He further stated that students feel less guilty about plagarizing because the internet justifies why they do it. There are sources available to them to limit their research. So when would plagarizing be a victimless crime? Citing a sentence is one thing, but cuting and pasting an entire paragraph without citation is another thing.

John Barrie, the creator and CEO of "Turn It In.com" (a plagarism detection software program), noted three ways they identify whether or not a student has been plagarizing. He stated that "there is an entire copy of the internet, more than 6 million pages, connect to his site. Commerical content, news journal and every single student who turns in a paper are also connected to the site. When a student turns in a paper to the website, the computer then goes through those sources to see where the student recieve the information from. The computer highlights the source, which would then tell whether or not the student plagarized. He will definitely be a reliable source that will be used to help me explain my points in my paper and I will cite him...

Michael Williams, who is the director and associate professor of visual communications at Ohio University, stated that the internet make papers simplier for students to research information better. However, he stated that "he issues assignments where students do not necessarily need to use the internet as a reliable source, but rather perform their own work. Relating back the McCabe, who stated that the number one reason why students plagarize is because they did not know what they were doing was wrong.

Honestly, students know what they are doing when they plagarize. I mean come on, how hard is it to cite a source that does not belong to you. McCabe did mention, however, that foreign students may not understand because their teachers do not enforce plagarism, which places them in a great deal of danger when they come to school here in the US. I do not know how writing is operated over there, so with that issue, tutoring would be the best option for them. Plagarism is highly enforced here at USCA. It plays a big part in academic integrity. A student is given three times at the most to plagarize and on the final attempt is dismissed from the university. With this in mind, do you think plagarism is victimless crime, do you think students are becoming more lazy with the internet as a reliable source for information, or do you think students just need to work hard and do it the right way?

Reading Journal: Reither's Point to Writing

Summary: James A Reither's article about writing discusses several points. His main points were centered on students and the way they think when they are writing, whether it is for a research paper or some other sort of writing. He relatedto several other authors in his article to help explained what he was trying to state. Questions that those authors asked, he answered with his own opinion. for example Richard Larson asked the question " how does the impluse to wirte arise and how does the writer identify the elements needed for a solution, retreieve form or find in some other sources the items needed in the solutin, and then test the trial solution to see where it answers the problem?" (620). Through another author, Lee Odell, and his anaylsis, he was able to answer the questions through further research.

Response: The article was interesting. It pointed out key facts about students and their writing, especially their thought-process. Reither stated that "The upshot is that we proceed as if students to us already widely-experience, widely-read, well-informed beings who need only learn how to do the kind sos thinking that will enable them to probe their experience and knowledge to discover what Rohman calls the "writing ideas" (622). As a future educator, I will not assume that my students will know everything in the book about writing, but enhance their learning process through teaching them the key points there is to learning what is needed to develop effective writing.

"Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" Job 38:2 My Writing Process

For me specifically, the writing process is sort of like a game, a game that includes many pieces. Writing for me use to be difficult. It was boring and something I just did not want to deal with. There was so much involved in the process. Now as a junior in college, writing has become entertaining, because I am able to express myself through several of the papers required for certain classes. As explained in several other notations, when I start to write, there are several things that have to be in place. I love writing in my room, because it is so peaceful and I am able to concentrate a little better on what I am actually trying to write. In Lindemann’s text, it asks us to remember a piece that was recently written, it did not have to be a paper, but something simple, for example, a shopping list, “what prompt you to do the writing?” When relating to a shopping list, most of the time, it is written, so that there is some memory of what is suppose to be purchased once in the store. Writing is a source for noting. According to James A. Reither's article "Writing and Knowing: Toward Redefining the Writing Process, "to belong to a discourse community is to belong to a knowledge communty-an "inquiry community"; and the ways things are talked or written about are no vital than the content of what's talked and written about." He further states "ordinary people write to inform and convince other people in the writer's own community..." (624). The writing process in general can be difficult depending on what is actually being written. I first related to a shopping list as a source of memory, but when writing a research paper or an important email, there is more thought put into it. A research paper includes serveral important sources, correct grammar, few errors and extensive thought. An email on the other hand may be something quite brief, however using correct grammar with few errors. Writing does not express itself as much as word, so most of the time there has to be expressive word included in it.

"What is this for? Who is this for? What do I want to say? How can I best say it?: Chapter 3

Summary: Chapter 3 ( What does the process involve?) discusses several different ways people approach writing. In the beginning of the chapter, the author describes how the writing experience begins. For most writers, the atmosphere has to be right before the writing process can begin. The author mention specific detail about everything. For example if the writing were to take place in the morning, there would have to be a cup of coffee near by and if the it is done in the afternoons then, a diet soft drink would be preferred. There were also descriptions of the prewriting process, the actual writing process, and the rewriting processs, which in several instances the author related back to a rhetoric type writing, where the writing has an effect on the reader. There was also mention of other authors who gave their perspective on how the writing process takes place. For example, Karen Burke LeFevre, who arrange four perspectives on invention, Platonic- where invention if the private act of an individual, internal dialogic, collaborative, and collective, the final three involve an "other" in the creative process. There were two other authors that inserted good ideas about writng, John R. Hayes and Linda S. Flower. As defined in the book, "writing is a deliberate act; one has to make up one's mind to do it." In this chapter of the book, it focused on the actual writing process and what takes places inside a student's mind while developing a paper.

Response: As I read the chapter, I was definitely relating to most of the main points mentioned, especially about having my surroundings right when beginning the paper. When I begin writing, like to be in my room with the television on, however it has to be on mute. I always like some sort of drink near by also. Writing is not an easy task, because there are so many thoughts coming into the head at one time. I have to be comfortable, so that it would be a well-developed paper. As a future educator, in a class setting, I would want my students to feel like they can write freely, expressing themselves through opinions and fact. According to James A. Reither, " writing and what writers do during writing cannont be artifically seperated from the social-rhetorical situations in which writing gets done, from the conditions that enable writers to do what they do...' That is why we must reexamine what goes on in writng classes, what textbooks recommend, even what our own experiences as writers suggest..." There should be no limit to writing. It is not a job, but an expression.

Four Philosophies of Compostion

Fulkerson inserts four methods about compostion. The four methods being expressive, mimetic, rhetorical and formalists. Fulkerson specifically uses expressive for "philosophies of compostion emphasizing the write, and the term mimetic for philosophies emphasizing correspondence with 'reality.' ...emphasizing the effect on a reader will I will call rhetorical, and philosophies emphasizing traits internal to the work I will call formalists. When relating to writing, Fulkerson states that "students do not write well on significant matters because they do not know enough." He further states that "if a student reads four essays taking both sides on a controversial issue-say, capital punishment-then he or she supposedly will know enough to be able to write about that topic; that is, the writing will be closer to the 'real situation" and thus better-from a mimetic perspective." With that statement being said, it brought about the discussion in the textbook given to me about arguement.

In the textbook The Aims of Argument by Timothy W. crusisus and Carolyn E. Channell, their main point is "not just to show you how to construct an argument but also to make you awar of why people argue and what purposes argument serves" The book introduces several ways to understanding argument, resources for reading and writing arguments, resources for reading and writing about visual arguments, writing research based arguments, looking for some truth in arguments and making a case. Arguments allows an individual to prove themselves through facts and opinions.

Teaching compostion can be a difficult task. As a future educator, I will provide several methods to help the student analyze their thoughts well enough to provide a good argument in well-written detailed paper. Relating back to Fulkerson's article, he states that "we should either teach students how to htink or help them learn enough about various topics to have somethin worth saying, or we should do both." This is entirely truth. Allow a student to write down their thoughts, organize them and put them in order. I think a good would use all four methods of Fulkerson's four-part model. A good write develops good thoughts and good reasons and through those four methods, a well-developed paper will be completed.

Chapter One: Why Teach Writing

Summary- The chapter focuses on writing and how effective it is. According to the book, "teaching writing can be enormously rewarding." The book introduces the many ways writing is represented. Writing is a tool that is used worldwide. Writing is represented as an economic power, a social necessity, and a way to solve problems. The book also pointed out the humanistic perspective. Writing is a big tool used for many occasions and the book does a great job of pointing them all out.

Response: Writing is such a major factor today. Not many people write unless they have to. As for me, I love writing because it enhances my vocabulary and my reading skills. The book mentioned how writing is used as an economic power. This I definitely agree with because when filling our an application for a job it shows your knowledge of language. An employer is able to recognize this is if there is misspelled words or improper handwriting. Here in college, papers that are required for classes must have the proper grammar in order for the professor to give the correct grade. According to the book, "If we will examine, together with our students, the kinds of writing required in jobs that interest them, they will discover important work-related reasons to improve their skills.(6) " Writing is a huge factor here at USCA. There is a junior writing-portfolio required of all students prior to graduation to complete. The profolio allows professors to see the growth of each student's writing. While it may seem difficult at times, writing is a good tool to work with.