Friday, June 29, 2007

Chapter One: Writing and the College Community

***Sorry it's so long! I didn't mean for it to be!***

oo1. Think about your own attitudes toward your education and honestly ask yourself whether you generally seek challenges on your own or whether you mostly look for an easy way out of an assignment. Perhaps you can describe situations of each kind. What made the difference?

Honestly, when I was in high school, I would dig and search for the easy way out of EVERYTHING. For essays that I wrote, I would just wait until the last minute and pretty much write a bunch of non-sense because I never knew what to write about in the first place. In science, when we would have a 'science project' to do, I would choose the one thing I already knew about so I wouldn't have to study and learn about something new. I was quite pathetic when it came to school work when I was in high school. I have no idea how I made it through with such good grades. I guess that goes to show you how pathetic schooling these days can be.

Now, I can say that I seek challenges on my own to improve myself and to learn. For example, when I found out I was required to read Plato's Apology for my Philosophy class, I didn't just skim through like I would have a few years ago. No, I didn't understand it at all at first, and had no idea who Socrates or Plato even were, so I went to Wikipedia and did a search on both of these philosophers. By going through on my own and doing research on them that wasn't required by the class, I was able to understand what was required and therefore be able to learn more.

Now what made the difference? The only thing I can think of is I went from feeling 'forced' to go to school to actually wanting to go to school and learn. I could even go as far as saying that maturity and age were factors in that as well.

oo2. In what discourse communities do you participate? What shared characteristics and values define each? Because of these shared characteristics and values, are there differences in the language you use in each? What areas of overlap or potential intellectual conflict exist between them?

Like everyone, I participate in several different discourse communities. I am a student, therefore I speak in a way that other students will understand. I am a daughter, therefore I will speak with my parents in a different way than I would my friends or fellow students. I am a part of an online community that over the past ten years has developed its own sense of language one might call 'webspeak'. No, this doesn't mean that I use the letter u in place of you or the number 2 in place of to, but I do speak in a completely different way when typing online than I do if I were speaking with my parents or instructor at school.

Each member of each type of 'community' will find that they share some of the same characteristics. For example, when I am around my mother, grandmother and aunt, we all speak in a different way. They all grew up in east Texas and have a very strong accent. Not only that, but they use different words to explain things. They say y'all instead of you guys, they say they're 'fixin' to do something instead of 'about' to do something, etc. And it's kind of amusing in a way, because when I'm around them for a long period of time, I find myself slipping into those habits as well.

Another example is when I'm typing online to my friends, I will use different types of smiley faces, or word things differently. One common face that I use instead of just saying I'm surprised is this: o.O If someone who had never used the internet were to see that, they would have no idea what it represented. But anyone who was a member of the online discourse community would know exactly what I meant.

One of the 'potential intellectual conflicts' I could see between the different discourse communities is like I mentioned above. If I were to bring in something I would have typed say, in my online journal for my friends to read, neither my parents, work colleagues or fellow students would understand fully of what I was trying to say.

oo3. Based on your experience as a reader, how do writers earn your respect? What qualities of writing do not earn your respect?

In order for a writer to earn my respect, they have to be able to write in a coherent way. If they use punctuation properly, capitalize what should be capitalized and use correct English, they can pretty much earn my respect.

I could go on for days about what doesn't earn my respect when writing. Don't abbreviate with the letter u instead of you, or 2 instead of to. Spell things correctly. KNOW WHEN TO USE THEY'RE, THEIR and THERE. (That's my main pet peeve, honestly.) Just, basic grammar. Your and you're...there's a difference. If someone just can't figure out how to use correct grammar, it makes it nearly impossible for me to read and understand what they're trying to say.

Not only that, but if you're trying to make a point and capture an audience...don't just write everything in one huge paragraph. If it's not broken up at least by throught patterns, I can't make myself just sit there and read three pages of never ending sentences. It makes the reader overwhelmed in a sense.

But I think that's enough ranting from me for the night. I hope I didn't offend anyone! And maybe some of you will understand where I'm coming from :)

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

English 101 - Summer Quarter 2007 - SFCC

This is a blog I created for my English Composition class that I am taking at Spokane Falls Community College - Newport Center.