Monday, December 13, 2010
Portfolio Analysis
From: Michelle Chiodi
To: UN 2001 Program Assessment Group
Date: December 12, 2010
Re: Portfolio Analysis
Composition is a course designed to help students with the writing done in their respective majors. This course taught many different techniques from MLA and APA citation styles, to the main components of rhetoric. Different aspects of developing an argument were discussed along with the basics of creating a visual argument. Throughout this course we completed several different projects, which were an annotated bibliography, a rhetorical analysis, a presentation on rhetoric, a research paper, a visual argument, and finally this portfolio analysis.
The first project was an annotated bibliography, which served as a practice and discovery of the citation style in our major. For this project we had to interview a professor in our major about the citation style used in our major. After the interview, we wrote an annotated bibliography using the citation style described by the professor. Overall, this project was very interesting. I had never interviewed a professor before and I thought that it was a fun and interesting experience. In the end, I learned a lot about the writings done within Chemical Engineering and how the style of the citation is dictated by the journal it will be published in. Because there was no set style for citation it was difficult for me to write the annotated bibliography that went along with the interview. Luckily I got some pieces of writing that a professor wrote and the citations were shown. I used those citations as an example to base my citation on.
The next project was a change in pace from the first that was more technical. Our second project was a rhetorical analysis in which we had to choose an article and analyze the effectiveness of the author’s argument. For this project, I found an article from the New York Times about alternative medicine. After reading through this article I began to analyze the rhetorical techniques used by the author in creating her argument. After creating an initial draft it was peer reviewed and I found the feedback to be very helpful. One thing the reviewer said was that I needed to define my audience better. I worked on this and for the second draft I had defined my audience to be middle-aged readers 35-55 of the New York Times who are interested in medical topics. This allowed me to focus my analysis more toward my audience. If I had more time to work on it, I would have talked about the converse to the argument more. Alternative medicine is a controversial subject and the article I read only discussed its pros. I would have discussed how the author of the New York Times article should have incorporated more about the cons into her article.
Along with the idea of rhetoric we had a group project where we had to analyze the ethos, pathos, and logos of an argument. My group chose to analyze a Doritos commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. Because of this airtime it was easy to identify the audience as predominantly male football lovers ages 16-35 as the target audience for this commercial. In the end, we found that the argument was made using mostly pathos and ethos as the rhetorical appeals. We put together a presentation using Prezi to present our ideas to the class. Because our audience for this presentation was our class we decided to present it in a more interesting way than Power Point so we decided to use Prezi. This was effective as it seemed to keep the attention of the audience.
Our third project was a research paper that had to be on a topic within the theme of new digital media and student life. This was a very broad theme, and at the beginning I was unsure of what to use for my topic. Initially I thought I wanted to write about the detriments the new digital media has on interpersonal communication. However after beginning research on that topic, I began to lose interest on that and was not finding any excellent sources. Eventually I decided that I wanted to look into the topic of cyber bullying. I was interested in this topic because it had been in the news quite a bit lately so I wanted to learn more about it. I decided to make my argument that cyber bullying is creating a new breed of bully that is more severe than traditional bullies. With this I also looked into what is being done to prevent cyber bullying and what still needs to be done. After searching the online database resources provided by the library, I found many useful sources that provided great substance for my argument. After crafting a first draft we had a peer review in class. The feedback that I got was useful and let me know that I needed to work on the organization and clear up a couple section. For my final paper I worked on the organization so that my argument flowed better and was more logical. Additionally, I made sure that everything was clear and nothing was overly word or ambiguous.
The last project for this class was a visual argument. For this project we had the option to use our project three topic for our visual argument. This is what I decided to do so I created a visual argument about cyber bullying. From the beginning I was not sure what media I wanted to use to create my visual, I began by trying to create a computer drawing then turned to creating a Windows Movie Make video. I quickly realized that I was not familiar enough with the software to do either of those. After running into this problem I decided to revert back to what I know how to do: drawing. At the beginning I knew that my I wanted my audience to be teens, specifically younger teens ages 13-16 because they are often targets for cyber bullying. Because my audience was teenagers I decided to make something that looked slightly funny so it would draw their attention. I think this effective because their attention will be grabbed by the drawing and at the same time they will be able to understand the argument. Then when they read the text will be able to fully understand the main argument of the drawing.
Overall I think I performed well in this class. I tried to participate in class discussions when I had a good idea to add and I think I gave good feedback when I was peer reviewing. One thing I think could enhance this class would be a more formal verbal project. Something like a debate could be used to give students practice incorporating ethos, pathos, and logos into a verbal argument. I think something verbal is needed in this class because it is something all students are going to need to use in the future when trying to present their ideas in industry and even when interviewing for jobs in the future.
To: UN 2001 Program Assessment Group
Date: December 12, 2010
Re: Portfolio Analysis
Composition is a course designed to help students with the writing done in their respective majors. This course taught many different techniques from MLA and APA citation styles, to the main components of rhetoric. Different aspects of developing an argument were discussed along with the basics of creating a visual argument. Throughout this course we completed several different projects, which were an annotated bibliography, a rhetorical analysis, a presentation on rhetoric, a research paper, a visual argument, and finally this portfolio analysis.
The first project was an annotated bibliography, which served as a practice and discovery of the citation style in our major. For this project we had to interview a professor in our major about the citation style used in our major. After the interview, we wrote an annotated bibliography using the citation style described by the professor. Overall, this project was very interesting. I had never interviewed a professor before and I thought that it was a fun and interesting experience. In the end, I learned a lot about the writings done within Chemical Engineering and how the style of the citation is dictated by the journal it will be published in. Because there was no set style for citation it was difficult for me to write the annotated bibliography that went along with the interview. Luckily I got some pieces of writing that a professor wrote and the citations were shown. I used those citations as an example to base my citation on.
The next project was a change in pace from the first that was more technical. Our second project was a rhetorical analysis in which we had to choose an article and analyze the effectiveness of the author’s argument. For this project, I found an article from the New York Times about alternative medicine. After reading through this article I began to analyze the rhetorical techniques used by the author in creating her argument. After creating an initial draft it was peer reviewed and I found the feedback to be very helpful. One thing the reviewer said was that I needed to define my audience better. I worked on this and for the second draft I had defined my audience to be middle-aged readers 35-55 of the New York Times who are interested in medical topics. This allowed me to focus my analysis more toward my audience. If I had more time to work on it, I would have talked about the converse to the argument more. Alternative medicine is a controversial subject and the article I read only discussed its pros. I would have discussed how the author of the New York Times article should have incorporated more about the cons into her article.
Along with the idea of rhetoric we had a group project where we had to analyze the ethos, pathos, and logos of an argument. My group chose to analyze a Doritos commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. Because of this airtime it was easy to identify the audience as predominantly male football lovers ages 16-35 as the target audience for this commercial. In the end, we found that the argument was made using mostly pathos and ethos as the rhetorical appeals. We put together a presentation using Prezi to present our ideas to the class. Because our audience for this presentation was our class we decided to present it in a more interesting way than Power Point so we decided to use Prezi. This was effective as it seemed to keep the attention of the audience.
Our third project was a research paper that had to be on a topic within the theme of new digital media and student life. This was a very broad theme, and at the beginning I was unsure of what to use for my topic. Initially I thought I wanted to write about the detriments the new digital media has on interpersonal communication. However after beginning research on that topic, I began to lose interest on that and was not finding any excellent sources. Eventually I decided that I wanted to look into the topic of cyber bullying. I was interested in this topic because it had been in the news quite a bit lately so I wanted to learn more about it. I decided to make my argument that cyber bullying is creating a new breed of bully that is more severe than traditional bullies. With this I also looked into what is being done to prevent cyber bullying and what still needs to be done. After searching the online database resources provided by the library, I found many useful sources that provided great substance for my argument. After crafting a first draft we had a peer review in class. The feedback that I got was useful and let me know that I needed to work on the organization and clear up a couple section. For my final paper I worked on the organization so that my argument flowed better and was more logical. Additionally, I made sure that everything was clear and nothing was overly word or ambiguous.
The last project for this class was a visual argument. For this project we had the option to use our project three topic for our visual argument. This is what I decided to do so I created a visual argument about cyber bullying. From the beginning I was not sure what media I wanted to use to create my visual, I began by trying to create a computer drawing then turned to creating a Windows Movie Make video. I quickly realized that I was not familiar enough with the software to do either of those. After running into this problem I decided to revert back to what I know how to do: drawing. At the beginning I knew that my I wanted my audience to be teens, specifically younger teens ages 13-16 because they are often targets for cyber bullying. Because my audience was teenagers I decided to make something that looked slightly funny so it would draw their attention. I think this effective because their attention will be grabbed by the drawing and at the same time they will be able to understand the argument. Then when they read the text will be able to fully understand the main argument of the drawing.
Overall I think I performed well in this class. I tried to participate in class discussions when I had a good idea to add and I think I gave good feedback when I was peer reviewing. One thing I think could enhance this class would be a more formal verbal project. Something like a debate could be used to give students practice incorporating ethos, pathos, and logos into a verbal argument. I think something verbal is needed in this class because it is something all students are going to need to use in the future when trying to present their ideas in industry and even when interviewing for jobs in the future.
Visual Argument Reflection
Michelle Chiodi
Shampa
UN 2001
12/7/2010
Visual Argument Reflection
As soon as this project was introduced, I was eager to begin. This project sounded fun, and from the beginning, I was very excited to see everyone’s final products and the different media everyone would use. With the option to use our project three topic or another topic, initially I was not sure what to choose for a topic. However, it did not take me long to decide that I would stick with my project three topic of cyber bullying.
Of all the projects in this class, the visual argument project was my favorite to create. There was so much room for creativity and I love a chance to use my artistic ability. At the beginning, I was unsure what media I wanted to use to create my visual argument. For our research project, we had to create a visual to go along with that to show in class. Initially, I thought that I wanted to transform this drawing to a drawing on the computer. After working on that for a while, I decided that was not the best option as I am not familiar with the software to do this. Next I thought I might try to create a video about the dangers of cyber bullying. I began using Windows Movie Make and initially imported pictures that worked well for my argument. Next, I added text to enhance the argument. It came to add sound so I downloaded a song from iTunes that I thought would add to my argument. When it came time to import the audio into Windows Movie Maker, I found that audio from iTunes is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker. Being very frustrated at this point, I decided to revert back to something I know how to do: drawing.
I really liked the drawing that I had done to go along with my research paper, but I knew I had to change it up for my visual argument. Many of the same concepts were used for my visual argument. Like I had previously, I portrayed the computer and the cell phone as the villains. One main thing I changed for my visual argument project was that I created the text on the computer. I did this to make the text more precise and look neater. When I created this drawing I kept the C.R.A.P. principles in mind. The C stands for contrast. This principle came into play with the text. I decided to use a contrasting color scheme of blue and orange. We had learned that scheme stands out so that seemed like a good option for the text so it would be noticeable and easy to read. The R in the acronym stands for repetition. I used this in a couple different ways. I repeated the color scheme throughout by only using blue and orange for the text. This connected the text and made it simple so it would not distract from the action of the drawing. Additionally, I created two schemes of the electronic devices to add repetition. This made the point stronger by letting the audience see various different media that can be used to cyber bully. For the A which stands for alignment this came into play with the text. The title of the picture was centered on the page to draw the eye across that page. The informational text was centered in the box to make it look fuller. The P stand for proximity. This principle is shown with both the text and the drawing. The text and drawings are in close proximity to one another to let the reader see the connection. Since all of the text us close together, they will see that they are connected. Both of the pictures are also closer together to show the viewer that they are connected and show the same idea.
While I was creating this drawing I had to keep my audience in mind. Since cyber bullying mainly affects teens, that was my target audience for this project. Specifically the age range from 13-16. Because this was my audience I wanted to create a drawing that would appeal to them. To do this I used the bright colors of the text to first catch their attention. Once I had their attention, I wanted them next to look at the picture. The intent of the picture was to be slightly comical due to the unrealistic nature of what was happening. Of course a cell phone is not going to sprout an arm from the screen and you will never see a computer gobbling up a student, but I wanted it to be interesting for my audience to look at. I thought that teenagers would find this illustration funny but still see the connection it has with the actual argument that cyber bullying is very harmful.
When it came time for the class presentations, I was excited to see what everyone else had done for their project. In the end, I was disappointed; I had set my expectations too high since the presentations were only showing the works in progress. I expected there to be more diversity in the types of visuals created. In the end the visuals were predominantly pictures and posters. I would have liked to see some videos. If I were to do this project again, I would have created a video to add more diversity to what was created in the class. Additionally, the feedback I got in class was very helpful in creating a finalized version of my visual argument. When I presented in class the clarity of my image was not excellent. For the final product I enhanced the clarity by taking a picture of my drawing instead of scanning it.
While this project was frustrating at the beginning, in the end it was enjoyable to create. My decision to create a drawing allowed me to create a visually pleasing, effective visual argument. When creating this drawing I had my audience in mind and that allowed me to create something that would catch a teen’s attention and still get my message across to them. I incorporated the C.R.A.P. principles into my design to create something that is easy to look at and make sense to the viewer. In the end, I got good feedback about my argument and learned that I needed to enhance the clarity of my image. For my final product the clarity was enhanced to make every element clear and easy to see. In the end I wish there would have been more diversity in the projects throughout the class, but it was still interesting to see how everyone turned an argument into a visual argument.
Shampa
UN 2001
12/7/2010
Visual Argument Reflection
As soon as this project was introduced, I was eager to begin. This project sounded fun, and from the beginning, I was very excited to see everyone’s final products and the different media everyone would use. With the option to use our project three topic or another topic, initially I was not sure what to choose for a topic. However, it did not take me long to decide that I would stick with my project three topic of cyber bullying.
Of all the projects in this class, the visual argument project was my favorite to create. There was so much room for creativity and I love a chance to use my artistic ability. At the beginning, I was unsure what media I wanted to use to create my visual argument. For our research project, we had to create a visual to go along with that to show in class. Initially, I thought that I wanted to transform this drawing to a drawing on the computer. After working on that for a while, I decided that was not the best option as I am not familiar with the software to do this. Next I thought I might try to create a video about the dangers of cyber bullying. I began using Windows Movie Make and initially imported pictures that worked well for my argument. Next, I added text to enhance the argument. It came to add sound so I downloaded a song from iTunes that I thought would add to my argument. When it came time to import the audio into Windows Movie Maker, I found that audio from iTunes is not compatible with Windows Movie Maker. Being very frustrated at this point, I decided to revert back to something I know how to do: drawing.
I really liked the drawing that I had done to go along with my research paper, but I knew I had to change it up for my visual argument. Many of the same concepts were used for my visual argument. Like I had previously, I portrayed the computer and the cell phone as the villains. One main thing I changed for my visual argument project was that I created the text on the computer. I did this to make the text more precise and look neater. When I created this drawing I kept the C.R.A.P. principles in mind. The C stands for contrast. This principle came into play with the text. I decided to use a contrasting color scheme of blue and orange. We had learned that scheme stands out so that seemed like a good option for the text so it would be noticeable and easy to read. The R in the acronym stands for repetition. I used this in a couple different ways. I repeated the color scheme throughout by only using blue and orange for the text. This connected the text and made it simple so it would not distract from the action of the drawing. Additionally, I created two schemes of the electronic devices to add repetition. This made the point stronger by letting the audience see various different media that can be used to cyber bully. For the A which stands for alignment this came into play with the text. The title of the picture was centered on the page to draw the eye across that page. The informational text was centered in the box to make it look fuller. The P stand for proximity. This principle is shown with both the text and the drawing. The text and drawings are in close proximity to one another to let the reader see the connection. Since all of the text us close together, they will see that they are connected. Both of the pictures are also closer together to show the viewer that they are connected and show the same idea.
While I was creating this drawing I had to keep my audience in mind. Since cyber bullying mainly affects teens, that was my target audience for this project. Specifically the age range from 13-16. Because this was my audience I wanted to create a drawing that would appeal to them. To do this I used the bright colors of the text to first catch their attention. Once I had their attention, I wanted them next to look at the picture. The intent of the picture was to be slightly comical due to the unrealistic nature of what was happening. Of course a cell phone is not going to sprout an arm from the screen and you will never see a computer gobbling up a student, but I wanted it to be interesting for my audience to look at. I thought that teenagers would find this illustration funny but still see the connection it has with the actual argument that cyber bullying is very harmful.
When it came time for the class presentations, I was excited to see what everyone else had done for their project. In the end, I was disappointed; I had set my expectations too high since the presentations were only showing the works in progress. I expected there to be more diversity in the types of visuals created. In the end the visuals were predominantly pictures and posters. I would have liked to see some videos. If I were to do this project again, I would have created a video to add more diversity to what was created in the class. Additionally, the feedback I got in class was very helpful in creating a finalized version of my visual argument. When I presented in class the clarity of my image was not excellent. For the final product I enhanced the clarity by taking a picture of my drawing instead of scanning it.
While this project was frustrating at the beginning, in the end it was enjoyable to create. My decision to create a drawing allowed me to create a visually pleasing, effective visual argument. When creating this drawing I had my audience in mind and that allowed me to create something that would catch a teen’s attention and still get my message across to them. I incorporated the C.R.A.P. principles into my design to create something that is easy to look at and make sense to the viewer. In the end, I got good feedback about my argument and learned that I needed to enhance the clarity of my image. For my final product the clarity was enhanced to make every element clear and easy to see. In the end I wish there would have been more diversity in the projects throughout the class, but it was still interesting to see how everyone turned an argument into a visual argument.
project 1 for portfolio
Michelle Chiodi
Major: Chemical Engineering
Citation style: varies based on journal
(1) Love, C.J. Integrated Process Design for Single Cell Analytical Technologies. AIChE Journal. 2010; 56: 2496-2501.
The articles from the AIChE journal appear to contain a lot of jargon. Someone from outside of the chemical engineering field might not be able to understand some terms. Certainly someone from outside of the science world would be lost trying to read one of these articles. I read an article titled Integrated Process Design for Single-Cell Analytical Technologies. This article was difficult for me to understand let alone someone outside of the field. From this I can gather that the audience for this article would be an upper level professional in chemical engineering or a related field. Within this article there are many citations that follow a format the looks similar to APA. This article contains a couple pictures to enhance and clarify the author’s points. Each picture contains a caption to explain what the picture is illustrating.
(2) Calloway, T.B. Energy Research: Following the Money. Chemical Engineering Progress. 2010; 106: 53-55.
The article in the Chemical Engineering Progress journal was far easier to read than those appearing in the AIChE journal. Jargon was not common throughout the text therefore making this article more accessible and relevant to the average person. This would lead me to believe that this journal has a broader audience which likely reaches from graduate students to professionals and professors. Included in this article are charts and graphs which are used to give supplemental information to further the author’s points. Like the AIChE journal, this journal also follows a citation style similar to APA. Numbers are used within the text to refer to a reference listed at the end. In this journal, the references at the end show the author’s name and volume number in bold. This article discusses many aspects of energy research. It explores where the funding for this research comes from and what aspects of energy research are being conducted.
(3) Zei, D. and Rogers, T. personal interview, September 16, 2010.
I conducted an interview with David Zei, a professor in chemical engineering, to gather more information about the writings in our field. Professor Zei invited another professor, Dr. Rogers, to join this interview. Dr. Rogers has published many works in chemical engineering journals so he gave me incredible information about the writing style, formatting, and citation commonly used. Something I found to be very interesting is that the citation style used depends on which journal you are publishing your work to. Some journals use a long reference style while others use a shorter style. In either style all of the references are assigned numbers and the number appears in the text as a superscript after the information cited from that source. Dr. Rogers gave me two of his articles that have been published in journals and tables, figures, and equations are numerous throughout. During the interview Professor Zei and Dr. Rogers said that visuals are very common in chemical engineer’s writing. The articles I received from Dr. Rogers were published in the Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data and a journal called Fluid Phase Equilibria. These are two common journals in chemical engineering. Professor Zei also said that the AIChE journal is very commonly read. Dr. Rogers said that it would be very hard for someone outside of chemical engineering to understand the articles commonly published. They are very dense and contain terms specific to our field. For this reason there is a specific audience for the journals. It is mainly professors and researchers who would read these articles. David Zei’s email is zei@mtu.edu and Dr. Roger’s email is tnrogers@mtu.edu.
Michelle Chiodi
Shampa Bhattacharyya
UN 2001
24 September 2010
Annotated Bibliography Reflection
When this project was first introduced I really didn’t think I would learn that much or that it would be very interesting. I thought the journal articles would all be above my head and not particularly interesting to me. The interview seemed to promise to be boring and to the point. However, working through this project my expectations were shattered; the journals were hard to read but still interesting and the interview was far from boring or ordinary.
I started off by setting up an interview with my Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering teacher, David Zei. He said he thought he had some good perspective that he could offer for this project and he did not disappoint with that statement. When I arrived at the interview, Professor Zei had invited another professor, Dr. Rogers to share his insight as well. Both Professor Zei and Dr. Rogers have published various works in chemical engineering journals so they had a lot of good information to offer. I was surprised when they told me that there is no set citation style for chemical engineering; it simply depends on the journal you are writing for. While there is no definite style, most of the citations you see in journals are similar to APA style. Prior to the interview I had read a couple journal articles so I was not surprised to find out that it is very typical for the articles to be dense and sometimes hard to understand. Another thing that I expected to hear was that visuals are often used in writings. This came as no surprise to me because I had seen some journal articles and done writing for engineering classes were charts, graphs, and equations were expected.
Working through this project helped me accomplish some of the goals of this class. This project gave me experience with the most basic goals of this class: to understand the process of creating written communication and to practice revising work. I got practice with the process of written communication by first submitting a proposal, then creating a rough draft and proofreading that draft myself, then submitting that draft for peer review, and then finally submitting it for a graded review by the teacher. That graded draft was returned with comments to help me improve my final paper. While understanding and practicing the process of creating written communication, I also got practice revising my work. After I created my very first draft, I revised this draft myself before it was peer reviewed. When I got the paper back from the peer review I revised the paper once more before submitting it as my final paper. Another goal that I accomplished by writing this paper was to understand how the target audience can shape a writer’s work. When talking with Dr. Rogers and Professor Zei they talked about how they have a target audience and they write for that audience. Their purpose is to convey the findings of their research to their audience in a clear, concise manner.
The style of the writing in chemical engineering is on a high level. For those outside of my major they might perceive the style and conventions to be above their level depending on their field. The writings in chemical engineering are academic and technical so someone outside of my major my feel like the writing is not for them. Chemical engineers have a specific audience and the writings are not intended for the general public. By creating an annotated bibliography the reader can better understand the style and the content of the information contained in the full source. This can be helpful to sense if the source is something that is on your level and that you would like to read.
Overall this project was enjoyable and I thought it was a good first project to start off with since it was not too strenuous. The interview was very enjoyable and allowed me to get to know my professor better and even meet a new professor that I will have in the future. I enjoyed reading the journal articles as well. It gave me a glimpse of what I may be doing in the future and exposed me to a style of writing that I am not that familiar with. In the end, this project proved my initial expectations to be incorrect and I enjoyed learning more about the writing style in chemical engineering.
Major: Chemical Engineering
Citation style: varies based on journal
(1) Love, C.J. Integrated Process Design for Single Cell Analytical Technologies. AIChE Journal. 2010; 56: 2496-2501.
The articles from the AIChE journal appear to contain a lot of jargon. Someone from outside of the chemical engineering field might not be able to understand some terms. Certainly someone from outside of the science world would be lost trying to read one of these articles. I read an article titled Integrated Process Design for Single-Cell Analytical Technologies. This article was difficult for me to understand let alone someone outside of the field. From this I can gather that the audience for this article would be an upper level professional in chemical engineering or a related field. Within this article there are many citations that follow a format the looks similar to APA. This article contains a couple pictures to enhance and clarify the author’s points. Each picture contains a caption to explain what the picture is illustrating.
(2) Calloway, T.B. Energy Research: Following the Money. Chemical Engineering Progress. 2010; 106: 53-55.
The article in the Chemical Engineering Progress journal was far easier to read than those appearing in the AIChE journal. Jargon was not common throughout the text therefore making this article more accessible and relevant to the average person. This would lead me to believe that this journal has a broader audience which likely reaches from graduate students to professionals and professors. Included in this article are charts and graphs which are used to give supplemental information to further the author’s points. Like the AIChE journal, this journal also follows a citation style similar to APA. Numbers are used within the text to refer to a reference listed at the end. In this journal, the references at the end show the author’s name and volume number in bold. This article discusses many aspects of energy research. It explores where the funding for this research comes from and what aspects of energy research are being conducted.
(3) Zei, D. and Rogers, T. personal interview, September 16, 2010.
I conducted an interview with David Zei, a professor in chemical engineering, to gather more information about the writings in our field. Professor Zei invited another professor, Dr. Rogers, to join this interview. Dr. Rogers has published many works in chemical engineering journals so he gave me incredible information about the writing style, formatting, and citation commonly used. Something I found to be very interesting is that the citation style used depends on which journal you are publishing your work to. Some journals use a long reference style while others use a shorter style. In either style all of the references are assigned numbers and the number appears in the text as a superscript after the information cited from that source. Dr. Rogers gave me two of his articles that have been published in journals and tables, figures, and equations are numerous throughout. During the interview Professor Zei and Dr. Rogers said that visuals are very common in chemical engineer’s writing. The articles I received from Dr. Rogers were published in the Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data and a journal called Fluid Phase Equilibria. These are two common journals in chemical engineering. Professor Zei also said that the AIChE journal is very commonly read. Dr. Rogers said that it would be very hard for someone outside of chemical engineering to understand the articles commonly published. They are very dense and contain terms specific to our field. For this reason there is a specific audience for the journals. It is mainly professors and researchers who would read these articles. David Zei’s email is zei@mtu.edu and Dr. Roger’s email is tnrogers@mtu.edu.
Michelle Chiodi
Shampa Bhattacharyya
UN 2001
24 September 2010
Annotated Bibliography Reflection
When this project was first introduced I really didn’t think I would learn that much or that it would be very interesting. I thought the journal articles would all be above my head and not particularly interesting to me. The interview seemed to promise to be boring and to the point. However, working through this project my expectations were shattered; the journals were hard to read but still interesting and the interview was far from boring or ordinary.
I started off by setting up an interview with my Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering teacher, David Zei. He said he thought he had some good perspective that he could offer for this project and he did not disappoint with that statement. When I arrived at the interview, Professor Zei had invited another professor, Dr. Rogers to share his insight as well. Both Professor Zei and Dr. Rogers have published various works in chemical engineering journals so they had a lot of good information to offer. I was surprised when they told me that there is no set citation style for chemical engineering; it simply depends on the journal you are writing for. While there is no definite style, most of the citations you see in journals are similar to APA style. Prior to the interview I had read a couple journal articles so I was not surprised to find out that it is very typical for the articles to be dense and sometimes hard to understand. Another thing that I expected to hear was that visuals are often used in writings. This came as no surprise to me because I had seen some journal articles and done writing for engineering classes were charts, graphs, and equations were expected.
Working through this project helped me accomplish some of the goals of this class. This project gave me experience with the most basic goals of this class: to understand the process of creating written communication and to practice revising work. I got practice with the process of written communication by first submitting a proposal, then creating a rough draft and proofreading that draft myself, then submitting that draft for peer review, and then finally submitting it for a graded review by the teacher. That graded draft was returned with comments to help me improve my final paper. While understanding and practicing the process of creating written communication, I also got practice revising my work. After I created my very first draft, I revised this draft myself before it was peer reviewed. When I got the paper back from the peer review I revised the paper once more before submitting it as my final paper. Another goal that I accomplished by writing this paper was to understand how the target audience can shape a writer’s work. When talking with Dr. Rogers and Professor Zei they talked about how they have a target audience and they write for that audience. Their purpose is to convey the findings of their research to their audience in a clear, concise manner.
The style of the writing in chemical engineering is on a high level. For those outside of my major they might perceive the style and conventions to be above their level depending on their field. The writings in chemical engineering are academic and technical so someone outside of my major my feel like the writing is not for them. Chemical engineers have a specific audience and the writings are not intended for the general public. By creating an annotated bibliography the reader can better understand the style and the content of the information contained in the full source. This can be helpful to sense if the source is something that is on your level and that you would like to read.
Overall this project was enjoyable and I thought it was a good first project to start off with since it was not too strenuous. The interview was very enjoyable and allowed me to get to know my professor better and even meet a new professor that I will have in the future. I enjoyed reading the journal articles as well. It gave me a glimpse of what I may be doing in the future and exposed me to a style of writing that I am not that familiar with. In the end, this project proved my initial expectations to be incorrect and I enjoyed learning more about the writing style in chemical engineering.
project 2 reflection for Portfolio
Michelle Chiodi
UN 2001
Shampa
10/29/10
Rhetorical Analysis Reflection
When this project was introduced I was excited to begin because I really liked the rhetorical analyses I had read. I thought that this would be a pretty easy project because I had many resources and I planned to use the Everything’s an Argument book extensively. However, once I began I quickly realized it would not be as easy as I initially predicted. I struggled to find an article that was argumentative rather than simply informative like many I read. Eventually I was able to find an article in the New York Times that allowed me to adequately analyze the content and the argument.
Overall I thought the process used for this project was very effective. I began by creating a design plan which made me think through the content of my paper before I began writing it. Laying out my purpose, argument, and rhetorical techniques to analyze proved to be effective. After creating the design plan I commenced writing the paper and again I found myself thinking this process was more difficult than I had expected. I was so stuck in a descriptive mode that I struggled to analyze the content effectively. After submitting the first draft for peer review, the main critique that I got was that I needed to perform more analysis on the content of the article rather than just describe it.
For the second draft we were given question to think about for each of the sections of our essay. This helped my greatly in making the analysis more prevalent. I really enjoyed that our second peer review was done using out class blogs. Since everyone posted their second drafts to their blogs, I took some time to read classmate’s work and see what they had done with their essays. This was very helpful for me to see how others analyzed their articles and this gave me a better idea of how to analyze my article. In the previous draft I had elaborated about the ethos, pathos, and logos the author used and for my second draft I tried to include a better analysis of these aspects. I discussed how these rhetorical techniques add to the overall argument of the author. Because we were given questions to be answered within our essay I was sure to include the answers to those questions in my second draft.
In the end, I think my essay did a good job of analyzing the article I read while still being descriptive enough for the reader to get a sense of the author’s points. The process used for this project was helpful for me. The design plan gave me a foundation on which to build my essay followed by the first draft which gave me an initial sense of what I needed to improve. Next came the second draft where I worked hard to add more analysis to my essay. The feedback I got on my second draft was helpful to let me know that I had enough analysis, but I was lacking context. Because of this I added more background and context to make my final paper well rounded and a good analysis of the article I read for this project.
Without the revision and pre-writing process we used, my paper would not have been as successful as it was. This process allowed me to think though my essay logically and gave me enough time to make the required revisions to my work. While this project was not as easy as I expected, I found it to be enjoyable. It certainly taught me the value of peer reviewing since I got some great advice from my peer reviewers that allowed me to improve my essay greatly. In the end, the process was very effective and it allowed me to create what I think is a great paper.
UN 2001
Shampa
10/29/10
Rhetorical Analysis Reflection
When this project was introduced I was excited to begin because I really liked the rhetorical analyses I had read. I thought that this would be a pretty easy project because I had many resources and I planned to use the Everything’s an Argument book extensively. However, once I began I quickly realized it would not be as easy as I initially predicted. I struggled to find an article that was argumentative rather than simply informative like many I read. Eventually I was able to find an article in the New York Times that allowed me to adequately analyze the content and the argument.
Overall I thought the process used for this project was very effective. I began by creating a design plan which made me think through the content of my paper before I began writing it. Laying out my purpose, argument, and rhetorical techniques to analyze proved to be effective. After creating the design plan I commenced writing the paper and again I found myself thinking this process was more difficult than I had expected. I was so stuck in a descriptive mode that I struggled to analyze the content effectively. After submitting the first draft for peer review, the main critique that I got was that I needed to perform more analysis on the content of the article rather than just describe it.
For the second draft we were given question to think about for each of the sections of our essay. This helped my greatly in making the analysis more prevalent. I really enjoyed that our second peer review was done using out class blogs. Since everyone posted their second drafts to their blogs, I took some time to read classmate’s work and see what they had done with their essays. This was very helpful for me to see how others analyzed their articles and this gave me a better idea of how to analyze my article. In the previous draft I had elaborated about the ethos, pathos, and logos the author used and for my second draft I tried to include a better analysis of these aspects. I discussed how these rhetorical techniques add to the overall argument of the author. Because we were given questions to be answered within our essay I was sure to include the answers to those questions in my second draft.
In the end, I think my essay did a good job of analyzing the article I read while still being descriptive enough for the reader to get a sense of the author’s points. The process used for this project was helpful for me. The design plan gave me a foundation on which to build my essay followed by the first draft which gave me an initial sense of what I needed to improve. Next came the second draft where I worked hard to add more analysis to my essay. The feedback I got on my second draft was helpful to let me know that I had enough analysis, but I was lacking context. Because of this I added more background and context to make my final paper well rounded and a good analysis of the article I read for this project.
Without the revision and pre-writing process we used, my paper would not have been as successful as it was. This process allowed me to think though my essay logically and gave me enough time to make the required revisions to my work. While this project was not as easy as I expected, I found it to be enjoyable. It certainly taught me the value of peer reviewing since I got some great advice from my peer reviewers that allowed me to improve my essay greatly. In the end, the process was very effective and it allowed me to create what I think is a great paper.
Friday, December 3, 2010
reflection rough draft for portfolio
intro
discussion of projects
-rhetorical analysis
-research project
-presentation
-visual argument
conclusion
Composition is a course designed to help students with the writing done in their respective majors. This course taught many different techniques from MLA and APA citation styles, to the main components of rhetoric. Different aspects of developing an argument was discussed and...
The first project was a practice and discovery of the citation style in our major. For this project we had to interview a professor in our major about the citation style used in our major. After the interview, we wrote an annotated bibliography using the citation style described by the professor. Overall, this project was very interesting. I had never interview a professor before and I thought that it was a fun and interesting experience. In the end, I learned a lot about the writings done within Chemical Engineering and how the style of the citation is dictated by the journal it will be published in. Because there was no set style for citation it was difficult for me to write the annotated bibliography that went along with the interview. Luckily I got some pieces of writing that a professor wrote and the citations were shown. I used those citation as an example to base my citation on.
The next project was a change in pace from the first which was more technical. Our second project was a rhetorical analysis in which we had to choose and article and analyze the effectiveness of the authors argument. For this project, I found an article from the New York Times about alternative medicine.
discussion of projects
-rhetorical analysis
-research project
-presentation
-visual argument
conclusion
Composition is a course designed to help students with the writing done in their respective majors. This course taught many different techniques from MLA and APA citation styles, to the main components of rhetoric. Different aspects of developing an argument was discussed and...
The first project was a practice and discovery of the citation style in our major. For this project we had to interview a professor in our major about the citation style used in our major. After the interview, we wrote an annotated bibliography using the citation style described by the professor. Overall, this project was very interesting. I had never interview a professor before and I thought that it was a fun and interesting experience. In the end, I learned a lot about the writings done within Chemical Engineering and how the style of the citation is dictated by the journal it will be published in. Because there was no set style for citation it was difficult for me to write the annotated bibliography that went along with the interview. Luckily I got some pieces of writing that a professor wrote and the citations were shown. I used those citation as an example to base my citation on.
The next project was a change in pace from the first which was more technical. Our second project was a rhetorical analysis in which we had to choose and article and analyze the effectiveness of the authors argument. For this project, I found an article from the New York Times about alternative medicine.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
project 2 revision for portfolio
Michelle Chiodi
Shampa Bhattacharyya
UN 2001
October 23, 2010
Rhetorical analysis
“In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward” is an article published in the Health section of the New York Times on November 30, 2009. The article was written by Tara Parker-Pope who claims that alternative medicine can be used to reduce, or even eliminate, the need for conventional medicine. Overall, this article educates the reader about alternative medicine and argues its benefits. Alternative medicine is a controversial issue so Parker-Pope aims to persuade readers by describing a case where alternative medicine was effective and providing statistics to prove a trend of effectiveness. The intended audience of this article is those suffering from an illness who would like to explore alternative medicine, however, the addressed audience for this article is readers of the New York Times, specifically, the Health section where this article appears. This includes educated adult readers, most likely over thirty who are interested in health topics. Through this article Parker-Pope aims at persuading her audience to give alternative medicine a try because, she argues, it can be very beneficial.
Dictionary.com defines alternative medicine as, “healthcare and treatment practices, including traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, folk medicine, and naturopathy, that minimize or eschew the use of surgery and drugs” (Alternative Medicine). This is a broad definition of alternative medicine and the specific type examined in this article is the use of gift giving as alternative medicine. The definition given is helpful because it relates closely with the argument that Parker-Pope makes.
To understand the argument that the author makes, it is important to understand the background and context. Upon visiting Parker-Pope’s website it is apparent that she is an avid writer who writes about living a healthy lifestyle and often gives readers tips on how to improve their life (Tara Parker-Pope). If a reader knew this, they would be able to predict that Parker-Pope would argue the health benefits of alternative medicine. Not much background knowledge is needed to understand the context of this article since Parker-Pope describes the type of alternative medicine used. For the reader to fully understand the context of the article, they should know that the use of alternative medicine is controversial. Like Parker-Pope, many believe that alternative medicine can be used as a supplement to conventional medicine in order to make a patient feel better about their situation. Others believe that alternative medicine is downright dangerous. As Daniel Marshman states on the Institute of Idea’s Culture Wars website, “The lack of scientific research means alternative medicine is harmful” (Marshman).
Throughout the article, word choice is used as an emotional appeal. In general, the topic evokes a lot of emotion because this is a controversial topic and alternative medicine is often recommended for sufferers of severe illnesses. Cami Walker is the main subject of the article and words like “pain”, “preoccupation”, and “plummeted” are used in the beginning of the article to describe her struggle with multiple sclerosis (Parker-Pope). These words evoke sadness and sometimes even fear. The author then goes on to describe how a 29 day project of gift giving has turned Walker’s outlook and symptoms around. In the latter part of the article, words like “positive”, “greater meaning”, and “benefit” are used to convey a change for the better within Cami (Parker-Pope). These words are used as pathos to make the reader feel good about what has happened to Cami. The transition from negative words to positive words is very effective. This triggers a correlation in the readers mind between the positive words and the effectiveness of alternative medicine. Readers will relate the happy, positive emotions with the use of alternative medicine.
While Parker-Pope uses pathos effectively she adds depth to her argument with logos. After she has made the appeal to the reader’s emotions, Parker-Pope proceeds to make various logical appeals. She calls to reference many studies that have been done showing the effectiveness of alternative medicine on improving morale and lessening symptoms. One such study used volunteering as the alternate form of medicine. This study showed that during the span of examination, those involved in the study were 44% less likely to die. A correlation was also found in a study mentioned in this article between self-centeredness and heart disease severity. Subjects who talked about themselves more, performed worse on treadmill test and showed more severe heart symptoms (Parker-Pope). By pointing these studies out, the author is showing the reader that others believe her point of view as well. She is giving her audience the solid evidence on which her argument is based. Readers will see these statistics and want to experience that favorable outcome seen in the studies.
While the content of the studies was convincing they can be backed up with credibility as well. Many of the studies were performed at recognizable, highly acclaimed universities. A study was conducted at Boston College which is seen as a credible conductor of studies and a widely known university. Other studies referenced in this article appeared in various academic journals like Psychology Today and Psychosomatic Medicine (Parker-Pope). Studies published in academic journals like these have to be convincing to be published. The fact that all of the studies referenced in this article come from credible sources show that there is trustworthy, factual basis for the argument and it is not just an appeal to the emotions. Not only do the articles come from reliable sources but all of the sources are linked within the article. While reading this article, one can click on the links within the text to see for themselves the facts that are presented. This shows that the author is not trying to skew any of the studies or statistics presented in the article.
While the author develops the ethos, pathos, and logos of the argument well, she lacks reference to the opposition. There are a lot of people who believe alternative medicine is not useful and even harmful and it would have made a more convincing argument to refute the opposition. A rebuttal to the opposition is not wholly lacking, however. There is a quote from Walker that addresses the opposition, “My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea. But it has given me a more positive outlook on life. It’s about stepping outside of your own story long enough to make a connection with someone else” (Parker-Pope). By having Walker admit that the idea of alternative medicine was “an insane idea,” Parker-Pope is addressing the fact that there are many skeptics of non-conventional medicine. There are many opposing view to alternative medicine so for a negation of the opposition to be nearly nonexistent is inexcusable.
Overall, ethos, pathos, and logos are present in good proportion in this article. The author does a great job of backing up the emotional appeals she makes with solid facts from trustworthy sources. All of the studies presented in this article are from credible and even impressive sources. While the author lacks a refute to the opposition, she still managed to craft a well balanced argument that is very convincing and shows many benefits to alternative medicine. In the end, many readers will be convinced that alternative medicine can reduce or eliminate the need for conventional medicine.
Works Cited
Alternative Medicine. Dictionary.com, 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Marshman, Daniel. Culture Wars. Institute of Ideas, 2002. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward.” New York Times. New York Times, 30 Nov. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.
Parker-Pope, Tara. Tara Parker-Pope. Personal website. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2010.
Shampa Bhattacharyya
UN 2001
October 23, 2010
Rhetorical analysis
“In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward” is an article published in the Health section of the New York Times on November 30, 2009. The article was written by Tara Parker-Pope who claims that alternative medicine can be used to reduce, or even eliminate, the need for conventional medicine. Overall, this article educates the reader about alternative medicine and argues its benefits. Alternative medicine is a controversial issue so Parker-Pope aims to persuade readers by describing a case where alternative medicine was effective and providing statistics to prove a trend of effectiveness. The intended audience of this article is those suffering from an illness who would like to explore alternative medicine, however, the addressed audience for this article is readers of the New York Times, specifically, the Health section where this article appears. This includes educated adult readers, most likely over thirty who are interested in health topics. Through this article Parker-Pope aims at persuading her audience to give alternative medicine a try because, she argues, it can be very beneficial.
Dictionary.com defines alternative medicine as, “healthcare and treatment practices, including traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, folk medicine, and naturopathy, that minimize or eschew the use of surgery and drugs” (Alternative Medicine). This is a broad definition of alternative medicine and the specific type examined in this article is the use of gift giving as alternative medicine. The definition given is helpful because it relates closely with the argument that Parker-Pope makes.
To understand the argument that the author makes, it is important to understand the background and context. Upon visiting Parker-Pope’s website it is apparent that she is an avid writer who writes about living a healthy lifestyle and often gives readers tips on how to improve their life (Tara Parker-Pope). If a reader knew this, they would be able to predict that Parker-Pope would argue the health benefits of alternative medicine. Not much background knowledge is needed to understand the context of this article since Parker-Pope describes the type of alternative medicine used. For the reader to fully understand the context of the article, they should know that the use of alternative medicine is controversial. Like Parker-Pope, many believe that alternative medicine can be used as a supplement to conventional medicine in order to make a patient feel better about their situation. Others believe that alternative medicine is downright dangerous. As Daniel Marshman states on the Institute of Idea’s Culture Wars website, “The lack of scientific research means alternative medicine is harmful” (Marshman).
Throughout the article, word choice is used as an emotional appeal. In general, the topic evokes a lot of emotion because this is a controversial topic and alternative medicine is often recommended for sufferers of severe illnesses. Cami Walker is the main subject of the article and words like “pain”, “preoccupation”, and “plummeted” are used in the beginning of the article to describe her struggle with multiple sclerosis (Parker-Pope). These words evoke sadness and sometimes even fear. The author then goes on to describe how a 29 day project of gift giving has turned Walker’s outlook and symptoms around. In the latter part of the article, words like “positive”, “greater meaning”, and “benefit” are used to convey a change for the better within Cami (Parker-Pope). These words are used as pathos to make the reader feel good about what has happened to Cami. The transition from negative words to positive words is very effective. This triggers a correlation in the readers mind between the positive words and the effectiveness of alternative medicine. Readers will relate the happy, positive emotions with the use of alternative medicine.
While Parker-Pope uses pathos effectively she adds depth to her argument with logos. After she has made the appeal to the reader’s emotions, Parker-Pope proceeds to make various logical appeals. She calls to reference many studies that have been done showing the effectiveness of alternative medicine on improving morale and lessening symptoms. One such study used volunteering as the alternate form of medicine. This study showed that during the span of examination, those involved in the study were 44% less likely to die. A correlation was also found in a study mentioned in this article between self-centeredness and heart disease severity. Subjects who talked about themselves more, performed worse on treadmill test and showed more severe heart symptoms (Parker-Pope). By pointing these studies out, the author is showing the reader that others believe her point of view as well. She is giving her audience the solid evidence on which her argument is based. Readers will see these statistics and want to experience that favorable outcome seen in the studies.
While the content of the studies was convincing they can be backed up with credibility as well. Many of the studies were performed at recognizable, highly acclaimed universities. A study was conducted at Boston College which is seen as a credible conductor of studies and a widely known university. Other studies referenced in this article appeared in various academic journals like Psychology Today and Psychosomatic Medicine (Parker-Pope). Studies published in academic journals like these have to be convincing to be published. The fact that all of the studies referenced in this article come from credible sources show that there is trustworthy, factual basis for the argument and it is not just an appeal to the emotions. Not only do the articles come from reliable sources but all of the sources are linked within the article. While reading this article, one can click on the links within the text to see for themselves the facts that are presented. This shows that the author is not trying to skew any of the studies or statistics presented in the article.
While the author develops the ethos, pathos, and logos of the argument well, she lacks reference to the opposition. There are a lot of people who believe alternative medicine is not useful and even harmful and it would have made a more convincing argument to refute the opposition. A rebuttal to the opposition is not wholly lacking, however. There is a quote from Walker that addresses the opposition, “My first reaction was that I thought it was an insane idea. But it has given me a more positive outlook on life. It’s about stepping outside of your own story long enough to make a connection with someone else” (Parker-Pope). By having Walker admit that the idea of alternative medicine was “an insane idea,” Parker-Pope is addressing the fact that there are many skeptics of non-conventional medicine. There are many opposing view to alternative medicine so for a negation of the opposition to be nearly nonexistent is inexcusable.
Overall, ethos, pathos, and logos are present in good proportion in this article. The author does a great job of backing up the emotional appeals she makes with solid facts from trustworthy sources. All of the studies presented in this article are from credible and even impressive sources. While the author lacks a refute to the opposition, she still managed to craft a well balanced argument that is very convincing and shows many benefits to alternative medicine. In the end, many readers will be convinced that alternative medicine can reduce or eliminate the need for conventional medicine.
Works Cited
Alternative Medicine. Dictionary.com, 2010. Web. 19 Oct. 2010.
Marshman, Daniel. Culture Wars. Institute of Ideas, 2002. Web. 10 Oct. 2010.
Parker-Pope, Tara. “In Month of Giving, a Healthy Reward.” New York Times. New York Times, 30 Nov. 2009. Web. 6 Oct. 2010.
Parker-Pope, Tara. Tara Parker-Pope. Personal website. 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2010.
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