Caroline Reynolds’s GSW 1110 Blog

Here is my take on Academic Honesty

• Plagiarism = BAD!!!
  • Why is plagiaism bad some may ask, and I say because IT IS STEALING!
  • Yes, stealing!  Taking credit for someones hard work and ideas without giving them the rightful credit that they deserve is stealing!
  • Paraphrasing someone’s work and not giving credit for it is also stealing…so when you paraphrase something, like a specific account of a story you must CITE!!!
• Ah what next, Oh this is a big one!!  Assisting in Academic Dishonesty
  • Assisting in Academic Dishonesty can be doing things such as
    • Giving someone a paper that you have written to be turned is as theirs, straight up correcting someone’s work, assisting someone in an act of academic dishonesty (As in doing something that you know you should not do, when you know that other people ARE NOT doing it)
• Bribery
  • Bribery is when you offer someone gifts/money in order to get a better grade on something. 
  • This is for those people having that teeny tiny thought go through their head that they could make someone take a bribe—Think again!  Attempting to bribe someone is insane…think of the consequences (getting kicked out of college is a big one!)  So just don’t do it, talk to your instructor about extra credit or something – make the grade, the RIGHT way
• Fabrication
  • The act of creating false citations, data, statistics, information, etc. 
  • When you get something from a source CITE IT!  Do not, and I repeat, Do NOT falsify information.  Number one, it will make you look ridiculous and number two you will probably fail.  Two pretty good reasons not to fabricate info yes?
• Forgery
  • Ok, now this is bad – this is a federal offense, a  great reason never to forge something, right? Right.
  • Forgery is the act of signing someone else’s name on a document or doing something else of that nature
• ACADEMIC HONESTY!!!
  • Well, let’s analyze the words that make up such a powerful combo: 
    •  Honesty – ok, this means being trustworthy, credible, etc.
    • Academic – scholarly, education=school=college!!, trying to better yourself through learning…
  • So what does our combo mean?  It means to be trustworty while trying to better yourself in school – Amen to that
• A Final Note:
  • First of all, cite resources… 
    • Direct quotations
    • Paraphrased material
    • a phrase used in the material that is specific jargon
      • Citing may seem like a hassle but in reality it makes you a more credible author.  Remember no one knows everything!

And this pretty much wraps my summary up!!  🙂  great success

I remember my senior year of high school perfectly.  It was based around senior projects, portfolios, prom, and turning 18.  The most important of these was turning 18.  Turning 18 marked the time for independence, the time to break free of parents and to be yourself.  That year I heard so many stories hinging on becoming an adult; ranging from “I’m going to get my eyebrow pierced and a tattoo,” to parent’s insight upon turning 18.  Here is what the parents said:

“Once you turn 18 you can do whatever you want.  We can’t stop you anymore because you are an adult.  You make your own decisions.”  Endless freedom and no boundaries?  As teenagers, we are there.  But little did our parents know was that we were becoming adults long before our 18th birthday.

Teenagers have grown up on the internet and I can say that from experience.  In fifth grade I got my very first email account, in seventh I began to instant message, and in ninth I made my very first webpage.  I was about as connected as someone could be.  I was consumed in the internet every day, for hours on end.  I updated my Xanga webpage daily, even though I only had a few friends registered to my page.  I felt like myself online.  I felt like I was really being me, a me that no one really knew outside of the world I had created for myself.  I enjoyed the cyberworld more than I enjoyed the real world.  Being online was an outlet for me, an outlet that satisfied me but began to create a rift between me and my family.  The only way that I got “unplugged,” so to speak, from the internet was the moment that I realized it betrayed me.

My freshman year of highschool was spent with my two best friends.  My two best friends that hated each other.  Half of the time that I spent one-on-one with them was time for them to badmouth the other friend.  So it was only natural for some kind of fight to brew between us.  The fight that killed on of my friendships was not a verbal fight, not a physical fight, but a fight online.  I was a victim of cyberbullying.  If someone has never been cyberbullied before they will never understand the emotional diress it puts a person under.  When I stumbled onto my “friend’s” website I was shocked, there were all these accounts of me being mean to her – hurting her feelings.  I never thought that it was true but I would constantly check her webpage.  I checked it at night so that my parents wouldn’t know and they didn’t find out until I told them that I was being attacked. 

Telling them was both a relief and an embarrassment.  I was relieved because they stepped in to save me.  They called my best friend’s parents and had her take down her webpage, although another one soon popped up, they also called the principal and discussed the problem to them.  I was embarrassed that I was living this undercover life, that I seemed completely different in front of them than I did in front of my friends.  That this girl painted such a negative picture of me that I wondered if they would believe. 

This could be anyone.  It really could.  But so many suffer in silence.  Ryan Halligan, a victim of cyberbullying, killed himself after being hurt too much.  His parents never knew.  Megan Meier, also a victim of cyberbullying, killed herself after being tormented by a mother posing as a teenage boy that liked Megan and suddenly hated her. 

Turning 18 marks us as adults but even adults need to be saved.

First things first I have to choose a writing prompt, which I have done.  I have chosen to write about parent’s right to have unlimited access to their child’s personal website.  I chose this issue because it is actually very close to me and I feel that I can do a good job in convincing my audience to take my side.  The second thing I plan on doing is take as many notes as possible.  Although I know a lot about this subject (I was cyberbullied and cyberbullying was the subject of one of my research papers) I hope to gain more knowledge in order to further prove my point.  Then I hope to write my first draft which is to be reviewed on the 23rd, as well as to be sent as an attachment by that date.  I will then go through the process of revision which I am sure will take a long time because I have A LOT to say on this topic.  Finally, this argumentative essay is due on the 30th of September.  I am psyched up!!! 🙂

Invention and Research:::  For my arguing a position I want to write about the right that parents have to their child’s website.  I believe that all parents have the right to monitor what their child is posting on the web.  I believe that if the child is under 18 that they are still accountable to their parents.  It’s reasonable for all teenagers to believe that their parent is encroaching on their personal space if they gain access to their son or daughter’s personal webpage, but in reality it is a safeguard.  Once someone’s information is posted on the web anyone can gain access to it – even after it’s removed.  Teenagers are young and impressionable and as a teen myself we tend to think that we are invincible.  In reality however, we are not invincible and the realities and dangers of logging onto personal websites and indeed getting very personal are reasons that parents should have access to these websites.

Planning and Drafting:::   I believe that I can create a very good argument for my case.  Yes, it is controversial but it is also needed to protect people.  About every teenager loves to use MySpace, Facebook, etc. so it may be hard to convince them to give their passwords or just show their parents what they are doing online, but I think that very quickly “self-expression” can turn a bright future into a very dim one.  I am positive that there will be numerous objections to the stance I take on this issue, however I think that I will have more than enough backing to defend my position.  One argument that would probably be raised is that “It’s my life, not my parents’,” my counterargument would be that all their parents are looking into is their well-being.  Most of the time it isn’t to be nosy, parents just want to know what’s going on in our lives, can we deny them that?

Critical Reading Guide:::   I feel very strongly about this issue however, I tend to get off topic.  It will be a struggle to stay on the topic of parents’s right to having access to their child’s website when there are a million topics that are intertwined into that argument such as a teens right to privacy and so on.

Here is a list that gives some useful supports that can be utilized in an argumentative paper:

-Data/Statistics:  In the story “Working at McDonalds” Etzioni gives many statistics to support her argument that McDonald’s doesn’t improve teenagers lives.  Also in the story “Children Need to Play…” the author gives statistics that prove the detrimental effect of sports on young children.

-Expert Opinion:  In “Children Need to Play…” Stasky quotes experts to back up that children are effected negatively by competitive sports at a young age.  In the Monty Python skit, the hired arguer gave an expert opinion about arguing, however the client had a better idea of what an argument was.

-Solutions:  Again, in “Children Need to Play…” the author gives a solution to young children participating in sports by saying that their sports lessons could benefit them more by attuning the program towards their maturity levels. 

-Examples: The two essays both cite examples that further argue their point with firm examples.  The comedian in the Taxi Driver skit gave an example that took the taxi driver off-guard and helped to reinstate his point with fact.

In an argumentative essay it is imperative to use several forms of support throughout the writing.  If there aren’t sources that back-up the argument in the essay, then the argument will be based upon emotions being as it will have no evidence behind why the one-side of the argument should be sided with.  We use support to provide not only more substance to the argument, but also a deeper explanation to why we choose the side of the argument that we do.  Using support in arguments provides a more believable argument.  One is more likely to side with someone’s argument if they back up their side with examples, facts, statistics, etc. than if someone just tells what their stance is without any supporting arguments.  For example, in the Taxi Driver argument the driver just says what he believes, showing that he was obviously affected by his emotions.  He didn’t provide any supporting facts or examples, therefore he seemed hot-headed and rather ignorant.  The comedian provided an exceptional rebuttal to the other side of the argument by backing up his thoughts with fact.  In the end the argument seemed to weigh in the comedian’s favor because he was much more calculated in his words.   Support is always needed in arguments.  It is imperative to use support so that one will not seem ignorant to the opposing side of the issue. 

The one revision guide strategy I picked was “Is enough information included so the topic is clear to the reader?”  I chose this because I know that some of my essay isn’t as clear as I thought it was.  I think that I should definitely include more information about Challenge Day in my essay to clarify what took place.  I also believe that if I elaborate more on my personal story that my thoughts could be better organized and more understandable.  Before Friday I’d really like to identify if I fulfilled this revision strategy in my essay.  It is imperative to do so because it will definitely help my writing and make it not only more understandable but also more interesting and informational.

In my peer review I was told of a few things that would probably make my essay better.  I have taken these things into consideration and here are just a few things that I think that I should probably revise.  I would like to elevate my vocabulary, as Charity suggested, as well as make my essay have more fluidity.  In the revision process I believe that I must reevaluate the state of my paragraphs and their development.  I think that sometimes I have strong sentences in the beginning and at the end but in the middle I lose direction, so I am going to go back and fix those paragraphs to make everything more uniform.  I also think that I should go back and reread my essay several times, to make sure that all of my thoughts make sense because I do have the tendency to ramble.  Two more things that would be beneficial to my essay are analyzing my sentences – individually, as well as analyzing the context of my words.  Revising my sentence structure and the vocabulary in it will help me in my goals of gaining fluidity in my writing.  I also think that maybe changing some of the transitional words and phrasing throughout my rough draft will help me to have a better flowing piece of writing.  With all these changes in my mind I think that my second draft will be much better.

Many of the Essays were based on these common traits:

Faith in People, Faith in God,  the Meaning of Life, Personal Experience, etc.

The Faith in People dealt with several of the essays such as In Giving I Connect With Others with the death of the author’s daughter, Isabel Allende learned that she needed to stop closing out the world and start to have Faith in People because in reality closing out people hurts you the most when you are hurting.  Another essay that demonstrated Faith in People was in The Art of Being a Neighbor in which author Eve Birch, became homeless and started living in a shack, being out of her realm she was surprised when her neighbors started to come around and give her supplies and advice, because of this personal experience she learned to have Faith in People.

The Faith in God dealt with the essays such as Free Minds and Hearts at Work.  Jackie Robinson’s struggle with being accepted in the sport of baseball as a colored man dealt with not only the Faith in People, but also the Faith in God.  Robinson fought the fight of getting acceptance because he knew that it wasn’t a losing battle, therefore he trusted in God to “[sustain him] in the fight.”  Also in the essay This I Believe, by Stanley Allyn, he discovered that faith asks for no proof and that there must be a supreme being.

Several of the essays also dealt with finding The Meaning of Life.  In the essay Science Nourishes the Mind and the Soul Brian Greene illustrates his struggle finding his place in the science world.  His view however changed significantly after he reached an epiphany that science doesn’t really address the meaning of life and that he should appreciate life for what it is.  Also in the essay The Light of a Brighter Day, Hellen Keller depicts that life is basically what you make of it and the with faith there is no fear, so her basic mantra was to live life to the fullest.

In the realm of Personal Experiences, all of the essays were written based on this.  From In Giving I Connect With Others a personal story of the loss of a child to The Art of Being a Neighbor a story of homelessness and then banding together with others in an attempt to become rich in other forms than in money.  These essays were all based on personal experiences and personal struggles.

I believe that a This I Believe essay is created to form beliefs and to elaborate on beliefs.  Many concepts from faith in God to personal struggles, permeate through these essays.  These essays aren’t written to force a person to believe differently, but to perhaps think differently and to see the possibilites that are all around them.  This I Believe is very interesting because it gives us insight on others and forces us to open our minds and see from a different perspective, while forming our own beliefs.  In the formation of our own beliefs we continue to grow as a person so these essays are beneficial to our own personal growth.  From Personal Experiences to having Faith, This I Believe covers many realms, but it reaches one goal in the end: finding yourself.

Writing is extremely important.  It is a way to communicate to the world what you are feeling or just your ideas.  It’s open space for communication.  It also allows you to express yourself, your thoughts, your inspirations, maybe your aspirations.  I love to write!!!  It’s kind of like a release, you know like if you write in a diary?  It’s just amazing. 🙂  Me gusta mucho…

Writing inspires me.  It inspires me to learn new things, such as when I do research for a research paper.  It inspires me to be more creative, in my short stories.  It inspires me to really let go of my inhibitions and just write… It’s almost like therapy… even though I’ve never had therapy haha… but it’s therapeutic.

I would tell my 10 year old child that writing is important because it is always different.  Kids get bored easily but with writing they shouldn’t ever be bored.  Every time that you pick up that pencil or type on the keyboard your writing is a little different.