*Academic Dishonesty is turning in something that isn’t rightfully yours.

*There may be different ways of being dishonest, but it is all the same.

*Copying and pasting are the most common.

*Threatening or bribing a teacher is also be dishonest.

*There should be citation throughout the paper.

*No matter what you do, whether it’s taking notes or paraphrasing, proper recognition should be given to the true authors of the work.

I chose prompt number two, about parents having access to their child’s email, facebook, or myspace account. I chose this one because I feel that parents have the right to see what their children are doing online. To me it’s no different from talking with their kid’s friend’s parents; this is just the virtual way of doing that. In my experience, it’s best that parents have this access. In high school my friends had myspaces and their parents knew about them. On occasion my parents would google my name to see what track articles came up. With those articles came pictures of me that my friends had posted on their pages. By clicking on them, my parents were able to access their entire page, even though they were set to private. Thankfully none of these pictures were inappropriate or disrespectful. But it does show that anything you put up can be seen by ANYONE.

For my argument, I am stating that parents have the right to monitor a child’s internet activity. They should be able to know if they are in trouble, getting hurt, or doing something they shouldn’t be doing. I do think that parents should not “sneak” the password without their child’s permission. This will only ruin the relationship that they have together. It breaks trust and it’s hard for children to forgive their parents. By being able to monitor a child’s internet access, parents will also be able to further their internet intellect. With parents able to navigate the internet, they will be able to see what is out there on cyberspace. With parents knowing what is out there, they will be able to trust their children more. With more trust parents will be able to loosen up the reins on their control over the internet.

The video, Growing Up Online, presents a focused presentation of the issue because the title clearly states what it will be about. Viewers can tell from the title that the video will somehow be about teenagers being online or “growing up online”.  The creator of the movie also presented the video in a way that will get the mood of the argument across. By having many parents and professionals being interviewed it made the argument stronger.

            Within the first few minutes of the video, the creator’s position was clearly stated. Right away, I knew where they stood on the issue of many kids being online all the time.

            There were also many plausible reasons and convincing support throughout the first half of the movie. Again, with the many professionals, parents, and even students the support was overwhelming. The many studies and polls also helped with making a convincing argument.

            As of right now in the movie, the opposing positions and objections have not been clearly stated. I know they will be, because of the quality that the movie has been so far.

I am going to use: Does each paragraph lead to the next?

I decided to use this one because I know that I needed to work on my transitions between paragraphs. I feel like I have different things to say about my story, but I don’t know how to make them flow together. Right now it’s a bit choppy and things don’t quite make enough sense to have the story be it’s best.

                For revising my essay I should have a peer-edit, a self-edit, and use the writer’s resources from around campus.

In class, we did peer-editing exercises. I will use the comments and feedback that I received to make my paper better-rounded. The person that edited my essay went through the following checklist to make sure that they are editing the paper so that it helps me: what is the assignment, how close is the assignment to being finished, what steps should they take for revision, what kind of feedback does this person need.

                For the self-editing portion, I use my comments and feedback from the peer-editing to focus on writing better. I could use the exercises from my portfolio to identify my strengths and be able to highlight them. I can also identify my weaknesses and work to make those stronger.

                There are many on-campus resources that are available to help revising an essay. The campus writing center can read and make comments on my essay that will help it be the best that it can be. Not only can they make comments about the paper, but they can also help find errors in grammar and punctuation. Online writing labs are available as well. By submitting my draft by email, my essay will be returned to me with the needed comments. I can also post my paper in a public access space where I can get feedback from more than one person.

In these selected stories there were a few commonalities, but there were also a few things that set each story apart. In each story the author was giving something to the next generation. Brian Greene was giving knowledge but he also believes in the next generation. Isabel Allende gave hope and a chance to the next generation. Jackie Robinson gave hope and he broke down many barriers for so many people, not just the next generation of African-Americans. Helen Keller and Stanley Allyn both had faith in all of mankind. Eve Birch also believed in people, knowing that they are kind and willing to help.

They goals of a This I Believe essay are to help people not only understand your values and beliefs, but for you to understand them. In reading many of these stories, I noticed that many of the authors really understood their beliefs for the first time. Many, however, knew what they thought of their values were about.

                Most of the essays talked about giving something to the next generation, whether it was hope, a chance, broken barriers, or just belief in a person or a society. Writing an essay should show people what you want to leave on. These stories are also another way to leave your mark in an ever growing and changing world.

Writing is important because it is a prime way of communication. Not only do people use it to just write letters, emails, or texts; but they also use it as a way to communicate their feelings, experiences, and about themselves. Without writing the world would be lost for words, literally.

Writing is important because it expresses ourselves. With you as our teacher you will look to our writings as a way to help us become better writers. We can also communicate with you.

Writing is important because then you will be able to read better. By reading better and knowing how to write you can do well in school. Plus when you get older, you can even write for fun to tell people how you are feeling.