kafalti’s blog

So far I am not very satisfied with anything that I am writing in this essay. I am really interested in the topic, but I am finding it very difficult to organize my thoughts into reasons why my causes relate to the effect. I constantly have to redirect myself and remind myself that this is a  cause and effect essay. I also don’t really know how to clarify that one specific cause is better than the rest I mention; all of my causes are seemingly equal at the moment. I am hating this essay.

In mid-process of writing, my thesis is “More and more students seem to be studying abroad in order to become fluent in a foreign language, to gain a new cultural and global perspective, and most importantly to improve their career prospects “. I am researching ways that current jobs are interested in communication skills. I am also looking for sources that prove that students who studied abroad benefitted from it. EBSCOhost has been my main place to search so far.

Since the beginning of the semester, I would like to think that my writing has improved in the sense of paragraph structure and organization. I was always taught to write in 5 paragraph essay structure, but in this academic writing class I think I have learned to step outside of this type of organization. My essays are easier to follow and no longer look like multiple pages of one paragraph. I would like to improve more in the areas of source citing and supporting details because I am still not satisfied with what I am seeing in my own essays in this sense.

My first idea for a trend was the “go green” movement, but it was difficult for me to come up with causes for this. I have decided to work with the trend of studying abroad. Some possible causes are:

1. Students want to become fluent in a foreign language (like myself)
2. Students want cross cultural skills
3. Students want to gain a global understanding or view the world from a different perspective
4. Students are concerned with international politics
5. Students want to improve their career prospects

The one cause  I believe is the main one is number 5 because I think that careers are one of the most important thing on a student’s mind.

My audience for essay two is the city council of Bowling Green. I have tried to address as many counterarguments as I could in order to remember that their opinions differ greatly from mine. I tried to discuss smaller points that both students and council members could relate to. I should work on incorporating more counterarguments into the essay so that the audience is aware that I (the writer) am acknowledging their thoughts and opinions.

I think that my strongest category would be my development (as far as paragraphs) because that is the one area that I specifically tried to improve in. The weekest category would be usage/mechanics because I sadly find myself utterly clueless as far as how to cite my sources, within the essay and out.

When writing this essay I was a little concerned that my support and topics would not interest a city council; it was difficult to try to imagine myself telling my ideas to a formal audience. Also, I was unsure of whether some of my other sources (besides mapquest and the BG News) would be credible.

My first source is http://www.mapquest.com because this is a website that will clearly demonstrate the length students will walk to the nearest mall. My second source is an article in the BG News that gives factual information about the current state of Woodland Mall and student opinions. Both of these sources relate directly to my topic.

I like that my essay had a topic that I enjoy writing about. Gathering ideas was not nearly as hard as it usually is. If I had more time, I would have expanded my ideas on some of the subtopics in the body paragraphs.