Final Core 101 Blog

                  Core 101 has helped me in tremendous ways this semester, particularly with my writing.  Before this class, I was not very good at making outlines and gathering ideas to write a paper.  All of the outlines, rough drafts, and meetings helped me understand and mold a well structured paper.  It also helped me keep my information relevant and get my point across in an efficient way.  I would like to continue learning how to create extremely persuasive essays.  I want to have strong information including logos, pathos, and ethos effectively.  While I have increased my skill in this area, there is always room for improvement.  Blogging has been very helpful in my experience because it was a place to keep all of my writings organized and together.  I liked being able to go back and take information from my previous writings to use in current papers.  Technology, as well as blogging, has allowed all the students in the class to collaborate and help each other out.  Having all of our writings on the computer made it much easier to peer edit and compare information with other students.  Blogging also helped my writing because I was able to take a prompt and write down my ideas on a subject.  After, I was able to go back and make changes, add parts into my papers, and see my progression from the beginning of the semester.  My favorite thing about the class is that it was centered around one idea, The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.  It allowed for in depth research on the prevalent subject of technology.  This subject is something that strongly effects most everyone in our society, and we got to go in depth with it.  I enjoyed it because I could write about things that interested me.  In addition to this, using the book The Shallows was helpful because it taught me how to take quotes and information from a hard copy book and put it into writings.  Carr opened my eyes to the multiple sides of technology, its benefits, and its disadvantages.  Many of the points that Carr brought up, I had never thought about before.  This book changed my opinion on technology, making me think sometimes it is not always the best thing.  I feel that reading this book has also helped me improve my writing.  Throughout the semester, we wrote about Carr’s book and technology, our opinions, academic arguments, and persuasive essays.  Reading The Shallows showed me how to analyze, research, and include information in papers while still inserting opinion and logic.  The layout of this class really helped me improve my skills as a writer.  I was able to learn and explore different ways to present points and opinions in my papers.  Also, having a technology based class helped me use my resources to the fullest.  I am satisfied with the amount of information and progression I have made since the first day of class, and hope to continue to improve my skills throughout my years in college.

Summary

The questions from the Core Handbook asked if style was fixed, how does audience effect style, what is genre, and how does genre effect style.  I think that style can be fixed depending on how the author is trying to get their point across.  The author can adapt their style to the subject matter of what they are writing about, or the target audience they are writing to.  For example, if an author is writing a children's book, they are more likely to write in simple terms and "bland" words, then if they were writing an analysis.  A genre is having some sort of particular way of doing a certain work.  If an author is writing an analysis, they are more likely to have paragraphs separated by spaces, in a 12 point font.  On the other hand, if an author is writing a "how-to" they may section things off by numbering.  There is a certain "norm" for different types of genres.  Genre can effect style by the nature of what is being written.  If someone is writing a biology lab report, it is more likely to be very formal and have scientific terms, as opposed to a blog that would be written more with personal opinion and informal writing.

Chapter 10

            In the chapter 10 of The Shallows talks about the debate if people are happier without technology or not.  He says “after spending time in a quiet rural setting close to nature, people exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory, and generally improved cognition.”  This shows that he believes being without technology can mike life overall better.  Carr also mentions that he for a period of time went without technology and he felt better and happier.

            I believe this argument could go both ways, depending on how a particular person uses technology and how important it is in their life.  For example, someone who works on computers for a living, relies on technology to make money and keep a job.  In that case, I believe living without technology would not be a good thing.  Also, in today’s society amongst teenagers, social media, texting, and online communication is a big deal.  Without it, they could be isolated or treated as outcasts amongst their peers.

            People can become isolated with or without technology.  When Carr mentions the fact that people are happier in a rural setting close to nature without technology, he doesn’t mention that it can be isolating.  Living with no technology could lead to being “out of the loop” with things going on in society or even in that specific area.  In contrast, if that is the lifestyle they are accustomed to, it may be the right fit.  No matter how isolated you are, technology and information is available.

            Technology can also be the reason for social isolation.  Just walking around campus, you see almost everyone with a phone or looking at a phone.  People are less interested in talking face to face and more interested in talking online.  Online communication has made it much easier to contact people and have “online relationships” without even having to see them.  This takes away the face-to-face communication to relationships, potentially creating a lack of social skills.

            People may find it easier to go without technology for a short period of time.  As we talked about in class, going to the beach for a week without having technology or phones could be nice.  On the other hand, the thought of going without technology forever or for an extended period of time, did not appeal to many people.  Technology has become such a large part of our lives and has made certain things in life much easier.  For example, the use of email has made it much easier to contact teachers and classmates for assignments and questions.  Also, social media has made it easier to access news and information.

            I think that overall technology has a positive impact on life.  A world with technology would be difficult because of how advanced society is.  I believe that going without technology for a short period of time would not be a bad thing, but personally I would much rather have it.

Opposing Argument Email

To: Nick Morgan
Subject: The Internet is Making us Less Intelligent

Dear Nick Morgan,
         I understand that you do not believe that the internet could make us less intelligent.  The internet and technology is growing at an extremely rapid pace in today's society.  When you use the internet, do you find yourself simply skimming through articles and websites mindlessly?  This is what I believe the internet is doing to us.  Scientific studies show that by using the internet, our brain is being molded and changed to not be used to its full potential.  We tend to just read quick facts or blurbs, and not fully retain information.  When reading a book, you are more likely to fully absorb the information without being distracted by pop-ups or other websites.  As Carr states in his book The Shallows, people were much more likely to click on multiple different websites after entering one website, ending up on a topic not even close to what they were originally reading.  He also says that it can make the part of our brain that interacts and engages become not as useful.  The internet has a way of making us zombie-like, just sitting, clicking, and staring blankly at a screen.  Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Best regards,
        Brooke Taylor

5 Questions

1.  The opposing viewpoint of my article is that eBooks are bad and real books are better.
2.  The ethos of her article is her personal experience of being crippled. It could be more effective/ relatable if more of the population was in her situation.
3.  The logos of her article is that people who are older, disabled, or can't see as well can use these.  While this is logical, not many people can relate.
4.  The pathos of her article is that she uses sympathy to make the audience feel bad for her and put them in her shoes.  I think this is an effective way to use pathos.
5.  Although Schoop has a strong argument, I think Carr's is more effective because her argument only targets individuals that are disabled, older, immobile, or have bad eyesight.

Debate Partner Article Analysis

                  The tone is this article is very factual and a little bland.  For example, the author says “The Mellon Foundation has prepared studies showing that between 1970 and 2000 the typical US academic research library will lose nearly all its purchasing power [Cummings 1992].”  He uses facts and statistics from studies to prove his point. This method can be effective in some ways, but he isn’t communicating to the audience directly very much.  He also shows graphs about Library Economics, which further shows his straightforward tone.  The author also throws this fact into the article: “Only 10% of what the university spends on its library is paying for the original production of information, in summary. If we imagine that a new distribution system could be introduced which sent electronic information directly to the desks of students and scholars, 90% of the money in the system is available to pay for it.”  He has a very factual and neat style of writing.  He breaks up the sections of his article by numbers, for example the section numbered one is labeled introduction, the section numbered two is labeled advantages of digital libraries, and so on.  These breaks in his writing make it easy for the audience to follow and separate one of his ideas from another.  I think this type of organization and style is good because it helps break up a lengthy article.  I also like the insertion of graphs and pictures because it provides the reader a visual to understand the facts and statistics being stated.  He also addresses the issue of who will run the online libraries by saying, “it is likely that provision of current material will move back towards the publishers.”  The author had a very strong argument for online libraries.  He essentially covered every area of question from who will run it, how much it will cost, how beneficial they are, and more.  However, he did not address the opposing argument of the article very much, or noticeably.  He had strong facts and points about his opinion, but he never brought in the opinion of people who are for libraries.  This could potentially weaken his argument because it is his complete biased opinion for online libraries instead of points from the opposing argument.  Throughout the entire article, the author stays consistent in his tone and his style.  The entire article is broken up by numbered sections along with pictures and graphs, and his tone remains factual and perhaps “boring”.  Despite this, he makes an extremely strong argument for the use of online books as opposed to real libraries.