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.