Tierney O'Brien

One thing that could be improved was the structure of class, on the days where we weren’t doing any group work or anything like that, it didn’t always feel very engaging so it was easy to zone out or not pay that much attention. Personally, I learn by doing things so the days where we were doing activities or working in groups were very helpful for me but on those days where we weren’t it was especially hard for me to learn what the lecture was about. Sometimes, we were taught about certain things like grammar or transition words but then didn’t exactly do anything with them, I think it would have been helpful to maybe do an activity or prompt whenever we learned about a specific writing technique. 

I have been and will continue to use my writing process for my final portfolio in my Creative Writing class where I need a total of four pieces, two of them being 4-7 pages. I have been using mainly the revisions process with these because it is important for me to turn in polished and final work for this assignment. I have been using my process in a lot of the assignments that I have had for creative writing because it is a writing class and there have been a lot of writing assignments. For example, right now, I am editing and revising one of my 4-7 page non fiction pieces and using what I have learned about revisions and editing has been very useful especially because of the length of the piece. I have also used it for many of the poems and fiction pieces that I have done in that class because it allows me to get a very rough draft down so I can at least get my ideas down and then for me to go back and revise and edit where necessary. 

I think the infographic assignment was the most challenging for me because I was not very familiar with how to make one and I had never used Canva before. It also required more of a creative element which I tend to struggle with more than say just writing an essay. I think throughout the semester, I have become more aware of how I write and what problems are common in my writing, like for example I tend to repeat myself so realizing that has made it easier in the revision stages so I know specifically what I need to look for. I think my basic grammar has also improved, I have always been insecure in my writing on a technical level because I just always had trouble with it and in previous classes it was just brushed over so I think I have gotten better with that and learned better technique with writing. 

My primary claim is the news and media delegitimize Black civil rights protests. My secondary claims are that many of the voices being reported are those of police officers and government officials and what is reported is often focused on the actions taken by the protestors rather than the reason for the protests in an attempt to make it appealing to watch or read. My argument explores more of how the media is biased and often delegitimize Black rights protests where the argument of my original article was more focused on the protest paradigm itself and what it is and how it affects different types of protests. My argument expands on the specifics of why it happens and how it happens in our media and how it affects viewers and audience.

It is important to evaluate a source to ensure that the sources you are using are credible and accurate. If a source isn’t credible, that makes your argument or statement less credible and therefore it will not get across to the audience or it will be giving them wrong or altered information. The most important thing I learned from the chapter was that in order to assess the credibility of a source, you need to look at the author and their personal credibility on the subject like their profession or connection they have to the topic. I will definitely be more aware of possible bias or misinformation after researching the author a little and recognizing where their argument might be lacking. It will make me carefully search for articles on the web and pay more attention to who wrote it initially before digging deeper into it, it will also remind me to research the author a little bit before using the source in an argument or paper. 

I think a counter argument could be that other protests could be treated the same way because the author does not talk about the other protests

The author uses small phrases or words that were used to describe the Black rights protests in the news and media coverage. She integrated the quotes into her own writing to make it flow through the sentence. She introduces who was saying the quote which showed credibility in her writing. The author explained the quote or quotes in one or two sentences just giving the overall summary of the quotes and how they play into her argument. I could definitely use this technique in my own paper, I think it would allow me to explain the effectiveness of her argument better and more clear. 

For me, the most helpful was simply for people to say that I didn’t need certain parts. I had many papers where I would give to my friend and it would come back to me and it felt like half of what I had written had been crossed out. I tend to ramble and repeat myself so with my particular writing, it is helpful if someone points out when I do it because it can be hard for me to identify it. The least helpful was on grammar, even though it is important, it is something that I am able to see within my own writing and edit myself. I like having my paper come back to me with a lot of edits, even though it doesn’t necessarily feel good, it allows me to see clearly what I need to change or edit.