Favorite Paper.

Over this course we wrote 4 different papers. When writing, I find it most enjoyable to argue so naturally my favorite paper I wrote this semester was where I argued a position. It first appealed to me because I could pick an argument of my choice. I liked this because it is something that lets me have almost total freedom in what I want to write, but I also got the opportunity to create an argument that I had total control over.

Along with this, I liked this paper because there was no research needed. I'm not trying to sound lazy, but the
information that is being presented throughout this paper is all previous knowledge. This means that there is more creativity needed for the paper. This makes it more fun to write because you are trying to argue a position with everything in your head. It seems like the ideal paper to write.

 
 

Arguments

The essay that I covered was "The $78 Million Bag". In this essay the writers try to appeal to the readers through the use of marijuana. They write about how what most people have done last night which tries to ease tension on the subject as well as appeal to the reader. Along with this is a tone that is lighter then what would be expected from a serious subject. Another thing I noticed with the essay is that there are a lot of statistics. The statistics all come from other sources and are used to put together this $78 million. The use of statistics being incorporated into the whole paper gives the writers credibility which helps support their argument because they are more believable. The third thing I noticed in this analysis is that the argument of this essay is not so clear and is open to interpretation. I think this is important because that way when you are arguing in your own essay then  there is a lot to talk about. If the argument was so pin point then it would be very hard to argue for because the evidence and everything else needed for a good argument is not there.

Peer Review Process

First, I think the peer review process helps out a lot in class. It is effective because it helps to hear ideas from other peers. Ideas from other peers help me because my peers always have different ideas no matter how hard I try to look for other view points. I think that it can be improved with more open discussion. Instead of one person filling out a worksheet for your paper, maybe having a group talk about each persons paper after being read out loud would help. As a peer reviewer I think my strength is that I am very analytical. I really try to see if the paper is sticking true to its thesis. My weakness is that I don't mention simple mistakes because, while they are important, they are not as important as other aspects like wording or sentence structure. In my ideal peer review each person would read their paper aloud and then have the audience asking questions about the paper. In answering these questions the writer can see the problems and what needs to be changed in the paper. I think this would best be done in groups of 7 or 8 students, that way its more personal but there is also a good number of students working on each paper.

Problems

In looking at my first two papers for Writing 101 I notice that there are a couple of errors that are repeated throughout both of them. I have been using the same word repeatedly, not having a strong thesis, and having not enough content.

When I wrote my first draft for my literacy narrative I could not tell that I was using the same words all the time. This made my papers seem boring when I would try to make  them really descriptive.Later throughout writing other drafts of papers I realized(even there I was going to use "I would" which was in the previous sentence) that I was doing the same thing. The only way to fix this is by reading each draft a few times to spot the same words and fix them.

Both papers I wrote did not have a strong thesis. This is really hard for me to do because a lot of times when I try to have a specific thesis I might get off topic, and when I am off topic it is hard to get me back on track. I've been able to fix this by not making my thesis first, but by first writing my body paragraphs that way I will have already argued on a topic. Then I can fix that by making a strong thesis that works around my body paragraphs.

In all of my papers that I wrote this year they have been too short or to the bare minimum of the length requirement.  I do not think this affects my writing in a negative way, but that I just need to add more content to the papers. Many times I would fill the requirements as in answering the papers topic question but it would be way too short to turn in. To fix this I think the best way is by broadening my answers to these questions that way I have more to write instead of one specific topic.

78 million and counting.

In this article, many different aspects of how the law cracks down on pot in Cook County(more specifically Chicago) is assessed. According to the article it costs an overall 78 million dollars when everything is totaled up which is only involving the possession of marijuana. This amount can be added to 10 million more dollars if you consider the growing and selling marijuana. Throughout the next couple months many will review the budget for 2012. With this 78 million dollar cost playing a factor, many people will be laid off, increase in taxes, and even some departments that were considered untouchable when dealing with money will take a hit.This cost has county commissioner John Fritchey wondering about legalization. Fritchey does mention that the only way for legalization to be considered is if the people want it. For the past several years there have been around 23,000 marijuana related arrests which is the same amount as battery and assault combined. Marijuana related arrests are also the leading cause of arrests by the Chicago Police Department. Along with that it takes, on a good day, two hours to process one arrest. This is a waste of time because most offenders are able to be released on bond, and if taken to jail it would waste even more time. All marijuana possession charges add up to around 84,000 hours of work per year. As if that wasn't enough, court case involved with marijuana possession costs at least $2,500 just to be opened. The problem with this is that 9 out of 10 of the cases end up dismissed. Chicago police are also payed at least two hours of overtime pay no matter how quick the case is. All the work with arrests ends up to about 70 million in costs per year. The extra 8 million is the cost of incarceration for those who are put in jail based on possession charges.

This article caught my attention because it is about Chicago as well as being a controversial topic in marijuana. I like this article because it talks about how the cost of arrests with marijuana possession is detrimental to the city as well as the county. I like this article because, I think, at least someone in some way has an encountered marijuana before. It is also in many television shows and movies.

I think that this argument is playing on the fact that legalizing marijuana can help the city and the county in many ways. With all of the extra money being thrown back into the system because it wasn't needed for marijuana arrests there will be money for more money to save programs and lower taxes. Another way this helps is that the police will be able to spend time on more dangerous criminals and other criminal activity.

Reflection

Now that the semester is at its mid point I do think I have progressed as a writer. The best thing for me in this class is when we go over the reading from the book. This really helps because they are examples of the types of essays we are going to write for this class. Another thing I like about these essays is that when we analyze them in class we go over the meanings of why they are written a certain way. Along with the readings I thinkg the peer review sheets help with becoming a better writer. The only problem with these peer reviews is that the reviewer sometimes might be too nice when reading. My writing process has also changed over these past seven weeks. Before I would really only do one rough draft before my final draft is finished. Now on this next paper that is coming up, I will most likely do an additional draft. This class has helped me change my vocabulary. I have noticed that before in my papers there is a lot of repetition. Now I'll notice this problem and look for ways to change it. As for the class I like when we get into groups and work in the book compared to when we all sit together and talk about it. When we work in smaller groups we get to talk more about the reading and its easier to ask questions. I also like working with peers to see if we are on the same page or if we have similar ideas.

rhetorical advertisement

My advertisement is of Old Spice. I noticed that there is not that much of a difference between telling a narrative story and doing an analyses for an advertisement. Both of instances are telling a story. For a narrative its something that you can express first hand because it is something that you have experienced yourself. An analyses of an advertisement involves trying to interpret the story shown in the picture. This is harder because it is not something experienced as in a narrative. Another way these two are different is that, in an advertisement,  you are trying to prove to the audience about what is being told. In a narrative you prove something about the story that you have previously experienced.