English Eportfolios

English 1010 Eportfolio Professor Kelly Turnbeaugh 

David Nava

English 1010 Section 15

Kelly Turnbeaugh- Professor

December 5, 2012

Reflection

            The final paper of the semester was the research paper on an issue. In order to form a paper that had facts and statistics showing proof of my knowledge on the subject, I had to do an extensive amount of research: The first part consisted of learning the process of conducting research by avoiding non credible sources in the work. Then we wrote summaries and annotated bibliographies about the work that was being presented. In the end I had to research several documents and articles that were published, filtering out the good from the bad. My result product was a research paper that established credibility and contained hard evidence to support my information. I chose to write about high tuition increases for American college students. This was because high tuition rates not only affect college students, but the nation as a whole. It was interesting to see how the tier system for Salt Lake Community College works and its ways of trying to keep tuition low for students.

The Notebook assignments were formed to give me background information on how to go about conducting research by hands on learning and researching. This was effective because it made me understand what it takes for an article to be useful in the writing process . Each notebook was slightly different from one another and required some readings. By reading other individuals works that were published in the Readers handbook of the Academic Writer 2^nd Edition, I learned how they were affective in their work and how I could use those qualities in my own work by expanding on their ideas and making influence my own in order to create effective writing for my viewers to see.

            In the annotated bibliography portion I found out how to evaluate and reference an article by researching and creating a list of possible sources to put into my own article. This helped my development as a writer by making me look into the source and finding whether or not they were credible. It also helped filter unwanted data from sites that tend to have information but no concrete evidence to support what they are saying.

            The issue exploration project was by far the intriguing of all the assignments because I got to choose a topic that I believed was a great issue facing our nation. I was able to collect data from sources that are highly credible and are experts in the field for which they are stating facts for. It also helped me conduct surveys and ask more questions about my tuition and how it is raised. The topic could be argued both ways but I was trying to get a better understanding of why tuition rises so rapidly. I found out fun facts from the researching portion. And it gave me a better understanding of the side in which I was against reasoning for their defense on the issue at hand.

            If I had more time in the process of creating the essays I would have enjoyed revising them so that they would be easy flowing and with smooth writing transitions. I did however learn a lot about tuition increases and rhetorical sensitivity in a piece of writing. Most people who wrote about tuition increases had rhetorical sensitivity towards their audience which was mainly college students.

            This course and the process of developing the work that I have submitted today on my Eportfolio has been a lesson and constant learning. This has enabaled me to understand rhetorical sensitivity, develop critical thinking skills and composing documents as well as developing drafts to make my work more intriguing to my audience.

Attached under is the collection of my notebook assignments  

Annotated Bibliography! attached under