Peer Suggestions

So as the members in my group of three we discussed the sources we will use for our individual papers, and got feedback from the other group members on what the sources help support. We developed a criteria that our sources should be able to meet in general regardless of the genre, the sources need to be:

1. Relevant to the assignment's topic
2. Provide a clear example of writing in the field of study
3. Be comparable to writing in other fields of study
4. Be a reliable source

In my case one of my original possible sources didn't meet the criteria, so I decided not to consider including it in my report. I also learned of a good place to find a lot of scholarly articles, if I go to the UofL homepage and click on the library link I can select an online library that holds J.pegs of scholarly articles.
We also discussed how to organize and implement our interviews into the report, the interviews can be used as background views and real life examples of what the writing is used for and what it can affect. So my sources are reports of projects or possible project that have happen or could happen in the real world, then my interviews can be used to explain what the report actually means or what it is used for in respect with the topic that report is about.

Sources Summary

My interview with Subject A was very casual and relaxed, since I have know this subject for a period of time. When asked about his day to day writing he responded, 'Most of my writing daily just consists of emails, usually between myself and coworkers or sponsors of the projects I manage.' This was especially important when I questioned him about what he would consider to be Professional Writing, when I brought this up he sported a very gloomy expression and stated, '...professional writing is a pain for me....mainly consisting of statistics and analysis of a project written in report form...But these are of extreme importance because they allow us to keep are funding and continue designing models.' I raised a question I hadn't pre-written, my question was why does he feel as though his 'reports' are a burden or hassle? 'Well they aren't as bad as you would think or as I make them out to be, they are just extremely time consuming...the are needed but you have to be super specific, and pay a lot of attention to the details that the sponsors request, if you forget information it can cause major damage to your companies name and image so its important to get it right. This is why I don't like doing it, it's a lot of responsibility and you already know how lazy I am!'

One source is my own personal writing, and I have gone into detail on several others posts and notes
so I do not see a need to talk about that source further. Another source I hope to utilize will be the Army Corps of Engineers report regarding the Wolf Creek Dam project, I would be thrilled to use this in my piece because I am originally from Jamestown, KY so this is something that is close to home. I can really get into this assignment if I can manage to use sources that interest me and this definitely interests me, so this source is ideal. This project basically is to stop and prevent leaks that have begun occurring in the 60 year old dam. However i have only been successful in finding the initial report and the summary of the project, this could cause me to be unable to use this source so it is not set in stone. Another source I could possibly be using in a report written by an fellow student attempting to get their masters degree in engineering, his report is about one of the 20 engineering grand challenges which basically are problems that the world faces and need to be fixed. His report is describing the completion of one of these challenges and the implications it would bring on the current world, as well as the probably cost of a specific solution as an example to be used on a much larger scale. Also included are some statistics related to the problem the challenge presents, and general locations of heavily affected areas. This report is a good source because it is an example of writing I will be expected to do in the future for my major, as well as being a great comparative item for writing in other fields.

Quotation Exercise

While taking an engineering class in a previous semester, I was instructed to write an informative piece on resources consumption along with how it damages our planet and possible ways to cut back on it. Whatever I offered had to be backed in facts and needed to be cited with sources as extra information about the topic, this was simply to prove that i had actually done research on my on. I used multiple sources about trying to integrate solar roadways into our society, both the pros and cons of an operation like this needed to be discussed and dealt with accordingly.

One quote I used was introduced in the pros portion of my paper, it was used to help provide expert advice on the advantages of this technology, I provided the source as a follow up to my own thoughts about how this idea could help benefit everyone on our planet. I then followed the source up with information I found directly in that source to provide small examples of what this source is helping me justify.

Another quote I used did the exact opposite, I applied it in my paper as an argument to try and represent those who will oppose this technology. It was included with the cons portion of my paper, where I discussed the negative impacts and drawbacks of using solar roadways, although it was specific to only one argument that could be made about this. It argued that the roads would have to be shut down in order to insert the solar cells , and this would have a huge impact on the economy which was a risk that just wasn't worth it. I then argued that the source was wrong because the advantages that would be brought by this out-way the impact that shutting down a road would have.

These are just two examples of how I have used sources in previous writing.

Possible Source

A source I have that could possibly be used for this assignment is a paper that classmates and I wrote for an engineering class I previously took, the reason I feel like this is a good source is due to the fact that we wrote this throughout the semester and had 5 total drafts submitted before the final product was graded.
This source is a paper, and it is a conceptually based informative essay. We discussed the implications of resource consumption around the world and how we are literally burning up the worlds supplies. So we came up with an alternative and discussed how it could be implicated, along with the pros and cons of the technology. Everything we wrote was theorized because we were attempting to convince possible financiers why this solution was the best for the problem described. An affect of the type of writing it was, we had to use real world sources and examples of how our solution could possible harm the environment as well as aid in the decreased consumption of natural resources.
I feel this piece could be beneficial to my paper now because of how many 'rough' drafts were originally submitted before the final product, and it also gives an idea of the types of papers engineers may have to write to get an idea funded. We were forced to back our solution with real world examples that can already be seen today, and since this was a theorized solution it became difficult to find examples convincing enough to actually be part of the paper. With everything that had to be put into this paper, as well as how many drafts were submitted to check on the element of the writing itself, I feel this is an excellent source to possibly go into my paper.

Assignment 1

This assignment is asking me to write about writing in my field of interest, or to look at what it is that is normally written about in this field. I am to interview a few professionals and also come up with written sources, all to help inform current and incoming freshman who are considering this field understand it a little better. It is to be informational piece so I should be careful not to use opinions or ideas to much. I will also explain how my thoughts on writing of my field were originally compared to how they are at the end of the assignment. 

Essay Analysis

In English 101 I wrote an argumentative piece trying to convince my readers that the rich, or upper class, has more power in the government than they should. That was the purpose, and the audience was everyone else in our society who didn’t make millions of dollars a year. I had already experienced what I was trying to convince my audience of, but that wasn’t enough so I needed to get support from others as well. This somewhat affected my stance, since I had previously been exposed to instances where I felt that someone ‘rich’ was in charge of the government. I used a few sources on the subject to help support my argument, one of my sources being a man who actually deals with instances of the power abuse and tries to get them corrected legally. My overall message was that; people with money have more say in our government simply because they can pay people to do things for them or vote certain ways, and this outweighs what the average person is capable of doing by just voting. Throughout this piece I use examples of real life instances and expert testimonies to help build the argument in my favor and make it that much more difficult to counter. I do however feel that if I were to write this again now it would be that much better, only because I have more experience in writing and know where and how to find better sources to back myself and my opinion up.

Syllabus Review

Mason Knight

1/10/2015

Professor Paudel

ENGL 102-59

Syllabus Questions

            After reading over the syllabus for English 102 with instructor H. Paudel, I have no real concerns about anything that is mentioned I the syllabus. All requirements and expectations are clear cut and rather straight forward, and the rules are clearly outlined. The syllabus also states that the instructor has the right to make to make changes to the syllabus and schedule if need, my only question is about the “Daily Schedule” section. It says that students will want to check Blackboard regularly for updates and materials, as well as possible adjustments to the material.

            When it says adjustments I am assuming that it means possible changes to the schedule to fit where we are as a class, and if this is the case my only question is could these types of adjustments happen often? Mainly because I organize other things around my classes as I am sure most students do, but some things are very hard to reschedule so I would like to be prepared if this is a common occurrence. Besides this I have no other real issues with anything covered in the syllabus, and everything seems to be covered in it rather well. I am looking forward to starting this class and this semester.

About Me

My name is Mason Knight, I am 19 and currently attending the University of Louisville to get a Mechanical Engineering degree. This blog was created for my English 102 class, during class to be exact. I love working on vehicles of all types, but in reality I am very good with fixing machines in general. I am anxious to see how this semester will be and what will be required of me in this course.