Reflection Essay

Blogger

Throughout this quarter, I have been writing post entries in my blog on Google. This blog allowed me to respond to numerous things I read in class, saw in class, or even discussed in class. This also allowed me to read others thoughts and feelings about the same things because my other classmates also posted these entries on their blogs. Looking over my post during this quarter, I can see a pretty big change in my writing. When I first started writing these blogs, I was a little rusty. I hadn’t taken an English class since freshman year and I kind of was a little sloppy. But as the quarter went on, I got used to writing again and my blog entries got a lot better. I was able to identify myself in my blog and truly express how I felt about the particular assignment. Another thing that improved was my spelling and grammatical errors. Throughout my blogs I noticed this was occurring and I also got a few comments about this problem. After I saw this, I started to double check these things every time I wrote. This allowed me to have better posts. This was my biggest weakness in my writing. Blogging this quarter allowed me to practice and improved in this area. This further leads me to believe that my stronger posts are at the end. The specifics post about the movie and book Food Inc. because I had worked on my writing and I had finally got use to writing again. This is mostly because I wasn’t really sure on how to write in a blog type of setting at first. So, I started looking at this blog as more of a reflection journal. As I got used to writing in this style I started to really opening up which allowed me to improve throughout the weeks.

In my writings on my blog, I did realize that it was a public discourse but I didn’t really believe any one was really reading it. I focused my writings toward the audience that I knew for sure would be reading it, my peers in class and my professor. I tried to aim most of my writing to relate to my audience by using certain types of words, or talking about certain topics that I know would catch their eye. For example, the certain parts from the movie Food Inc. that almost everybody in class had a problem with or even the certain chapters from Lost Mountain that everybody liked. This allowed me to relate to my particular audience. I imagined my audience was my peers and my professor and that’s why I wrote a certain way. Although I am sure others might have taken a look at my blog too. I should have opened my audience aim up a little bit throughout the quarter but I never really did because I didn’t think anybody would be reading my blog.

As I said before, my peers in class also had blogs. During class, I would read a few and comment on what they had to say about that specific assignment. This allowed me to show how my post related to each specific post they wrote. I also could add in how I felt about what they are writing in their blog. This gave these specific people whose post I commented on a little contribution from me. They were able to see how I felt about what they were saying and whether or not it related to me. It also allowed me to give them tips on how to improve their rough drafts they posted or even give them advice about their topic choices. This was a good incentive for them and allowed them to see what others thought about what they were writing. This also leads me to the fact that people also commented on my blog posts. I actually really liked this because it showed me that people were actually interested in what I was saying or how I felt. It also really helped me when I wasn’t sure about a topic or my rough draft that I posted. My peers and my professor were able to help me by making comments on whether or not it looked good and also what changes I could make to better my final paper. This really contributed to my overall writing in the blog and also the papers I turned in during class.

Overall this blog really helped me with my writing throughout the whole quarter. It also helped me open up and really express how I felt about things we were learning in class. It allowed me to reflect on the readings, films and presentations we had for class. It also benefitted me because it gave me more understanding of what these things were about. Being able to look at people’s blogs allowed me to actually take in everything. If there was something I didn’t get or understand I could look at other posts and maybe get a better understanding. In conclusion, as you can see having this blog really helped me during this class. It allowed me to express my feelings, work on strength in my writing, and see what others thought about my posts. I also was able to look at my peer’s blogs and express on theirs how I felt about what they were writing. In reflecting about this process, I figured out how important this blog has been in to me, especially in understanding my writing during the course work.

Global Warming Website

Hey check out my new weebly site on global warming!!

http://globalwarmingcs.weebly.com/

Bibliography

My Bib is under my comments on my Outline blog post. It would not let me post it on my main blog. Sorry!

Outline

Outline

I. Introduction

a.Thesis- Global warming has been credited as the reason for the change in the earth’s temperature; however, the root cause of this is on debate, pinning human activities such as pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases against the earth’s natural climate cycle.

II.Global Warming

a.Causes of global warming

1.Greenhouse Gases and Human pollution (support)

2.Nature cycle (support- earth getting closer to sun, etc.)

b.Global warming’s effects on planet earth (climate change, habitats being destroyed, human life)

III.Argument

a.Main cause of climate change is caused by greenhouse gases and human pollution (show support why)

1.Main greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide and methane

b.The increase in technology and pollution over the years has led to the buildup of more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, causing the temperature to rise

c.These greenhouse gases absorb heat reflected from the Earth's surface, thus trapping the heat in the atmosphere. Over the last few years, these gases have increased (by emissions) causing them to build up and stop thermal radiation from leaving the Earth, resulting in excess heat (Global Warming)

IV.Human activities are a main factor, posing the question, what can people do to stop global warming (focus on reducing CO2 & methane emissions)

V.Conclusion

a.Reiterate thesis statement and argument

b.Make known that we have to work at lowering pollution and greenhouse gases or else earth’s future will be greatly affected

Food Inc. Pt. 3

Reading these 3 sections of Food Inc, I have found myself bombardon with tons of information. All three provided me with information I didn’t know about or could really understand until now. I really enjoy reading this book because it has given me greater insight on the food industry and how things go down. Out of the three essays, the second one (Questions for a Farmer) was quite interesting but not really aimed toward me. I like knowing the information about what questions I should ask before buying certain products like meat, poultry, and dairy but I felt that I would never actually use these questions in my everyday life. I feel these were more aimed at stores that buy the products. I feel that this is their decision and they need to make is wisely so there customers are satisfied.

Looking at the “declare your independence” essay; I felt more in control of my life. I felt Joel Salatin was really aiming his essay towards me. Knowing that I was in his audience range, I felt more connected. I first like how he kind of explains a little background information about how he feels on today’s food. This allows me to have better understanding of how he thinks and feels about the situation. Then he goes into the fact that we can choose what we want and we need to do by declaring our independence. I like how he gives us an option to opt out. After reading this essay, I felt that if people opted out of eating certain kinds of food, we could possibly change our food industry. We need to show them want we want our food to be like by buying those products.

The last article was also quite interesting. The author has a lot of credibility from me because she actually studies food. Knowing she is a nutritionist and wants to help people eat better makes me believe her essay. Two parts of her essay that really appealed to me was her thoughts on organic food and dairy/calcium. This two appealed to me the most because I’m interested in organic food and like hearing more information about it. I like how she gives both sides. This shows that she just doesn’t want people to hear her side but she wants to just give information. Knowing that organic foods use less energy and leaves the soil more productive in the long run, makes me feel that all food should be grown this way. The short part about milk and calcium was quite interesting. Before I even read this essay, I always worry about milk. Especially because of all the stories I hear about the utters of dairy cows being effected, allowing bacteria to go into the milk. This disgusts me. He writing allowed me to realize how important calcium is to my bone growth. I want to drink more milk because of this but am still worried about these effects. Therefore I think I’m going to start reading my milk labels and buying the safest type.

Research Argument

My topic for this paper is Global Warming. In doing all the research I have done for the first paper, I believe that global warming is because of human pollution. I would like to further this research and look deeper into this side of global warming. I would also like to focus on things that the government is doing to work through this problem and try to slow down the effect we are having on are earth. Many things are being harmed by global warming. For example, the environment being destroyed and animals going extinct. I want to show sources that prove these things are happening and also express how I feel.

Food Inc PT 2

After reading more in depth into the book Food Inc., I felt I learned a lot more. It was quite interesting to hear about ethanol scam. I never even knew this was occurring or that it had happened until reading this chapter about it. Corn is a big factor in this industry and burning it for gas can help us. But the fact that now a lot of land is being donated to this corn, many people aren't getting enough food. This is quite sad. Knowing that money is a big factor in this, I feel our government shouldn't be so concerned with gas but for the people who actually need to money or land for food.

Another thing that I felt was very interesting was the chapter on pesticides. The quote about how the first two years of a child's life, they will receive 50% of their cancer risk. This is astonishing to me. Especially since that time period you have no control over what is happening to you. This makes me think about what I have eating in the past years and wonder if this with effect my life. I bet almost every thought this when reading that line. I wish I would have been more informed about the food industry. Knowing what I know now, I feel my eating habits will change. I will be more persuaded to buy naturals food that have no pesticides being used. I also feel that in the future when I have my children, I will definitely watch over what they eat. Making healthier choices than, could greatly affect the future lives.