Chapter 6: Outlines

The first outline in Chapter 6 is the most similar to what I am used to. I usually try to pick topics and then look at what information I have collected for the subheadings. I did not realize the sources can be added into the outline also. I think the example of Chai's outline will be very helpful because I need to write out the argument and such as I go along. Writing out the arguments will help the paper flow easier and not be random topics. It always helps to get opinions from others through peer review. They can help refresh or create a new topic to incorporate. The working draft outline seems a bit long and drawn out. It's basically just the draft. The revision examples in this chapter are also really helpful. Outlines in general help me collect my ideas which I sometimes have difficulty with. This type of organization is helpful for writing such a long paper.

Note-taking

When I am reading an article, I like to print it out and underline or highlight statements that are powerful or provide specific facts. I also jot down random ideas about my topic just so I can remember to put them in my paper. Based on Chapter 7, I find it difficult to discriminate between building on someone's ideas and when to start citing them. I think I really can use the two techniques on avoiding plagiarism with my paper by writing out how I can use certain info from a source in my paper without just copying it. The conversation/dialogue thing is a hard concept for me to grasp, so I am less likely to use that practice. I agree with the text that when people first learn to write and speak, we take after others before us. It's like the saying, "Practice makes perfect." But now we must be creative and form our own ideas and document sources we use, which makes our lives a bit more complicated.  Referring to the original source of a quote or idea will also help in my paper and make it easier to remember to document it. Other than that, the MLA guides in Chapter 7 will help me keep up with everything as I'm going through the research process.

Interview Review

In the second interview about McDonald's the interviewer asks specific questions and allows the person being interviewed to state their opinion.  However, the first interview was slightly more complicated and involved more people. There was less asking of questions and more statements. The first one was more generalized while the second was specific. The argument in the first interview was harder to follow because I'm used to the question and answer type of interview like the second one. I found both interviews interesting but found the second more intriguing than the first. The first was too complicated to understand where the argument was really going and seemed somewhat disorganized. The second was direct and to the point. The multiple responders for the first interview also added to the chaos. I enjoyed reading the second one much more.

Sports Media

The different texts given in the book range from sports journalism to pop culture comments and Sports Illustrated. Just a side note, in the first article by Thad Mumford, I did not understand half of the words he was saying, but I think I got the overall gist of things. I also do not exactly understand the prompt for this blog, so I am just going to write what I think. Mumford's New York Times article was a bit unusual and hard to understand. However, the points he brings up make me want to delve deeper into "issues of cultural identity." Boyd's comments on the young, Black, rich and famous were much easier to understand and I liked the way he summed things up in his last paragraph about the shift and power and who's really in charge. Zirin's article from The Nation brought in a different aspect about Dominican-born baseball stars. The sad story of "Super Mario" draws in the emotions of the reader and poses somewhat of an ethical and cultural dilemma. I thought the Sports Illustrated covers on page 467 were kind of funny. One shows Serena Williams in an candid shot during a tennis championship and the other shows Kournikova posing somewhat sexually with make up, hair done, etc. It's interesting that the magazine uses both views of tennis players and almost seems to show a little underlying racism. I didn't really enjoy the MEF's transcript much, just way too much to read.

Ch 5 Reading

So, first off, I didn't really find the whole "iceberg" model to be very helpful. You are basically just looking deeper at the article you are using in order to possibly find a more scientific sources. It is better to use more scientific resources because their facts hold more validity and can be considered true. Developing search terms will help me narrow down the articles that are coming in through my search. The information given about evaluating sources will be useful in determining the validity of the site I am using. I do not want to use some crappy blog or just a random person's opinion; I want to use the most verified sources I can to back up my argument. The better the sources I use, the better the persuasion of my point. I am not sure that field research will be a very good choice for the paper because it is all opinions and most of the people near me are the same ethnicity and around the same age. Perhaps interviews and anthropology professor or someone who studies evolution would be of assistance, but I doubt I will really use field research. The whole dialogue thing seems kind of dumb to be honest. I guess it could help, but it's not something I see myself putting time and effort into.

Ch. 4 Text

The text in Chapter 4 provides excellent strategies for researching a topic. I feel like the planning and researching ideas will help a lot with our next paper. I found one of the pictures to be kind of funny, Figure 4.11 on page 81. I have never seen this image, but I thought it was rather comical. It basically says that this man gave up his body so we can have big, gas-sucking vehicles. I know in real life it is not funny but that was my first impression of it. As with the last paper, the hypothesis/thesis will probably be the most difficult. It is hard to sum up an entire paper with one sentence. Generating research questions will take some creativity but I sure it will be very beneficial to our next assignment considering we are using multiple sources and possibly images. The free-writing/ 3 paragraph system is also useful when preparing for a large essay. All these tools with be beneficial to the construction of my next assignment.

Avatars

In the gaming world avatars are extremely popular. Gamers use these figures to represent things about themselves. Some people make avatars completely opposite their true selves and others make ones similar to themselves. Gamers use avatars to let out their personality and feelings without being judged by true appearances. In some cases, this has been very helpful. For example the first guy on page 323 is handicapped, but the gamers he plays with online have no knowledge of this. Using the avatar has allowed him to make many friends online that he couldn't make in the real world because of his disabilities. Sometimes gamers make avatars that make them more powerful, like the girl on page 324. If she had a female avatar the male gamers would be hitting on her and not taker her seriously, so she created and strong black male figure to represent herself. Avatars are a great way of self expression and allow people to get to know one another based on personality rather than appearance. In the classroom I think avatars could be useful. Students could make their own individual and come up with a creative name that makes each person anonymous. Using the avatars would allow more shy students to express their thoughts on subjects at hand without feeling ashamed. Because the true identities of each student would be unknown, fellow students would not be able to make fun of the student who spoke up in the aftermath. In general, avatars can be very useful.