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Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Dana Lynn Driscoll, Introduction to Primary Research: Observations, Surveys, and Interviews
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	Driscoll is giving the audience information on how to conduct research for a research paper. She says that the audience needs to find reliable scores in order to get the necessary information that they need for their paper. She gives the audience step by step instructions on how the research should be done and it will go through your research process. Then she gives the proper ethics to follow while writing a research paper later on in her text. She says that the ultimate goal in conducting primary research is to learn something new that can be proved by other people and to help eliminate our own biases.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Primary research- the process of collecting reliable data in order to conduct research
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	It goes back to when I had to write research papers in school. We had to do research and find the most reliable source available.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	Why do we have to primary research in order to write a research paper?

 

The first essay I analyzed was about this organization called  SPIT. The strong points of this essay were that the writer explained the organization in great detail from how it started to what it is all about. The sources were used correctly and fit the topic of the essay. The usage of the bold headers gave an introduction to what that passage was about. The only weakness I saw was it was very lengthy and the writer could have summarized more. The essay was organized with bold text for the paragraphs and gave a list of the genres of the organization. The sources used were Navigating Genres by Dirk Kerry, a personal interview with Sean Glatch a member of SPIT, Discourse Communities and Communities of Practice by Ann M. Johns and the SPIT Facebook page. The second essay was about the Puerto Rican Student Association. The strong points of this essay were the pictures of the association and the use of sequencers. The writer also used the sources correctly and explained the association in depth. The only weakness I found was some repetition of a phrase used in the interview. The organization of the paragraph used sequencers and the pictures of the association. The sources used were The Concept of Discourse Community by John Swales, The Puerto Rican Student Association constitution, Navigating Genres by Dirk Kerry and Discourse Communities and the Communities of Practice by Ann M Johns. 

 

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	DasBender, Gita Critical Thinking in College Writing: From the Personal to the Academic 2011
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	DasBender talks about the term critical thinking and what it means.  She says that critical thinking and analysis are requirements in writing. The writer should not be afraid of critical thinking. The concept of critical thinking is hard to grasp because of the difficulty of the text they are reading. Critical thinking carries a method and a technique to understand what you are reading. A critical thinker is a good reader because they are ready to analyze the text with an open mind. She gives questions on what a critical thinker should ask while reading a text. The writer should be able to carefully pick out ideas and identify any major points they see in the text they are reading.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Critical thinking- an analysis that a writer forms while pointing out ideas in a text in order to make a judgment
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	This connects back to when I was learning about critical thinking in high school. We had to analyze a text of a passage and/or essay and evaluate what it means by answering questions related to the text.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	Was there a time where you had to use critical thinking in order to understand a particular text?

 

Johns begins her discussion with asking questions about the discourse communities. She asks the following questions: why people join them, what are the different levels and how they are complex. The first set of communities she talks about are social, political and recreational communities. These communities are based on family and culture. Whether it’s religious, tribal or economic. Professional communities involve things such sports, music, law or political standing. Then she talks about the academic communities and she talks about three topics. The topics are language, texts and values. Language should create distance between the writer and the text. Text should be explicit and share a display of reality. Text should also apply to the requirements of which they were set to. Lastly, she gives goals for a first year writing class and explains what all they needed to do. She states that no matter what class is being taught, critical thinking needs to be discussed along with reading and writing goals. Some students had very little practice recognizing the language of social roles. She states that the students need to practice reformation and reconstruction of information so they won’t repeat any text.  The discourse communities I am in are religion, culture, academic, language, text and values. 

When I took the assessment, I gave my honest answer to all of them. For the first three answers, I always find evidence to support my claim in any paper. If the evidence doesn’t support my claim then I have to start all over again and find information that fits with my selected topic. The next three questions I am currently trying to improve on because I can understand what the writer is saying but it gives me a harder time grasping what point they want to prove. I try and put myself in their point of view and I begin to analyze what they are saying. Then I can figure out what point they are trying to make. As for the remainder of the questions, I tend to think about who am I writing to and what am I talking about. If I don’t figure out who my intended target is, I can’t start writing my paper. With the credibility of a source, I always try to find a source that is well known and is reliable. If my opinions are swayed by that source, I will change my thoughts right there. 

Celeste Headlee is discussing the ways we can have a better conversation. She starts off by saying that we are divided and we are not listening to each other. Celeste states that a conversation requires a balance between talking and listening. We lost that balance due to technology such as our phones. We could easily talk to our peers face to face but we would rather text them instead. The advice that we all heard of having a conversation such as looking the person in the eye, think of interesting topics, and show gestures that show you are paying attention is just nonsense. Then she gives ten ways on how to have a better conversation. There were two rules that spoke out to me because I struggle with them all the time due to my ADHD and I want to have better conversations with people that I will meet throughout my life. The two rules were don’t multitask and listening. Multitasking is a big problem when it comes to conversations. I tend to wander off a lot during a conversation. I feel bad about this because I tend to forget what the person was talking about and I don’t want to be portrayed as a bad person. Listening is another issue for me because I tend to get distracted all the time and sitting down and hearing a person talk non stop gets me bored easily due to my ADHD. I sometimes fidget, look around, and just avoid any eye contact with that person. I hope I can take these two rules and apply them when I am going to have a conversation in the future.

The social media post I am doing a rhetorical analysis is on Glenn Kirschner’s response to the ex-police officer Derek Chauvin who was released from prison on a bail of $1,000,000 as he was charged with the murder of George Floyd. Glenn Kirschner is an  NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst and a former 30 yr U.S Army federal prosecutor. 

 

So before this news went viral on Twitter, I will summarize everything that led to this.  On May 25th in Minneapolis Minnesota, George Floyd was arrested because the store employee thought George had a counterfeit $20 bill.  Four police officers arrived at the scene and apprehended George. One of the officers named Derek Chauvin held his knee against George’s neck. Two other police offers were seen holding George down and the other officer stood there and watch the whole thing unfolded. This event lasted for 8 minutes and 46 seconds and George was murdered in the hands of the 4 police officers. This unjust murder sparked outrage across the globe, demanding that the officers that were involved to be prosecuted. Until today, the news that George Floyd’s killer was released from prison on a $1,000,000 bail. 

 

Many people were outraged because how could a murdered be let out of jail with a $1,000,000 bail. This is when I saw Kirschner’s post on the trending topic. Kirschner’s audience was to the Black Lives Matter movement and the allies who supported the cause. He was justifying that the fact that this issue of racism is still going on and shows that even if justice is served it is not enough to put an end to racism in today’s society. Kirschner is using pathos in his post by stating that “the racial inequality hole of which we must dig beginning January cannot possibly get any deeper”. This statement is proving his point that acts such as George’s murdered get bailed out is not stopping the inequality that African Americans face on a day to day basis. 

 

Kirschner uses strong formal language to get his point across. He uses the phrase “racial inequality” to emphasize that George’s murder is just about his race. For example, if a white man was to be arrested, he would just get a slap on a wrist with no issues what so ever. If a black man were to be arrested, the chances of him getting hurt would be greater than a white man. That is how the justice system works. His post was declarative so he can show how he feels and so others can feel the same way he does. The post, in general, is just another person feeling the same anger as other people seeing how unfair the justice system is.

 

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Grant-Davie, Keith Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents Spring 1997 pg. 264-279
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	While reading Rhetorical Situations, Keith Grant-Davie is discussing how a writer should follow the steps in order to fully understand how to analyze rhetorical situations. The steps that the writer takes can help them comprehend why the situation happened in the first place. He goes on to say that many scholars and teachers of rhetoric have used the term since Llyod Bitzer defined it back in 1968. Then he goes on and states Biter’s definition of rhetorical situations. Biterz’s definition of a rhetorical situation is “the context in which speakers or writers create rhetorical discourse”.  Basically, Grant-Davie better explains it is that a rhetorical situation is a situation where a speaker or writer sees a need to change reality and sees that the change may be affected by rhetorical discourse.
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Rhetorical exigence- some kind of need or problem that can be addressed and solved through rhetorical discourse.
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	With rhetorical situations, one example I found of it was the speech of MLK. His I Have A Dream Speech is a prime example of a rhetorical situation. He is trying to reach his audience at the Lincoln Memorial about his dream about equality for African Americans.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	Have you ever read a piece of literature that is a rhetorical situation and how did you know?

Adverse childhood experiences are traumatic events occurring before age 18. Toxic stress occurs when a child is exposed to traumatic situations. These experiences can be divorce, violence, neglect, abuse or poverty. Poverty can affect a child’s development by making them prone to serious health problems such as poor nutrition, chronic diseases and mental health problems. Racism can affect a child’s mental health overall. The child might not feel safe of their race and the child might develop mental health problems such as anxiety or PTSD. Violence can affect a child’s emotional, psychological and mental development. The child may get into trouble in school and participate in violent behaviors. They might get involved in gangs, do drugs, start drinking at an early age, become violent around family and others or commit crimes that might end them up in jail. Adverse childhood experiences can affect someone’s literacy in a number of ways. The person might do poorly in school, have attention issues, they might fall behind their classmates and their overall learning abilities. 

Dr. Mona is a pediatrician and she is aware of the water in Flint but she doesn’t really acknowledge it. Until one of her patients asked if she could switch from breastfeeding to formula and she asked was the water in the area as fine. The patient stated that she heard a thing about the water but Dr. Mona said it was safe. Then Dr. Mona finally heard about the water situation and she began to think about the children in the area and how they are getting sick so she decides to do something about it by speaking up. In my life, I have never made people aware of a problem that they don’t know because I don’t live in a rural area and everyone in my neighborhood knows everything that goes on. To make the world a better place I as an individual must use my voice and speak out on issues that go on in today’s society and make sure that I can help spread the word to others so they can help as well.