Course Outcome Inquiry Question

How did your reflection and meta-cognitive awareness evolve over the course of this class?

Throughout this class, I feel my reflective skills and meta-cognitive awareness improved greatly. Before taking this class, I never really reflected on the writing I turned in. It was almost always one or two drafts with little changes made between the two that I would turn in. While in this class, I forced to write multiple drafts, and found the comments I received from peer review very helpful in improving and changing parts of my draft papers. It is by writing the writer’s reflection that I got to evaluate how writing the paper went, as well as what I took away from writing it. Doing this helped me write future papers, as I learned what worked for me, and what I should be thinking about as I write the paper. As far as my meta-cognitive awareness, I feel that has improved a great deal. When this class first started, I had never worked with logos, ethos, and pathos, so right away my awareness of their roles in an argument increased. As the class progressed, I began to notice these concepts in almost every piece of news, advertisement, etc. It really connected to the title of our textbook, Everything’s an Argument. I also became more aware of how I could connect these principals to the web text I was analyzing for the Inquiries, as well as their effects on their the intended audience. I really noticed this when I was looking back at my research blogs. I was able to determine why the article was relevant to my web text, while also analyzing what it would add to my paper, as well as how that would effect the audience. My meta-cognitive awareness and reflection skills have grown greatly over the past six weeks, and I’m hopeful that they will continue to develop as I grow as a writer.

Response to “Composition as a Write of Passage”

 I really enjoyed "Composition as a Write of Passage". I thought it dealt with what many students often think about required courses, such as "Why do I need this", "I'll never use this again", or "This is a waste of time." Unlike these students, I expected to take a way a lot from this class, and learn to better develop my writing. I also saw merit in a required composition course for first year students, because whatever our future professions, we’re going to have to communicate through writing. The author does a good job of explaining how First Year Composition classes prepare a student for future academic writing, as well as future professional writing. While the author notes the differences between the two, it still remains a point that skills learned in these courses can be applied to a variety of situations, and are very helpful in all types of writing. As the author described how a student used the skills he learned in FYC when writing a research proposal: purpose, audience, and process, I thought about how I now think about these components when writing either an Inquiry or Writer’s Reflection in this class. I plan on incorporating an emphasis on these components in my reflection paper, as I have learned the importance they have in shaping a paper and allowing the reader to fully understand what I am trying to communicate.

Inquiry Four Final and Writer's Reflection

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Brittany Anderson

Professor Cummings

English 111

July 28, 2012

Inquiries Three and Four Writer’s Reflection

When I found out we would be completing both Inquiry Three and Inquiry Four at the same time, I was a little intimidated. It had taken a lot of time and energy to produce one inquiry at a time, and I could not fathom two! After reading through the rubrics, I understood why the two Inquiries were combined; they are really extensions of one another. It would not be two papers as I expected, but rather one research paper and a multimodal representation of that paper.

I really enjoyed writing the research paper. Because I chose a topic that was interesting to me, it did not feel like work looking up article to support my argument and use in my paper. I also liked using the research blogs. At first, I honestly didn’t think they would help me, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did the research blogs help me, they have convinced me to use them for every research paper I write from now on. The blogs made supporting my argument in my paper much easier, as I had already done the work finding relevant quotes and information. I simply needed to find a good place for the information, and word it accordingly. I also made a point of explaining why the information I was researching was important, and how it supported my argument. This was really important to include in my paper, and it was nice to already have it written down. The blogs also helped when creating my works cited page. All the citations were in MLA format already, so all that needed to be done was alphabetize them. The blogs came in handy again when creating Inquiry Four.

Inquiry Four has been one of my favorite Inquires to date. I loved being able to put the research I had accumulated and argument I had constructed into images. It was also enlightening to learn the correct way to construct effective PowerPoint presentations, as I learned areas I had been doing wrong for a while. I tried to use as minimal text when constructing each slide, lending more attention to the images I chose for each slide.

Much like how charities chose specific images for specific purposes, I took great consideration into the images I selected for each slide. In my research, I found that one of the most important aspects of a successful charity was an emotional connection. Charities often achieve this through emotional images or video. Many of the slides are screenshots I took from the Kony 2012 video, a great example of an appeal to emotions in my opinion. I also wanted to incorporate images from the Kony video specifically, as it served as the basis for my inquiry into what makes a successful charity, as well as every other Inquiry I have written. On the sixth slide, I used a still from the Kony video showing children huddled together trying to avoid abduction in the night. The image also captured one of the children’s narrations of the situation in the video. I chose to include this image in a series of what emotional images get the attention of viewers. Fear is an emotion that everyone has experienced in their lives, and because it is so relatable, I would imagine most audience members to be able to identify with the children and see the need to help stop the source of the fear. For another slide, I wanted to incorporate information from research. I found an image that corresponded with the information, that negative framing results in more donations, and created a slide depicting that research. I made sure to cite the information I had also used in my paper in my presentation.

I structured my presentation with three background variations. Each slide was either black or white with text and/or an image, or an image was used as a background. I also only used three different font colors: white, black, and red. I used the red font to emphasize important points in longer text, or to draw attention to a particular phrase. I also only used one animation, fade in/out, throughout the whole presentation. This achieved my goal of making the presentation visually stimulating, while not distracting to the viewer. All these techniques for more effective presentations were things I learned from online lectures such as, “Death by PowerPoint”, “Effective PowerPoint Presenting”, and other lectures from that day.

Overall, the process of remediating my paper into a presentation was not as bad as I expected. My presentation follows almost the same path as my paper, and was actually enjoyable to create. I had never worked with the Google presentation software, and I now prefer it to PowerPoint. It also made explaining rhetorical theory in my paper easier, because I had to demonstrate them in my presentation. In hindsight, I would definitely have written my Inquiry Three paper before starting to construct the presentation, but it all worked out fine in the end.

Peer review proved once again how useful it is while revising Inquiry Three. I got a lot of good feedback about how to better establish my argument, as well as how strengthen my thesis. I did this by incorporating the importance of emotional appeals into my thesis. It was a point I kept making in my rough drat, but not clearly states in the beginning. I also got sidetracked with all the information, and sometimes forgot to give my input as well. I made it a point to add why I felt the research as important to my argument, as well as why I did or didn’t disagree with it. I really learned about the benefits making an argument multimodal, as well how to do more effectively while writing these Inquiries. I felt that it added dimension to my paper, and made me more confident in my research paper writing abilities.

CCM Writer's Reflections

The “Facebook for Disney Princesses” writer’s reflection was a really good example of a thorough writer’s reflection. I liked how the author stated in her first paragraph the types of rhetorical appeals she used, and then provided examples of each type of appeal. She also examines the slides she chose to include, and does a good job of not only explaining why she chose/made them, but how they connected her point that Disney princesses make good role models to todays young girls. She is able to tie aspects of the princesses’ Facebook profiles to how women have evolved and progressed over generations, and how they have become more relatable to young women. I also like how the author incorporated herself into her paper. It showed me another, direct way to connect and interact with my audience in my paper. I also liked how she ended her reflection with an overview of the experience in general.

The “Make Sure You Know” writer’s reflection was also a good example of a writer’s reflection. Unlike the “Facebook for Disney Princesses”, the author doesn’t directly state what rhetorical techniques she uses, but it is clear that there is an emotional appeal, as she made the website after her friend chose to enlist in the army. I think it is also something our class can relate to, as Miami’s summer reading book “Shade it Black” was about a soldier’s experience serving in Iraq and the stresses of returning home. Even if audience members don’t have a friend joining the military or have read the book, it is a topic that can be adapted to fit a variety of situations. The author does a good job of explaining what topics she chose to cover on her website, and explaining why that information would be useful to someone considering joining the military.

Slides to Paragraphs

Slides to turn into paragraphs:
#1

A major decision a charity must make is how they are going to frame their campaign to attract the attention of potential donors to their charity. Charities need to choose whether they are going to frame their charity with a glass half-full of glass half-empty approach. Researchers Chun-Tuan Chang and Yu-Kang Lee provide good examples of the differences between the two in their notes. They describe the difference as, "positively framed messages (e.g., 'With your help, an unfortunate child can have an opportunity for a bright future') or negatively framed ones (e.g., 'Without your help, an unfortunate child will remain living in the dark')", with both forms of framing having the same goal of a donation. Their research found that "framing a charitable message negatively leads to higher persuasion than framing it positively.” This makes sense to me, as it would seem that a message showing a person with no hope and no support not getting better until people donate would encourage people to help more than a message filled with people who appear to benefiting from donors. The study also mentions the importance of a story, by saying, “a vivid story could elicit higher advertising persuasion in a framed message.” This aligned with the charity video that inspired this inquiry, the Kony 2012 campaign by Invisible children. One of the reasons the video was so successful in reaching millions of people was it focused on the stories of individuals that were affected by the warlord Joseph Kony, as well as the story of the organization behind it as they tries to bring attention to him. I think framing is a huge component in determining the success of a charity campaign, as it sets the tone for how audiences are going to interpret it. How the campaign is presented is indicative of the type of person that will be drawn to support the campaign.



#2:

Just as it is important to choose how promote a charity campaign, it is equally important where you promote a charity campaign. In today's society, social media and networking sites are used by countless people all over the world. We are more connected than we have ever been before. Charities are starting to utilize this connection by turning to social media to promote their organizations. One charity, the World Wildlife Fund, used Facebook to market their animal adoption program during the holiday season. In an article by writer Holly Hall, she describes the influence social media sites like Facebook can have on a charity campaign by explaining, “Now people who "like" an animal in the catalog or who adopt a species by making a donation can alert their Facebook friends, leave a note about their experience in supporting a species, and send electronic cards to those in whose honor they have donated.” This sharing feature is intended to get friends of the initial donor to donate to the organization as well. The shift towards digital marketing also ensures that people from varying countries can become involved in an organization, even if they do not live in the area the organization operates in. By adapting to a more tech-savvy generation, charities are ensuring that they not only stay relevant in social media users' lives, but also allowing their campaigns to reach many more people.

When remediating my slides to text, I elaborated on what was already on the slides. When I was constructing the slides, I tried to use minimal words to explain my point, but in a research paper, you don't want to use minimal text! So using the slides as a template, I added a more in-depth explanation of the information on the slide, as well as incorporating more information I found in my research. An example would be explaining the World Wildlife Fund's use of Facebook to promote their campaign when sown the slide about social media in charity. In hindsight, I wish I would have written my rough draft of Inquiry Three before making my rough draft of Inquiry Four, as I think it would be easier to turn a paper into a presentation rather than the other way around. However, my research blogs helped me think about what paragraphs would be in my paper, and that allowed me to make a good rough draft of my presentation.

Possible Introductions

Introduction # 1:

Audience: Charity Campaigns

Purpose: Explain what makes a charity campaign successful/persuasive

In order to reach the maximum amount of people in the quickest way possible, image selection is crucial. By showing the general public an image of what your campaign is trying to do and who your campaign is trying to help, you are making a first impression on a potential donor. You want the person to connect emotionally with the image you select, and you want to get them interested in learning more about your organization. Organizations need to analyze these image selections carefully, as they must not accidentally portray those receiving the aid as dependent and damaged, or portray the organization as ignorant to the situation they are trying to help by not having representatives from the people they are trying to help involved. It is a decision of how the campaign is framed and how it is marketed that will determine what makes a successful charity.

Introduction # 2

Audience: Young adults involved in or interested in supporting a charity

Purpose: Emphasize the need to examine the charity, as well as understand the advertising that enticed them to join.

Have you ever wanted to influence the life of someone else? Have you ever been moved by a heart-wrenching situation, and vowed to help fix it? Have you ever donated your time or money to an organization vowing to accomplish these goals? What about these pleas for help and promises to fix them grabbed your attention? It is specific images and other types of media that are chosen for these campaigns, created intentionally to connect with you on an emotional level. These images are presented to you in either a glass half empty or a glass half full approach. How the campaign is framed will target emotions of optimism that you can help someone suffering, or pessimism that the suffering will continue unless people join and help. With today’s technology and widespread use of social media, campaigns are reaching more people and are adapting the modes in which they are presented. 

Inquiry Three: Research Blog 8

"8 Tips to Design a Charity Website." Web Design Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 July 2012. http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/8-tips-to-design-a-charity-website/

I like this article because it simply states eight ideas for creating a more effective charity website. I feel that technology is going to become, if it is not already, a huge part of charity’s marketing and medium for reaching audiences. Because of this, I feel it would be important to include this information in my paper. I really like the tip about keeping in touch with donators. By emphasizing an interaction between the organization and member, it keeps the goal of the organization at the forefront, and makes it more likely that the donator will continue to be involved. I feel like a lot of the tips made on website can be backed up by information I have gathered from previous sources, as well as applied to other information to explain why something was or was not effective for the charity. I also feel like I can use some of the tactics and ideas from the website to help construct a better web-text that goes along with this inquiry.