My research paper

Well first off I would like to say happy halloween to everyone out there! I am so excited to dress up tonight! I am excited to set the clocks back cause then that means, late partying, and extra hour to sleep in!! Anywho, I am looking up some more research on childhood obesity and I am greatful it is such a big topic and important discussion in the world today because it makes it that much easier to do research on. I still have to go to the library and find books on it and get some important facts because I think that is how I am going to start my introduction off. I have a basic outline of my paper but it isnt quite clear yet so that is why I need and would like more information through books. I must say that looking at obese children is actually quite sad because then you think about their health issues on the side like heart disease, diabetes, etc. I think it was sad that a child should be at risk at such a young age. Anywho, I am going to get back to doing more research. I found that it is much more simple and much more trusting if I found research and information through health sites that are official or through professional doctors on a site. It is hard to trust the internet these days so I just want to make sure that I am getting right informatin through right sources so I am not ending up with false statements on my essay. Well everyone, be safe tonight and I hope you have a wonderful halloween!!

10 Writing Habits

After reading the ten expert habits, I quickly realized that I am not an expert writer. I have found that the best way for me to write a paper is to think about the topic for a few days and brainstorm. After I have some ideas I sit down, and write all of my ideas down, usually in order of how I want the paper to flow but much of the time some of my ideas need to be cut and pasted in a better spot, or sometimes just deleted. After all of my ideas are down and I feel comfortable with some of the structure, then I put together opening paragraphs, thesis statements, and conclusions. A couple of things I could probably do that would improve my papers is to reduce my expectations for early drafts. This would allow me to just put more ideas down on paper without worrying about grammar, punctuation, or any of those small things that just seem to trip me up in a first draft. Another technique that would help me would be to print out drafts along the way. I do struggle with not being able to see the 'whole picture' and making major edits to papers. Printing it would help so I can make notes on the paper for changes that need to be made, and also make it easier to organize ideas.

I require a peaceful space from which to create.

I seek out a quiet place to write my papers, usually my bedroom. A peaceful space
free from loud noises and other distractions. I employed the idea-mapping technique
while writing one paper and I was really happy with the result. The idea map helped
me to organize my thoughts before I started my rough draft. It also helped me to decide
whether I had enough supporting information to backup my claims. I also try to schedule
my time by planning for drafting, revising, and editing, but it doesn't always
work out for me. My fluctuating work schedule contributes to a difficult balancing act
of time management.
I also try to think rhetorically from the start, but to this end,
I could use improvement. I'm going to try and incorporate this technique
(perhaps more fully) into my next paper. As I revise, I'm also going to try to think
increasingly about the needs of my readers. I think these things will help me be a
more effective writer, or at least I hope that they will. Anyhow ,another blog down,
just 5 more to go. cya :)

10 habits!

the best habit that i have would probably be composing rough drafts directly to my computer. I can just get my ideas down just by typing. It really helps because i can use those ideas to actually get a good piece of writing going. Some things that i really need work on is reducing my expectations on early drafts. Often times i feel like my first draft needs to be perfect with a couple grammatical or organization errors that i can fix in my final draft. When this happens i will usually feel stuck or "Blocked" as the book likes to call it. Sometimes i will just sit there with a blank page and just sit thinking for a long time...i can work on just getting words down on paper even if it looks like a bunch of trash and doesn't make any sense. Another thing i can work on is writing over a period of time. Usually i will just wait until the last minute to write my paper because in all honesty, i'm not a big fan of writing, generally speaking. Another good thing that i do when writing is exchanging my draft with other people and letting them read and analyze what i have to say. I get good feedback and that seems to help me out A LOT when i am writing my final draft etc.

I admit to habit #10. I find myself in the same situation as many students in college. I have to find the balance with all my extra-curricular activities. I work full time, go to school and have lots of physical training. I always write my essay papers as soon as I can figure out what my topic is. So I think that when I have a legitimate topic, I actually just start writing. I usually have a direction in mind of where I want to take my paper. But as life has it for me, I never really finish my paper on the first sitting at writing it. I try to write as much as possible at home, and then I just send it to my work computer. I pull up my paper to continue where I left off. I really only have 10-15 minutes here and there to write while at work. After about a few days or so, I usually have a decent 1st draft. It’s not perfect of course, but I am satisfied with it. Until I have someone correct it, then it gets demolished! This habit just works for me because I know when I have lulls in my day; I can always find something productive to do. This method is probably not the most efficient, in fact, I would like to be able to just write freely and not worry about being correct with everything. I like to be somewhat of a perfectionist and get it done all at once. I know my grammar is not optimal, nor is my use of words. That’s why I would like to be less picky and just write so I can get all my ideas on paper and then just figure it out later with someone to correct it. Little by little I guess.

Another blog of my choice..

Ok so I am sitting in the library doing anther blog of my choice because I am have an hour to occupate my time here in the library before class starts. I am really excited to start our research paper! I found a topic I am highly interested in and that would be child obesity. Should we have a better plan to prevent child obesity? I am excited cause I actually found a topic I am interested in. I am slo excited to find and see other peoples point of view. I think it is rather interesting and exciting. I am not too sure on what else to write about because from my knowledge, we have to blog about something that pertains to the class. So all I can think about is our research paper. Anywho, I really appreciated having a guy come and present to us on how to loook for different research items through the online UVU library system. Because we know how to access all this and where to look, it makes it that much easier. I also like having books available at our own library about almost any research question or topic you may have. I am excited to do my research paper because I am interested in Health and childhood development and I feel that child obesity ties into both catergories of where I am interested. So hopefully I don;t procrastinate this paper and do a wonderful job on it. Well I guess that is all for now. I need to go study for a math test that I have to take tomorrow and I am totally not ready for it. See ya.

My Writing Habits

One of my habits while writing, is to save the correctness for last. When I write I tend to type really fast. I don’t really care if words are spelled correctly, if my sentences are complete or not, and whether other grammatical rules are followed. I start my papers this way so that I can get my ideas out before I totally forget them all. I also do this because if I don’t, it takes me a lot longer to write my paper, and I end up wasting a lot of time. In addition, if I first focus on making my paper error free, I typically forget what I want say and my paper ends up not as well written as I would have liked it to be. Having this habit helps me to write better papers and to effectively get my ideas and points across.

One habit that I need to work on more is to know when to stop. I tend to be a perfectionist and I want my paper to be perfect. I proof read and edit my papers many times and never know when my paper is good enough and when to stop working on it. I rewrite, erase, and add ideas that may or may not be needed. If I work on this habit more, I think it will take away the stresses that I have about having a good paper and it will make my satisfaction of the papers I write to be “good enough.”

Developing habits

One of the habits that I’ve been trying to develop is to discover what method of drafting works best for me and for the assignment at hand also. I tried outlining on our last paper, which helped me to organize the paper on a more closed-form way. It also helped me be focused on one idea at a time instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the info. I tend to spend a long time on one setting trying to get things done, but it has been more harmful than helpful; I realized that taking brakes from the assignment refreshes my mind and helps me get new ideas. Another habit that I’m trying to create is to talk to others about my ideas and learn from their own ideas also; it is weird, but talking to others brings out thoughts that you didn’t even knew you had.
A habit that I really need to develop is to reduce my expectations on the early drafts. When I try to do the paper perfect from the beginning I get writer’s block every time. I’ve lost important ideas because I didn’t put them down on paper fast enough or because I felt they wouldn’t “fit in” at first. I think that free writing would help me with that also.

My topic for this last paper is about the effect that video games has on teenagers. I haven't done a lot of research on it yet, but I kinda want to put my opinion on it so far. Honestly I don't play a lot of video games and never really have been too sucked into that world. My little brother on the other hand for real has an addiction to video games. Not necessarily the violent or games with high sexual content or anything, but just games like Star Craft and the beloved World of WarCraft. My father hates, hates, hates it, and its actually caused some contention in our home believe it or not. If my little brother was to be punished he would be grounded form nintendo games and he hated it. His day honestly revolved around his games. It controlled his life for a long time, and he wasted a lot of time. He had a lot of potential to do a lot of really cool things, but we couldn't ever get him to leave the house. My point being is that games can be super addicting. He snapped out of it thank goodness, but hours and hours were lost because of it. The violent games like Grant Theft Auto increase violent behavior. People start to mix their games with reality and people get hurt. I know of one story when a teenager killed a bum with his paint ball gun and a base ball bat because he wanted to play grant theft auto in real life. He was so sucked in, that he took it to real life. Anyway, I'm going to research it out and see what I can find. Facts, questions, behaviors, ect... Wish me luck!

10 Habbits

One of the Habits that I feel I do well on is the third one, Schedule Your Time. I like to pick out a topic and then talk to my peers about it and see what they think about it. Often times people will know things, or have strong opinions about your topic already. Most of the time they will have an opinion that forces me to look at things in a different way. Its a lot easier to be open minded when you actually talk to people about your topic. Once I've heard others opinions then I'm loaded with new information, looking at problems and solutions in a new way, and a lot more prepared to write my paper. One I would like to work on more is exchanging my paper with more people. Again, when others see your work they are able to analyze it and give you suggestions. Also it helps with all the little things like grammar.

My feelings on the opinion peice.

I am just blogging away because we do have to have five extra blogs of our own to come up with before the semester is over so I decided I was going to blog about our last assignment and that was our opinion peice and response to it. I enjoyed this assignment because I actually love having other peoples opinions on everything in my life. So when I heard we had to write and response to someone's opinion on a certain subject, I was enlightened and excited! Although i didn't agree with everything the author of the article had to say, he made some really good points and opened my eyes up to quite a few things on child sexual abuse. It was actually a pretty emotional article for me cause he used some facts very blunty and even used a picture which was sad to see. I am sickened by child sexual abusers here int his world. They are sick and need help. I don't understand how anyone could ever do that to an innocent human being. Seriously it makes me so upset, I have never had so many knots in my stomach at once. Anywho, I would just like to say I had a great time writing this paper and I hope I get a good grade on this paper. It has actually been the first one I really enjoyed writing on. Well i guess that is all for now. See ya.

My Habit

One of the habits I noticed I used was what method I use when I am drafting my work. The one method that works best for me is by beginning to start my rough draft directly through typing. I don't like to do rough drafts with paper, although I feel it gives you more room to put more ideas into your paper as you are writing it, because I feel by typing a paper, you can keep your rough draft more clean and simpler for others to read. I also noticed that by me typing my rough drafts, it makes it easier for me to be more responsibe of where it is because it is saved in my laptop or computer rather than being put in my notebook putting it at risk to slip out, which it has before many of times in high school. That is the great thing about college though. They don't care how you start your rough draft off, just as long as you have one! One habit I feel i can work on is managing and scheduling my time into my paper. Because I like to write, I often find myself putting english last because it is my easiest class. I feel if I had a different outlook, my papers could be much mroe detailed rather than just done the night before. By going to the writing center and having peer reviews this semester however, has helped me to not procrastinate my time in writing my english papers and making me get them done at an appropriate time. So that is one habit I would like to try to improve on and do more.

Opinion Piece

My opinion piece is about the health care reform for the N.F.L. Specifically what grabbed my attention when i chose this piece is that its about sports. i love sports and i enjoy reading and watching and hearing about them. This is the main reason why i picked the article. I think the reason why we are attracted to some articles more than others is the way we were raised. If you were raised with parents who love sports, your probably more likely to have a biased opinion about sports rather than someone who's parents raised them on religion, or schooling, or anything for that matter.

I liked my opinion pieces' rhetoric because the author, Stefan Fatsis, gives an ethos point of view in one of his paragraphs. He actually got to play for the Denver Broncos for a while so that he could write a book about it. Something i didn't really like rhetorically was that the actual formating of the paper seemed a little bit off or weird to me. I haven't seen any paper written the way Stefan wrote his, so it threw me off a little bit. Other than that the piece was an excellent one, at least in my opinion.

The Forever Long Search

It was really hard for me to find a good opinion paper. I wanted to write about something that was interesting to me. I have found that I write a lot better if I am interested in what I am writing about. I searched everywhere for days trying to find something that I could stand maybe writing about. I eventually found something. It wasn't what I was hoping for but the paper is well written. The writer seemed to have a hard time writing it though because she was trying to put too much into her paper. The ideas she had were good enough but it seemed to kind of be all over the place at times. But as a whole I think I can make the paper work to my advantage and turn it into something good. Hopefully. I am still working on it sad to say.

The paper I am writing about talks about things people worry about when they don't really make up that much of a percentage. If you look at it as a whole the deaths caused from animals isn't even comparable to those caused by suicide or even disease. I think the author makes a good point on this. We should be more worried about disease that is one of the top leading causes of death compared to the hundreds maybe thousands of deaths from animals. Suicide is actually in the top five causes of death worldwide and this was amazing to me. I like learning things like that because it really gets me thinking. It helps me apply it to real life situations.

The challenge of arguing

As many of you have said, I also struggled a lot to find an article that really grabbed my attention. Everything I could find was essentially politics in one way or the other. I’m still not so sure about what I picked, but I’ll try to get the best out of it.
I consider myself a spiritual-minded person; I love pondering about things in life that usually are inexplicable or don’t have answers. Because of that, I think that I’m more attracted to pieces of writing that help me find the answers to those questions and also help me be a better person. For some reason I like drama, it feels that when there is drama in my life, is when I learn the most. I also love anything that inspires me and is uplifting in some way. Narratives on a piece of writing also tend to have a greater effect on me. In contrast, when I feel that my values are threatened by somebody’s argument, I tend to get defensive and that might be the only time you’ll find me arguing about something. It’s been challenging to have to argue about something. I always associated arguing with fighting for some reason and I don’t like fights.

The search for an opinion peice worth reading

It takes a lot to catch my attention and keep it. There aren't very many subjects that interest me to the point that I can effectively create an opinion and really stand up for it. I spent a lot of time looking for an article the I knew I wanted to write about because well, there are a lot of articles about politics and government out there and most of the time those subjects don't interest me. After some searching I did find something I was interested in and I found that it was pretty easy for me to write about issues that I have already formed opinions about. I found it difficult to read the article when I disagreed, which I believe we have briefly talked about in class, and it has to do with fear that the author may be right. I react best to Logos because I like to see the cold hard facts, because much of the time facts cannot be debated, they are what they are. I think that it really brings out an interesting paper when I enjoy the topic and when I address several different points within the topic, whether I agree with them or not. This particular assignment has helped me to consider other views of a subject that I may have strong views about, and take a look and pro's and con's of several sides of the issue.

Welcome to my journey to find an opinion.

When we were first given the assignment to find an opinion piece to write about I thought “oh this will be a breeze.” But as I started my journey I realized that it would in fact require much more effort that I had before assumed.
To find my opinion piece I needed to take a journey within a sort of soul searching adventure to find what it is that makes me tick, and what if anything would grab my interest in a way that I could write a “strong” response to. Typically I am laid back relaxed individual who can see the positive side to almost any situation. So I figured that whatever I might find I would probably agree at least in part with what they were arguing.
As I searched for a piece I found that most things just didn’t grab me. Logos is neat I always enjoy learning new facts but not to the point that it truly ignites me. And a solid use of Ethos never hurts I enjoy knowing that the person writing has something to back them up; be it experience or whatever the case may be. But I believe what rhetoric is best fit to lure me in so to speak Pathos if you start to talk to my emotional side I really react to that. And it doesn’t seem to matter which emotion is evoked: anger, sorrow, humor. They are appealing to each in its own unique way. I really enjoyed this assignment and learning more about myself as I searched to find my opinion.

As I stumble through the net looking for inspiration-

It took me a long time to find an opinion piece that I inspired a strong response out of me. Some pieces grabbed my attention with a catchy title, but fell threw in their execution. I had found a piece that I could relate to, but I wanted to find something that I could argue against. I'm finding that when I disagree with an authors article it sure is a lot easier to respond strongly, and a strong response is what I wanted for this assignment. Most of the pieces that I read dealt with topics that I just have little or no interest in. All rhetorical strategies seem to work on me if they are well executed. By that I mean if the author uses specific concrete examples to back up his argument, and if the author establishes his credibility on the subject in question. As I read through the opinion pieces, the ones dealing with technology kept my interest the best. And the piece that I finally went with (which is tech oriented) only seemed to inspire a mild response at first, but the more I thought about it the stronger my rebuttal got until I was sure that this was the piece that I wanted to go with. So that's all I have for this blog assignment, now i'm gonna get back to finishing up my summary strong response paper. :)

I definitely took a lot of time to pick an opinion piece that actually entertained me. I also wanted to make sure that I could argue with the writer. I tend to be more passionate towards being able to disagree with the writer than to just agree with him/her. I ranged from politics to any form of entertainment. There were so many boring pieces that just caused me to feel like I wanted to pull my teeth out of my mouth just to stay focused. But eventually I decided upon the critique of a well known critic. I choose not to disclose the name of this critic for the sake of offending anyone. I am familiar with this critic and his critiques on many different films. This critic has expressed that his critiquing strategy is more “relative, not absolute.” He bases his reviews on who he feels is the prospective audience, yet he considers the value as a whole. I know that for so many years, this critic has always had reviews that I would see as either a hit or a miss. I have actually disagreed with him more than not. I am interested in being entertained and on being able to understand the background of the writer to at least know why he said what he said. I suppose I prefer to be entertained because I don’t want to feel like I am wasting my time when reading anything. I think I lean towards pathos and logos to pick a topic because I want to find a good relation with the story. Experience helps me to choose a side and I know this critique didn’t match with how I felt about the film. This critic was into journalism, what does he know about science? Newer films are trying to be as accurate as possible to logic, such as how an advanced plane flies so fast? That shows how far we’ve come in advancing our human technology. Journalism and science are two very different subject.

Google's Trojan Horse: Facebook

I finally found an article that I found rather interesting. This paper was basically about facebook and it's ups and downs, and how people have strange relationships and what not on it. I enjoyed it because I like facebook. A lot. Hahaha! I'm going to admit, I'm a facebook addict! But, that's not a bad thing. At least I don't obsess over it. I'm not to that stage, and I won't allow myself to get that far. Anyways, the rhetorical strategies that work on me are the ones that have to deal with pathos and stuff like that that I can relate to. I really don't care too much about ethos. I mean, I could care less who the person thinks or says they are. Sorry, to say, but it's true. I just don't really care. Logos works on me only part of the time. If the subject really grabs my attention or is something I'm actually and generally interested in, then, that's the time where logos is interesting. Plus, logos are those kinds of things I find myself saying in small talk to make myself sound smart....! HAHAHA! You know you all do it! I just admitted it, and it's just one of those things that ends up coming out in those boring, this-is-a-little-awkward-talking-to-this-person kind of situation. Anyways, I respond to this article more to others is the simple fact that I like to facebook.

Child Sexual Abuse

I really like my opinionated peice on child sexual abuse. It was the perfect paper to find for this essay because I haven't been wanting to write the paper at all. It has definitly been a tough journey. I think what attracted me to this article was the fact that it had to do with children. Being a pre school teacher and now a high school teacher aide, I have always had a passion for children. It seems to interest me the most because i would like to be a mother someday and so it pulls my attention when I see horrifying titles like, "child abuse" or "child sexual abuse" . Some rhetorical moves that worked on me was using words like "abuse" or "innocent". I believe no innocent child should ever have to go through abuse but it happens. However, what didn't work for me is the fact that this guy wrote all about not forgiving your blood related attacker. I don't believe that. I think you shouldn't have to make them, but just encourage it because you wouldn't want them to carry that grudge later on in life because it can leave to some pretty serious things. My heart goes for the children who have to suffer such great ordeals. I guess pathos is what struck me the most. When I think about children, I have so much emotion whether it is good, bad, happy, or sad. Well i should probably get back to writing my peice now seeing that is due by next monday. I hope you all enjoyed my blog. bye.

Swine Flu Success

Let me tell you something about myself: I very rarely form opinions on political issues. I dislike arguing with people who have no reasoning power. Amazingly enough, the first article I read was a topic that I have formed an opinion about; Swine Flu. I realize now that in order to attract and hold my attention writer's have to be set on their opinion, not wishy washy. Also, I'm incredibly sarcastic, so I enjoy reading other people's work is as well. I respond really well to pathos as well as logos, but it's kairos the majority of the time that catches my attention. I'm all about timing and punch lines, if you will. Ethos doesn't work as well on me as on some people; I don't care about where you got your information. I also don't care where you got your degree; If I don't agree with you, that's not going to change just because you went to Harvard.

Opinions Win/Win situation

Lucky for me I didn't have a real difficult time finding a topic that I was interested in. Finding an opinion on the topic was much harder. I search through google which I know wasn't the best place to go but it eventually put me on a track where I found a good article to match my topic. I chose to write my strong response on police corruption. I knew that this subject would leave me with plenty of excitment to write about. I really enjoy looking at essays rhetorically and being able to pick them apart and break it down so that I can better understand the angle of vision the author is using. I guess i'm the type of audience that action or suspenseful writers attract. Police investigations was like hitting the target right in the bulls eye for me. I don't like it when everything is shown up front and the writer leaves no room for the reader to try and figure out the problems or create a solution on your own.

Transcendance

WOW, finding an article to write about was even harder for me than actually writing my rough draft. I spent hours flicking through online artical after article looking for something that I liked, knew something about, and was not too boring, as I am a very boring person :) I felt like I wanted to write something uplifting, and I enjoy dispelling popular belief. Finally I found an article about appreciation for Iranian culture, and it's commonalities with the American culture. Boy I learned alot. Being in the army for five years, I know alot of fellow vets that hate the people in the Middle East. I'd like to do a good job on my strong opinion for the appreciation of the Iranian people so that I can share it with others. I don't want US to go to war with Iran as was John McCain dieing wish. I'm glad he is not president. I think it is important to find a purpose for writing a strong opinion essay that transcends just getting the assignment behind me.

Here is a Piece of my Opinion

As I searched night after night for an article, I found myself going back to www.slate.com, suggested by Dr. Westover. I read article, after article, and didn't find any thing that was hitting that "hot spot", until, I noticed an article that read, "Kate Gosselin doesn't deserve our pity." I thought really, are you kidding me? No matter where I go this ugly divorce just keeps popping up in the store isles, on the TV, in the newspaper, etc. When is it ever enough? Can't the media just leave these two messed up people alone? Then I realized as I read the article, Jon and Kate are fueling the fire. They are the ones keeping their ugly divorce details blazing across every news show and tabloid there is. Jon and Kate are so focused on themselves that they can't even see what they are doing to all 8 of their little children. Maybe, the children should get a court to appoint a guardian to look after their interest. Jon and Kate neither one of them should deserve our pity. Their children deserve our pity. Yes, I must say that this is hitting my "hot spot!"

Opinion Article

As I was looking around for an article to use for my opinion piece, I had a hard time finding something that interested me and caught my attention. All I could find were political, religious, and other articles that simply bore me. I wanted something that I could relate to, something that caught my eye, or something that I strongly agreed or didn’t agree on. After searching through many sites, magazines, and newspapers, I finally found an article that I liked and that I wanted to write about. The article that I chose is about the zero tolerance rule. This rule makes it so that when students bring violent items to school or commit violent acts at school get into a lot of trouble, usually expulsion or suspensions. The article explains how sometimes the rule can go too far and in some cases be used for the wrong reason. The article also tells about a young boy getting suspended because he brought a camping utensil to school in which he wanted to eat his lunch. He didn’t intend on using it in a violent way – he was only in first grade. Because of this, however, he was suspended for 45 days and was to attend a reform school in his district. This article caught my attention because I am interested in education and I love helping and being around children. It had strong arguments and opinions that I agreed with. The article used a lot of logos and ethos to catch the reader’s attention and made it worth reading.

Opinion Pieces

It took me 4 days to find my opinion piece. 4 days is kinda a long time to find a simple article to write about. Yeah, it was only 20 minutes here and there but you would think I would be able to find something. I couldn't find anything that caught my attention. I don't care for politics and that seemed to be the only thing I could find so when I finally found the article I wrote my paper on, I felt like I had finally struck gold. What draws my attention in? Humor and creativity. My piece had caught my attention on the first sentence and that's what sold me on it. I know what I like by just reading one sentence. I'm not a serious person so I don't like reading articles that are too serious. I probably shouldn't be admitting this but I don't watch the news very often because it's too serious for me. I like lighthearted and fun stuff that is entertaining to read. Therefore, I picked a fun paper that I enjoyed writing about.

I've become obsessed

Since the assignment of visual rhetoric, I now find myself thumbing through a magazine stopping at every advertisement and analyzing the colors, the people, and the message the advertisement is presenting. I must say that it sometimes drives me crazy. I notice how the advertisements focus is on the emotions of the consumer. I enjoyed the class room discussions to hear what others perceived from the advertisements and hearing a different point of view. I was driving in my car the other day and noticed a billboard I asked my twin sons "Look at that advertisement what do you notice about the advertisement?" One of them replied "Mom your going crazy." I think maybe I am. Could I just please let myself enjoy reading a magazine without analyzing every advertisement?

All they want is my money

Since we have been taught how to use visual rhetoric I have used it to such a farther extent than before. I think everyone uses it in there owe lives to a point, but some most of us didn't know what we were doing. I use to look at advertisments and say to myself "all they want from me is my money". Now I can look at advertisments and see that they can be asking for much more than that. I really enjoyed our visual rhetorical analysis papers because it helped me open my mind up and start thinking criticals from ever angle of vision. I saw my own angle of vision change multiple times when writing my paper at first I wasn't interested in my ad but as I looked into it deeper I could appreicate the clever ways the ad used to build up there product and how they could capture their audience in dramatic but scentible ways. I have read a lot of the blogs from students in the class and I can tell that this was an important assignment for each of us to learn.

Not excited to be back.

Ok I am not excited to be back home. If I could suggest any cruise, it would be to the Bahamas! It was abvsolutely breathtaking and beautiful! Anywho, I feel I did an overall good job on my final paper for my magazine advertisement. What I noticed about ads now is a lot of them are attracted more to the younger generation. Alcohol ads kill me haha. Some of them are so very inappropriate that I say to myself, "are you kidding me. there are children in this world!" It just ticks me. I also noticed that more advertisements these days are adding bigger and brighter colors causing direct attention from their audience. It catches their eye. I noticed in the Bahamas that every advertisement they had, nothing was written in black. Every single image or word was written in bright coloring causing you to be drawn into what they were trying to sell. I hope I am writing and blogging on the correct subject because if I'm not, I feel bad for all of you that have to read this and listen to me blabber on. Anywho, I have alos noticed in advertisements that sometimes they hide messages by using objects or making things look like an illusion. It is pretty clever what those vodka companies can think of. I enjoyed learning about rhetorical views about advertisements because now I am more aware of advertisements and have a better kn owledge in what to get when making a decision. I enjoyed this part of the semester very much. It was fun being able to see many different ads and being able to share different points of views of how they think the company is trying to attract the audience. Well I guess I am going to finish now with this blog. See ya!

Ads, not so sure what to write about.

I am unsure of what to write about because I have been absent the past two weeks. From what I am reading, I guess I am supposed to post something about ads and what I notice about them more than what I did before we did the assignment in class. If this isn't the case, then I apologize. I guess you will just have to hear me ramble. Ever since having class discussions on ads, I was more aware of what ads are trying to attract to certain age groups. I have became fascinated with vodka ads imparticularly because they seem to have hidden images or objects hidden in the ad to communicate with their audience the type of "feeling" or "pleasure" you get from this alcohol. It is rather quite funny because some of them are just down right inappropriate and you're surprised to see them on billboards on the side of the free way. Hello people, what about the children? I also am more aware of the colors they use in ads. I think the brighter colors you go, the more appealing. I also think that people are using more ethos in their ads. People are drawn in by their emotion. At least for me, that is how i notice I am drawn into ads is when there is emotion. That is all I can really think of right now. I just got back from vacation this morning at 2 am and barely reached a computer to do this blog. So i apologize if this isn't my best blog. I am still in vacation mode. One thing I did notice in the Bahamas, is their advertisements were extremely bright and colorful! It definitly stood out! They were very artistic in doing so, might I add. I enjoyed the glitter and detail in every image. It was quite the experience!

Ads are Distracting!!

Ever since this assignment I have noticed advertisements more and more. They used to be just those annoying useless commercials between tv shows that you never wanted to see. All they did is make you want to go out and spend your money on things that you didn't need. Don't get me wrong I still dislike commercials put now I see them differently. I break them down and try to understand every piece of them without realizing it. I always thought things were accidently placed in these ads but now I know everything is in there for a reason. I will find myself trying to figure out every little piece of these ads. I've actually noticed them other places, places I never knew had them. Whether it's driving down the road and the big billboards advertising things or when I am watching a movie and I see little things show up and I now know that they all have a purpose. Even in those movies! Who would have known that movies had advertisements. This paper made me see so much more. I don't know if it is necessarily all good though. It's very distracting especially when I am driving. There is one good thing about it though. Things that I wanted so badly before I see advertised and I just don't like the way they are portrayed or the ad doesn't do them justice so I just don't even care to have the thing I once wanted.

Ads are important!

After learning about the different visual rhetorical techniques used in advertisements, I have come to find that ads are a lot more important than I thought they were. They are not just some random thing that companies make to get their buyers to buy their products. They use the ads for a purpose. Before learning about these techniques, I would flip through magazines skipping a lot of the ads and only reading the articles. Now when flipping through magazines, I tend to focus a lot more of my attention on the ads. I look at the colors, the pictures, and the words. I try find out what the message is that the ad is trying to get out. I notice that a lot of the ads that I thought were kind of weird looking or pointless, are actually the ones that I focus on more now.

Also from learning about visual rhetorical techniques, I find myself looking a lot more at signs and ads when I am shopping. I try to see if the product being shown in the ad is really worth buying based on how the ad portrayed it. By doing so, I found myself not wanting to buy a lot of the products that I used to. By learning about the different techniques advertisers use, it has made me realize that ads are a lot more important than what people think they are. They aren’t just some random thing that advertisers make to get their customers to buy their products.

Platued

How has our discussion of visual rhetoric changed the way I look at advertising and other visuals? To be honest, I haven't had any change at all outside of class discussions. I look at things the same way I always have. I'm an artist, you see, so I analyze everything anyways. I always analyze how the colors, if any, in an ad or visuals contrast and stand out. I notice any focal points or anything of that sort that has to do with artsy stuff. I analyze objects and their placements, compositions, layouts, patterns, lyrics/words, and how the ad or visual makes me feel. In general, I analyze everything anyways. Besides learning new english vocabulary, I don't really look at anything in a new perspective than what I already do. I know I'm being repetitive, but it's the truth. I'm emphasizing the fact that I already really knew how to do this, but this english class has given the vocabulary terms and names for the things I'm doing. Class discussions have also clarified the ads, strategies, and analysis terms for me and brought them into better perspective rather than me just looking at something and saying, "Oh well, that color clashes with that color," or "Those lyrics can be interpreted in this way."

ad's

We talked about analyzing advertisements in my English class last semester so not all our discussion was new to me. In a way I've always analyzed ads. It's natural for me to do. I don't pay much attention unless something catches my eye to begin with and then I look closer. I've never been the kind of person who buys something based on an advertisement. I know what brands I like what products work for me. I listen to friend, family and professional opinions rather than advertisements. I do enjoy the funny or effective ad from time to time. Like watching the super bowl for the commercials, I never actually pay attention to the game.

Visual Rhetorical

When we first got this assignment I thought "How can you explain an ad in 4 pgs?" It turns out it was easier than I thought. I decided that I would look at a bunch of ads online and see what I could get from them. I will never look at an ad the same again. I notice everything about them. Color, size, words, energy, shapes, etc. I now examine every little thing about ads and what they are about. I was at Target the other day and I caught myself looking at an ad for 5 minutes trying to find the real message. I now look behind the ad, not just at what is in front. The thing I love best is the colors of ads. I never realized how much it meant to an ad. It changes so much. I love how advertising is trying to persuade you into what they are selling almost like they are hypnotizing the audience. Visual Rhetorical has changed how I look at advertising forever. I see so much more then just the outside and I love how it has changed my perspective.

Learning to see

I have learned a lot since we started our discussions about visual rhetoric, some things I love and others not that much.
I love being able to go beyond what my eyes see, especially in a world where everything seems to be so superficially oriented. It also feels good to be challenged to prove how much I can get from seeing something. It is nice to know that no matter who might be behind the making of an ad, they have left part of themselves on their work .Their vision is imprinted in one way or another in what they do. Is so enriching to know how someone else thinks.
On the other side, I have to be honest and say that I have this thing about salesmen that makes me furious. I have always felt that they’ll do whatever it takes—especially lie—to get you to buy something. Unfortunately that’s what I’m reminded of when I see an advertisement lately; I feel threatened. Another fact, that I think it’s sad, is that I feel like the magic is lost when I start analyzing everything. Is like learning how the special effects of your favorite movie were made; suddenly, the sense of wonder and the child-like dreaming that you felt the first time, are blown away like a candle’s flame.
I price the ability to dream, is such a powerful force that breaks any fear I might have. It pushes away my evil self, and opens the curtains to dispel my own darkness.

What are you trying to pull?

Ads are everywhere. I never noticed how many ads there are or the huge variety of ads that surround us everyday. If you walk down the halls of UVU you will find yourself bombarded by ads to join the army or to study abroad or even to go see a volleyball game. I didn't really associate these types literature (if I can call it that) as advertisement but I see now that nearly everything we come into contact with is trying to sell us something, get us to act in a certain way or do a specific thing. As I was flipping through the channels the other day I began to notice it in shows not just the commercials between them. American next top model was advertising for Wal-mart and some makeup company. A survival show was advertising a camping supply company and the list goes on. It makes me curious to see how long you or I could go without running into an ad of some sort. could you go a minute? Maybe you could go two, but eventually you are going to have to open your eyes again and when you do there will most likely be an ad in front of you or at least in you vicinity. This being said I don't particularly mind it all that much. I recently returned from an LDS mission and while I was gone I did not watch any TV or listen to the radio. So needless to say I didn't run into much advertisement. don't get me wrong I ran a good amount still, whether that be through billboards or in stores or wherever. Here is my point, I missed knowing what new things were coming out, what movies were new and well a lot of other news as well. So yeah we are bombarded, but hey I wouldn't have it any other way.