Final Post

Wow!! I can't even believe that we only have two more weeks of school!! So far, this semester has been a little bit rough, I haven't taken a writing course in a few years. Coming into the class I thought I still had all of my writing skills from High School. Ha well that wasn't completely truthful. I found I still had a lot to caught up on and remember. Going through each unit I feel that I have improved my writing a lot and my grades with my unit papers have been reflecting that. I find it very helpful to have a good teacher with classmates that are there to learn with you. Looking back at what we have done in this class alone for the whole semester I am actually kinda in aww. We worked everyday in class for something for the paper. I really like how we went through basically all the steps to writing a research paper/ opinion essay. From finding sources to peer reviews, I know that it was all helpful and made it a lot easier when it cam time to sit down and write, you basically had all the information that you needed right in front of you. Like I said I have really enjoyed this class this semester it was obvious that my writing skills still needed a lot of work and I am sure I will have to keep up to date on current information in the writing world.

Refined Bibliography

So this last week we had to take out annotated bibliography from the previous unit and update it. The first one was in no way easy, yet it did help out a lot. I found out so much information about the book before I even had to check them out... which I know saved me tons of time and will help boost my paper in the direction I want it to go. In the revised annotated bibliography we had to go through and even further evaluate out sources. I found that a few of mine were not really what I need for this last paper in unit three. I needed to cut down on my sources to look just at the viewpoint that I am going to present in this last paper. I am really excited to dig down even deeper and complete this last unit paper. So far, things are going well in my research and looking forward to this last month of classes.

Update

So far classes are flying by.. I can't believe how fast this semester has been going we are already on to our unit 3 papers and coming up with a side of the argument we presented in our last unit paper. The second paper went well I have done a lot of research on the topic of sex education and narrowed it to just sex education and the pros and cons, excluding condom use, just to get a more in depth look at the issues that sex education has brought up. I know will have to pick a side of the topic saying either it is a positive impact on the United States or not. So far there has been a lot of grey areas with so many people and this being a close to the heart and home topic many have their say. With the debate on either it is good or bad for students really each person has their reasons to support or not support it. I feel that there is a light that can be shown through sex education and that it can help not only protect kids from STD's, HIV or Aids but also lowers the number of teen pregnancies. I am still considering what side I am going to present in favor of, I know what my thoughts are on this topic, I just am not sure if that is the side of this that I want to present in my last piece.

English

This is my second English class in college and so far I have found that a lot of my HS information is bring presented again. It is a great reminder for how to properly write formal papers and to professionally present information in a smooth fact based way. There have been changes to writing and styles that can be tricky to not remember things have changed, especially with citing and MLA formating. It seems that each paper that I write I get a little bit better. Not saying that in a dumb way.. Its true, I see myself paying attention to a lot more detail, such as structure formating paragraphs and putting in transition sentences. There are so many aspects of English and writing I really don't know how anyone really "masters" the writing of English. I see this paper that we are currently working on as a great way to find out ALOT of information about a topic and see all aspects. With the different papers and their different emphasis we can explore sites of the topic along with diving deep into background information for the readers. Like I said, peer reviews have been extremely helpful for me. I know I need to still do a lot of work to this draft even after tomorrow before it is ready for Tuesday. It won't be easy but going over and over your paper and reading it aloud helps so much or just having your roommate read it and give some suggestions, so thats the plan for now and well see how this draft turns out...

Update

So far things are still going smoothly. I have narrowed down my topic like I mentioned in my last blog. Sex education and the promotion of condoms in schools. This is going to be a non-bias paper, which I have always found to be hard to do completely correct. Everyone has a bias or a different perspective at topics, especially this one. I feel even with sex education I can see myself agreeing or disagreeing on to promote or ban it. It really comes down to my root from my parents and how they raised me. I feel that people should be educated in the aspects of sex, not to say hey kicks go try this is how you do it... But to show them the safety and precautions people should take before or if they intend to be sexually active. And this is the hard part writing a 8 page paper that will just present Sex education in schools the positives the negatives and non of my own opinion that I will be not trying to include.. Tomorrow is Peer review day and just going off last time I found it to be extremely helpful. Having others with topics that are different and similar. The input I received last time helped me see where I needed to improve flow and explanation of the areas of discussion I brought up. Looking forward to tomorrow and to getting this paper working smoothly so that I can have a more presentable paper this time.

Meeting

Today I met with my teacher to go over my draft and brainstorm for my final paper. I got a lot of good information yesterday for a great start to my paper with lots of facts and quotes to back up my point. Going into the meeting, I wasn't sure what exactly to expect. I feel like I got a much better view of what this second paper is and how it differs from the first. I am going to be presenting a non-bias paper presenting all views of my topic of Sex Education/Condom use. At first I didn't think that I was going to be able to complete a 8+ page paper, haha but definitely won't be having any problems with that. I have learned so much working with ALPHA and in my own research. Even though its for a grade and part of the class I signed up for. I am enjoying working with an organization that is so passionate in what they do. They are so loving and caring always there to help anyone in need for whatever they are in need of... I am looking forward to find more information about my topic and seeing how my second paper turns out.

Sex ed

After going over a lot of my sources and coming up with a rough draft I found that instead of directing my paper towards HIV and AIDS; I've narrowed it down to just Sex Education in school and the distribution of condoms. There was just way too much information and books on HIV and AIDS alone. I could write an entire paper on either one of those two topics. ALPHA is all about HIV and AIDS, but after bringing up most of the background information on those topics in the first paper, now focusing on just Sex Education/Condom use. I have found all of my sources to be very helpful. Used only 4 sources and written 6 pages already... I am glad for the refocus on my topic so I can really dive into my topic as opposed to just briefly going over all three of them. It is so nice to have an extra week off of class for this week. I know I can find a lot more information and good facts with the time I now have to work on my paper this week.