Reflection on Open Letter Draft

via Flickr by drbexl " Deserve Victory (Churchill)"https://www.flickr.com/photos/drbexl-/4298143993  

In this post I reflect on my open letter.

I peer reviewed Olivia and Hunter's open draft letters

• Did I demonstrate an ability to think about my writing and myself as a writer?

I think I displayed how I think of myself sufficiently enough. In the beginning of my letter I  compared myself to how I thought about my own writing skills before I took this class and went through the letter by talking about how my opinion changed throughout  the course and then I ended with what I think of my writing skills and going froward to how they will have to change for the oncoming college years

• Did I provide analysis of my experiences , assignments, or concepts I have learned?

I described my experiences previous to college and I named a few recent assignments that altered my viewpoint but I didn't go into detail of those assignments that changed my opinion of my writing skills.

• Did I provide concrete examples from my own writing?

Other than inserting one quote and vaguely talking about a particular assignment I didn't really explain them. 

• Did I explain why I  made certain choices and if those choices were effective?

I explained why I thought the way I did about my own writing previously and cited it towards my earlier high school classes but I don't think I went into enough detail about the current choices I made in writing and why.

• What I plan on revising overall?   

Overall I plan on using more quotes from my previous assignments to better enhance the points I make in my letter , I also plan to go in depth into what particular assignments changed my opinion about my writing skills as well as use previous projects to highlight mistakes I made or changes that helped me out. 

Draft of Open Letter

via Flickr by Rennete Stowe " Sleeping Lion" https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomsaint/3267923031 

In this post  I post a link to my draft letter

I wonder if the tone I took with the letter is a bit casual and I also wonder if it's a bit long as well.
like before any feedback is good feedback .

My Draft Letter

Reflecting more on my Writing Experiences

via Flickr by Tyler " Magic Mirror on the Wall Orange" https://www.flickr.com/photos/superstrikertwo/3270902525

In this post I answer questions about my writing process over the semester.

• The biggest challenges I faced overall? Overall.....the biggest challenges were revising, because initially I didn't like to revise , and when I did I never did a true in depth revision. So the revising process was a challenge for me, maybe not some much as the content part, but the grammar mistakes and sentence technicalities, were and still are a challenge. In the blog post " identifying basic grammar patterns , I basically sum up my writing in a few words, "I don't analyze anything I write , I just write whatever comes out of my head first ."  
• (Identifying basic Grammar Patterns)

• What I  learned about my time management , writing , and editorial skills? Well as stated above my editorial skills are a bit lacking but as far as my writing skills go, I've always been pretty confident about them, but I have like added more...... awareness about my writing skills  I guess. I know how to consider my audience and genre now and incorporate rhetorical strategies into whatever context i'm writing about.

• What do you know more about the concept of genre? I've think I've learned everything there is to know about researching my genre. and considering my genre when getting ready to write my draft. In the Audience and Genre blog I thought it was extremely helpful to pick the type of audience you want and then direct the content of your writing towards them , which , again I found really helpful when writing. (Audience and Genre) 

• What skills might you develop further? My grammar skills are in desperate need of development, but other than that I think considering my genre is also something I would develop further, because picking the right genre for your writing can determine how the rest of it will go.
• Most effective moment? The most effective moment of the semester was probably analyzing rhetorical strategies in the sources we picked, because once I could recognize the strategies other authors used I could use them in my own writing, also being able to recognize and then utilize the different appeals in works of writing is going to be extremely helpful for the future. So even though it was long the analyzing rhetorical strategies was helpful and made me an effective writer for the rest of the assignments. (Analyzing Rhetorical Strategies in .....)

• Least effective moment? For me the least effective moment out of the whole semester were writing the lovely Clarity blogs, because even though I somewhat lack the revision skills in editing my grammar it still didn't help with my editing and that particular thing is still something I need to develop further in my writing. Which isn't really grammar based but just basic revision skills that I always overlook.

Revisiting My Writing Process

via Flickr by Will " fox writing with a quill pen" https://www.flickr.com/photos/ajourneyroundmyskull/4480056969 

In this post I ponder about my writing skills.


In all honesty I don't think I've changed that much in my writing process. It takes me a while to plan out how I want everything to go, and then it takes me little to no time to execute it the "first" time . Once I started revising more ( because I didn't really do it all before) I started to edit, revise, and re-evaluate,my writing . The best thing I did while revising my draft was probably rewriting my thesis and conclusion because it forced me to look over everything I wrote and make sure it followed what was summarized in the thesis.

 I have also realized that I'm not really a procrastinator.I like to be on top of things so I've always thought that if my assignments weren't done two days after I got them then I was procrastinating. but listening to other people and their procrastination stories made me realize that I set the standards for myself  too high.  The "latest" I've ever been was typing up the last two blogs on a Friday night or finishing the last blog Saturday morning.

I do revise more now that I know the exact steps to go through when revising but as for my writing  process and time management, it will remain pretty much the same, I'll still plan things in detail and then scribble it all out into a semi coherent idea. but my revision process , which was in need of dire assistance, will be a lot better and produce greater results.

Reflection on Project 3

Via Flickr by Leland Francisco "Positive Thinker"  https://www.flickr.com/photos/lel4nd/5455224577

In this post I reflect on project three and answer some questions.

• What was revised?  In my final draft of my project I cut down on the summary of the situation and attempted to relate it to myself as a college student in the economics major. For example I clearly stated my potion, "As an American College student"  Also I changed the image of my project to better suit the content.

• How did I reconsider my thesis or organization?  I reconsidered my organization of my project by cutting down on the summary and attempting to jump more into the point of my argument. For example I state my opinion in the thesis of the first paragraph. and then proceed to go through my argument with explanations and reasons.

• What led to those changes?  I had to reconsider my genre and try to follow the format of those examples for my public argument. 

• How do these changes affect credibility? I think by including my perspective as a college student in the economics major increased my credibility to the audience.

•   How will these changes better address the audience or venue? My argument is directed at college students who are interested in global economics , and the changes I made in my draft will enable them to relate more to the argument and to me as the author.

• How did I reconsider sentence structure and style? I reconsider sentence style and structure by attempting to create a  more casual , easily comprehensible but still informative dialogue throughout my argument.  for instance throughout the entirety of my argument I refer to America as a hater of China's AIIB.

• How will these changes assist the audience in understanding the purpose? Without being bored of the content they'll be able to easily understand and agree with points while still finding the humor in the situation. 

• Did I reconsider the genre conventions that I was writing for?  Yes, My argument looked too similar to a QRG so I had to shorten the summary part of  my argument.

• How does this process help me reconsider my identity as a writer?  The process of  reflection helped me to reconsider how I follow the conventions of the genre I chose and that by  finding the right genre to display my opinions will help in choosing how I utilize  that platform or genre for any piece of writing.

Publishing Project 3

"Myrtle Snow AHS" by Zayla Crocker

In this post I post my final project : Why the U.S is making a Mistake in Hating on China's AIIB

Target audience currently stands on the issue (before reading/watching/hearing your argument) below:

←----------------------------------------------------|----X----------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree             
                                                                                                             disagree

  Target audience should be (after they've read/watched/heard your argument) below:

←-----------------X-----------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------->

Strongly                                            Totally neutral                                                    Strongly

agree                                                                                                                          disagree

3. Check one (and only one) of the argument types below for your public argument:

           
 ____X___ My public argument openly refutes a specific solution or policy under debate (and clearly identifies the idea I'm refuting).

4.  explain how your public argument doesn’t simply restate information from other sources, but provides original context and insight into the situation:  

 Rather than restating other sources my argument questions the sensibility of the decisions made by the U.S by providing examples and reasons as to why I feel the way I do and even going as far as explaining what would have been a better option.

5. Identify the specific rhetorical appeals you believe you've employed in your public argument below:

Ethical or credibility-establishing appeals

               

___X__ Referring to credible sources (established journalism, credentialed experts, etc.)

  __X___ Employing carefully chosen key words or phrases that demonstrate you are credible (proper terminology, strong but clear vocabulary, etc.)

___X__ Adopting a tone that is inviting and trustworthy rather than distancing or alienating

___X__ Arranging visual elements properly (not employing watermarked images, cropping images carefully, avoiding sloppy presentation)                    

_   X___ Sharing any personal expertise you may possess about the subject (your identity as a student in your discipline affords you some authority here)

 __X___ Openly acknowledging counterarguments and refuting them intelligently

                    Emotional appeals

      
 __X__ Employing the repetition of key words or phrases that create an appropriate emotional impact

 __X__ Appropriate use of humor for subject matter, platform/website, audience

 __X__ Employing an engaging and appropriate tone of voice for the debate

           

Logical or rational appeals

  X__ Using statistics from credible sources in order to establish precedents, trends, or patterns

_X__ Using expert opinions that help affirm your stance or position
 X__ Effective organization of elements, images, text, etc                  

 _

  Examples:  The Economist  Slate   Naked Capitalism

Project 3

                  Why The U.S is Making a Mistake by hating on China's AIIB

"Myrtle Snow AHS" by Zayla Crocker

After The U.S acted like the classic mean girl, by which I mean, disapproving China's AIIB idea and trying to get all the other countries to go against it as well, they have recently decided on some sort of back handed truce. Not an apology. Not an offer to join , but a deal that insures that China isn't spending all their money on the bank of their own creation but still depositing money into the highly American influenced World bank.Although the World bank will offer to help ,America ,the country that promotes international free trade and progress ,have basically turned down a prime opportunity to  personally be a part of a new era of intentional funding 

As an economics major who's interested in global economics this confuses me. Logically, you would think after all the other countries promptly ignored America's claims that they "feared" China wouldn't follow environmental or labor safeguards, that the government would  at least change their mind and attempt to apologize for their pettiness , and offer to take part in China's ambitious and globally beneficial project as David Dollar , a senior fellow of Foreign policy and Global economy at the Bookings Institution agrees.

Rather than feeling threatened of having their global power being taken away and creating some weak excuses( that none of the other five hundred countries who joined the AIIB were worried about at all , mind you)  The U.S should have kept their feelings to themselves and offered to be the first one to join the AIIB . And why?

 The benefits would have been tremendous . For instance the U.K was one of the first European countries to join the AIIB and the result? A reported 60 billion dollar deal from China covering The U.K's industries of retail, finance, energy  and aerospace will signed. Also China will be financially backing the U.K's first nuclear factory in twenty five years.  Now of course , just because someone joined doesn't mean their privy to this kind of monetary benefit , but China has been investing an awful lot money in developed nations particularly the U.S.  Business Spectator states that  reports have shown that  over the last five years an estimate of 46 billion have been spent on projects in the U.S .  So who's to say that a billion dollar deal wouldn't have come America's way if they had joined?

Naturally, it's sensible  to think that the U.S could have happily indulged in that kind of  monetary support but instead they loudly, and openly displayed their . If they had joined first they could have politely stated their concerns and had one of their own agents investigate the financial transactions of the AIIB. As an added result America wouldn't look shady or seem blatantly threatened by how well the Asian Infrastructure Investment will do.

As any American college student who wants to be involved in international economics would feel, it seem that our government made an emotionally charged decision that could leave the U.S out of major economic changes in the coming future.  As most people in the economics field knows, China is a rising star in the global markets, and the AIIB will perhaps only further that role. As an international bank it could prove to run  dare I say, better than the banks America helped create.   Unlike other institutions the AIIB will offer more loans to countries with ' fewer strings attached' , contrary to others.  For example , usually a country needs a loan to fix an energy shortage, or water shortage,  or some sort of building project for roads and hospitals . Other institutions ( *cough* The World Bank) would require the cost of materials used like bricks or asphalt  or water treatment  to be raised substantially( which would probably come out of the citizen's taxes) in order to equal the amount loaned out. The AIIB however would not do that and instead rely on other finance options . (CNBC)

Presently,despite the niceties, China could essentially care less about the U.S's assistance in these grand global plans that include creating substantial trade throughout Eurasia and Africa that could result in the development of poor countries.Although China says they welcome any participation America will offer they probably don't need (or care for )America's meddling ,which is reiterated in MarketPulse .

Essentially  America fears China's rising power in the economic sector, however if the government  really wanted to stop it , maybe they should have allied themselves with the AIIB, just like the old cliche goes, "If you can't beat them , join them"  If (or perhaps a better word is when) the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank turns out to be as good as everyone is predicating it to be,American influenced institutions could be on the decline and the fear of China's rising power could turn into a reality.