Starting the Draft

Evaluate state of argument in America

Commonalities

 All my primary sources:

 - are from the web

 - target people who are familiar with android

 - target people who are interested in phones

 - target the kind of people with smartphones

 - are probably written by males

 - are pretty short - for business owners/young people

 - have less pathos than ethos or logos

 

Differences:

 - media

 - formality

 - method of publication

 - scope of audience (narrow-broad)

 - sponsorship

 - tone

 - positivity

In Class: Reflection on Primary Source Hunt

Finding my primary sources was really easy, I planned it that way and it worked. What made the difference for me was the process. I suppose that most people picked their subject and then looked for primary sources. The problem with this method is that once you've chosen your subject you're stuck and if you can't find any good primary sources it's just too bad. I made it easy on myself by finding my sources before I picked a topic. Before I was committed to anything I made sure I had at least 3 great primary sources to work with. It took a tiny bit more effort up front but it's made the rest of the deal a breeze.
Another key factor was picking something that I really like. If I had decided my original sources weren't good enough or I needed more I would've known exactly where to go. Plus, I like thinking about this stuff in my spare time, making the homework more bearable.
The last key to success was picking something with a specific date that was highly documented on the web, I could punch the date and topic into Google and find all sorts of great stuff.

Unit 2 Topic

My topic is the release of Google's Android-powered phone, the Nexus One. I expect to find sources on this, mainly online from sites created by Google themselves and Forums. I also expect to incorporate something from T-mobile Inc. which is the network the Nexus was made for.

I chose this topic because it's something I like. I think Android is a really cool operating system for phones. I also work for T-mobile so I've heard a lot about the Nexus even though it was not sold in our stores. I also love Google and think they're a great company. I have an android phone myself and I look forward to researching this more and seeing if the arguments made at the release of the Nexus One were effective.

In Class: First Paragraph

I walk into the lobby just outside the sanctuary and I immediately feel like I need to be reverent. For some reason the room feels a little different than the outside or even the other rooms in the church and I'm excited to see what kind of arguments would make me feel like that. I sit down at the nearest bench and start taking a good look around. The floor is a red tile with the occasional white symbol unfamiliar to me. The walls are mostly white with an occasional light blue accent wall. The ceiling is just white square tiles. The most prominent feature I notice is the pictures on the walls, some of them are very interesting and at first I have a hard time detecting any sort of a theme. There are pictures from all different time periods and cultures. The pictures are in all kinds of different styles and made from all different kinds of paints. As I look a little closer I notice that most of the pictures are of one man. In some he is hanging dead on a wooden cross, on others he appears to be addressing a group of people and in still others he is just a child.

In Class: Workshop Feelings

I've been in a few English classes where we would all bring our papers and exchange them with other people so that we could get feedback. Generally, I dislike this practice, but i have to admit it can be helpful sometimes. In the past it's been slightly on the negative side because the students I was grouped with were not the brightest crayons in the box. I usually had such a hard time deciphering their spelling errors that I couldn't even begin to comment on their structure and whether or not things make sense. I also disliked it because the feedback I received was useless. Most people would just say, "It sounds good."

In Class: Reflections on Comments

Based on great peer comments I got the following ideas:

• The different cultures in the pictures is part of a more modern view of accepting everyone.
• I need to explain that there are two rooms.
• I need to attend a worship session and observe there
• Care for the blind is an appeal to ethos and pathos.
• Talk more about belief and faith and how that is represented in the church as a rhetorical appeal.
• I may want to look into explaining the outside of the church
• Is it just for show?
• I need to clarify my "pictures of men" statement to "pictures of a man" or simply be more specific and say it's Jesus.
• Is there anything to appeal to the church's warmth and inviting-ness outside? On the inside?

In Class: Observing the Observing Process

When I was observing my space I saw everything in a lot more detail than what I expected. I would notice things like the design of frames or the pattern of tiles on the floor. If I had not been going to the University Christian Church (UCC) to observe I would probably have not consciously noticed those things. My eyes still would've taken the information in and it would still have some effect on my feelings or my thoughts but it would not have been on the forefront of my mind.

Even though I noticed more than I otherwise would have, I would say that I saw the kinds of things that I expected to see. For example there were lots of pictures of a man dying on a cross. It was clean and well organized. It also had a lot of symbols and pictures that were particular to its culture.