RESEARCH AND WRITING

The past few readings have really opened up my eyes to the improvements I need to make while writing and researching. With research, it was always a type of deal where I found information related to my topic and used it best I could. I need to comprehend and give personal meaning to the information I find as well as analyze it using it not only in the best way I could, but in the best way IT could be used. My writing process is not necessarily the process described but it is one that seems to work for me. I could try the different processes and techniques presented and incorporate them into what I already do which will hopefully in turn help me become a better writer!

READING ALOUD

Before our peer group conference, I could not even remember the last time I had read aloud. I've given speeches and have talked in front of people at other times, but papers that I write usually stay completely confidential between my teacher, myself and occasionally my parents regardless of the topic. Confidence in my writing was something that I did not have even in the slightest until I read out loud. Reading my paper in front of my group members and professor felt completely different than reading it in my head to myself. I realized that maybe I don't sound as stupid as I think I do when I write..

CYLE #1 PROJECT SOURCES

Carr, Nicholas.  “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The Atlantic, August 2008.

In Nicholas Carr's article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?” he starts off talking about how he feels as if over the years his mind and ways of thinking have continually been changing and ends up correlating this change to being online more and more. After analyzing the situation, he came to the conclusion that with this increased introduction to fast and easy information, our minds have become used to processing information in a similar way, "chipping away" at our ability to concentrate and contemplate.  Our brains as well as traditional forms of technology have to adapt to the new lifestyle centered on speed and efficiency. With the example of Google and direct quotes of their goals to create an artificial intelligence and become the perfect search engine and their “easy assumption that we’d all “be better off” if our brains were supplemented, or even replaced, by an artificial intelligence”, it is clear that technology is not only making us stupid, but is increasingly becoming more and more artificially intelligent. 

With personal experience in the area of not being able to focus on long articles or books, numerous outside sources and an entirely too relatable topic, Nicholas Carr’s article is an interesting and seemingly credible source for the Cycle #1 Project. Aside from ironically writing a lengthy ONLINE article that he expects his audience to be able to focus on fully, he presents a good argument that with quick and efficient searching and surfing through technology, adaptations to other forms of technology and even to our brains have been made throughout the last decade or so. There are links to some of the references he made and the article overall seems professional and well thought out.

McIntosh, Ewan.  “Blogging Improves Young People’s Confidence in Their Writing and Reading.” Edu.blog.com.  December 19, 2009.  http://edu.blogs.com/edublogs/2009/12/blogging-improves-young-peoples-confidence-writing-reading.html

Ewan McIntosh’s blog post ironically called “Blogging Improves Young People’s Confidence in Their Writing and Reading” presents the argument that kids who are reading and writing frequently are often more confident in their own reading and writing. McIntosh credits technological actions such as texting, instant messaging and blogging for this confidence.

This article as a source is good but not the absolute best. He does gain credibility with presenting slight counter arguments but the sources and research is not top notch. At one part of the article, he explains how blogging can help, but then we come to find out it will in a foreign language, which does not apply, to a majority of people.