1/27 Weekly blog

This week has been very interesting in terms of finding a good topic to start the major inquiry project on. The first time we went through the topics we could pick for the project, I immediately knew I was going to start it on animal abuse, but later on in the week I changed my mind and decided to do something more serious to me, which is child abuse. This week I got on google and looked up information about child abuse and the information I found was very sad. There is a broad form of child abuse, it can go from sexual child abuse, mental child abuse, and physical child abuse. I read many stories from people who have experienced all three forms. I know this topic is good for me to start this project on because, it keeps me interested and engages me to want to read more about it and actually try to find solutions to help. I plan on staying focused and completeing assignment ahead of time to complete this project. I think it should be pretty easy since we're taking it in small steps. I'm looking forward to the final outcome of this project :)

WHAT IVE LEARNED THIS WEEK

This week og English 1002 I have learned a lot of new things. The first new thing I learned about was what rhetoric meant and how to understand text rhetorically. Rhetoric is just a term that can be simply defined as persuasion. I learned that approaching text rhetorically means to ask questions about how the text conveys a persuassive message or argument, how the text addresses a specific audience, and how the writer operates within a specific context or rhetorical situation. The rhetorical triangle was a good way of simplifying how you can understand rhetoric. The triangle is bascially a relationship between the writer, text, and audience. I found this triangle to be very benefical when learning about rhetoric. I have never used this style of analyzing in any class, so this is very new to me. So far I enjoy it a lot and it's very easy to understand. Im ready to tackle poseters, magazines, signs, cartoons, commericals, etc. thinking rhetorically now.

The Key issue of this cartoon is demonstrating the values of the Democrats and the vaules of the Republicans. In the cartoon the donkey is being potrayed as a strong, serious, more dominant representer of what a democrat stands for. On the other hand the elephant is drawn with a face thats looks "dumb", and not taken as serious. He potrays that Republicans only care about abortion. The audience of this cartoon is in favor of democrat politicans. It goes against republicans, and puts them down against the democrats. The cartoon rely's on both visual and text. This influences the cartoon's overall persuassiveness because the text and image relay the entire message on how the democrats stand for better things than republicans. The tone of this is serious. The symbolism used is the donkey and elephant talking, representing their political party.

As a reader, I believe I am really good at it. Not only at reading the words, but also at comprehending what's being read. I usually read assigned reading from teacher's. Every once in a while i'll pick up a book or magazine that cathches my eye and read it also. I read during the week, normally when all my classes are over with for that day. During that time is when I focus on what im reading best. I read at a pretty fast pace, but if I miss something or get lost, I always back track to the point that confused me, and re-read it at a slower pace until I understand what i just read. I honestly only read when I have too, except for the few occassions when I spot a book or magazine that looks interesting. I believe I'm good at it, but it is'nt my forte, and it's not something I like to do during my free time.
As a writer, I feel as if i'm good at that too, but there is always room for improvement. When writing I usually write paper assigned by teachers. I'm not a big fan on writing poems or in a diary, so most of my writings are done because of paper assignments. I normally write properly and formal when writing papers, and try to use new words to increase my diction. I usually write because, as stated before, it's something I have to do. It's needed in this society and to pass classes.