Blog 8 Is Better Than Blog 3

Upon entering Columbia College, writing was one of my weaker areas. It was very important that I gained the necessary knowledge and confidence to become a better writer. I didn’t know how to express myself and felt as though my writing was not my interest. As a result of taking English 101, I have gained a better understanding on how to properly research and build a satisfactory paper. Every paper that was assigned seemed like a struggle to complete. Before entering this class, I did not know the meaning of a thesis or why it was important, however, I obtained this skill quickly. I noticed that every paper has an argument and the thesis helps clarify the rebuttal. Now, I have a new outlook on writing. It’s a way to express my thoughts and allow others to see things through my eyes. There is no doubt that I still have a long way to go, but I know if I continue to write, I will get better. Just as I developed more skills in class, the various papers assigned helped to better structure the writer in me. In addition, the subject areas were not only interesting, but very informative and made it much easier to write about my experiences.

In Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2008) 1 – 372, Prothero discusses how the American society was once a religiously literate nation, how we became religiously illiterate, and how (if willing) we can become religiously literate again. Prothero states that “this book argues for both the constitutionality and the necessity of teaching about religion in public schools and higher education.” He further explains that the main goal of this piece is to “help citizens participate fully in social, political, and economic life in a nation and world

Nancy Knapp uses logos significantly more often than the other rhetorical arguments and it’s perhaps her strongest point. She does this by frequently implementing statistics throughout the article and referencing court cases. Knapp uses the examples of a multitude of bans all over the world to help introduce us to her point and logically display that this is not an artificially fabricated problem such. One such example includes: “In 2001, 60 Seventh-Day Adventist schools in Australia had banned the books”(Knapp). This clearly indicates a connection between religion and the banning of the book, a topic of discussion that she spends a majority of the first page

I have written many different types of papers for all of my classes throughout high school. For my science classes, I have written several labs in the form of essays. Writing the essays was different for me because I did not really know that science had much to do with writing. It took me a while to gather all the information I needed to finish my lab assignments. Writing lab reports will definitely help me in my science courses in the next four years.

First, to start out talking about some of the styles and types of writing I have learned about, many of these things may be very common to some but, were new to me. The things we have gone over, to name a few are types and subtypes of arguments and how to present and argument. In these sections I have learned that there are different claim types of the arguments and that the need to understand who is addressing who in these arguments, in any given paper, is crucial if we are going to learn from the discussion. It is important to be able to use quotations and be able to paraphrase things that are being said in papers that are being researched to accurately understand the arguments and form an opinion of our own, as well as be able to construct

In his article is repeats the concept of “discussing religion just as we discuss other beliefs”. At this time, Lindsay uses one of his colleagues at the Center for Inquiry to advocate the opposing argument. Dr. Austin Dacey’s book, The Secular Conscience, in his book “Dacey does not think it is a good thing for religious tenets to influence public policy, but he does maintain that religious beliefs can permissible advance as a justification for policies during public debates” (Lindsay). By implementing this source in his article Lindsay is pointing out that there is another justifiable side of the argument. This strategy is compelling to Lindsay’s argument, because he is able to poke holes in the base of the opposing side of the argument and why it could never worked. At one point in the article Lindsay inserts an excerpt from Dacey’s book for the purpose of employing a counter argument. Lindsay states that “the problem with Dacey’s proposal is that religious belief is not something usually held to the same standards of consistency, rationality, and evidential support as are other beliefs on which public policy might be based, and that includes moral beliefs” (Lindsay), and therefor shouldn’t be implemented in the government. Lindsay’s implementation of the counter argument establishes his credibility on the topic of discussion. For an article to be considered good writing in politics it has to be able to tell both sides of an argument, while giving valuable evidence on why their personal opinion is

Today our theology is changing. We are less tolerant to religion. An academic scholar believes, “Tolerance is a uniquely human phenomenon, construct and concept. It is therefore of import that the inculcation of (religious) tolerance in terms of culture, religion, habits, customs, clothing, cuisine, manners et cetera should start at an early age” (Potgieter et al. 6). Americans, as a whole, seem to be in a race of religious dominance. Americans, and people in general, do not like believing or thinking our perceptions are incorrect. We corner and judge others who do not share our ideology. This comes from fear. People fear being wrong and fear unfamiliar thought and actions. A teacher of mine, Mr. Carter, believes we live with “blinders” over our eyes. When the majority of us see a woman wearing a hijab or a man of Indian descent we automatically assume they are a terrorist. We know absolutely nothing about the person except that they follow a religion that is assumed to be consisted of terrorists. Isn’t our country supposed to be founded on religious freedom? This is not the only case of religious misjudgment. Our country experiences a multitude of these infractions daily; however, many of these infringements do not require federal action. Unknown or misinterpreted moral issues are resolved in

Throughout this class I have learn many different writing styles. We used APA form of writing to type our paper and essay. I have also learned that it’s good to take your time and spend more time thinking about what to write, other than just righting a paper right off back. I have learned that it’s not a good idea to write a paper on the day it’s done, that’s more like a ruff daft. My teacher have helped me understand different point of writing. Which all writing deal with an ethos, pathos and logos, either one or all of them will run through anything that tell you anything in writing. From what emotion are there to who have the rights to speak at the moment to what are the facts to agree with this person. As a class we have read articles, bio from many people to understand that it’s more then what the person is writing. Reading between lines and analyzing a part of the story can tell you more then what the writer is saying. Working together to understand something and work better than being alone thinking about a situation you can’t understand.

I did not have a firm writing philosophy before this semester, but I to some degree I understood the importance writing can have on a situation. Now I understand that writing has two outcomes: gaining support or losing support. When writing an essay it is best if the writing is as specific as possible. This way the audience is hopefully not left with a confused opinion about the topic. Since the beginning of the semester I have put a conscious effort to change my writing style. Instead of the box format that is learned in high school I try to use a more graceful approach while still being organized. Also, I evaluate the credibility of a source before I use the information to support my thesis and understand the roles of using ethos,

Professor Garnett argues that the approach of freedom for religion “best represents the American experiment in ‘healthy

Picture this: a society consumed by struggle and conflict. The deafening cries of its disgruntled masses are ignored by an elite class, which, through systemic propaganda, repeats the belief of the glory of such a civilization. Ad nauseam. While it claims that the separation between church and state is absolute, the state actively sponsors a religion of dogmatism. In a simultaneous triumph of individualism and despair, it gradually erodes morality and intelligence.

Since beginning to write papers in English class, I have had countless successes and failures. While many of my English classes have taught me how to improve my writing, I have not learned very much in others. My most recent English class was last year, my sophomore year. My class was particularly undersized; therefore, it gave each student the opportunity to have additional individual attention. Throughout the class I experienced high points, weaknesses, and even difficulties that I never overcame. Overall, my writing skills improved, but only marginally.

Over the past few months, I have learned several different writing techniques. While all of the different types of papers were difficult to write, I believe that my writing skills have improved. In fact, I did not understand all of the assignments, but I did try to do my best on all of them. While I should have used more transitional words in between sentences and paragraphs, I feel that I learned a great deal. It is true that I have not had very much writing experience and the writing process is difficult for me. Sometimes, I do admit, it takes days to complete one assignment, but it will be worth it when I am a proficient writer.

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Over the course of this semester each paper that was written helped to introduce me and my fellow classmates to different formatting, and genres of writing. A lot of knowledge was gained from writing these papers and I was able to compare and contrast the disciplinary writings and notice what makes each of them stand out. Reflecting back on these individual papers helps to express what I have learned.