The “bad idea” I chose was “The Traditional Research Paper is Best” by Alexandria Lockett. From my first read, I didn’t completely understand the argument proposed by the author. However, going back, it became more clear to me why the author decided to begin the argument by contrasting the “modern” way of writing research papers to the “traditional”. The new and improved research paper does not oblige the student to go through the hassle of commuting to the library, searching for adequate sources, finding and investigating and repeating these steps all over again. Instead, at our fingertips are millions of sources for about any topic you search for on the internet. Yet, that is exactly the problem. The author refers to this abundance of information as a “data deluge.” Is the negative connotation in this term implying something bigger? I believe so. Lockett transitions into a body paragraph saying the word “unfortunately” followed by an explanation of the modern research paper downfalls. One example of such: “Instructors may underestimate the nuances of popular databases and overestimate students’ frequent use of databases as competency. However, Internet research really is a lot of work.” Therefore, one big dilemma is that, rather than approaching the traditional methods of research paper writing, instructors demand a greater number of sources to students that must navigate the “data deluge” of the internet to write their paper. Additionally, students will likely be much more disposed toward plagiarism, since “most people cannot handle the chore of deciphering the data deluge.” As if that weren’t enough, media owning companies’ “data collection practices and [the[ design of these companies’ websites direct users’ attention, which affects their research skills.”

Lockett, however, does not conclude here. The essay continues by entering the “research 2.0” topic. Internet research for a research paper can be used in a more effective way. The instructors must make part of the change, which has a lot to do with attitude. For example, changing the narrow views of Wikipedia and Wikipedia’s use when searching for sources and perspective. Even online writing groups are possible, which are very encouraging to writers. Lockett now concludes: “[…] few educational institutions and disciplines are cultivating the technical, scientific, and artistic competencies necessary for editing, navigating, and managing the Internet’s infinite retrieval mechanisms. When students are taught how to recognize that they have the power to diversify Internet content with high-quality research, the research paper 2.0 could play a major role in balancing the dynamics of knowledge production between traditional
institutions and emerging media.” In other words, the way we approach the “modern” research paper will greatly influence the result and quality of the final paper.

I chose this piece because I’ve had to do research papers in the past, and I was curious to see the author’s point of view on this topic. I agreed 100% with the term “data deluge.” Sometimes, it feels like your drowning in information, but it’s as if your own paper will be one more in the millions of results, so how great can your writing really be. However, the approach suggested by the author, and the change of attitude by students and instructors as well, may very much improve future research papers.

I loved John Lewis’s disposition about community. I can relate to myself. I was fascinated to read his article, which made me believe that everything is possible with love and peace. We can hope to have more individuals like John lewis in our society. I love how he is encouraging young people to fight against hate and aggression. Lewis inspires them to use love and peace. Lewis uses his life experience from his childhood until now how many obstacles he had to go through, but he never gave up, fighting against violence. I am inspired, by Lewis’s attitude about life and the power of community. After reading both articles, I could picture clearly how devoted both authors were to their community. I agree with Whitehead’s point of view about how the community changes overnight. Unfortunately, neighborhoods are expanding. As a result, everything around becomes so unfamiliar that one can feel bewildered time to time. He makes a good point when he says that it did not happen overnight, it was disappearing gradually, one only notice when it was gone. The author is proposing to support our neighborhood and try not to neglect it. At the end of the article, he delivers  hope for the future. He states clearly not to judge any behavior until it happens.

From the segment “Bad Ideas on what good writing is” I chose to write on the topic – “You can learn to write in general- by Elizabeth Wardle” where writing is simple is a bad conception. Elizabeth Wardle says how one cannot write something without a specific topic. Every writing experience is different when she writes – “context, audience, purpose, medium, history, and values of the community all impact what writing is and needs to be in each situation”. I agree with her as I feel every writing is intricate and not simplistic. One must study and explore the perspective of different situations or multiple writers to get a better hold in writing. Elizabeth Wardle in her writing implies that everything around us is changing, so is writing. A better writer requires more than a story. A writer should always take into consideration every possible aspect and have a thought process while writing. I chose this topic as I always thought that a good writer can write about anything, they do not need any topic, but after reading the article it gave me a better understanding on how one can improve in writing and reading. This reading made me realize the contradiction of Shakespeare quote – “the pen is mightier than the sword” –I realize the pen itself is not enough to make one an effective writer, practice and prior knowledge in writing might help one to be more successful. A writing speaks a lot about a writer’s perspective than the writer thinks it does. A writing takes a lot of study, research and sophistication as every word matters, it is more than just a thing to do.

After reading the chapter, ” Good Writer Always Follows My Rules,” I was impressed and attracted to the ideas. The following rules usually frustrate the writer. The Regulations do not make the writer a qualified writer. I agree with the author to give freedom to the writer to be more ambiguous and make the reader more interested. I chose this chapter because I can relate to the author myself someways. I am not into writing as a profession, but I think regulations can disorient the writer. Every writer has a technique of writing. Therefore, we have to accept it. The author also states that it is better to use rules with grammar to help the audience understand the correct language. I like how the author includes how to manage the time when one is writing. We should not stop writing. They are encouraging you to find your ways to write. Usually, the results are excellent. I was impressed by how they emphasize writers’ do to judge other individuals writing styles because of their structure. I believe if the writing style is unique, it can make chapters more interesting.

1. I chose to read Texting Ruins Students Grammar by Scott Warnock from Bad Ideas About Writing And Digital Technology. Arthur starts by saying that an old criticism that has been going around since 1975 that bad handwriting has been an issue for many years now a recent criticism came up saying technology is ruining students grammar or worsening. He also addresses the main problem with this bad idea, first is that “Complaints about writing deteriorating because of digital technology are simply part of a history of complaining about the worsening grammar, writing, mechanics, or style of younger generations” (pg 301). Secondly, the definition of grammar in the context is often misunderstood and lastly, the bad idea has no proof to be accurate.
2. The author has done his research and found that in the journal Reading and Writing, researchers studied the relationship between texting and grammar and they found no inconsistency in writings from all different age groups. Another study was made by writing researcher Michaela Cullington, she also says that texting is not affecting students’ use of standard written English, therefore, there is no connection. There has been much other research that has been done on this case and found to have the same results, this proves that texting has no connection to writing.
3. I choose this piece because when I read the title I already had a disagreement that texting is not worsening writing but I still wanted to read to find what the author has to say about this. While reading this chapter I had many agreements with what the author said especially when Warnock said, “perhaps we might instead see the use of digital writing as yet another example of how humans find ingenious ways to make the language” (pg306). I significantly agree because I think that texting is a language, we have a certain language we use to communicate with our partners, friends, and relatives. Texts and writing are two different things with different purposes and functions, texting is meant to be quick, casual, and easy to read without any rules to follow. Writing is meant to be the opposite, it has rules, you need to be conscious, and you need time to think about what you will write.

In the segment, Bad Ideas on What Good Writing Is, I chose Patricia Roberts Miller’s reading “Rhetoric is Synonymous with Empty Speech.” Rhetorical speech overcomplicates a sentence, which is a “bad idea.” Many people assume that “the simpler, plainer version of the sentence is not just a stylistic choice, it’s a moral choice,” as she describes. The inclusion of more difficult words distorts the sentence’s context. To them, rhetoric is something that conceals the facts. “Rhetoric is clothing on the thought,” Miller says, quoting an old adage. It’s just a matter of adding a layer of vocabulary to the proposition. This piece appealed to me because I enjoy the use of rhetoric in literature. It’s a beautiful way to dress up a sentence and give it more context, in my opinion. I believe that using rhetoric to catch a reader’s interest when communicating important ideas about the topic at hand is essential. We can’t avoid rhetoric, so we can choose what kind of rhetoric we use, so it should be up to the writer to decide how to use it. She claimed, quoting Aristotle: “What you learn from rhetoric is how to approach political, ethical, and legal problems, how to come up with an argument when you can’t be (or, at least, shouldn’t be) certain that you’re right. You also learn how to assess other people’s arguments “. Instead of equating rhetoric with hollow speech and lies to misrepresent the facts, the aim here was to enable us to investigate the many forms and uses of rhetoric.

 

A bad idea is a decision that  is not sensible and is incorrect. During our lives everyone has made a decision and had to live with that going through with lives but this is not a bad thing having made bad decisions can help us learn and prevent us from making more mistakes in the future. Making bad decision is a part of human nature no one in this world can say that they have never made a bad decision.The author says that “writing in general” is a bad idea because there is actually no such thing as just writing in general. When you write whether it a fan-fiction, horror, science, history, etc  every writer need to be educated about that specific topic and when writing you need to have information about what you are writing on and what the audience of the writing expects. One really good example is from the section “You can Learn to Write in General” by Elizabeth Wardle in page 31 where it talks about how” a student fresh out of college is asked to write a report for the CEO , the student might know what a report is in general but the student has never seen a report from that specific company so she will have trouble writing because she needs examples, some inside info, needs to know about the CEO and also needs to understand what they want in the report”. These are the reasons why thinking you can Write in general is a bad idea.I chose this piece because i used to believe in writing in general and how i had trouble with this idea. When i was in school i used to think i was writing in general but i was completely wrong because it doesn’t exist when writing a report, essay, stories etc you always need some background info and the writer needs to think about its audience. I do not  have a good idea to counter this bad idea but i agree with the author this is not bad news because it gives new writers permission to keep learning, to fail and learn from their past mistakes i think that being open minded might also help when you write.

I choose to read “PLAGIARISM DESERVES TO BE PUNISHED” by Jennifer A. Mott-Smith. She started her article by citing two newspaper headlines about plagiarism in college growth.  She also stated that “Plagiarism, we know, is an immoral act, a simple case of right and wrong, and as such, deserves to be punished.” (page 247). We know that especially when we started college (well that is my case).

Jennifer mentioned three different points about the complication of using sources: One, we often used ideas other ideas in our conversations and we mixed or combined with our own ideas, that it is difficult to identify whose original idea is because it has been repeated many times. Second, writers used other people’s ideas to boost their work, especially when they are learning something new. Third, the process of learning who to cite or give credit to the person varies, it is not the same and most of the time creates confusion. 

Jennifer explained that high school students used books as references in their work but they are not citations. So when they started college that is a new system or world for them, syllabus or field expectation are different from one to another. New students can simply try to do their job, but they are allowed to do mistakes. “While the feeling that plagiarism deserves punishment is perhaps widely held in society, the understanding that plagiarism is often not deceitful and does not deserve punishment is also present.” (pg 250)  

I choose this idea because I know plagiarism is a problem and can lead you to be kit out of college. My daughters’ friend in her first semester was removed from college because she was “cheating” copying someone’s work. Now she needs to go to court. For me, that is really sad.  So I know it is a big deal. When I saw the topic it caught my attention because I thought “What can be wrong with plagiarists equal punishment?” Yet after reading this article, I agreed with Jennifer, we read a lot of articles or we simple used other peoples’ ideas that it becomes so natural and sometimes mingle with our own ideas that we sometimes we don’t know if that was our own or something we acquire from someone else. Yet, my suggestion is always to give the credit or reference that we are using others’ ideas. Be honest to ourselves and others.

THE FIVE-PARAGRAPH ESSAY IS RHETORICALLY SOUND by Quentin Vieregge

Quentin Vieregge points out that the bad idea is to believe that the five-paragraph essay writing method is rhetorically sound. Quentin argues that the five-paragraph essay writing method is grossly overrated by many educators and is overused in middle school and high school. Quentin Vieregge says this is a bad idea because he believes that by using this method, students spend more time trying to stick to rigid guidelines and crafting models than they do create in-depth, independently thought-out papers. In the article, he mentions how the five-paragraph essay writing method has worked for some people and who are being influenced by this method. The article also provides arguments for and against the five-paragraph essay writing method. It states that the arguments given by the proponents of the five-paragraph essay are that it can be used as a guide to provide structure for early writers. Once learned, they claim, it will later serve as a template for experienced writers. Opponents of the five-paragraph essay say that it binds writers to their characters and can even arbitrarily shape their ideas. I chose this article because I was curious as to why the five-paragraph theory was rhetorically sound since I read the title and I was intrigued by it. In my case, I am a proponent of the five-paragraph theory because English is my second language, as Quentin Vierge says in his article, “One such teacher, David Gugin, writes about how the five-paragraph model benefits students learning English as a second language.” I did find it helpful when I first wrote in English because it provided me with guidance on how to start and how to organize my words. So far, I do not have an example of a good idea to counter this bad idea, and I don’t think a good idea is needed because this article does illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the method. The only thing I can think of is that teachers could try using other, less formulated methods of writing in the classroom, one that is less restrictive, or one that is also more widely used in college.