English 112 Blog: Morgan Montgomery

Having someone else writing a paragraph I had already wrote was a different experience. I don’t think it helped nor harmed my thinking, it just was an interesting way of reading my thoughts. I feel that what I want to get across in my writing is tough to be done by someone else, as they may not be knowledgable or interested in the writing. Re-writing someone else’s writing was again an ok experience. I learned a few things while doing it, along with realizing how tough it can be to pull the moral of the writing out and basically retelling it in my own words. I learned that obviously everyone does not think in the same ways and it can be tough based on the topic and material covered in the writing. There is a reason why people choose their respected topics and it can be tough to cross lines and write about something that is out in left field to my thinking or opinion. The experience was again ok, but did not change how I wish to come across in my writing on my topic. Cheating is obviously bad in that it can get someone in trouble and is using someone else’s words. Cheating overall is not a good thing and isn’t a practice anyone should try.

 In the State of Ohio, as many of us know a growing epidemic is growing, job loss. Each day a hard-working, blue collar employee is turned away at the doors from his or hers job, where that particular person may have built their careers. Unfortunately, a slow down has not occurred and it continues across the nation and most importantly here in the state of Ohio at an alarming rate. Many people, including myself faulted trade acts such as NAFTA or CAFTA for the phenomenon, but in recent research perhaps those two actions aren’t entirely at fault. Trade acts such as NAFTA have focused primarily on workings with Mexico or Canada, but yet jobs are moving for the most part overseas. Countries such as China and Japan are moving in production at an incredible rate, taking that very production away from the industrial Midwest right here in the United States. Jobs have moved to Mexico in small numbers as well and trade acts deserve some blame for that, but the ultimate blame should be put on technology. Technology, as we all know is the future of the world. Everything is speeding up, from factories to computers. In return, computers and machines are doing blue collar peoples duties in a factory or workplace right here in Ohio. With technology, presses and lines can be sped up with quicker tools to accomplish the job. So the next you or I have a conversation about the incredible job loss in the State of Ohio, or across this nation, remember to put technology at the top of that argument.  

This editorial helps me get focused upon the whole research paper and re-solidify my interest in this topic. The editorial also helped me start thinking about the outline of my paper, along with how I would perhaps write some of my paragraphs.  

I learned in a source analysis that a lot could accomplished, more than I originally thought. Through a source analysis, I realized how someones primary cause can differ and through several sources arguments can be compared, creating a thought provoking exercise. Also, a source analysis is an opportunity to break down the topic, talk about the topic in a smaller detailed way, essentially focusing myself on the research paper. The similarities between a source analysis and an argumentative in my mind are few, but are there. Both writings use sources and focus on convincing or proclaiming a cause or reason. They both focus on solving an issue or speculating on a cause, and argue a point. Although there are some similarities, differences are abundant.The differences in a source analysis and an argumentative essay are for one in my mind, a source analysis is much more straight forward. A sourse analysis uses two to three scholarly sources and uses synthesis to compare the two. Through that information, the writer or reader can come to a conclusion of what that particular source provides them. The facts at times in a source analysis are agreeable or disagreeable and make for a well written broke down focus of the topic. An argumentative essay is more sloppy of sorts, by using quotes and sources that fit the argument the writer is trying to convince upon, and drilling that point home. Often after writing an argumentative essay, a reader or the audience will be swayed one way, but with a source analysis the writing is focused much more on that of sources and comparable evidence. Also, in a argumentative essay, much more of the writers words are used and that also provides a much more biased approach.