English 112

You asked us to write a proposal for Essay 3 because you want us to have an understanding of our topic and idea of what we want to say about our particular topic.  The proposal will help us gather our thoughts and articulate them so our research and writing processes can be more focused.  Also, the proposal will allow you to know what is the best way to assist us in this process.

Learning to write a proposal can be very beneficial in several ways.  First, there are the several reasons that I stated previously.  Second, it really forces the student to sit down and really think about their topic well before they even begin writing their rough draft.  This is important because I believe too many students rush into the writing part without really organizing any of their ideas or thoughts.   

A proposal can also be used in many other classes where a project or a paper is assigned.  The proposal can help organize a person’s thoughts and ideas so that they fully understand what they are writing about.  This can also be used for a project.  You can organize everything that will be involved with the project to ensure that you are including everything that you need to include. 

Overall, learning to write a proposal has many advantages and it can be used in many other classes as well.  I could see myself using a proposal for my research projects that I have in both my Intro to Film class and my Biology 205 class. 

I will be doing my research paper on a topic related to music.  I was originally going to discuss the illegal downloading of music, however, the topic has already been debated heavily and I wanted to do something that is not discussed very often.  I think my topic will be whether the drug abuse and violence depicted in music has an influence on young listeners.  I arrived at this issue using the six steps stated in our textbook.

First, I drew on personal experience.  I have listened to all types of music and have heard lyrics that range from love stories, to the strange, bizarre lyrics that do not make sense, to the most disturbing and offensive music.  Many songs have some sort of drug reference in it and numerous songs also discuss violence.  I have always wondered whether these types of lyrics have ever influenced a young listener to do drugs or commit an act of violence. 

Second, I identified what is open to dispute.  The use of drugs and violence are very real issues in today’s society.  Especially with the numerous school shootings that have occurred, people will think that lyrics in songs may have caused these young people to commit these crimes.  However, people from the music industry may dispute this claim and say that their music does not influence young adults to do anything.  Therefore, this topic is really open to dispute between several types of people. 

Third, I resisted binary thinking.  I did not just think about this issue from my point of view.  I thought about it from the perspective of people in the music industry as wells as from people who may be against music that involves drug references or violence.  It is important to know the issue from many different perspectives because if you are to persuade one of these different people to believe what you think, you should know where they are coming from and then decide what is the best way to go about persuading them. 

Fourth, I built on and extended the ideas of others.  When I started to do some research for this topic, I saw that the issue can be looked at in different ways and I that I will have to take these ideas of other people into consideration when I begin to formulate an outline. 

Fifth, I set out to find theories that shape my primary focus in my argument. 

Finally, I considered the constraints of the situation.  I had to determine what possible counterarguments there would be and then finally decide on my issue.  

Overall, I chose this topic because I have a big interest in music and all of the aspects of it.  I really want to do research and decide whether I do believe lyrics of songs influence people to do certain things. 

Most likely, my topic will be:

Do they drug abuse and violence depicted in the lyrics of songs have an influence on young listeners?

I am really excited to begin my research on this topic. 

For the most part, I am practicing the writing processes that the authors of our textbooks suggest.  I do use their steps on revising my essays.   I think the steps are extremely helpful and really help me strengthen my essay.  I also use many of the writing techniques that the authors suggest, such as annotating, summarizing, and synthesizing.  These are all very important when writing an essay and I follow the steps listed in the book to ensure that I am doing them correctly.  One thing that I do not do that the authors suggest is to form issue-based questions.  I do not do this and formulate my ideas from reading and annotating the text.  One more part of my writing process that I use that the authors suggest is the different types of thesis and how to formulate the thesis.  The textbook is really helpful when is comes to writing a thesis and I really rely on it. 

I play softball competitively over the summer, therefore I want the best equipment.  One of the main pieces of equipment is the bat.  However, a decent softball bat is very expensive and I could not afford it on my own.  Therefore, I had to persuade my mom to buy the bat for me.  I had several good reasons ready to persuade my mom. 

My first argument would be that it had all of the specifications that I was looking for in a bat:

Product Description
New Louisville Slugger Catalyst 2 FP72C * 2007 Model * 100% Composite Design * Balanced Swing Weight * -8oz Design * Synthetic Grip * 7/8 inch handle *  ASA, USSA, ISA, ISF, and NSA Approved * FP72C replaced model FPC305 

 My second way to persuade her was to show her the good ratings and reviews that it received to prove that it was a decent bat. 

http://www.batreviews.com/louisville_slugger_catalyst.html

The bat is very expensive, however, I did find it on eBay (my mom is a big ebayer) a lot cheaper.  Therefore, she is more likely to buy it if she can find it cheaper. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Louisville-CATALYST-2-Fastpitch-Softball-Bat-8-33-25_W0QQitemZ220200164412QQihZ012QQcategoryZ47263QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I also had a good friend, Olivia, who used the bad and had nothing but good things to say about it.  She said, “The bat is so great.  The ball comes off it really fast, and you feel very powerful with it. ” 

Finally, my final way to win her over is to show her how pretty the bat is.  You have to have a good looking bat!

My plan to persuade my mom is:

 Casually bring up the topic of softball while relaxing in the family room.  While on the topic of softball, I will bring up softball equipment and all the new bats out on the market today.  I will then proceed to tell my mom how I need a new bat.  I first will explain to her the specifications of the bat and the great ratings and reviews it received. If she is not persuaded then I will move on to my next step….

 I will then explain how she can buy the bat on eBay (her favorite thing) for a very cheap price.  I will then explain how my best friend has used the bat and how much she loved it.  Finally, I will explain how nice the bat looks. 

Overall, I know she will be persuade if I bring up all the things I mentioned above.  I believe she will definitely be persuaded by the fact that she can get it cheaper on eBay. 

I felt really good about my first essay.  I was really confident about it throughout the whole process and I felt like I did a good job on it.  I think that confidence is really important while writing and that a writer should have confidence about their ideas and thoughts. 

I spent a lot of time writing the critique and went through a whole process.  First I read my article, “Harry Potter and the Technology of Magic” and annotated it.  Then I determined who my audience was going to be and what main criteria I would use to critique the article.  Once I decided on those things, I made a rough outline and organized my ideas.   From there I began to write my rought draft.  Then I revised my rough draft several times and came up with the final draft to submit. 

I think I will keep all the parts of my process for the next essay.  I feel that this process works really well for me and helps me organize my ideas and put them on paper.  I do not think I want to change anything in my writing process, unless I feel that I could be doing something in a better way. 

I think that Essay 2 really builds upon Essay 1.  First, we will be using multiple sources instead of just one.  Also, we will be synthesizing our sources, which I feel is a step up from just summarizing them in Essay 1.  Overall, I feel that Essay 2 will be much more challenging than Essay 1 and will require a lot of thought.  However, I think that I am ready to face this new challenge.