Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Freedom Post- PR
I would like to take advantage of this blog post in which we can discuss whatever we choose, to talk about how much I love my major. Because honestly, my entire life revolves around my major of Public Relations.
I never knew what PR was until I chose it before my freshman, after being told my multiple people that they thought I would do well in it. My concept of PR was mostly formed by Sex and the City. But what I have discovered in my two year of being immersed in the PR field is that the stereotypes embodied by Sex and the City were very wrong, PR is much more important than how it is portrayed. Ask any company what the most vital component of their business is and the answer will be the customers. It's simple, without customers there is no one to buy a product, and with no buyers there is no business. PR can be many things but it all falls into one generality- PR improves the customer business relationship. This relationship is the key to a company's survival, thus making PR one of the most critical parts of a business' success.
An aspect of PR that I absolutely love is social media. I have a very active Facebook and Twitter account, and I use them multiple times every day. I would like to state an example of how awesome Twitter is. Three weeks ago, I ordered several things from Charlotte Russe online and was waiting for it to come in. Three days ago, I received an email stating my order was canceled because they were out of stock, and basically just didn't update their website. That night, I complained on Twitter and two hours later, I received an email from them apologizing and included a thirty dollar gift certificate including free shopping. The power of social media1! Also, it was good PR by Charlotte Russe by keeping up with Twitter and erasing a complaint.
I never knew what PR was until I chose it before my freshman, after being told my multiple people that they thought I would do well in it. My concept of PR was mostly formed by Sex and the City. But what I have discovered in my two year of being immersed in the PR field is that the stereotypes embodied by Sex and the City were very wrong, PR is much more important than how it is portrayed. Ask any company what the most vital component of their business is and the answer will be the customers. It's simple, without customers there is no one to buy a product, and with no buyers there is no business. PR can be many things but it all falls into one generality- PR improves the customer business relationship. This relationship is the key to a company's survival, thus making PR one of the most critical parts of a business' success.
An aspect of PR that I absolutely love is social media. I have a very active Facebook and Twitter account, and I use them multiple times every day. I would like to state an example of how awesome Twitter is. Three weeks ago, I ordered several things from Charlotte Russe online and was waiting for it to come in. Three days ago, I received an email stating my order was canceled because they were out of stock, and basically just didn't update their website. That night, I complained on Twitter and two hours later, I received an email from them apologizing and included a thirty dollar gift certificate including free shopping. The power of social media1! Also, it was good PR by Charlotte Russe by keeping up with Twitter and erasing a complaint.
Friday, November 26, 2010
More Plagiarism
The blog post for this week is over two papers about plagiarism- "The Scarlet P: Plagiarism, Panopticism, and the Rhetoric of Academic IntegrIntegrity by Sean Zwagerman and "Beyond “Gotcha!”: Situating Plagiarism in Policy and Pedagogy" by Margaret Price.
The paper by Margaret Price starts off by discussing how is necessary to define plagiarism; yet, it is nearly impossible to define. Students are the academic group that are most likely to commit Plagiarism and students learn best by given a "defined space," a region that should be avoided to avoid plagiarism. However, Price writes that it is nearly impossible to put and squeeze the term plagiarism into a small space. "Plagiarism is not stable. What we think of as plagiarism shifts across historical time periods, across cultures, across workplaces, even across academic disciplines." I found this quote to be interesting because it is very true-plagiarism much like many other things, change over time. These changes can be a result of shifts in technology, norms, etc. Professionals have to realize that plagiarism is not cut or dry- its more of on a case by case and sources are available to students more than ever, making plagiarism subjective.
The paper by Sean Zwagerman makes a point that a made earlier, it is extremely easy to plagiarize with the vast amount of available information on the internet that is both easy-access and not necessarily looked down upon. Many teachers say it's okay to look on the internet just to get a preliminary idea of a topic. Students end up not citing these beginning sources in the end, and it might damage them or result in getting the dread "plagiarism = F." place. A quote that I found interesting was when Zwagerman stated, "Just as some students will choose to cheat, teachers choose how to respond." If there isn't a rigid structure of punishment for plagiarism, then there isn't rigid avoidance by students.
The paper by Margaret Price starts off by discussing how is necessary to define plagiarism; yet, it is nearly impossible to define. Students are the academic group that are most likely to commit Plagiarism and students learn best by given a "defined space," a region that should be avoided to avoid plagiarism. However, Price writes that it is nearly impossible to put and squeeze the term plagiarism into a small space. "Plagiarism is not stable. What we think of as plagiarism shifts across historical time periods, across cultures, across workplaces, even across academic disciplines." I found this quote to be interesting because it is very true-plagiarism much like many other things, change over time. These changes can be a result of shifts in technology, norms, etc. Professionals have to realize that plagiarism is not cut or dry- its more of on a case by case and sources are available to students more than ever, making plagiarism subjective.
The paper by Sean Zwagerman makes a point that a made earlier, it is extremely easy to plagiarize with the vast amount of available information on the internet that is both easy-access and not necessarily looked down upon. Many teachers say it's okay to look on the internet just to get a preliminary idea of a topic. Students end up not citing these beginning sources in the end, and it might damage them or result in getting the dread "plagiarism = F." place. A quote that I found interesting was when Zwagerman stated, "Just as some students will choose to cheat, teachers choose how to respond." If there isn't a rigid structure of punishment for plagiarism, then there isn't rigid avoidance by students.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Plagiarism
For this week, we were required to read "Plagiarisms, Authorships, and the Academic Death Penalty" by Rebecca Moore Howard. Rebecca Moore Howard, an assistant professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Writing at Colgate University, teaches composition, rhetoric, and linguistics. In the introduction, Howard mentions a term I have never head before but still am aware of; patchwriting. Patchwriting is defined as "copying from a source text and then deleting some words, altering grammatical structures, or plugging in one-for-one synonym-substitutes" (Howard 233).
SIDE NOTE: this is the first time I have seen someone other than myself named Tanya in a text.
Anyways, I can admit to patchwrting once or twice in my lifetime. Teachers used to stress the importance of not copying a quote or source WORD BY WORD, so changing up some of the word choice negates plagiarism right? Howard says no, which admittedly bursts my bubble a little bit. I thought it was interesting that Howard suggested that plagiarism avoidance could be better instituted if it wasn't constantly put in such a negative light and could be seen with a positive spin. As a PR major, I can definitely understand this. Off that tangent, a quote that Howard used to argue her stance was: "A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself." I found this quote to be interesting because she was referring Authority as the giant and us consumers as the dwarfs. This suggests that it should be allowed for students or literature consumers to take the information they find and put it to use. By putting found sources and information, some students can take the subject further than the original source could.
Howard also mentions that Giles Constable, a historian, said that: "The term plagiarism should indeed probably be dropped in reference to the Middle Ages"
SIDE NOTE: this is the first time I have seen someone other than myself named Tanya in a text.
Anyways, I can admit to patchwrting once or twice in my lifetime. Teachers used to stress the importance of not copying a quote or source WORD BY WORD, so changing up some of the word choice negates plagiarism right? Howard says no, which admittedly bursts my bubble a little bit. I thought it was interesting that Howard suggested that plagiarism avoidance could be better instituted if it wasn't constantly put in such a negative light and could be seen with a positive spin. As a PR major, I can definitely understand this. Off that tangent, a quote that Howard used to argue her stance was: "A dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giant may see farther than a giant himself." I found this quote to be interesting because she was referring Authority as the giant and us consumers as the dwarfs. This suggests that it should be allowed for students or literature consumers to take the information they find and put it to use. By putting found sources and information, some students can take the subject further than the original source could.
Howard also mentions that Giles Constable, a historian, said that: "The term plagiarism should indeed probably be dropped in reference to the Middle Ages"
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The Paper is Coming and I Have To Write This Blog Post
The first part of this weeks assignment was to find a source titled "Writing, Technologies, and the Fifth Canon." I found this article easily just by typing the title into the Google search bar, and the author, date and everything else all matched up. I think this assignment was to show us how easily it is to find a source online if cited correctly, but I'm not sure.
The second part of the post assignment was pick activities in the back of chapter 11.
1st activity:"Draft and Effective Intro"
-My topic is important because it shows the foundation of women's right and how this foundation/past has affected the female presence today in 2010's society. The audience, mostly females, should be proud to see how far they have come from their ancestors and be motivated to push towards gender equality even more. My authority on this topic is that I am a young adult female who was taught to be independent and thrive in the workplace, equal among men in all aspects. The audience will identify with me, and should take the information I provide and put it to practice. The audience should have vague ideas about the history of my topic, but my paper will expound on those facts and dissect them, showing how past events are connected. They will need to understand how all events have shaped the current female norms and role in society.
2nd activity: "Develop Closure"
-The issues raised in my argument that should be repeated are that women are now strong in the workforce, choosing to marry and start families late, and norms surrounding females are radically different than that of 1950's norms. If the current situation continues as it is, women will continue to have momentum in society and will continue to become equal to men, if not surpassing them. Again, the provided information should inspire women to continue their advancement.
3rd activity: "Develop and Outline"
Claim: In 2010's middle-class America, young, adult females are gaining momentum in the workforce, marrying and producing families later than ever, and are becoming prominent members of society. Gender roles are being reconstructed and the traditional gender norms are becoming being radically different than that of the 1950's.
1st point: Nineteenth century norms for women to become more socially prominent. Includes 19th amendment.
2nd point: World War 2 jobs and traditional gender roles of the 1950's.
3rd point: Gender roles of 1950's are represented by the 2003 film, Mona Lisa Smile.
4th point: Females are gaining momentum in society and are excelling over men, Petula Dvorak's article: "More Women in the Workforce Make Bigger Bucks than Husbands." and Cauchon, Dennis. "Women Gain as Men Lose Jobs."
5th point: Gender roles changing--> delaying marriage and families
6th point: if the current situation continues, we can expect women to level out with men
THESE ACTIVITIES WERE HELPFUL :)
The second part of the post assignment was pick activities in the back of chapter 11.
1st activity:"Draft and Effective Intro"
-My topic is important because it shows the foundation of women's right and how this foundation/past has affected the female presence today in 2010's society. The audience, mostly females, should be proud to see how far they have come from their ancestors and be motivated to push towards gender equality even more. My authority on this topic is that I am a young adult female who was taught to be independent and thrive in the workplace, equal among men in all aspects. The audience will identify with me, and should take the information I provide and put it to practice. The audience should have vague ideas about the history of my topic, but my paper will expound on those facts and dissect them, showing how past events are connected. They will need to understand how all events have shaped the current female norms and role in society.
2nd activity: "Develop Closure"
-The issues raised in my argument that should be repeated are that women are now strong in the workforce, choosing to marry and start families late, and norms surrounding females are radically different than that of 1950's norms. If the current situation continues as it is, women will continue to have momentum in society and will continue to become equal to men, if not surpassing them. Again, the provided information should inspire women to continue their advancement.
3rd activity: "Develop and Outline"
Claim: In 2010's middle-class America, young, adult females are gaining momentum in the workforce, marrying and producing families later than ever, and are becoming prominent members of society. Gender roles are being reconstructed and the traditional gender norms are becoming being radically different than that of the 1950's.
1st point: Nineteenth century norms for women to become more socially prominent. Includes 19th amendment.
2nd point: World War 2 jobs and traditional gender roles of the 1950's.
3rd point: Gender roles of 1950's are represented by the 2003 film, Mona Lisa Smile.
4th point: Females are gaining momentum in society and are excelling over men, Petula Dvorak's article: "More Women in the Workforce Make Bigger Bucks than Husbands." and Cauchon, Dennis. "Women Gain as Men Lose Jobs."
5th point: Gender roles changing--> delaying marriage and families
6th point: if the current situation continues, we can expect women to level out with men
THESE ACTIVITIES WERE HELPFUL :)
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Generic Post-November 7th
This post was not one of my favorites. All of the sample essays Steph gave us were terribly boring and honestly did not catch my attention one bit. I found all the topics awful and skimmed through two of the essays just to see their structure, style, etc.
One of the less boring papers, but still very lifeless in its own respect, was the paper of Cicero's Orater. This paper discusses the necessary traits of a good orator. For all these papers, I wanted to focus on looking at each paper's thesis. This essay's thesis is: "This paper aims to reconcile these two definitions, offering a new way to understand decorum and the work it does in the world, first by offering a reading of the definition of decorum, then following that reading from classical conceptualizations of decorum through to modern and post modern iterations." The introduction appealed to a very specific audience and that audience was not me. The reader was obviously a teacher of some sort and talked about his/her colleagues, limiting my interest because I am a student, not a teacher. This example paper didn't really help me at all.
The second example paper was titled, "Marveling at The Man Called Nova: Comics as Sponsors of Multimodal Literacy." This paper was slightly interesting because it was about comic books and not about random parts of speech or Green terminology. This paper was another example of a research paper that I did not connect with any way. The author, Dale Jacobs, tells an story about spending his weekly allowance on comic books. He then backs up his story by saying that many men would understand his story if they too saved up for comics and enjoyed that pastime. I am not a male i the 1970's so I did not connect with his essay. The author could have done a better job to connect with all types of audiences and should not have limited his readers so much.
One of the less boring papers, but still very lifeless in its own respect, was the paper of Cicero's Orater. This paper discusses the necessary traits of a good orator. For all these papers, I wanted to focus on looking at each paper's thesis. This essay's thesis is: "This paper aims to reconcile these two definitions, offering a new way to understand decorum and the work it does in the world, first by offering a reading of the definition of decorum, then following that reading from classical conceptualizations of decorum through to modern and post modern iterations." The introduction appealed to a very specific audience and that audience was not me. The reader was obviously a teacher of some sort and talked about his/her colleagues, limiting my interest because I am a student, not a teacher. This example paper didn't really help me at all.
The second example paper was titled, "Marveling at The Man Called Nova: Comics as Sponsors of Multimodal Literacy." This paper was slightly interesting because it was about comic books and not about random parts of speech or Green terminology. This paper was another example of a research paper that I did not connect with any way. The author, Dale Jacobs, tells an story about spending his weekly allowance on comic books. He then backs up his story by saying that many men would understand his story if they too saved up for comics and enjoyed that pastime. I am not a male i the 1970's so I did not connect with his essay. The author could have done a better job to connect with all types of audiences and should not have limited his readers so much.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Chapter Ten
Chapter 10 of this wonderful English textbook is about evaluating resources as possible evidence and integrating resources into an argument. This was an extremely short chapter, which I felt was refreshing and appropriate. This chapter was the epitome of boring; however, I could see how some information could be relatively important to my assigned research paper.
One of the things I found to be of some importance was the point the authors make on page 200: "your audience will want to know that you have critically evaluated your evidence in an appropriate manner." I will put this in student-terms. It is important to not appear like a bullshitter to your audience. It is very important to construct an argument with the least amount of holes possible. Having a solid argument is vital to a paper; therefore, having solid sources is necessary.
This chapter talks about how people typically trust the editorial and peer reviewed process to "weed out" bad or incorrect information. However, education and other important institutions have been proven wrong before, so it may be a good idea to double check the information of articles and the credibility or sources.
Just when I thought this chapter actually might be of use and that the textbook wasn't totally worthless, I came across another suggestion box talking about the importance of cluster maps. I absolutely hate cluster maps and find them to have no place in the world. I can't stand this book just because it puts such a large emphasis on cluster maps.
One of the things I found to be of some importance was the point the authors make on page 200: "your audience will want to know that you have critically evaluated your evidence in an appropriate manner." I will put this in student-terms. It is important to not appear like a bullshitter to your audience. It is very important to construct an argument with the least amount of holes possible. Having a solid argument is vital to a paper; therefore, having solid sources is necessary.
This chapter talks about how people typically trust the editorial and peer reviewed process to "weed out" bad or incorrect information. However, education and other important institutions have been proven wrong before, so it may be a good idea to double check the information of articles and the credibility or sources.
Just when I thought this chapter actually might be of use and that the textbook wasn't totally worthless, I came across another suggestion box talking about the importance of cluster maps. I absolutely hate cluster maps and find them to have no place in the world. I can't stand this book just because it puts such a large emphasis on cluster maps.
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