Lesson 15 Journal Entry

*** ***** Drive

Fairbanks, Alaska 99701

 December 5, 2011

 SFC Shed Winston

* **. *-** **, *-** ****
*** ********
APO, AE *****

 Dear SFC Winston:

 Thank you very much for the encouragement that you have shown me as I have worked to complete my education. Your insight and advice has helped me immensely in completing English F111X.

 With your constant praise and insight, I have graded well in every lesson and completed all of my journal entries for my newfound blog. Your support while you were home for your Rest and Relaxation was very helpful. You made it possible for me to focus as I started my first set of lessons. You accomplished this by watching the kids, running errands, and doing housework. Your support helped me find my rhythm so I would be able to continue on with my schooling once your leave ended.

 After you left to go back to your unit and finish your deployment, I was still able to focus on my work because of the praise and encouragement that you sent over the phone and internet. With this support I have made remarkable progress in my writing. I have used the inspirations of being an Army wife and the lessons that the both of us have learned in my essays and blogs. Your praise and reassurances have helped me boost my confidence and I have graded no less than an A on each assignment, including my research paper. 

 My gratitude will never be expressed enough to you. I know that I am extremely fortunate to have you as such a supportive and understanding husband. I hope that I continue to make you proud in my future accomplishments.

 Sincerely yours,

Tania Winston

 Tania Winston 

                                                Tania Winston
                                                *** ***** Drive
                                                Fairbanks, Ak 99701
                                                ***-***-****
                                                tdwinston@alaska.edu

Objective                                To report on my current accomplishments and future writing goals

Academic Writing Experience

Fall 2011                                 Introduction to Academic Writing, ENG F111X

·         “All You Need is Patience”: 500+ word essay describing a personal strength

·         “Average vs. Social Class”: 750+ word essay contrasting “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose and “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon

·         “The Strength of Patience”: 3-page summary of the previous 500 word essay “All You Need is Patience”

·         “Discipline and the Child”: 750+ word argumentative essay on the merits of disciplining children

·         “Prisoner Privileges”: 1000+ word essay arguing whether or not prisoners should receive priviliges while incarcerated

·         “The Argumentative Cartoon”: 1000+ word essay  summarizing Joel Andreas’s cartoon “The War on Terrorism”

·         “The Increase Casualty Rate and the Types of Injuries Soldiers Face”: 500 summary on a visual element that would support thesis for research paper

·         “Social Class and the Economy”: 1000+ essay contrasting “Class in America—2003” by Gregory Mantsios and “Stephen Cruz” by Studs Terkel

·         “Strength, Bravery, and Perseverance”: 1750+ word research paper describing the difficulties soldiers face after becoming amputees and the ways they learn to overcome and have a better quality of life

·         Kept journal blog and completed all 15 lesson entries

Future Goals for Writing

Spring 2012- Degree Completion and Beyond

                                                ·         Complete and pass successfully English F200X

·         Complete and pass successfully a creative writing class

·         Possibly consider a journalism class

·         Write a book

Lesson 14 Journal Entry

*Write about what you wish you had done differently while you worked on your paper.
I am not sure if I would have done anything differently. I know that I would have wished for different circumstances, such as my husband being here so I could devote more time on the paper instead of waiting for my kids to go to bed (laughing) but other than that, I am pretty happy with the way I tackled this paper. I do, however, have one thought that is nagging me in the back of my head, and that is that maybe I should have submitted my paper to the Writing Center along with the two proofreadings from my friends that I did. I am not worried about my content and how I structured my paper. I am more worried about the grammatical and punctuation errors. I have gone through the 20 errors page that I was sent to make sure I have not done any of these, but I am pretty sure I have missed one. Also, I have added more information to my paper after my edits were done so hopefully I added that in error free. Nevertheless, I feel that I have instilled what I needed to in my writing.

Lesson 13 Journal Entry

Whenever I write or do a craft that is personal and will be viewed by a friend, it makes me nervous. Is it any good? What will they think? Are they going to be honest or try not to hurt my feelings? But I still decided to go that route.
My good friend, fellow college student, and army wife Michele Sargent has proofread my research paper. Her suggestions and advice has helped me immensely. I knew that I had some wording issues in some of my sentences but could not figure out how to rework it. She caught the same sentences that I knew didn't sound write. Also, she also advised me to maybe add some more information regarding Walter Reed in my refuting opposition paragraph. There is also a question on punctuation on page 6 that I am going to look at and make sure that it is correct. But over all she said my punctuation and spelling was good and she also didn't see any issues with my comma placement, which I had asked her to watch out for because I know I tend to mess up in that area. She is going to go back over and make sure she didn't miss anything.
The reason why I chose Michele to go over my paper for me is because I trust her input. The thesis for this paper is very close to our hearts. She wanted to read this as soon as I told her my thesis. We have been hit very hard in our unit this deployment and have soldiers with these injuries. With her acting as my audience and with a personal interest in the subject matter, I knew that her input would help tremendously.
I do feel as if I should add a bit more information on some of the supporting elements. Since my thesis is more focused on the experiences of soldiers dealing with amputations, especially their medical care, then more information on their treatment at Walter Reed needs to be put in. I am glad Michele suggested that.  I am also going to go through and see if any other additional supporting details is needed.
I had such limited time that I did not use the Writing Center, and I am a little worried about if I might have missed something or if Michele might have missed something. I am considering sending this to another individual. I would rather email the name but he was my husband's Platoon Leader during deployment before he was injured. Luckily he was not seriously wounded but is now back here at Rear Detachment. He has offered his help with any editing I might need because he does have a bachelor's degree and had done a bunch of research papers. Any offer of help is much appreciated! Hopefully, he will get back with me soon. I have been struggling this last week with my time management so I hope to get this done soon and put the final touches on my final draft for turn in on Friday.
I am also looking forward to any additional comments from my instructor when I turn in my lesson for this week and if Michele has anything else to add. I am also going to send this to my husband to look over but he is really bad at writing so I just want his opinion on the subject matter. Because this subject is such a personal topic I am glad I went with people who are experiencing the same feelings I am, and that they know why I had to pick this topic and write about it.

Lesson 11 Journal Entry

* On your blog, write about your experience summarizing the reading.

My experience in summarizing was a little difficult. It was mostly due to the constant interruptions that have kept my mind from focusing, but I did find it a little difficult to find source articles that I was not going to use. When doing my initial search for sources, I did not find any that I was not going to use by the time I had finished my assignment for Lesson 9, so I had to find sources that were not going to work for my research. I found this also hard to do because all the sources I was finding offered so much information that I could use in my paper. The going through and finding what information I was not going to use and then finding the right articles to do in order to complete the assignment was the most difficult. When I started actually doing the summarizing once I found the sources, it became easier. I used the list of questions to use for annotation in Hacker and used that to get the basis of the summaries of each article. I also used the journalist questions to pinpoint in detail information in the article that was important. The evaluation paragraph at the end, I had to look back in Lesson 3 for and just followed the example written and substituted what I needed to coincide with the three articles. I wish I could have found two longer than three page articles so I would only have to do two summaries, but alas, it was not possible. Hopefully, my summaries are concise and do the job of explaining what I read in each article. I went back through each summary to edit and make sure that I did not quote or take anything directly from the sources, but just paraphrased. I also made sure I cited all the sources in my summary to make sure I gave credit where it was due. I was actually curious about my second article on how to do this because it is a wikipedia source and it took the information off of two articles, one which I had used for my bibliography. Since I was supposed to use one that I didn't use for Lesson 9, I was confused because technically I am using a wikipedia source but I did cite the two articles because wikipedia stated information gathered from them.  Hopefully this still falls into the instructions for this lesson.

Lesson 10 Journal Entry

A 70 year old veteran in Oregon will be served with an eviction notice in his apartment complex if he flies the American Flag on Veteran's Day.
I understand the need to follow rules set forth in the apartment complex lease, however, this is a little ridiculous. The  man served in the Navy, he has mutliple family members who have served. Are we not living in the United States of America. When has flying the American Flag suddenly become the wrong thing to do. Yes, flying of any banners is against the code in the apartment complex, but this is done more to prevent conflicts from rival sports teams. This is Oregon, a state which is part of the United States. Everyone in that apartment complex should be an American. Who is going to complain that flying the American Flag is against their beliefs, and if they do complain, guess what? You are in America. He should be flying that flag everyday but he only flies it on military service days and holidays. The apartment complex even put a crappy flag pole up with a flag that has already turned orange. When will the respect be given for these veterans that have served and fought for us so we can have the rights that we possess. Also, Veteran's Day is a government holiday, out of any day that the American Flag needs to be flown, it should be that day, his day.  This is a day that we put aside our own ideas and opinions and honor and remember those who have fought and served in the military. On all days, we should honor this veteran by allowing him to fly the American Flag on Veteran's Day.

Lesson 9 Journal Entry

*What else do I still need to do?
I still need to read my sources and take more notes, so I can have some more supporting details to bolster my thesis. I also need to organize my sources by using index cards and annotate them correctly. This will ensure a better prepared prewriting session in the next week or so.

* What do I need outside help with?
I will need outside help with my sources. I will need an outside perspective on my thesis to make sure I am not missing an points I can integrate. I will also need help with editing and second opinions on how differently I can phrase a sentence or paragraph. I will also need help with making sure I stay within the same tense and for comma placement and grammatical errors.

*Why am I feeling threatened by this research paper (if you are)? or Why am I feeling confident about this research paper.
I am feeling confident about this research paper because this is something I feel I have a somewhat personal perspective on. People vent about things that upset them in different ways. I remember my mom venting on her fear of Desert Storm by drawing a cartoon about her feelings at the precise moment that the war had started. Now here I am trying to express my feelings on the pain and suffering that our unit has been through during this deployment. I feel for these soldiers so much. This is my outlet and I hope to be able to bring about an understanding to my audience on what these soldiers are enduring. I also hope to further my understand so I can find a way to help.

Lesson 8 Journal Entry #3

Score for Thesis Statement Exercises: 80%
Document attached to Lesson 8.