Weblog Assignment #6: Reflect on how your attitudes or opinions have changed over the quarter as youhave moved from Analytical Research, Digital Composition, To Opinion Editorial.

Looking at the begging of the quarter my attitudes towards analytical research has only intensified. I am a person with a “type A” personality, so when I have to read writings that have no point to them it kind of makes me aggravated. As for digital composition and opinion editorial I love expressing my own thoughts and reading the thoughts of others. There is more room to freely express and to prove a point.  I do believe it was essential to learn the differences between the three in order to become a well rounded person.

Beth’s Op-ed

Over the years of human existence one question can never me solved: Why are we here on this planet called Earth? In order to answer this difficult question (that seems to never hold an answer) people created ideas or theories which evolved to the term “religion”. Creating a belief system to help understand why things are as they are, and why things happen as they do; but as time went by the world evolved into a more complex and populated community, and as the world grew into several cultures so did religion.

For example, back in the day many people were pagans or polytheistic. The ancient Chinese people believe that there was a god for everything; like the god of the sun, god of fire, god of water, and so on.  As for the Geeks they believed in gods with human characteristics and were responsible for something on earth; like Zeus the god of the sky who controls the storms and lightning, or Hade the god of the underworld who traps the dammed souls.  As for the Catholics, Jews, and Muslims who are monotheistic; they believe that God created the universe and has complete control of life, and He has a plan for all of us.  

According to Webster, religion is “a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs”.  

Almost every religion is based off of an earlier belief from the past, but one can only see the similarities by looking at the foundation.  Every religion needs a place to worship, a spiritual leader who is connected to some sort of higher being, and follows specific guidelines to help members to live life as civil, obedient, and generally good people. But one can question the idea. For most people religion is a very sensitive topic because many individuals walk in this world as atheists, agnostics, or “nonbelievers”.  That they do not believe there is life after death, and there is no such thing as a supreme being. Like before, people have created religion.  Created a belief system to help understand the world of why things are as they are, and why things happen as they do.  In reality no one really knows the truth.  Who can say there is a Heaven or Hell?  Who can say that there is a God? What if the so called “chosen people” are really kooks that like the idea to persuade people to be good?

Again no one truly knows what happens after we die, and the question “why” will never go away.  Like the idea of memory for example, why can we remember? What happens to that memory when we die?  Why were we put on this mass called earth? Why do people experience supernatural events like premonitions, out of body experience, and a message from God? All of these questions are like trying to answer what came first: the chicken or the egg? Its never ending.

But again when looking at this in a different perspective, every religion is completely different but has similar ideas which can render the thought that maybe there is a higher being that controls every aspect of life; that this being has a plan which does not make sense to us now but will in the end.  Just maybe some one has a set plan for all of us, that can help us make right decision and has a place for us to go when we die- a great place to live happily for eternity and for every one who wronged us to live miserably in Hell.  But humans have a natural habit to find answers to things which do not make sense. 

This comes to the conclusion that religion is a theory.  A theory to give hope to the living that maybe there is a chance for a retirement.  I guess we will never know.

Weblog Assignment #7: How night you use your weblog outside the contes of English 110? What future projects (personal, academic, or professional) might find a voice at your weblog?

It is obvious that some of my fellow peers will never us a weblog ever again. As for other students weblogs is a way to vent and express feelings towards a topic; for example abortion, parenting, teen rebellion, latest news, education, etc. I believe I will be using weblogs in my future so I can no longer be trapped by immature conversations, and be able to express my ideas that many do not understand.

Weblog Assignment #5: What do you take to be the rules and conventions of the op-ed genre? Cite at least one example form a current op-ed.

Op-ed’s are writings to express a voice. They show emotion and express feelings. These writings are bias and persuasive; usually it’s an act of venting over an issue.  They usually are about five plus paragraphs running about 650 words.  But sometimes they are short and to the point like this one.

Weblog Assignment #4: After closely reading a recent op-ed, consider what organizing strategies or structures are found in your op-ed; are the author’s choices effective?

Op-ed used.

The author’s strategies in this op-ed first brings in the audience with the title “Pirates’ Delight” because it is a play on words. Then at the beginning of the article it informs the reader of the latest pirate activity of capturing a Hong Kong vessel called Delight.  As the reader reads on the author gives background information on the pirates on what targets they are looking for. From there he moves on to the United States strategies on to stop pirates from taking over U.S. ships and how important it is for our nation.

Weblog Assignment #3: Reflecting upon the different experience of writing for academic and popular audiences.

Writing for an acidemic audence is really different from writing to a popular one.

When writing for an academic audience could be difficult. The audience already has knowledge over the topic and will be accepting accurate details. They also could give you more information or site other sources that could help with the topic chosen.   It is always nice to write to people that know what you are talking about.

As for popular audience it is a bit easier. The only problem is that you have to explain in full details. This audience does not have a clue what the topic is about and would need to be informed of difficult terms and ideas. It is always nice to be the main focus in helping others learn something new.

Weblog Assignment #1: Describe Analytical Research Project

The Analytical Research Project is a research paper, but writing analytically is completely different than writing a regular research paper. In order to write analytically, our class read a lot of articles involving the style. Every article had the format of not completely giving a point until the end of the document. Another way to say this is when one writes analytically one must explain the process of understanding the point in the conclusion; just like how a scientist experiments with his research using hypothesis and then the final result at the end.

 

My Analytical Research Project is quite creative. The topic I chose involves the idea of religion.  Everyone has the idea that every religion is different but what people do not realize is that almost every religion has similar foundations for the belief; a building to worship in, a higher being to worship, and a set of guidelines for members to follow are part of this foundation.  When people finish reading my paper they come to a conclusion that religion is just a theory, and no one knows the truth of why we are here and what happens when we die.