Swales' CARS Model

Move 1: Establishing a Territory

When it comes to social networks and false appealing profiles many users do tend to create false profiles without even realizing it. This is important because many users tend to "stretch the truth." For example, by being able to pick and choose what pictures users want to upload onto their profile.

Move 2: Establishing a Niche

Through my research, I've come to realize that not many users are aware of how often people create false appealing profiles. Also, just by talking about this subject with my peers, many of them didn't understand what I meant by a false appealing profile; instead, they thought I meant a completely made up person with their own profile. I decided to do some research of my own for this topic. I looked at some of my peers' Facebook pages to see if their pages were entirely true. Come to find out, my profile page wasn't exactly who I am, therefore, I am guilty of creating false appealing profile.

Move 3: Occupying the Niche

The purpose of my essay is to make my readers aware of the how often people create false appealing profiles. In order to support this, I researched different social networks, such as, Facebook, MySpace, MUDs, etc. Some sites are created specifically for the purpose of being someone you are not, whereas, with other sites, they're specifically made to represent who you are. By the end of my essay, the reader should be well aware of how often false appealing profiles actually occur. In fact, there profiles cannot only affect the user's image, but can also affect other people. For example, the 13-year-old girl who committed suicide due to a cruel prank played through MySpace. For the structure of my paper, I plan on starting with a question of how many people know someone who stretches the truth on their Facebook or MySpace pages, in hopes that this will catch the reader's attention. Then I will talk about MUDs and how they were created specifically for users to be someone/something they're not. I feel as if not very many people are educated on what a MUD is, so it'll help by explaining a little more about them. Next, I will get into the different studies of college students and their Facebook profiles. I will wrap up my essay by reminding my reader to keep an eye out for it and to always remain aware.

Chapter 7 and 8 Quiz

For my Core 4 assignment, I plan on arguing how in some cases, it is clever to create a false profile to make the user seem more appealing, however, it is not a smart choice. For this argument, I personally feel that my research is a combination of both, an argument of definition and an argument of fact. I clearly state my opinion and side of the argument, stating that it is not smart to create a false appealing profile. In Lunsford’s book, “Everything’s an Argument,” it states “definitional arguments don’t just appear out of the blue; they evolve out of the occasions and conversations of daily life” (pg 228). This unquestionably relates to my research because Internet social-networks are used in people’s everyday lives. For example, today, many users of Facebook have an application on their phone giving them updates on what’s going on. In my research I’ve found that people tend to stretch the truth, making their profiles not “really who they are.” People put up the pictures they want other people to see; users aren’t going to upload and post a bad photo of them. I feel as though my research will help my peers realize how users of Facebook and other social-networking sites do create a false appealing profile just based on the little things that can be altered.

Also in Lunsford’s book, she explains how design issues also play a role in an argument of definition (pg 232). She gives examples of italics, boldface, and headings in writing and how they also play a part. This relates to my research because on Facebook, for example, you can add various symbols, boldface, underline, larger font, etc. to make what you’re saying more noticeable. Even though Facebook is fairly new, you still can find information about it and the effects of false appealing profiles in some scholarly articles, newsgroups, and even in some college dictionaries. Facebook is continuing to progress and have a strong influence on people’s everyday lives.

My research can also be considering a factual argument because it does “tend to be driven by perceptions and evidence” (pg 182). In the research I’ve found, there have been many cases where researchers have examined and surveyed users of Facebook and other social-networking sites. Also, some of the research I found contains opinions then supports them with evidence and different studies. For example, in Sherry Turkle’s “Life on the Screen,” she is researching and observing the different MUD characters used and eventually runs across one of herself. This changes her whole perception and looks at her research in a whole other view point.

The information I used to conduct this research has helped me with defining my argument. I found my topic to be both a factual argument and an argument of definition.

Research Reflection - 4/6/10

Reflect on your research found to date... What do you think about the conversation between all of the authors so far? Do you have any concerns or see any problems with any of this research?

The research I've found has seemed to support my argument that online networking makes it easy for users to create false appealing profiles. The authors of my research all seem to have the same view points. Sherry Turkle explains how there are websites/games that allow you to create a false character allowing the users to be anyone or anything they wanted. The most interesting point in her research is how she came across a MUD that was "Dr. Turkle." She explains how freaked out she is by it and how it affected her. Brad Paisley uses satire to explain how he is "so much cooler online." I feel like this is great for my paper because my paper will be written towards my peers (young adults). In his song, Online, Paisley talks about a lot of funny things that I know I, myself, as well as many of my peers have came across while browsing online.

In Zhao's, Identity Construction on Facebook, he explains how easy it is to create a false persona on Facebook. This is the research that affected my ways of thinking the most. I feel like I will be using this research frequently in my research. When Zhao explains how when users just pick pictures that they "look best" in, this is creating a false profile. People get to pick and choose what they want on their profile, sometimes stretching the truth. I feel like this research will also have the most impact on my peers while reading my paper, because it is very true.

The only problems I'm having with research, is trying to find two more sources. A lot of the information I'm finding is about stories of people on social networks or simply information that does not pertain to my research/paper. Overall, I feel like this research has helped me a lot and helped me have a better understanding of the research I am actually doing.

Plagiarism Workshop 3/18

1. 0, it is not plagiarism. The two papers are completely different so as long as each of the students cites their sources, no plagiarism occurs.

2. 0, it is not plagiarism because it is the writer's own work.

3. 2, it is a small form of plagiarism. While the student did not use any of the other students' exact work, he still used some of their ideas to form his own.

4. 4, The student did not do all of the work by himself. He used another student's work as a template for his own work. It's a form of plagiarism because he took part of another student's assignment and used it for his own assignment.

5. 1, it has the potential to be considered plagiarism. According to Owl at Purdue, you can cite pictures. The example does not mention whether the student cited the picture or not, and also the teacher did not accuse him or his classmates of plagiarism.

While plagiarism should be taken seriously, we think that the consequences for plagiarizing are too harsh most of the time. We believe that expulsion should only be a possibility if plagiarism occurs more than once by the same student. We think that students who plagiarize should be given a 0 on their work, and have some other kind of consequence as well, but we think that expulsion is not necessary on the first accusation.

Anna Jones

Lauren Smoley

ENC 1102-112

Blog to Follow

http://www.thecelebrityblog.com/

Core - The Case of Lauren Smoley

Lauren Smoley

J Moody

ENC 1102-112

11 February 2010

The Case Study of Lauren Smoley

Technology has grown tremendously within the past ten years. It’s hard to picture life without cell phones or portable laptop computers. It’s crazy to imagine what the world will be like in ten years and how much more of an influence technology will have on our society. Both, technology and digital literacy play a huge role in my life today; it’s scary to think about what the future holds.

When I was born, I feel like technology was just getting started. People didn’t have cell phones or laptops; they had beepers and house phones with answering machines. I vaguely remember when I began to interact with my first computer. My dad rarely let me play on it by myself because it was such a new and expensive “toy.” When I was allowed on the computer, I remember opening up Notepad or Microsoft Word and typing random, improper sentences. For pure entertainment, I was usually found playing “School House of Rock.” There were many interactive games and catchy tunes such as “Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?” Soon enough, kids in my first grade class were playing the games and humming the tunes. Like Danielle DeVoss, these interactive games and appealing melodies, allowed my digital literacy skills to progress much quicker than many of my peers (DeVoss, pg 185, para 2).

As the years went on, one particular teacher made learning Microsoft Office a requirement. By the time I was in the fourth grade, I was learning how to use the basics of Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word. I was frequently assigned computer work and I had to always spice it up with a pretty banner or an interesting ClipArt picture. In the Future of Literacy, it explains how Joseph Johansen went through a lot of the same things I did. He also took a class that expanded his knowledge of computers.

Middle school was a drastic change for me. I was now taking six classes a day with six different teachers; and I could choose what I wanted to eat for lunch! I took a typing class my sixth grade year which taught me how to type properly with two hands and without looking. Also, our final project was to create a business of our own. While doing this project, I realized how many things Microsoft Office could really do. I made flyers, posters, business cards and created 3D images. My digital literacy has grown immensely because of that typing class.

Technology has always been very interesting to me and over the past few years I have come to realize how technology dependent I really am. I came to this realization when I was seventeen years old. One rainy day I was driving, following my friend, who lived in the next county, I lost control of the car and flipped it three times without wearing my seatbelt. As my friend turned her car around to make sure I was okay, the only thing I asked for was my cell phone. It’s scary to think how I was bleeding from several places on my body and the only thing I cared about was my cell phone. Now that I think back to it, I’m not sure if it was because I needed to call for help or because I was scared of going anywhere without it. Over a year ago, I was more concerned with my cell phone than the safety of myself; it’s terrifying to think about how much more of a bond people will have with technology and how lifeless they will feel without it.

Being a freshman in college, I’ve grasped the fact that there is no escaping technology; technology is everywhere. It’s very common for students to carry around a laptop to take notes on, or listen to lectures online rather than having to go into class. In the article, “Reimaging Computer Literacy,” Selber states, “colleges and universities are beginning to embrace requirements for computer literacy, as employers and academic accrediting agencies strongly urge upper-level administrators to do so” (pg 14, para 3). In the future, I’d like to pursue my dream as a radiologist. Because I have family in the radiology field, I have noticed that technology is advancing quickly. Sonograms and CT scans can be taken so easily now compared to five years ago. I predict that if technology continues to advance at this rapid pace, there won’t be a job left in the radiology field; technology will be doing all the work by itself. The vision I have of the future reminds me of the movie “Wall-E.” The population that lives in space is absolutely surrounded by technology. After many years, they become extremely dependent on technology and don’t know anything else. The majority of the population becomes obese and ultimately useless. It’s frightening to think, “What if that is what our future holds?”

Technology is taking over the world and it’s breathtaking to be able to watch and see all of the advancements. I started learning my digital literacy skills when I was about four years old; that’s back when Nintendo had the Duck Hunt game and writing letters was a common way of communication. Even today, I’m constantly seeing things I’ve learned throughout the eighteen years of my life. I must’ve heard the “School House of Rock” songs until I was a senior in high school. Even though they were fun to listen to at the time, they taught me some very important skills that I have now used for the majority of my life. Today, it is very hard to get away from technology; ultimately technology is the future.

Audience Awareness Article

Lauren Smoley & Anna Jones

http://www.jstor.org/stable/356601?seq=3

In the article, "Understanding a Writer's Awareness of Audience," Linda investigates whether or not experienced writers with formal training consider their audience more than writers without formal training. Although Linda believed that writers with rhetorical training would be more aware of their audience, she later found out, through her study, that there are two factors that play a bigger role in determining audience awareness. The two factors are whether or not the writer is informed as to who the audience will be, and also, how the writer views the task that is given to him or her. Therefore, the claim that Linda makes is that people with a better background in writing will be more aware of their audience compared to those with minimal amounts of writing in their background.