Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

Throughout the semester, it was encouraged to request feedback from each essay we composed as well as making accocational appointments to meet about the overall research paper. An example of this would be my Definition Argument Essay. After publishing my draft, I asked for feedback from Prof. Hodges and he soon delivered. I read over his comments and used the suggestions toward the final research paper when including the definition argument. There since were interactions about the overall Research Paper, which began with the definition argument and how this would eventually affect my final product. Overall, this shows how writing is a social and interactive practice in which there are recursive stages of its development. I was able to verbally talk out my ideas and have my Prof. either agree with my plan or suggest another way when I got stuck. Through this, my mind was opened to exploring new possibilities in my argument and discovering a new angle to develop my idea on.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

My Causal Argument demonstrates that I critically analyzed texts and put them into context with each other in order to argue my ideas. The causal argument was the meat of the argument where I was able to reference the journals and articles that I read and display the ideas that I created by analyzing these pieces. For example, I was able to marry the journal on integrating life lessons into a physical education class into the book about how to engage teenagers. With these established ideas, I was able to develop my own ideas on how to integrate the same life lesson program into core classes and how they would be engaging to that specific age group. This is evidence how ideas emerged and I was able to create my own so that the emerging ideas became support to the new idea.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

In the process of writing my research paper, a Rebuttal Argument went into the overall argument. The Rebuttal Argument had to be the section of the paper where people who had their reservations saw their point acknowledged, but then steered to agree with my ideas. For example, some people may have been against my idea to change parts of the curriculum to ensure more life lessons are taught. Many people do not like the idea of a radical change, but in my rebuttal, I made sure to explain that it is an evolutionary change. Also, I removed any rhetorical questions asked by myself to not let the reader’s mind wander and drive away from agreeing with my points. Overall, this argument allowed me to analyze my audience and protect my argument against critical thinking.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

Again, the Causal Argument was the center of the final paper in my opinion, so this is where the sources I found to support my claims shined the most. For example, the combination of sources such as the book on how to engage teenagers in the classroom and the article on how technology is changing skill sets worked separately, but together on the technology issue in the classroom. Both mentioned how students rely on the internet for answers instead of trying to find the answer on their own. So in retrospect, I chose this combination of sources to lean on each other and form new ideas of my own. They played the important role of supporting my ideas and providing me with new ways of thinking about my argument to make it stronger. 

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

When crafting the Research Paper, I had to collect various sources in order to research and support my ideas. This was put into one document in which the background and use of the source was stated to create an Annotated Bibliography. This assignment allowed the sources that I used in my paper to receive the proper recognition and not take those ideas as my own. The process was a practice of academic integrity along with quoting these sources in the final research paper in order to create that boundary to separate my own voice from the voice of the academic sources. It is a good representation of how sources should only encourage new ideas, not the right to seal others.