Hello blogging world! I was just strolling through the internet today and came across an interesting video that happens to really help when it comes to integrating your sources. It is about a girl who wrote a paper and had it reviewed and had some minor citing problems in it. She discusses several problems that I have trouble with including hanging quotes and correct paraphrasing. Here is the video for you viewing pleasure:
Hello blogging world! Scott Odorico here to talk to you about my prompt for the week, which is integrating sources. I know what you're probably thinking; "Well hey, I already know how to do that!" That's exactly what I thought before I had my memory jogged and before I learned a couple of new things about integrating sources. For those who don't know what this is, it is the use of outside sources and documents in your own work, and citing it correctly so it is considered legal. Some difficult ideas to understand when Integrating sources are punctuation, quotation marks, use of parenthesis, and introduction of quotes.
So what is the first thing I think of when I think about integrating sources? I think about all of those papers I have written, and all of the mistakes marked off because of faulty citing and such. Mistakes such as incorrect punctuation and incorrect parenthesis have really killed me (with grades that is). Since videos and cool multimedia are pretty hard to come by on this topic, I am going to explain and address some major problems most young writers have with integrating sources.
The first problem I would like to address is punctuation. If most writers are like me, punctuation can be fairly confusing when it comes to citing sources. The best way to show you this is to give you an example:
-Scott Odorico stated in his personal diary, "I am simply the smartest man alive, and no one can argue that" (Odorico 3).
So when breaking down this example, one can tell that you simply introduce the quote by giving some outside information or the author and before stating the quote, you must use a comma. This introduction is key to include as you do not want to leave a quote just hanging their with no introduction. This introduction (and comma) introduces the quote following, and brings the reader into the quotation marks. Most writers know how to use the quotation marks, but more problems occur when addressing the end of the quote. In a normal statement, no comma or period is used to transfer into the parenthesis, which is a common problem for some writers. This can be different with an exclamatory remark or a question in a quote. An example of this is:
-Scott Odorico stated in his personal diary, "Is anyone really better than me at anything?" (Odorico 4).
As you can see, when an exclamation mark or question mark is used at the end of a quote, you include the mark as well as end the entire sentence (after the parenthesis) with a period.
As you can see, MLA format is pretty picky when it comes to citing your sources, and rightfully so. When it can lead into legal matters, why not be completely serious about citing sources? For some more information on integrating sources and citing quotes, I have found two pretty good websites for your viewing pleasure:
Well thanks for all of those who read my blog this week and come back next week for my next topic on writing! And remember, correctly cite your sources!
Hello big blogging world! How is everyone doing out there? If you're reading this and you should be working on some sort of term paper and were just looking for some website to take some "useless" information from, than leave! No, I'm just joking, you should most likely stay and learn a little lesson here, but you really should start that term paper.
Today my blogging prompt is simply plagiarism. And yes, very annoying, yet very important. Plagiarism, for those who have no gosh darn idea what it is, is the act of making someone's work your own without their permission and without citing their work either. This happens often with students, especially those lazy and forgetful enough to put off that huge term paper to the last day, and have to go online and copy documents completely for their paper! I know this doesn't happen to me in school, and hopefully not for you either.
In my junior year of high school right now, I am currently taking Law and American Society which takes an in depth look in law and other problems that occur from day to day life in our lives. I am telling you all this because we happen to be studying civil law right now, which is the act of one party against another party, usually in attempt to sue the other party. Now this situation happens a lot with conflicts over things like copyright, which is technically plagiarism! Copyright, again for those who do not know what it is, is the legal term for someone's exclusive rights to an object, and no one else may attempt to recreate it at all. This is the first thing I think of when I tumble across the term plagiarism.
Another thing I think of when I happen to be learning about plagiarism is all of those TV shows or movies that may take a line or idea from another TV show or movie. Now I'm sure most of you have either heard of something along these lines or even witnessed something that looked awfully peculiar and similar to some other show you watch. I found a clip that shows a great example of this exact idea. It is a combination of clips from the website College Humor, who actually took these lines and ideas from the movie Inception, and South Park who has been accused of plagiarizing College Humor's work. It is very clever and is actually a pretty amusing clip. Here you go (please excuse the last 5 seconds or so if you are easily frightened or do not like fake blood):
That video is a pretty good summary of what happens often when movie makers or show makers release a new hit.
I found one other video that is pretty funny and is about plagiarism and may actually be considered plagiarism itself. The reason I say this is because if any of you readers have seen the Subway commercials who voice dub all the actors with really high, squeaky voices to make it humorous, this video may relate to it for you. Here you go again world:
That video is pretty educational for being humorous, and as well as stressing the ideas in my opening paragraph for this blog. Well that's all the information and videos I have on plagiarism for my fellow bloggers today! And remember, don't put off that huge term paper to that late sunday night (I know I don't). I will blog with you later friends!
Just a quick fix on my last blog about logical fallacies, I wanted to correctly cite the source for the last web page I used.
Work Cited
Oly. "Logic 101 – a Nifty Link « Oly's Random Rants and Ravings." Oly's Random Rants and Ravings. Oly's Random Rants and Ravings, 23` Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. .
As well as this cite, I have recently found a hilarious ad online that I believe, and apparently so does the owner of this clip, is a ad populum fallacy. It is for Fed-Ex and attracts others to their product by saying everyone makes a commercial this way. Please watch:
Hey blogging world! The Scott Odorico here again to talk to you about my next prompt, which is the wonderful world of logical fallacies. For those who do not know what these are (just like I was), a logical fallacy is an incorrect argument or reasoning in attempt to persuade someone in an argument. These are very common devices, and there is a range of them! So many of them in fact, that it would take almost this entire page up if I wrote them all down. I'm just kidding of course, there are not that many (that I know of at least), but here are some key ones that I may discuss later on: slippery slope, ad hominem, straw man, and false dichotomy. These logical fallacies are so common that most of do not even recognize them due to how often they appear in everyday life!
When I think of logical fallacies, I instantly think about those ridiculous politicians (yes, those of both parties) who go above and beyond on trying to make an argument in their favor. These politicians often use straw man, or ad hominem fallacies which somehow always, always, always ends up in attacking the other politician (what a surprise, right?). The straw man fallacy is characterized as misrepresenting an opponents argument in an effort to make one's own argument much more attractive. The ad hominem fallacy can be defined as attacking a person making an argument rather that discussing the argument. One pretty good example of the ad hominem fallacy is between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, when they exchange attacks on the issue of nuclear war. Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
Here there is some attacking going on between these two politicians that obviously results in some false claims. Another more humorous, and fake example of an ad hominem fallacy is one of Steven Colbert, on his show on Comedy Central, called The Colbert Report. Although it is not exactly real, it stresses the idea of logical fallacies, nonetheless. Here is a clip from Steven Colbert's The Colbert Report:
Steven Colbert's comedic brilliance really makes this video tolerable, and gets the viewer away from the fact that an actual politician is saying something like this about another politician, on national television!
Another large logical fallacy in our country is the false dichotomy fallacy. This fallacy, which is defined as simplifying an argument so that there are only two choices or outcomes to choose from, appears often in commercials to make a decision easier for the viewer. One video I found is a great in depth look at false dichotomies and shows some good examples of ones in our country today. Here is the video for your viewing pleasure:
This man has some wonderful insight on the world of false dichotomies.
The final fallacy I would like to talk about today is the slippery slope fallacy. This fallacy, which is characterized as assuming that event X will set off a chain reaction of events resulting in dire conditions, is often in everyday talk and communications. Most of us, at some point in our life time, have probably said the phrase, "Oh, you're on a slippery slope, buddy!" And if you have said this, you used a logical fallacy! Woo Hoo! NO! Not "woo hoo" at all. To be a successful speaker and a successful arguer, one must try to stay away from logical fallacies.
Finally, if you are looking for some more logical fallacy fun, visit this blog post I found online, it is very amusing (especially the video).
Video 1: Chen, Andy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebT1Oo6yDMI&feature=related)
Video 2: Comedy Central, The Colbert Report (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ24HdCPN9E)
Video 3: Shanedk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-fZ_jHMwFE)
Link 1: (http://randomrantsandravings.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/logic-101-a-nifty-link/)
Well some of us know what ethos, pathos, and logos mean, but I sure didn't when they were first introduced to me. Ethos, in short, is the appeal to character or to an individual, pathos is the appeal to emotion (you, know really sad or really happy), and logos is the appeal to logic and reason (facts). These three terms came easily to me because, well, all writing I think has one of these three uses in them and can at times be easy to spot out.
When I first hear ethos, or the appeal to character, I instantly think of presidential campaign commercials. These, to me anyway, seem like the epitome of ethos usage in a type of writing. The main idea of these commercials are simply to impress a viewer and make him or her like you! Some commercials you see about elections can be pretty serious, but I know I have seen some just ridiculous commercials that are almost completely false. I don't believe this one is real, but proves my point nonetheless.
Pathos, although not the most important use in my eyes, is important and can help your writing nonetheless! This can be an important part of writing persuasive papers, and in my case (for my writing class-shout out to my teachers) proposal writing. Many common people like me and you readers are suckers for a sob story, which many advertisements take advantage of. I actually theorized about this that if you can make something sad, and soppy, a woman (or a man) will like it and will be interested in it, but that theory is still in the works of experiment... and was only thought about during 45 minutes in a class period. But anyway, when thinking about sad and soppy stories trying to convince an audience of something, nothing rings my bell better than the classic animal cruelty commercials.
Well, that clip sure spoke to my heart. Now I will have to push through these last paragraphs sobbing inside.
Now on to the last term of the day: Logos. In my mind, the usage of logos is clearly the most important term here. No one can say facts are lying and any fact given has to be played into consideration when thinking about the situation at hand. Now what is the first thing I think of when logos is at hand...
Well that's something different... silly Scooter. But what I do think of when logos is on my mind is this one funny commercial I have seen recently that uses logos, in a sarcastic way, to prove its point. It's a Worx Energy commercial and is pretty funny. Here it is...
Now I looked up some quotes using these three terms, and the best one I found was using pathos and by actor John C. Reilly and must be about (and I'm just guessing here) a new TV show he his producing.
This is real human drama, we're not creating some amusement park ride for the summer. Even though the movie is really exciting to watch, it's got a real pathos behind it. John C. Reilly
If some of my viewers had trouble viewing videos, and the Stu's Song in particular. I am reposting the video here for all viewers that couldn't see it, because, well, it is just a spectacular song.
So when someone thinks of cliches, they usually think well... "What does that mean?" At least, thats what I thought right away, until my memory was jogged by my wonderful teacher. A cliche, a common phrase or statement that is used so often it is universally known, is something everyone of us use and try not to in some circumstances. When I think of cliches, I picture those super awkward in movies or even in real life when that one really awkward guy you know (yes, you know who you are) says something just ridiculously cheesy and causes an extremely awkward silence. I can't stand those moments (so I usually make a joke back at him).
I don't know if anyone else notices this, but when I game (game=play video games (for the old timers)) I think it's hilarious when the announcers continuously make the same comments. And it's not just in gaming, but also in real life. This picture shows a pretty good representation of that.
I think it's just awkward when they say these things.
In the movies, cliches happen all the time... Even if you don't know it. When I watched this clip on Youtube I learned some cliches I didn't even realize were there. This video covers the 10 most used cliches in movies.
Obviously we have all seen this in movies and sometimes make them good, but others just make them outdated and "the usual."
Another popular area to have a cliche in a movie is during a waiting period. When nothing much is going on in a movie, cliches appear and can be pretty funny. Easily my favorite is this clip for The Hangover.
Probably one of my favorite cliches of all time is, "Stuff happens, or Sh** happens." These two are pretty common among teens as an adult would guess. Cliches happen to the best of us, even though we try to stray away from them because they lack originality. So be fresh in your writings, and stay away from cliches (thats a warning).
Hello blogging world. The Scott Odorico here, to give you the scoot (scoop) on Diction!!!
Diction is a fairly easy concept for me to grasp, but for others, not so much. It is confusing to me why the have to name the "choice of words in any type of literature, speech, or papers" something. Why can't it just be "choice of words?" Just pretty confusing to me...
When I think of Diction, I usually think of crazy raps that use intense beats and fantastic lyrics. One (someone from my era) would think of people such as Wiz Khalifa, Twista, Lil' Wayne, or Mac Miller even. All of these rappers use great diction that is their own and works for them. My personal favorite (diction) rapper is Watsky. I found him on the Internet a couple of months ago and couldn't resist from posting him on my blog since he is relevant to the topic. Here is his video. Try to stay caught up with his lyrics...
Pretty good, huh? Very entertaining, for me anyway. The reason diction is studied so much is it's use for writers to make it their own. Diction is supposed to be personal and is not supposed to follow the "norm." At least that what I believe, but don't tell this to your english teacher who is grading your work (oops). My second favorite (diction) rapper would have to be Weird Al. He creates parodies of hit songs and adds his own twist to them with his own spiced up diction. Check out my favorite video of him, "White and Nerdy."
I don't know if anyone enjoys those kinds of songs as much as me, but oh well. I guess my message to all of those young writers out there, is to be yourself and don't be afraid to write about whatever comes to mind.
Hello blogging world! The Scott Odorico here to talk to you about my experiences with writer's block.
Writer's block is an interesting, and yet very common, condition which effects all writer's, whether your a high school student like me, or a professional author. It is defined as a condition in which writers often get and stops them from producing new work, just as it sounds.
Now I have not had one of those typical movie moments when you see the trash can slowly fill up with crumpled up paper, but I have had my fair share of mind blockages in my years of a writer. In the cases when I have had writer's block, I usually cannot figure out a way to start the story or paper and just have a ridiculously hard time figuring out the words to write down. In some cases, listening to music is a way to stump one's writing blockage. I found this song on Youtube, and it fits the occasion perfectly.
When I have a hard time with writer's block, I try to break down my project or paper and try to make it as easy as I can. I start the project (which is usually the hardest part) and do all of the easy stuff first to make it more "attractive" to me. Then I try to do the stuff that is most enjoyable for me, which is tough to find.
Like I said, I haven't had one of those movie perfect moments of the writer trying to figure out what to write and staying up for long periods of time, but even I, yes, The Scott Odorico, has even been stumped once or twice about what to write. This last video I found pretty entertaining about writer's block and how this person gets out of it.
Hello fellow bloggers! Today I am going to post and talk about the three levels of writing styles. The three styles are: high, middle, and low. The styles are immensely different and can change your image to an audience greatly. The highest level of writing is a very educational way of writing and for very educated or educating papers. High style of writing is usually for science papers or some time of scientific writing. This style of writing is used when a lot is at stake. High style of writing has several concepts that make it high style, including: the use of proper and very sophisticated grammar, the use of professional vocabulary and punctuation, the use of 3rd person, and the use and siting of many quality sources.
Lower on the totem pole of style of writing is middle style. Middle style is used for everything in between the two extreme styles (high and low) and is used for average high school papers, business memos, personal statements and most books. Some characteristics of middle style of writing are: serious and humor writing, human voice rather than an institution's voice, general vocabulary, informal expressions, and defines difficult meaning words.
The lowest style of writing is obviously low style of writing. Low style of writing is very common in our everyday life. We use this for blogs (similar to this one, but obviously not as good), emails, instant messaging, and even texting. Low writing style often possesses qualities such as everyday subjects, pop-culture vocabulary, unconventional grammar, and does not always use complete sentences.
If you are having a hard time deciding which level of writing to write at, here are some things to consider:
-What is your subject?
-Who is your audience?
-Is it being graded by a professor?
-And is your topic serious or humorous?
Well I hope this helps any writers out there that were happening to wonder about the three styles of writing when you stumbled across this blog! And just remember, the three different styles of writing are for three different types of subjects and three different types of authors.