Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 4/28

Fast Food in America by Matt, Jose, Brett
This presentation informed me about the health risks from fast food amongst adolescents and adults. History of fast food was presented as well as the strategic location of the fast food restaurants and the advertising that occurs on TV. I thought the greatest strength from this group came from the fact that the everyone in the class is affected by fast food in some way or another. The only weakness that I recall was the way the presenters were informal at times. For example, a few times they would cuss. This doesn't offend me in anyway at all, however, I just thought that this made them lose a little bit of credibility. Other than that I thought this presentation left a positive impression on the class because of the proposed solutions to the problems they presented.

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 4/28

NCAA Athletes
This group addressed the amount of pay athletes would make if colleges were to start paying them. They also revealed the imbalance of money distributed to Division I colleges. The amount of time and effort that athletes input towards their devoted sport of choice is proportional to amount of scholarship money granted to the athletes according the presenters. Strengths from this group's presentation include the information about the absurdity in some of the NCAA rules. For example, one rule that enlightened the class about was that these massive football players are only allowed a bagel, two tangerines, a pack of nuts, and a pack of cream cheese. Weaknesses that I noted from this group were that some of their slides had too much content and was unappealing to myself as an observer. Other than that I thought it was a solid presentation with content that all of the observers as Sac State students could relate to in some way or another.

Reviews Group Research Presentations 4/28

Altered State of Legality by Spencer, Melissa, and Thai

I thought this group's presentation was good from the beginning to the end because of how they grasped my attention early on and continued to keep me tuned in. This group had relevant content that made the presentation entertaining and easy to observe and digest. A strength this group had was that they were giving staggering statistics about the amount of people incarcerated for the possession of marijuana despite this drug decriminalizing in the U.S. The interviewees quote also was appealing because of how marijuana will be used regardless of the legality of this substance. I didn't identify any weaknesses in this group that were memorable. The content was good and the speakers were clear and confident with the material addressed.

Multimodal Group Research Project Reflection Paper

Should College Athletes Be Paid?

            The multimodal group research project was unlike any other large assignment we’ve done because prior to this assignment everything was an individual effort and all the stress of the assignments burdened one person. This assignment proved to be very different because of the coordinating with group members to reach the necessities required for the project. In our group my role was to effectively communicate with the other members by completing and understanding the slides of our presentation that I agreed to work on. Making an outline before creating the slides was also a task I accomplished which proved to be beneficial for us to map out how we would present. For example, the order of the slides was guided primarily by how the outline was made and the main points covered in the presentation were also established because of the outline.

            As I mentioned earlier, this project is like no other in this course so far. With that said, we discovered new successes, but we also found ourselves overcoming new problems and obstacles. These new problems included having to find times to meet outside of class with our group mates that wouldn’t conflict with each other’s schedules. Because interviews for this assignment were mandatory, I also had to schedule a meeting in advance to interview someone for our assignment in order to have the materials needed for the slides.

            Overall I think we would probably deserve a high B on this assignment, however, this grade may just be me being modest about the group’s work. I feel a large amount of time and effort has been needed from me and my group members inside and outside of class. While I haven’t presented yet I feel as though I am knowledgeable and aware of the content I will cover in this presentation. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1goBekT6OW3-ZkM3jyT7be2VLemsUOyj4OJfpRPQJX_g/edit?usp=sharing

Pre-Conference Task

Francisco Reyes

21 April 2014

Professor Fleischer

English 1A

Pre-Conference Task

1.) For the Personal Literacy Narrative I don’t only plan on having minimal grammatical and mechanical error because that is a given, but I do plan on going into more depth for clarity where needed. I would use the comments on my third draft to make amends; however, I currently do not have any comments on my most recent draft. Also, I need to familiarize myself with this assignment because it is a rather distant assignment in this class and doesn’t pertain to the group work in class that has attracted much of my attention in the class.

2.) My role in the group so far has entailed me to construct an outline of how our group will go about in presenting our assignment to the class. Some struggles that have come with this assignment are the need to constantly communicate outside the class with group members to have a solid presentation coming up.

3.) I feel as though I have been putting maximum effort towards this class and was wondering if it was possible to complete the semester with an A in the course. Other than that I don’t believe I have any other concerns except for the e-portfolio that is coming up because it is by far the largest assignment in the course regarding points.

Response Paper #3

1.)

Wolff, Alexander. "An Honest Wage." 80.21 (1994): 98. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fa7720d0-b71f-465c-a6a0-18bfeb6cd01b%40sessionmgr115&hid=127&bdata=#db=aph&AN=9405317633>.

            In this Sports Illustrated article author Wolff breaks down the frustration within talented college athletes that generate high amounts of revenue, but regulations prevent them getting cash in hand. The author gets the opinions and thoughts of the college athletes and presents their issue through the eyes of the athletes. An argument that is proposed because of the contrasting opinions is that college athletes bring in millions of dollars to the institutions they represent and compete for; however, in the end the sole beneficiaries are the ones not playing. The athletes feel they should receive a portion of the revenue they themselves attract because of their athletic talents, but rules and representatives disagree and feel that their scholarships are sufficient enough. In my eyes the author is targeted the fans schools that have a heavy reliance of revenue that originates from athletics. Wolff concludes that while money is the motive for many of the talented athletes, in the end they will seek what they were initially supposed to be there for, an education. Some limitations of this text were the fact that for an article it was rather short and brief without too much specifics and details.

            The article is highly relevant to support mine group and I’s stance on whether or not college athletes should get paid, but the publication is moderately outdated despite the article being relevant and almost identical in today’s scenarios. I agree with the athletes that if their talents attract fan and money than they should be able to enjoy the benefits just like the representatives from the school and conferences do.

2.)                                                                                                                                

Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/>.

            In Branch Taylor’s, “The Shame of College Sports,” he takes an in depth analysis of NCAA teams’ revenue and who receives the money produced from the teams. Taylor realizes where the bulk of the revenue comes from and how much is actually made. The argument in this article is that because colleges in the US are the only institutions in the world to make profit on such a grand scale through sports through sports then the athletes that contribute heavily to this revenue should get a fraction of the money. The audience intended to see this article is most likely going to be the savvy college fans that watch these teams on national television or the individuals that purchase any college athletic merchandise. The text seems reliable because to many college sports fans the material in Taylor’s article is commonly known but he does a superb job at bringing all of this material together to make sense of it and persuade readers to understand and accept college athletes to get paid. Strength in the text was the difference of how much the college representatives made from sports which was in the millions compared to the athletes’ zero dollars of profit.

            This article is extremely relevant to my group’s research because it has given a new perspective of how athletes in college should be treated. We can model our mentality like the author’s when doing this research and the forming our own opinion. For example, the author went into his research open minded and unbiased, and came out with a new mentality. After reading this text I feel that college athletes should be paid and if not then amendments should be made on where the revenue is distributed to. 

Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language"

In the reading, "Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language," it describes how the world as we know is altered and perceived differently by people because of different language principles. These principles describe various details in language and communication that change the outcomes of our perceptions of the world. For example, if three people from contrasting occupations observe an object the three individuals may obtain different opinions and information about the object because of the every day jargon they use in the profession. Other principles and their examples in language alter our perceptions of the world is by the way we structure or word certain facts. This happens intentionally to persuade or make information in an individuals favor sometimes but this also may happen unintentionally just by the way we communicate. Not only does the sequence of words change the way information is perceived by the slight modification of words selected also accomplishes this. The change of words allows the opportunity to make a negative or positive view for people to understand about a topic or fact.

"Reviewing" and "Evaluating Sources" Summary

In the reading from The Everyday Writer, the textbook gave tips and guidance for the necessities of writing a research paper and where to begin your research. We use research for various scenarios which means it is essential to be able to distinguish what kinds of sources are going to be beneficial when writing. Ideally when writing a paper for academic purposes it would be most beneficial to use scholarly works instead of popular sources to attain credibility because of the fact that scholars are typically educated in a concentrated field. Libraries, the internet, and field research are good places to begin research to obtain a foundation on what you'll be looking for as your research progresses. Starting and continuing research may difficult when trying to do so alone. Thankfully, librarians are good aids to help with research because of their knowledge about how to navigate and find books, encyclopedias, and so forth. Being able to correctly paraphrase is important because it properly emphasizes the main points of the material you researched.

Response Paper #2

Francisco Reyes

4 April 2014

Fleischer

English 1A

Response Paper #2

            The timing of this assignment couldn’t have been any more impeccable and appropriate. Over spring break I went on a 5 day trip with a friend to visit a mutual friend in the city of Waikiki, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I had always dreamed of going to Hawaii but never thought I would get the opportunity to go until my friend invited me to go on this trip with the gift of a paid airline ticket. I was extremely fortunate and grateful for having gotten a once in a life time opportunity to go to this distant state. While I visited an area notorious for tourism, I went to visit a friend and it was just coincidental that my friend lived a block away from one of the most popular beaches in Hawaii.

            Areas that the island of Oahu is known for are Waikiki beach and Hanauma Bay. I did many things on my short trip there but I was sadly not capable of going to Hanauma Bay because it was closed by the beach authorities. Jellyfish were unknowingly present and forced the shutdown of the beach because the jellyfish were stinging all of the people on the beach. Many people go to Hanauma Bay is often crowded due to the clear watering and the potential to swim alongside turtles in the shallow waters. Thankfully my friend has lived in Hawaii for about a year now she took me to a primarily locals only beach known as Sandy Beach. The locals and the beach were a cultural phenomenon like no other. Waves were massive, all the people were lax, and the weather was flawless. While it is illegal to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol on the beach people were consuming these substances in the open and having a great time.

Other notable things I did on my trip were the experience of attending a luau and riding mopeds throughout the island. We drove up a mount side on our own mopeds to a view of all of Waikiki. The road that we took up the mountain was steep, windy, and full of dense vegetation that surrounded us in every direction. After seeing much of the city from our mopeds we went to the luau and watched the hosts perform Polynesian dances originating throughout the Pacific while eating local food.

If I ever have the opportunity I will certainly go back to Hawaii only hoping to stay longer next time. Everything there was astonishingly beautiful and the people there were all happy and friendly; however, if I were handed a free plane ticket to anywhere I can’t say I would choose Hawaii. There are many other places in the world that I wish to see in my lifetime such as Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Paris, Milan, and many other cities that I may or may not get the opportunity to see. I’d have to visit all of those places for myself before I say I would go back to Waikiki over those cities.