BIO
Hello everyone! I'm Kate and I'm a freshman at NC State University. I'm originally from Hickory, North Carolina. I'm an Environmental Science major who enjoys the outdoors, playing and watching sports, listening to music, and watching movies. I love animals and spending time with my family and friends. I also have an older brother who goes to State! Family means so much to me and I'm extremely grateful to have such a supportive one. I made this website for my English 101 class. We've done three major projects for this class. The first was a rhetorical analysis and mine is the analysis of the commercial "Dove Evolution." The second project was a genre remix and I did a movie trailer of Beauty and the Beast as a horror movie. The third project is an ethnography. I did an observation of the community at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. I hope you find the information on the site enjoyable and worth the read!
EW, this is my fav video
Thoughts on Writing...
On the first day of English 101, we discussed what we thought was good writing. In groups we came up with some ideas. The Top 5 "Good Rules" we had were, 1. Need a Thesis Statement, 2. Don't go off topic, 3. Don't use run-on sentences, 4. Diverse vocab, and 5. Make it unique. We then had to rank passages from best to worst according to our rules. It seemed that all of the passages that were boring to read we had to rank higher than the more interesting passages. This showed me that maybe writing isn't all about being grammatically correct and following a certain structure. I think it's more about expression and getting your point across in a clear and concise manner. As long as your audience knows what you're talking about and you keep them engaged, I think you're doing a good job writing!
Throughout the semester we've had to work on three different pieces. The first was a Rhetorical Analysis. I never knew what rhetoric was before I took this class, but I learned that it uses the Rhetorical Triad which includes Ethos, Logos, and Pathos. Basically everything has rhetoric. Most articles, commercials, billboards, and signs have a rhetorical purpose. With the use of rhetoric, you are hopefully able to persuade your audience in your favor. The second piece we worked on was a Genre Remix. We were to incorporate one genre into another. I learned that most movies and songs are just remixes of previous ones. The third piece we did was an Ethnography. This was a new technique for me to research and write in. I had never done a project where I had to do the primary research. It taught me yet another way of writing. We also had to do that paper in APA format which I was not accustomed to. By doing all three of these projects, I was introduced to new and creative ways of writing. Finally we had to transform each of our pieces into digital composition and create this website. Throughout my years of taking English in high school, we never did any digital essasys like the ones you'll find on here. I would've never thought to do anything like this and I guess that's what's amazing about writing; there are endless possiblities.
Coming into this class, I was just ready to get it over with since it's the only English I'll have to take in college. However, my views changed as I began to learn more about writing and how it doesn't have to always be a 5-paragraph essay with a thesis statement and at least 8 references. I wanted to become a better writer, but I didn't want to have to write 20 papers to do that. There are so many different ways of writing and I think by doing some of the styles I was able to appreciate writing much more. So my overall thoughts on writing are that it's a great way of expression and it's more flexible than people think.
Here's a little James Bay to brighten your day