D#2, HW#1, Reading Reflection

In Everything is an Argument, chapter 1 it basically gives you an overview of what an argument is, the purpose of arguments, and different types of arguments. I've learned that everything that is spoken or written is considered an argument. There are several purposes of an argument which include arguments to inform, convince, explore, make decisions, or for meditation. Arguments can be about the past (forensic arguements), the present (often about contemporary values), or the future (deliberative arguments). I read that when writing an argument you also need to focus on your audience and decide if you want to use emothional appeal, ethical appeal, or logical appeal. In Everything is an Argument, chapter 20 it shows you exactly how to document your citations in MLA format. It gives several samples of the correct formatting for citing different kinds of books, journals, magazines, websites, films, and a lot more.

In The Bedford Researcher, chapter 1 it helps you to get organized before you pick your research topic, it tells you different ways to generate ideas about topics you are interested in, such as brainstorming, freewriting, looping, and clustering. Chapter 2 helps to you explore your topic more and narrow it down the main issue. It prompts you to talk with people who are affected by your topic so you can obtain useful and personal opinions. Then finally narrow your broad topic down to an issue that is the most important, sustain your interest, and fit the class requirements. Chapter 10 tells you good ways to take notes such as quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Chapter 18 is similar to chapter 20 in Everything is an Argument. It teaches you how to cite in the research paper as well as in the bibliography. Chapter 5, section c tells you how to search online for information on your topic. It reccomends that you use blogs, web portals, newsgroups and other similar resourses.

The websites listed in the handbook have guides to help you research better and aides in writing papers, one of the sites wasn't working for me.