MLA Style

As stated in The Little, Brown Compact Handbook, English, foreign languages, and some other humanities use the documentation style of the Modern Language Association. When using MLA. Style you twice acknowledge the sources of borrowed material. You do it in your text, a brief parenthetical citation right after the borrowed material. Also at the end of your paper in  a complete list of works cited. The in-text citations should correspond with the list of works cited and vis versa.

Neat People vs. Sloppy People

You would think the only difference between a neat person and a sloppy person is, well, a neat person is neat and a sloopy person is sloppy. You know, neat people always have to have everything in order and organized. Sloppy people don't really care. They don't see their mess as being a mess. They see it more as organized junk.

Suzanne Britt went into depth when she explained the differences between neat people and sloppy people in her essay Neat People vs. Sloppy People. She talked about a few things I didn't even think classified the two as being different. For instance, she said that neat people would throw away sentimental things like birthday cards. I didn't know a birthday from your grandma could take up so much space. 

I've heard that the first steps to getting help is admitting you have a problem, so hello my name is Precious Golden and I am a sloppy person. 

But being a sloppy person isn't so bad. Yeah we may have to dig through a few piles of junk just to find a piece of paper we had just the day before, but that's not so bad, once you get used to it. Okay yeah, sloppy may hold on to a lot of things, but that's because it means something to us. 

Needless to say, sloppy people and neat people are different in many ways. A neat person can tell you the exact spot where to find something in there house, while a sloppy person would have to get back to you on that when they find it themselves.

So tell me, are you a neat person or a sloppy person?

What I've Learned From Doc 1

When we first began this assignment, I didn't know much about what an online professional image was. I knew it had something to do with social media and other things you post online, but I wasn't completely sure. I learned that it was all that and more.

Your online professional image is a representation of who you are. Whatever you post online about yourself can be seen by people all over the world. I learned that even if you try to remove something online, it is never completely gone. I also learned that there are ways you can clean up your image too.

In order to avoid having to clean up your image, be careful about what you post online. Not only what you post,  but your friends as well. Be sure they aren't posting anything you wouldn't want your name attached to. Remember that what is online about you now could come back to haunt you in the future.  

How to Handle a Reader

How do you handle a reader? Not necessarily saying the reader, themselves,  needs to be handled, but the reader's comments. How do you respond to a reader?

There are a lot of ways you can handle a reader's comments. You could go off on them. You could ignore what they are saying.  There are a lot things you can do. Even though you could handle the reader's in that way, we all know that those aren't the best ways.

The best way to handle a reader is to be cordial. It may have taken you a lot of time and energy to write a paper, but it also takes time for someone to read your paper as well. I think if someone takes the time to read your paper and comment on it, you should take it into consideration and read their comments.

You worked hard on your paper so you want it to be perfect, why not take some of that advice that could make your paper better. Now I'm not saying that you have to listen to everything the reader is saying, because you don't. If you don't agree with something, simply diasgree. If you don't feel what they are saying is going to better your paper, you don't have to take anything they say into consideration.

Be cordial with your readers. Respect them and be thankful that they are trying to help you. Letting them help you now will allow you to help someone  else later.

Peer Evaluating

Like I have stated in a previous post, I don't really consider myself a good writer. I still struggle with writing sometimes. Since I don't consider myself as a good writer, I never felt I had any authority to evaluate anyone else's paper.

When Mr Hamon told us we had to evaluate another groups paper I was kind of hesitant. Like I said, I'm not that good of a writer so I didn't feel comfortable evaluating another paper. Also, I didn't want anyone to read my group's paper either. I was very afraid I wasn't going to know what I was talking about when making comments. I was also afraid that that the group evaluating my group's paper was going to have a lot to say about it. 

When we began evaluating, I was a little nervous. I simply read the essay and made a few comments that I thought were necessary. When I went to check on my group's paper, I thought there was going to be red flags everywhere. 

We had a few mistakes but it wasn't anything that couldn't easily be fixed. I was honestly more attentive to my portion of the essay. I wanted to see what I had done wrong and needed to be fixed. 

To my surprise,  I didn't have too many errors in my paragraph. I was very shocked but more relieved that I had wrote something that was okay, besides a few spelling errors and the use of contractions. 

In the end, I was pretty happy I got the chance to evaluate another group'spaper. I was kind of nervous that the people in the other group were going to say something like " you don't know what you're talking about," but that didn't happen. I think the group even took what I had to say into consideration. I know that doing things like this is only going to help me become a better writer, which is the outcome I want to have at the end of the semester.

What do I want to be?

I can be pretty indecisive at times. I changed what I wanted to be four times while I was in high school, and all four of those times was when I was in the 9th grade. I went from wanting to do acrobatics in the circus, to wanting to be a  wedding planner, to wanting to be a dental surgeon. Then I got to the point to where I didn't know what I wanted to do. I was undecided, until I got to the 11th grade.

When I got my class schedules for junior year, I noticed I had a class called Marketing Co-op. I didn't know what this class was. I didn't know who taught the class and I was ready to change that class before I got in it and before I got to see what it was all about.

When I got in the class and I saw who the teacher was, I knew at that moment I had to change my class.( I will have to share a story about this teacher in another post.) The teacher started introducing himself and started talking to the class, and to be honest everything he was saying went in one ear and out the other for me. I just did not want to be in this class. But, in the midst of his speech he said something that caught my attention. He told us that we would be the class operating the school store.

When he told us this it was bitter sweet for me. I was super excited that I would be one of the students operating the school store. While at the same time, I did not want to be in this teacher's class. I put my personal feeling aside and I decided to stay in the class because I wanted to run the school store.

This class was, by far, my favorite class out of off the elective classes I had taken. Mr. Brown, my teacher, taught us the ins and outs to running a business. He let us do everything and I do mean everything in that store. From merchandising, to managing, he let us do it all.

Mr. Brown even let us watch episodes of Shark Tank and The Apprentice. Those two shows became my two favorite shows. After being in that class for a while, I figured out what I wanted to do.

I want to be a business woman. I want to own my own business. Managing a store in high school really opened my eyes to something new. It sparked a new interest for me. Everything has a business aspect. I want to further my education in business so that I can be the one to handle all the business.

I have a dream of owning my own business one day, I just don't know what that business is going to be yet. But, whatever it is I know that I am going to prosper and and I am looking forward to starting my journey to becoming a successful business woman.

Using Writing as a Tool for Learning

I never really understood what writing to learn actually meant. I have heard the term quite a few times this year but I never got an actual explanation of the meaning, until I read the online essay Writing to Learn. After reading that, I got a pretty clear understanding of what writing to learn meant, and I realize exactly how I have used writing as a tool for learning.

I have used the "pen in hand" tactic, talked about in the essay, quite a few times. Whenever I read something and I come across words I don't know, I write them down and look up the meaning. The same goes for when I need a better understanding of what I have just read. I will jot down key notes from the reading and extend my research off those notes. Even though I didn't know it then, I know it now. I use writing as a tool for learning. Writing is what helps me get a better understanding of what I read. Writing is the most essential tool for learning.

What is a Friend?

What is a friend? Better yet, what is a real friend? What qualities should a real friend possess?

Just out of curiosity I looked up the meaning of the word friend today. I read quite a few meanings, and  I don't think I came across two definitions that were the same. Most of the definitions stated something about being able to have fun and hangout with a person.  But we all know that there is much more to a friend than just being able to hangout and have fun.

Everyone has their own meaning of what a friend is.  It's taken me a while, but I think I've got a good sense of what a real friend is to me. My definition of a real friend is pretty simple.

A real friend is someone who excepts you for who you are. He or she is someone you can talk to about anything. A real friend is someone you can tell your mistakes and they be free of judgment. 

They are going to tell you the truth even if it may hurts you. A real friend is someone that knows when you are hurting even when no one else does.  They will always be there for you no matter what. A real friend knows you and like you just because you're you.

How do you define a real friend? Do you have anyone you can call your real friend? Do you consider yourself a real friend?