SWA # 23

Title: The issue of cultural artifacts and whether they should be repatriated to their countries of origin or not.

Intro/Thesis:

over the bast two centuries years, many countries have lost their artifacts to other countries due to varsity of reasons. Now, these countries are asking for the repatriation of their cultural artifacts and they are using different arguments to do so. on the other side, host countries are refusing the return of these artifacts and they are using some arguments to support the point of view.

thesis: the decision of whether an cultural artifact should be repatriated to its country of origin or not should be based on how an artifact was acquired 

 

1.     The issue and its importance

a- cultural artifacts have a great cultural importance

b.     give some examples about what cultural treasures represent to their people

c.     discuss the 1970 UNESCO agreement 

d.     discuss why it is important to find a root solution for this problem

e.   discuss the economic importance of cultural artifacts and how a country can benefit from them.

2.     The ways of acquiring cultural artifacts

a. illegal ways

war spoils, bribing officers, smuggled by diplomats....

give examples of artifacts that were illegally acquired 

 b.     Legal way

"find sharing" program, purchasing artifacts directly from other museums 

give examples of artifacts that were legally acquired

3.     Why I think the way of acquisition should be the deciding factor

             a- fair for all countries

             b- countries of origin use the argument that host countries acquired most of their artifacts illegally and therefore they do not have the right to keep them and should return them to the countries of origin.

             c- host countries admit that some artifacts might have been brought to their museums by private collectors but they do not provide any information about how those collectors got the artifacts. 

Conclusion:

- restate the main idea

- address the alternative views

- final thought

SWA # 22

essay # 4 pre-wrksheet

over the bast two centuries years, many countries have lost their artifacts to other countries due to varsity of reasons. Now, these countries are asking for the repatriation of their cultural artifacts and they are using different arguments to do so. on the other side, host countries are refusing the return of these artifacts and they are using some arguments to support the point of view.

thesis: cultural artifacts should not be repatriated for their countries of origin for many economic and cultural reasons. 

SWA # 21

What is the issue? Is its importance explained?  
The advantages and disadvantages of modern technology. It is well explained from four different perspectives


Are four distinct perspectives easily identifiable? What are they? Is the thesis informative and concise? 
The four perspectives are the perspectives of “: university professors and school officials, parents of students and young adults using these technologies, the students and young people themselves, and the makers, marketers, and producers of such gadgets” and they are clear from the informative thesis


Do the introduction and conclusion offer effective leads to and out of the argument? How do you know? 
Yes, because he starts the introduction by giving a good background about how technology has changed our lives entirely in five years


Is the essay effective? Explain? What would you have suggested to the student writer if you had been partnered for peer review?
I would suggest using transition paragraphs between the perspective because it is a long piece and the readers might get lost.

SWA # 19

Thompson, Janna. “Cultural Property, Restitution and Value.” Journal of Applied Philosophy. Vol.20, No.3. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. Web. March 12, 2012.

                        In this paper, Janna Thompson argues against the restitution of cultural artifacts. She provides some information about the values of cultural artifacts to people in general which I can use as a background in my exploratory essay. Thompson reports the positions of some big museums in England and the US about the point that the artifacts should not be returned only because the other country demands their return. She thinks that most of the cultural treasures we have today are not limited for a particular group of people or a specific place, however, they are universal and for all humans to enjoy and learn from. She tries to convince her readers to accept her idea by listing some cases in which she thinks the artifacts should not be repatriated. For example, if the artifacts were legitimately acquired and not taken without consent or justification from others, and if the item does not play an important in the culture she thinks they should not be repatriated. Thompson also adds the idea that cultural property should not be returned to their place of origin if their countries cannot protect them just like Iraq and Egypt. Her main point is that a country should not be able to demand the restitution of an artifact only because it was produced by some members of that country.

                        Thompson presents her point of view about the issue without paying too much attention to the use different types of arguments. She does not use any statistics or respond to any one in particular. She lays out her opinion and tries to support it with logical arguments and that is it. There is not any addressing to the alternative views that might disagree with her claims. However, the paper is a good source of logical arguments against the repatriation of cultural property. Her argument about the universality of most of the artifacts is a good starting point for to explore more about those who have the belief that cultural artifacts should not be returned because they belong to everyone in this universe.   

Carpenter, Betsy, and Gillian, Sandford. "Who Owns The Past? " U.S. News & World Report 135.21 (2003): 58-60. Academic Search Premier. Web. March 13, 2012.

                        In this article the authors focus mainly on reporting different responses to Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, activities to return the Egyptian artifacts to its national museum. They talk about the economic value of these artifacts and how they attract millions of visitors every year. The authors report that some museums reject the restitution claims, fearing that repatriation of even a few treasures could unleash a flood of demands which might cause the dismantling of their collections. These museums use the argument that the cultural artifacts are a universal property and a tool to unify the different cultures together. The German national museum claims that the bust of Nefertiti, which is one of the most valuable Egyptian artifacts and one of the treasures that Hawass is fighting to get it returned to Egypt, was discovered under the “find sharing agreement” and the Egyptian passed on it in 1925. The author also mention that some experts believe that host countries have done a better job of preserving the sculptures over the years than their original countries such as Greece where lots of sculptures have been ravaged by air pollution, and such as Afghanistan where a Buddhist statues carved centuries ago was destroyed by people from a different religion .

                        This article opened my eyes to two important values for artifacts for both their countries of origin and for all humans. The economic value of cultural property is huge and can generate the countries hundreds of millions from visitors and tourists. The cultural artifacts have a great scientific status and value and can give us a better understanding for our past. The article made me think about the possibility of loaning the artifacts to different countries for a limited time and for a financial return to make them available for everybody everywhere and to get the most benefit out of them. The mentioned facts about some countries not being able to protect their cultural property made me reconsider where I stand in this issue.  

SWA # 17

Bettelheim, Adriel, and Adams, Rachel. “Stolen Antiquities.” Congressional Quarterly Researcher. 13 April 2007. Web. March 9, 2012.

  In this article, the author discusses the issue of cultural artifacts being in countries other than their countries of origin in general. Bettelheim focuses on the readers that do not have enough background about the problem and tries to make the aware of this issue. The author says that about $4 billion worth of artifacts are not in their countries. Then he provides a list of the most important of these artifacts and talks about their values. He also mentions the 1970 UNESCO agreement, which was signed by 102 countries. The agreement obligates the countries to prevent the illicit transfer, export or import of cultural property. Bettelheim also presents the different points of view about this issue. He even proposes a suggestion that he thinks might work well. He suggests that we use the 1970 agreement as a time limit, therefore, any artifacts that were acquired before that can remain where they are now, and any artifacts were acquired after that date should be returned to their countries of origin.

  I learned from this piece new information about the different ways the artifacts left their countries of origin and now I know the fact that most of them were illegally acquired. The writer uses some findings and statistics from reliable sources such as the Art Institute of Chicago and Thomas Jefferson University.  Furthermore, he quotes from some experts in the field to add more credibility to his paper. I found some key words that I can use to find more resources. The article helped me understand the perspectives that are used by different countries in their claims about whether the artifacts should be repatriated or not. I am going to use some of the findings in my project and his proposal of using 1970 agreement as a time limit as a presented solution even though I disagree with him on that.

 =========================

Winter, Irene. “Cultural Property.” Art Journal.  Spring, 1993. Web. March 9, 2012.

  In this piece, Winter puts his focus on the weakness points of some conventions that are created to protect cultural treasurers such as the 1970 agreement and the European cultural convention. He mainly focuses on defining some related terms that, according to Winter, the 1970 agreement failed to define. He thinks the definition of terms such as “countries of origin,” “illicit” and “cultural property” can be very complex. He believes that the definitions of these terms in the 1970 UNISCO agreement are neither clear nor specific enough and which may cause some trouble in the future. He brings some issues that are not discusses in any convention. For instance, the artifacts that were taken from countries whose borders have been changed over the years, cultural heritage lost during periods of colonial or foreign occupation and the black market. At the end, he talks about the legally acquired artifacts and how they should be treated, and talks about the role of diplomats in losing a large number of cultural heritages. Winter also discusses the moral and ethical sides of this issue and provides some examples. His proposal is that we need to have an international cultural convention that is comprehensive and we can refer to in every situation instead of having different national or regional laws.

  I am going to use the notes he made against the 1970 UNISCO agreement in the overall solution that I will present in my final paper. The writer seems to be not neutral and he tends to be against the repatriation of cultural artifacts to their countries of origin Winter’s disagreements with the alternative views and the ways he addresses each one of them represent him as an expert in this field. I agree with him on the point that we need an international law that is clear, comprehensive, and not complex. He quotes for some experts in this issue to support his argument and to make his paper more reliable. I like the fact that he brings other issues to the table, that might change something when the problem of cultural property is discussed, such as colonization, borders-changing and the black market.

  

SWA # 16

Chimento, Madeline. "Lost Artifacts of the Incas: Cultural Property and the
Repatriation Movement." Loyal Law Review. New Orleans College of Law.
Spring 2008. LexisNexis. Web. 



In this article " Lost Artifacts of the Incas: Cultural Property and the
Repatriation Movement" Madeline Chimento argues internationalism and
nationalism of cultural artifacts. He started by giving a short background about how
this issue began and about the importance of the cultural artifacts. This problem
became diplomatic battle between many countries recently. He thinks those
countries should use negotiation to solve their cultural artifacts problems. Then, the
author wrote about the ways of taking these artifacts from their country of origin
and weather they are legal ways or not. After that, he talked about his main point
which is about nationalism and internationalism of cultural artifacts. He supported
his article from both sides , people who agree with the return theory and people
who disagree. The author thinks both opinions have good arguments, however they
are not effective in this complicated problem.


In this document the author focused a lot about the law side in this issue
I think because it is taken from a law journal. He also talked about negotiation and
agreement with some concessions from both sides as a solution for this problem
which I think it is not fair because if I have right I would not give any concessions to
take it. I think the author is inclined to the internationalism of the cultural artifacts.
I found some good arguments that would help me in my research about the
nationalism, for instance, how the British diplomat bribe Ottoman who was the ruler
of Greece in 1801 to allow him to remove some valuable marbles to his country.
The author also mentioned something that destroys the idea of how safe England
is when he talked about when of the Greek artifacts turned from white to brown
because they used chemical cleaners which affected the artifact.            


=================================


             In this article " Looted cultural relics should be returned", talked about


stealing artifacts movements especially in China. Firstly, he talked about the


importance of the stolen cultural artifacts for their countries of origin. Then, he


mentioned some reasons that those countries have lost their artifacts because. After


that, he gave some statistics about the number of Chinese artifacts that remain in


different museums all around the world. Eventually, he gave some of what officials


from both sides said about this issue. In the end, the writer mentioned his opinion


about those artifacts and said that they should be back to their countries of origin.


                  In my opinion, the writer focused mostly on the return of the artifacts. He


did not discuss the other side's point of view which I think he should have done,


however, his argument was quite strong especially when he used some numbers


and statistics to support his idea of the return. His ideas about the importance of the


cultural artifacts for people in their countries of origin will be helpful for me in my


research. I will use the statistics from this article in my research paper to support the


idea of the great number of the lost artifacts that remain in different countries which


is about the return of the artifacts.

SWA # 15

1. I found a few resources that discuss the issue of cultural artifacts being taken away from their hometowns. By searching general phrases such as "cultural artifact" , "repatriation" and "shouldn't be returned" I was able to find different views and interesting arguments. The subject is new and the arguments from both sides seem to make sense, so for that reason I think it would be hard to research that issue. However, just by reading few articles I learned a lot of new information and that makes it the #1 choice for me.

 2. I found the issue of female workers and pregnancy very broad and can be narrowed down to different topics. I found the same arguments used in different resources which makes harder to search this problem and that is why I am not going with that topic

3. surprisingly, I found some articles thar explore the issue of homelessness from new perspectives, at least for me. They discuss the fact that a lot of homeless use the help they get and spend it on drinks and even drugs. Other articles blame the government and say that more people are becoming homeless because they do not have jobs or any income. This topic still one of my choices

SWA # 13

1-

       a-    Should cultural artifacts be returned to their countries of origin  

       b-    Many countries are trying to get their cultural artifacts back and some countries refuse to   repatriate the artifacts to their original countries 

       c-    I think it should be returned 

       d-    Why are the arguments that the countries that currently have the artifacts use to not repatriate them? The amount of cultural artifacts that are not in their countries of origin. How did the countries of origin lose these artifacts? Etc.

            ============================================================

2-

               a-    Pregnancy and female workers and employees

               b-    Many women decide to delay having children or not have children at all to focus on their job.

               c-    I think job should never be the problem and companies should have policies that support and encourage females who want to have children.

   d-    How long should the maternity leave be and is it currently enough? What should companies do for their female employees who have infants to make their life easier? E.g. having nurseries in big companies where mothers can leave their infants and little children and be able to come and check on them during breaks. What should the government do about this issue? Etc.

============================================================

3-

a.    Did the Arab spring affected and left an impact on the international economy and on people around the world. The impact of social websites.

b.    We can see some of its  impacts everyday

c.    I think yes, the economic impact of Arab spring is obvious. It also changed the way some people think and gave them a wakeup call that they can change a lot by doing very small thing such as a Facebook post or a tweet. 

d.    Statistics and facts about the economic impact of the Arab spring internationally. How did the Arab spring start, did it really start by tweets and some posts? What do learn from this experience?  Should we let social websites drive us and change our lives?

SWA # 12

Waters, Alice. "A Healthy Constitution." The Carolina Reader: 3rd ed. Lee Kauknight. Fountainhead Press, 2012. 337-9. Print.


        In the article "A Health Constitution," Alice Waters discusses the issue of food in schools. Waters thinks that the food that students get in their schools is unhealthy and causes obesity. Then, she presents an example of a school in Wisconsin whose the administrators decided to have only fresh, healthy and delicious food. She mentions the fact that this idea works well and everybody likes it and they have more healthy student than they used to have. She thinks this idea is not only good for the students bodies, but also for their minds because they have become more understanding to the food and its values. It also makes students have more responsibility and feel that they have to do something for their society.   


        In her paper, Alice Waters tries to use logic and maybe some emotion to support her claim. By providing the example of Wisconsin school, she tells the readers that it is not too hard to change our children eating habits.She discusses the logical benefits that we would get by having students grow and help in cooking their food and how it would be fruitful for them in the future. By having mentioned these values, Waters tries to convince her readers to support the idea of having an edible education. She also quotes some students' opinions about their good experience in school with healthy food to back up her claim.    

SWA # 11

            In his piece “Bad Food? Tax It” which was published in the New York Times on July 24, 2011, Mark Bittman presents his proposal for the problem of unhealthy food and its impacts on society. Bittman is an “optimistic” food expert and columnist, as he describes himself, who has been writing about food for over 30 years in the New York Times and some other magazines (------). He presents his suggestion for both the government to take it in consideration and for public to think deeply about it and try to accept it. Bittman asks for changes on the national level and discusses the problem from social and economic perspectives.

            In his paper, Mark Bittman clearly states his thesis, which is a little summary of his suggestion, after he introduces the problem of bad and its horrible impacts in three or four paragraphs. Bittman presents his proposal gradually and develops it point by point using different types of arguments and assumptions with connecting all the points back to his thesis. He also keeps consistently addressing the alternative views and responds to them whenever he gets a chance to do so.  

SWA # 10

Title:

 Can taxing bad food be the solution?

Thesis:

 Mark Bittman tries to make his readers to agree with him on the idea that  unhealthy food and drinks should be taxed because that could benefit our society from angels.

Main points:

* He first discusses the problem.

* He gives some facts and statistics about the amount of unhealthy food  to support his claim.

* He address the fact that some people buy junk food because it is cheap in comparison to healthful food. 

* He compares his idea of taxing bad food to taxing cigarettes and says that both ideas are the same thing.

* He mentions the fact that some kinds of soda are already taxed and that helped in reducing the consumption of the unhealthy drinks.    

* He then justifies the idea.

* He thinks that it is the government responsibility to make sure that people eat and drink healthy food.   

* He uses both logical and emotional argument to support his claim

* He builds his credibility by using lots of numbers and information from reliable sources.

* He throws out some benefits that we could get from taxing bad food such as a decreasing obesity rate and a huge amount of money to be spent in public health, building new gyms and pools, etc. 

* He gives some ideas to make healthy food more available such as vending machines that sell only healthy food. 

* His goal in this essay is clear and obvious.

* He assumes that his audience are not willing to pay more for their food so he suggests that we can only put a very small tax on this food such as a penny or two. And at the same time, the government should try to reduce the cost of healthy food so everyone can afford it. 

* He believes that by doing this , America would be an  example for the rest of the world.

Conclusion:

People should not be thinking about their pockets when it comes to their health because if anyone gets sick from eating cheap food, his  or her money will be useless. Therefore, we need to think about ourselves and be a good example for the coming  generations and try to find a quick solution for this serious problem. 

SWA # 9

The main claim of the author of “Factory food artificially cheap, bad for your health” is that factory food is less expensive than healthful food but that food is not safe for human. Factories use methods that reduce the cost but produce a low quality food. He also thinks that there is something wrong with the food system and people began noticing it. Factory farming costs some environmental issues that were the main reason of the death of thousands animals  as well.  He assumes that the majority of public are aware of the problems we have in the food industry.

SWA # 8

Q1 : Sculy thinks cruelty to animals should be a conservative issue by directing his claims mainly towards conservatives and blaming them for not paying enough attention to this issue. At the beginning of his essay, Scully makes the fact that cruelty to animals is not an issue that only liberals should care about, but also conservatives should stop dismissing this kind of issues and think about it as a moral case. Through out the essay, Scully discusses the conservatives' viewpoings that they think they shouldn't care about animals because. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3 : Scully  believes that animals should have some rights and "respect." He believes thinks that all animals have the right to be "free from human abuse" and to be well-taken care of not only food for humans. He gives some examples such as how Johnson family treated their dogs and such as the hunting website to show that animals are not respected and are treated immorally.


======================================================================  
Scully discusses some views that alternative to what he thinks. He responds to conservatives who thinks that this issue is not worth their time and they should care about other bigger issues by referring to the religion and to the moral priority. Scully quotes Cardinal Ratzinger who describes animals as our "companions in creation." Scully also mentions the fact that he tried to talk about this issue with a conservative columnist who could make other conservatives aware of the problem, but the columnist closed all the doors in his face and said " I don't want to know." At the end, Scully states his point of view and tells everybody that we shouldn't only take from animals, it's the animals' right to get something back, at least a good death.     

Is the explaination of the target audience clear for both ads?


Is the essay well developed?


What do you think I should add  or edit in my paper?


Are the describtions of both ads too long and should be reduced?


Could you picture the ads without looking at the pictures?

SWA # 6 - Introduction

             Advertisement is a huge part of marketing for any kind of business. It has become an art that is taught in every university. Ads designers can change the way people think about something or make them change a product that they have been using for years to another, even if it is not as good, just by a creative commercial. With the technology we have today, there are competitions between companies to create the best ad even if that would cost them so much money because companies know that ads are valuable. In this paper, I will be analyzing two meaningful cars’ ads from two different countries. The first as is about a pick-up truck from the famous American brand “Ford.” The ad was published in an American car magazine called “Car & Driver” in September 2011. The second ad is about the economic TOYOTA hybrid cars. The ad is taken from a Jordanian sports newspaper called “Alrai” and was published in January 2012. The two ads are both about cars, but they are directed for different audience and based on different ideas and perspectives. The Ford’s ad is culturally based and designed for those who are looking for powerful cars. On the other side, TOYOTA’s ad is economical based and directed to those who want a car that could save them some money.      

SWA # 5 - publication sources

• What is the journal or newspaper that featured the ad? 

The first ad was published in an American magazine called "Car & Drive"

The other ad was published in a Jordanian s newspaper called "Alrai" 

• What are the typical topics covered? 

The magazine is mostly about cars and what is hot in the cars world.

The newspaper is a general newspaper but the ad was in the sport section.

• What are the demographics of its prospective audience? 

Since the magazine is all about cars, the audience are the cars lovers and those who are interested for a reason or another in cars.

The newspaper is for all segments of society because it has all kinds of news in different section. The ad was, as I mentioned before,  in the sport section, so the audience are the younger generation whose members might still have not gotten the chance to own a car yet. 

• What other products/services are usually advertised there? 

Mostly cars in the magazine

In the newspaper, things that most people car about such as consumer products, new technologies, cars...etc 

• Based on the answers to the questions above, what does the publisher assume about the values of its readers? 

In the Ford's ad, the company assumes that the readers have a little background about cars and so they made their ad very meaningful and focused on one idea.

in TOYOTA's ad, the publisher obviously assumes that most readers are aware of the raise in gas prices and so the publisher use this point to sell its product. 

SWA # 4 - The ads

The first ad

This ad is taken from an American cars magazine. The ad is commercial for Ford f-350 pick-up truck. The target of this ad is everyone who is looking for a heavy duty truck and those who like having powerful cars. The ad is put this way to show the fact that this truck can stand all kinds of bad weather. No matter if it is raining and there is lots of mud on the way or if there is strong winds, the truck can drive well. The pick-up is dragging a long motorhome behind it to show the truck's power. There are different kinds of animals following the truck which gives the viewers the idea that even the animals are impressed by this power.

I chose this ad because it is made creatively and has different ideas.     


=======================================================================

The second ad 

after I translated the text.

This picture is taken from a Jordanian newspaper and it is a car advertisement. The newspaper where I found the ad is a sport newspaper, so this as is mostly for the young generation and sports lovers. The ad has a picture of a guy who is trying to commit a suicide using a gas pumper. Next to the guy there is a sentence "Can't afford gas prices" which kind of give us the idea that the man wants to kill him self because gas prices are too high for him. Then at the bottom there is another sentence that is meant to be the solution for guy and everyone who is in the same situation; "solve it and buy a TOYOTA hybrid" which tells anyone who is worried about gas prices, especially in Jordan where not everybody can afford to pay this kind of prices for gas, that they do not to worry anymore because they can buy a TOYOTA hybrid and forget about the gas. There are a couple of pictures for two hybrid cars and at the end there is the dealership's contact information and the website for more details.

Again, I chose this ad because it delivers the idea of hybrid cars in a funny and creative way.

SWA # 3

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 22, 2012

SWA#3

In his article “What Will the Future Generations Condemn Us For,” Kwame Appiah discusses some issues that he thinks future generations would not like about us. At first, he does remind and show us some of the activities that were acceptable in the past couple of generations and became very unacceptable in this generation. He does that by saying and mentioning some examples such as slavery being accepted by the majority of the society, women’s not being allowed to vote, and husbands’ having an excessive power over their families.  Then, he does lay down some signs that determine whether a practice is going to be a black point on this generation or not, and he does use pathos and logos arguments. He says that people, who thought slavery was acceptable and not oppressive because their parents and grandparents had slaves, had a lack in the logical part of their argument. He also says that people who eat the sugar this grown by the slaves should have a little emotion and think about those who grew that sugar.

One of the things that Appiah thinks we are doing and the next generations will blame us for it is “Our Prison System.” He does use some statistics to support his argument (ethos). He says that one quarter of the world’s prisoners is in America. In the local side, he says that one of every one hundred adults in the US is in one of its prisons. Then, he does turn our attention to the emotional part using both pathos and ethos. Appiah says that around 100,000 prisons have been sexually abused and they might get HIV because of that.

The picture I chose to discuss is figure 1.7 in page 9. The artist does reject and disagree with the idea of paying fees for bags at the airports in a funny way. Through his painting, the artist says we should put on all of our clothes to avoid paying so much money to have it transported especially if the entire family members are going to travel together. He also says that we should not take so many clothes and only take what could fit in a carry-on bag to avoid the baggage fees.     

"Get smarter" responce

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 21, 2012

SWA#2

Get Smarter. Don’t Let Technology Make You Stupid

          The authors of both articles "Is Google Making Us Stupid" and "Get Smarter" seem to have a little in common and so much disagreements. Carr and Cascio agree on the fact that this generation relies significantly  on technology in general and on the internet in particular. They both believe that the internet has become an indispensable part of almost everyone's daily life, just as Cascio states “we swim in an ocean of data”.   

In his article “Gat Smarter,” Carr asks his readers to be smart and not to let the internet make them lazy or limit their abilities. The internet users have to avoid sinking in the modern technology and have to be able to take the benefit from it and not to give technology an influential role in every decision we make. He also thinks that the internet is the reason why most of its users have difficulties memorizing things and the reason why they can’t think without asking Google.

On the other hand, through his article “Get Smarter” Cascio sees the future completely depended on the technology in its different means and everyone who does not think so will be “falling behind.” We already have a high unemployment rate, so if more industries will be extinct due to the developing technology, just like the travel-agent industry,  this technology won’t be much helpful to a society that has a large percentage of its members sitting at home watching modern technologies taking job opportunities away from them.  We should not be so rely on technology to such a degree that we can't decide what to eat or even "what to study" without asking Google. Yes, we need to make Google and other technologies "the beginning of a solution" not a stupidity maker. 

My English 101 Experience

Ibrahim Elsayed Rasheed      

English 102-111

January 13, 2012

SWA#1

My English 101 Experience

            Last year was the year when I started learning how to write academic essays from the zero and it was the year when I got an A in my English 101 class. As an international student who is coming from a country where people have never heard of something called academic writing, I had to go to an English school named (EPI) to learn the basics of essay-writing before being ready to enroll to a university. After finishing my course in writing, I enrolled to Midlands Technical College, a small college here in Columbia, SC, and took some classes there in the fall semester. One of the classes I took was English101 which was one of my best classes in my first semester in the academic world. In that class, we had three big essays to write which I will discuss in details throughout this essay.

            The first paper I had to write in ENGL101 was about culture and society. In the essay I wrote, I discuss how technology affects our children in both good and bad ways. I report some statistics to support some of my points and I quote some of what experts say about this issue. The first draft of this paper was the worst I turned in in my Engl101 class because it was basically a big mess especially in the in-text citation. My instructor marked something in every line and asked me to revise the paper. However, in the second draft, I turned things around and it was one of the best papers I have ever written and I got an A for the paper.  

            For my second big assignment, I had to write about a current event. At that time, there was a presidential debate on the CNN , so I decided to write about the election. I talk in my essay about each one of the eight candidates briefly and about what they have in common and what they disagree about. I also talked about the importance of this election not the Americans, but to other countries that could be either directly or indirectly effected by the election. I got a B+ on that essay which was satisfying for me because I wrote the paper in only two days.    

            My last paper was about economy and had to be written in APA format which means I will have to create my own survey and questionnaire and conduct them. In the paper, I discuss the issue of homelessness and who the responsible for people becoming homeless is. This paper is the best I have written because I got to know lots of know information and I actually went to the street and surveyed real people for the first time which was exciting and enjoyable, I even made new friendships with two of the participants. The instructor gave us three weeks to work this research which made it easier for me to write a good paper and to keep adding and revising before the due date. For me, APA style was much easier than MLA style because in APA there is not much need to worry about the structure, all my focus was on the content itself. I had an A from my instructor for writing that paper.

            In sum, my English 101 class was a good experience for me in all ways. I got to learn more about academic writing and had a good grade in the overall. The class was a very useful preparation for English102 which is about to get serious. I can’t wait until I apply what I have learned in my English classes in my actual study field.