Journal 1 - Rory Feinberg

• What is writing—the definitions, ideas, thoughts, expressions, etc.—that you associate with writing?

Writing is  a way of expressing thoughts and opinions using common language. I associate most writing to be informative in some way that presents a clear message on why the certain text was written. 

• What defines successful writing for you?

Successful writing for me is when the author is using advanced vocabulary correctly, little to no grammar mistakes,   along with a clear structured message. Successful writers often make it easy to follow their writing so that it is easy of the reader to understand. Ultimately everyone's writing is different but successful writing can be produced by anyone. 

• What type of writer do you see yourself as, and why?

I see myself as a persuasive/expository writer, many of the papers I wrote in high school were informative texts that followed my opinions loosely. It's practically impossible to write unbiased because everyone has preferences, although others can disguise their opinion better than others, I am usually very passionate in my writing so it shows. 

• Create a list of 5-8 key terms that define writing.

Grammar, Spelling, Structure, Informative, Organized, language

Now, read Johnson-Eilola & Selber’s essay and respond to these questions:

• What is the major argument that you see these authors making?

The main argument provided by the authors is on the issue of plagiarism. They take an original stance because they claim that plagiarism should not be looked at so simply. They believe that plagiarism is seen as offense that is portrayed to harshly. They argue that the making of the "remixed" work is just as important as the original text. Clearly, this is an argument supporting paraprashingf and not flat out plagiarism using copy and paste, however they still believe that borrowing others ideas to build your own is perfectly satisfactory. 

• What did you learn about writing from this text?

I learned that paraphrasing is not as bad as many of my high school teachers made it out tp be. I am now more comfortable with the fact that paraphrasing is not as frowned upon in the writing community as I thought it was. 

• Is this article “successful” according to the criteria you defined earlier? If so, how? If not, why not?

I believe the authors were successful. They stated their message, they used good persuasive language and an argumentative tone. This is successful to me because it is organized and conveys a clear message. 

• Has your understanding of writing changed as a result of engaging with Johnson-Eilola and Selber's article? Why or why not? 

Yes and No, I have always been a firm believer that paraphrasing is acceptable as long as it's your own words. I did learn the there are other forms of plagiarism which deepened my view on writing. After reading this I will most likely apply some of their points to my writing. 

• Do you want to revise your list of key terms based on this reading? Explain what you would revise (or not) and why (not).

I believe my key terms all still apply, except maybe I would add in the words "originality" and "source evaluation". Simply because your writing should be original and that you should always be taking from factual sources and not using their words as your own.