my advertisement

My ad was for Disney's Baby Einstein's line of toys, books, movies, and music for infants and toddlers. I got it out of a small catalog called BeComing that offers information on products for infants and toddlers. The target audience is definitely parents of infants/toddlers and really anyone who may be purchasing gifts/items for the children. The content in the ad was also definitely influenced by the target audience in that there is quite a bit of competition in products for infants and toddlers and more effective ad's means more selling of the product. The ad is colorful and has a picture of an infant who is smiling and seems to be having fun. Parents want their children to be happy and have toys that are fun and educational. Within this ad it addresses both ideas of being fun and being educational. It also talks about how the music can be calming and help babies settle down during times of crankiness.

elements of an effective layout

The key elements addressed are balance, proportion, movement, unity, clarity/simplicity, emphasis. Cohen uses these elements as tool to analyze advertisements and their effectiveness. In looking at my advertisement, I was able to explain how the different elements applied to the ad to make it an effective ad. I feel that the most important elemetns are clarity/simplicity, balance, and proportion. In looking at different advertisements, those that stick out to me are organized and have a simple message that is easy to understand. I didn't really understand the idea of movement in relationship to advertisements. I took some economics classes in high school and learned some about how advertisements are made to be attractive so it didn't ruin it too much for me. Companies who can make successful ad's are definitely more sucessful at selling the product and being profitable.

democracy of goods

In the appeal to the democracy of goods, the author talks about what makes an ad effective and stand out to the consumer. Marchand writes about the concept of the democracy of goods and focuses on the wonders of mass production. The wonders of this mass production involves the consumer being able to enjoy the particular pleasure, benefit, or convenience of the product. He says that democracy of goods also relates to the product being equally available to all social classes. Throughout his analysis, he talks about what factors an ad must meet to be effective. This definitely applies to ads today in that ads must be attractive so that the product is competitive. The professionals who design ads for a company have to take into many different factors so that they can make the ad appealing to the consumer.

Advertising

For today's blog, I want you to talk about an ad—on TV, in a magazine, on the radio, on the internet, etc.—that you find particularly effective. What makes it effective? Did it use humor? Was the product/service showcased well? Did you end up doing what the ad wanted you to?

Similarly, what's an ad that you think is especially ineffective? What stinks about it? Did it turn you off the product altogether?

When I think of advertisements, I think about the radio ad's that I hear that have jingles that are catchy and fun to listen to. One of my most favorite jingles for a business is for Eagle Car wash in Topeka Ks. I personally know the writer of the jingle, and he has written jingles for many other commericals as well. While sitting here writing this blog post, I am singing the jingle in my head. The ad talks about the services at the car wash and about how clean you car will get. It also talks about the great customer service that is given by the staff members. I have personally taken my car to Eagle car wash to have it cleaned, and although it is on the pricey side, they do a great job.

Ad's that I find are ineffective are those on the radio that are just a person talking about a product. I am not a big fan of talk radio, so listening to talk ad's doesn't do much for me either. If there is a jingle that I can sing along to, it definitely sparks interest in the product and helps me remember what the product is.

summary

First of all here is my thesis statement

After reviewing literature on the two platforms and considering my own experience, I

am going to argue that the Android phone is superior to the Iphone. This conclusion is based on our main points: phone’s ease of use, ability to be purchased/pricing, choice of hardware, and ability to run applications.

I chose the topic of the Android phone vs. the iPhone. I  felt that this was a pertinent subject as many consumers today have to look at the reasons to buy either phone. My main arguments are the Android phone is easier to use, has a lower price with a higher ability to purchase, has a wider variety of hardward, and is able to run more applications than the iPhone.

Research

"Apple iPhone's history in pictures."The Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 2011. Web. 24 Oct 2011. <telegraph.co.uk>.

German, Kent. "A brief history of Android phones." Cnet Reviews. Cnet, 11 August 2011. Web. 24 Oct 2011.

<reviews.cnet.com>.

Pash, Adadm. "iPhone vs. Android Showdown: Which Phone is Best for Users." lifehacker. lifehacker, 9 June 2010. Web. 24 Oct

2011. <lifehacker.com>.

Slattery, Brennon. "It's Android vs. Apple: will you switch sides."PCWorld. PCWorld Communications Inc, 17 June 2010. Web. 24

Oct 2011. <www.pcworld.com>.

Style

One of the approaches to style that seemed to hit home for me was writing sentences in order, and trying not to “overwrite” a sentence. Many times I will write the paragraph that I am thinking of, and then will go back and read it aloud. I find that by reading it aloud, it lets me find natural pauses that I can use to re-write the paragraph to make it flow more smoothly. This also falls into the writing what comes naturally, that by speaking it aloud it helps the flow to be more natural in nature. A final reminder was not putting in opinions in your essay. In the first couple of essays we wrote, it was definitely true to not put opinion. However in my persuasive paper, I utilized my opinion to aid in my research of the topic. I found credible sources to back up what I felt was true and this helped to strengthen my paper.

logical fallacies

Because my thoughts are focused on nursing school, I am going to focus my logical fallacies on health/nursing ideas.

Rationalization: I could’ve passed my quiz if the person behind me wasn’t making so much noise.  In school, we often find reasons for why we did poorly on assignments. I have heard this argument a time or two, that the people around them were distracting so therefor it took their focus from their test. In reality though, the person may not have studied enough or could’ve asked to move to a different place in the room if they were being distracted.

Straw Man: The public population won’t be satisfied until pharmaceutical companies release their patents so that generic drugs can be made.       

                Although this can be somewhat of a true statement, it isn’t the whole public population that struggles with this idea. In fact, I would say less than half of the population is concerned with the amount of generic drugs on the market, especially because there is an increase. There are however a few medications that still have patents that don’t allow for generics. Yet, many people are pleased with the lower price they pay for monthly medications.

Polarization: Only females can be nurses

I have heard this from many people during my nursing career thus far. In my class we have 4 male students. In classes below us, there are also male students. I think that this is an extreme way of thinking that was introduced in the early 1900’s.  I have had clinical experiences with my male classmates and I still hear people act surprised to see a male nursing student. I am glad that there are male and female nurses and hope that this continues.

                

Topic!

It took me quite a while to decide on a topic. I've had to write many persuasive papers in the past, but that was almost 4 years ago. After thinking about it and reading the blog post on choosing a topic, I have come up with mine.



I have had an Android phone for about a year and a half and am quite addicted to it. That being said, though I've never owned an Iphone, I've used one. I also own an Itouch so I am quite familiar with the Iphone platform. I personally feel that an Android phone is the better choice of the two. I have started to look at articles on the subject to find out what the current research is. There are definitely arguments to be made on why either phone is better. I personally like the usability of the android phone more and find that the applications are easier to navigate. I plan to spend a good couple of hours really diving into my phone and possible find a friend wiling to let me pick apart their Iphone to really find some differences between the two. I am excited to see what I find.

When your opinion matters

In high school I was apart of the debate squad. Although it was required for us to be argumentative to win the rounds, I particularly remember my Junior year of debate. It was during this year that we wrote a case about peacekeeping missions related to the United Nations. For our case we chose the Ivory Coast which is heavily known for blood diamonds. The hours and weeks that were spent on research and writing the case made me truly believe in what I was writing about. The horrific torture that the country's citizens had to endure was terrifying to me. It was clear how money hungry these people were. Our case was rather strong, and even though I was biased to it, our coach and other judges felt it was a strong case as well. My partner and I used the case throughout the season, making the argument stronger as the season progressed. I felt that are passion about the topic really helped the judges see why our team should win each round. We had to persuade the judge that our topic and our plan to fix the problem was the best solution and we had a winning season.

Muddiest point

After reading the assignment sheet, it was hard to really find a muddiest point. I felt the directions were straight forward, making it clearly known that we were to persuade the reader on a specific topic or organization, and not a moral or ethical issue. For me, it is a struggle to decide on a topic to write about. There are so many products on the market these days and also many variations of such products that will make it difficult for me to really decide what to write about. I feel that the assignment criteria and guidelines are clear to the student and I also like the overview sheet. After reading this sheet I feel more comfortable in knowing how to make a claim and assumption and use research to back up both my opinion and what I find in the research. Once I decide on a topic, I am looking forward to completing the assignment.

Notaro post

·  Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?

            Yes. I had no idea what the basket was and definitely wanted to find out.

·  Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?

            Yes. The writer tells the story of when he was to take his grandpa to the store and instead they found the jackpot of day old bread items.

·  Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?

            Yes. I liked the description of his grandpa. It made me think of my grandpa and how funny he can be sometimes.  

·  Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?

            Yes. The conversations between the writer and his grandpa help give more depth to the story and show the grandpa’s personality.

·  Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?

            Yes. I felt the relationship between him and his grandparents can easily be related to relationships that I have with my grandparents.

·  Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?

            Yes. The writer tells why the characters in the story are there and talks about going to the grocery store but instead finds the cart full of bread products. He tells why they were looking for the bread and includes dialogue of what nana will do because grandpa is bringing home the bread. I chuckled when I read about finding the cart full of bread.

·  Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story

            Yes. The conclusion tells what nana will do and summarizes the story.

White's story

·  Does the writer provide an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention?

         I liked the introduction. It made me want to know more about the story and about him camping with both his father and his son.

·  Does the writer focus on significant events in his or her life rather than trying to narrate his or her entire life’s story?

        I felt that the writer did focus on a specific time in his life being with his dad and then later on with his son.

·  Do the descriptions of the characters or important objects in the memoirs include sensory details that help readers to visualize, hear, smell or feel them?

        Though the writer did have descriptions, I didn’t feel as if they made me believe I was there seeing the story as it was occurring. I felt that many of the descriptions were too wordy, which took away the ability to be able to visualize what the writer was saying.

·  Has the writer quoted speech or dialogue so as to reveal some important aspect of a character’s personality?

        I felt the use of speech and dialogue was appropriate to help show important conversations with the narrator’s dad and son.

·  Does the writer narrate or describe events in a way that allows readers to connect them to experiences or relationships in their own lives?

        I didn’t feel much of a personal connection to the story. It was rather hard for me to keep reading as I felt the writer focused on specific details too much and others not enough.

·  Has the writer explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he or she has become? Does this explanation make sense in relation to the events, people, places, and things described throughout the memoir?

        Yes the writer explained the characters in the story and the way they relate to the camp site that was visited. I felt the explanations made sense to relate to what the story was about.

·  Does the writer provide a conclusion that reinforces the point of the story

        The conclusion was left open, not really concluding what the story was about. I didn’t feel as if it reinforced the story.

once more to the lake

1.       I felt the introduction was too much in length and was very wordy. The descriptions in his introduction made me not want to read the rest of the essay as I felt this wordiness would continue throughout the story.

2.       The writer did focus on one significant event, but he kept referring to past events that confused me throughout the story. I felt he put in too many details to make this event be completely significant.

3.       The descriptions of the characters do help them to feel alive and make me feel as I am there with him. I felt the author needs to keep these descriptions in the story to add character.

4.       The writer did quote some speech and dialogue.

5.       I felt the writer included too many details of the event to make it easy for me to relate to. I found it difficult to follow along with the reader, and many of the sentences seemed to be run on sentences. The sentence structure had little to no variance which also made it difficult for me to read.

6.       I felt the writer did explain why he had everyone in the story and that each character played a significant part of the story.

7.       The conclusion seemed out of place for me, but did tie up the story about him taking a camping trip with his son.  

Me Talk Pretty One Day

1.       Introduction-The intro grabbed my attention. His age and going back to school intrigued me to find out more about his adventure and why he chose to go back to school.  

2.       The writer did a great job at focusing on significant event’s. He did include dialogue to help strengthen the events. He picked a specific time in his life to talk about, and included some background information to help us know more about his story.

3.       I like his descriptions of his teachers and the fear that his classmates felt around her. It made me feel like I was there in the classroom watching the teacher make fools of her students.

4.       The writer used quotations in a great way to give character to the people in the story. I liked his use of dialogue with the teacher and how he went in and out of English and his version of French language. He would use English when he understood the word which helped the reader to know what he did and didn’t understand.

5.       I’ve never been to France, but if I go, I will remember some of the descriptions that the Sedaris gives in his narrative. I can relate though to being in an unfamiliar place and I felt that Sedaris story reminded me of times when I was the “new kid”

6.       Every person in his story is significant and needs to be there. I felt that by including the descriptions of the different students in the classroom that it helped to show the struggle they were having with learning the language.

7.       The conclusion is great in that it sums up what has happened with the story and shows that Sedaris can now finally understand the language. He states that though he can’t necessarily speak it, he now feels comfortable in listening to others speak the language. 

Sentence Variety

Sam drove to the mall in her car to go to the shoe store. She bought a pair of boots and a shoe shine kit. Sam then went to the food court where she bought and ate a burrito that had onions and peppers on it. She saw a cute boy at the pretzel stand that looked at Sam and made her blush. The boy walked over to Sam. When Sam said hi, the boy wrinkled up his nose and made Sam confused. Sam said hi again and the boy gagged and walked away. Sam was shocked. When she realized she had bad breath, Sam ran to the bathroom. In the bathroom, she shined and put on her new boots. She walked out the bathroom confident. She found the boy, told him he needed manners, and kicked him using her new boots. The boy fell to the ground and Sam walked away and out of the mall. 

mechanics

When writing, I often tend to let my mind get way ahead of either my pen or typing hands. I’ve always been told that my mind goes 90 miles a minute. For some reason I feel that I need to get every thought and detail out as quickly as possible and don’t  always take the time to really think about what I am writing. I would have to say that as far as a weakness goes I think this goes along with organizing topics in a flowing motion. I do tend to jump around from topic to topic at times, especially when writing a narrative to recall events. I will write a sentence and then jump to a different topic based on the previous sentence. As I write I need to be more aware of the topic I am writing about and trying to get the thoughts out that pertain to that topic. I then need to find a way to transition to the next topic so that I am not jumping back and forth.

For my strength I would say that I am good at omitting useless words and knowing when to have a paragraph break. I feel that I am strong at writing sentences that help keep the paragraphs flowing and keep them from seeming to be too choppy. 

summary revision checklist

1. What is the thesis statement? Is it an accurate reflection of the author’s thesis

statement? Is it stated in your own words? How could you refine it to be more clear

and concise?

The thesis statement is the struggles that college students have with classes they have little to no interest in or find the material difficult to understand. I felt that it was a accurate reflection on what Thurber was trying to discuss when writing about his college experience and the classes he found difficult to pass. I could possibly choose to include more about grade levels or if they are new or current students to show if the amount of struggles vary with grade level. 

2. How is the essay introduced? Do you mention the article’s title, author, purpose and

audience? Does it clearly set the tone for the paper and accurately reflect what is

discussed therein? Could it be improved?

I introduced the essay with the author and title of the original essay by Thurbor. I felt that I clearly set the tone in that the paper would discuss why some students may struggle with classes. 

3. What are the main points of the summary? How do you recognize them? Do you

leave out minor points and repetitive points for emphasis? Most importantly, do you

leave out your own opinion, feelings or conclusions on the subject of the artIicle?

I based the main points on the story on the information that Thurber provided in his essay and discussed why he struggled with each of his classes. I left out my opinion, and only restated what the original essay said as to why each class was a struggle. 

4. How is the essay organized? Does it follow the organization of the original article?

What transitions do you use? Think of some additional possibilities for more logical

organization.

I organized the essay by following along in the original essay with each class that Thurber describes. I used transition words such as furthermore and in addition to, as well as having the last sentence of a paragraph lead into the topic of the next paragraph. I could use more transition words in future papers to help keep the paper organized.

5. After your reading, can you say the thesis statement accurately reflects the topic and

focus of the essay? How is the essay concluded? What technique do you employ in

the conclusion? How is that effective or not?

I concluded the essay by going back and reflecting on the opening paragraph as well as the thesis. I felt that the thesis was a good reflection of the original essay and helped to show what Thurber was trying to portray in his essay. I summarized my main thoughts in the conclusion to help wrap up the ideas that I spoke of for the reader. 

6. Make sure to fix any major grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.

Re-read the essay, did a spelling and grammar check. Also had my aunt read the essay. She enjoys reading papers and is great at catching spelling and grammatical errors. 

7. Is the sentence structure varied and interesting? Do you have any weak, overly

wordy, awkward, or confusing sentences? Does the essay strive to use active, direct,

present tense verbs?

I felt that I used correct sentence structure and a large vocabulary to give the essay variety and clarity. I feel that the readers will be able to easily read and follow along with the essay and clearly understand the message that I am trying to portray. 

8. Were the textual passages (quotes and paraphrases) well-chosen? Remember you

should try avoiding direct quotations when writing a summary.

I quoted a few choice words but left out any large direct quotes for the summary. I mainly restated in my own words what Thurber was writing. 

9. Is the essay written in third-person? Are all instances of first- and second-person

removed from the piece? Yes it is in third person with none of my own opinions. 

10. Is the draft two to three (2-3) pages typed, double-spaced? Are all the margins oneinch

(1”)? The draft was almost 3 pages long. It followed the paragraphing and margin guidelines as well. 

College Pressures

College for me has been quite the journey. I started college the semester after graduating high school. I did consider taking time off in between high school and college but felt that I needed to just dive right in. My first semester of college was a great experience but I did have some struggles. I was pregnant with my daughter at the time. The pregnancy, an unexpected one, left me with many days of being sick and struggling to find the energy to goto class and do homework. I was also working a full time job on top of going to school. I had my daughter in February of 2008, just a few weeks into my second semester of college. Being a new mom and going to school was quite the experience. My teachers however were great and willing to work with me to keep up on the assignments. My mom and my boyfriend also were great help with taking care of Shelby so I could goto class and keep up on homework. Each semester following were also a challenge. I went back to work 6 weeks after having Shelby, but decided to do part time while school was in session. During the summer I took online classes and worked more so that I could save up to pay for bills during the school year. I am fortunate in that I qualified for government grants and also had quite a few scholarships. I prepared myself in high school so that I would be able to goto college and hopefully not have to pay for it. I also chose to live at home for my first two years in college and save on having to pay rent. My parents were amazing in letting  Shelby and I live with them and help me in raising her.
Once I started nursing school I decided it was time to move out on my own. It has been quite different having my own place and not having my mom there to help with everything. I have a great boyfriend who is very helpful in watching the kids so I can do schoolwork. I had my son in November of 2010 during my second semester of nursing school. Second semester seems to be the most challenging semester of nursing school for most students and I just happened to plan having a baby during the time. It was difficult, but I definitely wouldn't trade my kids or the experience for anything.
As I get closer to graduating in December I do quite a bit of reflecting on my college experience. There are some things I would've done different had a known what I know now, but I don't have any regrets. I feel I've done the best I can with the circumstances that I have faced. I owe much of my success to both mine and my boyfriends family in helping us with our kids so that I could have the opportunity to go to nursing school.

University Days

I've had quite a few challenging courses throughout college. This semester is my last semester before graduating so this assignment was a fun reflection on my last four years of college. My very first semester I took sociology at Washburn. At the time I was also taking psychology and anthropology. Looking back on this, I don't think it was the best of ideas to take these three courses in the same semester. Sociology was honestly one of the hardest classes for me to actually get interested in. The material seemed quite boring and it was very difficult for me to pay attention in the class. I did the homework and read the required readings, but nothing could make me actually enjoy the course. I don't like to say that I don't like a course because of the teacher, but in this case, the teacher definitely didn't make the course any more enjoyable. About 5 weeks into the course I had had enough. I wasn't getting anywhere in the course and couldn't grasp the material the way I felt I should be. I decided to go ahead and drop the course, and then took it online the following semester. For me, having a class withdrawal on my transcript seemed better than having a failing grade. This semester was also a struggle because I was pregnant and was having complications with the pregnancy. When I re-took the course, the teacher explained the material in a way to be understood and made the course very enjoyable. I've had some challenging courses over the last few years, especially in nursing school, but I'm proud of myself and proud of my accomplishment of getting to graduate in December.

response to on keeping a notebook

I do agree with Didion that keeping a notebook or a blog is a sense of keeping in touch. Being that this story was written 40 years ago though, I would have to say that I think a blog today would be slightly different than the notebook that Didion was referring to. In today's society there is so much chaos and movement that many people don't take the time to stop and notice their surrounding's. In the essay, Didion would write about conversations she heard to help her remember those times if she read them in the future. I'm a guilty one. I would have to say that if I wrote about my day and read it a few years later, I probably wouldn't  be able to picture that day nearly as well as I would have hoped to. Reading the essay makes me want to be that person who stops to really look around and takes in everything around her and figures out a way to remember it. I don't personally blog by writing, I keep more of a photo blog of what I've done with my kids and to share with other members of my family. I feel that many people keep photo blogs of what they've done, especially with the technology that is available.

About Me

Hi. I'm Stephanie Murphy...at work I am called Smurphy and it's kinda stuck with me the past few years. I am a 4th semester nursing student getting ready to graduate in December. I am a born and raised Topekan, graduated from Topeka West in 2007 and started Washburn in the fall. I am a mom to two beautiful children, my daughter Shelby who is 3 and my son Seth who is 9 months.

I have always enjoyed writing. I was in both debate and forensics in high school and learned quite a bit about writing in both classes. My junior English teacher in high school, Mr. Newberry teaches English classes at Washburn and I also contribute my writing abilities to him. I have to say I am a little bit rusty with writing. The papers we write in nursing school are a tad bit different than what I would write in an English class, but I can say that I finally feel fairly comfortable with APA style that we use.

I look forward to the class!