Style is a big part of my writing, and I think that it influences my grades on papers in this class very much. My writing style is very formal. I have always been good at getting my point across to my elders and people that are higher ranked than me. For example, I always did well in getting into clubs or getting jobs because I could communicate formally what I wanted to say and make it look appealing to my superiors. When we were asked in class to write a letter to our state representative, I felt relieved and even excited to write it because it was a formal letter. Another example of my formal style is not a writing one. I was asked to speak at my graduation last year. I did well at this because my formal style helps me to get my point across and be understood by my fellow students, teachers, advisers, and our parents. My voice is very clear. I am not a creative writer and so letters or any formal kind of communication is best for me. I get to the point and express what I want in a clear and concise manor. On the other hand, as I previously mentioned, I am not very strong in my creative writing style. It makes me feel uncomfortable to have to use creativity to interest an audience on a topic or to tell stories to get my point across. For the previous three papers I have written, I thought long and hard about writing letters. After all, a letter would be the best way to use my style to do well on the assignment. I decided against that because I didn’t believe a letter would be appropriate for my topics. It was hard for me at the beginning to write creatively and not be as formal as I usually am, but my grades have been improving. Finally, when we began our lectures about Proposal papers, I knew that I would be able to use my style well and write a letter. I believe that my style of writing will be glorified in this Proposal paper that is due on Monday. I think this assignment will show my confidence in the formal style and therefore help me to write a better paper.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
#9- Proposal topic and sources
I have chosen to write my proposal about the economic downturn of the city of Reading, Pennsylvania. Many cities in our country have been become economically unstable in the recent years but Reading is closest to my heart because I grew up there. I think that the economy has become the way it has in Reading for two reasons. The first is that the city no longer is appealing to visitors. The second is because there are so many poor and unemployed people in the city. I am going to propose a plan that takes a few steps and a few years to fulfill but will hopefully be a way of helping the economy in Reading.
What do you See in Reading’s Future?
This article interviewed many people that reside around or in the city of Reading. They were asked to state how they see Reading in the future. Most people said things that go right along with my topic. Malcia Cruz believes that the future of Reading depends on the finances and that until that is back in check Reading has no future. A Reading student stated that, "I think everyone's going to flee Reading. Everyone's gonna leave it because there is a lot of violence and they're charging mad money to live here and a lot of people are losing their jobs." All in all, this article does a great job of showing how the public views the city and is great for me to use for quotes in my proposal.
Reading Will Be a Ghost Town
This article was writing by one of the editors of the Reading Eagle. He mentions that people believe that if something isn’t turned around in Reading soon that everyone will leave. He notes how turn around initiatives were announced, but no one ever went through with anything more than an idea to clean up the city. He says clearly that Reading is a city of dreams and it is just producing nightmares. I think this article is a great source for my paper as well because it takes into account my idea that businesses are failing and therefore, people do not want to come to the city at all.
State of the City Report
Finally, this article is written/spoken by the Mayor of Reading himself. It is his State of the city Report where he addresses issues and what is going on to fix them. He makes note of the financial stresses that have been burdening Reading for the past 10 plus years. He also tells about what is going on to help the financial situation. I can use this article because it is directly from my audience’s mouth. I will not use it to place blame but I can use his own ideas to support my own.
America at the Crossroads
I also found this video. The video discusses everything from the run down of Reading, to the financial problems because of crashing businesses. This video is a perfect match to my topic. Although it is not an article it will be helpful in my paper because NBC covers exactly what they think has gone wrong in reading. I can use this video from a reliable television source to support my problem and what I think should be done to fix it.
Monday, March 21, 2011
#8- Proposal to Representative
Hello Mr. Gerlach:
My name is Rachel Angstadt. I am a freshman at Pennsylvania State University, but I mainly reside in Shillington, PA. I am contacting you because of the recent Penn State budget cuts, which I am sure you are already well aware of.
As I student, I know that in the future these cuts could be very destructive in my education. Since the announcement of this cut I have heard nothing but an ongoing discussion by my peers about this damaging situation. My English teacher who is a grad student has already had her program cut. I want to make it known to you how scared the students really are. We want something to be done to fix this but we can only do so much. My English class decided to address our local representatives with a few ideas so that you can help us to do more.
To begin, I believe that some Penn State campuses should be made smaller or completely cut. If Penn State is losing its funding it should not just directly affect main campus because this deals with the university at a whole. Our University is huge and expands through many parts of Pennsylvania. Getting rid of one or two of the branch campuses would definitely help with the budget cut and also would do little harm because we have so many other options. For example, there are 11 branch campuses on the east side of Main Campus. Penn State berks, Lehigh Valley, and Skukyill are extremely close to one another. Cutting even one of these could help with our budget issue but also still give students in that area a chance to go to a branch campus first.
Another big way to help with this budget crisis would be to simply lower unnecessary spending. Now, this is a very broad and large topic to cover because Penn State spends far too much money on far too many unnecessary things.
We could start with athletics. Although we are both aware that most of the athletics programs are paid for by alumni donations, it would be in the college’s best interests to stop making it obvious that athletics take priority over everything else. If this means not building the new baseball stadium that someone donated money for, I think it needs to be done. This may not really save money but it will instill more security in the students if they do not see work constantly being done on their football stadium while their major gets cut at the same time. I believe it’s a matter of priorities, and right now Penn State needs to begin changing its priorities for the benefit of its students.
Another way the Penn State has been spending money that does not need to be spent is renovations all over campus. I hope you can agree with me that Penn State University Park is a beautiful campus. It is really not necessary to repave all of the streets and sidewalks, build some building on the lawn out front of the Union Building, and constantly have construction trucks doing who knows what in the middle of the streets. This use of money is directly affecting the Penn State students and I believe it needs to be stopped. If this seemingly minor situation was brought to an end, the budget situation would definitely improve and students’ educations would be less effected.
Although these are just a few small ideas to help this crisis that is affecting all of Pennsylvania, I hope that you can use them to help us. I respect you for all of the work and time you are putting into this situation, and I trust you will not ignore the voice of your constituents, especially the students of Penn State University. Thank you very much for you time.
Sincerely,
Rachel Angstadt
Freshman, Penn State
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