Martin_Portfolio_IntroductoryDraft

The writing class I took this year at DU helped my writing in many ways. First, I had to learn about the different assignments and the formats they adopted. I also had to learn how to conduct the research of the projects and more importantly how to interpret them on paper. The first paper we wrote, a text-based paper, was scribed on an issue of fire and brimstone in Denver, Colorado. Of course I am speaking of medical marijuana. The goal of this paper was to explain and take a stance on a local issue in Denver. We were to support and provide dissonance from our topic by utilizing scholarly sources from the area. The paper entitled Denver’s Dispensaries: Medical Marijuana in the Mainstream describes medical marijuana’s rise to being a part of mainstream media. Throughout the paper, I offer different scholarly opinion on medical marijuana from its history in Denver. Sources drawn from the Denver Post definitely offer insight and context for the how the medical marijuana industry look today. This paper helped me learn how to use sources to my advantage. It also taught me how the use of sources that don’t support your topic can help you out in establishing ethos with your reader. Additionally, this paper gave me insight on the medical marijuana industry in Denver and how it has changed over the past couple of years. This essay is a qualitative study performed on the University of Denver student body. I believe that at the University of Denver, medical marijuana is an issue of importance. Living in a city like Denver, means students are exposed to a variety medical marijuana offices and dispensaries. I truly believe that this has a profound effect on the University of Denver. And since many students are in possession of a medical marijuana license, yet still cannot utilize their medication on the campus, I believe that they should have certain rights regarding their medication. I asked the University’s students about the topic and whether they felt a similar way. I assumed that the populace would be somewhat split, being that the school is divided roughly even with political affiliation. I picked a topic like DU’s drug policy because of its relevance to our campus and city. The city of Denver has been very progressive in its medical marijuana legalization and going to a University nearly surrounded by medical marijuana dispensaries can be influential among the student body. This topic also provides insight to the population of DU and the perception of Denver’s medical marijuana. Also, this can exemplify the nature of the “normal DU” students and their perception of the city and the school as whole and different entities. I was helped in many ways by writing this paper, mostly the use of explaining and using the data to support my topic. It also aided my writing because of the format we were to write in. By having a specific goal as to what to write in the IMRad format, I learned specifically about each and what was effective. The goal of the Google maps project was, in essence, to learn about and educate the Denver population about preferences on parks and exercise. However throughout my research, I realized that my preferences about park did not really mean much. I discovered that because a park may have more amenities than another means very little as to its attendance rates. Whether a park was geared toward the 13 year old skater, the 35 year old runner, or the 50 year old basketball player, each park did something to make the area healthier. The reason that it does so is because each environment provides and supports active exercise. Through my research, however, I discovered that the advancement of technology in your respective park may do more to aid the community, by attracting new visitors. The different spots we examined, all bring something different to the table, whether it be Cornerstone Park offering its skate park or Infinity Park offering a concert venue, they all have their attractions. The importance of researching this topic comes from America being one of the unhealthiest countries in the world. That being said, Denver is one of the healthiest cities, and our group wanted to specifically verify what factors drew people to certain parks rather than others and what these people actually did while they were there. The rationale behind this was to see whether outdated parks garnered the same response as newer parks, as well as, how many people utilized the park to its full potential. Overall, I feel like the experiment was successful and we learned a lot about the parks & recreation system of Denver and why it is regarded as the healthiest city. The best thing I took from this project was how to take data and interpret it. By having to visit each park and get opinions from the park goers, I learned how to map out what each person was saying. Additionally, I had to learn how those opinions should be observed, I think this was the most valuable lesson I learned that can be applied to other writing classes.

ParkerRoe-portfolio intro draft

Looking back on the past nine months, beginning in September of 2010, I realize that I have come a long way, and have learned a great deal about myself and my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Over the course of my entire life I have attended private schools with accelerated programs in just about every department—writing has been no exception. I first realized my strengths as a writer when I was in the eighth grade after I won an award for a reflection I wrote about a camping trip in Yosemite National Park. Ever since then I have taken pride in my work, especially that of which has lied on the more creative spectrum. Narrative writing has always come naturally to me and I have the most fun developing my prose within a story-telling environment. Analytical writing took a bit longer for me to grasp a firm hold of; however, by the time I was a junior in high school it had found a secure home in my neighborhood of academic talents. Now, the final, missing part of the equation… research writing—a discipline in which I have had some very successful conquests, but never fully mastered or fell in love with. Unlike my experience with narrative and analytical styles of writing, personally, within research writing, although it does provide an outlet for investigation and new experiences, I have never achieved a full, one hundred percent comfort level—some pieces are tremendous, and I am very proud of them, but having said that, there is an equal amount of research work that I have completed and turned in that I simply don’t maintain the same level of enthusiasm for. I believe eventually this will change, and like everything else, it’s just a matter of time before it clicks. Part of this trait of me as a writer is most definitely attributed to my creative outlook on just about everything, and my simultaneous habit of just thinking about random things when I may or may not supposed to be doing so (which when writing a narrative can be very helpful). So, without any further delay, in fear of boring you to death with the story of my meager existence as a writer, allow me to introduce three pieces which I believe not only manifest my writing abilities, but also my multifaceted life in which I maintain a vast array of interests. The first paper I completed this spring, a text-based research paper entitled The Ecstasy of Gold, focuses on the early days of Denver, Colorado and the ways by which the gold rush of the late Nineteenth Century served as a catalyst of urban transformation and development. The second piece I would like to introduce is my third project from this spring quarter, a group project in which I worked with three of my fellow classmates to compose a guide to nightlife for University of Denver students.

Introductory Essay Draft Liza Veysikh

In the 1133 Writing Course, we have done three projects that each had a major goal. The first paper was a text-based paper where we used outside texts to make a larger point on an issue in Denver. The second paper was a qualitative paper where we conducted surveys and interviews to further progress of our knowledge of research. The last project was about making a google map portraying an important part of life in Denver.
For the text-based paper, I have decided to research water conservation in Denver, Colorado by describing the causes and the history behind it. The purpose of the essay was to analyze how water conservation evolved through the history of Denver, Colorado. I discussed how in the early years of Colorado, people were ignorant of water shortage and depleted the resource, but after the drought of 2002, water conservation became an important part of life for the people. At the end of the essay, I discuss what is done now to conserve water and what each of us still should do. I actually struggled with the essay because I felt that I used too many sources and most of my essay was about citations of others, and not my own discussions or my own opinion. I also had trouble introducing my quotation and just incorporated into my essay. It was the first essay and therefore I wasn’t sure how the professor wanted the essay to look like. However, from the beginning, I effectively established ethos. I rarely used pathos structure except at the end when I discussed what every person who lives in Colorado should do to prevent water scarcity. Most of the essay was about logos and facts. The audience are also Colorado residents who need to become aware of this growing problem and students who want to learn more about water in Colorado. I believe this essay to be persuasive because one of its goals is to persuade the audience to start conserving water. In the revision process, I introduced my sources in a better way and explained some of the causes of water conservation and how that related to my research.
The intention of the second paper was to further progress my knowledge of water conservation, but instead analyze a different perspective of it. I have decided to discuss the successes and failures of some of the water conservation companies and their projects, to conclude about the limits of them in reducing water shortage. Since it was a qualitative paper, I conducted three interviews. The first interview was done with a person at the Colorado Water Conservation Board located in Denver and the other two were done online with representatives of water conservation companies in Greeley, Colorado. The audience of this piece is all major water companies because they might need to re-evaluate their projects and all other Colorado residents who are faced with water conservation problems. This paper is more informative because its goals is to evaluate the efficiency of water companies in Colorado. In my revision process, I have decided to change the wording of my thesis because it was too general and could not be answered by only conducting three interviews. Also, one of the professor’s comments was that when I described my previous research concerning this project, the manner of writing was bland and did not belong in the research paper. For example, I wrote, “Some of the research I have conducted earlier…” is not relevant to my paper. I think this essay I need to work on the most because there is a lot of information in the results section that might overwhelm the reader. For the revision, I condensed the results section.
The third project on Google Maps was interesting, but very time-consuming. Especially, when it was a group project and part of the group did not want to contribute to it. So I ended up doing the whole project. Aside from that, I loved this project. It was something new and interested me a lot. For the project, we decided our topic would be public art in Denver and how it affects the lives of the people. The major concern that our professor had was that it was intended for popular audience, but we weren’t sure. For the introduction and conclusion of the project, I incorporated outside textual sources that were needed from the assignment sheet. That made the project more for the academic world, and not the common people. The audience then should be all people who appreciate and accept public art in Denver. It was mostly informative, but in the conclusion that I wrote, I appealed to pathos too showing the importance of it in the lives of the people. For the revision process, I don’t think I need to do much. Maybe explain why I incorporated outside sources, but mostly the time I put into the project, was reflected in a good grade we got.
For the outside paper from another class, I have decided to use my WRIT 1122 essay that discusses the significance of metaphor of learning as growth.
To be continued…
Throughout the quarter, I felt that my writing based solely on research has greatly improved.

portfolio draft Baca

During my time in the Writ 1133 class I have learned how to revise. Out of every other skill that this class has offered, by the first paper that I wrote I could see that leaving my paper as the original is not the best way to write. I acknowledged that the first paper was a stepping-stone in my writing life. I realized that the revising process is an important stage in the writing process. Also, in my first paper, addressed the issue of Educational Issues in Denver. I didn’t use sources very much to write a research-based project.
During my second paper, I wrote the first draft early enough to submit for the class to revise as an activity in class. This helped me because I thought that if I awanted to learn about revision than who better to learn it from than the people around me in the same class. It always sounds better to hear the tough words about ones work from a peer than an authority figure.
The third project looked at what DU students do off of campus. I immediately thought of skiing. DU students flock to the mountains on the weekend to get away from the business of school. The main point of this essay was to show the outsiders looking in on DU students, even prospective students that there are so many things to do off campus even some that are just a short train ride into the city of Denver.
The first essay took up the topic of Education Issues of Denver, as presented in the first paragraph. I, thinking that I knew what education needed looked at a few sources then tried to write my essay based on two people opinions. Not looking at the broader scheme of the paper. I didn’t take into account the impact on the world if the USA doesn’t take education seriously. Through the revision process I added these ideas, as well as idea from more people to take into account the reality that educational issues have on people of America and not just what I think the classroom needs to do to improve the quality of education. Also, I didn’t read it over. I took it as I thought it was without reading back over it. I didn’t realize that the paper was the beginning of the process. The ideas were on the page but the scheme, the structure wasn’t. In order to make a paper better it needs to be revised. There is no way that just slamming down the keys the first time can get an A on a paper. Through the course I realized that. This in my eyes didn’t seem wrong at the time I wrote it however reading that paper again at this point in my writing maturation stage I can see why sources are important in writing anything. It credits the writer ethos. Sources also make it easier to write. What I mean by easier is that it is not just writing generally what happens with the topic at hand. It gives real world academic research done by Doctors and Professors who know what they are talking about.
In this essay, I will be discussing the topic of, College students. I want to know why these people come to college; namely the men in my fraternity. I asked these men because I feel like they of any other group of people here at DU they have the biggest sense of why they are here. The purpose is purely educational; I just want to learn more about why people do the things that they do. College is one of those things that most people think about but fewer actually do. I want to show more reasons for going to college other than getting a good job and my parents made me. I hope to find out the real reasons that students come to college. I narrowed it down to my fraternity because interviewing a whole 10,000 people would be too difficult to do. I believe the readers of my paper are people who want to learn more about their peers and or professors who think that fraternity men are just here to party. Not one person said that they are here to get drunk everyday. Independence, education, and making a career are what they want to get out of college. I was wondering one day about who everyone was when he was in high school i.e. the jock, the stoner, the badass etc. Then I started thinking about why they decided to come to DU. Then I started thinking, it would be easy to write a paper on this topic. Then I could interview the people in my fraternity, the people who I spend the most time with. I could learn about my brothers and do homework at the same time.
For this project I intend to show outsiders of DU, or even parents what DU students enjoy when they are not hitting the books. Most people think that college is just one big party but there are many more things to do in the beautiful landscape of the Rocky Mountains than just party and sleep all day recovering from the previous night. The weekends of winter quarter are a busy sensation for the mountains that border Denver to the west. Skiing is a huge activity that many people here at DU pride themselves on. They love getting out of the busy atmosphere of school to just forget about everything and just flow down the mountain with the wind in their faces.
In order to find out a little bit more about the lifestyle that is skiing here in Colorado I interviewed my neighbor and friend Bryant Wilkinson. When asked to write about what DU students do off campus skiing immediately came to mind, as did Bryant. I picked him to interview because out of the many people that go to the mountains extremely often I would say that he by far was up there the most. Each weekend he would leave early Friday morning and not come back until Sunday evening. I narrowed my search in the skiing world by choosing him to interview. I wrote up some questions that outlined what skiers do on the weekends that they are off on the slopes that Wilkinson answered beautifully. At first I was trying to write this as a research topic with a question to answer then I realized that the assignment was to show what DU students do off of campus there is really no question to answer. I changed my writing style after that. The comments helped out because I got to see what students here are actually interested in. By their questions I could see what I was lacking in.
During the Spring quarter taking Writ 1133 I realized the scope of writing, completing my package of writing. I have good words, but typing them out.

Introduction Draft-Scott Haraway

Over the course of this quarter and last in the WRIT sequence, I have developed a breadth of writing skills for a number of different situations and corresponding audiences. I can demonstrate this through four pieces of writing that I created: a text-based research paper, an ethnography, a Google Map, and a newspaper feature article. In these different pieces I appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos, in very different ways to appeal to both the reader and the academic community. Through the documents discussed below, I will show my growth in in-depth research and revision that has made me the better, more versatile writer that I am today.

The first paper I wrote was a text-based research paper. The assignment was to create an argument that had to do with an issue in the city of Denver or its surrounding area in some way, as all of our assignments for WRIT 1133 had to be, and to ground the argument in at least five previously written, peer-reviewed academic publications. Not a week before the paper was assigned, I read an article about how a man named Stan Kroenke had become the primary shareholder (owner) of Arsenal Football Club in England. This struck me as amazing, because I knew that Kroenke already owned the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets, the Colorado Rapids, the Colorado Mammoth, the St. Louis Rams, and the Pepsi Center where three of these teams call home and numerous concerts take place year round. Clearly this is an amazing empire in the sporting world, not to mention his wife is a Walmart child, and the so-called Denver sports monopoly interested me being a huge sports fan.

The purpose of this paper was to show how this sort of sports monopoly was a bad thing for Colorado sports. It was very difficult to find sources that had academic credibility, because it is an increasingly current topic and also a small scope of people geographically who would care about this man…

The next paper I wrote was an ethnography/study about why people go to coffee shops. The assignment was to write a qualitative study about why or how people do what they do, again in some way related to Denver. The main point of the project was to create our own research and that the research was qualitative as opposed to quantitative, number-based research. I chose to research what people do at coffee shops, because it is a place that my brother and I had always spent a lot of time and always observed people at. It always struck us as interested that most people, including us, visited a coffee with the cup of coffee they were purchasing as their last priority.

The purpose of the paper was to demonstrate exactly this point. So, I conducted my research through a series of four structured observations in which I used a checklist to systematically observe the patrons of two different coffee shops over an hour period of time. The checklist included almost every trait of physical appearance that you could think of as well as questions on what they purchased and what they did while they were there. In addition, I conducted eight short interviews with a sample of interviewees that I thought represented the coffee shop population very well. With the combination of these research interests I formulated conclusions based on the trends I began to see…

The third product produced in WRIT 1133 was a Google Map, which was a very unorthodox yet extremely fun research project. The assignment was to work with a group, in my case of four, to create an original Google Map that was almost a guide around some part of Denver, for example the DU campus itself or the Denver slam poetry scene. On this map we were supposed to place two to three “markers” each, which were places that we had gone to do firsthand observatory research on and later written a blurb about describing our experience and overall impressions of the place. We were encouraged to include videos, pictures, audio, etc. to enhance our map.

My group chose to do a map based on what DU students do off campus. The reason for this is because it had great personal resonation in that the four of us are always trying to find something fun to do in Denver and explore the city when our campus starts getting a little stale. We also wanted to create something that was very comprehensive and varied throughout the city both geographically and interest-wise. The purpose of that was that our map would then be able to help inform more students from different backgrounds. One critique we seemed to get that it didn’t seem to necessarily have a very focused theme, but that was exactly it. We wanted to provide at least one or two things for each student, no matter what their interests were. So someone could go to

Portfolio Introduction: Kelsie Cage

As I entered my first year at the University of Denver, I was not sure what to expect for the writing courses that I had to take. Throughout high school I was always taught how to analyze works of literature, but rarely conducted hands on research papers. I quickly realized that the two are very different forms of writing. Although, I was always a strong writer, I struggled with maintaing formal writing diction and understanding how to properly conduct a research-based paper. I tend to write with detail and and like to include wordy diction. Throughout this course I have learned that research papers are based on exact material and do not need a lot of detail for the reader to understand the paper. Research papers are full of facts, examples and more or less a non-biased view. The writing does not need excess, polished words; I learned throughout the writing course how to cut out unnecessary information that was not needed. Specifically in the text based paper our writ class was instructed to write about. The assignment as giving to us from our instructor to write about an 'Interpretive' research paper in which you will derive an argument from previously-published sources. As individuals we had to find a topic and conduct a research based paper, while analyzing another authors work and incorporating it into our writing. I wanted to uncover the reason why DU no longer has a football. This arose when I was on my tour of the campus last spring and my leader stated that one of the buildings had been blown up during a football rivalry. I had heard many rumors about the abolishment of the team and wanted to find out the true meaning. When I was conducting my research I felt the need to include the football teams history and the history of the school to give my reader background information. Unfortunately, I felt this could have hindered my writing piece. Instead of it turing out to be a constructive research paper it became more like a media report. One thing that has really stuck with my in this course is the importance of revising a piece. I spent more hours revising this paper than I did on its first draft. I wanted to give my reader reason to read and become interested in my paper. I acknowledged what I did wrong throughout my piece, and attempted to edit it so that it flowed.

I struggled getting to the main point of my paper. I “beat around the bush” and put a lot of “fluff” in my paper, without meaning too. I took a lot of time revising and reconstructing my paper; I wanted to take the time to understand why I was writing the way I did and learn how I could change my style to the appropriate form. I have reflected on my strengths and I have learned to take the time to acknowledge and focus on my weaknesses throughout this course.

Furthermore, I could not override my own opinion while I was writing (this happened with my qualitative paper as well). By the end of the course I have a better understanding on how to write with a biases tone, however I still struggle with it; I have come to be aware of my perspective while writing.

The second piece our class was required to write about was: a qualitative research project in which you gather research via a qualitative method such as ethnography or interview. This piece was my favorite work. I talked about the undercover drug scene on the University of Denver's campus. I used pieces from other authors, such as a research paper that was conducted by a professor at Yale University. Although I was passionate about the topic, because I felt that this research could actually be useful to our university's administrators, like it was used for Yale; my speed bump came with the questions I asked students in an anonymous survey. Our university provides its students with an IRB introduction and research limitation. It is meant to protect the rights and safety of individuals participation in research projects that involve human subjects. The guidelines stated that drug profound questions were not allowed. It did not clearly state exactly what the qualifications of those questions were, so I assumed that there was some grey area and I could wriggle my questions to students, while obtaining the anonymous information I needed while not disobeying the IRB rules and restrictions. I found out that most of my questions slid past the “frowning upon” questions, so I was able to gain most of the information I needed. Yet, I felt cheated that I could not directly ask the members of my survey detailed information that could have positively affected my research. I had to take some of my questions out, which left me a few questions short on my survey. I understand the implications the university is under, however it took a toll on my paper. With that in mind, I did the best I could with the paper. My first draft had information that could not be publicized so my revision lead me down another path with my paper. I had to come up with other ways I could express my topic without stepping on anyones toes. This was my main challenge with this paper. I had learned from my first paper in this course how to effectively write a research paper (still learning, but better than I started off) but did not have to include interviews or a survey. This paper challenged me by understanding how to effectively incorporate my findings. My revision included reforming my topic and taking out my main points in order to follow the IRB format. Although this was a challenge for me, I tried to get my point across the best I could without using certain information. I felt that this piece was a challenge in which I learned a lot about my writing and the different styles used. I had never written a piece that was broken up in sections of method, discussion, conclusion, etc. I did like writing in the different sections, however at one point I felt that I was repeating myself a lot; which resulted me in giving up talking about some main points. In the revision I made and effort to go back and try to provide more information without the feeling that the paper was just creating repetition.

The third and final paper of this course was a group project that was: a Google Maps project that displays your rhetorical map of Denver. Our group conducted research on what DU students do around campus at night. We had two greek-life students discuss what there is to do around campus and two non-greek life students. The two sections over lapped which provided information for those students who are interested in exploring DU's night life and they can gain different perspectives through the eyes of different views.

William Summitt

INTRODUCTION ESSAY
I have always struggled as a writer. My senior year of high school I had an amazing AP English teacher and I thought I learned a lot, and improved dramatically. However, upon entering college I realized still how sub par my writing skills were. Over the course of the year I have completed WRIT 1122, where I learned how to properly form an argument and appeal to certain audiences among other things. I am now nearing the final days of the quarter and thus the final days of my WRIT 1133 course. While nearing the end we are instructed to review literature we produced and reflect upon this. To accomplish this I am analyzing the first two papers from this course amongst a piece of writing from another course that will compliment my stance on my academic advancement in the form of writing.
WRIT 1133 is one of two introductory writing courses and specifically focuses on more researched based papers. The first two papers we constructed for this course were in fact researched based, however they differ in where the research is derived from.
The first paper was an interpretive essay in which we derived an argument from previously published sources. In other words we found scholarly documents in the form of books, published online articles, and so on and so forth. My topic for this paper was marijuana. With this paper I wanted to find out the facts on why it is illegal and the arguments on why it should be legalized and from this form a conclusion of my standpoint on the matter. While researching this I was able to find a lot of books of which the majority demonstrated the positive aspects of marijuana, whereas most of my online sources were medical based and argued the negative effects of the drug. Through my research I found a lot of controversial medical opinions. This was one set back to my paper, the topic. It was hard to find solid facts, because this is a topic with rising popularity but relatively little research. The other difficulty with this request was time. To conduct full research on a topic, write a paper and then revise that paper numerous times takes a lot of time and effort. We were given roughly two weeks and we are students with other activities and assignments on our plates.

The second assignment for the quarter was another research project, only this time we conducted our own research. We were supposed to focus on something related to Denver, conduct our own research, and then format our paper similar to a lab write-up. By this I mean an Inro, Method, Response and Conclusion. My project was on the DU food service. I chose this topic because it was realistic. We had another two weeks to conduct research for this paper and then devise the paper itself. To be realistic with time I had to begin collecting data immediately and also focus on a narrow, local audience. By doing this I was able to make my data more accurate. Collecting data was an important thing to consider from the start of this paper. I needed a way to collect data quickly and effectively. My approach was sending surveys to peers of mine through Facebook. I chose to use Facebook because it is such a popular form of media for college students. The other form of collection that I used was simple observation. From this information I concluded that students at the University of Denver were unsatisfied with their provided food service and formed a possible solution to the issue.
I have always hated revising, and for the first paper I was lazy enough to only revise about twice, which is not even the bare minimum for writing of my caliber. Through this course I found through lots of critique from both peers and professors that revision is the only way to meet near perfection and achieve an acceptable grade by my standards. This means formatting a paper prior to writing, make a rough draft, and then revise it twice myself. After this it I found it helpful to get an outside opinion, so I turned to a friend and asked that they revise my writing. At this point I would then revise again and if I had time refer to the writing center. I think by learning this approach this quarter my writing has again improved dramatically. I know that I am not a skilled enough writer to appreciate a first draft as a final one. It was a painful piece of information, but in the long run a helpful one that I can attribute to this writing program, and a strict grading system holding me to a higher standard.