Walkovitz_Inclass_Rough Draft of Intro Essay

In Writing 1133 this quarter, we focused on many different types of scholarly writing, which ranged from a Google Maps project to a typical research paper. This class focused on how to compile sources and properly use them. It also focused on how to do our own qualitative research and using interviews.
For the first paper of this course and my portfolio, I am using my text-based paper that was a research paper on medical marijuana. This paper looked at the uses of marijuana and how, although it is useful as a medical product, it is not acceptable for the general public. I wrote this for a general audience and tried to persuade them that marijuana should not be legalized for the general public and it should remain how it is currently. In writing this, I hoped to show my own thoughts while also backing my opinion up with proper scholarly sources.
My second paper was a qualitative paper about the correlation, if any, between student employment and grade point average. There are many students that are forced to have jobs for tuition, parental needs, or just to have money to live. In my paper I looked at how having a job affects the student’s grade point average. By surveying and interviewing college students, I determined if having a job affects their schoolwork and how it affects them, whether is adds more stress or gives them time to break away from school.
In my final project, the intent was to look at different public and local art around the city of Denver. We were assigned to create a Google Map mapping out different locations that we visited pertaining to our topic. By doing this, the relationship between popular culture and art was analyzed. There are many different examples of popular culture intertwined with art around Denver, and a lot of it goes unnoticed. Companies from the clothing store, Division West, to the exotic car dealership, Motorsports Gallery, use art by local artists in their showrooms to add more of a sophisticated environment. Division West has been trying to get more stores in Cherry Creek North to help out the local artists, but none are interested in staying open the extra hours for an art walk on the weekends or at night. Motorsports Gallery is also doing this while adding a high-class, homely feel to their showroom floor. Not only does this aid the companies, but it also gives these local artists a place to show their work and hopefully make some extra money.