Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Semester's End, and a Final Blog to Accompany It.


So what exactly is ethos? Well, according to Durham Tech's website, it simply is credibility and how well you can convince the reader what you're talking about! Throughout this past semester, I feel like I've effectively added my own personality into each and one of my writing assignments, and especially my online blog posts. Not only has this greatly increased my ethos, but it has allowed me to further dive into my topics that I write about, and allows me to add my own voice which readers find interesting.

"Who am I?", you may ask. Well, I can tell you one thing, I do consider myself a unique individual despite the molds that are in place here on campus. Although I do take part in a fraternity (Lambda Chi Alpha) here on campus, I still have held onto my values and morals. I enjoy playing video games, and especially playing/watching all types of sports. Honestly, that is probably my defining attribute. There isn't a sport I'm not up for playing or even watching on t.v. There's something about competing to be the best that has always struck me, ever since I was a young kid who was raised to play soccer. I carry this competitive attitude into my everyday life, and use it to help motivate and drive myself towards my goals, dreams, and ambitions, whether they be school, work, or sport related.

I've used my interest and love for sports to my advantage this semester in my English 2 class. Often writing my blogs about something sports related, it has allowed me to really add my own voice and flair into each blog entry, and has allowed me to passionately write about my respected topic.

Let's take my very first blog for example, the one about a Nike advertisement which uses athletes to entice consumers to purchase the Nike brand. My knowledge about the sports industry, and my familiarity of the athletes present in the given advertisement really gave me a lot of ethos/credibility in this blog, which is why I feel like this was one of my best blogs of the semester, and even my professor agreed by awarding me 97% of the possible points allotted on this assignment. Needless to say, I was extremely proud of myself, and I really felt like I have mastered the art of blogging :)


Another assignment in which I feel like my ethos was presented in a good light was the group website that me and my two other classmates put together. The website, which can be found here, was a collaboration of thoughts and ideas in which I feel like me and my group really excelled in. From the format of the entire site, to all of it's content, I feel like we may have had one of the slickest webpages out of all the groups in our class, and I take great pride in that. My section of the site was written about technology and how famous celebrities and athletes, such as Dwyane Wade are used to market and advertise items and products for companies, such as T-Moble. The reason I believed I excelled was that I merged my love for sports with my passion and interest in technology. This blend allowed me to create a blog entry that echoed my voice, and still gave me all the ethos I needed.

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Overall I feel like my work has been really good this semester. I put a lot of thought and hard work into each of my assignments, and feel like I never just "half-assed" any of them in order to just get them done and out of the way. I honestly couldn't have gotten through English 2 this semester without the great help from my professor, Paul Mitchell. Through each step of the way, he has always been there for me, and everyone in my class to help guide us through new and exciting material. He kept the classroom lively and there was never a dull moment to be had. Looking back, I'm just so thankful and blessed to have had such an outstanding professor.



Luckily this past semester, I've had a great, peaceful place to work and write on all my assignments. My location of choice was the Great Reading Room, which is located in the Bizzell library here on campus. Although while currently writing this last blog entry for the school year, I've been feeling a little stressed and just worn down. It is the weekend before finals, so that should just be understood, but mentally I'm just ready to be done with school for this semester and go back home to the great state of Texas.

Despite my current semi-depressed state, I've always enjoyed working here in the Great Reading Room all semester long because it's a silent place that I can be extremely productive in because of all the other people around me who look like they are being productive. I don't know if it's just a psychological thing, but it works, so I'm sticking to it! Mentally and physically I've felt great all semester long, which I believe has led to my quality writing assignments, which is why I'm so proud of all of them. I feel like I've done great in class and have always done my best to try and participate in class and offer my two cents, even if they were wrong at times.

In conclusion, I just want to say that I've grown a lot as a person, and a writer during my first year of college. I believe it has been nothing short of successful and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for me, and my writing, of course!

If you need me, I'll be poolside for the rest of the summer just relaxin' and doin' my thanggggg.

2 comments:

  1. It's good that this has been a positive experience for you; that's the best way to start out our college careers!

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  2. i really have enjoyed reading everyone's blogs but i must say, i really like the pictures on yours!

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