"Annoying Ways that People Use Sources"

    This article I found to be more interesting than most with that they talk about how not all readers and writers are going to see things from eye-to-eye. It goes on and on about writers who may sometimes fail to follow conventions which would then make their readers upset. For me, however, I don't mind. I like writers that don't follow the rules and seem to have or make up their own style. That's the best part about writing, there shouldn't be too many rules. If every writer is following the same rules and the same conventions than that's just boring. However, sourcing maybe a different circumstance. There are strict rules that I have always been taught and were always enforced throughout all of my years with education. I never liked writing because if you make one small error with sourcing you were to get so many point docked off. Sourcing is supposed to be met by certain guidelines, although like I was saying before, that shouldn't always necessarily be the case. My only exception would be that the sourcing couldn't be just at random. It should still be clear, neat, and to be easily understood by the reader in where it came from. I really appreciate it when they state that, ".. in the majority of situations, readers appreciate being guided to and led away from a quotation by the writer doing the quoting/ Readers get a sense of please from the safe flow of hearing how to read and upcoming quotation, reading it, and then being told one way to interpret it. Prepare, quote, analyze" (pg. 247). That statement right there explains it all. It is true, when writers follow the guidelines its almost like they provide a safe flow for the reader. I too can appreciate that. However, all in all, I will always stand by my stance that writing should not be so much full of rules and conventions, but more as an opportunity to embrace uniqueness.

Interview Questions With Dr. Kathy Gruver

1. What helped you decide to get into this particular field?

2. Did you expect to be where you are now 10 years ago? Did you expect to be this successful?

3. What an accomplishment it must have been to attend Harvard. Did you attend any other schools that you felt benefited or aided your education more deeply?

4. I understand you did acting for some time, what experience did you gain from that?

5. I also was extremely fascinated that you are working on a program to de-stress the military, could you tell me more about that and what inspired you to do so?

6. Having written a handful of novels, were you always good at writing and what motivated you to do so?

7. What do you personally believe the difference would be between being an ND and an homeopathic physician?

8. Do you have a life motto that you live by?

9. Is there a place or a time in your life that you felt was most inspiring or most beneficial?

10. What kind of life lessons did you learn through your journey?

11. Explain a typical day in the life of Kathy Gruver...

Arguable Assertions/ So What? Who cares?

     Personally, it is quite difficult for me to read comic strips. I love the illustrations, but I found myself so distracted in trying to understand the context in what they were saying. After rereading it a couple times I was able to point out the purpose. In this article the author talks about what makes a good argument. As they state, a good argument is much like a good conversation. They also continue to talk about the history in regarding rhetoric dialogues which have been present arguments about various social, political, and philosophical issues. It was interesting how they states that even Plato would often use the form of dialogue in order to show all positions involved in a debate. In following, they talk about the critical parts of what makes a good argument; What, How, Who, and Why. Then, what I really found interesting, was their statement about how paragraphs are just like mini arguments.

     The second article, "So What? Who Cares?" Saying Why it Matters", talked about how all writing is conversational. They make a great point about the fact that in literature many times those questions are left unanswered because the author assumes that the reader already knows. That is one thing that I absolutely hate about reading. I want to know all the details. I want to know as much as I can to paint the most descriptive picture as I possibly can. That is why I would rather watch a movie with subtitles then reading a book. My favorite statement in this article is when the author boldly states that it is the writers that fail to show that others should care or hopefully already do care about their claims that they will quickly loose their audiences' interest because their claims are left to vague. Additionally, in this article the author brings about points that seem random, but are quite interesting. The author claims that recent experts suggest that spanking can be counterproductive, where as parents believed for so long that spanking was necessary. Now every time I write I will make sure that I am addressing those important questions of "So What?" and "Who Cares?". I wouldn't want to leave my audience hanging and loose interest just like how I do.