Journal 1: Welcome to ENC 2135 Summer 2016

In previous years, as a developing writer I have done most of my work in school. I have
developed writing practices such as expository, rhetorical analysis, argument, descriptive,
persuasive, and research writing. Most of this writing was done throughout high school at
various moments/times. My rhetorical analysis and argumentative writing were mostly done in
my junior and senior year of high school; the rhetorical analysis dealt with pin-pointing different
strategies that an author or speaker used to persuade or appeal to their audience. Meanwhile my
argument writing focused on persuasion and providing statistical facts to prove or validate a
point I was trying to make. Along with this, tied in my research writing as well as persuasive
writing which consists of investigation into different topics in order to establish facts and
theories while reaching new conclusions.
My favorite type of writing would mostly be argument writing. I like the fact that on this
specific topic of writing one can either choose a following side to validate and research or
qualify both sides of the argument. My least favorite type of writing would be research. I find it
extremely overwhelming trying to find different aspects of the topic at hand in order to reach and
establish new conclusions. I strongly believe that my most successful piece of writing would be
the personal journal I kept throughout high school. The material I wrote about was personal, real,
and raw information from personal experiences and knowledge collected. My least successful
piece of writing would be the research papers I wrote in high school. I personally struggled
writing research papers and had a hard time narrowing all the topics I wrote about into one
coherent message.
Journal 2: Plagiarism, Remix, and Assemblage
The actual definition of plagiarism became clear to me at a very young age. In elementary
school, I had a few friends who would take Tuesdays and Thursdays school days off to go to a
gifted program at a nearby public school. My best friend at the time was a part of this; she ended
up copying something wrong for an assignment she had through the gifted program. When the
association found out about it, she was then kicked out for plagiarism. I saw how upset and
embarrassed she was about the entire situation. Plagiarism has always been taught to me as the
practice of taking someone else's words or work in general as your own. There are many ways to
avoid plagiarism. I have always been taught that no matter the wording that if you got an idea
from another source to always give them the credit they deserve. Citations are important in this
specific aspect as well as using quotations; citing is crucial when it comes to avoiding such
plagiarism. The McGraw-Hill Handbook aligned perfectly with what I have been taught
throughout my education in elementary, middle, and high school. It emphasized how important it
was to cite every detail as well as how drastic the punishment for plagiarism can be.
In this article, Selber and Johnson-Eilola analyze the differences between plagiarism,
originality, and assemblage. They discuss that teachers have had more interest in a students
work full of originality rather than a students work full of practices like framing, modeling, and
consulting. They define plagiarism by suggesting that creativity and originality is
counterproductive and can lead to the actual act of plagiarism. If students are asked to show
originality in their writing, most of them might be more likely to hide their borrowing ideas.
Selber and Johnson-Eilola then suggest that assemblage should be used to problem-solve,
where the writer can remix documents into a new document and create an assemblage of new

ideas, practices, and words. Personally, Im borderline with their argument. I do not completely
agree nor completely disagree. I feel that originality is important in a students writing but when
it comes to research papers, I also feel that taking ones words and ideas without citation is
wrong. This argument might become applicable in the work that I will be doing in ENC 2135
through each type of paper we will construct and write. Depending on what exactly my teacher
desires, I will either be assembling other materials into one text or I will be writing personal and
original ideas down; however, no matter the case, citing others ideas will be my number one
priority when it comes to writing for this class.
Journal 3: Discourse Community
A discourse community is made up of people who share the same values, morals,
assumptions, etc.; they use communication in order to reach these shared goals. Personally, a
discourse community that I have once been involved with could be my high school girls
basketball team. I have played basketball since I was in the sixth grade and all throughout my
high school experience. In a way, basketball was my personal discourse community. We shared
the same assumptions (the fact that we wanted to work hard at every practice and win every
game) and the same morals and values. We all appreciated the game and each other playing each
time with good sportsmanship.
There was one instance when I could have been considered not assimilated with the
situation or in fact resisted the situation either. During a free throw for our team, my coach called
me back court to talk to her while my teammate shot. While this was happening, another player
from the other team who was guarding me at the time came with to stand next to me and my
coach and listen in on what she had to say to me. I did not understand why she would want to be
so disrespectful in such an atmosphere; however, neither did I push back.
Resistance to other discourse communities within musicians/listeners of a specific genre
doesnt seem to be an issue, personally, to me. I have found that more artist now-in-days are
turning old hit songs and collaborating those lyrics into their new songs. They also are now
putting pop songs with rap songs and so on. Music and genres intertwine. It could personally
relate to my own composing by the way I write. When I write sometimes different types of
genres and feelings contribute to my final drafts.