Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

This semester I knew from when I first learned we were doing research papers that I wanted to write about video games. They are on of my hobbies and I have spent all of my life enjoying them. During my time collaborating with professor Hodges, my argument went from “crowdsourcing is the best practice for game development” to “video games provide a model for education that is an improvement over what is currently in schools. Through the collaboration with professor Hodges, I was able to land on a thesis that I believed to be thought provoking, but provable with the help of the works I cited in my annotated bibliography. My annotated bibliography is where my work is cited in a clear, and concise format.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

One of the most essential parts of my research was finding credible and varying sources for my research paper. While this was difficult at first, I was eventually able to find sources that I believe are very interesting and come from a wide variety of communities. Not only did I use papers that specifically talked about video games, but I also used medical papers and papers that talked about different entertainment fields to further the points in my papers. My research paper and my annotated bibliography show the different sources I used, how I used them, and where specifically they are from. My research paper not only quotes people who believe that video games can be used for education, but also people in different fields entirely.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I believe that my visual rhetoric best shows me practicing core value three. During this assignment, I was tasked with watching a video without audio, describing what was happening, and analyzing why the author did what they did. I watched a video that was attempting to prevent young people from driving drunk. This video showed multiple types of people all in places where any young person might drink. These people had the opportunity to drive drunk, but chose not too, because it is the smart and safe thing to do. The author uses settings that are, most likely, familiar to younger people who watch the video. They want the youth to relate to the video and take it as a warning to not drink and drive.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I believe my causal argument best shows core value four. My original causal argument jumped around from one idea to the next, with little to no actual transitions. I realized what I needed to fix when I went through professor Hodge’s feedback that he provided me with. He made it very clear where I needed to fix things and clean things up in order for my paper to make sense. I believe that after I put the work in to fix the paper it does a much better job of incorporating evidence and illustrations into my arguments. I think that on my final attempt of the causal argument paper I did a much better job at both blending my points together, and blending my points with their supporting sources.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

Before this class, I honestly felt very lost on how to accurately cite sources. I was always confused between what the different formats meant and how I was supposed to do things. But after we went over it in class, and I started doing it in my own work, it became much more simple and clear to me how to exactly cite sources. I believe my research paper best shows my ability to properly cite and represent my sources. I used a variety of sources from all different places on the internet to attempt to prove my points. I believe I showed the original authors of each of these sources in a fair and honest light, while respecting each argument they were trying to make.