Needed more discussions...

I thought the concept of what a good definition was in chapter 2 needed further discussion because there can be many different ways people view a good definition as rather than just the way the book states it. There are some people who I personally know that are really strict on what good definitions are. Good definitions do not just consist of words but there can be good definitions of statements and sayings that people say. For example, when I was having lunch with my boyfriend the other day I told him, "oh my new roommate for next year is really rich." He replied by saying, "what's your definition of rich?". I replied back by saying that, "well both of her parents own businesses." My boyfriend replied back to me saying, "that doesn't necessarily mean that she is rich, you should rethink what a good definition is for being rich." After having that conversation with him I thought about how the book had a concept that was talking about good definitions and I realized that it was not thoroughly discussed. 

What I learned this semester...

Throughout this whole semester of the course I have been able to learn many different new things. I overall thought that the class was interesting and fun being the fact that it was an online class. Although the class did not get to hear lectures weekly, it was helpful for me to learn that I could learn concepts from this course by myself. Taking Comm 41 helped me multitask and what not. What I am used to is going to classes weekly and listening to whatever the professors say so it was a good way for me to find other ways of learning. Being the fact that this was my first online class I was able to gain and learn a lot from the teacher. I learned to communicate with people in the class through email, phone, etc. I gained better communication skills from the class. I also learned to balance my homework and turn it in on time since there was always time limits to the homework and I admired that whole part of the class a lot.

Chapter 14...

As I was reading chapter 14 the main topic that the chapter mentions that caught my eye the most was generalizing, which is pretty much the actual main topic of the chapter. I thought the information the book gave about generalizing was interesting because the examples were very helpful and did not bore me at all. What the book mentioned is that, "sometimes we use the word for the whole argument." I never actually knew that generalization was used for the whole argument, I always thought that a generalization was only used at the very end of an essay. I am so glad that I read through this part of the book because one it is the most important topic of the chapter and two because I would have kept thinking that a generalization was really used at the conclusion of an essay. I would probably be using my generalizations at the end of my essays still if I did not see that.

mission critical website

As for the mission critical website I found the fact that the order the website put the different topics in was fantastic. It was easy for me to navigate through the website. Not only did it help to navigate through the website, but I also thought that it was interesting. The different types of topics caught my eye a lot because I was never able to find this type of information in the textbook. My favorite section was the appeals. Although we did learn about the different types of appeals in the textbook, I still thought the website used a better technique to understand these appeals. I also found the 40 fallacy review exercises to be helpful because without it I would probably forget what a fallacy was or even how to recognize a fallacy without have to use a textbook. The fallacies that were used in the exercises helped me a lot so hopefully it helped the whole class.

what i found interesting....

The part that i found to be the most interesting and helpful section in chapter 15 was the topic of causes and effects. I enjoyed the examples that the book used because it helped me understand what causes and effects exactly are. I also liked the fact that there were questions about the examples as well because it helped me understand the examples too. In chapter 15 i also enjoyed the fact that there were illustrations in the book that could help me and probably the whole class understand what the topics were in this chapter. I liked how the chapter offered so many examples about causes and effects because not everyone is very clear on what causes and effects are used for. The chapter helps people gain a better understanding about that certain topic. When the chapter covered how to look for the cause it amazed me a lot because it is obviously important to know what a cause and effect is and yet it is also important to learn how exactly you can look for the cause and that is why I thought it was very important and interesting.

cause and effect website

When I was going over the cause and effect website and exercises I found the two rules to remember in dealing with causation to be useful because it is important for everyone to know with different types of real life situations. I learned a lot from the two rules especially the second rule when it was stated that even a strong correlation is insufficient to prove causation. In a way at first I did not really understand what it meant, but after re reading it I slowly began to understand the significance of it and how important it is for us to know about. As for the exercises on the cause and effect website I found the fact that the answers to the exercise were on the bottom of the page. I am not saying that I just looked and the answers and answered them, but it was helpful because with every wrong answer I had I was able to see why I got it wrong in the first place.

What i found interesting...

One of the concepts in Chapter 10 that I found to be very interesting was the appeal to pity. As I mentioned in my earlier post before this one I said that the appeal to pity was the appeal to emotion that was the most striking to me. Not only was it the most striking appeal to me but it was the most interesting concept that I learned in the whole chapter. I found it to be very interesting because I realized that so many people use that appeal without even knowing it. Although it seems to be a bad appeal, it is very true. Doing something for someone just because you feel sorry for them is not a very polite thing to do. I would say doing that would make you fake. It is not fair for the people that do not know that you are only doing this just because you feel sorry for them and that you do not even want to do it. Overall, I learned a lot from this appeal and I am very happy that the chapter brought the concept up because now everyone can pay close attention to people who use appeal to pity in their everyday lives.