History of the Problem Essay

A couple things over the long course of the study of climate change proved to be very significant. The first of those two things happened in the 1950's when government funded studies proved once and for all that carbon dioxide can actually be trapped in the atmosphere. The other milestone was the prediction that by 2000 global warming would be very apparent, and obviously that prediction came true. In researching for my paper, I was appalled to find out that corporations (being among the biggest culprits in emitting greenhouse gasses) and individuals who were against government involvement, began to pour millions of dollars into advertising and printing inaccurate "reports" about climate change in an attempt to relieve national concern of global warming, that falsely claimed to be supported by scientific study.  These steps  in the wrong direction greatly swayed public opinion of climate change. It amazes me how much say the "big guys" have. Not all of the history of the problem could have fit in my paper, but I made sure to include the significant parts and information collected over the years about global warming.

What I learned at the RWC...

Last week at the Reading and Writing Center, I learned a few new helpful things about SJCC. Firstly, I learned that we have such a tool as online databases located in the SJCC website that are exclusively for enrolled students and staff. These databases look like they could cut your time spent trying to gather useful information in half. From the man teaching us about these online databases, I learned the very helpful tip of putting your search in quotations in order to search for articles with that exact phrase instead of the databases pulling up many articles that may not have much to do with what you typed in the search bar, but came up anyway because the words were dispersed throughout the page. This hint will surely make navigating information that much easier and tremendously help narrow down your search. Also, you can never be sure of who is typing what on a webpage, and the legitimacy of their claims, so I'm thankful that the man teaching us let us in on another secret of how to check if the page you are viewing is legitimate; to check, you simply look for the copyright symbol at the bottom of the page.

My writing process

In beginning to write a paper, I go through a few steps to get the job done. First, and most importantly, I must be relaxed and clear-headed before thinking creatively and piecing my words together. If I'm tired and/or stressed out, it will be much more difficult and significantly less effective in getting the job done. That being said, I like to eat beforehand so I'm in "writing mode" when I begin. Normally, I steer clear of Microsoft Word and the computer in general before composing a paper, preferring blank pieces of paper and a pen instead. When I've got these, I sit down and brainstorm, scribbling messy ideas onto paper in bullet points to get some ideas and key points going. After I have some ideas, it is time to decide in what logical order the key points and information should go in. I start out with a topic sentence and figure out how to say what I want to be said, in the order neccessary. After putting together a rough draft on paper, it's time to type it up on the computer. I like to print off a copy when I'm finished typing and read it to myself to see what I could improve or take out. After I've edited my rough draft to my satisfaction, I go ahead and type the real thing.

     As far as the topic for my research paper goes, I'm a little lost. Many of the topics listed struck a chord with me which is why it's difficult for me to choose. I know I am definitely leaning toward abortion though, because I have felt very strongly of my position on this topic since I was pretty young. This would also give me plenty to write about and keep me interested.

What I expect from English 1A

I expect to take with me new knowledge of how to properly structure a research paper in this class. I've always liked gathering information, forming opinions on that information, deciding how to word things, and presenting it, but have had some trouble in the past with paragraph structure. I hope to better my skills at communicating effectively on paper. Overall, I hope this class will help me tighten the screws on my writing skills and reduce any sloppiness in my writing.