Proposal Topic Proposal 11/9

• Topic: Much of the trash at Orange Leaf could easily be recycled rather than thrown away.
• Audience: Manager, Owners of Orange Leaf
• Problem: There is too much trash being thrown out at Orange Leaf every day.  
• Solution: We use some reusable containers, but perhaps we could promote the use of them more, give discounts/coupons for bringing them back in to use. Also, rather than simply throwing away all of our bowls, provide customers with recycling receptacles to place their bowls when finished. Also, promoting that our product is recyclable (or perhaps we could aim for made from recycled materials too) would bring business and encourage recycling in our community.
• Opposition: If we provide recycling receptacles, that would mean more work to sort through and make sure it was all correctly recycled. Also a recycling bin/truck to pick it up would have to be organized which would cost.
• What kind of research is needed (What kind of qualitative info and how will you gather it): Research companies that have moved towards recycling and how it has affected their business and community. Costs of adding recycling to a business (pick up, bins, etc.)

11/9/14

 The purpose of this assignment is to give us practice with writing proposals, introduce us to new things in our writing such as using tables and graphs, as well as to continue our practice with respectfully responding to those with different view points. 
If you could possibly give us some examples of what you are expecting from us regarding a cover letter that would clarify any confusions I have. I don't often use cover letters in my writing, and so further explanation and examples would be helpful. 

11/6

• Practical Proposals are more narrow typically. They are more exact and focused on getting something done. Policy proposals are often more broad, concerned with outlining rather than focusing, They also have are focused at a level higher than local usually. If someone wanted to improve Louisville's recycling system, that would be a Practical Proposal, whereas improving the recycling system of the entire United States would involve a Policy Proposal. 
• Three Stages of a proposal Argument: 
1. The problem is described 
2. Solution is proposed 
3. solution must be justified 
• Recycling Bins: 
1. Incorrect items are being placed in the blue recycling bins around campus. 
2. Send out emails and put out fliers promoting theproper information on what is to be placed into these bins. Make sure that all of the information is clear and easy to skim. Clear pictures should be included. 
3. Often times people don't think about what they are throwing away and where they throw it. If the information is readily available and in their face, some or more likely to catch on. And while not all will benefit from this solution, hopefully it would stir enough students to promote them to instruct some of their students on the information. 

I could not find the link for the assignment outline that you mentioned. 

Reflection 11/5

Personally, I am mostly content with the comments I receive through email on my papers, but I know that conferences can really help others. So, if we were to continue with conferences I would prefer group conferences. I feel that this would save your time and allows us to all receive feedback from multiple sources. And while some may feel uncomfortable having someone other than the professor reading their papers, I feel that learning to deal with peer review can really boost people's confidence in writing and sharing, at least it has for me in the past. So, personally I don't really mind either way, so whatever is best for others is fine.
Some changes that I made to my paper include citing a new source and incorporating it into my paper, as well as trying to clarify some areas, including my thesis. I also tried to balance the narrative and argumentative aspects of my paper more.

Causal Essay Outline 10/27

Erin Kurtz

Issue: Students do not feel that Foreign Language courses are necessary.

Claim: Our world is growing smaller and ever more interconnected. Language study is needed in order for us to branch out and broaden our horizons and understand the world around us and the role we play with in it.

Introduction:

In High School I took three foreign languages: German, Chinese, and Japanese. And in each class I dealt with complaints from other students regarding the two year language requirement at our school. I graduated from High School with eight language credits, four times the honors requirement. Besides this, I was friends with students from all over the world (Bosnia, Germany, China, Korea, etc.) leading me to learn more in depth about so many more countries, cultures, and languages. At first I didn't recognize how much all of this was changing my views, but now as I look back I can see the effect that such a variety of culture had on my outlook. And so, while so many of my fellow students found the requirement to be pointless, I felt that there should be more required in this department.

Now, obviously language is not everyone’s forte, but if only my fellow students could have at least realized the importance of sitting through their compulsory two years. Through these classes, whether they realized it or not, they (hopefully) became more culturally informed, more aware of the world around them and their place in the world, and how important cooperation and diversity is. But often I would still hear complaints about these classes on the grounds that they have no use for a foreign language, they don’t plan on traveling, or their career of choice doesn’t involve language. And while I respect their career choices, I don’t think they realize just how small and connected our world has grown.

Causes/Consequences:

·         No matter your career, language and cultural understanding is needed to do well.

o   Language proficiency is a major plus on a resume.

§  No matter what profession someone chooses to pursue, they are sure to encounter and need to interact with people from different cultural backgrounds, in some cases they may not even speak in the same language. On an even more extreme level, if they choose to work for a company, there may come a day where they want to send them overseas for some reason. What is one to do it a situation like this? Sure, even with two years in a language, anyone would be uncomfortable and unable to really speak a language well, but this acts as a great platform in case additional language study is required as well as providing some previous cultural understanding.

·         Promotes cultural understanding in a shrinking world. This is needed in order to communicate and compete.

·         You don’t have to travel to need these skills/knowledge.

·         So much of the world is ahead of us in this aspect already.

o   "All but two countries (Ireland and Scotland) in the European Union mandate the study of a foreign language, which usually begins in primary school. With the exception of Italy and Wales, all European students must learn a foreign language throughout their compulsory education." (Eurydice 2005)

·         Helps in other areas of study

o   • Applying current standard practices of foreign language instruction ("Five Cs of Communication, Culture, and Connections with other disciplines, Comparisons with students' native languages and cultures, and use of the foreign language in Communities outside the classroom") reinforces English language course content of other coursework. (Curtain & Dahlberg 2004)

• Learning another language can enhance knowledge of English structure and vocabulary (Curtain & Dahlberg, 2004).

Conclusion:

Reminder to audience of claim in introduction. Reiterate points and make a final statement to persuade audience of overall claim. 

10/24

The purpose of assignment 3 is to improve our argumentative writing, especially the ability to prove and persuade using causality. There is also a focus again on incorporating outside sources and disagreeing or conceding a point made respectfully.
 I find the assignment quite clear and find nothing confusing.

10/22

Both articles use sufficient evidence from statistics and research. I feel that there could have been more evidence provided for each, but it was sufficient for their purposes. Of the two, the article about marriage provided the best evidences to support their claim.

I found the first article about marriage more persuasive because it was more formally written and I felt it provided more relevant evidence. Also, due to the extensive information about the author at the end of the article I felt that I could trust her more as an author. I also felt that this argument was simply more thought out.