Wenxin Lu Blog 12

The skill that I really want to teach to incoming freshman is how to use the structure of “quotation sandwich” to integrate citation into a paper and let it better serve the thesis.

In order to let students fully understand the usefulness of this structure and remember to use it whenever they have a citation, I will design a small game. At first, I will show my students a piece of meat, such as toasted beef. I will ask them to think about what this meat is, where it might come from and why it shows up in the classroom. I hope that they might have many wrong answers because only after they make mistakes can this game and the structure that I want to tell them leave a great and indelible impression. When all the students have their guesses, I will tell them that actually this is just a piece of meat I take out from a sandwich. And then I will put the meat back into the two pieces of bread with lettuce. Within a second, the existence of this piece of meat makes more sense. In the end, I will tell my students that if one puts a citation in his paper without any introduction or summary, this citation will be just like this piece of meat; readers will be confused about why the writer puts such a citation here. However, if one introduces the author, and source of the citation and then give a short summary after the citation with a beginning like “in other words…”, “what this means is that…” or “this author is trying to convey that…”, the whole citation will make the paper more consistent and convincing.

During my study of Eng181, I am very impressed of the use of “quotation sandwich” which I believe lightens my logic in my paper. So I wish that other students can also understand the great advantages a successful “quotation sandwich” can give to the paper.

Wenxin Lu Blog 11

I want to talk about Outcome 2 which is about critical thinking and reading resulting in writing.

Throughout this semester, I have learned how to find a scholar and reliable article and information sources, how to use the abstract to understand the essence of one article instead of reading the whole passage and how to correctly and ethically cite others’ work in my paper. For example, in the rough draft of my paper “Mirroring our reality: how people desire closeness but hide behind electrical devices in ‘Her’ ”, I cite several sentences from an article called “My students don’t know how to have a conversation” in which the author describes a situation when his students can not have a conversation without phones. And then I evaluate his description by saying that “From these descriptions from the article, it is clear that reaching out for our phones has become an involuntary and automatic impulse when we are confused or stressed as if grabbing a phone in our hands can bring mental power and relief.”

By using a structure of quotation sandwich which first introduces the article that I want to cite and then after the citation, integrates this citation into my own paper by illustrating the relationship between the article and my thesis and its application in my paper. This is a new skill I have learned which I believe, has made my paper more clear and understandable because if I do not connect the citation with my paper, it will be confusing for readers to build a connection.

Moreover, despite increasing my paper’s credibility, a citation can even further push my thesis forward to a higher and deeper level because when I am citing others’ words, I am exchanging ideas with outside, a process which can trigger idea conflicts and generate new realizations. So I really believe that by this semester, I have improved my ability to read, think, cite and evaluate critically.

Wenxin Lu Blog 10

First of all, in an introduction, if my essay’s topic is about a book, a paper or a movie, I will first introduce the year and the author and then briefly summarize the main story and purpose of the book or movie; later, I would mention several specific points in the book or movie in order to attract readers’ attention; finally, on the basis of the book or movie, I will talk about my concerns and the thesis of my paper. However, if it is not a book or movie, I may first point out and analyze a phenomenon, voice my concerns and thoughts which will gradually lead to my thesis.For my conclusion, I will first return to my thesis and rephrase it in order to remind readers of my main point; and then I will summarize, incorporate and connect my main ideas with my thesis; in the end, I will expand my thesis by applying it to the real world to let readers think more broadly and deeply.

The writing I want to choose is an article called “Digital Romance: The teens get it” by Julie Beck on the website The Atlantic. The introduction of this article is engaging and interesting, though not as effective as the conclusion. It first introduces that this article is unpacked from a report released by the Pew Research Center. And then the author uses “they say, I say” structure by saying that “if you are picturing me…… But this is because I think……” The collision of two thoughts in the introduction does attract my attention, but it lacks enough information. The first two paragraphs are basically about the reasons author wants to write this article which contribute little to the rest of the article. So I think that the introduction is not effective.

However, the conclusion of this article is very efficient and effective. The author starts with “To sum up” which clearly shows that the following will be her summarized ideas; and then she reconfirms the importance of the main idea in her article; then she again uses “they say, I say” structure by saying that “It’s not all……all the times, no, but the tools……” and “Connecting with others is scary…… but usually, hopefully, good.” Both of the sentences sum up and emphasize her thesis. So I think that this conclusion is very effective.

I need to learn from her frequent use of “they say, I say” structure because this structure can not only help readers understand my points clearly but also help myself stand in others’ shoes to evaluate my paper and make it more understandable.

Julie Beck. “Digital Romance: The teens get it”. Oct 1, 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/digital-romance-the-teens-get-it/408364/

Wenxin Lu Blog 9

How I will build to my thesis in my introduction: I will first introduce the movie ‘Her’ in which technology is so developed that it is intervening and perpetually changing the ways people communicate with one another. Based on the movie, I will lead to my thesis about how technology renovates and redefines three aspects of human’s connection to the world.

How I will support and expand on my thesis: I will first list two examples to support my thesis that technology is changing people’s way of communication from the movie ‘Her’ which are people avoiding direct conversation by finding specialists like Theodore to write love letters and instead of having relationships with human, many people fall in love with artificial intelligence. And then I will divide my body paragraphs into three parts, each talking about one aspect from the relationship between human and electrical devices; the relationship between human and human; and the relationship between human and inner selves. Totally, body paragraphs made up by these three points can summarize and illustrate my thesis.

The information needs to come first: I believe that firstly I need to introduce the main story of the movie ‘Her’ and the conflicts of communication ways as opening words. Because I want to start from an exaggerated future way of communication to trigger people’s reflection on how in reality technology is altering our world.

The examples of passages I will focus on from my primary source (movie ‘Her’) are: “You seem like a person, but you’re just a voice in a computer.” and “Theodore: I can’t believe that I am having this conversation with my computer. Samantha: You are not. You’re having this conversation with me.” And examples of the quotes that I plan to use from my secondary sources are “we’re setting ourselves up for trouble — trouble certainly in how we relate to each other, but also trouble in how we relate to ourselves and our capacity for self-reflection.” from “Connected but alone” and “Text messaging – 92% of teens in romantic relationships spent time text messaging with their partner at least occasionally. Talking on the phone – 87% spent time talking on the phone with their significant other.” from “How Teens Incorporate Digital Platforms and Devices Into Their Romantic Relationships”.

Wenxin Lu Blog for Alive Poetry Reading

On Oct. 29th, I attended the Literature is Alive poetry reading in B & N bookstore. It was 8 pm. The light was dim, a perfect environment to listen to poetry because when we are not able to see very clearly, we will focus more on what we can hear and feel. The tapes we listened to were original tapes in which poetry were read in languages in which they were written. Before the reading started, I thought that since I did not know those languages, there were no ways that I could understand those poems. However, I was only half right. The first five poems were written by a Colombian poet Eliana Maldonado Cano. The reader’s voice was plain, creating a peaceful feeling. I liked the fifth poem “Memory 2” most. In this poem, Eliana writes, “Sometimes we encounter, someone who reaches out from the body without windows…… In the real world this does not exist, we lack the courage to draw the words out from the veins.” I was not sure whether this poem was describing a feeling of admiration or friendship or love. But it is just this hazy feeling and unlimited potentiality that make poetry so beautiful.

Unlike the plain voice of the reader of Eliana’s poems, the voice of the reader of Juan Salzano’s poem was full of emotions. Some words in Juan’s poem “Jellyfish 1” like “translucid animal”, ”omnivorous soul”, ”bears the weapon”, ”explode”, ”scaffolding” all symbolized strong conflicts in the poet’s mind. Correspondingly, the emotions in the reader’s voice changed from passionate to melancholy and sad then to sorrowful and tired; and finally went back to plain and flat, like a kind of exhausted despair. It is true that I could not read the original poem and nor could I understand what the reader was reading but listening to the tape actually created a feeling of having dialogues with the poet. Though there are undeniable linguistic and cultural barriers between us, I could still empathize and engage in this poem. It is just this universal understanding that makes art so great and eternal.

Wenxin Lu Blog8

In my Blog 7, in order to introduce the main point of an article ‘Technology and the Human Limit’, I quoted a sentence from it: “there are both physiological and psychological limitations conditioning human being”. I integrated this primary source by firstly introducing ‘The author believes that…… ’, then connecting it with our actions of overusing machines and expanding into the environment without boundaries in order to illustrate my point “by talking about human limitation, I can analyze the progressing relationship between human and technology better.” By using the template, I can revise my quotation to be: As a writing concerning about human future and technology development, Baker Brownell says that “there are both physiological and psychological limitations conditioning human being”. In other words, Baker believes that we should respect our destined limitation instead of overusing machines to further destroy our environment.

Additionally, in my Blog 2, I talked about how ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ was foreshadowing our future because people were too focused on high tech to notice their over-reliance on electrical devices. In order to describe the situation of people’s addiction to apparat, I quoted one sentence from ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’: “people hypnotize themselves into addiction to TV.” I integrated this secondary source by introducing that ‘Just as the world described by Neil Postman in ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’……’ and then connected it with ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ by talking about their difference and similarity. By using the template, I can revise my quotation to be: Writing in his book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’, Neil Postman describes that “people hypnotize themselves into addiction to TV.” Basically, Neil is warning that people’s addiction to TV has severely influenced normal life pace and thinking.

 

Wenxin Lu Blog 7

The scholarly source that I am very interested in is called ‘Technology and the Human Limit’. The author is Baker Brownell. This article mainly illustrates the relationship between current technology development and human’s inherent limitation. The author believes that “there are both physiological and psychological limitations conditioning human being.” With no measure in our expansion into the environment and no boundary in our ambitions, we have already transcended our due limitations by overusing thousands of mechanical contrivances to change the world by our wishes.

In the article, when the author talks about the nature of limitations, he mentions one main critical idea of his opinion (no critic’s name) that “by developing technology, our life can have new meaning and experience, so we should regard this extension of limitations as cultural growth.” However, the author strongly refutes by pointing out that “this extension is not enriching but disintegrative and people’s increasing natural tolerance towards drunkenness is an example.” In other words, the author believes that though developing technology and extending human life are seemingly amazing breakthroughs in human history, there is always a cost behind those progressions.

The ideas about technology overuse and intemperate human extension can help me develop my paper. With a similar technology theme, this article mainly focuses on modern aggregations of industrial power’s improper, unconfined dynamic patterns and functional structures in the physical world. Differently, the reflection on technology in ‘Super Sad True Love Story’ contemplates on the technology’s irreversible mental influence on the way people get in touch with each other and the degree people rely on technology in a soon future. These two aspects can perfectly complement each other. I think that combining both the physical and mental influence of technology, my paper can form a better analysis about a progressing relationship between human and technology.

Reference:  Baker Brownell, ‘Technology and the Human Limit’, 1949,3.

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.emory.edu/stable/1976553?Search=yes&resultItemClick=true&searchText=technology&searchText=human&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dtechnology%2Bhuman%26amp%3Bprq%3Dher%2Bmovie%26amp%3Bgroup%3Dnone%26amp%3Bwc%3Don%26amp%3Bacc%3Don%26amp%3Bhp%3D25%26amp%3Bfc%3Doff%26amp%3Bso%3Drel&seq=1#page_thumbnails_tab_contents

 

Wenxin Lu Blog6

Through depicting four kinds of relational trajectories (familial, homosocial, sexual and racial) and using psychoanalytic theory, Hale addresses Shelley’s implicit concern on the forces of globalization, imperialism and New World slavery in her article, “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”. My favorite part is the familial part in which Hale illustrates that the domestic and extra-familial spheres are not mutually exclusive. She uses the relationship between Alphonse and Caroline and between Vitor and Elizabeth to prove her idea that this family in Frankenstein is an embodiment of the universal gender inequality in which wives submit to husbands’ protection and care and young girls are given like prizes to men.

One close reading of Frankenstein is about Victor’s thoughts when he encounters the gaze of the monster, “A new species… would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs.”  This quote shows completely Victor’s narcissistic quality. Actually what he loves about he creature, the monster, is his own psyche reflected in the monster’s gaze. In addition, the secondary source that Hale uses is a quote from Schoene – Harwood,”men who feel secure enough in their masculinity to display feelings of domestic affection…who seem perfectly balanced in their manliness which incorporates rather than categorically excludes the feminine.” This quote explains the homosocial relationship between Alphonse and Henry and reason that men exclude feminine from their own companionship. However, Hale does not use the quote to explain her idea; instead, she develops her own idea based on part of the quote. This quote only serves to as a beginning of her point that Henry and Alphonse both have feminine, nurturing qualities.

When I first saw the word ‘homosocial’, I misunderstood it to have a similar meaning as ‘homosexual’. But as I read the following paragraphs, I find that homosociality actually does not mean an erotic, sexual relationship between same sex but rather an most intimate and intense relationship in which both men express a longing for one another without actual sex drive. This is my understanding of this word, but I was not very sure about it so I looked it up in Wikipedia. In Wikipedia, ‘homosociality’ means same-sex relationships that are not of a romantic or sexual nature, such as friendship, mentorship, etcetera.

In sum, by using close reading, secondary source and appropriate terms, Hale expertly analyzes the four trajectories in Frankenstein.

Wenxin Lu Blog5

The article “Digital Romance: The Teens Get It” mainly talks about a research showing that fifty percent of teens usually express interest in someone by friending them, commenting on or liking a post on social media which is also the most common way for lovers to contact each other. This kind of digital flirting shows that some teens are so discouraged from showing emotions that they can not manage face-to-face communication but instead need to hide behind the screens. Though the researchers maintain that most of the effects that social media have are still positive in promoting expressions, I deeply believed in the overall negative influence social media project on human communication.

I think that the fact showed in the research reflects some scenarios described in ‘Super Sad True Love Story’: for example, in page 89, people knew each other not through self-introduction, characteristics or hobbies but through the fuckability, personality and personal preferences showed on the apparat; also, in page 92, girls were too busy looking at men’s ranking to have time to look at real people. Those scenarios lead to a serious thinking that are we still thinking independently or are we manipulated by the statistics on technology? Since the beginning of human history, we knew, recognized and befriended with each other through the feelings generated through face-to-face communication. However, humans’ direct expressions seem to be cut off by the technology as a medium. When whatever we see online could be an elaborately faked impression, human’s contact will begin to have a tendency to deceit and superficiality.

Truly that technology can bring people far away together and give teens confidence to reach out to each other, isn’t it pointless to prefer hoaxing ourselves into believing that technology can promote human contact instead of encouraging people to face each other more bravely?

Julie Beck. “Digital Romance: The Teens Get It”  The Atlantic. Oct 1, 2015 http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/digital-romance-the-teens-get-it/408364/