English Lab Academic Integrity Statement

I think writing our own academic integrity statement helped us as students really realize what academic integrity means to us individually. I did not find it to be an extremely difficult group project. To be honest, I think that the hardest part for our group was figuring out the google docks thing. All in all the assignment did hold some value and made us all take another look at what we believe about academic integrity.

Julius Caesar: Act 3, scene 2

Both Brutus and Antony have the unique ability to sway the Roman mob with their words, but in the end it is Antony who gives the more convincing argument.
Brutus begins by portraying himself as a noble and honorable man. Brutus then goes on to say, “I weep for Caesar in that he was good to me. I rejoice in his good fortune. I honor him for being brave. But his ambition—for that, I killed him”. He uses language to portray Caesar as a leader who did some good, but possessed the fatal flaw of ambition. He even goes as far as to say that he loved Caesar, but he loves Rome more. So he is justifying his actions with the idea that he was acting in the peoples best interests. The people of course see the situation from his point of view and are almost grateful to Brutus for his action against their dictator.
When Antony takes the podium the crowd immediately senses his sorrow over the loss of Caesar. He speaks as though he is one of the people, in one part of his speech even coming down into the mob. He refers to Brutus as “noble Brutus” and says, “Brutus is an honorable man”. Antony understands that Brutus has the support of the people so he makes his argument that Caesar was not ambitious in subtle ways at first. He speaks of the good that Caesar did and how he loved the people more than himself. He introduces the idea of reading Caesar’s will to the crowd and ultimately has them begging for him to read it. Antony is an expert at playing on the emotions of the crowd. He knows what he wants to do, but he leads the mob into asking him to do it making him seem unaggressive but giving him power.
In the end Antony’s argument prevails and he has Brutus fleeing for his life. I think that this is a perfect example of the power of language. Antony did a great job of using it in a way to make people take action.

English Lab Expectations

I would really like for this lab to be a supplement to the lecture and assignments given in the 103 class. After giving back our first papers Lauren noted that we as a class struggled using commas correctly and with verb tenses. I think it would help me a lot to have someone helping me solve these problems instead of just having to figure it out on my own.
I do of course understand that we will be doing other things in here besides grammar. I am very much looking forward to the “CD project” coming up and like to be able to express myself in other ways besides writing. I think that lab is a perfect opportunity for projects that stretch your creativity but still teach you about English.
We will also be doing more on the computer in this lab than in any of my other classes. I am most defiantly not a “computer genius” but would like to improve my skills in this area as well. As long as we take the time to explain everything I should be fine. I’m interested in learning how to format my blog and make it more personal. So I would have to say that I am excited about lab and all it could potentially offer me and I hope to get a lot done in here this semester.

The Seventh Sense

The term punctuation can be defined as "a courtesy designed to help readers understand a story without stumbling." Is this really all that punctuation is? A courtesy? I don't think so. Text with poor, or no punctuation can be misleading and hard to follow. Look at this example from Eats, Shoots and Leaves: "A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing." This made me realize how vital correct punctuation is to one's writing. Just as Language allows us to present ourselves in a certain light, so punctuation gives us the same ability in written work.

The Power We Love to Hate

"Language is just air after all-its not a gun, it has no power on its own. Yet it changes reality." Language is an art form that has the ability to captivate how we think, help us form opinions, and even impress others' ideals upon us. It is an extremely influential tool used by politicians, the media, and people we know personally. Proverbs 18:21a says, "The tongue has the power of life and death." This implies that what we speak with our mouths has a substantial impact on other peoples lives. No, you cannot kill someone with your mouth alone, but sometimes the words we speak can have detrimental effects on others.