Response Blog # 2

What "rhetoric"Means to Me:

Rhetoric to me, is the art of arguing. In terms of this class and rhetoric. I believe it refers to the basic components and guidelines of formal writing. As far as rhetoric and reading academic journals, I believe it furthers it's definition by becoming a use of highly effective writing in the instance of persuading & informing.

Questions for Discussion
1) Kantz believes that facts, opinions and arguments are all theory based. She believes that everything you believe to be fact, all of your opinions, and arguments that you make, are all products of your experiences and beliefs that you have.
2) Kantz believes that the average student makes 3 major mistakes when using sources. First, students read their sources like stories. (I'm not 100% clear on what she meant by this). Second, she thinks that all students expect all sources to be completely true. And lastly, she believes that students don't look at facts as claims, but rather they think automatically that it all must be true. I agree that these are common mistakes of writers. However, I believe that most college students know by now to check the validity of their sources. We all know Wikipedia isn't the most reliable for instance.
3) I think that the article would be better named "Using Sources Effectively". While the article does talk about how to use the sources to their full potential, I believe it was more about knowing what to trust in a source, and realizing that you need to not only research your topic, but research your sources also, to make sure that they are legitimate and choose the ones that will help you the most.
6) This article has definitely made me stop and think about how I conduct my research for papers. Next time I start research for a paper, I will give more thought about not only what are the facts, but where are these facts coming from? Have they been proven? If so, then by who, and has further explaination happened since then?

Meta Moments
I believe Kantz is arguing the "rhetoric" construct. She is questioning how trustworthy and to what extent we should rely upon our research/sources. She is also questioning how to use the text constructively, and persuasively.

My Construct Challenge
I would like to challenge the "error" construct. I do believe that grammar is incredibly important. If I am reading a paper full of spelling/grammar mistakes, it is almost impossible for me to focus on the arguments/message of the paper because the errors are such a distraction. It truly takes away the reader's ability to focus in on the message of the paper because I believe, the errors are a huge distraction.

Summary
The assigned reading included a quick overview of writing constructs: plagiarism, originality, errors, rhetoric, rhetorical situation and context. The reading also included an article by Kantz, who gave a hypothetical situation involving a student doing research for a paper and the common research mistakes that students make.

My Thoughts
I agreed with the majority of Kantz's article. I support her claim that most students have semi weak reserach skills, however, I do believe that at a college level, most students now know how to conduct proper reasearch. (For the most part). Reading her article got me thinking about the validity of sources however. With the internet, it is incredibly easy to just Google something and assume it to be true because it's online. However, this isn't the case. Kantz explains that you have to research your topic AND the source. Making sure that it is truthworthy and valid.