ENG1101

It was my lost that I missed this week 6 zoom meeting, because it was so informative. So lucky to watch this class recording right now. Beginning of the class, Prof. Almeida was introducing the library’s website, which was really helpful because I have a strange relationship with library research, I understand the great value that exists in using library research; however, I rarely use the library for assistance while researching for sources or writing a essay or research paper, unless I’m advised or required to do so by my professors. It always seems so difficult for me to get started and anytime I have to use the library it makes me feel like whatever I’m using it for will be very difficult to accomplish. So she was showing how to use different sections and areas that were available to us.  She also recommended a place to look for sources. I found her really informative and nice. I like how Prof. Street was brought to the class to study in a group. I feel that’s really helpful to most of us. Professor also talked about the list and how not every list isn’t good text. I was wondering about the difference between essay 1 and essay 2 but Professor explained it very well. Prof. Street also discussed, where he described some attitudes are related to internet addiction. 

I think it’s really unfortunate that I missed this week’s Zoom meeting, because I really found it informative and the discussions about theses could’ve been really good if they just had that little push in discussion.

The first 10-15 minutes were Prof. Almeida discussing the library’s website, walking us through the different sections and areas that were available to us, and talking about levels of reliance/dependability, starting from encyclopedias, to books, to newspapers, to trade magazines, to academic journals. She also revealed to us her key for research: keywords. She discussed how Google and the library website’s primary search engine covered numerous topics, and if we wanted to be specific in our research pertaining to social issues and music, we had to use specific keywords that narrowed the search to what we as writers would want to reflect. In her website exploration, I would have asked if the site included a citation program, since I was wondering if I had to do the tedious task of copying links over to third party sites that generated MLA citation, but she went over it so that works out well. The subject guides she showed us definitely looked like something that I’d make my best friend, as it had a lot of step-by-step stuff, and that kind of detail is really helpful. I saw that one of the sites listed under “Find Scholarly Articles” was JSTOR, and I briefly had flashbacks to last year when I gave up on trying to use the site after having no idea how it really worked. It was for an AP Lit paper, so I was kinda worried where to get citations from, but I figured it out and swore to limit contact with JSTOR from there on out. Despite the bad memories that resurfaced, Prof Almeida thankfully switched topics before I could start foaming at the mouth. I thought her presentation was concise, engaging and really informative, as I now know about the vast pool of resources available for me. She seemed like a nice person, and I was wondering if she’s in any way related to Laurindo Almeida (who I discussed a bit in my Media Share 1). 

As for class, I really found Prof Street’s description of good texts being lists and having a narrative to be really smart, insightful and observant, because after he said that, I slowly realized that every piece of literary work I read that inspired me had that sense of narrative be effectively tied together in a subtle way that tickled my curiosity. I also liked the descriptions of a definitional thesis, as it made me realize that I made this same form of thesis for the aforementioned AP Lit paper, I just never realized it because we never had to dive into such distinctions. During the text discussions, I liked when Mehreen pointed out the lists in the first paragraph as I didn’t see it until she pointed it out; it proves that I understand narrative being crucial to good text, but also that I need to improve on sniffing narrative out. As for the part where Prof Street asked where sexual preoccupations fit into modern Internet Addiction, I would have said that it fits into the niche of people riding the surge of sexual/explicit content such as OnlyFans, Premium Snapchats, and other mediums of porn that are no longer confined to traditional porn websites. I think that with quarantine and the pandemic, most people don’t go out and have reverted back to a baser side of humanity, focusing on the baser instincts of humans, like eating, sleeping, and satisfying their more sensual predispositions. It’s kind of weird to see such a dramatic rise in both supply and demand of porn recently, and I think it ties into the addiction Prof Street discussed near the end, where he described some attitudes displayed or are related to internet addiction. Some people will be inevitably addicted to such explicit content, but hopefully such addictions regress into tamer urges. 

I feel like this week’s class was a bit quiet, so I’m kinda leaning into the idea of fostering discussion, since all the juicy talking points are all in the air, and it’s fun to discuss these ideas among a group of peers. 

While watching the zoom recording I learned about the different types of thesis statements. I learned what a definitional and theoretical thesis are. In my essays, I normally always use a definitional thesis because that was the way I was taught to write a thesis statement. I never knew there were other ways to write your thesis, this helps me change up the ways I write my essays because I always stick to the same format while writing my essays so this could be a way to change it up. If I was able to join the zoom call, I would have answered the question the professor asked which was “Do you think you have internet addiction?”. I would have said that I think I do have an addiction but it isn’t as bad as other people. I only use my phone a lot when I’m bored and have nothing to do or when i’m doing school work (especially now because of corona) but when im with family or friends I notice that i’m not on my phone at all. I remember when I went to Michigan to visit my relatives, I had so much fun that I literally lost my phone. I didn’t look at my phone for almost two weeks because I was so entertained and was going out with my family. During those two weeks I felt really good that I wasn’t on my phone because I know when I’m on my phone I get distracted and don’t interact with the people around me. I’m glad I was able to spend time with my family and not focus on my phone. I just wish I took pictures but overall it was a nice time to disconnect from the interent and spend time with my family.