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Samantha Newman
Professor Dursema
ENG 1010
April 8, 2012
Title
Learning to write in this class has been one of the most challenging things I have faced
this semester at school. I have really come out of the box I usually try to stay in while writing.
The reflection essay was the easiest for me other than remembering I need to show my audience
what I saw. I think I was able to better show the audience what I saw during the fight, along with
exactly what my emotions were. I did not do much to prepare for the reflection essay other than
sit at my computer and think back on what I remember of the fight.
I don’t think I really started to struggle until the visual analysis. I am still not exactly sure
what a visual analysis is but I think I was able to get closer to the target with my revision. I
remembered to site my sources correctly and also to change what I thought was the correct target
audience the article meant. For my analysis I studied the article for a long time and then after
asking many questions I was able to sit down and write. The revision did seem to take me a long
time. I had to go back and study the article again and also go over exactly what ethos, pathos and
legos mean and how they were used in the article I chose. It was a lot harder going back through
what I wrote the first time and trying to figure out where I went wrong when I still don’t fully
understand what it is I was trying to do.
My biggest struggle so far has been the textual analysis. I didn’t realize how much I
didn’t understand what an analysis was until I tried to write this paper. It was very difficult not
just summarizing the whole article I chose and calling it a day. I spent several hours reading the
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twins article over and over to make sure I was somewhat understanding what the author was
writing about. I again had to figure out how the author used ethos, pathos and legos in his
writing. The revision was a very time consuming process for me since for some reason I got a
little type happy and decided to change the author’s last name while citing his work. I had to go
through and read my paper very slowly so that I could catch each mistake and fix it. I also had a
difficult time with the correct way to cite my references. It’s a very important thing to know how
to do especially while in college, but it is so hard for me to remember how to do it correctly
depending on how I am referencing the material. I think I was able to fix any dropped quotes and
correctly cite any paraphrases in the correct manner.
I also have finally figured out the correct way to list my name and date in MLA format. I
was stuck in the mode of how my former writing teacher had us do it. It only took 3 tries before I
got it down. I feel that this class has really helped me to grow as a writer. I now know where my
strengths are and also where I have the need for improvements. I will be able to take these
learning experiences and apply them to the rest of my school career and also be able to look back
on it and know that I even though I don’t always know exactly what I am doing I am able to
adapt and do my best as long as I don’t sit around procrastinating for too long.
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Samantha Newman
Professor Dursema
ENG 1010
April 7, 2012
Do You Want Fries With That?
It was just another typical Friday night working at the Iceberg Drive Inn. I was in the
back getting ready for the dinner crowd and had sent two employees on a smoke break.
Heaven forbid someone didn’t get that smoke in before we got busy! Little did I know that
while the two employees were outside smoking they decided to pick a fight with a customer. I
was completely oblivious to the whole situation until I went up front to start helping customers.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw one employee lung towards a customer and then the
customer turn towards me with blood running down his face. Razor blades being pulled out
and used on unsuspecting customers, a screw driver being wielded as knives is not my idea of a
good time. I started to panic! The moment I saw the blood the only thing I could hear was my
heart beating and throbbing in my ears. I couldn’t get past the image of the poor guy who
came to get a milk shake and left with blood streaming down his face. After what seemed like
years I was finally able to comprehend what was happening. I was a brand new manager, just
out of high school; I was not prepared for a situation like this. It looked like someone was
filming a bad episode of Jerry Springer in the parking lot. All that was missing were some
bodyguards to separate the fight and an audience yelling in the background. I am sure that
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would have made this whole situation much more plausible. I was so shocked that something
like this would actually happen in real life I had no idea what emotions I should be feeling at
that moment. I was scared, shocked, amazed, and angry. That was just the beginning of what I
was feeling. I was barely keeping it together. Up until that point I had been living in a rather
sheltered world and never actually seen a fight in person, let alone a fight where blood was
drawn.
As soon as the employee headed back inside I lost what little composure had managed
to hang on too. I was able to finally articulate what it was I was feeling and let lose all the
emotions I had running through me. I started yelling and screaming “Get the hell out of my
store right now! How dare you even think to pull any type of weapon on a customer? No
matter the reason you never have the right to hurt someone. I don’t give a fuck about what
you think is right get the hell out and you had better not think to ever come back you worthless
piece of shit.” While in the middle of my shouting match the two employees made a mad dash
to their car and raced out of the parking lot. They knew the police had been called and they
were already on probation. That was the last time I ever saw them.
Once I caught my breath and was able to start comprehending what was going on, I
managed to call the owner and let him know of my dire situation and desperate need for help.
I them sent an emergency text message to my other manager letting her know I needed help.
Both the owner and my manager rushed to my aid. It was as if I flashed the bat signal in the sky
calling for my rescue. My manager left her house with all three kids, husband in tow and
dinner still in the over to save me.
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By the time everyone I called for help had shown up, the police had arrived. The
customers who were present for the disaster gave statements and were more than
accommodating to the rest of the staff working. I was now short two employees during a
dinner rush on a warm Friday night; it was already a mad house not including the fight or as I
like to remember that night, a very bad episode of Jerry Springer. Once I gave my statement to
the police, I was able to finish my shift and go home and reflect on the nights events.
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Samantha Newman
Professor Dursema
ENG 1010
April 7, 2012
Not Alone
Americans are not alone in seeing combat unfortunately, the world that we live in combat
is all too easily seen on TV and often seen in real life. With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan 1%
of Americans are being exposed to combat in real life, whereas the remaining 99% of Americans
are seeing combat on TV. (Ede) The ad shows the hardships that the 1% face being a veteran,
the author is showing that veterans may be the 1% but they are not alone, the 1% is standing
strong together.
The ad also shows that even though the veteran may be 1% of the American population
they are not a single person. In the background it shows several soldiers repelling from
helicopters, which also reinforces the idea behind what the media shows America combat is like.
Having the faces of the soldiers faces looking down shows they are struggling but trying to push
through to do their job.
Putting the statistics of who has seen combat in the background enables the viewer to
better see what combat can be like. The helicopter catches the eyes and immediately shows the
viewer that this is an ad relating to the military. By using pathos the author is able to hook
anyone with a tie to the military and use that feeling of what it is like to be in combat or close to
someone in combat. Using those feelings to draw the viewer in the author then uses logos to
inform the viewer what is really going on. By listing the statistics in the middle the eyes are not
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immediately drawn to them but they are seen before the text at the bottom stating veterans are
not alone. Without pathos the ad would not be nearly as effective in informing the public that
veterans are not alone, and veterans have support and help where it is needed as long as they
search for it. Having the informative text in the bottom right corner adds the search that must be
done for the veterans. It implies they don’t need to look far for the support and help they need, it
is right around the corner.
Ethos is used in statistics, and also in the text which states that the communities of
veterans know what it has been like to see war because they were there also. By spacing out the
text on the ad it allows the images of the soldiers repelling from helicopter and those running
across the desert to fully impact what it is they do. Veterans may only make up a small percent of
the American population they are not alone in what they do. The ad shows that they travel
together by showing more than one soldier repelling from the helicopter and having several
soldiers running through the desert in a common direction.
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Works Cited
Ad Council. “We Know Where You’re Coming From.” Advertisement. The Academic Writer.
2nd ed. By Lisa Ede. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2011. Print
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Samantha Newman
Professor Dursema
English 1010
16 March 2012
More than Just a Twin Thing
In West Virginia Peter Miller describes the research project of Patrick Flynn as
“technicians photographing sets of twin with high-resolution cameras, collecting finger their
finger prints, and scanning their irises to find out if the latest facial-recognition software can tell
them apart.”(Miller 40) Miller goes on to say that even the most state of the art facialrecognition software has flaws, be it light, different facial expression or even unforeseen
complications (Miller 46). Flynn is not the only scientist who is in the process of researching
twins and all the mysteries that they hold.
Miller uses a significant amount of ethos in his writing by using several different research
projects from universities around the country. Miller states “In the tent next to the FBI project,
researches from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia are asking twins to sip tiny
cups of alcohol to see if they react in the same way to the taste.”(50) By providing the research
information Miller is able to give an understanding of why the scientific community finds twins
so fascinating. Miller goes on to describe what a twin is, the splitting of a fertilized egg into two
parts that form almost the exact same genetic code. Miller is very effective in ethos, by giving a
scientific explanation of what a twin is Miller is able to give some credibility to his writing
allowing readers to better understand twins and how they come in to existence.
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Pathos is used far more than ethos in the form of reaching out to those who find the
stories of long lost twins finally reconnecting a heartfelt story of tragedy and triumph. The story
of the Jim brothers Miller tells is truly a finer moment of pathos in Millers article. “The story
began with the much publicized case of two brothers both named Jim. Born in Piqua, Ohio, in
1939, Jim Springer and Jim Lewis were put up for adoption as babies and raised by different
couples, who happened to give them the same first name.”(Miller 54) The story goes on to tell of
the Jim brothers having two marriages to women with the same names, naming a pet dog as a
child the same name and even sharing the same career, cigarette and beer preferences (Miller
54). Miller writes about his time speaking with Bouchard, “I remember sitting at a table with
them when they first arrived. They had fingernails that were nibbled down to the end. And I
thought, No physiologist asks about that, but here it is, staring you in the face” (Miller 54). Once
Segal joined the team in researching the Jim brothers in 1982, with Thomas Bouchard Jr. they
were well on their way into finding what it is that gave identical twins the nature that they had.
Segal and Bouchard’s research came to a close in 2000 (Miller 54). Miller using the touching
stories of long lost siblings reuniting as a way to help snag the reader in and play on their
emotions, is very effect form of pathos. He is able to successfully use the human emotions found
in reunions and the tragedy of not knowing ones siblings to show the readers what those who
suffered actually felt.
Miller is even able to incorporate a small amount of logos, “One investigation, for
example, found identical twin with a criminal co-twin was more than 1.5 times as likely to break
the law as a fraternal twin in the same situation, suggesting that genetic factors somehow set the
stage for criminal behavior.” (Miller 60) No matter where a scientist looks it seems that they are
finding more and more invisible hands that are shaping contributing to the genetic influence in
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our lives (Miller 58). Reed tells Miller “Things written in pen you can’t change. That’s DNA.
Things written in pencil you can. That’s Epigenetics” (Miller 64). Reed believes that epigenetics
is the reason why twins have slight differences. Reed also gives Bouchard’s research credit in
why there are so many studies being conducted by twins today. Reed claims Bouchard was a
“trailblazer” for making know lifestyles aren’t necessarily the reason why twins have such strong
commonalities (Miller 65). By listing the facts in his article Miller is able to use logos in a way
that shows what the reality of a twin is without getting the reader lost in statistics. There is still a
story behind the numbers which again appeals to pathos.
By using pathos is such a strong manner Miller succeeds in showing readers that there’s
more to being a twin than sharing the same outward looks. Miller gives several examples
throughout his writing that reinforces the pathos and ethos, the Jim brothers perhaps one of the
best. Not only does Miller use the emotional connection between two brothers being reconnected
after a life apart he brings together the reconnection with research Bouchard and Segal did to
find out what made the Jim brothers who they were. The countless studies being done across the
country will one day shed light on why identical twins are more than just twins.
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Works Cited
Miller, Peter. “A Think or Two about Twins.” National Geographic Jan. 2012: 38+. Print.