Blog #13

While reading through chapter 5 I came across a hot spot that caught my eye and has to do with something we've talked about before. It's called reading the text with the grain against the grain. When doing this you what Carl Rogers calls "empathetic listening". "When you try to see the world through the authors eye's, role-playing as much as possible" (Bean, Ramage, Johnson 97). This is very helpful tip to take in while reading because it would help a lot to understand the author and see what was going to happen next. While reading grain against grain you also question the text and rebut the authors ideas.
Another hot spot from chapter 5 is a strong response as a reflection. This type of response allows you to connect what you're writing about to your own personal life. In a reflection paper the writer is interested in how the topic has affected you personally. Usually a reflection paper is more open prose and more like an exploratory essay. "One approach might be to build a reflection around a personal conflict in values by exploring how the reading creates a personal delimma" (Rammage, Bean, Johnson 108). This is important because this is basically what they were saying and how you need to connect it with you personally. In my opinion these are the funnest papers to write because it flows and it's your own experiences and there is usually no research involved.


In chapter 9 there were many hot spots as well but the one that got my attention was Using Evidence Effectively. It's about how to use evidence through out your paper in a proper way. You need to find factual data then back it up with an example. "Evidence is not the same as "proof"" (Ramage, Bean, Johnson 214). They are making a good point here because evidence presents the best case for your claim and can come from personal experience. While proof is almost always factual.
Continuing searching for hot spots wasn't hard, the next one I found was one of the most important steps of creating a paper which is shaping and drafting. Once you have explored your ideas, you need to create a plan. There are many important things to keep in mind while doing this but one of the most important ones is to analyze your intended audience" (Ramage, Bean, Johnson 230). This is very important because the way you talk and bring yourself out in your paper will change depending on your intended audience.