Mapping The Writing Lives of First Year College Students

A group of 2,110 college freshman were surveyed. Of the 2,110 that were surveyed, 1366 completed the survey. The survey tried to figure out how they wrote and studied what motivated them to write. A majority of the students said that texting was their most used form of writing. Only a very small few said they used email as their major form of writing. I feel this is still true if not more true, now. I text my friends. I rarely call because it takes time and the right environment where as a text can be sent at anytime. And obviously I'm not going to write them a letter and mail it to them. The only time I really use anything other than texting is to talk to my Professors. I can't text them, so email has to be the way of communication. But, most students have their email linked through their phone or maybe through a more frequently used email than their school email so in a way, it's kind of like texting. This is a good research paper to look at going into our next paper. It shows another way to write a research paper, it even points out why the answers could be a bit biased at the end.

Texting and Writing

This was an interesting article because it's relevant! Almost everyone texts nowadays. It's the easy way to communicate quickly and efficiently. This article talks about if texting has an impact on how kids write. I believe that texting used to be A LOT worse. I remember when I first got my first cell phone everything was abbreviated. "How R U" and "Wats up?". Stuff that isn't even that long to begin with! But now that I'm older it seems like that has dissipated a bit. Atleast everyone I text now form complete sentences and (Thanks to Autocorrect) have correctly spelling. You could say this is because I'm older, but even my twelve year old sister uses proper grammar when texting, as well. So, I'd say that texting can definitely have a effect on our spelling, because spelling needs to be practiced or else we get rusty and become bad spellers. But overall, I don't think it really changes the way we write, necessarily. Even Cullington found in her research of college and high school level students that although they did use abbreviations quite frequently they did not use them in formal writing. This is important to point out, because it shows there is a distinct line between texting and writing and it is understood that some things are acceptable in Texting but not in Writing. I feel that maybe the younger kids, who are getting their first cell phones are the most likely to write improperly because it seems cool to them above all else. But, like everything if they grow up a bit they'll see theres really nothing cool about it and then it will be cool to fully form the sentences because they'll soon encounter... The Grammar Nazis.

Baron

Most of the articles we've had to read for this class have been slightly boring. Maybe Boring isn't the right word.. they were just hard to get through. If you started off motivated to read the article, a couple paragraphs in that feeling was gone. Atleast that was my problem. But this article was pretty interesting! It basically talked about how writing started off, and the steady evolution of how we write up until modern day with laptops/computers. One of the last things he touched on in his article was spell check. He said that at first teachers didn't tell the students about it, in fear that they would forget how to spell. Once the hackers found it and how to use it, nowadays teachers get mad if you don't run spell check on your finished paper. While I agree there is no reason not to use it, it's there, it's gonna be there regardless of how YOU feel about it, so use it! But at the same time, it does cut down on the practice we get when it comes to spelling. It's kind of like if someone was taught how to drive, then after learning and becoming good at it, was driven around for years without having to drive again. Ofcourse they are going to be rusty and maybe even downright terrible. A lot of people seem to think it's going to get to the point where spell check and auto correct will be put aside to help people become better spellers, but I think the exact opposite. I think technology will continue to make mankind more and more lazy. Speech to Text is a big thing at the moment,  maybe in the future we won't even write anymore? Maybe we'll just speak it and the computer or whatever will do the rest. And with the was touch screens have blew up in the past 10 or so years, it could all be typing on a touch screen device, which I can only speak for myself, but I don't consider that writing. Then again, it's actually not too different from typing it out. But what do I know?Honestly, if I don't know how to spell a word, 9 times out of 10 I don't have to worry because I have auto correct on my phone and spell check on my laptop. Worst case scenario: I google it.



Word Count:400

My Writing Process

My writing process is very flexible. I can write in my room, in class, or at work. I prefer to be at home though. I usually sit in my bed with my laptop in front of me and I usually have something going on through YouTube which plays through my headset. I like music while I write, it helps me not get distracted. Classical music is the easiest to write with but sometimes I mix it up with music from the 60's (The best music of all time). I don't usually eat when I'm writing so I won't get my laptop dirty or greasy. I usually have something to drink nearby, most of the time sweet tea. For some strange reason I prefer to have my fan on while I write. If I'm not on YouTube, I'll just have my T.V on. Some random comedy most of the time such as Pineapple Express or South Park. But I can never under any circumstances have on Beavis and Butthead while trying to write. It is hands down the easiest way for me to get distracted and I try to stray away from it when I'm even thinking about writing.  I typically write late at night sometimes early into the morning. Somewhere around 12:30 AM to 4 AM. I find this the easiest time to write. I think it is because everyone in my house is asleep and the neighborhood is quiet except for the occasional police siren (Well, more than occasional we do live in Memphis after all). My tool for writing is the Pages program on a Macbook Pro laptop. Before Pages and Mac I used a windows computer and Microsoft Word, but I definitely prefer Pages and the Mac. I think would reason I like it more is because the keys on the keyboard are backlit. Pretty far out. I don't have any specific way of writing my essays. I basically just write what comes to mind for the first draft then I edit and revise until I get the rough draft finalized into what I originally wanted/needed.