Letter to the Editor draft 1

To the Editor:
I say thank you to Lisa W. Foderaro’s Sunday article, “Free Room and Board Give a Job New Allure,” (March 22) for, one, calling attention to RAs and two, for recognizing that the negative state of the economy is a tremendous force behind the spike in Resident Assistant applications across US universities and colleges.
The article does a very good job of presenting the fact that the economy is causing the resident adviser (or assistant) position to seem far more enticing to students than before because of the high financial benefits attached to the job title. At my own school, Texas Christian University, we have witnessed a dramatic increase as well. Heather Miller, Assistant Director of TCU Residential Life reported [waiting on her to email the statistics…]
What the piece failed to fully mention or discuss are the hardships and immense stress that comes from being an RA. Students, parents, universities, and potential RA candidates need to be wholly aware that the job is NOT “part therapist, part event planner, part enforcer” as Foderaro mistakenly claims. We are FULLY therapists, FULLY event planners, FULLY enforcers, and most importantly FULLY human. I assume that Foderaro has never been a resident assistant and therefore can only rely on other RAs testimony and her observation, but I have been a resident assistant for one year and am about to begin a new semester, but with female freshmen residents. All aspects of the job should have been covered or at least alluded to, for example, the 5 o’clock wakeup call from a resident that is locked outside the building; creating door decorations so the occupants and other people can know who lives in which room, filing a lot of paper work for safety, informational purposes; checking students in and out of the halls for move- in and move-out; trying to build individual relationships and a residential community with a very diverse group of people; while simultaneously being a full-time student and try to have a normal student life .
Foderaro could have also interviewed resident advisors from universities not from the East Coast. If her argument is that the foul state of the economy is the reason for the stark increase in resident assistant applications, then it would make more sense to interview RAs from across the country to exemplify that claim more effectively. The economy is affecting everyone, some are being hit harder than others, but nonetheless, we are all feeling it.
As stated before, the author gives no insight into her own experiences with RAs, but within the article, readers should have been put on alert to the difficulties of the job and emphasized those individuals considering the job need to understand that it is not a part-time job, but instead a twenty-four hour call of duty. Having personally seen people hired that do not deserve the job, more consideration needs to be taken on the part of the applicants assessing their own maturity level, ability to multitask, and responsibility skills for caring for people and tasks, exciting and unwanted.
It is horribly cliché, but every RA can agree, there is more than meets the eye when you are a resident assistant.


Kanika Nevers
Word Count: 533

Topic for Unit 3

I scoured the internet for hours upon hours looking for local articles about RAs. Initially, I looked through the Skiff and they had nothing even though RA selection was not that long ago. I DID find an article from the New York Times published on March 22 about the rising amount of RA applications about the economy. I have decided to stick with this article even though it focuses on RAs at NYU, Cornell, and Seton Hall University, an RAs job will always be the same, with minor detail changes, regardless of the University. The changes the article was centered around are in fact the same trends that are appearing at TCU.

I really hope this article will get approved because I really need to write about something that doesn't pose as many challenges as the last one did. I also really need to vent- being an RA is insanely stressful, which is one of the points that I will make in my editorial. Finding an article about RAs definitely completes the requirement for being in my local community. As I said before, if you are an RA at one university, you can be an RA at every university because our job is consists of the same things, but every university department that deals with RA has slightly different requirements that RAs must meet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/education/23resident.html?ref=nyregion

New Topic Idea for Unit 3

I haven't found the exact article yet, but I do plan to find some type of advertisement in which I can argue effectively. I plan to write about TCU RA selection. It effects TCU students directly because each year we have at least 100 students apply or at least show interest, but usually only 30-40 upperclassmen get selected. I believe current RAs and people who apply could be perturbed by this because we don't feel that there is an accurate representation of what an RA's job actually consists of- the good and the bad. Often time, the bad part of the job is obscured, which is typical when people apply for any kind of job, but I feel it is important that if the Office of Residential Services continues to select people who cannot stand the demands of being an RA than something is obviously wrong and its coming from the inside.

Development of Case Study

My case study has developed very slowly and for a very long time I was unsure of how I could analyze my sources.

• First, the Paschal AP class didn't meet the day I went to visit. For the first part of the assignment I had my sources, but I didn't understand how I was supposed to analyze them. Before Ibegan the rough draft, it seemed feasible, but as I began to write it became more troublesome.
  
• Second, what I was intending on finding, that the class would be teaching sustainable practices, was not as blatant as I expected. The sources were of course talking about environmental science, but their sustainable ideas were not equal in every source.
• After meeting with Professor Patrick and learning that redirecting the focus to American AP EnvSci classes instead of the one at Paschal H.S. would make analyzing the sources much easier.
• After completing the 2nd draft, it has certainly helped me in broadening the topic a bit and I feel a lot more confident in respect to analyzing the rhetorical strategies.
  

Right now I am just really happy that this assignment is due Wed. and I can put this insane essay behind me. :)

Author's Note for Rhetorical Case Study

This is the first draft that I you will be reading. I wrote it in two intervals, the latter being this morning until 4 o'clock, so please take into consideration that it may not make sense in some areas. I think this draft is okay, but needs a lot more work because I am still having a very hard time trying to have more sources relate back to my thesis. Mark everything that doesn't make sense, mark punctuation, and PLEASE MAKE COMMENTS ABOUT THE SOURCES RELATING TO THE THESIS, AND WHAT I CAN DO TO MAKE IT STRONGER!

Latest Reaction and Reflection

Now that I have done the analysis, I feel A LOT more confident about this paper. I had to two drafts of the my first analysis of the textbook (I wrote this one first) because I didn't feel that it was analytical enough or even good. Re-reading the sample essay about teen pregnancy was really helpful to redirect my thought process and to organize rhetorical strategies. To prepare for my analysis, I had to write down specific and important aspects of my sources on paper to order my analysis. I just tried to lay out the skeleton of what I needed to say and added some details so that I could trigger my memory when I have to write more.

I wrote each page analysis on separate days and re-read and re-watched what I needed to do the assignment properly. I have noticed that the textbook has quite a few good points of analysis that I want to explore, and I even found another source on amazon that gives buyer feedback on the book itself, but I don't know if this will fit into the paper.

Sources

What connects my sources?

Environmental science and the hope of educating viewers or students about the current fragile state of the planet, animals, and ecosystems.

Blue planet focused on marine life and the animals that live and depend on it. It ended with an explanation of the current danger that our oceans are in.

The Planet Earth documentary focused its attention to every aspect of our planet save water, and hoped to showcase the planet and nonhuman animals in a way we have never seen before. It too ended with commentary about the current state of different natural habitats and endangered animals.

Controlling Idea- Environmental science education is important to understanding the plight of all inhabitants of the planet.

Order:
Textbook, Syllabi, Blue Planet, and Planet Earth

Intro:
1. Syllabi
a. The syllabus traditionally outlines the purpose of the class and what resources will be used to fulfill those goals.
One source equally as important to the structure and effectiveness of the class is the textbook.
2. Textbook
a. Main resource used in classrooms to explain and teach students about the course.
b. The theme of the book, as outlined by the author, is sustainability and how to demonstrate how we interact and use nature.
3. Planet Earth documentary
a. Last episode of the documentary has authoritative figures commenting on the current problems and status of the planet.
b. The other 10 episodes film different aspects of earth: “pole to pole”, “mountains”, “into the wilderness”
4. Blue Planet documentary
a. The most pivotal part of this documentary, like the other one is the last part with commentary explaining the decimation of the oceans and marine life.

Perspective on Topic/Issue

My perspective on my topic is still a bit unclear. I have read the assignment over 5 times and I am still not exactly clear what this paper is about. Are we supposed to examine our sources in light of over topic and see if it supports it or not?

After doing the Toulmin charts, I still do not feel as if I am completely understanding everything and in all honesty, I don't know what the purpose of the charts are for. I just feel that my topic is so unusual that it doesn't fit the mold as easily as other issues might. I also could only do 3 of the 4 charts for my sources because the one that I am missing, the syllabi, I am waiting for the teacher to email me.

I think I will start to feel more comfortable once I see the syllabi and speak with the teacher. Once I meet with Mr. Brinker, I hope he will be able to iron out the questions I have and give me a full understanding of what his class is about. I just need him to respond to email because he is taking a very long time to reply. :(

I can't wait for this assignment to be over and I hope the next paper will be a bit easier or at least not so stressful.