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The bad writing text I chose is my senior year English class final paper. I am choosing this as an example of bad writing because it was just overall not the best paper to submit as my final paper. My teacher was very flexible with the prompt we could pick for this paper, and I chose something along the lines of ” a scientific research paper”. Thinking about it now, I don’t know why I thought a science research paper was the best thing to write for an English class. Because it was for English, I wrote the entire paper in an extremely informal tone. I tried to make jokes throughout the paper, even though it was on the very serious topic of ocean pollution. I mixed my scientific research with sarcasm and jokes aimed at humans for causing pollution. Looking back at this paper, the overall paper makes no sense to me. I basically just spewed out facts on pollution, with no analysis or conclusion to anything I was saying. Steven Pinker even said, “Scholars in the softer fields spout obscure verbiage to hide the fact that they have nothing to say.” I definitely had run out of things to say in this paper and chose to ramble on to meet the word count. Thankfully, I think my kind English teacher found my sarcasm humorous, for I received an A on the paper and in the class.

Listening to our peer’s podcasts shows that many adults never really do feel like a full on grown up. Even those interviewed that have met all the major milestones of adulthood said things like they “still feel like a kid sometimes” and  “don’t always want to take on the responsibilities of adulthood.” Listening to real adults talk about being adults somewhat discredits the idea of emerging adulthood. In my first paper, I talked about grown, older adults in a way that made them seem to look down at young adults entering the real world, or trying to. After listening to more interviews, it seems that this is not the case at all. Older generations are not waiting for us to grow up faster, they are understanding that entering the adult world is hard, and takes many years. Even when you are in the full swing of adulthood, you may not feel like a true adult. There is more of a grey area of adulthood, where you are physically grown up, but not always taking on the responsibilities full time. Living in this safe grey area definitely makes growing up a bit more comfortable, and having adults in your life to help you and understand what you’re feeling helps as well.

(My senior year English final paper)

 

   If you’ve ever littered, did you think much about where it may end up? Probably not, because how much damage could one little piece of trash cause anyways? The answer is SO MUCH DAMAGE. You, my friend, are participating in the millions of other humans that are causing our waters to become polluted. One piece of trash might not seem like a big deal, but when you combine it with the billions of other pieces of trash that were “just one piece”, a problem has formed. The ocean, which makes up 71% of our Earth’s surface, is full of trash, plastics, oil, chemicals, and other waste, all thanks to us. (80% of the waste in the ocean has come from the land.) And since it’s our fault, it should be our job to work to fix this pollution problem. Ocean pollution is a dangerous issue that needs attention because it poses a threat to the marine life that call those waters their home.
    Let’s start with what pollution is: when a harmful substance meets an ecosystem, but isn’t normally supposed to be in it. For the ocean, and most other ecosystems that face pollution, these abnormal substances that encounter them are caused by humans. The ocean faces pesticides, herbicides, plastics, oil, sewage, and many other awful things that shouldn’t be there. The majority of pollution in the ocean today accumulated within the past 60 years, and in the past 10 years, we produced more plastic than in the whole last century. The scariest part is that not all of this pollution is accidental! Ships out at sea sometimes dump their waste into the ocean, and factories do the same. Sewage can also be deposited into the ocean. When factories dump toxic liquids into the ocean, it’s bad enough that it’s hazardous, but they can increase water temperatures as well. Any poor animal or plant that can’t survive in raised temperatures is doomed. In 2013, a Princess Cruise ship dumped 4,227 gallons of oily waste into the ocean off the coast of Britain. Thankfully an engineer crew member reported the employees who did so. They chose to pollute the ocean to save money, but jokes on them, Princess Cruise Lines was fined $40 million. The incident also uncovered four other ships doing the same thing.
    Non-intentional and accidental pollution is also a large problem. When runoff from a farm, such as chemicals or animal waste, ends up in rivers, it is carried to the ocean. This happens when excess water flows into the ocean from the land, carrying any pollutants with it. The runoff of fertilizer from soil that ends up in the ocean can cause extreme growths in marine algae. These large amounts of algae have the potential to disrupt ecosystems and even create a “dead zone”, or an area of low oxygen that suffocates the animals living in it. Algae outbreaks are also able to cause skin irritation and cognitive problems in people local to the area. So when we let the ocean get polluted, even on accident, we are hurting ourselves as well as the creatures inside the waters. One of the worst and most devastating ways the ocean is polluted is by an oil spill. Oil is toxic to all marine life, and can suffocate animals that get trapped in it. These tragedies are extremely difficult to clean up, with almost no way to completely clean up all oil from a spill. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 was the largest U.S. oil spill in history, with a whopping 210 MILLION gallons of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Seven years later and clean up efforts are still going on for this horrible accident. Millions of dollars have already been spent for the efforts as well. It left an unimaginable number of animals dirty, facing health problems, or killed.

   All organisms living in the ocean are threatened by ocean pollution. Coral reefs are damaged by debris. Thousands of animals get caught in plastic packaging, fishing nets, and whatever else they may swim into, most likely injuring, suffocating or drowning the animal. They also mistake debris for food, causing them to either choke or face health problems after eating it. Sea turtles and other mammals mistake plastic bags for a yummy jelly fish. The plastic causes blockage in their digestive system, leading to death. Scientists have been finding high levels of manmade chemicals being in the bodies of marine mammals. This is a major cause of population decreases. When smaller animals ingest these pollutants, they have the ability to mess up an entire food chain. Some die, leaving their predators with no food, while some get sick, getting their predators sick as well. And with winds and currents, pollution is able to reach even more of the ocean, harming even more animals. This all causes a domino effect that reaches the top of the food chain, and possibly us humans too. Yet again, we can be affected by ocean pollution. I’m sure it would be no fun to eat a fish that’s been sick from eating trash! You’d think that would be enough of a reason for us to stop polluting so much?! Nope.

    Another form of pollution that harms the ocean greatly is noise pollution. Large areas near the Short that produce too much sound, as well as ships and oil rigs traveling through the water, produce sound waves in the water. These sound waves can disrupt migration, communication between animals, hunting (such as echolocation) and reproduction patterns occurring throughout the ocean. If they can’t communicate properly in the water, they can’t survive. Marine mammals like dolphins and whales are especially affected by this issue. They rely on these methods and instincts for survival, and when disrupted, the results can be quite damaging. On top of that, constant noise can also cause hearing damage and stress for marine life, leading to physiological problems and difficulties with reproduction. The worst part about noise pollution is that we can’t even clean it up, unless we move away from the ocean completely.

    A quick biology lesson: plastic is not biodegradable. When plastic ends up in the ocean, it’s broken down into microscopic pieces. Imagine a water bottle floating in the water, but it’s separated into millions of tiny pieces. The problem with that? You can’t pick it up, you can’t even see it! The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of these pieces twice the size of Texas. It was discovered by Charles Moore, a science researcher and captain, in 1997 as he sailed that part of the ocean. While the idea of a great garbage patch sounds like a giant floating island of trash, it’s mostly just microscopic debris pieces in the water, with some other bigger pieces such as fishing nets, fishing line and buoys. It is not easily visible, especially the microscopic debris, but it appears to make the water look cloudy. All of this debris has been collected by the current of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, found between the coast of California and Hawaii. And all of this debris isn’t just floating near the surface of the water. It is estimated that about 70% of all marine debris sinks to the bottom of the ocean, making a difficult clean up job even more difficult. Speaking of clean up, you may wonder about the efforts to clean up the garbage patch. The sad answer is that since the patch remains in international waters, no country wants to take on the expensive and difficult job of cleaning it up. Only 20% of the debris comes from cargo ships and oil rigs, while 80% comes from the land, mainly North America and Asia. Even though they are a main factor, they still do not want to take on the job. Only private organizations are attempting this great clean up process, and it isn’t easy at all. Considering how small most of the debris is, trying to just collect it all would also gather up the microscopic organisms that live in the water and are essential to the ocean’s ecosystem. To do an effective job, scientists must create a screen or filter able to collect the plastics without harming any organisms.

    A Dutch organization named the Ocean Cleanup, which aims to clean up plastic and other debris in the ocean, seems to be the only ones stepping up to the plate. It took years of planning to gain a reliable plan and develop the technology needed to do so. They have been working and planning since 2012 to take on this project, and plan to begin their efforts sometime next year. They are planning on sending fifty screens into the ocean, weighed down by anchors. Each screen is a little over a half a mile in length. These screens will move a little slower than the ocean currents, trapping the plastics as they go. The Ocean Cleanup at first predicted they would be able to clean about half of the patch in 10 years, costing about $320 million. Now, they believe they can achieve that in five years, costing significantly less than that. To earn more money to fund the project, they are going to recycle the plastic they collect and sunglasses, chairs, etc. to sell. This project will take humongous amounts of time and money, but the benefit is more than worth it, and we owe it to the ocean to treat it right.

    In a world filled with pollution and sadness, it is up to us to clean it up and make things right. Pollution of the ocean affects not only the billions of plants and animals, but us as well. There’s no reason that we shouldn’t address this problem and work harder to fix it. We only have one ocean, one planet. These issues are part of the reason I am looking to study marine biology in college. I want to make a difference in the ocean, whether it be picking up trash on a beach, or helping a turtle that’s caught in a net. I’ve valued the ocean all my life, so it’s only fitting that I devote part of my life to helping it.

“ From video games, to apps, to music software; the internet offers an outlet to everyone of any age or interest. For students, it provides a way to cope with stress by providing an escape from the real world for a little.

..providing many other advantages and benefits such as access to groundbreaking research and endless information..”

I have been a dancer almost my whole life. Although I would not consider myself on a pro level, it was something I tried hard in, enjoyed, and turned out to be pretty decent in throughout the years. When I got to high school, I was skeptical on joining clubs or teams because I didn’t know where I’d fit in. My older sister had been a part of the school musicals when she was in high school, so I gave that consideration. I didn’t know anything about theater, but at least I could dance, right? It took until my junior year of high school to finally get myself to audition. I instantly was surrounded by forty kids who not only knew all about theater, acting and singing, but had been participating in drama for years. I received the role of a seagull in The Little Mermaid, which was part of the ensemble. The gulls got their own number, where we had to sing and dance. During the dance part of rehearsals, I felt at home. However, I was completely out of place during singing and acting rehearsals. I struggled to learn the terms of sheet music, as well as stage directions. It took a lot of focus for me to become familiar. By the time show night was rolling around three months later, I was vaguely educated in everything going on. Although it was definitely a challenge, I am glad I stuck through all of rehearsals and put in the effort to become familiar in this whole new world. My hard work must have paid off, because my senior year, I received a speaking role, as well as two ensemble roles, in Mary Poppins. I was extremely excited, but a speaking role presented a whole new challenge. Not only did I have to learn song and dance, but I had to remember lines. I had to learn to project my voice. Another musical, another learning experience. In the end, my only regret was not being a part of the musical my freshman and sophomore years!

Learning Outcome 1

During the second major writing assignment of English 110, I believe I displayed the best example of learning outcome number one, “demonstrating the ability to approach writing as a recursive process, including global and local revision”. I am choosing the second writing assignment because as I wrote and revised it, I was able to use the mistakes made in my first writing assignment to help me. I believe there was a big difference shown in my revision skills between these two papers. In the first paper, I displayed more of an editing process described by Nancy Sommers as a “thesaurus philosophy of writing”. I simply rewrote most of my ideas to make the paper flow smoothly. I didn’t do much to change my paper as a whole, to help get my point and ideas across better. As I wrote my second paper, I took this into consideration. I added ideas, deleted some, and moved things around as I revised the first draft. I read my paper over, deciding what to change, what worked and what didn’t. Doing so made sure my paper was coming together in the best way possible. I also made sure to add more quotes and evidence from outside sources, backing up the claims I made and making them stronger.

Learning Outcome 2

In my second writing assignment, I argued how technology has both negative and positive effects on our developing and growing society. It inevitably causes distractions, but we have no choice but to power through and use it in the most beneficial way possible. Having points from both sides of the argument made it easy for me to find evidence from outside sources to back up my claims. To argue the opposing side, I used some quotes from Henig’s “What is it about 20 somethings?”. I enjoyed working with this essay for my paper because we had already worked with it in our last paper, so I felt familiarized with Henig’s concepts. She easily explains how young adults in their twenties are taking so long to actually grow up, and I was able to combine her points with the distractions of technology. I first wrote “Henig questions,‘Even if some traditional milestones are never reached, one thing is clear: Getting to what we would generally call adulthood is happening later than ever. But why?’ “ I explained her idea, saying that the distraction of technology, which is growing at a higher rate now than ever, could be a solution to her question. I used this concept of explaining a quote and analyzing it to support my ideas throughout my paper, leading it to be a strong paper with an abundance of evidence and good points.

Learning Outcomes 5 and 6

Something I have struggled with since high school is citing properly with MLA format. As I worked on the first two major writing assignments this year, I was able to improve in my knowledge and skills in this category. After the first paper, I was able to see where I went wrong in citing my sources. I used this information to help me correctly cite my second paper. I also made small grammatical errors throughout my paper, such as structuring a sentence incorrectly, and even small typos. After peer editing, I was able to recognize and fix these errors. For example, while mentioning social media sites such as Twitter and Instagram, I failed to capitalize them.

Learning Outcome 4

I believe that peer review is one of the most effective ways to catch errors in a paper. When you read over your own paper, everything, when written in your own words, makes sense in your brain. Even when you have made mistakes, it’s easy to just read over it because your mind understands what you’re trying to say. When I read over a peer’s paper, I instantly spot things that they would most likely not catch themselves. The thing I found myself commenting on the most while peer reviewing was not errors in writing, but failure to elaborate. My peer had many great points backing up her thesis, but she did not go into further explanation with them. There were many opportunities for her to incorporate the ideas from the texts we discussed in class to provide support in her writing. I made sure to comment on these areas where she had a good start, and just needed some extra support to finish. For example, she ended a paragraph saying “While it’s incredibly cool that people have the ability to talk to each other from anywhere in the world, it has had some effect on face-to-face interactions with those that are around us.” I made sure comment on this, saying this could definitely be expanded upon.

Importance of Internet

Imagine this: you are doing your homework, when suddenly, your phone buzzes. The familiar sound immediately triggers an intense need to stop what you are doing and pick up your phone. Your mind begins to race as you think of what the notification could be: Snapchat, Twitter, a text. Before you know it, an hour has passed as you scroll deep into your Instagram feed. The internet provides an endless flow of distractions, and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The digital world is a massive emerging culture that is absorbing teens and young adults into participation, whether it be for their own joy, or for fear of missing out. If you do not sign up for Instagram, how will you see what everyone is up to? How else would you let everyone know you went to the party last night if you did not post a selfie on your Snapchat story? In some cases, it has even turned into a “popularity” contest: seeing who can get the most followers, likes, and comments. Overall, technology has endless benefits, and because of this, people all over the globe are constantly drawn to its many uses. While this can be a good thing in some aspects, it makes the internet an enormous distraction, which serves little benefit to young adults with their busy lives and growing minds. However, what is the alternative? The internet is most definitely a distraction, yet we rely on it in many other ways. Society must find a way to ease reliance on the internet for social interaction and simple joys, while increasing usage of the internet for informational purposes. There must be a healthy medium. The digital world in today’s society is taking attention away from more important matters, and causing more of a harmful distraction than it is serving beneficial purposes.

Social media seems to have an intense power over young adults. From video games, to apps, to music software; the internet offers an outlet to everyone of any age or interest. For students, it provides a way to cope with stress by providing an escape from the real world for a little. However, this comes at a significant cost. While providing many other advantages and benefits such as access to groundbreaking research and endless information, the internet also offers an even greater distraction. It is more than easy to get sucked into online content, such as videos, games, or interacting with others on social media. Young adults do not always have the time to spare that they spend online when they should be focusing on their jobs, growing up and transitioning into the real world, or even smaller responsibilities like homework, chores and taking care of themselves. Even though it seems like a minor distraction at the time, constant use of the internet and technology can lead to a large setback in the timeline of a young adult’s life. As Sam Anderson quotes Herbert A. Simon in his article, “In Defense of Distraction,”, “aA wealth of information creates a poverty of attention”. This “poverty of attention” leads students to lower grades, lower attention spans, and a strain on academics as students struggle to multi-task between homework and their social media accounts. Neuroscientists have conducted many studies into attention span, memory and multitasking. Results show that the brain becomes overwhelmed when forced to multitask, therefore shifting its processing from the hippocampus to the striatum. In other words, instead of storing information as memory, it is instead recognizing information as a small task. This makes it incredibly difficult to recall or even learn whatever it is the person is doing. Multitasking will not help you to do two things at once in a more efficient way, unlike popular belief. It instead will cause you to give less focus and effort on both tasks. As a result, someone’s work and efforts will not live up to their full potential. This, in the grand scheme of things, will have a harmful effect on an individual and their future success.

Along with the struggle of multitasking and mental strain, the digital world is also capable of masking personal problems for people. The internet provides an escape for students who may not be able to relate with peers in the real world, or those who do not know how to go about making an effort to put themselves out there to do so. Many young adults take to websites like Twitter and Tumblr to find others online with similar interests. This allows them to do so without actually talking to people in real life, which many people prefer not to do. Young adults and developing teens no longer need to leave the home in order to interact with others online or to experience joy, excitement, and many other emotions and pleasures. It also allows people the ability to present themselves as an ideal version of who they truly are. Young adults are able to present themselves however they would like on social media, hiding the reality of an identity that they may not like or wish to change. Spending a great deal of your young life worrying about how you appear to others on social media can feel as if it almost takes over your mind, distracting you from reality. Obviously, it is easy to see how these possibilities can lead to an addiction and dependance of the internet. Anderson compares the internet to a “Skinner box”, one that manages to seep into our minds and feed “our deepest mechanisms of addiction”. Social media, instead of being used to feed the urges of looking “cool” and “popular” online, could be used more for other, more useful things. An example would be promoting a brand, gaining awareness on an important campaign or fundraiser, and even raising money for an important cause, commonly done on a platform called GoFundMe. Looking at all the benefits of social media instead of the flaws will assist in eliminating some of the internet’s detrimental distractions.

Robin Henig, in her article “What Is It About 20-Somethings?,”, explains how more recently, young adults are taking much longer to grow up and make the transition into full adulthood, entering the dreaded “real adult world”. She explains the five milestones that an individual reaches, such as finishing school, getting married and getting a job, that signify this transition. Some people, especially more frequently now, do not always complete every single milestone. Henig questions, “Even if some traditional milestones are never reached, one thing is clear: Getting to what we would generally call adulthood is happening later than ever. But why?” And this leads to a good question without a completely certain answer. However, one factor that can contribute to the answer to this question is technology. Is the constant use and distraction of technology a factor in this delay to adulthood? One thing is certain: the increases in the use of technology and social media are comparable to these increases in the delayment of reaching adulthood. They are both increasing now, more than ever, which could show that they are in fact related. This excessive use of technology, not in a beneficial way, can be slowly increasing the time it takes a young adult to finally get out of the unknown stage between adolescence and adulthood that Henig labels “emerging adulthood”. And it makes sense; the more time you are spending online, the less time that goes towards finding your career and building your future. This is harmful because a drawn out period before entering adulthood could take away your motivation to grow up. If you spend years comfortably living at home with your parents and no job, you will become used to this lifestyle and not want to leave it.

Another problem that has emerged from the overuse of internet is going blind to real humanitarian issues. They are constantly overshadowed by much simpler events in the media, such as celebrity drama, the best new music, who just won in the sports world, and what is going on on the most popular tv shows. You are more likely to hear about those things than natural disasters, deaths and tragedies because everyone is so engulfed online in media. Staying distracted online is taking everyone’s attention away from these things that need attention the most. To fix this problem, we could use large social media platforms to inform of everyone the news stories that need to be heard. While the major events usually turn up on social media, it is not enough; celebrities are still getting more attention than those dying in third world countries. Instead of tweeting about the latest gossip going on in their school, young adults should be using their online resources to make a positive impact on society. They could do so by doing something such as sharing local news stories that might need more attention. The internet caters to the largest audience in the world, and this powerful tool should not be passed up on to use in such a way.

Would you rather see the world through a screen or with your own eyes? Being constantly distracted by technology, you might never get the opportunity to go out and do so. It seems as though everyone is on Instagram, looking at pictures of those who are experiencing the beauties of nature themselves, instead of actually going out on their own to do so. Parents constantly complain how their kids are “always on their phone” and we just laugh it off, but should we take that comment more seriously? It is becoming noticeable the amount of time young adults spend using their phones and other technology. These young adults don’t think much of it in the moment, but they are constantly missing out on other things happening in real life when they give their attention to a screen. Is staying in your room all day watching netflix really better than going out and spending time with your family? Technology constantly removes us from the world around us; we must stop letting these distractions take away moments that we will never be able to get back.

Young adults are the future, and they have the power to change the world. Thomas King, in his TEDx talk “Adults, Wwe Nneed to have the tTalk”, says “I don’t know for sure what the world will look like in twenty years, but what I can guarantee you is that it won’t look anything like it does today.” There is no stopping our changing world, so why don’t we work to make it the best future possible, using the technologies we have? If the internet is one of our most powerful resources, we should be using it to benefit those all around the world, instead of getting distracted by it.While it seems that getting distracted by technology is inevitable, we can always find a way to power through it. Getting rid of it as a whole is not an option, so the next best action must be taken. To do so, we have to focus on using technology for its strong benefits, not the simple uses that engulf us as a generation. If we seek out the benefits of the digital world as a society, and remove many of the baleful aspects of it, technology will be stronger than ever. It has copious amounts of potential, we just have to work for it, instead of getting distracted by it.

Prompt 2 Draft

Imagine this: you are doing your homework, when suddenly, your phone buzzes. The familiar sound immediately triggers an intense need to stop what you are doing and pick up your phone. Your mind begins to race as you think of what the notification could be: snapchat, twitter, a text. Before you know it, an hour has passed as you scroll deep into your instagram feed. The internet provides an endless flow of distractions, and it does not seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The digital world is a massive emerging culture that is absorbing teens and young adults into participation, whether it be for their own joy, or for fear of missing out. These technologies have endless benefits. Because of this, people all over the globe are constantly drawn to its many uses. While this can be a good thing in some aspects, it makes the internet an enormous distraction, which serves little benefit to young adults. However, what is the alternative? The internet is most definitely a distraction, yet we rely on it in many other ways. Society must find a way to ease reliance on the internet for social interaction and simple joys, while increasing usage of the internet for informational purposes: there must be a healthy medium. While the digital world in today’s society gives many benefits to those of all ages, it is giving an even larger disadvantage to the many young adults who are constantly distracted online.

Social media seems to have an intense power over young adults. From video games, to apps, to music software; the internet offers an outlet to everyone, from any walk of life. It provides an escape for students, a way to cope with stress. However, it comes at a significant cost. While providing access to groundbreaking research and endless information, the internet also offers great distraction. It is more than easy to get sucked into online content, such as videos, games, or interacting with others on social media. Young adults do not always have the time to spare that they spend online when they should be focusing on growing up and transitioning into the real world. This, even though it seems like a minor distraction at the time, can lead to a large setback in the timeline of a young adult’s life. Spending a great deal of your young life worrying about your appearance on social media can feel as if it almost takes over your mind, distracting you from reality. As Sam Anderson quotes Herbert A. Simon in his article, “In Defense of Distraction”, “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention”. This “poverty of attention” leads students to lower grades, lower attention spans, and a strain on academics as students struggle to multi-task between homework and their social media accounts. Neuroscientists have conducted many studies into attention span, memory and multitasking. Results show that the brain becomes overwhelmed when forced to multitask, therefore shifting its processing from the hippocampus to the striatum. In other words, instead of storing information as memory, it is recognizing information as a small task. This makes it incredibly difficult to recall or even learn whatever it is the person is doing. Multitasking will not help you to do two things at once in a more efficient way, but instead cause you to give less focus and effort on both tasks.

Along with the struggle of multitasking and mental strain, the digital world is also capable of masking personal problems for people. The internet provides an escape for students who may not be able to relate with peers in the real world. Many young adults take to websites like twitter and tumblr to find others online with similar interests. This allows them to do so without actually talking to people in real life, which many people prefer not to do. It also allows people the ability to present themselves as an ideal version of who they truly are. Young adults are able to present themselves however they would like on social media, hiding the reality of an identity that they may not like or wish to change. Obviously, it is easy to see how these possibilities can lead to an addiction and dependance of the internet. Anderson compares the internet to a “Skinner box”, one that manages to seep into our minds and feed “our deepest mechanisms of addiction”. Young adults and developing teens no longer need to leave the home in order to interact with others online or to experience joy, excitement, and many other emotions and pleasures.

Another problem that has emerged from the overuse of internet is going blind to real humanitarian issues. They are constantly overshadowed by much simpler events in the media, such as celebrity drama, the best new music, who just won in the sports world, and what is going on on the most popular tv shows. You are more likely to hear about those things than natural disasters, deaths and tragedies, because everyone is so engulfed online in media. Staying distracted online is taking everyone’s attention away from the things that need attention the most. To fix this problem, we could use large social media platforms to inform of everyone these news stories that need to be heard. While the major events usually turn up on social media, it is not enough. Celebrities are still getting more attention than those dying in third world countries. Young adults are the future, and they have the power to change the world. Thomas King, in his TEDx talk “Adults, we need to have the talk”, says “I don’t know for sure what the world will look like in twenty years, but what i can guarantee you is that it won’t look anything like it does today.” There is no stopping our changing world, so why don’t we work to make it the best future possible, using the technologies we have? If the internet is one of our most powerful resources, we should be using it to benefit those all around the world, instead of getting distracted by it.

Would you rather see the world through a screen or with your own eyes? Being constantly distracted by technology, you might never get the opportunity to go out and do so. It seems as though everyone is on instagram, looking at pictures of those who are experiencing the beauties of nature themselves, instead of actually going out on their own to do so. Parents constantly complain how their kids are “always on their phone” and we just laugh it off, but should we take that comment more seriously? Is staying in your room all day watching netflix really better than going out and spending time with your family? Technology constantly removes us from the world around us; we must stop letting these distractions take away moments that we will never be able to get back.

While it seems that getting distracted by technology is inevitable, we can always find a way to power through it. To do so, we must focus on using technology for its strong benefits, not the simple uses that engulf us as a generation.

Being a marine biology major, I am not given many writing assignments. Besides English 110, I have written one paper throughout this semester. This paper was a lab report data analysis for a lab we conducted measuring the growth of phytoplankton. Although the paper did not use many of the typical writing skills we learned this semester in class, such as using quotes and evidence, my writing skills becoming better overall in English 110 helped me to write a better lab report. It helped my writing in more of a structural and technical way than a content-based way. When writing this report, I was making sure that everything I was saying made sense and flowed. When I explained and analyzed the data, I was able to make sure that it correlated well with that data.

Steven Pinker, in his essay “Why Academics Stink at Writing”, he explains the difficulty of writing a good paper for students in college. he even makes a point of saying “It would be tedious for a biologist to spell out the meaning of the term transcription factor every time she used it, and so we should not expect the tête-à-tête among professionals to be easily understood by amateurs” (Pinker 2). This idea applies directly to me and the work I can expect to be writing in the upcoming semesters at UNE. A good way for me to write is to not assume that my reader will know everything I’m talking about when it comes to science. He also explains that students may know exactly what they want to talk about, but just don’t know the best way to convey it. These points are something I, as well as any other student, should consider while writing.

In future writing assignments, which I know I can expect from the Environmental Issues course I am planning to take next semester, I will take the knowledge I have gained from English 110 with me. I know the many writing methods we have discussed in class will apply to my writing in the upcoming four years here at UNE for me. I will be stronger in my quote and analysis techniques, and have a better understanding for argumentative writing. The concept of looking at a paper as your part in a conversation will always stick with me and help me to excel in my work.

All in all, English 110 has not only helped me with my writing so far in school, but will continue to help me as I go on and further my academic career.

Phytoplankton Population Growth Data Analysis

During this lab, the growth patterns of two different species of phytoplankton, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Dunaliella tertiolecta, were viewed. Phytoplankton are microscopic, single celled organisms. They are autotrophs, making their own food using sunlight and nutrients found in the water. The two species we will be using in this lab are found in the three most common groups of phytoplankton- diatoms, dinoflagellates, and autotrophic flagellates. The two species were both put into liquid F/2 media, as well as three different concentration levels of silica. F/2 media contains nutrients such as Nitrogen and Phosphorus, while silica is sodium metasilicate. The purpose of this is to determine the effect each level would have on the growth of the phytoplankton. The silica is needed for some specific types of phytoplankton to grow, but not all of them. Seeing which type is affected most by the concentration of silica will help to determine which group the species is in.

For the Phaeodactylum tricornutum, the different levels of silica played a large factor in the growth rate of the species. For the first seven days of the experiment, the growth rates in each of the three concentrations were relatively similar. It was not until the eighth day that the growth rates started to branch apart. Between day nine and ten, the full silica group saw their largest increase, taking its population well above the other two groups. The half silica group rose at around the same time, bringing it higher than the no silica group. The no silica group increased slightly, but no more than 125,000 cells per mL-1. Overall, it was shown that the level of silica in each group of Phaeodactylum tricornutum had an impact on its growth rate.

For the Dunaliella tertiolecta, the different levels of silica did not seem to have as large of an effect on the growth rate of the population. Each of the three groups followed the same pattern of growth. It took about nine days for there to be an increase in population. Between the ninth and eleventh day, each group’s population grew rapidly, almost tripling in size. After the eleventh day, the population appears to have reached its carrying capacity. On the following day, the populations dropped by about 150,000 cells per mL-1. They then stayed steady for the remaining days. For each increase and decrease of population, the three different groups of Dunaliella tertiolecta stayed together in their growth rates. Because of this, the silica levels did not affect the growth of Dunaliella tertiolecta.

Since Phaeodactylum tricornutum was affected by the amount of silica within the water it was growing in, ot can be concluded that they are in the group Dinoflagellates. This is because of their lack of silica outer shell. Dunaliella tertiolecta, however, have an outer shell made of silica called a frustule. Because of this, the presence of silica has an impact on their growth rate. This makes them part of the group Diatoms.

https://youtu.be/nB2XSe3k3IU