Blog #3

The concern this week for me would have to be from the paraphrasing exercise.  I find it very difficult to read something and then write it on my own without using the same words. One other thing I had trouble with was the vocabulary. Before I took the test it was hard to pick out just a few words from several sentences. Is there a certain website that the definitions come from? I did well on the test but the entire time I was stressed out.

I learned so much about the library database. I really wish I would have known about it a long time ago. It would have made research papers so much easier. I live in Paragould so I have never used the library because it is too far to drive but now I am so happy to know that I can use the library from home.

Another thing I have learned is about run on sentences. Anytime I have ever written a paper I get points counted off for this problem.  I learned that a run-on is two or more complete sentences written as one sentence. It has too much information for a single sentence, and it just keeps going. A run on is not a fragment. A fragment is an incomplete thought. A run-on has too many complete thoughts. When a sentence has two thoughts that are complete, they can be properly connected in three easy ways: period, semicolon, and a Comma with Coordinating Conjunctions (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So). I learned to look at the sentence length. If it is more than three lines, it could be a run-on. Also I should read my sentence out loud. If I have to catch my breath before the end, it is too long. If I get lost as I am reading the sentence, so will my audience.

Digital over print

At this time, I do not think that digital is replacing print but I do believe that it will in the near future. Research shows that only 10-15% of books are being purchased digitally, even though it is now possible to get almost every book online and download onto a hand held device. Doing this makes it easier for people to be able to take their books with them wherever they go and to be able to read which ever book they have downloaded. I had to option to get a couple of my college textbooks digital but I chose not to because three out of four of my classes are online. If I was at a big university and had to walk very far from one class to the other I would have chose digital. Devices such as e-readers and tablets make it possible to store hundreds of books on a single device. I think that digital is a wonderful thing because not having to print a book will be better for  the environment because less trees will have to be cut down to produce the paper needed to print book, magazines, etc. Books are not the only thing being replaced digitally. Items such as email, work documents, testing materials, and owners manuals are rapidly being found only in digital format. For example, my husband and I recently purchased a hot tub and all the documentation and manuals are on a compact disc. This type of format could make it difficult for people behind in technology to be able to view their documents. I think this forces people to adapt to technology they are not ready for yet.

Hello, I am Amber Irvin and I attend Black River Tech College. I am in the process of taking my prerequisites for practical nursing and registered nursing. I have lived in Paragould my whole life and to tell you the truth I am ready to move. I have been married for almost 10 years and we have a 5 year old that we adopted. His name is Evan and we first got him on Halloween 2008. We adopted him out of foster care and are in the process of opening our home to be able to adopt a girl. With Evan and school and going to be foster parents again I really do not have time to have any hobbies but if I did it would be to play softball. Hopefully that is something I can do in a few years. I love online classes and wish I could take all of them like this. I like being able to work on stuff when I have the time.

Family Pictures

This was taken halloween 2008, the first day we got Evan