Throughout the third trimester, I am proudest of my persuasive paper. I believe I put forth my best effort and took the skills learned and applied them to the paper. I believe I struggled with the proposal paper because I had a hard time finding a topic that I could make long enough. I enjoyed the autoethnography since I am a huge fan of baseball and enjoy talking about it. I did not like the proposal paper because we had to present it, and I get stressed out about presentations. In this class, I learned how to properly write a persuasive paper, got better at starting introductions, and my time-management.

I am attending Iowa Central Community College next fall. I chose this school because I already have a year complete there, so I decided to finish my second year there. I have heard many positive things about the school as a whole, and how nice it is. I am looking forward to finishing my two year degree and the smaller class sizes. However, I am more excited to attend the University of Northern Iowa after. I believe it will be fairly easy to make friends since I know many people who already are attending the school and people who will be next fall, where I will be able to meet people in my classes as well.

In my life, I have bought and still buy stuff I don’t necessarily need, but I still want. I buy my own computer (MacBook Air) for school because it’s more convenient for me and allows me to do more programs or softwares than the school computer. I also am more comfortable with using my own, and have used MacBooks all my life. There is a very slim chance that any MacBooks can be affected by, or even obtain, viruses. Most people see the price on MacBooks, but just like other expensive items, it’s very worth it in the long run, there are made to last a long time. In the long run, if one buys a MacBook and decides to sell it a couple years down the road, it will be close to the value you bought it for, in contrast to other PC’s. Problems are easier to solve on MacBooks, with Apple. Apple and Apple only can take care of it in a short period of time, where other PC’s have third party owners for peripherals. Lastly, people who are used to using the Windows software can use it on a MacBook as well, so they are getting the best of both worlds.

A Circular Argument is when you try to make an argument starting with an assumption that you are backing up is already true. An example is stating that happiness is superior to everything else in life. There is no escape to a circular argument, where having it in your paper may weaken it. Leaving out circular arguments will lead to better reasoning.

Persuasive writing has a claim, data, a warrant, a foundation, or backup, a construction, a rebuttal, and a qualifier. The warrant sits between the evidence and the claim, however, the warrant is placed as an unstated assumption. The claim is needed because that is the issue you are trying to prove. Evidence is needed to support the claim, strongly, which is data. Backing supports the unstated warrant. The rebuttal is needed because you are stating the other’s side of the argument so they are aware you have considered their side. The qualifer allows you to specify your claim. Logical falacies and pinions should be avoided because you are trying to prove a point using reliable sources and facts.

A controversial topic that comes to mind is the voting age. I am not necessarily passionate about the topic, however, it interests me. As of right now, the age required to vote is 18. This is the first year of adulthood, so I believe it is a good year to allow people to begin voting. Many people younger than 18 aren’t educated enough on politics to make educated decisions with the polls, where they would just be putting random people and the poll would have bias. Along with that, many minors are following in their parent’s footsteps, so they don’t necessarily have their own political view yet.

In the beginning, I couldn’t think of a problem to write about. I soon found a topic, where I changed it two more times. I came to a conclusion for a topic, which is dropping out of high school. I was surprised that over one million people drop out per year in the United States. Solutions were a little difficult to come up with, but I brainstormed efficient solutions.

Some things I took from the video include: take risks before it is too late, dreams choose people, you can’t kinda want something, and struggle and criticisms are prerequisites for greatness. The main point of the video, in my opinion, is to never think twice about something, go out and chase your dream. The problem is people think too much and are scared of failure, where it is too late eventually and they regret not doing something. The solution is for everyone to use their gift and go achieve greatness, not being scared of failure.

While writing my auto ethnography, I learned more about the history of baseball that I didn’t know before. I learned that most of the interests I enjoy today I got from my childhood and the people who have always been in my life. I didn’t know many of the people in my class’ interests, and this helped me learn more about them. The most important part of an auto ethnography is reflecting on a subculture you take pride in.

I got into the baseball subculture by being born into it. My family influence me ever since I was a baby to play baseball. A first in baseball would be joining t-ball leagues when I was very little. I enjoy being apart of the baseball subculture because the people in it along with me, as well as playing the game I love. Some drawbacks are that it occurs during the summer so I don’t get as much free time or relaxation as much as other teenagers. Joining a subculture you enjoy that has more positives than it does negatives is a big factor, therefore, baseball has more positives to me.