Blog 13

(sound of lighter being lit)

Arizona State has recently announced to students, it's plans to become a smoking free campus. Arizona has decided to join several campuses around the United States in becoming a smoking free environment and promoting a healthier lifestyle and becoming more academically focused. Staff and Health Services have their own views concerning the issue and truly feel that banning smoking on campus will help to better engage students on campus. Students are both supportive of and against the decision. Some students believe that the school has some sort of agenda that they are trying to satisfy by not allowing students to smoke on campus. 

"The school is trying to take away our rights, as adults we should be respected enough that they can allow us the responsibility to decide whether or not to smoke and considering that we live on campus we should be allowed to do what we like in our homes, argues one student.

Other students see this as an opportunity for the school and students alike. 

"I don't like walking around campus and having people puffing smoke into my face, it's gross, rude, and students can find other hobbies to avoid stress and be engaged on campus", says Tory Howell

First year student Jan Chen had similar input-

"With smoking banned on campus students can find better things to do with their time. I hate when I go on my runs on campus and someone randomly blows smoke into my face. It throws me off and it's just gross. Included, we have a daycare center on campus and that's so unhealthy and impressionable if kids are running around and students are just smoking in front of them and stuff."

Many students agree that smoking on campus is only detrimental to the college experience as it promotes an unhealthy environment for students as they go about their everyday activities. "While smoking is a privilege its one that we can definitely live without on campus", adds Chen.

A concern for students against the act is that they need  chance to smoke during the day in order to handle stress that comes from being a regular college student. In response to that concern ASU is providing students with a Tobacco Cessation program in order to help students drop their habit. The program offers students visits with tobacco cessation specialists, over the counter prescriptions, and online resources. The campus is giving students a lot of opportunities to help choose a healthier lifestyle.

Overall the decision to make ASU a tobacco free environment is a smart one that will help every student's experience and overall wellness at ASU.

Blog 12

Recently rumors have emerged that ASU plans on banning smoking campus. Some students are disconcerted, but a large portion of students are outraged. For some students smoking is an escape from the everyday stresses that the highly demanding college provides, for some it's just a habitual practice, and for others it is a way to assert their individuality as an adult making their way into the adult world (basically a trend or way to make themselves look cool). Despite anybody's preference, the school is planning on banning smoking on campus. While to some this may seem to some as just another way for ASU to strip students of their free will it isn't all just a negative change. Smoking in and of itself is not a healthy practice and banning it on campus could be a good way to help promote a healthier and all around more productive lifestyle. Without the legal ability to smoke on campus students can be encouraged to drop an otherwise unhealthy addiction and find much more productive ways to spend their free time and get more involved in practices that will improve their life quality. It seems like a stupid rule to enforce on campus but other schools already have no smoking laws and their quality of life has not been diminished in any way. ASU is trying to keep itself as a quality institution and truly help improve the quality of experience for its students. My argument may not be popular but it sounds like a good idea to me.

Sources

• Ask students around campus about their opinion
• Schools that have no smoking on campus check their statistics about students' quality of life
• Talk to the school Administrators 
• Ask professors their opinions on the change
• Statistics on how smoking affects students' health
• Ask around about how cigarettes affect littering on campus
• Read about why ASU is banning smoking on campus

Blog 11

I feel that the second writing project was a much more engaging and explorative. I liked the project because we were given the flexibility to do virtually whatever we wanted within the confines of the criteria. My Topic was really fun to do mainly because I got to really have fun with it and sort of be creative with the food places that I chose and that my friends helped me to choose. Personally I am much better with creative and reflective writing since I get to have more of a voice rather than just observing something. It was still a challenging project although I found it to be much more possible than writing project 1. I didn’t find any criteria for the project too hard to understand, or too difficult to formulate.

Personally what I didn’t like about the project was formulating the blogging elements. It was just a very tedious process. Also I think it bothered me because I was trying to be lazy. When I pulled it altogether I found that really organizing and forming the blog made the project really nice and crisp. Plus, the formatting made it a lot more engaging and attractive. I also have been considering starting my own personal blog aside from this class so having this project show me different ways to format and organize information in my blog proved very helpful.

Overall I liked the second project. Especially in comparison to the first project which I was not very fond of at all. Formatting blogs is an especially good skill to have and the subject was very engaging and easy  as long as you put sufficient effort into it.

Blog # 10

In any kind of research based paper quotation, paraphrasing, and summary can be very important tools to use. Not only do they make your observations and opinion more valid they also add content to your subject. As stated in the reading, "visual sources can lend support to an assertion"(574). Sometimes simply being able to state an opinion isn't enough to convince people of your argument. If anybody could just make an assertion without any proof, or if people were simply naive enough to accept any argument somebody tossed into their paper, then we would not very knowledgable or reliable people. Readers are much more inclined to read and truly delve into the content from a writer that shows they are knowledgable and has done their research. Using summary to give the reader a basic knowledge and understanding of what you are discussing, paraphrasing to help establish a thought or idea, and quotations to bring attention to important details, opinions, or theories all help to make your writing much more credible and appropriate. Everybody has bias but it is important to have evidence to make your assertions much more credible otherwise you are just ranting. Ranting doesn't necessarily make you un-knowlegable but it does take away from your content. Having a physical quote and source to back up your argument shows you know what you are talking about. In my paper it is is especially important to have sources so that when I say a place is good for going on a first date, they can see other sources agree with me and I am not just randomly saying it.
Mood and tone are also very important tools in writing. A boring essay can throw a reader off and make them averted to really accepting your opinion. When discussing an argument the reader needs to be interested and have their curiosity sparked. They must genuinely be drawn to the discuss and it's up to the writer to establish a mood and incorporate visuals and quotations to help. This is important for my paper since I'm discussing good eating places to go to on a first date. Somebody that is considering visiting one of these place may want a clear visual of the place they are visiting for that special date and may want some trustworthy sources to gather information about the restaurant they are going to be visiting. Readers don't just want to hear about a place they are visiting. Readers want to be able to identify with the writer and understand why the restaurant is worth visiting which makes visuals an important part.