17 August, 2005
ENG 102: Composition 2
Week 2 Journal
I’m still very unsure of myself in this class. Again, I realize that I’m always my own worst critic and that I expect too much of myself. Part of me still is very intimidated by the entire idea of taking composition 102. I can safely say I learned things and that APA style did come back to me relatively quickly.
That being said, I’ve realized I dislike citing government publications — especially those found online. Our government makes things far harder than they need to be and insists on using the absolute longest names for their pages. I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with the parenthetical reference — or “that little name and date you put immediately after a quote” as I explained to my mom in hopes of getting some direction. I eventually dug out my copy of “The College Writer” that Baker issued me for my College Success Strategies class, since they tell you how to cite organizations with long names. I hate the idea of plagiarism; much less being accused of it myself.
I think I wrote a decent essay, even with my many bad writing habits and confusion over the parenthetical references. I had to remove full paragraphs in order to keep the essay tight, especially since I feel so strongly over the idea of the chain letter and Internet hoax. Though I do hope my thesis came through okay and that I had at least some credibility. Hopefully over the next few weeks I can begin feeling more confident about those topics.