Reflection Post

Over the course of this semester this class has helped me develop more as a writer. I have taken many writing classes, but in high school they aren’t as serious and your papers don’t really matter as much. In college things are different and you want to do better because you have learned what a good paper looks like. In this class we were shown many examples to give us idea of what our papers should resemble. By doing this, it gave us a jump start because sometimes you just don’t know where to begin with a paper. I had different opinions on all three essays that we wrote and each one taught me something different. We learned different things on clauses, sentence structure and how to do research. You would be amazed how difficult something can be when you don’t know what to type into the Google search bar. It’s a really good feeling when you learn something you never knew and I think in this course I said that to myself a lot. I think one of my main downfalls was time. I never seemed to plan out my schedule good enough to spend as much time as I would have liked on my papers.  Also, I think attending class is very important because that’s how you are going to get the most out of it. If your never there how can you really learn anything? I’d like to talk a little bit about the three papers we wrote this semester and discuss some of the bumps I hit during my writing journey.

Writing project one was meant to address the concerns and issues surrounding the American immigrant experience and the actual impact it has on them. We were asked to write an academic argument where we considered if it was important for individuals to resist or accept assimilation when wanting to identify as an American. I had an extra interest in this writing assignment because my boyfriend’s parents were once immigrants. They had to reshape there lives to fit in so I used that in my paper because when you bring personal stories into a paper, your audience can relate a little bit more. In Ada Maria Isasi- Diaz and Elizabeth Martinez’s writing, they both discuss some of the major issues with discrimination towards immigrants today. I used many examples from the written text and incorporated that into what points I was getting across. This paper helped me realize that even though a writing piece is 30-40 pages long and you might not really want to read it, it’s probably a good idea if you take out some time and do it. It will make you a better writer if you know all of the facts when you are writing your paper.

In writing project two we reflected on toys and films from our childhood and what was so important about them. We then read a piece by Henry Giroux on the analysis of Disney’s animated films. He specifically talked about the often negative racial stereotypes in the films.  This writing project was a little bit more difficult because there was a very long piece that needed to be read and analyzed. There was a lot of information to be looked through. I tried to look up a few different types of movies to see if there  was discrimination in them. The one that I talked about specifically was The Princess and The Frog. This was a movie about an African American princess and it rose quite the uproar around the United States. Some would say it was discriminating against blacks because this was the first we had ever seen of an African American princess. Something that I lack is going into great detail when describing things. I tend to say words like things, everyone, people. These aren’t good descriptive words and it tends to leave you hanging because you don’t know what is being discussed. I think that is definitely something I have gained out of this coarse. When I read through my papers now I’m not just skimming through and trying to get it done, I make sure when I read things I know exactly what I’m talking about and have a good claim to support it. You always have to have a claim when you are doing an academic argument and more importantly the evidence to support that claim. In writing project two I needed to explore different movies and describe exactly why they would cause questions to the Disney critics. 

Our final writing project was an argumentative research paper based on everything we have learned over the semester. We were asked to make a claim about something and then find all the evidence to be able to support it. The topic that I chose to wrote about was the new health care reform plan. I wanted to discuss all of the different elements in the bill and how it was going to reshape our health care. We did this paper a little differently because we used a web blog to do all our writing. Instead of turning in drafts and such we used the web blog to update our writing. In the beginning we did an introduction that introduced us and told about our topic. Then every few days we would post more information we had gained from our research. The coolest part about this was our own classmates were commenting on our blogs and giving us advice when we were stuck. This definitely helped me out a lot because sometimes you just find yourself at a fork in the road. I would have so many ideas running through my head and I wouldn’t know what to do. What I did that happened to help me out a lot was I would have my ideas and then I would research each idea. Whichever one I could find the most factual information on, I would chose. This helped me because if I used all three, my paper would become very confusing and you wouldn’t really know what I was talking about.

Although I don’t feel I did the best work I could have done in this class, I know that I learned so much from english 102. I think that my best paper was writing project one on assimilation. I believe that was the best because It had a really good thesis and story line. I transitioned paragraphs very well and stayed on topic. I also feel that I put the most time into writing project one so that’s why all it’s imperfections have been perfected. Throughout this class,  I have developed as a writer in sentence structure, paragraph transitions and knowing how to relate to my audience. These are just some of the many things I have taken in from this class. I plan to remember these things and put them to good use in my speech class this summer. I’m confident to say that I feel I’ve earned atleast a B+ in the English 102 writing course, although I would really very much like an A.

Claim #3

Claim: Insurance companies are going to have to drop because of all of the 32 million new customers they are going to be receiving.

Evidence: One of the first things that is going to change is that insurers will no longer be able to sell policies with lifetime caps on insurance. Also starting in 2014, they won't be able to deny coverage to people with pre existing conditions.  This most likely is going to result in an explosion of premiums because legislation is not going to create universal coverage. Premiums are definitely going to be on the rise for people they consider to earn to much, but other citizens will see there premiums slowly begin to drop. Insurance companies will be receiving over 32 million new users and because of all the money coming in, they should be able to reduce there prices. If insurance costs drop more than 23 million people( a third illegal immigrants) will be able to afford coverage and less people will try to buy it after  they are already sick. Insurance companies are not excited about the new bill because of how quick everything is happening and it's going to restrict the insurers freedom of action.

Claim #2

Claim: Primary health care physicians are going to be hit the hardest and there will be a shortage of doctors. In result, there may not be enough doctors to see all the people that are covered and the quality of care is slowly going to fall.

Evidence: Due to the health care reform, there are going to be no more incentives for primary care physicians. A lot of physicians turn to specialties to increase pay and be able to pay of school loans. In result to this, primary care physicians will have a heavier work load because there will be a shortage of doctors around. This will make for longer waiting times, less appointment availability, and possibly higher medical costs for consumers. Because of the health care bill we will be adding over 32 million people to the  insurance plans. This means more people will be going in for checkups and will be more likely to see a doctor when they usually wouldn't before because they didn't have insurance. This is also going to require more employees needed because of all the jobs becoming available. We need more doctors, nurses, pharmacists, administrative workers and many more as well. This could be a very good thing because so many Americans have been out of jobs for so long. But are we going to be able to handle all of these people wanting health care at one time?

Claim #1

Claim: When the health care bill goes into full effect in 2014, I believe it will be utter chaos as everyone will be having to pay for health insurance.

Evidence: As of 2014, every United States citizen will be required to have health insurance. By doing so this is going to cause many problems because of how expensive costs are. They are only going to rise over time and think about a family that has kids to pay for as well. The co pays and monthly payments all do add up. Some of the classmates that have commented have diabetes and they are going to have to pay even more when off there parent's insurance. The number of visits and prescriptions needed might not all be covered by there insurance. This is going to result many people being in a lot of debt. What about the individuals that say I refuse to pay for health insurance? Well, that’s not going to be allowed unless your wanting to pay over 600 dollars for refusing to carry health insurance. As I know many people are not going to want to do that, many will because they won’t have the money to pay for the health insurance. Also it is going to be a huge problem for elderly people as over 500 billion dollars will be cut from the medicare program that helps pay for there medical bills. They also are saying it's not going to result in more taxes, but it most likely is. The government has to be able to pay for this health care reform somehow. The first places going to be taxed are the businesses and then families making over $250,000 will pay higher medicare taxes. Individuals are not going to want to pay all of these extra fees and this is going to cause a lot of people to be upset. 

Context Statement

   So as you can see the current issue is will the health care plan work out like they want it too? Will there be many issues or will it surprise us and work out quite well? A positive thing about the health care bill is that the new rules will prevent insurers from denying coverage to people with pre existing conditions. It will also make it more difficult for insurers to cancel polices once a covered individual ends up getting sick. This is going to benefit them so much because this is where the medical bills start stacking up.

   Now let me mention some cons to the new Health Care Bill. As of 2014, all American citizens are going to be required to have health insurance. If any individual refuses to do so because of there own personal reason, they will pay up to $675 a year just for not having insurance. If this isn't a big enough threat to people, insurance companies can might begin raising there prices and stop writing new insurance policies.  Now what about all the medical doctors that are going to have to start taking in so many more patients? Are they going to be able to handle this and afford it? There is a possibility doctors will just quit practicing and not accept the new incoming laws.

   People's biggest complaint as this bill was signed was that well I haven't gone to the doctor in 7 years why should I have to pay for insurance. Well you know why? Because things happen, and there might be one day where you have to have emergency surgery and it's going to cost $50,000. Then what do you do, you have to pay it and end up in so much debt. If you had insurance though the price wouldn't even be half of that and the debt wouldn't really be there anymore. People need to be appreciative of the things we are given because it could save our lives one day.

   In my paper I really want to focus on why this is going to be such a big deal when it goes into effect in 2014. I want to talk about what people, doctors and government officials are going to do. This is nothing like auto insurance. This is something completely different and it could change many things. Some would say your freedom is taken away because you have to buy it, but I think it will be saving the United States a lot of money.

Reflection

   The first article that I read on CNN was "Obama: Requiring Health Insurance is not a Tax Increase." Obama says that requiring health insurance is not going to increase on our taxes at all. In fact, Obama even states that people who need help will still be able to be helped by the government, but the individuals that are doing good and just choose not to have insurance, will be required to do so. This will solve many issues because we will lose all of the outstanding medical bills people get because these people don't have health insuracne. It's actually one of  the top reasons so many people are in debt today.
  Another article I read called "Requiring Health Insuracne is not like Auto." I chose this because the first article was about the positives and this one was more on the negative side. Obama says, "That's why under my plan, individuals will be required to carry basic health insurance just as most states require you to carry auto insurance." Well this caused quite an uproar because people said that this is nothing like auto insurance. The first difference between the two is that only people that drive automobiles are required to have auto insurance and under Obama's plan everyone will be required to have health insurance. Another issue is that requiring health insurance would become a federal law and the only way you could avoid it would be to leave the country.
  The topic of my argumentative essay is going to be if the idea for health insurance is going to be required, will it really be a good idea and will it actually work out? It does seem like a very good idea and seems that it will solve many problems, but things could always backfire.

Argumentative Essay Topic

Hey everyone!

      I'm kind of having a hard time deciding how to word my argumentative essay question. I know for sure that I want to talk about the health care system. By working in the medical field, I think this is a good topic for me because I can learn more about it and be prepared when I have to deal with it. I'd like to discuss insurance and how I think everyone should be required to have it. Medical bills are one of the top reasons people are in debt and most of those people never had insurance. Yes, insurance can get expensive, but it's going to be no where near the cost of what things are when you don't have insurance at all. So the argument is should everyone be required to have medical insurance?

Introduction

Hello Bloggers!!

        My name is Emily & I'm from Valparaiso, Indiana. I love my life so much and I have the most amazing family. Another big part of my life is my boyfriend. We like to stay active and try new things whenever we can like skiing, hot air balloon rides, working out and trying new restaurants!
       I currently attend Purdue North Central, where I am working on my Bachelor's in Biology. After I receive my degree, I plan to follow my dream and become a dentist. Right now though, I work for my Dad at his dental office and I'm learning as much as I can. I love my job right now and I can't wait until I get to be a dentist for a living! My Dad definitely has been my inspiration to help me achieve this goal and he keeps me going every day.