Researching Rhetorically 3

To my fellow ENC 1102 classmates,

I want to inform you all about what I've learned in unit one. I first want to talk about what it means to be information literate and why it's important in the 21st century. Nowadays, we are always presented with certain challenges that we face when it comes to using information. Information literacy is when we use information in numerous forms and this ties into researching since we need to find articles in order to acquire knowledge, solve a problem, or make a choice we are not certain about. With that being said, it is important that we consider who the members of the audience are when we conduct research and present our findings to them. We want to consider who we are trying to convey our message to and what our goal is whether that is to persuade, inform, or entertain. As basic as these things are, they serve a purpose as we are going through the process of researching and writing. During my research regarding criminal justice reform, I also had to be aware of sources that could hurt my argument. If the sources are not credible, then the people reading them will not bother to listen to what I have to say. Credibility matters nowadays and I've learned that a good argument uses sources that are credible and valid. It can be a lengthy process, but people want the truth when they read something and even that is something that some struggle to find nowadays. Things like social media have so many different things posted on there and that is where the lengthy process comes into play. We have to go through so many different threads, posts, etc in order to find out what the truth is. Social media is a great place to put your thoughts out, but people also can use it to push false articles that we could fall into. Social media can help our information literacy skills if we use it correctly. What I mean by that is if we take the time to find the sources that can strengthen our argument, it can hinder our information literacy if we are not careful when we conduct our research in order to convey our message. This ties into being able to research responsibly. Researching responsibly means finding the sources that will strengthen our arguments. We must stick to the facts and the truth since both things will help us when it comes to our audience and what they will think. When I conducted my research, a document that I came across listed many statistics and SCOTUS cases as evidence when they were making their point. In the other document that was written by two professors, they used their knowledge and experiences in order to convey their message. Overall, I can say that this unit has taught me the importance of research and how to find articles that will prove to be useful when I write an article for this class, another class, or some other event that I will have in my life. The biggest takeaway that I have is fact-checking anything that I do come across in order to see whether that article is valid. I hope each one of you was able to gain some insight reading my letter and I wish everyone success overall.

Dear ENC 1102 Classmates,

During the 2 weeks that I have been enrolled in this class, I have learned valuable information about researching rhetorically, and information literacy in the 21st century. I am elated that I have learned this information because not only is it valuable to learn these concepts to pass the course, but it is useful for other scenarios such as writing research papers and researching topics that you are interested in. Some concepts that I have learned in this course and have decided to share with you all are: The art of fact-checking, the influence of social media on research, information literacy, and responsible research.

In the assignment, ‘Researching Rhetorically 2’, the importance of fact-checking became so clear to me. My research topic is the effects of climate change on the environment and for the assignment, I found a tweet on FAO’s page which showed the effects of climate change on food. After fact-checking the information I found an article that verified all of their claims and a deep love for this topic developed. Henceforth, a benefit of fact-checking is that you can gain new information about your topic. It is also very important to fact-check because it will be very embarrassing to write a research paper consisting of faulty information. This would tarnish your credibility as an author. Before this assignment, I never fact-checked but now this will be a vital step in my research process.

Who would have thought that an interface created for pictures, opinions, and laughs would have such a great impact on the way we research information? Well, Unit 1 has shown me how. Social media has made information available on various platforms in all types of mediums, such as GIFs, pictures, videos, voice notes, etc. However, the downside is that not all of this information can be trusted. For example in the assignment ‘Researching Rhetorically 2’, it was very easy to find the information I needed but it needed to be fact-checked. I have also realized that social media has a strong impact on how people interpret information. When they constantly expose themselves to one genre of information on social media it clouds their judgment and thinking abilities which hinders them from expanding their capacities to be more open-minded. Nonetheless, the advancement of social media has made research easy and accessible for the majority.

According to Sky Line College, information literacy is the ability to find, organize, evaluate and communicate information in all its formats. I have realized that this is an important skill because it allows you to analyze the information and interpret it as it is meant to be. This skill is especially important in the 21st century because there are many forms and sources of information and we need to analyze them effectively. I learned the importance of this during the ‘Researching Rhetorically 1’assignment. I had to analyze two different forms of information that spoke about climate change. If I had subpar information literacy skills I would be unable to tell the differences between the genre and what the message was. Henceforth this is a crucial skill that is not only vital to college but for interpreting information.

Unit 1 has taught me so much about responsible research. I will surely bring these skills into my daily life when I randomly feel like knowing which material makes up my couch. In my eyes, be a responsible researcher means that you have to pay keen attention when gathering sources or referencing them. In order to do so, I have learned to take into account the genre, audience, and purpose of the piece. Doing this gave me a strong idea of the credibility of the source. I also realized that it is important to know where your information is coming from. For example in the assignment ‘Researching Rhetorically 1’, I paid keen attention to these details, especially where the pieces were published.

In short, Unit 1 has improved my research skills and I am eager to apply them to other assignments. Researching Rhetorically 1 and 2 were very useful assignments that showed me concepts and ideas that I would never imagine. I hope to share my thoughts with you all in due time.

Warm Regards,