Establish My Ethos

iat 309w course portfolio

Tim Heng
301131671

Contents

Thinking About My Thinking									3
Rip! A Remix Manifesto										5
Ethos Builder 1												7
Ethos Builder 2												8
Ethos Builder 3												10
Exit Reflection												12

Thinking About My Thinking

What cultural or spiritual beliefs do I subscribe to? How might my beliefs affect the way I think? Are there some topics I won’t discuss?
I am a Buddhist so I do believe in Buddhism. I’m taught to believe in sin and karma.  I think that my beliefs affect the way I think because my cultural belief teaches me that god exists and he watches us. He would punish us and send us to hell for our sin or we can go to heaven if we do good things. However, since I am living in the 21st century, with all the scientific explanations behind everything including myths and spiritual beliefs, I’m forced to limit my beliefs and use my best judgment to balance out what is real and what is not. For example, when I was young, I strongly believed that there’s heaven and hell however I started to doubt this belief when I became a teenager.
I am a very open-minded person so I am willing to discuss about any kind of topic. I do not feel insulted when people think that what I believe is wrong but rather I would want to hear about their reasons and opinions because I’m interested to know the way people think about other people’s beliefs.
Am I a ‘good’ thinker?  What factors influence my thinking habits—genetics, upbringing, practice, commitment to thinking as a skill, or something else?
Different people have different idea about the term “good thinker”. In my opinion, a good thinker is a person who is able to think efficiently and act accordingly to his/her thinking. Usually, a good thinker always gets good result in their work. And I consider myself as a good thinker because I can think efficiently and process logical ideas. In my opinion, there are many factors that influence my thinking habits such as genetics because my parents are good thinkers. They’ve been guiding me to take the right path in my life. Therefore, I am also a good thinker.
Also, I believe practice makes perfect which also applies to my thinking ability. For example, thinking back when I was in college, I thought differently than I do now because I couldn’t balance my study time and my entertainment time properly which led to poor results but now I can manage them in a better way and more efficient because I’m a good thinker now. I think much more efficiently and consider about the consequences every time before I do anything.
Who or what do I define as a credible source?  How rigorous am I in making sure what I subscribe to is actually true?
In my opinion, the only person that I define as a credible source is a specialist and famous because famous people have their own reputations to protect, so it would destroy their reputations if they provide false information. For example, I like reading soccer news on the internet therefore I always look for a website that is reliable and well known. So, I read Sky Sports News because it is a big company with many well-known specialists (journalists) and base on Clouse and Grevstad, specialists establish their ethos pretty well which make them reliable sources.
I don’t believe other people easily especially people that I do not know. I usually believe only in what I see and hear but I do keep an open mind and listen to what other people have to say. Then I would judge what they say base how well they establish their ethos, how well they know about the information that they tell and the relationship between them and me. Therefore, I believe I am a very rigorous person because everything I do must be precise and clear, also applies to the information that I perceive, it is also has to be precise and clear so I tend to find out about something by myself first before believing someone else.
How good is my memory? How do I ensure my memories are reliable?
I can say that my memory is pretty good especially my short-term memory. I tend to remember a lot of things easily. For example, in any exam that requires me to remember a lot of theories, I tend to use my short-term memory because it gives me a huge advantage for writing my exam. I can simply remember 6 chapter notes within an hour, and I can remember them for at least 36 hours. Therefore, I can use 30 minutes to review the next day and keep doing till the exam day. This kind of method helps me to memorize better for the exam. So, I believe my short-term memory is very good. My long-term memory isn’t bad either. However, I can only remember clearly something that is important and interesting to me.
As a student, memory is very important so in order to ensure that I remember everything correctly, I usually write important things down. By doing this, not only it can help me ensure that my memories are reliable but also help offloading some work from my brain. Therefore, I think that I have a good and reliable memory.

Rip! A Remix Manifesto

Copyright infringement has always been an issue in media world. However, since the creation of the internet, copyright infringement issue has become a hot topic in today’s world because the capability of the internet that allows users to share music and videos. According to the U.S. Copyright Office, “Copyright infringement occurs when a copyrighted work is reproduced, distributed, performed, publicly displayed, or made into a derivative work without the permission of the copyright owner.” (U.S. Copyright Office, 2011). The documentary film “Rip! A Remix Manifesto,” directed by Brett Gaylor, persuades its viewers that big cooperations take copyright law for their own advantages and discourage idea sharing.
This particular film is an effective tool for teaching undergraduate students about critical thinking because it shows all the key ideas of how to develop a persuasive argument. Before going into further discussion, the term ‘critical thinking’ should be defined. Critical thinking means a type of thinking that reflects about an idea using logical supporting evidence.
First of all, this film can help students understand key ideas or concepts because it clearly shows the points that it tries to make. At the beginning of the film, the narrator clearly says “... the rules of this game don’t depend on who made the songs, they depend on who owns the copyright...” (Gaylor, 2008). The narrator later on describes the history of the internet and ideas sharing which makes it easier for the audience to understand the argument and its context.
Moreover, the key points of the film are arranged into different sections which is easy for the viewers to perceive and process the information. For example, Rip! A Remix Manifesto arranges its key points into 4 separate sections, “Culture always builds on the past”, “The past always tries to control the future”, “Our future is becoming less free”, and “To build free societies you must limit the control of the past”. These key points have clear examples to support the main argument.
Secondly, film is more engaging for a student audience than a textual reading because it helps viewers to easily visualize the argument that the film tries to make. The better viewers can visualize the problem, the better they can understand the argument. And the better they can understand the argument, the more persuasive the argument is. For instance, the film mainly shows Girl Talk because he is a perfect example for the argument and by showing him in the film with both video and sound, it provides the audience the experience that is needed to be persuaded. Because this kind of argument is mainly related to videos and music, it is more effective to be produced into film more than textual reading.
In conclusion,  Rip! A Remix Manifesto can be a good educational film for teaching undergraduate students about critical thinking because of the techniques that are shown to produce a persuasive argument and the film itself that allows students to be able to visualize the context easily.

Ethos Builder 1

Top-Level Outline
I.	Writing is an important skill
II.	IAT309W teaches about different kind of Patterns of Development
a.	Example about classification and division using example at a computer store
III.	Process Analysis
a.	Example about writing an instruction manual for an application software
IV.	The benefits of IAT309W compare to other courses
Essay
Writing is one of the most important skills not only for school but everywhere especially workplace. IAT309W has taught me important writing strategies and structures that I can apply them to different kind of writing for my future employer or whenever I am asked to write.
First of all, I have learnt about different Patterns of Development for writing such as classification and division, cause and effect, exemplification etc. For example, if I work at a computer store and I’m asked to write a report on the amount of hardware in stock, I know that I need to use classification and division because there are many types of hardware such as storage devices, CPUs, GPUs, memories etc. Thus, I can group all the hard disk drives or solid-state drives into ‘Storage Devices’ category and all type of CPUs like Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 into ‘CPUs’ category.
Furthermore, this course also introduces ‘Process Analysis’ of how to distinguish the difference between directional process analysis and informational process analysis. Process analysis strategy is very important. For instance, if my future employer asks me to write a manual for an application software that the company has just introduced. I’d use directional process analysis for this particular writing because the manual needs to direct the readers to troubleshoot the problems.
In conclusion, writing is very important skills and IAT309W course teaches students about all kind writing types unlike English course or criminology course where students need to write about a particular topic. Therefore, students are able to use the writing strategies and structures that they’ve learnt from IAT309W everywhere not just at school.

Ethos Builder 2

1.	Emotional appeals (pathos):
John uses emotional appeals to express his emotion about animal cruelty in his paper.
2.	Logical appeals (logos):
Without using logical appeals, my paper wouldn’t be able to persuade my paper because readers need to know logical reasons and examples to be convinced.
3.	Parallel structure:
I use parallel structure in my paper because I want to organize items and talk about similar items in the same sentence.
4.	Colloquial language:
Teachers always tell us not to use words like ‘bff, u, urs, y etc.’ in our papers because they’re colloquial language.
5.	Non sequitur:
The idea of obesity exists in the U.S. because of the fast food industry is non sequitur because there are many factors that lead to obesity.
6.	False analogy:
Fabio Capello will not include Michael Carrick in his squad because Capello doesn’t live in Manchester is not true. The fact that Capello doesn’t live in Manchestor doesn’t imply that he will not include Michael Carrick in his squad.
7.	Sweeping generalization:
You said, “It is okay to eat expired food but I’ve tried once and I was fine.” Well, you just used sweeping generalization! The fact that you were fine doesn’t mean that other people would be fine!
8.	Bandwagon appeals:
How can you think that tablets computer would be useful for you just because a lot of people own one? That’s bandwagon appeals! You can’t just assume that it’s useful for you because a lot of people find it useful!
9.	Ethical appeals (ethos):
By using academic journal articles that are written by expertise in my paper, I can establish my ethos.
10.	Block pattern:
I should use block pattern for my paper since I’m writing bout the difference between PC and Mac so that I can talk about them separately.
11.	Appositives:
I can use appositives to give the reader more information about the character. For example, I can say, “My sister Abby, a PhD student studying neurobiology, says she is happy with her life”.
12.	Casual chain:
Some people think that fast food industry causes obesity problem in the U.S, which leads to major health in concern. However, there are some people that disagree with his casual chain.
13.	Visualization of essay:
The Student Writer: Editor and Critic by Clouse and Grevstad provides an essay structure for each of the pattern of development in order to give the readers a visualization of essay.
14.	Gender-Neutral:
Writers should use gender-neutral in their writing by avoid using words like he or his where it should be he or she and his or her.
15.	Jargon:
If you use jargon in your paper, you should define those technical words because not all of your readers are in this particular profession.
16.	Deadwood:
Try to avoid using deadwood words because saying ‘Kim is a nice type of person’ is the same as saying ‘Kim is a nice person’.
17.	Spatial arrangement:
Jimmy uses spatial arrangement in his paper to describe location of a certain item in a space.
18.	Reflexive pronouns:
You can use reflexive pronouns by adding –self or –selves to the pronouns.
19.	Scratch outline:
Students should start off by doing a scratch outline, write down every idea that comes to mind without concerning whether they make sense or not.
20.	Guilt by association:
People have this guilt by association faulty logic because they think that a certain idea is bad because a person that they don’t like come up with that idea.

Ethos Builder 3

Poverty Everywhere

Heng, T. (Photographer). (2011). Poverty Everywhere. Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Poverty Everywhere is a picture that I took when I was on vacation in Spring 2011 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was on my way to visit an old friend of mine when I got stopped at this busy intersection. As I was glancing around this fancy and westernized area, something struck my eyes. A little girl was in the middle of the street with her car brush looking around with her sad innocent face. At the time that she was suppose to be in the class and absorbing knowledge from her teacher, here she was, brushing dust off people’s car that stop at this intersection to earn some money for her family.
With all the cars, motorbikes and brand name buildings all around this poor little girl, she seemed like a dust particle in a glamorous fancy room where no one seems to bother to care about her. What I saw at that time made me think about how fast my country has been developed and how many other homeless children that have been left behind. I took this picture because I hope that one day this photo can remind people that poverty still exists everywhere. (197)

Gentle Hairy Beast

Heng, T. (Photographer). (2011). Gentle Hairy Beast. Victoria, BC.

Gentle Hairy Beast is an image that I took at Victoria Bug Zoo in Victoria, British Columbia in Summer 2011 when my friends and I visited Victoria for the first time. This particular spider is huge in size and looks scary however the tour guide told us that this hairy beast is not aggressive. We were allowed to have this hairy spider in our hand however I didn’t get to have this spider on my hands given the fact that I don’t like spiders. Sure, it looked very calm and quiet at that time, but I still didn’t want it on my hands.
This image is one of my favorites because it always gets me thinking about the interaction between humanand animal. There are thousands of animal around the world that are mistreated and slaughtered. Humans are also animals but we are safe because we are on the top of the food chain. We have used animals, abused them, eat them, tested them with different products so that we can have safe products in our market. Therefore, the purpose of this photo is to remind people that animal and human should live together on this planet in harmony. Animal cruelty needs to be stopped and we can all help. (210)

Exit Reflection

After spending a semester in IAT309W course, I have learnt a lot of things about writing. Unlike other writing courses that I have taken where I had to write about an assign topic in a specific way base on the course, I learn many types of writing from IAT309W because this course teaches students about writing in general, including writing strategies, structures and analysis.
Through out the terms I have improved in many areas in critical thinking and writing skills, most notably is establishing ethos. For instance, for the assignment 1 where I had to write about Self Reflection, I didn’t know how to establish my ethos because my answers are based on my plain opinions without any supporting examples. However, in the assignment 2 where I had to write short persuasive argument base on a documentary film Rip! A Remix Manifesto, I took a different approach in establishing my ethos by providing a lot of examples from the film. I’ve also improved my research skill, the ability to analyze the 3 Rs, which is a very useful skill for me to pick credible sources for my paper so that I can establish my ethos very well.
On the other hand, one of the areas that needs to be improved is my critical thinking ability because I find it hard for me to come up with an interesting thesis statement for my research paper. Another area that needs to be improved would be to proofread my paper more because time to time I still have a few grammatical errors when I hand in my work.
In conclusion, IAT309W has really improved my writing and critical thinking skill from a very different aspect that I have never experienced before since other writing courses focus solely on the argument and evidence while ignoring the important writing strategies. (305)