This assignment pertained to watching videos about Homelessness and our guest speaker.

Chanelly Martinez

Writing for Humanities and Arts

Self Assessment 

12/07/2023

When joining this class, I didn’t know what to expect. My major is Biology, so this class was out of expertise so to say. For science writing classes, the proof as well as the statistics are there, so I didn’t have to look beyond that. However, with this class, it required me to look beyond what was there and think thoroughly about what I was writing. This also applied to all the writing pieces we had in this class. Throughout this self assessment, I will be going into my overall improvement and things I can continue to work on.

Beginning with the first essay we ever wrote, opinion editorial, I was asked to write my opinion on a topic. Opinion essays tend to be easier because it has to do with your opinion, but it is essential to provide good evidence as well as backing up your opinion. I was tested constantly in this essay because I wanted to achieve all that was asked of me while still remaining truthful in sharing my opinion. I have always struggled with expanding on what I think. For example, I am too general rather than being specific. Being too general would make the audience question me and my credibility because I am not well versed on the topic. This time around, I wanted to avoid that and really improve. 

The visual essay is the next assignment that we were given. I struggles tremendously with this assignment because I am not a visual person. Since I am a Biology major, I surround myself more around statistics and credible authors etc. Visual components are hard for me to accomplish because I can show what I think through my writing. Although, this assignment was difficult, it went hand in hand with my opinion editorial. I just had to add some visual components. I looked for a youtube video that taught me how to look beyond words and once I started putting my newspaper together, everything flowed beautifully. 

My next essay was the hardest one, yet the most enriching. This essay allowed me to choose a topic that I was familiar with and it also had to do with my minors. I based the CARE essay on a phenomenon in psychology. This gave me an upperhand in a way because I am a psychology major, so I had prior information on the topic. Despite having all of these benefits, I had difficulty on the rhetorical analysis part. I didn’t know what approach I wanted to take. Whether it was logos, pathos, or ethos and my intended audience. These were all crucial things to keep in mind because once I had this figured out, the flow of the essay would be better. After having a one-on-one with my professor, and reading comments she would leave, I knew what approach to take and how I would accomplish that. Having numerous drafts definitely helped because it allowed me to see the improvement, while also seeing all the little things that were missing. In the end, I managed to put everything together and I was very proud of my essay.

After every assignment, usually essays, we need to write reflections and these are so important because it makes you read your work all over again and it forces you to analyze everything once more. It allows you to decompress and express how the essay you were writing made you feel. It definitely was time consuming because after writing a long essay, you had to reexamine yourself, but this is crucial in order to improve.

Through all the improvements in my writing, there are still things that I know I can continue to improve on. I believe that I can continue to improve on is writing rhetorical essays. I struggle with finding out which audience should be my target audience and if I do choose one, how can I write to cater that specific audience. In addition, clarifying my purpose is extremely crucial and sometimes I do not provide a concrete thesis and I know that is something that I can improve on in my upcoming classes.

My portfolio will show all of my improvements throughout the semester by showing my final pieces of work and while also posting everything that I have done with my peers in class. My portfolio should be easy to navigate. I have named each title to be what I am presenting on that specific page. For example, if the title is CARE essay, then the CARE essay will be on there. This will provide organization and make it easier for anyone seeing the website.

To sum it all up, this class was an enriching course and I have learned a lot throughout the course. From mistakes to fixing those mistakes, I am a different writer than when I first began.

Opinion Editorial Reflection

Reflection #1

In my opinion editorial, I decided to focus on the ban of affirmative action and how this was a catastrophic change for the minority community. I wanted to show credibility and create a trustworthy relationship between me and the audience, so I used 3 different sources and this ranged from the Washington Post to the New York Times. I used these publications because they are trustworthy and they offer information that is credible. My publications were also cited which allows the reader to visit the pages and inform themselves on a deeper level. My intended audience is minorities who are applying to college and students who are pursuing higher education after college. I felt that this was the right audience because the ban of affirmative action mainly affects those who are applying to college or are planning to continue their education after graduating from college. Furthermore, this would negatively impact minorities because the racial barriers will never be broken and colleges and other institutions won’t take into account what minorities go through. Throughout my writing, I used various styles to show my purpose to the audience. This included tone along with logos and pathos. I tried to grasp the audience with a hook and then went in with informative text. I decided to make this personal as well as informative. I wanted to give the audience a side of my story while still providing concrete evidence of how this will affect minority applicants in the future. In addition, I used a variation of logos by providing statistics and evidence while trying to remain personal/emotional with pathos.

The way I organized my writing was by explaining to the audience what affirmative action was, before diving into all the statistics and personal feelings. I believed it was essential to give the audience a clear understanding of what they were going to encounter throughout my paper. In each paragraph, I incorporated some information from each publication either through paraphrasing or quoting. Doing a mix between paraphrasing and quoting shows the audience thatI understand what I am speaking about while also showing them evidence. This gives balance throughout my writing. I chose to do a mixture of logos and pathos because logos relates tostatistics and logic and then I would bring it altogether by using pathos. Pathos would focus moreon my emotional and personal feelings. Moreover, my writing differed from the publications I used since mine also had personal touches to it. In regards to grading, I would give myself 20/20 for organization, 40/40 for content,20/20 for development, and 5/10 for my publication rhetorical analysis. Lastly, I give myself a 10/10 for my post-essay reflection and self-grading. This equates to a total of 95/100. I gave myself 5/10 for my publication rhetorical analysis because I did take out the point of view of my coordinator and strived towards my personal point of view. Overall, I wouldn’t give myself 100/100 because there is always room for improvement, even if I can’t see it now.

Visual Essay Reflection

Chanelly Martinez

Visual Essay

Reflection

10/20/2023

The issue I chose was the ban of affirmative action. I relate to this topic, especially that I am a minority who is trying to achieve higher education. Affirmative action was something that would widen the door of opportunities. This doesn’t mean it is easier, but minorities were considered. Being that this topic is a serious one, due to its effects, I wanted to have an informative visual essay. However, I wanted to provide visuals throughout in order to make it more enjoyable for readers. When trying to choose a creative way to present my opinion editorial topic, I struggled. I wanted to do something that was creative and engaging at the same time. I continuously asked myself “How will I present a serious topic while still making it interesting to see?”. I researched and researched until I found out that I could present as a newspaper and provide visuals throughout. After I figured out how I would approach this assignment, it was easier to complete. I tried to maintain the aesthetic of a newspaper, so I created a format that would mirror a newspaper with some touches of me. In between text, I put a visual because it allows the readerto comprehend the text more. In addition, the visuals I chose offer a different way of viewing the text. My intended audience is students. Specifically students applying to college and those wanting to pursue higher education after college. My approach caters to this because I tried to include humor in the newspaper. My generation, which includes college students like myself, pays attention to humor because that is how we connect. Therefore I provided a meme in my newspaper.

I wanted to use both logos and pathos in my visual essay. Logos focuses on facts while pathos focuses on emotions. I provided facts in my visual essay and certain images to appeal to the emotions of the reader. The emotions could range from worry to humor. To conclude, this visual essay was definitely difficult for me to accomplish because I didn’t know how to approach it. For me it is easier to present information by composing an essay. Despite this being a difficult assignment for me, it was interesting to present information in different ways. It was fun to let the images speak for themselves without having to write as much.

CARE Paper Reflection

I recently wrote a critical research paper on the phenomenon of a false memory. This was a complex topic to research, given that it had to do with world of psychology. I took a more logistical approach as well as targeting a specific audience; college students. Whilst, writing it, I found myself finding ways to improve and constantly fixing mistakes that I would find throughout the essay. My professor had read my draft and gave me some feedback on certain things I could have fixed. This included taking a more rhetorical approach inthe essay. I knew that the only way to fix this would be directing my essay towards a specific audience, so I chose college students. Who is a better audience than young adults struggling incollege with “short-term memory”. Having a set audience helped me choose examples that focused on that particular audience. Not only that, but it allowed me to have a main focal point when writing my essay. Writing this essay consisted of using scholarly sources and popular media sources, so finding information wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated. Being that this topic is a psychological issue, there were plenty of articles that included studies that would test students. I also took psychology 101, so I also had prior knowledge on this topic. This means that I am a credible source for the readers. However, I did find sources along the way that didn’t seem useful. This was because these articles did not give enough evidence and my approach was amore data/statistical filled essay.

I did enjoy myself when it came to writing this essay because it included things that I am interested in, but I did struggle to find a way to make the essay follow a rhetorical guideline. After speaking with my professor, these worries were resolved. To sum it up, I really enjoyed writing this essay and I feel like I was able to notice my mistakes throughout the process and I was able to fix it. I took a more rhetorical approach while focusing on a specific audience and I also followed a more logos path when it came to writing the essay.

CARE Paper Draft

What is a False Memory?

Memories tend to be unreliable because some of them just might not be true. We as humans have the tendency to have very explicit memories and really trick ourselves into believing that they are true. If this has ever happened to you, I will be explaining why. False memories can occur when one is influenced by outside words. Let’s say you were a witness of a crime and the police say, “did you see a tall person?”. When you are presented with a line of perpetrators, your mind will immediately create a memory with a tall person. This can be because they are someone of higher authority, so your brain tricks you into believing them and really creating a story that lines up with theirs. According to Simply Psychology, they state, “Misleading information is incorrect information given to the witness, usually after the event. It can have many sources, for example, the use of leading questions in police interviews, or it can be acquired by post-event discussion with other witnesses or other people (Weiten, 2010).” Misleading questions and having someone influence your memory definitely has a huge impact on how you remember your memories. The causes for a false memory goes as deep as you not getting enough sleep. Imagine sleeping 4 of the 8-9 required hours. Your brain will not have completed the REM cycle and the memories of the day before has not been recycled. Now you are carrying baggage, sleep deprivation, and false memories onto the next day. It’s interesting to see how many things can affect our everyday life.

False memories can be dangerous because it means that we can’t be trusted. There have been instances where individuals have been falsely incriminated due to someone supposedly remembering them at the scene of the crime. In 2012, a study was conducted in by testing college students and their memory recollection. This consisted of them watching security cameras of a crime happening. They would be told a synopsis of this cctv, specifically from another witness, and they would then have to say what they saw after watching the footage. Their findings included, “In summary, participants responded as expected and we obtained the typical DRM ‘false memory’ effect, as well as typical and robust misinformation effects.” We can see how one can recall our memories incorrectly due to the DRM ‘false memory’ effect. This is when individuals are presented with certain words or memories and they begin including these things in their memories, even though it didn’t happen that way. Due to these findings and seeing this happen throughout the years, investigators try to not put witnesses in the same room because they might influence each others memories. In Harvard Law, Separation Of Witnesses, it is discussed that, “Where two persons, claiming to have been present on the same occasion with equal opportunities of observation, are called upon opposite sides and contradict each other, the contradiction does not of itself establish anything; it may indicate that one of the two is falsifying, but it does not indicate one rather than the other as the falsifier;” If witnesses are put together, there is a higher chance of them saying or recalling a false memory.

You may be asking yourself how can this be avoided or lowering the chances of this happening. It is important to get a good night sleep, so your memory can be recycled. When something occurs the day before, at night, our brain begins to place the memories in their respective places. Some might be completely erased because it has no importance while others will go in your long term memory. If you are not sleeping your required hours, your brain will transfer the memories onto the next day and it can affect how you remember memories. A brain exercise that can be added to your daily routine is that when you see something crucial, write it down immediately. If you have noticed, you have a dream and every time you retell the dream, you begin to change the scenes slightly. That is why it is important to write things right away.

Final Draft

Chanelly Martinez

Research Paper

11/20/2023

What is a False Memory?

Have you ever lost your keys, but continuously tell yourself that you didn’t and that youjust misplaced it? It has probably happened to you and don’t worry, this is something most of usdo. This is a phenomenon that scientists call a ‘false memory’. Besides it being a phenomenon, this is something that hugely affects many individuals. While exploring this topic, we will bediving into real life cases and studies pertaining to college students.

Memories tend to be unreliable because some of them just might not be true. We as humans have the tendency to have very explicit memories and really trick ourselves into believing that they are true. If this has ever happened to you, I will be explaining why. False memories can occur when one is influenced by outside words. Let’s say you were a witness of acrime and the police say, “did you see a tall person?”. When you are presented with a line of perpetrators, your mind will immediately create a memory with a tall person. This can be because they are someone of higher authority, so your brain tricks you into believing them and really creating a story that lines up with theirs. According to Simply Psychology, they state, “Misleading information is incorrect information given to the witness, usually after the event. It can have many sources, for example, the use of leading questions in police interviews, or it can be acquired by post-event discussion with other witnesses or other people (Weiten, 2010).” Misleading questions and having someone influence your memory definitely has a huge impact on how you remember your memories. The causes for a false memory goes as deep as you notgetting enough sleep. Imagine sleeping 4 of the 8-9 required hours. Your brain will not have completed the REM cycle and the memories of the day before have not been recycled. Now you are carrying baggage, sleep deprivation, and false memories onto the next day. Apart from carrying memory baggage, you are now questioning your every thought because you can’t tell apart a false memory with a real memory. It’s interesting to see how many things can affect our everyday life. 

False memories can be dangerous because it means that we can’t be trusted. There have been instances where individuals have been falsely incriminated due to someone supposedly remembering them at the scene of the crime. In 2012, a study was conducted by testing college students and their memory recollection. This consisted of them watching security cameras of a crime happening. They would be told a synopsis of this cctv, specifically from another witness,and they would then have to say what they saw after watching the footage. Their findingsincluded, “In summary, participants responded as expected and we obtained the typical DRM‘false memory’ effect, as well as typical and robust misinformation effects.” From these findings, we can see how one can recall our memories incorrectly due to the DRM ‘false memory’ effect. This is when individuals are presented with certain words or memories and they begin including these things in their memories, even though it didn’t happen that way. Due to these findings and seeing this happen throughout the years, investigators try to not put witnesses in the same room because they might influence each other’s memories. In Harvard Law, Separation Of Witnesses, it is discussed that, “Where two persons, claiming to have been present on the same occasion with equal opportunities of observation, are called upon opposite sides and contradict each other, the contradiction does not of itself establish anything; it may indicate that one of the two is falsifying, but it does not indicate one rather than the other as the falsifier;” If witnesses are put together, there is a higher chance of them saying or recalling a false memory. Something that hasbecome a phrase in our daily vocabulary is the Mandela Effect. This originates from when a group of people tricked their memory into believing that Mandela had passed away in the 1980s. However, this was not the case. This is a prime example of how strong false memories can be and how it can lead to large groups of people believing the same thing. Which explains why it is argued that witnesses should not be put together.

Many of you might be asking yourselves how this phenomenon could be avoided. It is important to get a good night’s sleep, so your memory can be recycled. When something occurs the day before, at night, our brain begins to place the memories in their respective places. Some might be completely erased because it has no importance while others will go in your long term memory. If you are not sleeping your required hours, your brain will transfer the memories ontothe next day and it can affect how you remember memories. A brain exercise that can be added to your daily routine is that when you see something crucial, write it down immediately. If you have noticed, you have a dream and every time you retell the dream, you begin to change the scenes slightly. That is why it is important to write things right away. It is also important to notethat our memories continuously change everytime we tell them, so it is crucial for us to realizethat everytime we recount a memory, some information might be different. In 2005, the American Psychological Association did a study using students. The study consisted of two groups and how one group was alerted that they would have a memory test whilst the other group didn’t have any warning. Then, they were given words and both of these groups had torepeat them According to K. Kersting, the findings showed, “The results demonstrate that youngadults with high working-memory capacity were better able to exert cognitive control whengiven the warning than those with low working-memory capacity”. In other words, when alerted, these individuals were able to have a better recollection of their memories. Therefore, if we know our memory won’t always be correct, we are more likely to remember more and be conscious that our memory isn’t failing.

In a nutshell, a false memory is a very complex topic and there is still so much that needsto be investigated on it, especially being that the brain is a part of the body that is still sounknown. However, we do know that false memories are very common amongst students, specifically college students, and that there are various ways to avoid it from affecting our memory entirely. Ranging from sleeping the required number of hours, to being alert and aware that we are bound to change our memories slightly every time we retell a memory, we can avoid this!

This assignment was a complicated, yet fulfilling assignment because I really poured out my creativity and in the end, I believe the final product came out how I wanted it to.

Audience Strategy:

In June 2023, the ban on affirmative action was passed. This was a law that came into place after congress passed it and it mainly affects minorities. My intended audience is minorities as well as those that want to pursue a higher education after college. This includes applying to college after highschool and those wanting to pursue higher education after college . When a college has affirmative action in place, they take into consideration your hardships growing up and how your grades might look different than someone who didn’t go to a school with no resources. However, affirmative action does not ensure anyone acceptance into a school. Therefore I believe this an important issue that college students should be aware about.

In order for my audience to feel how many feel, I have to show them how it will affect them in the future and how minorities are seen in the community. I will be using pathos to appeal to ones emotions while having logos to back up my facts. Showing my audience how their future might look without affirmative action might incite a worried reaction from them. This can lead to them researching the topic more and finding different ways to apply to colleges, despite this ban happening. This is crucial in my visual essay because I want my writing and the visuals to get a reaction from them.

The type of genre I want to utilize is creating a newspaper. This will cater to the audience because I will be informative while still being able to provide a visual to engage the readers more. In addition, I want to include memes in my newspaper because being able to provide some humor while still being informational is important to keep the reader interested. In my final draft of my visual essay, I also provided a gif towards the end because it provides a more lively and interactive aspect in the newspaper. I want to use this newspaper format to inform the audience about issues occurring. The way I am setting up the newspaper is having visuals between the text to have the reader wanting to read more. Overall, my goal is to inform through a newspaper with visuals shown throughout!

Below will be one draft and the final paper. This to demonstrate the improvement!

Opinion Editorial Draft:

Throughout the years, more and more laws get passed and while some may be crucial to the democracy of the country, some are very controversial. A recent law passed on June 23rd, the cancelation of affirmative action, was passed. Despite being a college student already, this will affect future applicants as well as those who want to continue pursuing higher education after college. 

Affirmative action is when colleges do not discriminate against race and gender  in order to take applicants into consideration. Now you may be saying how this is bad if now everyone will be equal. Well, you cannot compare a minority who grew up in the Bronx going to a public school to someone who grew up wealthy, isn’t a minority and went to private schools. In many cases, those who grow up in poverty and don’t have the best education, struggle to prevail. There’s a small quantity that makes it out, but now their struggles aren’t really considered in admission offices. Linda Darling-Hammond is the CEO of Learning Policy Institute and focuses on changing learning policies. Linda Darling-Hammond wrote an article that focused on the differences of minority students and white students. This article also goes into detail in explaining the percentages and differences between white students who go to private schools and minorities who go to public schools. She states, “ In contrast to European and Asian nations that fund schools centrally and equally, the wealthiest 10% of school districts in the United States spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest 10%, and spending ratios of 3 to 1 are common within states. Poor and minority students are concentrated in the least well-funded schools”. Education, specifically in America, is horrible. The inequality within the system is sad. In America, money is what matters. White students with wealthy parents go to the best school and even if it isn’t a top school, the funding varies tremendously compared to public schools where mainly minorities in poverty attend. I attended public schools all throughout my years and the funding wasn’t the greatest. The public schools tried their best to hand pick students who they felt could exceed if given the right materials. Everyone should have been given the same opportunity, but the lack of resources made this difficult. There would be times where teachers in the public school would have students mentor their own peers. This alone demonstrates the issues in public schools. Whereas in private schools with mainly white students, they would have their own counselors and many programs where students’ talents would be able to grow. 

Nonetheless, many individuals who are at the top, feel threatened because minorities are now reaching them. At the end of the day, this all dates back to things that happened centuries ago. It is something people still carry with them. This is all about race and white people and men always being at the top. With college admissions taking into consideration your race and background, and programs being put in place to help minorities prosper, more and more of us are getting the chances white people have in the palm of their hands. The Washington Post has come out with an article that focuses on various Americans’ opinions on affirmative action. One American, Shirley Powell, feels, “Blacks . . . walk around with a chip on their shoulder, like we owe them something,” said Shirley Powell, 61, a housewife in Angleton, Tex. “I don’t feel that we do.” Personally, people have the wrong idea of what affirmative action does. It is not to make up for past slavery or discrimination between genders. Instead, it was put in place to ensure equality in the workplace and admissions into schools. Something I want to point out is how in many workplaces and colleges, the percentage of white people is incredibly higher compared to any other race. Another point I wanted to make is that even with affirmative action in place, the percentages of minorities in Ivy leagues, specifically, is lower compared to years ago. Even in corporate companies, the race that is at the top is mainly white people. With more students applying to colleges, the likelihood of certain students being accepted begins to decrease little by little. Therefore affirmative action is essential to level the playing field. 

Being doubted constantly is a struggle on its own. Being a minority myself, I have found myself questioning if I really deserve all the things I do. Richard Morin and Sharon Warden from Washington Post state, “Many minorities expressed concern that white preoccupation with affirmative action blinds whites to qualifications of minorities and women, who become lumped together as “preference hires” even when they had won jobs or promotions by hard work or merit. Some also agreed with critics who said affirmative action sometimes produced reverse discrimination.” That is the only downside of affirmative action. Affirmative action is taken into consideration when viewing your application, but this does not ensure anything. However when those at the top start seeing more and more minorities in these top schools or jobs, they cannot believe that these individuals probably worked twice as hard to even be considered. 

To conclude, it is unfortunate that affirmative action cannot be used for anything anymore. I believe the inequality within workplaces and prestigious schools will continue to increase without anything leveling the playing field. Hopefully this can get reversed, but after years of this being fought against, I don’t think anything will change.

FINAL PAPER

Colleges without Minorities

On June 23rd, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled the ban on affirmative action. Immediately, everything was thrown off the equilibrium for minorities. From making the doors of opportunity smaller and smaller to minorities not being able to have better chances of going to better colleges, this new ban was catastrophic. As a minority college student myself who wants topursue higher education, this deeply affects me and many others. With affirmative action beingbanned, what is there to come in terms of racial equality in society and minorities prospering?

At its core, affirmative action was designed to give a helping hand to under representedgroups of minorities such as Black and Hispanic/Latino people. On the surface, it may seem that the removal of affirmative action is a step towards equality, but it is far from this. You cannot compare a minority who grew up in the Bronx going to a public school to someone who grew up wealthy and went to private schools. In many cases, those who grow up in poverty and don’thave the best education, struggle to prevail. Despite the minuscule amount of minorities who”make it out”, it absolutely isn’t without adversity, but now their struggles aren’t reallyconsidered in admission offices. Linda Darling-Hammond is the CEO of Learning Policy Institute and focuses on changing learning policies. Darling-Hammond wrote an article that focused on the differences of minority students and white students. This article also goes intodetail on explaining the percentages and differences between white students who go to privateschools and minorities who go to public schools. She states, “ In contrast to European and Asian nations that fund schools centrally and equally, the wealthiest 10% of school districts in the United States spend nearly 10 times more than the poorest 10%, and spending ratios of 3 to 1 arecommon within states. Poor and minority students are concentrated in the least well-fundedschools”. Education, specifically in America, is horrible. The inequality within the system is sad. In America, money is what matters. White students with wealthy parents go to the best school and even if it isn’t a top school, the funding varies tremendously compared to public schools where mainly minorities in poverty attend. The public schools try their best to hand pick students who they felt could exceed if given the right materials. Everyone should have been given thesame opportunity, but the lack of resources made this difficult. There would be times whereteachers in the public school would have students mentor their own peers. This alone demonstrates the issues in public schools, whereas in private schools with mainly white students, they would have their own counselors and many programs where students’ talents would be able to grow. 

Nonetheless, many individuals who are at the top, feel threatened because minorities are now reaching them. At the end of the day, this all dates back to things that happened centuriesago. It is something people still carry with them. This is all about race and white people. Withcollege admissions taking into consideration your race and background, and programs being putin place to help minorities prosper, more and more of us are getting the chances white peoplehave in the palm of their hands. In 1993, the Washington Post came out with an article thatfocuses on various Americans’ opinions on affirmative action. One American, Shirley Powell, feels, “Blacks . . . walk around with a chip on their shoulder, like we owe them something,” said Shirley Powell, 61, a housewife in Angleton, Tex. “I don’t feel that we do.” Personally, people have the wrong idea of what affirmative action does. It is not to make up for past slavery or discrimination between genders. Instead, it was put in place to ensure equality in the workplace and admissions into schools. Another point that should be made is that even with affirmative action in place, the percentages of minorities in ivy leagues, specifically, is significantly lower compared to years ago. Even in corporate companies, the race that is at the top is mainly white. With more students applying to colleges, the likelihood of minority students being acceptedbegins to decrease little by little. Therefore affirmative action is essential to level the playing field. 

Being doubted constantly is a struggle on its own. Being a minority myself, I have found myself questioning if I really deserve all the things I have accomplished. My self doubt is rooted in being oppressed and constantly being questioned on how we got to successful positions.Richard Morin and Sharon Warden from Washington Post state, “Many minorities expressed concern that white preoccupation with affirmative action blinds whites to qualifications of minorities and women, who become lumped together as “preference hires” even when they had won jobs or promotions by hard work or merit. Some also agreed with critics who saidaffirmative action sometimes produced reverse discrimination.” Everything has a downside andwith affirmative action its individuals at the top thinking that those that come throughaffirmative action, don’t deserve it. Affirmative action is taken into consideration when viewingyour application, but this does not ensure anything. However, when those at the top start seeingmore and more minorities in these top schools or jobs, they cannot believe that these individualsprobably worked twice as hard to even be considered.

To conclude, affirmative action was put in place to level out all the discriminationhappened centuries ago. Affirmative action does not secure a place in any college or workplace,but it levels the playing field by providing opportunities to those who are at a disadvantage.Without affirmative action, there will be a huge strain on our societies. Hopefully the government will realize how this just shows how we keep going back in time rather than progressing.

Chanelly Martinez

Literature Review

11/06/2023

Literature Review

Synopsis: The topic I have chosen for my research essay is explaining what a false memory is. This ties into the medical field which is what I am interested in. In addition, I found this topicinteresting because a lot of individuals go through a false memory including me. Therefore thenext few sources will dive deeper into this topic.

Perera, Ayesh. “False Memory in Psychology: Examples & More.” Simply Psychology, 7 Sept.2023, www.simplypsychology.org/false-memory.html.

Summary: What is a false memory? A false memory is when we remember something so specific and believe it is true, even though it isn’t. This is a common thing that happens to everyone, even those who have the best memory. A false memory can occur when we are influenced by outside events or words. Sometimes, our brain tricks us into having a very specific memory by making it feel so real. Who would try to go against their ownmemory? It’s must be true since it is coming from us? Well sometimes this isn’t the case. Despite scientists not understanding the entirety of it, there is a lot of research behind this phenomenon. This text will be essential in my research paper because it explains the background of a false memory while providing core examples. My popular source will connect to this text by providing a real life example related to the examples provided in this text.

Popular Source: New York Times 

Tolchinsky, Debra. “Contaminated Memories.” The New York Times, 25 June 2019,www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/opinion/memory.html?searchResultPosition=1. 

Summary: This text is a first person text and it goes into detail about how someone misidentified their assailant. This has to do with many outside factors, but it also goes hand in hand with false memory. I wanted to present a real life case to be able to show to the class how this is something that happens to many people and how it can have a huge affect. This also offers a different perspective to the audience because it is not just scientific. Overall, this text offers a really cool story of how someone got another person mistakenly locked up because of their false memory.

Scholarly Source

Ost, James, et al. “False Memory ≠ False Memory: DRM Errors Are Unrelated to the Misinformation Effect.” PloS One, vol. 8, no. 4, 2013, pp. e57939–e57939,https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0057939.

Summary: Diving into how misinformation may cause one to have a false memory, this article goes in hand in hand with my popular source. We as humans, tend to make mistakes and we falsely remember certain memories due to misleading words. For example, you lose your keys and someone says you took them, even when you didn’t, you will immediately create this memory and run with it. Having various examples to show the audience is essential because itestablishes credibility. Furthermore, this source goes all the way back to the first one where the background of a false memory is discussed. It even goes as deep as explaining a similar exampleto the ones I will be providing in my research paper.

Citation Challenge 

Chanelly Martinez 

MLA Citation Challenge 

Writing for Humanities and Arts

10/12/2023

1. Tate, Claudia C. “An Interview with Gayl Jones.” Black American Literature Forum, vol. 13, no. 4, 1979, pp. 142–48. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3041481. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.  
2. Rankine, Claudia. Citizen. Penguin Books, 2015.
3. Geographic Society, National. The Making of an Icon Becoming Jane, National Geographic Society, 2017. 

Introductory Reflections

Part 1. 

I have always loved writing. It has been a way of expressing emotions I cannot vocalize and just being able to write down my thoughts. My writing assignments have ranged from focusing deeply on Freud lectures to writing about science and articles centered around scientists’ opinions. When it came to answering certain prompts, I always struggled beginning and being able to write down the first few sentences. This would happen because I always wanted it to sound perfect, but once I let that pressure go, my ideas would flow. I begin by writing drafts and coming back to it periodically because everyday our thoughts change and evolve. After having my final draft, I ask my peers to read over my work because it is important to get a second or third opinion. This helps me finalize my paper and hand it in. I access my abilities as a writer by setting the mood in the environment I am completing the assignment. This includes low lighting to help my eyes and music that makes me happy. I don’t listen to soft jazz or acoustic music. I need something to completely uplift me and my writing. On Fridays, I am a research volunteer at NYU/Bellevue, so I practice my writing skills. I do this by sending emails to my supervisors at the end of the day by being detailed and professional. This helps me tremendously because it forces me to be formal. I also practice my abilities as a writer by sending a text. I try to always send more formal texts because it helps me make it a routine in my everyday tasks. 

Part 2. 

Something I consider to be my creative gift is my ability to persuade. There are many scenarios where one has to write opinionated papers and I alway take those moments to use my skills of convincing. In addition, another creative gift I believe I have is that I can come up with creative ideas if given time. After reading the text, ““Everybody is Talented, Original, and Has Something to Say”, I realized that even if I believed that I didn’t have a creative gift, everyone has something to give. Music has always been an escape for me because I can always find a song that explains how I am feeling at the moment without saying anything. I often hear a lot of hispanic singers and most songs are about prospering and learning how to let go. The artists I listen to have changed my life a lot because again, they offer a safe space with their music. I don’t look up to any musical artists because I listen to their music, but I do not know them personally, so I wouldn’t be able to determine that. The world is very complicated to change because of the differing opinions and because of the amount of different ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. However, I believe having free painting classes around the city could be a perfect way to help some people be able to release any frustrations. Another interesting thing would be workshops that help anyone of any age write or learn more about art for free. This would help engage the community and bring art to the attention of many. My goal is that through this course, I learn more about art and learn the importance and the value of it, while still being able to write. 

Topic Reflection for Opinion Editorial

A political issue that greatly affects me is when congress rules against race being used in college admissions. This is a recent issue that was ruled on June 29th, 2023. While at my internship, my coordinator lets us know how race can’t be used in college admissions. Being that coordinator is hispanic and they were in the process of applying to medical schools, I could see the hurt and the frustration in their eyes. They made a good point of how certain races grow up better than others and the schooling is tremendously different. It was unfair because their lower score in an MCAT, for example, would be more acceptable because college admissions would be taking into consideration how certain races learn differently.

This affected my colleagues and me personally because we are in the minority community. We grew up in lower income neighborhoods where the public schools included more fighting than teaching. I am interested in going into the medical field and becoming a doctor. The MCAT is extremely difficult and medical schools are very competitive. Personally, I believe the government picks and chooses when they want us to all be equal. 

Growing up differently and being a minority doesn’t matter anymore. We would be considered equal next to a white person who had amazing schooling or grew up in the middle to upper class range. This causes a lot of issues, because the scores on exams and how someone grew up would not be considered in applications. Hispanic and African Americans will not be able to break these racial barriers and get into certain careers because of the competitiveness that some of them hold. Moreover, minorities will not be able to have the same opportunities as other races. The way I see it is that certain patients will try to avoid going to the hospital because they don’t usually see people who look like them. I think this is essential to create a sense of community in hospitals. This issue is definitely on a global scale because it affects everywhere in the United States.

However, I see both sides of the situation and how it can be unfair. Therefore, I will be addressing those concerns in my op-ed.

Group Rhetorical Analysis

Group Members:  Dejane, Brianna, Cypris, Chanelly, Soleil, Jeremy R, Natasha

Among ourselves, we discussed the 10 rhetorical tones.

Author: The author was a prominant figure in the music Industry: Megan Thee Stallion 

Audience: We believe the intended target audience was Black women, but we also feel that this was to open up the male communities eyes and how they can be to women, specifically black women.

Tone: Throughout the article, we believe that it was motivational because she was trying to use her platform to advocate for serious issues in society.

Purpose: She wants women to protect themselves and be aware of whats going on in the world. 

Stance: Her stance 

Medium: This was delivered on a news article website. This is directed more towards people who use social media and use these websites.

Language:

Exigence: The reason for her to be so passionate about this topic is that she got shot by an individual. She felt passionate about men discriminating against black women or women in general because of all the backlash she recieved after she was attacked by a man in power. 

Constraints: This case was very known and it was taken to court. Due to this, Megan Thee Stallion could not speak freely about the topic because of legal constraints.

Language Communities and Multiple Englishes

1. I speak both English and Spanish. I speak in Spanish when speaking to my parents and at work. I speak English when I talk to my friends, at school, and at work.

2. My way of speaking changes depending on the location. If I am at work and at school, I tend to speak more professionally. Whenever I speak to my friends or my siblings, I tend to speak in slang. This means that I sometimes find shortcuts to certain words. Other times, in Spanish I speak very fast where in English I can speak slower. I also have an accent in Spanish

3. My friends speak differently when we are together. We use slang and we say curse words here and there. An example is we say “it’s ma brick outside”. The proper way is “It is very cold outside”. We just find different ways to say things.

4. In therapy, the therapists speak very differently. I tend to express my emotions and they speak in a soft manner with professional vocabulary. For example, if I say that “I am feeling sad”, their usual response is “Let’s start off by what is making you sad and then we can speak about how to make it better”.

5. I haven’t lost a language because I speak Spanish everyday as well as English.

6.I haven’t been questioned in terms of vocabulary. However, in Spanish, I have a specific accent and I say certain words in a different way. Despite being from the Dominican Republic, every city speaks differently. 

7. These are influenced by my family. Where I am from in the Dominican Republic, my little town speaks in a certain way. My grandma has also influenced the way I have spoken because she would have the accent. Lastly, my cousins speak the same way in the Dominican Republic.

8. When writing papers for school, I try to focus on writing grammatically and professionally. I like using words that sound better and I try to avoid the constant usage of the words “of, the, so” etc.

Welcome to my website on where I show all the work I have done throughout the semester!