The first aspect that I liked about blogging was that it really helped me to keep up with my class work. Blog entries and questions that Ms. Blackwell posted on her blog gave me some idea what she wanted and expected on our acutal papers. When she posted several questions for our ‘Argument Analysis Essay,’ I could easily come up with a rough draft by answering those questions. I remember when I was taking English Composition I, we did not have any homework except few readings from the textbook. The instructor just tossed some essay topics that we could choose from throughout the whole semester. Since he did not check what and how we were working on our essays, I used to write the essays right before the due date. Of course, the grades were bad. But using the blog made me to keep up with my work, helping me from getting lazy.

The second aspect that I liked was that I could explore other students’ blogs. When I had troubles answering Ms. Blackwell’s questions, I clicked one or two of my classmates’ blogs and read how they answered the questions. This does not mean I copied their answers or their ideas. Classmates’ opinions and thoughts helped me to understand the questions.

The last thing that I liked was that I could get feedbacks from Ms. Blackwell and my classmates right away. Those comments really helped me to get an idea about how others think about my opinions. For my researched paper I chose a topic about the Real ID Act of 2005, and the comments by my classmates helped me to come up with a better idea for my paper.

There is nothing that I did not like about blogging. Actually, I sometimes did not like this whole blog thing, but it was nothing like “Oh, it’s worthless. It’s waste of time,” it was just because of me being lazy. I am not sure whether I would use the blog for my academic reasons, but I am sure that I will use it for my personal reasons.

When I read the question or prompt, I should pay close attention to the key terms that are used in the question. Those key terms would give me the idea on what kind of answer the instuctor expects or wants from the students. On page 719, there is a chart that has important key terms, verbs, that could be on the question. It provides how to response to each of the terms and examples. Just knowing these terms and their meanings would help me to understand the question better.

Seven hijackers that were in 9/11 incident had fake Virginia driver’s licenses in order to get on the planes (Jesus Mena). The Real ID Act of 2005 “expands the scope of terror-related activity making an alien inadmissible or deportable, as well as ineligible for certain forms of relief from removal” (Michael John Garcia, Margaret Mikyung Lee, Todd Tatelmen). The act disenables anyone who had participated in or supported of a terrorist activity or organization. The technology that will be used on this new national ID will be used in everywhere to make you accessible to your house, car, finances, medical records and workplace (Celeste Biever). The iris-scannning device will be used for that reason. This device prooves whether you are the owner of the ID or not. Even if the ID is stolen, it would be useless to the thieve because the iris-scanning device will confirm the thieve’s iris does not match to the iris on the ID.

•  Why did you choose them?
  • People can learn about the actual act and be aware of it. They can get some ideas how others think about this act and what their argument is. I want my audience to have their voice on this act whether they want this act to be proceeded or not by reading my essay.

•  How will your audience affect the argument you intend to present?
  • I need to explain the Real ID Act 2005 thoroughly to inform my audience well.

• Which fallacies will you need to focus on keeping from your argument? Why are these (individually) important to consider in  your argument?
  • Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc – There is so many phrases from the articles that “If the Read ID Act 2005 becomes a law, such such things will happen.” There is no logic on these sentences because nobody knows what will happen.
  • Appeals to False Authority and Bandwagon Appeals – Many governors now speak about this act and just because of they are governors, I shouldn’t rely on their opinions.
  • Red Herring – I should be aware of that some of the audience know this act but some of them don’t. I should have this in mind and try to insert pathos in sentences where there is more need of an explanation.
  • Overreliance on authority – I should look into both sides’ of argument not just relying on one side.
  • Oversimplification – My point in this essay is to inform the audience about this act. If I don’t put detailed information on my essay, my audience will get confused. I should answer thorougly and give as many detailed information as possible.

Questions that I am going to ask myself:

• What exactly is the Real ID act?
• What information does it cover on the ID card?
• Is the information too much or too less?
• Is it really going to protect the country from terrorism?
• How is this act going to affect me?
• What are the strategies to make a new national driver’s license?
• How do people think about this act?
• What did the government do to protect our homeland before they introduced this act?
• Were they successful?
• Will this act be successful?

As I googled this topic I found out many countries are using the national driver’s license, so I think I can research some countries and find whether they worked successfully or not and provide this as an example of one of the sides.  Also I found out that illegal immigrants cannot apply for this new license since they don’t have any legal status to prove that they are citizens/permanent residents.  It will affect the labor force especially in those states where many illegal aliens reside such as Texas, California, and Florida.