My Writing Process

Research Paper Link

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6J_Sz2FyAaEVWFDanBWOXhwdzg

Here's the link to my paper. Enjoy!

The Country Music Formula

Growing up in South Carolina, I have a strong, unwavering love for country music. It is often cheesy and lame, but I love it. I can't help it. I will say, however, there is a clear formula for about 80% of all country music songs.

Take this Tim McGraw song for example:

(By the way, I hate this song and I'm really sorry for making you listen to it.)

First off, the song has to be about love. And the songwriter has to make you develop sentimental feelings towards the characters in the song, so they're usually children in the first verse. In this case, they don't like each other, the kid doesn't want the girl to go fishing yadda, yadda, yadda. This leads to the chorus where you take a simple phrase, in this case it's "don't take the girl." Then you have to make it fit into other situations for the other verses. It's usually two more. And then one of those situations has to end with either the demise of the couple or some tear jerking realization.

And that my friends, is country music.

Here's another song like it if you don't believe me.

Williamston's 9/11 Memorial

This is my town's 9/11 memorial in front of our fire department. This thing absolutely oozes patriotism. Can I just point out the bald eagle holding a banner? It's not very subtle at conveying it's message. The fine town of Williamston wants everyone to know that we will remember the events of September of 11th and the victims that lost their lives. It's also there to let everyone know that Williamstonians are proud to be Americans. That point was made loud and clear.

Interview Questions

Since my paper is going to be on the perception of women in advertising, these questions can be asked of any woman that has ever been exposed to advertising. So basically, any woman. Ever.

Do you feel personally connected to the women you see on commercials and in magazine ads?


Do you feel that you share similar lifestyles? Why or why not?

Web Design

Photographer Jeremy Cowart's website is an example of a good web site. The design is simple, yet aesthetically appealing. It contains his portfolio so you can look at his work and learn about who he is as an artist, and also links to all of his social media sites so you can learn more about who he is as a person. 

This is my church's website... It's seriously awful. First of all, we couldn't have done better than Times New Roman and Arial? I don't even know why we have a website. No one at our church over the age of 60 probably even knows how to access it, and no one under the age of 60 would look at something this bad. God bless them for trying. 

Works Cited

I had to use Google Books because I'm on vacation and unable to go to a library. I've never used Google Books before and I have to say it is pretty nifty. I've decided to write my paper on the perception of women in advertising and more specifically, how this perception has changed over the years.


Leiss, William. Social Communication in Advertising: Persons, Products, & Images of Well-being. 2nd. Psychology Press, 1990. Print.


This is a great source because there is tons of commentary on the way women are perceived in a variety of different advertisements and how this is symbolic of the way women are perceived in society. I'm not going to give anything away yet, but it's some pretty interesting stuff.


Toland Frith, Katherine. Advertising and Societies: Global Issues. 2nd. Peter Lang, 2010. Print.


This source is interesting because the author is a woman so it will be nice to have a woman's perspective on a topic like this. This book also talks about the different advertising techniques used for women of all different ages. Very interesting stuff. 

Free Write

For my research topic, I think I'd like to look at the evolution of the perception of women in advertisements. I'm not entirely sure there has been an evolution, however. In that case, I could write the paper on the lack of evolution. I'm not sure I could write 1700 words on that though.

If that idea falls through, I think I might write about what I kind of did for my visual rhetoric assignment. Does sex really sell? And if so, how does this effect? That was a lot of fun to go into and I feel like there would be a lot of literature on the subject. I'll just have to look into things and see where it takes me.

Mind Mapping

It sucks.

Republicans suck. They spend too much time worrying about gay marriage and not enough time worrying about more important issues.

Barack Obama sucks. Barack Obama supports big government which isn't good for this country.

Harry Potter suc... No. I'm sorry. I can't. Harry Potter is my childhood and I loved every minute of it.

Apple sucks. All of their products are overpriced and overhyped. The only reason Apple is so popular is because of its incredible marketing.

Star Wars sucks. I've never seen the original Star Wars but because the new Star Wars brought Jar Jar Binks into my life, it sucks.

Facebook sucks. I lose faith in humanity every time I log in.

McDonald's sucks. The stuff never decomposes. That can't be good.

Clemson sucks. The Orange Bowl. Enough said. (I was there. It...sucked.)

Lady Gaga sucks. Her music sucks so she has to wear ridiculous outfits to gain attention.

Justin Bieber sucks. He's 18 and still looks like a prepubescent girl.

Sudokus suck. When you work out almost a whole puzzle and then find out you've screwed up somewhere along the way? It makes me want to throw something.

Avatar sucks. I saw it in 1995. It was called Pocahontas.

Xbox 360 sucks. You have to pay for online service. Ridiculous. (My brother helped me a little with that one...)

American Idol sucks. The winners all sound the same and are never successful on their own.

Glee sucks. Glee ruins good music every week.

Cigarettes suck. They kill people and ruin lives.

Guns suck. Guns suck when those operating them don't use them in the way they were intended to be used.

Abortions suck. It's a selfish decision that ends innocent lives.

Dogs wearing clothes don't suck at all. Not even a little bit.

Writing Process

Writing has never come easy for me. I've always been a much better reader. It's just so hard to be witty and interesting on command. It makes me tired and frustrated. But enough complaining.

My writing process is fairly inconsistent. When I'm ahead of the deadline and will have ample time to edit and revise, I like to write while watching tv or hanging out with my family. When I'm on a deadline however, I have to eliminate all distractions. I sit at the kitchen table and desperately try to refuse the urge to browse the Internet.

And then, (usually about 30 minutes before the due date because I procrastinate until the last minute) it's over.

Sour Patch Kids

• warm bright colors (except green)
• sour outside
• sweet inside
• soft in the middle
• delicious
• always a collection of the white sour powder in the corner of the bag
• oddly shaped
• covered in white powder
• rough
• red tastes like Swedish Fish
• hundreds
• small
• thin

Plagiarism

I, Elizabeth Rogers, hereby vow to avoid plagiarizing on any papers, blog posts, or projects in this class. Plagiarism is wrong and disrespectful not only to the original author, but the intended audience and to myself. I am taking this class to learn to write, and to write well. Stealing other's work will not accomplish this goal, therefore it will not be done.

Crocodiles

Crocodiles are majestic, powerful, and amazing creatures. The crocodile's mighty legs pushes its massive body out of the water. His piercing eyes scan the horizon, searching for the next unlucky prey to fall victim to his powerful jaws. The sunlight reflects off of his impenetrable skin, warning all creatures of the dangers of challenging this majestic beast. He is the king of the water.


Crocodiles are ridiculous looking, silly, and lame creatures. His cross-eyed gaze inspects the river basin. The fat, goofy, oversized lizard is looking for his next meal. He climbs out of the water on his bowlegged haunches and smiles crookedly as he finds a small, crippled deer; the only prey he could manage to take down on his own. The disgusting creature returns to the mud after eating his fill and will remain there until his instinct stir him again.