Elena Yu Xu


Essay #3 Reflection

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The Composition in Two Genres gives us more freedom because it lets us choose our own genres and create them according to their formats. This makes me to be more creative because I have the freedom to choose the pictures and words I want to put in my two different compositions. I really like the idea of giving us the choice to create our own work by our preference. While the traditional essay gives the audience a full knowledge about the topic of depression by using evidence of our research to support it. It is a long paper essay and does not convey any creativity instead. However, the traditional essay has really improved my writing skills and helped me to understand the concepts of research, but at the same time the importance of supporting our claim according to our evidence.

I chose my two different genres in the third essay by evaluating the standard of my audience and the preference of them whenever it is better to transfer ideas in a more easy and creative way or using a more traditional way to convey my messages. Thus, I chose posters and memes as part of my genres for my intended audiences in college students and institutions of higher education because I think it would be better to transfer the ideas of depression through a more easy and comprehensive way instead of writing a long paper, which some of them may not spend their time to read it. After all, I know it’ll spend a lot of time when reading an essay compared to a more creative way for them to look at it.

My genres on posters and memes engage logos and pathos to my intended audiences in college students and educators from higher education my detailing the importance of depression and some of the causes and outcomes led by this issue to help the ones (college students) suffering from depression to get through their challenges and difficulties. But at the same time, it encourages them to move forward when encountering these situations, in order to tell my audiences that there is always someone there to help them get through their challenges, such as institutions from higher education by providing help and advice.

Audience Stragety

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My intended audiences are college students and institutions of higher education in the U.S. The primary characteristics of college students in the topic of depression among students are that they are the main subjects who should be treated in order to reduce the risk factors of this issue due to academic and personal affairs. Next, institutions of higher educations also consider as my audience for the Composition in Two Genres because they can have more access to help the students who suffer from depression by coming from the same institution. They can provide sessions and support to students in order to better understand and easier to help those individuals (college students) through their conditions.

I want my audience to feel, understand, and do something toward the matter of depression by letting them know the importance of this issue and how this might cause significant consequences if not handled properly. Next, I want my audience such as students, themselves from college and institutions of higher education to do something to try to reduce the risk factors of depression (suicide, alcohol, misconduct), and some of the things they could do when faced with these conditions (depressed, stressed, sadness) to feel better.

I could make my genres more accessible and attractive through posters and memes. My genre in poster would be placed inside the institution (college) to make it noticeable for students and educators who pass from there. Another, in the meme, will be done in social media, such as on Instagram since it is a network for people to interact with each other, and it is an easy way to transfer ideas and information. Next, it is a great social networking web for teenagers, especially college students to get access to, since this is one of the things they spend most of the time with.

In rhetorical strategies, I will use pathos and logos in my poster by attaching texts, images, and maybe some quotes from people who have suffered depression to state their views and attitudes by the time they have faced this issue to help my audience in both college students and institutions of higher education understand what some of the problems and consequences might include in the matter of depression. Finally, the meme would mainly transfer ideas of logos by also attaching images, and texts to tell some of the causes and treatments of depression to my audience of college students, so they can better know what to do when faced in this situation.

ESSAY #3 POTENTIAL GENRES PROPOSAL

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I am thinking to consider visual genres, such as using memes and posters in my composition. My primary audiences are college students and educators from institutions of higher education as my topic is about the depression of college students, and how institutions of higher education and students, themselves could do to reduce these risk factors of the matter, but also to improve the depression condition caused by it. Both of these will have the rhetorical strategies of logos

The posters I will use as part of my genre will be placed inside of the colleges as part of its medium. Students and educators from there would be able to see the poster easier, which is very noticeable once they pass from it. It will contain images, texts, and some quotes from people who have suffered depression. Moreover, another genre I am considering is a meme, it will be also great to be placed in social media because nowadays technology is a great source to communicate with people, and it is the fastest way to transfer ideas and information to others, especially for teenagers such as college students, who are most likely to be on social media. It is easier for them to get the knowledge and opportunity to look at it. Next, as for memes part of my genre to my audience, it will include images and texts as well to show the significance of the topic of depression for college students.

For the process to look for the resources, I will look for images and quotes for these types of genres by using the link the professor Shamecca provided to us called, “Owlcation” and maybe I will also draw some if I couldn’t find the ones I am looking for.

Essay #2 Reflection

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My topic is about depression for college students in the United States. When I was creating my research question, I faced some troubles, and my topic was vague. At first, I was thinking about a lot of things, and I came up with a lot of ideas when I was trying to figure out my research question. My mind was vague, and I did not know what I am going to write about. However, I took some time to figure it out by writing all my ideas on a piece of paper and connect them all into a single one, which has helped me a lot. Especially with the technique of what professor Shamecca provided, she has helped me a lot by giving feedback and some pieces of advice to me to make my research question more focused.

After that, I also get troubled searching for data to support my research paper because most of the results that came out might talk about something else that doesn’t relate to my particular query, especially for the scholarly sources that didn’t always come out what I was trying to look for, which took me a lot of time to find it out and look for the ones that really support my paper. It took me even more time while I analyzed the text because some of my resources came from long papers, which
I had to spend a lot of time reading it and seeking out some pieces of evidence to support my argument. Professor Shamecca, however, has also offered a lot of help by offering some suitable ways to find out whether the paper links to our topic by asking us to read the abstract, introduction, and conclusion first, which has really helped a lot to minimize our time.

My intended audience was to help college students and educators from higher education institutions to help students overcome the problem of depression by offering some guidance to reduce their difficulty and alleviate the risk factor of anxiety.

I think the experience of initially having some challenges and difficulties when writing our research paper has helped me a lot with my writing skills because it has taught me to look for appropriate resources when planning to look for information that supports my subject, but it has also helped me a lot to organize my paper in a better way.

 

 

ESSAY #2 REPORT ON RESEARCH IN PROGRESS

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My sources are found in different sections, some of them are through articles of “Academic One File”, and “Opposing Viewpoints in Context” (from the CCNY page). Others come from other reliable websites. However, all of them are trustworthy because they either are peer-reviewed, authored by scholars, contain a bibliography, or elements of a scholarly source.

I found three popular media sources and six scholarly sources. In the popular media sources of “‘A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population” and its “Reply,” they both argue the rate of depression among graduate students, which show an opposite viewpoint, and how each of them uses their resources to support their arguments. Next, ” Depression and College Students” briefly describes the causes and effects of depression among college teens while also including some basic treatments. All these sources can help me support my paper on the topic of depression, some of them contain arguments (opposite views), while others illustrate the concept of depression.

As well, my scholarly sources provide deep knowledge of the issue of anxiety because each of them explains with further detail and shows a specific cause and treatment for each one. The articles ” Suicide and depression among college students: A decade later” and “Depression, Delinquency, and Suicidal Behaviors Among College Students” both show a connection between depression and suicide, which emphasizes that their emotional states influence their behavioral responses. Next, “Behavioral problems and their relationship to maternal depression, marital relationships, social skills and parenting” shows the differences in groups of people from different backgrounds and religions manage the issue differently because of their beliefs and views. While in the article, “The Relationship between Insecure Attachment to Depression: Mediating Role of Sleep and Cognitive Reappraisal” shows a big link between sleep quality and depression. Moreover, there are two other articles written by the same author, which provides causes of depression among college students in ” Depression and Anxiety Among College Students” and the treatments of the subject in “Depression Treatment.” They both have connections to one another and explains the same topic.

A source that I excluded while conducting my research was “Major Depression” (https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression.shtml) because it does not clearly relate to my research question. It mainly focuses on depression and its prevalence in the United States but does not provide explanations and connections to the concerns of college students. Next, a source that I am considering to use is “Depression and College Students” (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527955/) because it links to my research question, but at the same time, I am also thinking about using too many sources, that might cover the same stuff. However, it is a good source because it provides useful data about the problem I am looking for, which is also related to my intended goal. It is reliable because it has been peer-reviewed and contains citations supporting it.

After all, I don’t think I missed anything in my research because I tried to complete my sources at first and to give me a general idea of what I am going to talk about in my paper. Since I like to do things at a stretch to reduce my time next week when I write my first draft, so I think it will be easier to carry all my sources with me now. However, I am considering giving “Depression and College Students” since it would give a lot of information to my audience and to myself while writing the research.

 

Works Cited

“Depression and College Students.” National Institute of Mental Health, 2012, infocenter.nimh.nih.gov/pubstatic/NIH%2012-4266/NIH%2012-4266.pdf.

Duffy, Meghan, et al. “A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population.” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 37, no. 7, 2019, p. 711+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592073094/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=4020f821. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Evans, Teresa M., et al. “Reply to ‘A lack of evidence for six times more anxiety and depression in US graduate students than in the general population’.” Nature Biotechnology, vol. 37, no. 7, 2019, p. 712+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A592073095/OVIC?u=cuny_ccny&sid=OVIC&xid=244b0822. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Furr, Susan R., et al. Suicide and Depression among College Students: A Decade Later. 2001, psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-16220-015.

Liu, Yige, et al. “The Relationship between Insecure Attachment to Depression: Mediating Role of Sleep and Cognitive Reappraisal.” Neural Plasticity, 2020, p. NA. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A624880387/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=ca1624b2. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Jeglic, Elizabeth L. “Depression, Delinquency, and Suicidal Behaviors Among College Students.” Crisis, 1 Jan. 2014, econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/abs/10.1027/0227-5910/a000226?journalCode=cri.

Phillips, Rick, and Andrea Henderson. “Religion and depression among U.S. college students.” International Social Science Review, vol. 81, no. 3-4, 2006, p. 166+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A160103827/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=c5cd5437. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Depression and Anxiety Among College Students.” Psych Central, 8 Oct. 2018, psychcentral.com/lib/depression-and-anxiety-among-college-students/.

Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Depression Treatment: Diagnosis & Options.” Psych Central, 6 July 2020, psychcentral.com/depression/depression-treatment/.

 

ESSAY #2 RESEARCH PROPOSAL

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Question: “What social and psychological factors influence rates of depression among college students in the United States, and how do institutions of higher education and individuals as themselves help to mitigate these risk factors?”

The name of the publication: Triggers and Strategies to Alleviate Depression Among College Students in the U.S.

Essay Model: “College Students: Mental Health Problems and Treatment Considerationsby Paola PedrelliMaren NyerAlbert YeungCourtney Zulauf, and Timothy Wilens. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527955/)

This research question interests me because many people from different groups and demographics must have something they concern about, especially students that come from high school to college, since everything will change and they will face many distinct challenges, but also to form a part of their new experiences. Since then, as college students, they have symbolized as adults now. This response is a part of them becoming more independent and no longer relying on their parents as before. In other words, the university will create a sense of environmental change, while they also have to get used to certain things and adapt to a new whole place and its surroundings. Next, it connects to social action because all of these stresses and depression that each individual will face and has, such as any obstacles and troubles, might lead to some of them (college students) into committing suicide or other misconduct actions due to their impulse, or any other reasons.

This is an essential issue because it is a concern that many college students worry about because of their personal or social difficulties, which may lead to various serious results. Also, as for college students, they have to adapt to many things and at the same time being independent in an age where they couldn’t support all of them of a sudden. So, it is important that we get to know more about depression triggers and what we and other people from high institutions can do to help each other and the community in order to prevent any risk factors. By extension, with all of these in mind, I will look for secondary sources to help me answer the common social and psychological factor influences of depression, but also the importance of higher institutions and as individuals themselves to overcome this issue. As said, the sources will be primarily based on the causes of depression among college students in the USA and some of its treatments.

This research focuses on the audience as college students since they are the main characters for this topic (depression triggers), parents, and people from higher institutions such as instructors, advisors, counselors, and psychologists to help guide the students to overcome some struggles and to reduce the risk factors caused by depression. The audience will be based on them because this writing concentrates on depression amongst college students, but also the connection or relationships between them to their parents, and individuals from higher institutions to help them guide through their obstacles, and prevent any circumstances caused by this matter, also with the idea to get more understanding about this issue.

Bibliography

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Journals&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&hitCount=5&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=3&docId=GALE%7CA592073094&docType=Report&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAY-MOD1&prodId=OVIC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA592073094&searchId=R5&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Journals&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&hitCount=5&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&docId=GALE%7CA592073095&docType=Report&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZXAY-MOD1&prodId=OVIC&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA592073095&searchId=R5&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

https://psychcentral.com/lib/depression-and-anxiety-among-college-students/

https://psychcentral.com/depression/depression-treatment/

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2001-16220-015

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=24&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=4&docId=GALE%7CA160103827&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA160103827&searchId=R2&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=487&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=8&docId=GALE%7CA624880387&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA624880387&searchId=R7&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4527955/

https://econtent.hogrefe.com/doi/abs/10.1027/0227-5910/a000226?journalCode=cri

Essay #2 – Research Topic Reflection

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My initial research question would be “What are some causes of depression and how it affects students in their daily lives in the United States?” I initially came up with this question by thinking about some of the common issues the students have in their daily lives, but I also wanted it to be related to schools and other outside causes. I think this issue is important because nowadays many teenagers and students are having different difficulties and matters that influence their mood and behavior toward certain things, and might even drive to their misconduct actions due to their lack of calm and thinking of clarity in its consequences. After that, I also want to know how this issue drove them to this cause and what some of the common effects are to the students, and how most of the people manage it. In other words, I would like to know how we as students can do to manage these feelings of depression and what are some of the strategies to calm ourselves down and get some of the comforts after all this. With all of these in mind, I plan to explore my research question through some of the open webs at first and then move on to reading relevant articles and to look for some scholarly sources to give some of the basic ideas of this issue, and also to look for the answer later on. This research focuses on how some people hold different ideas and views toward this question on depression in teenage ages.

Essay#1 Reflection

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I believe writing is a way of communicating with others to express your ideas and conclusions toward certain things. It lets our audience to receive the knowledge through our work because it is a part of another way of expressing your voice. However, as writing has not always been one of my strengths, it is sometimes hard for me to write a good essay. But I believe that having good writing should mostly focus on grammar, and the capacity to show your purpose to the audience, so they can know what you are trying to say after they read your work. Writing a rhetorical analysis with many sources accompanied is my first-time experience, but I think it has got better from the very beginning time when we wrote it as a practice. However, after finishing the final draft of this essay, I have learned more about the processes to justify my work when I try to give data and awareness to people, by applying evidence, purpose, and different elements in an analysis. Moreover, the strategies I used for this essay were to follow the guidelines, add references, and revise many times as possible to make sure it applies the purpose of my work. After that, I think these processes were good, but not perfect because I believe it might always occur mistakes which I probably did not know. However, this essay has helped me a lot to know my weaknesses, but also to improve them through practices and hard work. It has helped me to advance my writing after the process of peer-reviewed, and advice from the instructor, which have helped me to get to know more about my level of writing.

ESSAY #1 SOURCE LIST

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Teen Physical Abuse

Open Web Source

This article explains the basic treatment for physical and emotional violence, guided by schools. It states that schools must give some knowledge to the students about these basic issues since they are very common to teenagers. Next, teachers and counselors should provide helpful ways and ideas to the students of this event. Furthermore, schools give education and lessons to guide their students when encountering violence, and situations when they are feeling down. It points at some useful ideas to open them up such as to “express…connect…move…shift”. All of these strategies might help them to feel better and to maintain “seasoned emotional stability that can equalize the urge to…anxieties or lash out in rage”.  Even though these are very common techniques, but they are very helpful to maintain their emotional equilibrium, so they could solve their difficulties adequately.

  • https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/showing-up-strong-for-yourselfand-your-studentsin-the-aftermath-of-violence

Magazine Article

This article describes the coming and the starting position of abuse and violence, and states that they mainly come from the discipline of their parents, ”We believe family violence is a learned behavior,”. Next, it also argues that schools started the study to educate students about physical abuse and the ways to prevent it. Many people, especially kids and teenagers have misunderstandings of this meaning, and think that violence is not considered if it does not have “broken arms and black-and blues”. However, this is not the case because it consists of many kinds of mistreatment, which some of them can be even considered as ones such as “name-calling, excessive yelling or making derogatory remarks”.

  • https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/12/nyregion/teaching-teen-agers-to-control-violence.html?searchResultPosition=7

Newspaper Article

It talks about emotional and physical abuse in a teenage relationship. The victim (girl) describes her conditions when she was in a relationship with a guy, where he shows violence and control over his partner. The cause started after they were after a long relationship, “The partner would control aspects of her life… over time, her partner started physically hurting her”. Furthermore, this article also talks about people/ victims who have suffered abuse would not share with their parents or with other ones because it is usually told by the accuser to keep quiet of what he/ she has done.

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T004&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=78&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=17&docId=GALE%7CA513281435&docType=Brief+article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZNEW-FullText&prodId=STND&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA513281435&searchId=R5&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

Scholarly Source

It summarizes the causes and some of the cures for the victims who have experienced by any type of abuse, such as emotionally, physically, or even sexually, etc. It shows that all of these types of abuses mostly come from close people, and they could be from family members, friends, partners, or anyone they trusted with. Next, all of these causes influence individuals with the ability to trust, love, be confident, and a huge impact on their interacting process with other people. However, this article also points to some of the treatments to the victims, and they could be someone who is counselors, psychotherapists, and people who pay close attention to them to help them to open their minds and release themselves. After all, all of these procedures might take a long time to be cured, depending on each individual and victim.

https://go-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T002&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&hitCount=37&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CA30212051&docType=Brief+article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZONE-MOD1&prodId=AONE&pageNum=1&contentSet=GALE%7CA30212051&searchId=R1&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true

 

ESSAY #1 TOPIC REFLECTION

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Teen physical abuse is one of the social issues that interest me because teenagers nowadays have faced mistreatment and unjust under their ages, with the inability to solve the problems on their own. According to this social issue, I want to know how these mistreatments have affected them, and how they would overcome this issue. Moreover, victims of this abuse who have experienced this issue would most likely influence them emotionally, or even to a greater extent, that could let them feel insecure, fearful, and change their minds toward a certain thing or situation in the future. Next, the sense of teen abuse has been increasing nowadays, and the victims who have faced this issue would not come to the idea to defend themselves and ask for help. They are afraid of telling other people about their condition because they are worried that this could bring them into bullying. Most of them do not even tell their parents about their case and try to hide it as a secret. Despite the fact of teen abuse, it might also influence their social interaction with other people, such as with other teenagers of their age. Additionally, as the social issue of teen physical abuse has been increasing worldwide, I want to know how these people defend themselves if they have even thought of trying to, and how they manage their feelings after being treated brutally. After that, the purpose of writing this social issue talks mainly about physical abuse, and the intention of helping me and other people who are interested in this subject to know what individuals and the society could do to reduce and minimize this insult in the future and how we can help these people to overcome it.

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