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ENGL 1102-030 HW 1: Introduction: Exercise 1 and 2 Ex 1, Step 1 I have done maybe five research papers in my academic career that

I actually remember, and as far as I can recall they all required objective writing: no personal pronouns, no opinions unbacked by data. While I have never been very diligent or good at grammar I do enjoy writing short stories and snippets of inspiration and ice cream induced tales. However, due to my grammatical tendencies I have never excelled at any English coarse taken high school or college (the exception being a Creative Writing class at Mitchell Community College.) But this is not supposed to be an autobiography about my academic woes to back to the subject: most papers containing any research or data has always been expected of me to be as impersonal and professional as possible. Objectivity has always been a key element to the professionalism of a paper and as such is something I have always assumed necessary to a competent research paper. There isnt any real reasoning or logic, its just the proper procedure. A point of importance in all works that contain any shred of fact. A stifling barricade to overcome in order to achieve a satisfactory grade. Ex 1, Step 2 The statement that there is a big difference between facts and opinions is something I agree with. As the daughter of two professors in the sciences I have been aware of the importance and unyielding truth of facts for most of my life. Opinions are malleable, fickle things unique to each person but always capable of changing and reshaping with that persons experiences. Facts are solid, they exist outside of any person or peoples. They are reality given form through words (if that makes any sense.) For example, gravity is a reality: even if the world were to suddenly become devoid of all humans gravity will still exist. There are facts that exist because of humans, such as the current worth of gas. But this is a value, and values are defined by the common opinion of people and so is not a fact in the purest sense of the word. For arguments sake though these are not scientific facts but humanity facts.

Ex 2 The essay Theories of Intelligence is well written and interesting through it. The author primarily gives his commentary with stories about himself. After the story he adds facts and quotes from others that play into his previous story while simultaneously opening up for the next part of his argument. It is unlike any essay Ive ever read: catchy, narrative, and still educational. It is completely contradictory in my assumption that all research related writings are required to be impersonal and objective. In a way Theories of Intelligence is more like a short autobiography than a report made to convey information, the reading clearly shows the opinions and experiences of the writers life. There is an impressive amount of well integrated facts information within the essay.

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