"Negative Influences on Basic Writing Skills"

Article mentions how Technology benefits teens and how its more entertaining for them. It explains how it is that much more easier to communicate with one another through a computer rather than a pen and paper. It clearly states that teenagers now a days lack basic writing skills due to technology and all the programs that basically do everything for them.
One of the most common negative influences on students writing is abbreviations and texting. While texting it requires one to type quickly to respond to the sender, therefore abbreviations of plenty words is the key to fast texting. Students and plenty of others have developed theri own lingo that consists of certain abbreviations and symbols that mean something to them. Some of the common used abbreviations would be:
"lol" meaning laugh out loud,
"brb" meaning be right back,
"g2g" meaning got to go
"bkuz" meaning because
"&nd" meaning and
"u" meaning you

These abbreviations are common to anyone who generally uses text messages throughout the day. These abbreviations make it easier for the responder to respond but the downfall of the matter is the fact that students tend to write with these abbreviations in formal writing.






By: Lit Lady
Edited and published by Lorcher, Trent April 30, 2009

"Improving Student Writing Using Technology"

This article introduces us to all the available programs that make it easier for students to edit their paper. It argues that although the computer now a days can do everything for you, students capabilities to do by themselves generally drop drastically. Even with all the programs helping students out with grammar, puncuations, and what not, its stated that students generally don't only depend on the programs, but its proven that students pick up better writing habits in the long run! It states some of the positive aspects for teachers such as teachers can teach using a projector, students can use different techniques through email or/and powerpoint to revise peers paper. Online blogging can help students write freely while peers and outsiders can comment on certain aspects of their blogs. Some of the programs that can improve and help students, teachers, and everyone else revise certain essays.

Readability Statistics: This tool will count your words, your grade level, sentences, words per sentences.. etc..

Spell Check and Grammar Check: With this tool the computer can edit your misspelled words by marking them red and when clicking on them gives you choices similar to what you were spelling.

Thesis Builder and Online Outline Builder: a website used to help student organize their thoughts and help create a persuasive essay.

Citation Machine: Cites your work easily, all you do is plug in your information and it does the rest for you!

With all these tools its obvious that it will help students and anyone in general. It takes time off students hands and makes their paper that much more easier to read. Instead of going word by word to figure out which one is misspelled, all they do in type and at the end of the essay go back and right click on the highlighted words! Students can edit, draft, and make a final paper by using a a simple program the computer offers and its easier to do so then paper and pencil. Of course with all good comes negative, students must have some sort of knowledge about writing essays, because the computer will not write the paper for them, they will.


By: Wiked
"Ipmroving Student Writing Using Technology"
Online based article

"The Negative Effects of Technology in Our World"

This article basically states certain downfalls about technology in our day to day life. It explains that the majority of things we own at home are electronically based and as a society we truly live in a technological world. The article gives examples on how as a society we plan everything having to deal with technology. Now a days we dont buy the newspaper and sells have dropped drastically simply because of the fact that its cheaper and that much easier to load a page on the internet and read the news from there. We use our cell phones for everything, in the device it lets you manage from the smallest thing as a calculator to a full blown calender. Another area that really was impacted negatively with such technology was the music industry. People would rather save money and download certain songs they like rather than buying a cd for 2 of their favorite songs. With these negative effects we have concluded that all technology isnt always great. Teens tend to spend a lot more time doing other things online than actually doing their work. With such great information online its that much easier to copy and paste certain ideas for an essay an elaborate from there. Students will always find the easy way to everything, therefore after reading this article we can say that we think students who are fortunate enough to have computers and use certain technology devices are more than likely to get distracted with all it has to offer. One major effect of all the social networking going on is the fact that student pick up bad habbits, and condense their words as they would in a facebook chat or what have you!





Corkern, Aiden.  The Negative Effects of Technology in Our World.  Articlesnatch (dot com).  2009.

Some Interesting Information!

Pen and paper

Of course, once upon a time this was the only option for anyone wanting to write (the computer is new, after all). But now it has its rival, a competitive rival. Has it lost its respect?
Not at all. A lot of people still write using pen and paper. They say it’s faster, and that could be for you if you don’t know how to type fast. And writing with the hand is more easier as well. If you don’t know how to type properly, the fingers will first find it painful, whereas writing using the pen is conventional and doesn’t add stress. This is a point to keep in mind.
One good rule of thumb is to write shorter pieces (short stories, poems, essays etc) using pen and paper and longer pieces (novels, autobiographies, courses) on the computer.

• Fact: Many poets still write on paper. The older generation still writes on paper. Paper is not a thing to be ridiculed as a medium of writing. Do your fingers get tired by typing too much? Try pen and paper instead.

The computer

The computer was preceded by the typewriter, I know. But as so few people use typewriters these days I have to chosen to compare pen and paper with computer. Let’s see its benefits and disadvantages.
It certainly has some benefits:

• It’s faster for those who are comfortable typing (e.g. when writing a novel)
• The finished work looks more professional due to formatting (when you use pen and paper you have to make sure that your handwriting is excellent and legible)
• It becomes possible to share documents on the internet and collaborate
• It becomes possible to publish it (on the Internet).

But as usual, a thing which has advantages will also have disadvantages. In this case, they are:

• Long hours of typing is bad for our body’s health: the fingers as well as the eyes get tired
• For those who can’t type comfortably writing on the computer is like swimming in an ocean
• The document loses the “personal touch.” For example when you have to prepare a project for your school then printing it out of the computer is not good because it loses  your credibility (one can wonder, did he really write this?) Using pen and paper on the other hand, one doesn’t face this problem.

Google information.

Random information from different sites that helps us view some interesting things about the internet!

Bloggers Blogging!

I'm curious how you all do the bulk of your writing - the old-fashioned way or on the computer. Do you feel the medium impacts the character of your writing? I find it's so luxurious to write by hand, and I do feel more connected to what I've written. However, I have TERRIBLE handwriting, but I can type 80+ words a minute. Writing on the computer ends up being much more practical.

I always write in my journal by hand, but most of my "official" writing is done on the computer. This probably sounds ridiculous, but sometimes I am paralyzed by my indecision over whether to write something by hand or on the computer.

Am I a dinosaur? Does anyone write by hand anymore??

Response:
I have a pen and paper with me at all times for when inspiration takes me. I like a specific type of pen and color, plus I have to have a click with the paper. Currently working on two books, and there's one at each end of the pad, I don't know what I'm going to do when they meet in the middle.

Whatever I write in there, which tends to be flashes of great moments, I put into the computer and write them together, which is the real work. I find it soooo much more work to write the in-betweens of the inspirations. They always feel awkward and forced when I write them, but my editor says they read great and she doesn't feel the effort.

No, your not a dinosaur. AND I have to print out my drafts to edit them on the computer. Something about having the work in my hot little hands that makes it more real.

 Conversations on the topic:

I carry the pad and pen with me everywhere. It became a fixture in my life when I went to a reading and it was very quiet. One of my friends pulled out a small pad and pen and asked a question and then passed it around. We all got into the discusiion and secretly passed the pad round and round.
No one spoke during the reading, but that particular reader could not be heard. Afterward I thanked my friend for helping us pass the time and said it was great she even had a pad and pen. She looked at me as if I grew a third eye! If I was going to write I had to be ready for inspiration at any moment. I needed to always carry a pad and pen. I do.

As for my writing, some author friends told me if I was going to start writing then skip the bad habits and do it all on computer. I do like writing dribs and drabs on paper because I doodle with them.

For work I am on computers, but small pieces and ideas flow out of paper too. I love the different feels of papers.


Random people conversing about the topic! We thought their views were pretty interesting! 

"Teen Writing Skills in a Tech World"

The article starts off by explaining to the reader about teen writing and different concerns with their ability to write. This article suggests that despite opinions that electronic gadgets interfere with students and their basic writing skills, school assessments have shown that students are actually grasping the art of the writing. Basically stating that plenty of teens have found it more helpful and useful to have a computer in front of them while writing any sort of essay. Teens have mastered all the positive aspects of using electronic devices. In this article a survey was conducted on students between the grade levels of 8th- 12th. At impulse we can all relate to situations or essays we dealt with at a high school level. Taking a minute to reflect and put ones self in a high school students shoes, im pretty sure we can all agree that any student would prefer a laptop in front of them rather than the traditional pen and paper. Students are lazy and as a whole will do less more often, at that age the majority is not worried about school, their minds wonder off to the next parade or homecoming dance. The survey stated that their were drastic improvements from those group of students and in students in general.

  Morin, Amanda. Teen Writing Skills in a Tech World.  Article.  Education (dot com).  2010.

"Paperless Writing Revisited"

This article was brief and straight to the point, the article encourages electronic writing over manual pen and paper writing for various reason. One of the main points the author states is that students are able to get more information at a shorter amount of time, making the process of writing an essay that much easier.

• Makes writing more informational considering there's plenty of information online.
• Saves paper and gets the job done.
• Quicker than manually writing it.
• The internet helps the writer out by answering information needed.
• More efective way of writing. 

Jennings, Edward.  Paperless Writing Revisited.  Computers and the Humanities Vol. 24, No.1/2.  Selected Papers from the Duluth Conferences on Computers and Writing, and Language Instructions. pp 43-48.