Your Advertisement

So what's your ad for? What's it look like? What magazine did you get it from? Who's the target audience for that magazine? Do you think the ad's content and design was influenced by that? In what way? See where I'm going with this? Discuss the ad you chose in terms of its AUDIENCE and PURPOSE. Those two things are going to determine a whole heckuva lot when it comes to developing an ad--just like they should when you're composing any piece of writing.

My advertisement is for a Mr. Clean GAIN cleaner. The background is a bathroom with a bathtub, sink, cabinet all in white ceramics and white tile. The appliances are stainless steel. There is a fully dressed lady standing in the bathtub, dressed in tan pants (blending in well with background) and a darker blue shirt, that goes well with light blue walls.  Her hair is dark, which makes her stick out more too.  There is kind of a triangle shape between her head, shower head and the following 3 words in red: "Sniff Sniff Hooray!".  In the bottom right corner there are two Mr. Clean GAIN bottles in a bright green color, with scent coming up and moving towards the words in red. This ad is from the Parenting magazine. The target audience is mothers and fathers. I think the design and content is influenced by that.  It looks like an ad for someone who is in the twenties or thirtees and has to clean a house or apartment.  The purpose is to get the young parents to buy Mr. Clean Gain, so their bathroom will smell this good and look this clean.  The green bottles also are about the same color as the GAIN detergent and will get you thinking of your bathroom smelling as good as this detergent.  I think seeing this ad, you will remember it if you see the bright green bottles of Mr. Clean GAIN in the store and possibly buy it. 

Kristina Hanson

 

Elements of an Effective Layout

The analytical tool in this article is that balance, proportion, movement, utility, clarity and emphasis are most important to create an effective layout.  My ad is about Mr. Clean Gain.  There is a very clean bathroom that is white, some stainless steel applianes and a very light blue wall. What sticks out most is the lady in the shower wearing a dark blue shirt and having brown hair and the Mr. Clean bottles on the bottom of the ad. 

Balance: When I put a vertical line, then the lady is to the left of the line, and the Mr. Clean bottles to the right.  The Mr. Clean bottles are big compared to the woman, but when you just consider the most visual part of the woman, which is the upper body, then the bottles are about the same size.  I think this ad is well done in regards to balance.

Proportion: The color in the ad is great. The most important things are in color, with the Mr. Clean bottles being the most colorful.  In proportion, the Mr. Clean bottles are very large compared to the person in the picture.  You can tell that they are important by the size.

Movement: I think they also did a great job with the movement.  The lady in the shower has her eyes closed, but her face is pointed towards the corner with the Mr. Clean bottles. They are in the bottom right corner, where you look last.

Unity: The elements tie into each other by colors. The bathroom is all light colored. The woman in the shower ties in with her shirt being a darker blue, but going well with the light blue walls.  There is a green vertical line going across on the bottom with text and then the two Mr. Clean bottles in the same color in the bottom right corner.

Clarity and Simplicity: I definitely feel like this layout is not too complicated or crowded.  It brings the point across by using color contrasts. The text is also in a very good and easy to read size and color.

Emphasis: The most emphasis is definitely on the Mr. Clean bottles.  They are brightest in color and also biggest in size proportionally.

The one I did not quite understand was the balance one. I think I got it, but I'm not quite sure. I think the one with emphasis is definitely very important.  Least important I would maybe find the balance.

I don't think this ruins advertisement for me.  I knew before they are trying to sell me something and I find it interesting to see how they accomplish getting your attention and remembering the product. I don't think I usually buy things I see in ads anyway. 

Kristina Hanson

Democracy of Goods - Kristina Hanson

I believe that the thesis or main point is that according to "The Appeal of the Democracy of Goods" everyone is able to enjoy the society's benefits, pleasures or conveniences. Today, I don't believe advertisements state that you can live like ... by buying this product.  The ads still follow that, for example by showing olive oil and a turkey and saying that with this product you will experience an "unforgettable expression of culinary bliss".  This implies that if you have this olive oil you can cook a turkey that looks just as good.  You don't need to be a good cook, you just need to buy this product.  The Huggies diaper ad I chose states that it will help spread Christmas cheer.  If your baby wears this diaper you will help other people to have a joyful Christmas.  I believe this ad doesn't appeal to being poor and being able to live just like someone who is rich, but even if you are not in the mood for Christmas (death in family, divorce, lost job,...), when you buy this diaper, you are going to have a joyfull Christmas and so will everyone else who sees your baby in this diaper.

Advertising - Kristina Hanson

I saw a cute Huggies add in a magazine that is for Santa Diapers.  The diaper is red and has a Santa's belt with golden buckel printed on it.  I think it is effective because of the cute babies and the way they are dressed with diaper, shirt and Santa's hat.  They look really cute and I had to smile when I saw this ad.  It definitely uses humor. The box of diapers is red also.  I don't have a baby in a diaper anymore, but if I did, I'm pretty sure I would buy a box unless it is a lot more expensive than regular Huggies diapers.  I think the way this add is done, people will remember it when they see a red diaper box on a diaper shelf and are inclined to buy it.   

 

Earlier today I saw a commercial on TV from one of these title loan companies.  If you have a good title on your car, you can get money for Christmas presents.  A guy was dressed as an Elf.  This commercial just looked stupid to me.  I definitely wouldn't go out get a loan from them because of this commercial. On the other hand, the commercial being stupid might just stick in people's head and if they are needing to get money and drive buy one of these stores, they migh remember this stupid commercial and get the money from them. 

 

I haven't watched much TV in quite a while, as I just can't seem to find the time for it with school, work and family, and I don't remember any ads that I have watched before.

 

Kristina Hanson

Persuasive Essay Summary

My thesis is that the Hamilton Beach BrewStation Deluxe is the best coffee maker of the 4 models compared. One of the advantages is that you can choose between 4 different options (iced coffee, regular, flavor+ and 1-4 cups). It was rated excellent by Consumer Reports and got a rating of 90, which is the best of the 4 machines they had listed in this category. The price was also very competitive. The only reason for me to buy the more expensive machine Viante is the looks of it. It does have a more expensive look to it than the other coffee makers.
Kristina Hanson

Research, Research, Research

I did this one in the APA style, as you said we should do our paper in the style we use in our degree program. I'm in nursing and we use the APA style.

Kristina Hanson

References

Aliventi, P. (2011, September 03). Mr. coffee 12-cup no carafe coffeemaker-buy a hamilton brewstation instead. Retrieved from http://www.epinions.com/review/mr-coffee-bvmc-zh1b/content_562750656132

ConsumerReports. (2011). Coffee makers. Retrieved from http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/products/compare.htm

Hamilton Beach Summit. (2011). Coffee maker review. Retrieved from http://www.coffee-maker-review.net/hamilton-beach-48463-brewstation-summit-12cup-coffeemaker.html

Johnson, M. (2011). Coffee maker review. Retrieved from http://www.coffee-maker-review.net/hamilton-beach-brew-station-deluxe1.html

Viante. (2010). Cafe viante. Retrieved from http://www.vianteusa.com/cafe.html

Style

I never thought about rewording the sentence to make it more memorable.  It's amazing how different a sentence can sound when words are moved around.

Tip #1 "Place yourself in the background" makes sense to me and I have never really thought of it.  Instead of trying too hard to show your feelings in the writings and hurt your writing with it, just focus on writing good and your style will emerge at some point.

I like tip #2 a lot too, which is "write in a way that comes naturally".  I never thought about this before, but it does make lots of sense.  Some students in this class write so much better and use vocabulary that I never thought of using.  If I would use these words in writing it probably wouldn't sound right, unless I would use them when I speak also.  English is my second language, and even so I have been here for quite a while, there are still lots of words I have never heard before.  I should take the words I like in my verbal vocabulary first, and then they will come natural when I'm writing.

I like all of these really and they all make sense.  The only one really going against my intuition is tip #11, which is "do not explain too much".  I always thought it makes more sense to explain more about the mood of the person you are writing about.  So this one really goes against my intuition and is something I need to work on.
Kristina Hanson

Effective Argument

He is addressing his fellow clergymen. He is addressing racial segregation. He seems angry and concerned in the letter. I believe this letter is very effective. He was a very good speaker. I find the argument "Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds" logical.  We should be interested what happens all over the country,
 and not ignore it, just because it didn't happen in our area.  It can still happen there too.  I feel like he does a great job balancing logos, ethos and pathos. He mostly uses logos, but also ethos and pathos.  He uses name calling and hasty generalization. I feel like he should have left out the logical fallacies or word them different, but then it wouldn't have been as effective. I think reading this before my persuasive paper would have helped me a lot.  He wrote a very effective letter. 

Kristina Hanson

Logical Fallacies

Begging the Question: Male hamsters make better pets than female hamsters. I know this because my male hamster was nice and my female hamster bit me.

Polarization: All vegetarians love animals. (There might be another reason like not liking meat)

 Hasty Generalization: I have heard that all Germans like beer. Kristina is German so she must like beer.

Kristina Hanson

Topic

I chose coffee makers as a topic. I wasn't quite sure with some of the other topics I was thinking about if they were okay to use, so I figured this one was fine as there were several different options. We are wanting to buy a new coffee maker for Christmas, so I thought it would be fun to write about it and learn something about different types to buy one that really is what we need/want out of a coffee maker. I found this topic to be a little hard in regards to getting sources though. I argued about the different coffee makers, what options they have and which ones are recommended by Consumer Reports to prove my point why one of the models is the best one to buy. In the hindsight, this was not the best topic, and next time I will look more at research options before starting a paper.

When Your Opinion Matters

I honestly can't think of a situation right now. It has been a while since I have been trying to convince someone.  It has to be very important for me personally, or I won't argue. I don't really like confrontation. Sometimes my husband and I will argue about something and if it is very important to me, I end up getting what I want, but not always.  I definitely need to develop better argumentative skills.  I always think afterwards that I should have approached it differently.  Sometimes it seems to be a language problem, with me growing up with German as a primary language.
Sometimes I have to convince patients of something that is important for their health. I don't give up as easily then, as I don't want them to get sicker or not better by not taking a certain medication. I'm trying to get better at communicating and watch people who are really good at it.

Muddiest Point

I feel like the following point was the muddiest for me: “The point of this paper is not to argue for or against a position (such as abortion, immigration, the death penalty, etc.), but rather to select something from which there are a range of similar choices.” Doing this post now after actually doing my assignment, I’m especially not sure I understood this correctly. Some of the papers I was reading for the peer review used topics that I didn’t think were appropriate to use after reading this. Maybe I made this paper much more difficult for me than it really was supposed to be??? Maybe some examples with different type of topics would have made it clearer. For example, comparing dogs to cats and other pets was being used by someone I reviewed. I didn’t think this would have been okay to use as the other animals are not that similar. Or did I make it more complicated than it was? You could have put examples, like comparing different computers with similar options, phones, TV’s, compare animals to see which one makes best pet.

The guidelines on what was expected in regards to transitions, margins, conclusion,… were very clear. Also the deadlines were very clear.

One more personal narrative - Notaro

The writer grabbed my attention with the introduction.  Notaro only focused on running errands with his grandfather since he wasn’t allowed to drive any longer. The writer did a great job to help visualizing characters.  There is quoted speech that shows the grandfather’s feelings. The story did remind me of my grandfather had cancer and I was helping my grandparents out in the summer break.  I don’t think the author explained the significance of the people, events, places, or objects in shaping who he/she became. You can tell that the experience was having an impact on the author’s life though. The conclusion does not reinforce the point of the story in my opinion.

Another Personal Narrative - White

The introduction grabs my attention.  He does focus on significant events that took place in the summers at the lake.  Yes, the descriptions include sensory details that help me visualize them. The writer did not quote speech or dialogue. I don’t feel like the events were described in a way that allowed me to connect them to experiences in my own life.  He does explain how important this lake was to him in the summers as a child and he wanted to go back there to relive his experiences and see if it has changed.  He often felt like a boy himself at the lake and had trouble distinguishing at times if he was the father or son.  I don’t think the conclusion reinforces the point of the story.

Kristina Hanson

Diving into Personal Narratives - Sedaris

Yes, the introduction grabbed my attention.  I believe he is focusing on a significant event in his life. He moved to France to improve his French and had a mean teacher who always found negative things to say about everyone in class.  I did visualize a classroom, teacher and the foreign students.  He quoted the teacher a lot.  I moved here from Germany and did go to school in France for a couple of weeks on an exchange program, so I could connect the story to my experience. He started enjoying listening to the teacher when he could finally understand all the insults she threw at him.  In the conclusion he states that he can now understand every word the instructor is saying, but not speak it pretty yet.  He came to Paris to get better with French and he did accomplish that.

Kristina Hanson

Sentence Variety

Sam drove her car to the mall, where she went to the shoe store and bought a pair of boots and a shoeshine kit.  After that, Sam went to the food court and bought a burrito with onions and peppers on it.  While she ate it, she saw a cute boy at the pretzel stand and blushed, when he looked at her.  The boy came over and Sam said hi. Sam was confused by the boy wrinkling up his nose and said hi again. Now, the boy gagged and walked away, which shocked Sam.  She then realized that she had bad breath and ran to the bathroom, where she cried. Next, she put on her new boots, shined them and walked confidently out of the bathroom.  When she found the boy, Sam told him that he needed manners and kicked him with her new boots.  The boy fell down and Sam walked out of the mall.

Mechanics

One I always have trouble with is to put the statement in the positive form.  I always catch myself using negative form when talking too.  I'm trying to pay more attention to it and change it to positive. To make sure I get better at this weak point, I need to read through my paper to look for any negative sentence and see if I should change it to a positive one.  I can also tell the tutor in the writing center to look for it. I believe I do pretty good at keeping related words together.

Kristina Hanson

Summary Assignment - Revision Checklist Kristina Hanson

1. What is the thesis statement? Is it an accurate reflection of the author’s thesis

statement? Is it stated in your own words? How could you refine it to be more clear

and concise?

My thesis statement is: “Joan Didion writes in her journal to create a new reality through making up events or changing events that did happen to make them more interesting.”

It is stated in my own words.  Reading it now, after having typed more papers, I could have done a better job on making it more clear and concise.

2. How is the essay introduced? Do you mention the article’s title, author, purpose and

audience? Does it clearly set the tone for the paper and accurately reflect what is

discussed therein? Could it be improved?

In my introduction, I mentioned who the author is, what the name of the Essay is and the purpose of it.  I did not mention the audience it was written for.  I believe it does clearly set a tone for the paper and reflect what I will be talking about.  I definitely could have improved the thesis statement.  I think the rest of the introduction is pretty good.

3. What are the main points of the summary? How do you recognize them? Do you

leave out minor points and repetitive points for emphasis? Most importantly, do you

leave out your own opinion, feelings or conclusions on the subject of the article?

I do leave out my own opinions, feeling and conclusions on the subject.  The main points are that Joan was taught as a child to not draw attention to her.  Life wasn’t about her, it was about everyone else.  She was writing stories in her notebook to remember events and changed the events so she would remember them better.   I have the main points at the beginning of the paragraph, but reading the paper now, I realize how bad my transitions are…

4. How is the essay organized? Does it follow the organization of the original article?

What transitions do you use? Think of some additional possibilities for more logical

organization.

I did not use any good transitions.  I have a better understanding now what I’m supposed to do in a transition.  I believe I followed Joan’s Essay pretty well when I did my Summary paper.  Now I wonder if it would have been better to organize it different though.  Maybe start with the beginning, the way she grew up and then lead into her notebook.  Reading her essay was very confusing at first because of the organization.

5. After your reading, can you say the thesis statement accurately reflects the topic and

focus of the essay? How is the essay concluded? What technique do you employ in

the conclusion? How is that effective or not?

My conclusion states why Joan thinks she is actually keeping a notebook.  I believe it is a good conclusion and is effective.  I could have done a better job with the thesis statement to pull it all together.

6. Make sure to fix any major grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors.

I fixed all the major grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors as far as I can tell.  I did go to the writing center to get help with that.

7. Is the sentence structure varied and interesting? Do you have any weak, overly

wordy, awkward, or confusing sentences? Does the essay strive to use active, direct,

present tense verbs?

I feel like my sentence structure is varied and interesting.  I don’t think any of the sentences are weak or confusing.  I do use present tense verbs.

8. Were the textual passages (quotes and paraphrases) well-chosen? Remember you

should try avoiding direct quotations when writing a summary.

I did not use quotes.  I paraphrased certain sentences that were important in my paper.

9. Is the essay written in third-person? Are all instances of first- and second-person

removed from the piece?

The essay is written in first person.  I did not see any instances of first-and second- person in the essay.

10. Is the draft two to three (2-3) pages typed, double-spaced? Are all the margins oneinch

(1”)?

Yes, the draft (final paper in this instance) is 2 pages and double-spaced.  The margins are one inch.

post # 4 - Kristina Hanson

I really haven't had too much peer pressure in College. I'm not a traditional student.  I moved here from Germany when I was 21 years old and started taking classes about 6 months after. However, I only took about 6 credit hours a semester and worked full-time.  In regards to finances, at first it was hard as my husband was going to College full-time and working part-time and I made okay money, but not a lot.  I was always paying for the classes as I went.  I changed majors several times (Business, Accounting, IT to finally Nursing), soI have taken classes I don't need for my current degree program I'm in.  My parents and husband have been supportive.  My parents are very proud of me doing so good with English being my second language.  I never had a student loan until I went to school for the LPN.  I didn't work then and took a bigger load (program lasted 10 month and was about 16 hours per semester).  For my prerequisites for Washburn, I did pay as I went (credit cards), but now in the nursing program, tuition is too high to pay for it as I go.  So I do have a student loan, which I don't like to have.  I don't experience any peer pressure in my classes.  I think we have a great class of 80+ students.  I haven't met anybody who is not nice or willing to help.  A lot better atmosphere than I had in the LPN program.  I really do feel supported by friends and family.  Everyone has been great.  My husband is doing more of the household chores to help and my friends help with the kids.  My parents are in Germany, so they can't really help that much, besides being supportive on the phone.  They will however, come next week and help me for 3 weeks, which will be very nice.

blog #3 - most difficult class - Kristina Hanson

In the Spring I took Statistics online at a local community college.  I love math, but taking this class online was not the best decision.  I was also taking chemistry online at the same time and 2 other classes.  The instructor I had in statistics was never answering emails.  The few times I sent her an email it took weeks to get an answer.  Students were asking how to do things, but didn't get answers.  Other students tried to explain how to do things.  The instructor didn't really explain how this all worked.  Instead of using the school website, we had to install the program that came with the book and take quizzes on there.  I have taken lots of classes online, but never had as little interaction with the instructor as in this one.  It was very frustrating.

blog post # 2 from 8/24/11 - Kristina Hanson

I don't think that keeping a blog or notebook is an exercise in narcissism.  Personally, I don't keep either.  Well, I guess that's not true any longer.  I do have this blog now.  I would say that keeping a notebook is about "keeping in touch".  You can go back and read it and remember what happened back when.  You will remember the events better when they are written down as the written events will reflect the mood better than your memory.  I don't think that keeping a notebook is an exercise in narcissism.  Usually it doesn't just involve the person writing.  It is about family events or events with friends, things that are important to remember.  I do think that social media changes the way we record the world around us. When people kept a notebook, it was personal.  When you keep a blog that is open to others, it is not just personal anymore.  You can share your feelings with people all over the world, you can now have "friends" all over the world.  People are more aware of what is going on in other areas of the country or other countries because of social media.

Myself - blog from 8/21/11

My name is Kristina Hanson. I was born and raised in Germany.  I got married to a US citizen and moved to the USA when I was 21 years old.  I have been here for 16 years now.  I have two children, Niklas (8 years) and Katarina (6 years), two dogs and a cat.  I worked in office jobs until after I had my son, then decided I wanted to go into nursing.  I started out by becoming a CNA.  I worked on pre-requisites for nursing school and got my LPN in January of 2009.  Right now I'm working at a local hospital on a medical-telemetry floor and I'm in the BSN program at Washburn (first semester).  I'm pretty busy with school full-time, working 24 hours and my kids activities.