My Article for the Editorial Portfolio

I am going to do my editorial on the proposed MWC playoff plan that could potentially take the place of the current BCS system. I found this article in the daily skiff, and I am passionate about it because this could help the Horned Frogs get a chance to play in a GREAT bowl game each year. In my letter to the editor, my response is one that will agree and disagree with the proposed plan. Essentially, this is a good start to a fair and exciting playoff system, but there are still many holes in this plan.

I plan to support my stance with my own experiences season to season that end with a great team getting left out of the mix because an automatic bid trumps a near perfect season for a team from a lesser conference.

Topic Exploration for Editorial Portfolio

I want to write a letter to the editor agreeing with an article that was written in the Daily Skiff about the Mountain West Conference playoff proposal. The MWC Board of Directors came up with the idea and it has received support from other conferences around the country. This type of idea is definitely needed because year after year in college football a team is left out of the mix. The current system, the Bowl Championship Series is just not sufficient enough.

I think this topic is good because there is enough here to respond back to the article, create my own op-ed piece, and make a creative cartoon, mock article, etc for this portfolio. I am also extremely interested in this issue because I am a huge sports fan. I have seen how messed up the current system can be, so I would love to see a change.

Author's Note for Final Draft and Portfolio

I think my final draft is by far my best draft, as it should be. There has been a ton of rewriting and adding on to it, and I think now it is complete. From a citing standpoint, grammar, and most importantly content, it is good to go.

The balance of summary and analysis is good, and I am happy with the additions I made; the workshops were definitely primary reasons for why I did add what I did, so I am glad we had those. There are always things that can be done to make a paper better, but I worked hard, and I am happy with my final product.

The portfolio has a ton in it. It is packed with all of my drafts, charts, etc. I put a lot of effort into making sure everything was in its place and everything was accounted for. It is interesting to see the transformation from the first two body sections, to what I have now: the final product. I think a quick glance at the portfolio shows how much work and research was done, and that is exactly what a portfolio should show. There should be a gradual increase in research, effort, substance, and quality. I think all of these things are improved upon, and I am more than satisfied with the entire package.

Author's Note for Draft Three

In my third draft, I am looking for help with fine-tuning my paper. Citing issues, phrasing, word choice, and the little things like that are what I could use the most help with. I think the substance of my paper is good, and I think there is a good balance of summary and analysis. I made a few changes to y works cited, so a check over of that would be good too.

I think I am close to the end with this, and I obviously have to be too, but I am happy with where I am at this point with my third draft.

How My Rhetorical Case Study Has Developed

Having just completed my third draft of my rhetorical case study, I have seen a ton of improvement. I think this is my most complete draft, in terms of the right amount of analysis and summarizing. I feel good about the balance of the two. Starting the paper in pieces, I think now, with eight pages, my paper is filled out. It still needs some fine-tuning, but as a whole, it is there. I am happy with the flow, and how I transitioned from one point to the next, and I think from my first draft to this one, that is one thing that is definitely better.

Taking a step back, I can see I have come a long way since my first draft of two body sections. The paper went basically the way I anticipated it would, and with some finishing touches, I think it will be good. It is a lot easier to see it as a whole now, than when I just had two body sections.

How My Topic Impacts the Local Community

I think my topic greatly affects the local community. The success of TCU's signing day gets most on campus and the local community excited about the upcoming year. My topic is specifically geared toward the local community, and though it is getting attention nationally, the local community is the area that can most closely relate to what I am talking about.

Frankly, TCU students and the TCU supporters in the DFW area are the majority who care about this topic, and I think like me, it is getting them excited and anxious about the coming year.

I think my topic creates stir among those in the area, and that can be a powerful thing, especially come next season.

Author's Note for First Draft

Completing my first draft, which ran a bit over six pages, I realize I will need to be more specific to get a full eight pages. I think what I have so far is good, and I think there is a solid balance of analysis and summary.

My citing seems to be okay, but I think that is the biggest mechanical part I need to fix and/or check over. All in all, my biggest challenge that lies ahead is expanding on what I already have to achieve the page limit. I know I have enough information, I just need some guidance to find other ways of elaborating on my topic, and also suggestions on what I might be forgetting or leaving out.

Two Body Sections

I think my approach should be effective. I plan on starting with the most local medium, and then proceeding with the more national mediums. In writing my first two body sections, I have found some similarities, but there have also been clear differences in regard to amount of devotion and coverage to the topic: TCU football recruiting.

I think the setup I am going with will allow for some great elaboration and it will be easy to compare and contrast the different sources. This is the approach I plan on taking for the whole paper, and I started with the first two body sections. I kind of set the stage, explain what each one does/offers as a source, then when all are mentioned, I can go back and forth, comparing and contrasting similarities and differences in my four sources.

This will also allow to see how truly effective each source is, and it will allow for me to analyze the overall exposure TCU received and how that has helped/hurt the program.

Prewriting

Prewriting for Rhetorical Case Study

What connects my sources?

All of my sources focus on how TCU did in its recruiting efforts this off-season. Compared to years past, TCU has had great success, and a trend in my sources is how different recruiting is for TCU now, compared to say five years ago. TCU is now legitimately competing with the powerhouses like Texas and Oklahoma for top tier recruits. In years past, TCU had to take a back seat to schools like these, and they would have to pick over what was left behind. Now, they are getting some of the best this country has to offer, and kids are seeking TCU out more as well. All of this is mixed in all four of my sources. Some go more in depth than others, but the general ideas are definitely covered.

Summarize into two sentences or so:

TCU is becoming a major player in the recruiting process because of its consistent success in recent years. This success is allowing for TCU to compete with powerhouse schools, and actually swoop in and take recruits who might have considered bigger schools. Also, kids are starting to consider TCU themselves.

Organization Technique:

I am going to start with the smallest (local) medium, and then I will work my way up to the biggest (national) medium. Seeing how TCU’s recruiting was covered in the Daily Skiff, to the Telegram, and on to ESPN. Taking in and dissecting each one, and giving my analysis of each. Then, after all four have been covered, I would kind of take a compare and contrast approach, analyzing why coverage was the way it was, etc.

I think this approach would be effective because it covers all the bases, and it is in a consistent, almost chronological approach, from most coverage, to least, or smallest medium to biggest. It allows for separation of the sources and it still leaves an opening to come back in and tie it all back up together.

How am I going to transition from source to source?

I think the flow is going to be fairly simple because I am going to take it source by source, starting with the skiff, explain why the coverage was so big and elaborate, and then going into the Telegram article. With that, I would relate it back a bit to the Skiff article, because there is heavy coverage in both, but I would showcase the differences in the two, because a college newspaper is going to be a little bit more favorable and generic in some cases than a city newspaper, in a huge market. From there I would go into the first ESPN article, which is actually a blog. I would transition with how the coverage changes a bit, but is still quite similar, and from there to the fourth source, I would make a point to show how little coverage there is, especially compared to the first source. Mostly though, I would make it a simple transition from source to source and I would do the majority of the comparing and contrasting when I am done revealing each source. That way I could jump from local to national, and so on. It would much more confusing to do that if all sources had not been established and presented. I feel like this would create good flow that would make the paper an easy, somewhat interesting read for the reader.

Topic Development Through More Reseach

I feel I have a more well-rounded understanding of what I am trying to do. By looking more in depth at my sources, I have been able to find similarities, and I have also been able to contrast how different they are based on what medium they were found in.

I think the most interesting thing about all of my research and analyzing has been seeing the commonalities in my sources. Big markets or small ones, they common themes continue to exist. I think that is especially cool because I am a TCU student, and seeing your school being represented in the local media like it is in national media is exciting.

Unbiased, it is amazing what a few good years can do for a program, and to see how much attention is paid to a particular program is astonishing. It takes a great deal of time and work to be recognized, but only a split second to be forgotten about.

I feel I have some great stuff, and I think it is more than substantial to get my point across.