Prewriting for Primary Source Workshop

My biggest concern about the research I have already done is whether or not it is the right research. I still don't completely understand what we are writing about so I haven't been to sure what I should be researching and for what. Another concern is that my topic is still rather broad. It seems like in class we have talked about how we all need to narrow down our topic and I am not sure how to narrow mine down any further to where it will still be interesting. I feel as though to narrow of a topic gets rather dull and boring. Not only is a narrow topic boring it is hard to write about. A lot of my topic is based upon other outside information so I cannot exclude that all together.

Source 1

• My first source I believe that my first source, which is a news article I found on the library database, is a good candidate for a primary source.
• I chose it because it seemed like a credible source, and it pertained to what I am doing my research over. It directly address my topic in that it is about how GM had to empty all their emergency funds.
• As stated above, the source is about how GM had to empty all their funds to stay in business.
• I noticed that this particular source was all logos, straight facts

Source 2

• This source I got out of the money section of the Wall Street Journal. That in it self should be enough for it to qualify as a good primary source
• I chose it once again because it pertained to my topic but it also had a lot of good information about the current auto crises.
• This source is about how GM and other US auto makers are going to cut costs to try and bail themselves out of the current predicament they are in.
• For being a business/money article I noticed more emotion and pathos in this article. Since there were a lot of quotes I think those are what added the more personal approach to the article.

Source 3

• My third source is more personal stories and articles from the General Motors website. These are very primary because they are coming straight from the people being affected by this auto crises.
• I chose this because I think it adds a good perspective on just how important this crises is. These are actual people and companies being affected.
• The source is in general about General Motors and their financial status and how that is affecting other people who work closely with GM.
• There is a lot of pathos associated with this website because some of these people who write these articles could possibly be out of work and whenever peoples lively hood are being threatened to be taken away people get very emotional.

research experiences

Through out my research I have learned a lot about General Motors. I am researching about how GM got themselves into the predicament they are in today. I am also researching how that is effecting everyone else. I found out that GM has been in financial trouble for some time, but until last last year they sugar coated it pretty well. Not a lot of press had been issued about how GM was losing money and had been losing money for many years prior to 2008. GM had been issuing a lot of statements about how they were moving in the right direction to turn around and start having quarterly gains again. If that was the case, the financial crises of September completely killed General Motors. I haven't found statements from inside GM to see whether they were in fact moving in the right direction but even if they were they obviously weren't doing it fast enough.

As ironic as it might seem, it has been rather difficult to find stuff about GM before they began asking the government for bail out money. As I stated above, GM did a fantastic job of covering up their moderate quarterly earning for many years prior to 2008. In a lot of the articles I found they all said basically the same thing, in that, GM is losing money but no one really knows why or how.

Since most all the sources are from some sort of news periodical they all come from similar sources so most of the information says the same thing, just stated a bit differently. I am still searching on a few sources that give me a different perspective on how GM got themselves into this mess.

Choice of Topic

I haven't quite decided on a topic yet, I am either going to do something with the failing US auto industry or something in the Travel industry. The auto industry would be interesting because everyday new news comes out about new developments in the industry. I also like the travel industry, and I believe that the failing financial situation around the world is going to have a greater impact on that industry very soon.

I suppose I will have to pick one or the other, I will probably pick the US auto industry depending on if anyone else picks that in class.

Authors note

Authors Note:
This is a very rough draft; in fact through half the draft I did not have my notes which made it very difficult to keep a central theme. I was not sure what I had already written; it was almost as if I had to write it twice. Serious revision is necessary.

Notes about Space

The public space I am choosing is the Vaquero Country Club.
While there I noticed all sorts of things that can be arguments. I’ll start with the space as a whole. The club house is where I observed. The outside of the building looks quite southwestern and Texan. The building is made of sandstone colored stone and has a greenish, black slate roof. Most all the fixtures on the outside are made of copper. It is a large building, in the neighborhood of 10, 000 square feet. The inside carries on the architecture of the outside. When you walk in through the front double doors you are immersed by a relaxing, log cabinesque interior. The front doors look an awful lot like doors from an old Texan prison. Aged dark wood and rebar. As you walk in straight ahead of you is a wide hallway leading into the bar. As you walk into the bar/great room to your right is a free standing fire place and on the other side of that is the more formal dining room. If you look to the left there is the actual bar and bar stools. If you walk in the front door again and instead of going straight you go to the right you go down a hallway again that leads to a stairwell and double doors. The stairwell goes up to the ladies locker room and the double doors go into the men’s locker room. There is more but I will leave that out for now.

The objects in the club house are mostly golf or antique type things. The pictures are aged golf pictures or aged impressionistic paintings. All very dull black, white and gray pictures. Nothing flashy at all. There is a lot of statues either of copper or bronze. The statues are mostly of golfers or famous Texans. The furniture looks like something you would see in a log cabin if it was in Texas. It is aged and there is a lot of leather and wood. The tile on the floor is a slate looking tile. Once again it is all aged to look like it has been there for a while.

The people in the country club are very different and yet very similar. All of them are very well off, in fact it was just named highest per capita income for a single city in the United States. The people though range from CEO’s of large cooperation’s to Famous Football players and everyone in-between. Most of the people that are at the club are there for a purpose. They are either there to play golf, to eat lunch or dinner or to relax in the spa. I noticed a lot of people simply come there to socialize too, especially around dinner time. Most everyone knows each other so there is a lot of interaction between the people. I also noticed people treat the club house like their home. Most everyone feels very comfortable there and it causes them to relax more than if they were just in a typical space like Wal-Mart or something.

I observed the club once at night and once in the early morning and I was surprised at the different things people did at different times of the day. In the morning people are generally there to work out or to play golf. There is not a lot of wandering around. In the morning I noticed quite a few more women there than men. I’m not sure why though. In the evening most of the people were there for dinner. It seems as though most of the people that came also socialized quite profusely. The dinner customers too were also more polite and personable then the morning people. I accredited this to the people in the morning were still tired and probably were still trying to wake up. While the people at night were ready to go out and have a good time. I know from personal experience I am generally much more fun to be around at night then at 6am in the morning.

Arguments of Fact/Definition

The menu in the restaurant was one of the only arguments of fact that I noticed at Vaquero. It has prices set for the different menu items. The spa sheet was another fact argument I noticed. For example, a one hour Swedish massage is 210 dollars. It is arguing that a one hour Swedish massage with that particular massage therapist is worth 210 dollars.

There is a sign on the wall that says, "Golf Magazine 10 best private country clubs in the southwest." This is a good argument of fact because it is arguing that Vaquero is on of the best country clubs in southwest United States. I agree that it is, but someone else might not making it an argument.

Observations

This weekend I went and observed the country club I choose twice. I was quite surprised as to how much I learned sitting back and observing the action instead of being part of it. I've kind of grown up in this club so I thought I knew a lot of what went on but turns out I didn't. I went twice to observe once in the morning and once at night. The time at night was neat because I am usually around TCU at night so I didn't really know what went on there at night. I found out that a lot of the members come out and enjoy dinner with a bunch of their friends. Night was also a lot of fun for me because there was a whiskey tasting happening and I got to join in on that. Who doesn't like free alcohol, especially when it's some of the best whiskey throughout the world. Yum.

All and all I'm glad I went and observed because not only did a get a lot of useful info for the english assignment I also learned a lot about a place I thought I already knew a lot about!