Srikar's WRA-110 Website

"Your College Major..." Article:

   As the title states, the main idea of this articles is to explain why "Your College Major May Not be as Important as You Think". This is not to say that a college major is not important, it means you are not doomed if you choose a "wrong" or different major. The article opens with an excerpt of a letter which Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, recieved from his father. This letter showed his father's overall disgust with the fact that his son had chosen "Classics" as a major. The author states that many parents highly pressure or force their childeren to choose job-oriented majors rather than ones which deviate from the status quo. He then uses personal philisophes and ideas to summarize what was discussed in the article.

   The audience of this essay is most likely intended to be incoming or current students and parents. This is evident by the authors encouraging words to not be scared to try other majors and his direct acknowledgment to any parents reading this article. This article is displays citations from various sources such as Yahoo Finance and Stanford University. Much of this article is personal ideas and experiences though.

   One problem I have with this article is its example with CNN's founder Ted Turner. While it is true that Mr. Turner went on to be extremely successful despite his major choice and his parent's lack of support, as mentioned in the comments section, " For every Classics major who founds CNN, there are [thousands] who wash dishes at Denny's. Get real." A truer statement could not have been spoken. While I agree with the author's position that you should not choose a major which focuses exclusively on job development, you should still choose one related to the job you are looking for. For example, I am taking Computer Engineering because I want to go into a computer-related major. If I wanted to work with computers, I would not choose Liberal Arts or another unrelated major. Choosing the correct major will provide training for the job you are looking for and employers look for experience on top of grades.

Essay:

   As stated in the first paragraph the main idea of this paper is to explain what chemical engineering is and "The future prospects that a career as a chemical engineer can hold. In the introduction paragraph, the author clearly defines what the structure of the rest of the essay will look like. The actual essay sticks to this structure very well. The evidence presented is clearly supported with facts from various articles including the required journal entry and interview.

   The audience can be inferred to be incoming Freshmen. In particular, incoming to MSU. This can be seen by the author's section entirely dedicated to what chemical engineering is like at MSU. The author also includes statistics such as job aptitude and salaries to persuade students to choose this as a major. The essay seems to be revised very well as it is able to provide much information while avoiding filler content. It was also revised a total of six times including the final draft.

   Personally, I cannot relate to this author's position too much. Throughout middle and high school chemistry was one of my least favorite subjects. This also showed during the fall semester of my Freshman year when I was required to take CEM 141. I do agree with the author on their position on writing in engineering. As they state, "The skill will definitely be useful because the world is becoming a more diverse...environment".