How To

The Steps to Creating a Good How To Video

1. Identify your audience: Know who you are presenting to. This will depend largely on the topic of your how to video. Knowing your audience will help you determine how you should present your how to video.

2. Introduce yourself and clearly state your topic: Make sure your audience knows for sure that what they are looking at is what they want. Nobody wants to go through half of a 5 minute how to video to realize that the video is not exactly what they wanted. You might consider explaining why you are making the how to for that topic or what is important about that topic.

3. List the supplies your audience will need: What will your audience need to complete the task presented in your how to? For example, if you are making a how to video about making cookies, list the ingredients before you start the main steps of the video. This way your audience can more easily prepare and follow along.

4. Explain the steps: This will be the main part of your how to video. Be sure to be clear and thorough when explaining your steps. Remember: your audience probably does not have a lot of background on your topic.

5. Edit your video: Organize your video in a way that makes sense. Fluid transitions and text or captions in your video can be useful tools that make your presentation more appealing and easier to understand.

Below is my how to video about how to set up a hammock using paracord. Hammocking is a great way to relax, hang out, or camp. It is a growing trend, especially among college students.

Research Process

Research:
The ability to research is an important skill. Research helps you learn more about a subject, and allows you to form conclusions and opinions based upon facts. This guide will help you understand the steps to conducting more formal research and writing a research paper.




Know what type of paper you are writing:
There are two types of research papers that you may encounter. Both of them require critical thinking, which means that when you look through your sources you try to remain unbiased and think hard about the information provided to you.

• Argumentative: With an argumentative paper, the information that you find will be used to form an opinion about the subject. In your paper, you will try to use the information to
• Analytical: Analytical papers are used to break a topic down in order to better understand it. Unlike an argumentative paper, you will not pick a side, but remain neutral and simply state the facts and explain multiple opinions of the topic.

Pick your topic:

When picking a topic, try to pick something that you find interesting. If you have a genuine interest in the topic, conducting research and writing the paper will come more naturally. Consider the scope of your topic. If your topic is too broad, you might have to narrow it, and if your topic does not have enough information surrounding it, you might have to broaden it.

Create a research question:
Writing a research question will help guide your research. It also will help you find just the right amount of information.

Finding sources:
When finding sources to use for your research paper, it is important to make sure that the information is coming from somewhere reliable. For example, sources like textbooks and academic reports are much more reliable than web forums or yes, even Wikipedia. When evaluating whether or not a source is reliable, there are a few things to consider.

• Structure: Read certain parts of the article, like the introduction or abstract if the article has one. This will help you determine the author's stance on the topic, as well as help you decide if the text will help you answer your research question.
• Audience: Determining the audience of a text will help you figure out the writing level of the paper. If the paper was written for a group of doctors, the information may be too technical for you to understand, however, the information is most likely reliable. If the article was written as an opinion article for the general public, the information may be too biased to be considered reliable.
• Author: The author's background can also help you figure out if the information is reliable. Check to see if the author has plenty of experience in the area of your topic.

Primary and secondary sources:

When researching your paper, it is important to utilize both primary and secondary sources.

• Primary sources: Primary sources are original documents. They can be first-hand accounts, diaries, film or pictures, and more. Primary sources are good because they have not already been interpreted.
• Secondary sources: Secondary sources are documents that interpret primary sources. Examples can be textbooks, reviews, or articles. Secondary sources can help you better understand primary sources.

Create an outline:

Start with a basic outline of how you want your paper to be organized. List out your main points, and find sources that you found earlier that can be used to support those points. Once you have created an outline that organized your paper and details what information and sources you will use, the paper will almost write itself.

Integrating sources:

When writing your paper, it will be necessary to implement information from your sources to support the claims you make in your paper. Try to summarize and paraphrase information from your sources rather than using direct quotes every time. You should have more paraphrases than quotes. If you do use a quote, make sure to thoroughly explain it. And, of course, make sure to correctly cite the sources that you use.

Writing and revising your first draft:

Now that you have good knowledge of your topic and a stellar outline, writing the paper should be a breeze. However, your first draft will not be perfect. Make sure to go through yourself and make sure there are no grammatical or spelling errors. Then, if possible, try to have one of your peers read your paper. What may have made sense to you, may not make sense to someone else. They can tell you where you need to offer more explanation or reorganize your paper. 

DrPPrice. "Researching Online for College Students: Five Easy Steps." Video blog post. YouTube. YouTube, 4 Apr. 2008. Web. 09 Mar. 2015.

The Art of Persuasion

The Art of Persuasion:

Rhetoric is the ability to use persuasive language to influence the thoughts or actions of others. In order to effectively reach the target audience, there are numerous techniques involving persuasion that can be used. It is important to evaluate the audience and situation in order to get the desire outcome.

Logos: To utilize logos is to appeal to a person with logic and reason. Relatively easy to identify, logos often takes the form of facts, statistics, and hard evidence. In and around 1893, the time of the World’s Fair, a lot of people had troubles with offensive smelling feet. Hollingsworth, on page 211 details the simple steps that can be taken to combat offensive feet. The article contains no information other than the instructions on how simple it is to wash feet effectively.

Ethos: Ethos is the use of ethics and morals to persuade people. In Devil in the White City, as the World’s Fair approaches its deadline, Daniel Burnham feels the pressure to complete the fair on time. Burnham resorts to threatening to fire people that do not work efficiently (178). Although this is a more negative use of ethos, it is still effective because often times the jobs at stake were crucial for the workers to support their families.

Pathos: Pathos appeals to people’s emotions and feelings; it can be very powerful depending on the situation. In Devil in the White City, Holmes uses his charming personality to get Minnie to marry him. Holmes makes Minnie feel good and happy, which lures Minnie in. The reader knows that Holmes intentions with Minnie are far from “good” and “happy”, but Minnie is clouded by the way Holmes makes her feel.

Reciprocity: Sometimes when a person owes another person, whether it is a favor, money, or something else, their feeling of obligation can be used to help persuade them. In Devil in the White City, Daniel Burnham is required to “wine and dine” potential investors for the fair (131). Although Burnham does not enjoy this process, he knows that the investors will appreciate the gesture, and will be more likely to put money into the World’s Fair as a result.

Scarcity: Scarcity is a simple fact of human nature: people want more of the things there are less of. This is why products labeled as “limited edition” or “limited time only” tend to draw in more customers than products that do not utilize the science of scarcity. A common tactic that I see on television commercials is to offer time-sensitive deals. How many times have you heard, “but wait, if you call now…” This strategy makes the consumer feel like they are missing out if they don’t take advantage of the offer.

Authority: Authority, when it comes to the science of persuasion, is the idea that people follow the lead of knowledgeable experts or successful people. For example, if a commercial for toothpaste comments that its brand is the most popular among dentists, people will find that brand credible and will be more likely to buy it. On page 35 in Devil in the White City, Dr. Holmes is described as a confident and well-dressed man. He carries himself in a way that makes him seem professional and knowledgeable. These traits make him appear to be a credible man that is successful and trustworthy.

Consistency: Studies show that people like to be consistent with previous decisions, and they look for commitments that can be made and kept throughout the future. If a person buys an Apple phone, has an iTunes account, and has an Apple computer, they are more likely to buy an Apple TV than a competitor’s product because they have a consistent experience with Apple’s products. Marketers promote this consistency by highlighting the fact that their systems integrate with one another.

Liking: The science behind liking is that people are more likely to do business with those who are similar to them and that are relatable. Dr. H. H. Holmes uses liking in Devil in The White City. Ned and his family are living in Holmes’s building, and they have been having some financial troubles. Holmes recognizes this, and opens up to Ned by sympathizing with his current situation. “His sympathy was disarming.” This example shows how Holmes is able to manipulate Ned’s emotions by opening up and liking himself to Ned. (Page 125)

Consensus: People tend to hop on the “bandwagon” and follow the actions performed by others. In his article titles “A Brand by Any Other Name”, Douglass Rushkoff details an experience that he had at a shoe store. Rushkoff encounters a teenager trying to figure out “which trainer is [him]?” The teen explains that he has heard of Nike as being “the most utilitarian and scientifically advanced shoe,” but the teen has also been made aware of rumors of third world laborers employed by Nike, which turns him off to the brand. Rather than doing his own research and making his own decisions, the teenager has been influenced by what others think of brands like Nike, and blindly follows their lead.

Works Cited

Larson, Erik. The Devil in the White City. New York: Vintage Books, 2003.

Rushkoff, Douglas. "A Brand by Any Other Name." PBS. PBS, 200. Web. 18 Feb. 2015.