Minch 1

Audrey Minch
John Chrisman
ENC 1102
20 March 2015
Unit 3 Paper
Part 1:
Source 1:
Instructure. Webcourses. UCF. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
A very important genre, and the one I am using for my discourse community, of the
school is a school-affiliated website called Webcourses. All students and educators can log on
and keep track of classes, grades, conversations, dates, and more. The purpose of webcourses is
for educators to send out assignments, notifications, and grades to students and for students to
keep track of dates, assignments, and their grades. When you log in to the website, at the top
there are links to courses, grades and calendar. Courses is a link to all classes the student or
educator has, grades shows an overall score for all classes enrolled in, and the calendar has all
upcoming dates filled in. There is a chat and discussion board where teachers and students can
communicate with one another. There is also an option to attach links where files can be
uploaded by teachers for students to see. This can be used to upload notes, study guides, extra
credit, or anything of the sort. The many objective of the site is to keep students on track and
guide them to success.

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Source 2:
Here Are The Florida Universities Ranked By Most Successful Graduates. Huffpost Miami.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Mar. 2015.
In this article, the University of Central Florida is ranked the number one school in
Florida for success after graduation tied with the University of South Florida. The schools are
graded on graduates employed or continuing education upon one year after graduation, median
average salary of undergraduates employed full-time in Florida one year after graduation, and the
cost to educate. The authors said there were many ways they could judge the eleven Florida
universities but the Board of Governors chose these three as the criteria. The authors also said
there are still some grading issues but this is what they have come up with for now resulting in
UCF as number one.

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Source 3:
Humphreys, Debra. Success after College: What Students, Parents, and Educators Need to
Know and Do. Liberal Education 99.2 (2013): 6-13. Web. 17 Mar. 2015.
In this journal, Humphreys says that a college degree is essential for success in
todays competitive global economy (6) but her claim is that since no university is the same, no
student is the same, and some college degree programs arent made for long term success,
students and parents need to know what to do to make the most out of their investment in a
college education while educators need to know what is effective in preparing students for
success in the long run. She splits her journal into separate headings: Bridging the awareness
and communication gaps where she explains how students and parents need to understand what
a high-quality undergraduate program consists of, Implications for students and parents where
she focuses on what students and parents need to know for success, Implications for college
educators where she focuses on what they need to know, and Employers and educators in
partnership where she expresses that both employers and educators can help students find their
jobs, not just educators.

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Source 4:
Petty, Tanjula. Motivating First-Generation Students to Academic Success and College
Completion. College Student Journal 48.1 (2014): 133-140. Web. 18 Mar. 2015.
In this scholarly journal, Petty explains how institutions play a key role in motivating
students to remain in college. There should be a range of programs that provide pathways for
first-generation students to be successful and finish school. The review explores barriers faced
by first-generation students that may potentially impact students' academic success and college
completion (134). Petty elaborates on some of the barriers faced. For example the ability to
function in two different worlds culture of home and culture of higher education. Later, she
discusses theories on how to motivate people. To motivate someone, their attitudes and
behaviors must be contemplated (135). Then comes in Maslows and McClellands ways of
understanding motivation. She continues and says how motivation can be based on ones
different needs. Her main argument is that the effort to help a first-generation student succeed
does not end after admission. It must continue and they need to stay motivated.

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Source 5:
Lopez, Melinda. Personal Interview. 18 Mar. 2015.
In this interview, I asked Melinda, a freshman Business Marketing major, questions about
success. When I asked her what leads to student success, she said that time management, being
involved, working hard, and being well rounded were the factors. I then asked whats her
definition of success and she responded with it is doing your absolute best at everything you
do. My next set of questions was more UCF and Webcourses based. I asked her why she chose
UCF and she replied with a love for the campus and it was her cheaper option. I asked does she
think UCF offers opportunities for success and she gave me an excited and positive answer.
When asked if webcourses helps with her success, It keeps me on track, Lopez said. She gave
her final thoughts on Webcourses and said there was nothing wrong with the program and
actually wished it was mandatory for all teachers to use.

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Source 6:
Jones, Mitchell. Personal interview. 18 Mar. 2015.
In Mitchell Jones, a freshman Business Management major, I asked him the same
questions as I did Melinda to see how their answers may differ. Turns out they were pretty
different. Mitchell said the key to student success is to complete whatever it was that led you to
attend college and his definition of success is being in a place where you are satisfied with
how you have lived your life and what you have done with your life. When discussing why he
chose UCF, he had some different reasons that Melinda but one reason they shared was it was the
cheaper option. This ties in with the research I did in the Source 2 article because one factor used
to judge the schools and grade them was cost. Another thing the two interviewees had in
common was they both thought UCF had plenty of opportunities for success. When asked about
webcourses, Mitchell was less thrilled than Melinda. Mitchell did like it because he can check
his grades but he sees it as another tool that I must utilize because my courses require it which,
to him, can get in the way. But when asked for his final thoughts on webcourses, he said it is
more of a help than a hindrance.

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Part 2
From researching the causes and opinions on success in and after college, I can see that it
is a value at most institutions and to most people.
Observing the webcourses website created a perfect foundation for me to start my
research. I already was aware of how it works being a UCF student but digging further and
seeing what other features there were helped prepare for my further research so I can see how
anything I may find may fit into my genre. Doing a personal observation of webcourses helped
because now as I look into my other sources, I can see where those may connect to different parts
of my genre and/or discourse community. This source references many students which led me to
want to interview two different students and to get their opinions and thoughts on the website
and how it leads to their success.
The article ranking the eleven universities in Florida with the University of Central
Florida at the top was a perfect source to use. Its proof that UCF really values student success so
much to the point that they are number one in the state of Florida. The different aspects of how
the schools were graded helped guide some more questions I had and to go deeper into my
research. This source has led me to some new questions such as what does UCF do to make their
students successful and how do they intend to remain the number one school in Florida for
success after graduation.
Debra Humphreys scholarly journal helped me understand my discourse community
more because I have a better understanding of some possible reasons as to why UCF wants their
students to be successful and how they help them accomplish that. This meshes into my research
perfectly looking deeper to see if webcourses is one of those effective tools educators use to aid

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students in achieving success. Tanjula Pettys scholarly journal raised a lot of questions for me.
Although the main topic was first-generation students, I think a lot of the points made could go
to any student. Dont all students need to remain motivated in order to be successful? Is
Webcourses a way that UCF tries to keep their students motivated and aim towards graduation
and success afterwards? And the claim that to understand motivation ones attitudes and
behaviors must be noticed, how can every single attitude and behavior of every single student be
taken to notice in one school?
The two student interviews I did were incredibly insightful. Melindas interview meshes
with my other research very well. I can connect scholarly opinions with the opinions of a real
student and they connect nicely. Her interview helped me understand my discourse community
as a university with a wide variety of opportunities and helpful tools for success. Mitchells
interview took a different turn. While Melinda loved webcourses and found it very important to
her success, Mitchell thought it was both helpful and a nuisance. Although he can check his
grades, using Webcourses seems like something he is required to use and that it can get in the
way. On the other hand, Melinda wishes that more of her teachers were required to use it.
Mitchell then went further and said, I suppose thats dependent upon the course and person,
which actually leads me further in my questions. Can a university really guarantee every single
student success? This whole time Ive been talking about the majority but could there be a
possible way to suit every student? This connects to my question about motivation from Pettys
journal. Mitchells final argument is that UCF has many opportunities to fulfill his definition of
success but webcourses is not one of them. This leads me to one last question. Could the tools
that help a student gain success and the result as to what makes a student successful be based
around the individual students personal definition of what success really is?