Second Essay- Electronic Literacy (Final)

1. - Introduction. -Introduce general topic. (Electronic Literacy)
- Narrow down topic. (When I first started using computers and electronic devices)
-Focus on thesis. (Nowadays Experience in Electronic Literacy & the Future in Electronic Literacy)
-Reasons and reader guide. (First experiences, Electronic Literacy nowadays and the future)

2.- Body: developmental paragraph 1 (First Contact with Electronic Literacy)
-Topic Sentence (topic and controlling idea: The first time I used a computer)
-Supporting ideas (The programs I started using) -Details (My impressions of Electronic Literacy)

3.- Body: developmental paragraph 2 (Nowadays Influence)
-Topic Sentence (topic and controlling idea: The importance of Electronic Literacy in my life)
-Supporting ideas (How electronic literacy has helped me throughout my Education)
-Details (The need to be Electronically Literate)

4.- Body: developmental paragraph 3 (Electronic Literacy in the future)
-Topic Sentence (topic and controlling idea: The role of Electronic Literacy in the future)
-Supporting ideas (The every-day evolution of Electronic media)
-Details (We need to be updated in Electronic Literacy)

5.- Conclusion: -Restate thesis (controlling idea of essay: Electronic Literacy Importance)
-Restate each topic sentence from developmental paragraphs (Electronic Literacy; how it started for me, its influence nowadays for me and the world, the future in Electronic Literacy)
-State your opinion (what I think about Electronic Literacy)
-Final Statement (summing thought)

Essay-Electronic Literacy?

Electronic Literacy, what do we really mean by this? Nowadays it can be referred as the competence an individual has using computers or electronic means. I still can recall when I first started using a computer; it was more an interactive game rather than a tool. As time went by I reached High Level Education, I realized that Electronic Literacy it was really important for Academic and Professional Purposes and not only for fun as I first thought. In this essay I will talk about some of the experiences I have had regarding Electronic Literacy, also I will comment about the use of it nowadays and some of the ways in which this might be used in the future.

I think it was 2001 when we first got our computer home; it was a bit cumbersome but, still useful for our entertainment and small elementary school assignments. It was not until I reached Secondary school when I first noticed that I had to use my computer to write some of my assignments and later on in Preparatory school when I had to create presentations. In order to do this, I started using the most famous word processor since then; Microsoft Word. I was able to make my way around using these applications but I was not an expert using them. In the following years everything seemed a bit more complicated; we had to know more about the use of these two simple applications plus some others such as: AutoCAD, how to use e-mail among other things using electronic means. My first impressions on this were simply that the world was changing and that maybe it was not enough to know how to write and read but also to be skilled using electronic means.

Today Electronic Literacy is something that cannot be overlooked. Throughout my years as a student I have seen the importance of being electronically literate. A good example of this would make me think of High School, back to when teachers asked us to do assignments using word processors and to give our paper certain features. Although many of us were able to cope with the requirements, some of my classmates were not able to. As minimal as these little features may be, they would give those who met the requirements a better grade or at least a good chance for that. In this, I saw how important was to be competent. After this happening, I wanted to improve my knowledge on Electronic Literacy. By doing this I gave a boost to my competence. I became aware that it was not about “wanting to be” but the “need to be” proficient.

As time goes by, it is noticeable that new Electronic Resources are created; and with this, the need to be constantly updated. Perhaps--without even noticing—there will be a moment in which the role of Electronic Literacy will be tremendous and obligatory. We can all observe how every day new technologies arise, and along with these the need to learn them. If today these new Electronic Resources are important, we cannot imagine the impact they will have on the future but the odds are that they will play an important role. These are probably advices to encourage ourselves to not be left behind and get along with Technology.

From beginning to end, it has been made clear that Electronic Literacy is as important as knowing how to write and read. For me it started as a game but perhaps for many people this was such a great step and a huge gap since they were not used to this kind of Electronic Resources. Today, these resources are used all over the world either for Academic purposes, Professional Purposes or maybe just personal purposes, but the point here is that most of the people had to learn how to use them. My personal opinion about Electronic Literacy is that it is necessary to be competent if not an expert to be ready for today’s changing world. Otherwise, if you are reluctant to today’s technologies you take the risk to be called a dinosaur.