Writing, it always seemed like a chore to me. Growing up English was always the subject I least liked. I think this is because as a child as I was taught the of basic rules of writing such as using properly grammar, the right syntax, writing main idea with support clauses, blah, blah blah. Because of this I was always hesitant whether or not I was writing correctly, and this resulted with me being irked whenever I needed to write about something. Although while in college I’ve learned to appreciate writing a little bit more.
When talking about a research paper, or any paper that requires some extent of online research, I find that looking for sources, acquiring sources, and forming an opinion/question is the easy part. It’s the presenting the information, expressing your voice in balance with your evidence that is the harder part. Looking for and finding great sources are usually easy. You can utilize many sources such as books, magazines, Google, the news, etc. The list the goes on and on. Using proper citation and citing the sources is easy, you just follow the format that they give you whether it’s MLA or APA, 5th edition or 6th edition it’s just finding the right pieces and piecing them together. After compiling my research into clump I want to use, the problem I usually have trouble with is weaving my voice as the main voice while having my evidence not overpowering me.
Trying to understand rhetoric is easy, Ethos, Pathos, Logos. I’ve been taught about rhetoric a lot of times in my life. Being taught that rhetoric is an effective way of analyzing, presenting, and speaking about your topic. Organizing your writing so it fits your audience, having your text interact that they follow some sort of clear main idea, those things are what I’ve been taught. It’s applying these idea is what I have trouble with. You can read a book about dancing, it may include steps on how to dance, but actually dancing correctly is a whole another subject. I think because of my stigmatism about writing in the past, writing a clear organized paper using good rhetoric is something that is still in the works in progressed.
When I first entered this class, my loathing for writing had significantly decreased since being in college. I’m no longer a person who had a big distain for writing as I was in high school, although I still have slight distain for it. In this class I’m working on strengthening my writing and trying to expand and having a better understanding on how I do it. I really enjoy this blogger medium instead the usual four to ten page papers that English courses usually have. For me it’s more of incentive to try a little bit harder.
Right now, at this point in this class I realize that way how I think has changed. An example of how my thinking changed is the extended bibliographies. There was no requirement on what you could use a source, there was room for creativity. The questions that we had to answer definitely made think about my sources, and possible ways of thinking and voicing my ideas or thoughts. Quoting from the Unit One sheet, “Note: If you find that you have nothing to say, this is a surefire way to know either that you haven’t found a good source or that you need to reconsider what they’re saying”. What do I am have to say about this article? Where does the author’s idea diverge or extend from comparing it to mine? Looking at an entry about Illegal Immigrants trying to get a college diploma and the author talking about possible solutions to the problem I had this to say. “Although I agree with mostly with the author, it's still of complex problem. The author said that money has already been spent on these students, it would be a shame to let this investment that society has made go to waste. But it's going to cost money to implement change“. These reflections are helping me find a voice. Questions like these are changing how I evaluate sources. Which in turn are probably going to help me become a better writer.
Commenting and reflecting on other’s posts was a great tool to receive great feedback. It gave me chance to evaluate how other people are writing and how I am doing. When I had to complete the group responses, I got to evaluate other people’s writing and how they convey their voice into their writing. For example, on our first post I evaluated Tina’s extended bib which about Head Start and she talked about her having experience with working with children. I saw that having experiences the area that you are talking about definitely gives more creditability to you as an author. When having your posts evaluated by other people you definitely get insight of what you need to improve on. For example on my last post about Assessing Social Competence Amanda suggested I try using more of paraphrasing and summaries instead of direct quotations. I appreciate people’s feedback, as a writer it makes become more self-aware of the habits I do and show’s me things I need to improve on.
This class has definitely shed a different view on approaching writing and researching. There things I definitely need to improve upon such as balancing between my voice, paraphrasing, and direct quotations. I am working on improving on how I articulate my thoughts on paper and blogger. I really enjoy this informal method of an English Course. Reflecting on my experiences so far, I’m becoming self-aware and analytical of the sources I use. Incorporating this service learning project along with English is definitely makes my understanding more memorable and easier to connect to my writing. My understanding of academic writing and inquiry is becoming more and more clearer. I’m confident by the end of this course, I will be a stronger writer.
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