Time to Finish Up What I Started

Written on the first day of my writing class this quarter I was given the opportunity to write who I thought I was as a writer and this is what I decided upon,

"As a writer I am an explorer. Determined to achieve an understanding of exactly what I write, and why I     write.  To explore the world around me, and draw a conclusion, or maybe just post a question." 

Still now I feel that after this fall I am an explorer.  Whether it is researching articles where I explore the World Wide Web to find the information I need, exploring my articles found to be able to form my thesis, or exploring my essay in itself to make sure that I have my main points clearly stated.  I learned that I really am an explorer in writing and researching. I know that I still have skills to enhance but I also understand that I have a great start to it with knowing who I am as a writer. 

SLO Reflection Two

In the beginning of this quarter I honestly could not tell you what truly critical thinking was when it came to research and papers. However, now I understand what it is.  When it comes to summing up research or articles, the way I do so is reading through each paragraph and finding the key point from it, after doing so I move on to my next set of research in the other articles.  By writing down the key text I am automatically given an easy comparison. Then, I am able to find whether they are similar or different, and relevant to what I am writing about; only moving forward from there, forming my argument.  

Now as for writing thesis, I have always been awful at that. I feel like over this quarter I learned that if I have an idea of what I want to prove and my argument I can start with that, then later move forward to my research, re-establish my argument, and then form my thesis.  It is a long process but I feel that I need to accomplish those tasks before actually coming up with a thesis that is adequate in sharing my main ideas in my essay.

SLO Reflection Number One

My close reading skills I would say have enhanced a bit. I have learned to take the large pieces of information and try to point out the main ideas, rather than being overwhelmed at the paragraphs in front of me. I also learned that taking small notes of the things that stand out help also.  It allows me to remember the points that I wrote down clearly, because knowing myself I read over the paragraphs and keep going, as if it all goes "in one ear and out the other" theoretically of course.

Research was an area I was not at all worried about. During high school I spent countless hours on research essays and projects. However, I never anticipated the difficulty of finding an article in college would be. So learning how to use the UWT library's search as well as learning how to use worldcat will forever help me to find the things I need.

The Meaning of Revision

  Revision to me after this class, Blog Me!, means that I can say my ideas and share my thoughts in  my essays or posts and I will get the reviews and opinions back from my peers to alter the writing I had.  I will spend time analyzing my essay as well as taking into account the feedback I got about my paper itself.  Revision is all about enhancing, making the original better until it gets to its best. You can go about revising a 5 page paper many times in order to get it just right, and while the main points will still be there the essay, in order to be its best, could have completely altered.  It is all about enhancing the points wanting to prove, and when others revise it gives the writer that opportunity.

Second Essay Information

  My essay is indeed rough.  I know that I need to work on the main points to be clearer and allowing the strengths of it to flow through.  Overall though I feel the body does run well together. I give points from my article i'm searching as well as using West's article for support for identity.

Essay plans

In my essay coming up I plan to approach the idea of identity, but instead of researching on how to find identity I will come from the viewpoint of written identity or personality versus actual identity.  I will also add to this argument the standpoint of blogging being a great source for educational academic writing. After this essay is finished I hope to have found what it is that I am looking to share with the readers, but I'm not quite there yet. Until then- C.E.

Caught

I made my decision to do option number one and reflect Kathleen West's article to my own, but I am honestly stuck to figuring out and focusing on what it is that I am actually doing.  I know myself pretty well and studying the way I write should help me with connection to Kathleen's point of identity.  I am a writer who has my own identity, but the main question is: "how is my identity through writing different to me as a person?".

Application

   To tell you readers the truth from Kathleen West's article, I have no idea what I am going to do with my essay from it. Typically if I chose something to write on, I know for a fact that I would change it completely by the end of my essay. I could write my piece about true identity vs fake identity or on identities through writing and how they vary to who the person is in character traits; I have so many choices! Though, as of right now I am just testing and brainstorming. Let's see where this takes me! -CE

Finding Significance

Tonight I read over Kathleen C. West's article "Weblogs and literary response: Socially situated identities and hybrid social languages in English class blogs" and as of now I am supposed to write down what the significance is of the article. Which, to me, was overall the whole entry.  She touched on the differences of blogs that her students wrote and how to interpret them to find identity. I think it is great with what it was that we, as a class, needed to do in our first essay.  Now, having said that I wish I would've read this before I started my research. I found that this article is mainly about the different identites of the bloggers; and either informally or formally written the blogs still held true to who the person was as she knew them.

The Learning Process

    Do you remember in my first blog I posted that as a writer I am an explorer?  I saw that ideology come to life with the writing of my essay and during the research process.  I explore to learn and seek out new information that might tie into what I am doing.  Though, I also learned that searching in writing requires risk.  The risk of a loss of time, as well as the risk of having to change a lot of things.  Mind you it doesn't always have to be that way, but in me being adventurous in many situations, I prefer a challenge.  My essay came out to what I hoped it would be and I realized more of how I truly do like risk in exploration.
    

Reflecting on Essay 1

  What to say about my first essay?  I think I would have to use the word challenging for my description. In the beginning of the first draft I was confused on what to write about but I kind of swerved myself into the loop by asking questions and learning the details that mattered.
   Most others said that finding a blog that was suitable for their topic was difficult, I however found something pretty quickly, and I am thankful for that.  
   Though after my essay was formed, I kept looking back to decide if the things were really what I wanted to be talking about. And they weren't. Changes were made and challenges were overcome for me mainly by just exploring the essay itself and the blog I was researching.  Without that I wouldn't have had the feedback that came from others, which really was only to reword the thesis and switch around the paragraphs.
   Overall, I think that I did pretty well and I am proud of the outcome of my essay titled, "Travel through Identity".

Application

   In the current book I am reading, "They Say I Say" by Gerald Graff and Cathy Berkenstein I am given information on how to revise and edit my essays. It helps me in the first few chapters to be able to know what points I want to prove and allow others to give me criticism for improvement; not meaning I won't alter my writing but rather that I won't change my main ideas.
Though, the book also helps me with using quotations and connection. I will use this to be able to show the readers or the audience about my writer of the blog, as well as, being able to add fluency to the body of my essay. 

Strengthening my Essay

                 After my presentation today I took into consideration what Professor Thompson had said, which was to try to give a definition of identity in my thesis. I believe that it will help also for others to understand.  Maybe I should incorporate more examples also, but mainly connect with my thesis being how he connects with the readers and others as well as what identity truly is, not just my perception of it.  Detail would be helpful, but it all has to start with coordinating my current thesis with a newer one that I will work on; connecting it with my paper and everything I want it to show.  That's all for today, and at least the presentation is over! Until next time. -CE

Relativity

      Earlier in my blog I wrote about a book I read named, Blogging. It referred to the new age and technology involving social networking.  The writer gave her knowledge on writing to be able to help new or even current bloggers find out what it is that they are actually doing.
     In my research of "Chadams World Travel Blog" I found actually a lot of relevance to the things that Julie Walker-Rettburg wrote of.  He is cautious of what he writes and says, he chooses to allow viewers to see who he his, and still he writes because it is something he loves just for fun, not a journalistic sort. I am fascinated at how what Julie wrote of is true it is a very different thing, blogging, and there is a specific way to do things in writing.

Change

         In my essay from following "Chadams World Travel Blog" I will be reorganizing my thesis, allowing myself to connect with the reader more in the beginning of the writing. Also, I will add more details to my paragraphs for supporting my thesis and how identity is shown through the blog.  I believe that I touched well and connected with others on what my main points and reasonings are.  Still though I am attempting to alter how I word things, to be sure that it is all in similar tenses and how it can be a little more intriguing to the reader. The writing still needs to be intertwined more with eachother and personal information should be shared more often in the blog so that it does not seem to be informatory.

Everything's a Challenge

        Some say that challenges can be something brought upon themselves for certain mistakes, though I see challenges as parts of life that are unstoppable, giving reason as to why we should all step over them in some way, shape or form.
         Blogging research can be challenging in many ways. I am currently researching a blog named, "Chadams World Travel Blog" which describes a student, Chris, who is studying abroad.  He gives the readers viewpoints on the current countries that he's traveling to.  The difficulties I'm finding in this blog though, are the answers of identity that my professor is looking for.  The blog has all the answers, it is my own self that pulls me back.  I might just need to take a second look from a different point of view, rather than just looking at what I want to find, I need to look at what does the blog have to offer me? We'll see how this research continues on, but until then I'll just have to explore and experiment. -C.E.

Blogging vs. Journalism

The current media of online writing provides people with the opportunities to post anonymous ideas or factual current events that can either be classified as journalism or blogging.  This idea draws to a quote from the book “Blogging” by Jill Walker Rettberg:

“Blogs rely on personal authenticity, whereas traditional journalism relies on institutional credibility.”

          

            I am writing today about this controversial topic of blogging compared to journalism because, well, it’s what I’m doing right now in Creative Expressions.  I write to post thoughts and ideas on certain things, but I know I’m not journaling.  My credibility isn’t existent, because I am just a student learning certain things and posting ideas on them. Could I become a journalist that posts on blog sites?  Absolutely! Though, it would be a much different type of writing because my views would not be seen or heard, it would come from facts and institutional information just as the quote above states journalism is.  What I am trying to say is that blogging  is a place where a writer can post their own ideas or stories of certain things in their life or the lives of those around them, but if someone were to be practicing journalism they typically wouldn’t be using a blogging website to do so.

Time to study...

Travel. Many of my favorite memories come from the sights, smells, and feelings that traveling to a new destination brings. I have always been in awe of those that spend their days achieving their dreams of traveling the world around them, not just touring big cities, but taking a closer look to elaborate and enjoy the true towns of that country. Every city I've traveled to has been beautiful and breathtaking, though when I would drive to the outskirts, my views changed to awe and wonder. The true towns, that are masked by the city lights are those worth remembering.

By following a blog on world traveling, I hope to be able to understand what the writer was feeling when they had gone through the world of exploration. To get even a glimpse of the history behind the city buildings would be an adventure on its own.

"Who am I as a writer?"

As a writer, I am an explorer. 

Determined to achieve an understanding of exactly what I write, and why I write.  To explore the world around me, and draw a conclusion, or maybe just post a question.