Step 2
This week, I learned about paragraph structure. In a paragraph, it is important to have a main idea with some topics branching off of it to support the thesis of your paper. By having main ideas within the main ideas of your paper, the message you are trying to get across is stronger and more persuasive. That way, you have more evidence to back up your thesis. In addition, from the peer review, my knowledge of writing grew and my feedback improved. I discovered different tactics and nuances to writing that I had never thought of beforehand. Also, I found out that there are multiple angles and strategies to attacking the assigned prompt. This peer review was definitely beneficial to expanding my repertoire of writing techniques. From this experience, I improved my skills as a peer reviewer as well. Beforehand, my comments on others’ papers were usually about grammatical errors. After having the lesson on peer review in class, practicing with short excerpts, and setting ground rules with my group, my ability in peer reviewing grew to examining the draft and thinking on what could strengthen the context and the clarify the ideas that the author is trying to convey. Step 3 From the Wikipedia Introduction article, I learned that the topic I choose should not be about people close to me (such as family and friends), a company I am connected to, or advertisement. I also learned that it is important to have reliable references for my article so I should avoid sources analogous to magazines. The article also clarified that editing another page by fixing minor errors like typos counted towards the ten edits needed to include pictures in my article. Step 5 For my article, I chose to write about the different aspects to the form of a jump shot. I chose this topic because the jump shot is the part of basketball that most intrigues me. Not everyone has the same shooting motion so it is interesting to see how different everyone's shot is. Five subtopics for my article could be One Motion vs Two Motion Shooting, Elevation, Shot Angle, Release, and the Angle of the Feet. Step 6 From Randall McClure's "Googlepedia: Turning Information Behaviors into Research Skills," I learned that it is important to check the credibility of the sources we find online. A good indication of the source credibility is through domain names such as .edu, .gov, etc. Also, I learned that putting quotation marks around the terms that you search on a search engine can help specify what you are searching for and narrow down your results. While finding resources for my Wikipedia article, I plan to follow McClure’s advice and add quotation marks around the search terms that I use. In addition, I will search on Google Scholar to look for any articles that I can use as research for my article. Step 2
This week, I learned the importance of captions for a picture. The captions can determine the way the reader interprets a picture that is in your writing. For example, if someone was looking at a picture of a nondescript building and the caption said, “Baskin Robins,” the reader would think it was an ice cream shop. On the other hand, if the caption said, “McDonald’s,” the reader would think that it was a fast food restaurant. Thus, it is important that the captions you use for your pictures are clear so the message you are trying to get across to the reader comes through. In addition, I learned about the weaknesses and limitations of the five-paragraph essays that we learned all-throughout our lives from elementary school to high school. The five-paragraph essay limits the ideas that the writer could express, does not always leave enough flexibility for smooth transitions from one idea to another, and can make analysis of main ideas shallow. I hope that I can incorporate the multi-paragraph format in UWP 1Y to better articulate my ideas, opinions, emotions, experiences, and main points in my writing. Step 3
Step 5 When I have my essay peer reviewed, I hope to get an outside perspective on what my paper sounds like. I want to know what is working and what isn’t so I know what I need to fix. In addition, it would be helpful if the reader could point out any parts that worked so I can use those for future writings and what parts could be confusing to others if they did not have the same knowledge of the topic as I did. I would also want to know what parts I am rambling in and parts where I could elaborate with more detail. In order to be a good peer reviewer, I will need to be specific with the points and suggestions that I give the writer. I will need to learn to focus more on the content – what I like about it, what I didn’t like, and what could be improved or needs a little tweaking – instead of focusing on mechanical and grammatical errors of the paper. I would also need to not come off as too harsh or soft in my review, but as supportive and helpful to the writer. Step 1 This week, I learned that literacy applies to all things in life, not just reading, writing, and comprehending literature. You could be literate other areas such as sports, playing instruments, or art. In addition, I learned that many times in writing, the key is to include a challenge to overcome. That way, the audience emphasizes with your story and feels more engaged. The more engaged the audience is with your story, the more they will want to read it to discover how everything ends--like if the person conquered the adversity, learned the lesson of the whole ordeal, or lived happily ever after per se. Due to these lessons, I feel more prepared to write the upcoming living picture narrative. I will take what I learned about including challenges in my story so the audience feels a connection to the experiences of the story. I will also be more descriptive so the audience can feel more engaged and imagine the story coming to life with every word that they read. Step 2 Personally, I consider writing as a window that allows me to express myself. It is a way to put my thoughts and passions into words. However, it can be frustrating because sometimes, it is difficult to find the right words to write to express exactly what you want to the reader. The writing process is usually hard for me when I first write something. Looking at the blank screen can be daunting and I end up writing “stuck” over and over again until something comes to my head. Nevertheless, once my ideas become words and the words come onto paper, writing is amazing. I can start visualizing how I want my writing to go and how it will end as I keep typing. After free-writing everything, I go back and read over my draft a few times to make any adjustments to word choice, grammar, and style. Sometimes, the writing process is long because I go through many drafts, but the end result is always fulfilling. Step 4 I used Bubbl.us to map my writing process because I liked the how the bubbles were organized on the mind map and how I could connect the bubbles with different kinds of arrows--like lines, arrows pointing in one direction, and arrows pointing in both directions. For my writing process, I usually start with brainstorming, which can vary depending on my mood and environment. I could try listening to music for inspiration, play basketball to help clear my mind, or even just sit and stare at my computer screen for a long time. No matter what I do to lead up to my brainstorming, it usually leads to me either free-writing any ideas that come to my mind or outlining my paper and mapping out how the direction I want it to go. Nonetheless, the two are kind of interconnected because when I free-write, I sort of plan in my head how I want my paper to sound as I go along. On the other hand, when I am planning out my paper through an outline, I kind of free-write in my head the way I want to display any major points of the paper like the hook, ending, connections, and conflict. After I finish brainstorming, I write the complete first draft. However, my first drafts are never in the best quality for others to read, so analogous to Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts," I need to edit the first draft by going over any changes in word choice and vocabulary, sentence structure, adding any details that would make the paper better, and taking out any parts that are not needed or are redundant. That would make my second draft. Usually, I keep editing my drafts until I feel like there is not anything else left to fix. However, after reading Lamott's essay, I will improve my writing process by taking some time off between editing my drafts so I will be refreshed and refocused once I start reading the paper again. When I am satisfied with my edits, I ask a couple of people to peer review the draft so I can get feedback from outside perspectives. This way, I can see if something does not make sense to others when they read it, and any strong or weak points that I could build upon. After listening to the advice I get, I implement them to my paper if I agree that it would make my paper stronger such as putting more emphasis on part of a paragraph because the reader may not be familiar with the terminology discussed. Finally, once the editing is done, I have my final draft to turn in. Works Cited Kane, Christine, Biz Says, Christine Kane Says, Laura Mixon-Camacho Says, Alex Says, Wayfaring Wanderer Says, Leslie Umstetter Says, Lynn Ruby Says, Stefanie Lein Says, and M. Says. "How to (Finally!) Stop Playing Small and Start Living Big - Picture." Christine Kane's Blog. N.p., 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 19 Jan. 2017. <http://dev.christinekane.com/how-to-finally-stop-playing-small-and-start-living-big/>. Miyamoto, Ken. "15 Ways to Stop Writer's Block - Picture." ScreenCraft. N.p., 19 May 2016. Web. 19 Jan. 2017. <https://screencraft.org/2016/05/18/15-ways-to-stop-writers-block/?fb_comment_id=886012324841964_887512151358648#f398d6651e4191c>. |
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