Step One: I learned a lot about writing and about the way I write this quarter. I learned how important the peer review process is. Peer reviewers help you to see things that you might not have seen by yourself. It helps to not only have your paper looked over but to look over other papers as well. It helps to see what others have written and reflect on how that relates to what you have written. I also learned how much work goes into writing. I have typically been the type of person to just turn in my first draft and not put much work into editing. However, this class has taught me just how much taking the time to edit can improve your writing. My pieces are way better than they were when I first wrote them, and that is because I took the time to edit and go over them. I learned a lot about how to approach assignments. I learned that it is important to keep in mind the discourse community that you are writing in, and what their rules are for their pieces. I also learned that it is very important to keep in mind who you are writing for, as that can dramatically change your writing. I also learned how important it is to cite your sources. It helps you build credibility as a writer and also gives credit to whomever wrote the piece you are referencing. If you don’t cite, you can be accused of copying other people’s work. Overall, I learned a lot about writing over this course. Step Three: My writing process begins with me receiving an assignment. I then brainstorm ideas for the assignment, keeping in mind who I am writing for and what discourse community I am writing in. I then come up with a thesis. After that, I write my “shitty first draft.” I then take a break, after which I edit my first draft. I then have peers help me with revisions in order to get more eyes on my essay and help me find mistakes I may have missed. I then edit my essay, keeping in mind things like paragraph structure and citation. I then turn my essay in. This process is different from my writing process when I first started. I focus more on peer review now because I find it very helpful. I also don’t get as caught up in how bad my first drafts are now. I also am more aware of things like citation and paragraph structure.
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Step Two:
I learned a lot this week. The question and answer section helped clear up some unanswered questions that I had about the projects we have done and things we have learned. I learned that we should spend as much time writing and revising our essay as we feel is necessary. Some people take more time than others to do the same work. I also learned how our final projects will be graded. I learned that our podcast projects can have a formal tone or an informal tone. It depends on the audience and how the speaker wants to convey their story. I learned that we can utilize the writing workshops on campus to help with our portfolios. It would help to get more opinions on my writing. Step Three: I have a lot of plans on how to revise my Wikipedia article and make it better. I want to focus on citation and make sure that I have cited every source that I used. The last thing I want to do is plagiarize, even accidently, so I plan on combing through my essay very meticulously to ensure that I have cited everything. I also want to work on paragraph structure. I am going to make sure that every paragraph only has one controlling idea, and change the paragraphs if need be. I also plan on adding in transitions to the beginning of each section to make things easier to read. I also want to add more general context at the beginning of each section. This will also aide in the transition between each section. I also plan on making sure that I don’t repeat words too much in order to make my writing as rich and interesting as possible. Step Four: Paragraph Structure: 1)Assign numbers to each paragraph, and write down one or two sentences summarizing each paragraph. Make sure that they are all united under one main idea and can’t be split up into separate paragraphs. Make changes. 2)Group the summaries into blocks. Make sure that this blocks are cohesive. If any paragraphs seem out of place, move them. Transitions: 3)Underline the transitions between paragraphs. Make sure they are cohesive. Identify the best transition word that should go in between each paragraph. 4) Add quick summaries to the beginning of each section to aide in transitions. Citations: 5) Highlight any sections that need citations. 6) Cite these sections. For this project, we were asked to write a podcast and a place that we observed. I decided to observe the Segundo Dining Commons. I wrote about food insecurity on campus and how it is an issue that needs to be addressed and discussed more often. From this essay I strengthened my skills as a writer by streamlining my writing, performing research, and expanding my knowledge of conventions. This new knowledge will help me in future classes and careers.
I was able to apply a lot of the things I learned about myself as a writer in order to streamline my writing process. After the last essay, I learned that I do well when I set aside specific time to write essays. This helps me feel more relaxed about assignment and helps to make sure I don’t wait till the last minute to do things. I used this strategy when writing this paper. After doing my research, I picked a specific time in which I would write. I was able to get the whole essay done in that time. It felt good to have the essay done early. My research skills were strengthened by this essay. For this essay, we had to go out to a place and perform research ourselves. This was different for me because I have never had to do that for a paper before. I have always used research from other sources. I learned how to perform ethical research. I learned to talk about people anonymously and not mention them by name in order to keep their privacy intact. I learned to take down information about what you smell, hear, and feel- not just what you see. I also learned to make sure not to have any sort of bias when you go into research. This is important because it makes sure that you are not just seeing what you want to see. My knowledge of conventions was expanded by writing this essay. This essay was more informal. This discourse community of podcasts is more informal and it reads like a conversation. This community has a very different way of doing things as compared to the Wikipedia discourse community. This expanded my knowledge of how different discourse communities do things. My new knowledge that I have gained from writing this essay will help me in my future classes and career. Being able to perform research is an important skill, especially at a research focused university like UC Davis. I will most likely have classes in which I will need to do research projects and essays. In my job, I also might have to perform research. Therefore, it is good that I know how to research ethically and accurately. This project has helped me strengthen my research skills, streamline my writing process, and expand my knowledge of conventions. These new skills will help in future classes and jobs. Wikipedia Reflection
This assignment required our class to write a Wikipedia article on a topic of our choosing and research it, using a combination of academic sources and other credible sources. By writing this Wikipedia article, I advanced my skills as a writer and a researcher. I tried to improve my writing process for this assignment. For the previous assignment, the Living Picture Narrative, I didn’t budget my time as well as I could have. This time around, I tried to set aside time to write the article and edit the article. This helped me feel less stressed about the assignment. Because of this, I will make sure in the future to set aside specific times for me to do assignments. I learned about key rhetorical concepts when writing this Wikipedia entry. I learned a lot about discourse communities. I learned that discourse communities are groups of people that are united by their goals and ways of doing things, including writing. I also learned about how important it is to keep in mind who your audience is. My ability to research was strengthened by this assignment. Before this assignment, I was unsure about how to go about research and citation. I have done major research projects before, but my skills were a little fuzzy. This assignment helped me learn where to go when I need to do research. I learned about many new websites that I can use, including the UC Davis databases. I also learned what constitutes a reliable, academic source, and how important they are in order to write an accurate essay. I also learned about citation. I know now what mistakes not to make with citations like confusing the reader and not citing in the proper place. I learned to make sure to match up the in text citation with the full citation at the end of the tex. I will be using my new skills as a researcher in the future. I learned a lot about research (how to do it, where to go, how to cite) and I think I will able to use these skills in future classes. A lot of classes require that you do research papers, so it is helpful that I now know how to accurately do research. I will also be able to use these skills in a job. I don’t know exactly what I want to do yet in terms of a career, but most jobs and career paths I have looked into have been involved in research somehow. Step Two:
I learned a lot about writing this week. I learned to plan out my writing wisely. It can be hard to schedule out time to work on assignments. This week, I set aside specific time to work on the assignments that were assigned to us because I knew we had a lot of work to do. This made me feel more relaxed while doing the assignment and also helped me to feel more productive. I will make sure that in the coming weeks I do the same thing so that I can be the best writer possible. I also learned a lot about how hard it can be to write sometimes. I hit a big writer's block this week, and it stressed me out a lot because I was worried I might not be able to write as well as I might have liked. But, I was able to get out of it and work on the assignments. I just had to give myself a break from writing for a little while. Step Three: I absolutely agree with Dethier. I think that your attitude when going into a revision is key. If you have a bad attitude and take everything personally, then nothing will get done and your work will stay the same. I think that revision is essential to writing because, as we read from Anne Lamott, it is easier to write shitty first drafts and then revise them later. I find that when I know I am going to revise my work extensively, I write more freely in the beginning. This helps to make my work more creative. Donald Murray also brought up some interesting points. I like that he recommended to read your draft aloud. There are often mistakes that your eye will look over but your ear may catch. I also like that he says that a piece of writing is never finished. There is always something else that can be done. Step Four: I hope to work on my Living Picture Narrative and make it the best it can be. I will need to work on the paragraph structure a lot. I need to make sure that my paragraphs make sense and have just one main idea. They need to be ordered in a way that makes sense for the reader. I also want to diversify the words that I use. I tend to pick my words from a limited vocabulary, so I want to work on using words I might not normally use. I also want to add more descriptive language. I think this will be the best way to make sure my reader understands what I mean and feel as though they are there with me. I also think I could work more on the flow of my sentences within a paragraph and the flow of the paragraphs in general. Step Five: Paragraph Structure: 1)Assign numbers to each paragraph, and write down one or two sentences summarizing each paragraph. Make sure that they are all united under one main idea and can’t be split up into separate paragraphs. Make changes. 2)Group the summaries into blocks. Make sure that this blocks are cohesive. If any paragraphs seem out of place, move them. Transitions: 3)Underline the transitions between paragraphs. Make sure they are cohesive. Identify the best transition word that should go in between each paragraph. Overuse of words: 4)Identify the most common words used in my writing. If possible, change the wording or replace the word with a synonym. Unneeded words: 5)Identify any unneeded words in front of verbs and remove them. Flow: 6)Read over the entire essay, aloud and in my head. Make sure words and paragraphs flow and changes make sense. Step Two:
I learned a lot about writing and taking observations this week. I learned that it is very important to separate observation from thought. Observations are factual ideas, and do not contain any bias from the observer. Thoughts are the ideas that you deriver from your observations, and usually contain some sort of opinion or assumption. I also learned how important it is to maintain confidentiality when observing people. It is important to do it in a public place and make sure to not identify anyone you observe. I also learned that in order to have a successful observation and story, you have to make sure to not have a confirmation bias. A confirmation bias is when the observer/researcher has something that they want to prove with their experiment so they do not perform the experiment partially. I also learned a lot about podcasts and our podcast project. Podcasts can tell stories. Step Four: The podcast I listened to was from a series that I have grown to love listening to: Strong Opinions Loosely Held. This series focuses on issues facing women and the empowerment of women. The particular episode I listened to was about makeup and fashion. It talked about how women who wear makeup are often thought of as less smart or serious. They might be seen as people too focused on outside appearances and not focused enough on scholarly issues or topics. It also talked about how wearing makeup or clothes that you love can help you find what you love, much like listening to different types of music or hanging out with different people. It can make you feel like yourself and can make you feel liberated. The speaker talked about her experience with these situations. Step Seven: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115125827.htm Report on University of Minnesota Study on the Health of College Students This article was about a study done by the University of Minnesota school system in 2007. It looked at a variety of health indicators like mental health, physical health, sexual health, tobacco use, alcohol use and health insurance. Because I am going to be observing the dining commons, this article helps me narrow my focus. It included many statistics that I think would add credibility to my podcast and would help me backup my story. Quotes: "College students are a large and growing population and are establishing lifestyles and behavior patterns, they are the trendsetters and the role models for younger people and they are the future leaders of our society. That is why we need to make them a priority," Ehlinger said. “Nearly two-fifths or 38.5 percent of all students surveyed fall within the overweight or obese/extremely obese categories.” http://www.newsrecord.org/news/students-face-insecurity-about-getting-enough-food/article_f29b6934-9664-11e6-9673-b34554bb5eaf.html Students Face Insecurity about Getting Enough Food This article was about college students and how they have trouble getting enough food. This is because of a variety of reasons, including debt and not enough nutritious food on campus. 22 percent of students surveyed said that they have low levels of food security. It talks about what colleges can do to fix these issues. The author writes that colleges can start Meal Swipe Programs, in which people donate meal swipes at college cafeterias to less-fortunate students. The article also suggests that campus pantries be started. At these pantries, students can pick up bags of donated food for free. “Nearly half of respondents reported food insecurity in the previous 30 days, including 22 percent of respondents reporting very low levels of food security, qualifying them as hungry, according to the report” “Colleges should pursue a wide range of creative ways to address food insecurity, including the creation of campus food pantries, campus community gardens, food recovery programs and coordinated benefits access programs, according to the report.” Steps Twelve- Fifteen: Main Idea/ Thesis: College students have a hard time getting food that is nutritious and cheap. This causes them to change their eating habits in ways that may not be healthy. Observations to include: -high prices for meals -most students are eating quickly -girl with 4 plates/ multiple guys with 3 plates -girl: “got to eat a lot because I am saving my swipes” -girl: “this is going to be my lunch and dinner” -22 percent of students surveyed said that they have low levels of food security -Nearly two-fifths or 38.5 percent of all students surveyed fall within the overweight or obese/extremely obese categories Thoughts to include: -students are trying to save money so much that they skip meals -hard for students to prioritize eating over saving money -“Colleges should pursue a wide range of creative ways to address food insecurity, including the creation of campus food pantries, campus community gardens, food recovery programs and coordinated benefits access programs, according to the report.” -"College students are a large and growing population and are establishing lifestyles and behavior patterns, they are the trendsetters and the role models for younger people and they are the future leaders of our society. That is why we need to make them a priority," Ehlinger said. Step Sixteen: I learned a lot from this observation activity. It feels weird to observe people, but I enjoyed being able to slow down for a while and take everything in. I noticed a lot of things that were irrelevant to my notes and podcast, but they were things I had never noticed before. It was cool to take everything in, details that most people don’t notice. It also made me wonder a lot about the nature of observations. So much of it depends on luck and chance. If I hadn’t been sitting where I was and seen the particular things I had, my podcast would have most likely gone in a very different direction. Step Two:
I learned a lot about writing this week. I learned that discourse communities are groups of people who share a set of basic values and ways of doing things. They might share goals and ways of writing. I also learned about the structure of Wikipedia articles. They typically start with an overview of some sort and then split up into sections. Those sections typically have a header/title. This title is important as it informs the reader of the section’s purpose and can pull the reader in. They include a lot of outside sources and information. That information can be from academic journals, podcasts, news articles, and interviews. Step Three:
Articles: “Music and misogyny: why we're all listening to sexist lyrics” by Lucy FosterThis article is all about misogyny in music, and why we listen to it. It explains that it could be because we are so used to it. We have listened to misogynist lyrics for so long that we are used to it. We don’t think twice when we have to listen to lyrics that objectify women. There is so much misogyny in music that we don’t realize it is there. Quote: “It comes about because we live in a patriarchy,” states Stevens. “We live in a culture that traditionally and historically subjugates and oppresses women and that narrative emerges in popular culture. Modern Feminism: The Role of Women in Music by Sandra CanosaThis article focuses on women in the pop genre. It emphasizes certain artists like Miley Cyrus and what they are doing to integrate feminism into their music and their performances. The author talked about the double standards women have to withstand in order to make it in the industry. It also incorporates information about what women have to go through when they put out new music. Online reviews of their albums are often sexist and so are online comments. Quote: “Instead of a Britney vs. Christina camp, girls can aspire to be as fierce as Beyoncé, as cool as Janelle Monáe, as bold as Adele, or as savvy as Atlantic Records COO Julie Greenwald. They can combine their talents, mix-and-match personalities, to find a purpose that is all their own. The point is that they have a choice.” “Music business 'feminism' is little more than branding. Just ask Kesha” by Andi ZeislerThis article also talks about feminism in music, focusing on the branding of women. It has become popular for artists to come out as feminists, but they often do not back that up in their actions, music, and performances. It focuses a lot on the industry and its effects on women. Quote: “A 2015 Music Business Journal report noted that less than 5% of record producers and engineers are women; elsewhere in the industry, women with equal or superior qualifications are paid substantially less.” Wikipedia Outline Overview: Feminism is defined as the social, political, and economic equality of the sexes. Historically, the music industry has been dominated by men. In the 1960s, it was noticed that women weren’t given the same opportunities as men. Also, it was noticed that women were often objectified in music. Over the past few decades, the industry has evolved to include women in both performer positions and management positions. Changes in how society views feminism has also led to more feminism in music. Many women and men performers have written songs and dedicated careers to feminism. Feminism and New Wave Feminism
Misogyny in Music
Feminism in Pop
Feminism in Classical Music
Resources Canosa, Sandra. "Modern Feminism: The Role of Women in Music" Highbrow. N.p., 4 Apr. 2014. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Citron, Marcia J. "Feminist Waves and Classical Music: Pedagogy, Performance, Research." Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture 8.1 (2004): 47-60. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Foster, Lucy. "Music and Misogyny: Why We're All Listening to Sexist ..." Stylist. N.p., 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Mack-Canty, Colleen. "Third-Wave Feminism and the Need to Reweave the Nature/Culture Duality." NWSA Journal 16.3 (2004): 154-79. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Peeples, Whitney. ""Under Construction": Identifying Foundations of Hip-Hop Feminism and Exploring Bridges between Black Second Wave Feminism and Hip Hop Feminism." Research Gate (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Zeisler, Andi. "Music Business 'feminism' Is Little More than Branding ..." The Guardian. N.p., 26 Apr. 2016. Web. 19 Oct. 2016. Stedman Reflection: I really enjoyed the passage written by Stedman. I agreed with him on a lot of the points he wrote about. I think it is important to remember that a lot of times people don’t cite things correctly because they don’t know how. In high school, we didn’t learn extensively about citing sources. Also, sometimes teachers had conflicting viewpoints on how things should be cited. I am guilty of doing a lot of the annoyances Stedman writes about. I tend to forget that readers don’t have the same background information that I have, and so I will drop in a quote without explaining. In my Wikipedia article, I can make sure that I thoroughly explain the quote before I put it in my writing. I also have trouble subtly identifying what information came from what source. I will use Stedman’s advice to use words and phrases to signal to readers that the information came from that source. I also appreciated the information on how to best help your reader find the source that they want to go to. I hadn’t really thought about how important it is to connect your in text citation with the citation at the end of the text. I will make sure to utilize this advice in my Wikipedia article. Step Two:
I learned a lot this week. I learned through the peer review process that I tend to repeat words a lot in my writing. In order to make my writing more advanced, I need to use synonyms or rephrase sentences. I also need to include more imagery in my writing to help the reader be able to visualize what I am saying. I also learned a lot about my writing process. I tend to procrastinate starting writing pieces. This delays the essay and also makes it so that I have less time to edit my essays. I learned about paragraph structure and the importance of making sure that every paragraph has one cohesive main idea. This is something I had never really payed attention to before. Step Three: Wikipedia article concept: Feminism in music Step Five:
3) Third-Wave Feminism and the Need to Reweave the Nature/Culture Duality by Colleen Mack-Canty in 2004 Step Six: Article 1) This article is about the hip-hop feminism movement. It talks about what the purpose of this movement and how it attempts to counteracts the misogynistic culture of rap. It also talks extensively about why we, as consumers of media, should care. Music holds heavy importance in our society, and it is important to recognize it as a catalyst for social change. We often disregard how important music is in our culture. I will include a section on feminism in hip hop. “Using culturally and generationally relevant frames of reference, hip-hop feminists are able to make large systemic issues such as racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, etc. intelligible to black women and girls, just as second-wave black feminists were able to do in the 1970s and '80s with mainstream white American feminism.” “Just as other black American feminists have chosen to engage other modes of cultural production that are inimical to the development of black women's subjectivity, hip-hop feminists refuse to turn away from difficult and volatile engagements with hip-hop.” Article 2) This article focused on third wave feminism and how it relates to classical music. Many people don’t know how misogynistic the classical music industry has been in the past. It has been an industry mostly run by men. Women, empowered by recent events and culture changes, are starting to breakthrough the industry. I will include a section on feminism in classical music and the classical music industry. “Third-wavers -- born between 1965 and 1979, who came of age starting in the late 1980s -- "grew up with popular culture specifically targeted to a mass youth audience.... They were raised on the new consumer culture of the last two decades, and that fact has huge ramifications." “Power feminism, however, is not beneficial in its narrow worldview, ahistorical outlook, and exclusionist methodology. For practitioners of the second and third waves, the more we understand and learn from each other, the richer and more meaningful our work will be. For second-wavers, it means a better understanding of our students, present and recent, and how to forge meaningful conversations on music and culture.” Article 3) This article focused on the different feminist movements in recent history. It talked about the ecofeminist movement, third wave feminism, and postcolonial feminism. It gave some interesting information on Riot Grrrl, a rock group that helped move the feminist movement forward. I will include some background on feminism in my article. I think that would help the reader of my article gain some perspective. “Riot Grrrl, an independent young female rock group that began in the early 1990s, is seen by many who study girls' cultures in the United States as illustrative of this movement (Garrison 2000, 142). A network of riot grrrls was created from the fans of this music group, based largely on zines. Soon there were chapters across the United States.” “Instead of seeing girlhood as merely the passage to becoming women (who marry men), the Riot Grrrl performances are part of their project to free girls from the restrictive gender construction society imposes on them. Riot Grrrl works against patriarchal conditioning that tells girls to be silent and submissive at this time in their lives, allowing them instead to be angry, loud and aggressive.” For the past couple of weeks, we have been working on the Literacy Narrative project. Throughout this time, I learned a lot about my writing process and strengthened my abilities as a writer and a peer reviewer.
I approached this essay with apprehension. I was scared to be vulnerable not only through my topic but also through sharing my essay with peers. Because of this, I had trouble getting started with the writing process. But, once I got started, the words flowed pretty easily. I had an outline in my mind of what to write about. I wrote until I couldn’t write anymore and then took a break. After the break, I came back and edited what I had written and wrote some more. I then took another break and came back the next day to do some final edits. This process worked well for me. I often get tired of writing and feel like I am pulling teeth when I have to write too long. So, taking breaks and then coming back helps to keep my mind fresh. I learned that, with projects and writing assignments, I need to just get started on the assignment even if I am unsure about it. Because, as I learned with this assignment, once I get started it is pretty easy for me to write. The Literacy Narrative Project strengthened my skills, particularly in the area of the course goals. One of the skill sets that was most strengthened was my ability to take feedback about my work. I really enjoyed working with my peers to help better my essay, and I think they did a very good job giving me constructive feedback. I have always been apprehensive about peer review, but this process helped to restore my confidence in the peer review process. This project also helped my self-reflect on my writing. I learned about thinking metacognitively and reflecting during each part of the writing process. It helped me a lot because I was able to sharpen my writing through reflecting. I will use my newfound skills in other settings such as different classes and jobs. I have learned to collaborate with others more and take constructive feedback about my work. This skill will help particularly in a job setting. I have also learned more about how I write and what my process is. This will help me be more successful in other classes. This knowledge will help me get things done faster as well. Step Two:
I learned a lot about writing this week in class. I learned to be super descriptive when captioning pictures. This is because captions matter a lot when it comes to how the audience interprets the pictures. One or two words can make the viewer of the picture interpret the picture in completely different ways. It is also important to be descriptive because it helps the reader visualize what you are saying. Also, power words can really help your writing. Using a power word at the end of your sentences can invoke emotion in the reader, which helps them feel more connected to you as a writer. I also learned that in order to grow as a writer, I should move beyond the five paragraph essay. I have also found it hard to fit my ideas into the five paragraph essay format, and I will now try to move beyond that. Step Three: Living picture narrative outline: Paragraph 1: Sisters experience with running Paragraph 2: Scared of running Paragraph 3: Fed up Paragraph 4: Started running on track Paragraph 5: Growth beyond track Paragraph 6: What I learned Step Five: I hope that a peer reviewer can help me see mistakes and awkward sentences that I may have brushed over or not seen. It can be hard to edit one’s own writing sometimes. I find it especially hard to edit after reading over my essay a lot. I hope that someone can look at my essay with fresh eyes. I think a peer reviewer will also be able to help me make sure that my ideas are in a easy to read order and not jumbled. I think I can bring a lot to the peer review process as well. I can help others see what mistakes they missed when they reviewed their essay themselves. I am genuinely interested in what the people in my group are writing about, so I think I will be able to help them streamline their ideas in order to make their essays as interesting and spirited as possible. |
AuthorCarly, 18, UC Davis Archives
November 2016
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