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. |
AuthorCarly, 18, UC Davis Archives
November 2016
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