Posted on by Greyson Young

New Audience, New Problems

When Mrs. Forgette told our class that we were going to be making a website about our research paper I knew that there was a catch. Unfortunately for me, I was right. The research paper was ten pages of sophisticated writing directed toward an academic audience but our website was supposed to be aimed at 18 year olds. You wouldn’t think that this would be that big of a problem, but boy would you be wrong. By simply changing the audience I had to rethink my entire paper. I could not simply transfer references, rhetoric, or language from my research paper over to the website. Well, I could but I’m pretty sure that I would have failed the assignment. The real problem with this change wasn’t the age difference, it was the fine print of the audience which I don’t think a lot of the other students noticed. Our research paper was supposed to be an academic audience who was somewhat familiar with the topic at hand. The college students didn’t have a clue about our subjects. This meant that I had to explain more basics in my website than I did in my research paper. I went in with the mindset of teaching chemistry to a toddler; explain the basics in the simplest way you can, and include pictures.

As I started thinking of my new audience, I wondered how I was going to discuss failing schools in a way that not only intrigued them, but made them want to read more. My first draft was AWFUL. I wrote it and it made me bored to read it. I realized that I needed a complete overhaul. I rewrote my articles a couple more times and saw a drastic improvement. I had included anecdotes and several pop cultural references. I do hope that I never have to mention the Kardashians in a college paper again. I felt confident, but when I looked at the site as a whole it was still very bland. It was just text, good text, but nothing else. The first article that I started on was the racial inclusion piece. This text was not great compared to the others and I was having a lot of trouble finding anything to make this particular subject POP to a college audience. While I was watching TV one night, TNT played a commercial for “The Help” and a million ideas came to head. After finding what I believe to be the most perfect gifs for that text, I felt on top of the world. I finished the racial inclusion article around 9 at night and continued working until my entire homepage was done. I used that one idea throughout the whole homepage and was shocked at how great it came together. Now, I might have gotten a little gif heavy, but I doubt that I will ever do something so academically-creative again so I decided to go all out.

I really thought that I would despise this multimodal, maybe because of Powtoon’s looming presence, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Posted on by Greyson Young

Annotated Bibliographies Unit Reflection

The research that I have done this semester has really changed the way that I think of things. I had really strong views on almost every myth at the beginning of the research period. By the time I had finished, I had a completely new way of thinking about everything. When I looked at political correctness, I knew that it could be bad but the thought of it leading to terrorist attacks and other criminal acts had never crossed my mind. With the annotated bibliographies, I was able to see education in Mississippi in an entirely different way, and I have lived here my whole life. I think that these research projects have taught me that nothing is exactly as it seems, you need to do a little researching. I am really glad that we did these annotated bibliographies instead of going straight into the research paper, because the first myth that I chose was awful. I looked at three myths before I settled on the one about social class and education. My first choice, “George Orwell meet Mark Zuckerberg”, looked interesting at first glance but once I began to research the topic I found that it was probably the biggest bore in the book. I would have say that the most surprising thing to come from research is how specific sources can get. When I started looking at social class and education, I read a lot of broad articles that pretty much summed up what Anyon talked about in the textbook. There were thousands of articles on the Ole Miss library database that popped up when I searched this topic, but none of them were different enough to advance me further into the researching process. I think I had made it to the six or seventh page of the library search results when I saw an article about education statistics in America with data from each state. I saw that Mississippi ranked lowest in almost everything which got me thinking. So, I searched “Mississippi Education Social Class”. This was the moment that my paper began to take shape. Each article that I found was so specific: “Mississippi Delta Education Hindered by Social Class”. I had hit the jackpot! I think that the researching process forces you to simplify your searches in order to get you to the sweet spot. One of the biggest lessons that I am going to take away from this project is not to give up. After throwing out my first three myths I felt like my obituary was going to say “Death by Annotated Bibliographies”. Once I had picked a myth, I was faced with the challenge of actually doing the research, writing the bibliographies, and putting everything neatly on a word document before Friday – this was Sunday. On Sunday and Monday I wrote all eight of my bibliographies and thought that every writing particle in my mind had been sucked dry. I never wanted to look at an annotated bibliography again. But, I knew that I had to look at them again and not give up if I wanted to get a good grade. I was so committed to these little monstrosities that I even went to conference with Mrs. Forgette to make sure that I was doing them right. I know that the annotated bibliographies were extremely helpful and that I learned valuable lessons, but I am beyond happy that they are over.

Posted on by Greyson Young

PowToon Unit Reflection

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The differences in composing the multimodal project versus the actual paper were astronomical. At first I thought that it would be easy to make the video, especially since I had already written an argument paper on the exact same subject. I immediately regretted that thought. I have felt out of place many times this semester, but during this particular unit I felt like a fish out of water, especially while recording the sound track. I am not the kind of person that enjoys talking, so imagine my reaction when Mrs. Forgette told us that we had to record at least three straight minutes of our voices. I absolutely hated recording the audio track. The Sunday before the first audio draft was due, I sat in my room for over an hour talking to myself like a complete idiot. The worst part wasn’t the actual recording, but the part after where you had to listen to it over and over until you wanted to throw your laptop against the wall in disgust. The images were a breeze for me compared to the audio. In less than two hours, I had composed nearly all of the visual elements and had fun brainstorming ideas of what could come next. After that, I felt as if my calling were to work for Disney. My favorite part of the visual track is from the screenshot above. I love how it incorporates the biggest statistics of my paper, while truly connecting with the audience. The little guy on the far left is portraying the college students getting assaulted on campus, but he is actually supposed to be typing.

To say that I am inexperienced with visual presentations would be an understatement. Before this semester, I never made a PowerPoint, or a Prezi, or anything to the nature of PowToon. When I started the project, I knew that I had to jump right into the deep end and find the ins and outs of PowToon. The hardest part of the design process was the audio track. I didn’t want my the audio to be stop and go; I wanted it to flow! I decided to record the audio all at once, which led an excessive amount of time to be spent on timing the slides. My favorite design choice was actually something that I hated at the beginning – the template. Of course, I wanted one of the premium templates because they were so appealing to the eye, but I started off choosing the black and white template from above. I didn’t think that I would continue to use this template throughout the paper, but merely used it as a starting point. Over the course of the design process, I started to like how it looked and how it represented the paper. There weren’t any colors, other than the red that I used on certain fonts, which allowed me to portray the “black & white” seriousness of underage drinking. This is a very serious subject and I don’t think that bright happy colors would have been a great fit.

I wrote three drafts of my script that were honestly the worst things that I have ever written in my entire life. I thought that since it was the same subject that I could just cut and paste sentences from my original paper. If my own draft made me want to fall asleep, there’s no telling what it would have done to my audience. If I had to choose between composing an actual paper with 1,500 words or a PowToon video of about 3 minutes, I would choose the paper. I like to list facts and elements that make an academic paper. I like to go by the basic rules of a paper that we all learned in elementary school because of its familiarity. Pontoon may be fun, but it’s new. I guess that I didn’t enjoy it because I felt so behind throughout the entire assignment. I will never again speak badly of writing a paper, because I have seen what some of the alternates are. When you look at which of the modes were most effective at addressing the issue, I think that PowToon wins. Emotion is a very powerful tool that many filmmakers utilize to portray their messages. When you see a video, even of a crappy little cartoon like mine, of a deaths and injuries caused by alcohol, you start to imagine the situations in real life. Being able to see a visual representation allowed a connection from the message to the audience that isn’t really viable with an academic essay. I liked the professional, academic audience. I didn’t enjoy having to make my video fun and appealing to younger people, especially with a topic like mine. With the professional audience, the more facts and sources that you incorporate, the more effective your paper is whereas the easily bored audience needs less credibility and more “Wow Factor”.

Posted on by Greyson Young · 1 Comment

Argument 3-2-1 Unit Reflection

While writing this project, I learned a lot about the writing process. This was the first project where we had to really focus on our citations, which was a big obstacle for me. Up until a week ago I had never cited a paper in MLA format, so I had to rely heavily on an MLA format book I bought in the Union. I think that it took me an entire afternoon to figure out how to properly cite my paper, but now I feel like I could cite with my eyes closed. Even though it seems like it should be common knowledge, I learned that research is the key to a good paper. I wish that I could say that I didn’t spend an entire week solely looking up research, but if I did I would be a liar. There were a lot of differing arguments in The New York Times for my topic, so I had to be very specific in finding my research. It took my a while to finally start discovering information, but once I did it felt as if I was blazing through articles. At the end of the drafting process, I think I had printed out over fifteen different articles and completely drained the ink from my printer. The most important thing that I learned was discussed in class on Friday. When we did the project focusing on writing style, it hit me that I had a real problem with this. When Mrs. Forgette started taking out unnecessary words and stabilizing the flow of the paragraphs I knew that if I wanted to improve my grade I needed to do that. I will admit that once I finish a paper I think that it is time to submit when I really should be reading over it with a fine comb. I tried to do this for my argument and trust me when I say that nearly one hundred words came out.

One of the biggest questions I had throughout the writing process was using 1st person. I faintly remember someone, perhaps Mrs. Forgette, say that we shouldn’t really use 1st person in the unit because it needs to be credible. I tried to google it to see the correct way but there were way too many conflicting responses. When it came time for the peer review Wiki, I got a comment back that said I needed to use more 1st person in my paper to make it more relatable, which through me for a loop. I decided to write my paper without talking about “I” but about “we”. Whenever I addressed something that needed to be done, I would say “we need to ….”. I felt like because this issue pertains to everyone, we shouldn’t exclude people, but be united instead. Another question I had was with the researching criteria. We had to use research that came from the library guides only, which bugged the everliving crap out of me. I understand that this unit is all about credibility but if I can find a source that is 100% credible through regular google I think that I should be able to use it. Maybe I feel this way because I found a good ten sources from regular google before I actually read the instructions and saw that none of those were going to work. I blame myself for that one.

The greatest opinion that I have after this project is that seriousness of the drinking problem. I have grown up around people that drink, and I knew that coming to college I would be around more people that drink. I never would have imagined how bad the problem until I read all of the statistics from research. It was scary to see all of the horrific numbers and then to think that its literally happening all around me. I think that everyone should inform themselves on this issue, because it truly effects every single one of us.

 

Posted on by Greyson Young

Visual Analysis Unit Reflection

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When I was still in search for an Op-Doc to write about, I started watching “Gorillas in the Crossfire”. Most of the other documentaries that I had watched had left me disinterested after the first few minutes, but after seeing this scene in “Gorillas in the Crossfire” I knew that my search for an Op-Doc was over. This particular scene astounded me at the level of seriousness that it radiated. This was the first moment in the film where the audience could see the gorillas reacting to the horrific environment around them. As somber music played in the background, a mother gorilla and her baby embraced each other which stirred an array of emotions in myself. Another key element in the magnitude of this scene was the graphic text. It hurts me enough inside to see these animals living their lives in anguish, but to couple that with text describing their rapid rate of extinction was almost unbearable. I am an extremely big animal lover which was why I clicked on this documentary in the first place, but when I saw how awful the gorillas looked sitting in that forest, I understand not only the topic of my paper, but the way in which I would write it. By watching this particular scene, I knew that I wanted to write my analysis in a way that described how I felt at that moment; I wanted to write about the intense amounts of emotion that this documentary exuded.

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When I was in the early stages of writing, and I mean so early that the only thing on my paper was my name, I struggled with finding clear evidence to support my thesis about the use of pathos in the film. I knew by watching the film that the pathos was there, but I couldn’t figure out how to write about what I was watching in an in-depth way. The next day, after a long, unsuccessful night in the library, Mrs. Forgette gave me a very valuable piece of advice which was to watch the film without sound and then listen without watching. At first this seemed very strange. After she said it, I kind of dismissed the idea, thinking that in no way it could help me. As I sat hopelessly looking at my computer later that night, I thought “Why not?” and decided to try Mrs. Forgette’s idea. After watching and then listening to the video, I was completely shocked at how much information and I had written down in my notebook. I literally had five pages worth of notes full of vivid examples relating to the visual and audio elements of the film and could only muster up a tiny paragraph in the two days before. Every single example that I incorporated into my analysis came from that night of watching and listening to the film.

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My thesis discussed how the mountain gorillas of Congo were overshadowed during the war and that the filmmaker created the documentary to give a voice to the gorillas. It took me a while to find a photo that accurately depicted my thesis, but I don’t think that I could have found one better than this. This picture states that the gorillas are calling on us. They need us to be their voice and do everything in our power to protect them. Throughout the film, the filmmaker utilizes all aspects of the documentary in order to make the audience sympathize with the gorillas. His goal with doing this was to make us see how they lived their lives and realize how they need us to be their voice. This pictures is straight forward in telling the viewer what needs to be done.

Posted on by Greyson Young · 1 Comment

In-Class Essay Unit Reflection

The moment that I looked at my writing syllabus and saw that we had an essay exam on just the fourth class meeting, I started to panic. My high school was extremely small and did not focus a lot of its time on writing like it should have which did not allow me a lot of time to practice writing, especially in timed situations. The only times that I had ever experienced timed essay exams were the two ACT writing tests that I took. During our first week of class, we focused a lot on the different types of questions that could possibly show up on our exam on Monday which helped me decide which of the three questions I wanted to write about. I chose the question about the media’s effects both good and bad on the University of Mississippi. I recognized all three possible choices but ultimately felt that I could expand my thoughts more thoroughly on question number three. Last summer I participated in the Trent Lott Leadership Institute for rising seniors and was introduced to the political world. Ever since then I have been fascinated by politics but I have become seriously engaged with the 2016 election. As I read The Education of a Lifetime, I enjoyed the sections on the Presidential Debate of 2008 between Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. I felt that I both knew more about that question and would actually enjoy writing on the subject. After I went through orientation in June, I started reading The Education of a Lifetime and finished later that week. When reading, it did not come to my attention that I would need to read at an in-depth level to be able to answer questions once classes began. Once classes started and I realized that I needed to have a pretty good grasp on the book, I decided that I had to read the book again. My strategies when rereading was to put marks on parts that I felt were important which came in handy during the exam when I didn’t have to try and decipher the crazy order of events in Khayat’s book. I learned many lessons from both the book and the writing process itself. Learning so many interesting stories of Ole Miss and how it has evolved over the years was what made the book so intriguing. Visualizing the strides that Khayat made and wondering how Ole Miss would look today if Robert Khayat had not become Chancellor were also notes that I took away. Reading the book was valuable indeed but I think that our writing unit was just as important if not more. Our writing unit was intimidating to look at on the syllabus especially for the first week of freshman year. I said earlier that I don’t have the greatest writing background when it comes to someone reading and grading my finished product although I do enjoy writing for fun. The first week of assignments made you read the book at a comprehensive level. The discussions in class furthered our knowledge and interpretation of the book while simultaneously breaking down the barriers between the students. Even though I started off the unit panicked and stressed, I learned over the week how to prepare for an essay exam and become familiar with the college writing procedure.