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.
Mistakes, I’ve Made a Few
It feels as if I have made more mistakes this semester than I have my entire life. It’s easy to see your mistakes in college, especially if they include not studying hard enough for a biology exam and then regretfully seeing your grade later. I have learned that I cannot put off studying especially for that bio class because it will drastically hurt my grades. One of the biggest mistakes that I have made so far would have to be taking Biology 160 instead of Biology 102. Although I am still suffering and struggling in that class, it has taught me that not everything in life is going to be easy and I need to learn how to adapt to difficult circumstances. I realize that I will continue to make mistakes in college, but isn’t that what college is about? We are supposed to spend these years learning from our mistakes so that we can learn about ourselves.
What I Love (& Hate) to Learn?
I love to learn many things. I have had an attraction toward anything dealing with politics since I participated in the Trent Lott program for high school students. I like to learn about the things that affect me in my everyday life. Before coming to college, I thought that I liked Biology but that theory has been proven dead wrong. One of my favorite classes is Psychology, and I think that is so because it focuses on what makes us who we are. Psychology also makes me feel like I am in a medical class which excites me because I am a pre-med student (for now). It is a little odd to have politics and medicine as my two favorite subjects to learn, but I guess that’s what makes me who I am.
Visual Analysis Unit Reflection
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.
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.
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.
#WatchReadRepeat
As this week progressed, I learned another valuable set of information about the writing process. While doing the literacy guide, I had to write multiple drafts in order to get my paper where I thought that it should be. I know that I am going to have to do the same drafting process with my visual analysis, but it will be slightly different. With this unit, we aren’t writing about an article or other text form, we are writing about a video. The hardest thing about this is that you have to watch the video over and over day after day until you feel confident that you have gotten all of the needed information out of it. My hashtag sums up this week in terms of the drafting process: watch the video, read over your notes and draft, and then repeat the process. After multiple times of completing this process of the weekend, I hope that my draft will be so much better than it currently is.
Analyzing the World Around Us
I think that people in general analyze more things than they think they do. I personally tend to analyze any new situations or environments that I am placed into so that I can learn about the things around me and become more comfortable. I feel like when you analyze something it allows you to see that thing from a deconstructed perspective which in turn lets you have a better understanding of the subject. It is part of our nature to analyze things, whether it be people, places, or things. The exercises that I have done so far in this unit have helped me break apart the different “Op-Docs” and see them from a view that I had not previously done before.
Same Video, Different Opinions?
Collaborative thinking allows you to have more opinions on a certain topic. By getting in our groups of three, we were able to each express our own individual thoughts about the material, but then also be able to see how someone else’s opinion and how the three of us were thinking differently. Another set of eyes never hurts, especially in writing. In reading and writing, it is great to understand all sides of the material which can be eased by listening to others.
Literacy Guide Unit Reflection
While I was was writing my Literacy Guide to The New York Times, I learned an exponential amount of information about the writing process. One of the biggest things that I came to realize was how awful the drafting process truly was. Usually in high school, you write the first few facts that come to mind and you have yourself a decent paper – this is not the case in college. After meeting with Mrs. Forgette in conference, I realized that going through draft after draft is actually a good thing, and a vital part to the writing process. Several mandatory components of this guide caused me a great amount of stress, most particularly the writing analysis. In high school, my teachers stressed that we could read a certain story and be able to analyze what the author meant; never did I think of how they wrote. In the few weeks in this writing class I have realized that determining how an article is written and analyzing the rhetoric is what I struggle with the most. Throughout my writing process, I would have all of the “must-haves” except for these. This caused me to take a step back and thoroughly read through my guide and go back to the articles that I had included to try and get a good grasp on where an ideal location would be to insert these analyses. Although I had trouble with a few “must-haves”, some were vary favorable. After I completed the numerous homework activities about searching and selecting different article forms from The New York Times, I actually came to enjoy the differences between a news piece and an op-ed piece on the same subject. After completely disregarding my first draft and settling on four new sections, I can easily say that sifting through article after article deep within The Times was my most enjoyable part of this whole project. My Donald Trump section was the easiest to find different article forms, to no surprise. I knew that I could find the bulk of my “must-haves” with Mr. Trump because of the plethora of information that is circulating about him, but at the same time I knew that my guide would be at its best with the “must-haves” spread throughout. During class Wednesday, I came to fruition that I had written more of a “how to” guide than a writing analysis guide and that I had to start over. I wanted to have the majority of my guide written so that Mrs. Forgette could tell me how everything was coming along and possibly steer me in the right direction, so I knew that I had to act fast. That night, however, was the Presidential Debate which was something that I had been looking forward to for weeks and did not want to miss. At first I thought that attempting to watch the debate and write my guide would be disastrous, but then it hit me that I was writing about all of those people on stage so how could it hurt me. I will admit that I got distracted multiple times throughout the debate, and how could you not with all of those entertaining politicians. If I had just locked myself in my room with my earbuds in, I probably could have finished my entire draft that night with time to spare, but I don’t think that I would have changed a thing. I actually heard things during the debate that caused me to search subjects on The New York Times which I ended up including in my final draft. If I had to give myself any advice for future writing situations, I would tell myself that sometimes it is okay to write crap and go back and try again and again until you finally get it right.
Comfort with The New York Times
I have actually used The New York Times before I had to purchase a subscription last week. I downloaded the NYT app onto my phone that would send me daily notifications every morning. I have always enjoyed reading news articles and watching news shows, so I definitely feel comfortable with using The New York Times in this class.