Learning Log #1
Recursive Process
When you are writing an essay, many drafts and suggestions go into it before you forming final. A tool that I use is I create an outline by hand and the write a rough draft before I even type it. I find that I write better and more efficiently if I do it on paper instead of on my laptop. And then I edit my own paper before I type it. Then I create a google doc where I can ask other people to kindly help me and peer edit my essays, and we will usually switch papers. They go in suggesting mode and make suggestions that way. I am also in a SASC class where we work very closely with my writing and I have tried to put my focus on fragments. In my first paper (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XF4yjsOJz2wEglYG-x0VO2HwznrWwh0DAjaY42oDK9g/edit) you will notice I don’t stay on topic as much as I had hoped to in the means of following the prompt (In the context of HIV/AIDS (and/or another stigmatized topic you care about), how does Epstein’s argument for social cohesion connect to or complicate Hallward’s ideas about social and political change?) and I have a lot of -ing fragments. In my next paper I hope to have a working thesis, which I think will help keep the paper on track, and I hope to have less -ing fragments.
Integrating
In class, we spent some time working with the ‘quotation sandwich’ which I found to be extremely helpful. The ‘quotations sandwich’ talks about how to introduce a quote, insert and properly cite the quote, and how to write kind of a conclusion of the quote that you chose to use. We had worked with a few TED talks and a few essay pieces to pull quotes from. I think I need a lot of work in this area. I need to learn how to find quotes that strongly support my argument and introduce the quote in a better way. In my essay‘SocialCohesion’,(https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XF4yjsOJz2wEglYG-x0VO2HwznrWwh0DAjaY42oDK9g/edit)I hardly used any quote to support my argument, and in my other essay…()… you can see how that has improved.
Active, Critical Reading
I absolutely love reading, actively reading. I love trying to understand what the writer was trying to convey through their piece and kind of trying to have your own take on it. Annotating is a very helpful tool when you are actively reading, taking notes in the margarine to go back and read later on. I find it extremely helpful. While reading over it you may also find some quotes you think are fascinating or a quote you would like to put in a piece you are writing. This would be a good time to underline or highlight that quote so you can go back and find it later on. Also while reading, you may want to try to make some text-to-self, or text-to-world connections that can help you have a better understanding. In the beginning of the class I was overstating and it would become overwhelming when I would go back to review, However now I know what things are helpful to me and what benefits me the most when writing a paper on the subject or essay that I am annotating. As you can see bellow the picture on the left is one of the first annotations we ever did, it is overflowing with pen ink and you can’t really understand where I am trying to draw attention to. However, the picture on the right is one of the last ones that we have done and my notes are much more organized. I use different color highlighters for different things, that could be words that I need defined, quotes I find interesting, or things I don’t completely understand.
MLA Citation
I feel that I do rather well in the works cited page area, I haven’t had any comments or revisions made to this portion of my essays. However I feel I could use a little more work with the in-text citations.
Managing Individual Error Patterns
When it comes to grammatical errors I make silly little mistakes often, and I tend to repeat them. I overuse commas, and frequently have fragments. I try to catch these when I do revisions for myself, but sometimes I miss them from editing the paper so many times myself that I just need a fresh set of eyes. So this is where I ask for a lot of my peer editing. I also enjoy peer editing because I know that I can follow my own ideas, but I like to make sure that the topic that I am discussing is completely relevant to the subject and flows well and transitions nicely. So after my first essay, I read through it and anytime I spot a work that ends in -ing I highlight it. Then I go back and make sure that I am not using an -ing fragment in my essay.
