Felixcaseykcdp's Blog

BLOG #17: I warned you, right? This was pretty intense and unbelievably time-consuming, right? Reflect back on the beginning of this course – your fears, anxieties, worries, etc – and discuss how you turned these into strengths throughout this course this semester.First off, i thought that Marlen was bluffing about how much work we had. I thought he was just trying to scare us, but he was being honest. Towards the beginning i had a lot of fears, anxiety, worries, and all the etc. I thought i wasn’t a strong writer and that this was too much work than i could handle with my other classes. I would be at the library every night for hours on end and feel like i got nothing accomplished. After i got into the swing of things and actually found out how to create/work a blog, i developed time management and some organization. In my opinon, these are two things that make or break you in a research writing class, and i feel like i handled them fairly well. I think that this class allowed me to develop them further, which is very beneficial for future classes and a career.

What are your future goals as researchers? Since i am a History major, most of my work is research. Basically i will graduate with a degree in researching history. So hopefully i can get a job that relates to my major, and here i will definitly use these skills. I think i have learned more about research in this class than in any other class here at IUP or anywhere.As writers? I have always enjoyed creative writing. I used to do some when i was younger, but havn’t in a while. After taking this class i feel more confident in my writing, because even creative pieces can use research. Maybe some day i will write a book or something and this class definitly put me one step closer to that.

 What was your proudest moment in this course? My proudest moment…hmmm…i think now is my proudest moment. Although we are not completely finished yet, i have survived this class. At times it was hard to imagine this happening, but i have. Surviving other classes is one thing, but surviving this class is a different ball game. I feel like i accomplished something in this class. Maybe not a published paper, but i feel like i gained a lot from taking this class.

What do you think will most stick with you long after this course? I think that the concept of research will stick with me because it was drilled into our heads every second, but because it made me feel like a great writer and just a well rounded student in general. I read for pleasure, but now i catch my self analyzing the authors research. I sit there thinking, wow this author had to go here or there, or conduct interview, or read up on a lot of the history/customs, etc. I think this makes me appreciate their work so much more.

1) What assignment/document was most useful to you during this proces? Explain your answer.  A document that really helped me was Anne Lamotte’s Shitty First Drafts. I had anxiety about writing a draft, because i felt like it had to be well written for the first draft. It was very relieving to learn that we used this moto. Something Lamotte said that helped me ease the anxiety was, “I know some very great, writers you love who write beautifully and have amde a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts.”

2) What was the most helpful feedback you received at any stage – why was it helpful? I think the most useful feedback was from when we did our peer review projects. Friends can help in editing your drafts, but it’s nice to have a set of new eyes from someone that you don’t know all that well. They are usually fairly honest with you and often times give really useful feedback because they have a different style of writing. Also because it’s the first time that they have ever read your work so they are not accostumed to your writing style. This allows for helpful feedback.

 3) What was most difficult for you during the drafting process? Easiest? WHY? The hardest part for me was the first draft because it is the first piece of writing that i did for my entire research paper. It is the framework for your actual paper. It was also difficult to do the 2nd draft because my 1st draft mainly comprised of my ideas all written down breifly in a jumbled form. So the second draft was difficult, because of trying to lace them all together. The easiest part i think was my third draft because i then had a better feel as to what i wanted to write about and how to put all of my work together (for the most part).

4) Where does your final essay best show your ability as a writer? I think i show my best ability in my literature review. It still needs a lot of work, but i feel that i got what i wanted to say out in this section. I really liked it because i have never done one before, although it had a rocky beginning. It was interesting how we had to touch on anything that related to our papers and then later we could weave them all together. I feel that this is one of my strongest part, but my paper still needs a lot of work.