Author: jsabia (Page 7 of 8)

(Active Reading) – Employ techniques of active reading, critical reading, and informal reading response for inquiry, learning, and thinking. (Word Count 440).

Coming into the first semester, I had no idea how to annotate. The extent of what I would do is highlight a quote here or there that I felt was a main point, or one that I could possibly use for my paper. Looking back on this method, I realize that I wasn’t interacting with the piece on a deeper level as I should have been. This is also largely due to the fact that I was told thought my entire education that I should never insert myself into my writing. Since the semester progressed, I have been encouraged to do just that, while also making personal connections to each piece I read. It is because of this that my annotations have largely shifted to focus on relating to the text.

These types of annotations allowed me to easily transition into my own thoughts and ideas within my writing. By starting to connect with each piece on a deeper level, I was then able to translate that understanding over into my writing. An example of this annotation style is seen in my copy of Yasmeen Serhan and Timothy McLaughlin’s piece “The Other Problematic Outbreak”. (Image 1).

By being able to interact with this piece on a deeper level by finding a connection to my own experiences, I was then able to insert myself into my writing in order to strengthen my argument against racism. (Image 2).

Not only did this style of active reading allow me to connect my personal experiences to a topic that I felt a disconnect to (racism), but it also allowed me to strengthen my stance on topics that I was very closely intertwined with, such as empathy. When I was interacting with Paul Blooms piece “Is Empathy Overrated”, I found myself immediately dismissing his claims, as I did not agree with him. However, I was able to connect with his personal connect to the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, and it allowed me to be able to try to understand his stance. (Image 3).

By having this personal connection to this event, as I am from Connecticut, I was able to strengthen my argument against him, as I have very similar experience to him, but was still able to understand the differences between sympathy and empathy. (Image 4).

The use of these active reading techniques have allowed me to improve my annotations as well as my writing, as I am now able to interact with pieces on a deeper level. This interaction allows me to connect with the experiences of the writer and allows me to strength my arguments later on in my own writing.

(Integrating Ideas) – Be able to integrate their ideas with others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources. (Word Count: 295).

At the beginning of the semester, I always found it difficult to blend my ideas with those that I read. The extent of how I would communicate with the authors from the readings would be inserting a quote here or there that I thought made some sense with what I was writing. As my time in this class progressed, I was introduced to the idea of quote sandwiches. Throughout high school, I was told to insert quotes in a way that made them a part of your sentence rather than introducing them and explaining them afterwards.

The quote sandwich taught me that introducing the quote, stating the quote, explaining it in your own words, and then go into your argument or purpose for the quote was exactly what to do. In my previous education I was told that this was boring or ineffective, when in fact it makes the most sense in academic writing. An instance in which I successfully integrated a quote sandwich is in my second paper. (Photo 1).

The red section is the introduction of the quote, the orange is the preface and the quote itself, the green is the explanation and further development of my ideas. I was also able to continue this pattern a second time in order to develop a Barclay paragraph. (Photo 2).

The colors of this paragraph have the same meanings as the one above, although the blue color is the transition rather than another introduction to a different idea. Quote sandwiches have allowed me to collect and gather my thoughts while displaying them in a useful way to my readers. This is a new concept to me, and I am very grateful to be able to continue using the practice going forward in my academic career.

(Recursive Process) – Demonstrate the ability to approach writing as a recursive process that requires substantial revision of drafts for content, organization, and clarity (global revision), as well as editing and proofreading (local revision). (Word Count: 536).

I was always my own harshest critique when it came to my rough drafts of my writing. I was afraid to have errors in my writing and would get frustrated with myself when there would be careless mistakes. All throughout high school, my rough drafts would be graded as if they were a final draft and the grade would later be upgraded after the final draft was completed. It was due to this process that I always found revisions very stressful and would try to make it so that I would not have to revise in the first place. The extent of my “revisions” would essentially be making sure there were no spelling errors and I wasn’t repeating myself.

Throughout the semester, I have learned that a rough draft is supposed to have errors. In fact, it is expected to. It was in learning this that I was able to then develop my revision process which would now include taking in the feedback I was giving by my peers and professor. I would no longer be afraid to completely scrap a section of my writing, as well as not being afraid to repeat my previous statements. I learned that repeating myself is actually expected to a certain extent, as it helps to reinforce my ideas and make them stronger to the reader.

An example of this writing revision process can be seen in the conclusion paragraph of my second essay. In my rough draft (Photo 1), my conclusion was significantly shorter than all of my other paragraphs in my paper. This was largely due to the fact that I felt as though I was repeating myself and I didn’t know how I wanted to expand my ideas.

My conclusion in my rough draft was very simple and didn’t really serve any greater purpose to my essay other than simply taking up the space of a conclusion. In my revision, I was able to create a conclusion that had a purpose. (Photo 2).

After spending more time with my conclusion, I was able to turn it into something that served a purpose in my writing. I did this by adding more real world connections and giving an idea for a bigger picture of empathy in the future. By creating this possible call to action and look into the development of empathy rather than only my own experiences, I was able to create a conclusion that wrapped up my paper, but also added a level of importance that it was lacking.

My revision process will definitely continue to grow and progress as I write more in the future, but it has come a significant distance from where it was at the beginning of the semester. I now feel confident in the idea that I don’t need to be perfect on the first try. It is perfectly reasonable, acceptable, and expected to be able to fix a paper rather than trying to completely skip over the revision process. By learning this, I feel as though I’ve become a better writer, and I am excited to see where my growth in this process will take me as I learn even more about my writing style in the time to come.