Outcome 3: Writing as a Process

There are many steps to writing any paper, specifically a research paper. In writing my research paper I learned that writing is a process of research, drafting, revision, editing, and reflection. The first step of my procedure was to come up with a topic and a novel, I chose the sublimation of women in Frankenstein. Then, I came up with a research question and answered it with a temporary thesis. After this I wrote a proposal of what it is that I wanted to write about, including a “so what factor” or why it was important to me. From this, I researched and evaluated sources to come up with an annotated bibliography. Then, we peer reviewed the proposals and bibliographies in class. From this I learned to make my paper more detailed, explaining further in depth what it was that I was talking about. I also learned that I should include some nuance in my argument to make it more complex. From this, I came up with an outline for my paper. We peer reviewed thee outlines in class. From the peer reviewing I learned that I needed a stronger “so what” statement. I needed to relate my paper to modern day society today or mention how my paper was similar and different to what has been said in the past concerning my topic. After the outline it was time to write the first draft. In class I learned that there are different ways one can structure their essays, but that it was best to include a counter argument. I had never really incorporated a counter argument into my paper, because previously I have written persuasive essay. I met my teacher at the coffee shop to help me organize my paper and include a counter argument and she taught me that a counter argument adds complexity to an argument and lets the reader know that you have considered all sides to your argument. My teacher helped me realize that my counter argument should be places after my introduction paper so I could then rebuttal it with my argument for the rest of the paper. After my first draft we did reverse outlining in class. Here, we read each others papers and came up with main ideas for each paragraphs. This helped me realize that some paragraphs were out of order. After changing some paragraphs around I finally improved the organization of my paper. From here I will go on to write about our final meetings leading up to the final paper.

Outcome 2: Over the past semester, I have increased my ability to acquire key passages within written works such as essays, articles, and scholarly journals. Within these passages, my capacity to find key words and key phrases that contribute to the author’s overall argument, as well as to look for aspects of the author’s work to contribute to my own argument, has steadily improved. Additionally, I feel through the learning of counterarguments and in crafting written work with both defense of and critique of presented ideas, I more readily look to not only gain information from reading and analyzing, but also challenge many points of views. Some of my works where I was able to effectively portray these skills were my Frankenstein paper proposal and many of my Blog Posts, specifically 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 8.

My Frankenstein paper proposal, specifically the annotated bibliography, reflected both my most recent and most skilled work of synthesizing material and creating a summary from what was presented in other works of writing. For example, in crafting my annotation for the article Monstrosity, Suffering, Subjectivity, and Sympathetic Community in Frankenstein and “The Structure of Torture’”, I immediately began by referencing and defining the notion of “individual subjectivity”, what I felt was the author’s key point. I then progressed its meaning by explaining this concept more thoroughly, mentioning its relationship to the book and how this concept is featured in the creature’s life. This, in turn, created a more understandable and complete idea of the author’s main points.

An example of my ability to challenge other people’s ideas was presented in Blog Post 1, in which we had to create both an argument and a counterargument for the use of surveillance technology in response to the “Eye in the Sky” podcast. By taking an unbiased stance on the issue and thoughtfully assessing the pros and cons to both sides, I was able to craft to effective arguments for each perspective.

In my portfolio, I would like to showcase my writing process and the ways in which my writing changes as I continue to work on a project, from the initial stages of the Proposal and Bibliography, to the rough outline blog post, all the way through the rough and final drafts of my research paper. Before this project, I rarely planned ahead for my research projects, and if I did, it was not nearly as thorough as I planned for this research assignment.

One of the things that I found most helpful to the writing process this semester was blogging, as I found myself writing about similar themes almost every week. This is easily what led me to my topic for my research paper. It also made finding important passages for my research paper, as many of the passages that I talked about in my blog posts directly related to my research topic.

Outlining, which I rarely took the time to do before this assignment, is also very beneficial to me. I also thought that reverse outlining, which I had never heard of before, was helpful as well, because it makes you consider how the reader of your paper views what you are saying. This goes along with proofreading my papers multiple times, especially the rough draft, which at first consisted mostly of the ideas found in my blog posts.

Finally, I find the peer editing process beneficial to my writing because, although I do not always like others to read my written work, receiving feedback is the best way for me to improve my writing. It allows me to best see whether my argument is understandable to someone who known little or nothing about the subject I am writing about and corrects any mistakes I may have missed. It also allows me to see examples of others’ writing as well, which can give me ideas on how I can improve my own writing.

The first artifact I think I might discuss in my cover letter is my Pecha Kucha presentation. Not only was it the first major assessment we did in this class, but it was a presentation style I have never heard of before. Thus, I was really nervous at the beginning of the project, but afterwards I was really proud of myself for giving this presentation in front of the whole class (and first). The second and third artifacts I might showcase in my cover letter are blog posts number 7 and 9. Blog post number 7 was one in which I summarized Eleanor Salotto’s article “Frankenstein and Dis(re)membered Identity,” as well as give a possible way that I could use this article in my research paper. I did end up using this article in my final paper and thus I think it is interesting to compare my original summary with my actual argument in my paper and how my ideas change over time. Blog post number 9 was my (very) rough outline for my paper. In my paper I did end up discussing these rough outline of points and arguments, but in a different order and not exactly the same. Again, I think it is interesting to see how the process of writing includes a lot of editing and looking back, what I thought was an outline for my paper ended up not being how my paper actually turned out. My fourth, fifth and sixth artifacts will be my paper proposal/ annotated bibliography, rough draft and final draft. I think these three are the most important writings I have done in this class and not only reflect my writing, but really illustrate how much editing goes into the writing process. It takes multiple attempts and corrections to reach full potential and these three stages demonstrate that.

The objective that I would like to focus on is Objective #3: “Writing as Process.”  

“Getting started: Consider describing the changes in one of the projects included in the portfolio from beginning to end. Did you use techniques that your instructor may have mentioned: outlining, response paragraphs, and blogging? Did informal kinds of writing find their way into the process such as emailing a professor about an idea, sketching out notes on a napkin at a coffee shop, or talking to a friend about your ideas? Ultimately, your writing process includes each step you take from the coffee shop napkin to an outline to a first draft and eventually, a final product.”

I think the artifacts that I mentioned to put in my cover letter are the ones that best respond to this prompt. These showcase the steps it takes to create the final product. Each illustrate how my ideas change over and over again until a final product is created. Also, the paper utilized talking to peers and others to make the final product such as peer editing and conferences and thus demonstrates how many steps are taken to reach the final paper.

I want to talk about Outcome 2 which is about critical thinking and reading resulting in writing.

Throughout this semester, I have learned how to find a scholar and reliable article and information sources, how to use the abstract to understand the essence of one article instead of reading the whole passage and how to correctly and ethically cite others’ work in my paper. For example, in the rough draft of my paper “Mirroring our reality: how people desire closeness but hide behind electrical devices in ‘Her’ ”, I cite several sentences from an article called “My students don’t know how to have a conversation” in which the author describes a situation when his students can not have a conversation without phones. And then I evaluate his description by saying that “From these descriptions from the article, it is clear that reaching out for our phones has become an involuntary and automatic impulse when we are confused or stressed as if grabbing a phone in our hands can bring mental power and relief.”

By using a structure of quotation sandwich which first introduces the article that I want to cite and then after the citation, integrates this citation into my own paper by illustrating the relationship between the article and my thesis and its application in my paper. This is a new skill I have learned which I believe, has made my paper more clear and understandable because if I do not connect the citation with my paper, it will be confusing for readers to build a connection.

Moreover, despite increasing my paper’s credibility, a citation can even further push my thesis forward to a higher and deeper level because when I am citing others’ words, I am exchanging ideas with outside, a process which can trigger idea conflicts and generate new realizations. So I really believe that by this semester, I have improved my ability to read, think, cite and evaluate critically.

“There, I’m done!” says Karol as she finishes the first draft of her paper. “No wait, let me fix these typos first… does this sentence make sense with the rest of the paragraph… should I include more details to make my ideas more clear… should I replace this sentence with this one…” Finally, writing is a process. The moment where you, as a writer, feel that your final draft is complete, that is the perfect moment to return to your writing and improve it.

Writing is a challenge given that my first language is Spanish and I constantly translate my ideas from Spanish to English. Most of the time this works, but other times it is a complete disaster! Spanish idioms are completely different from English idioms. This difference impedes me from completing a clean English piece of writing. Nonetheless, I do not allow my imperfections to dull my willingness to write. In class, Professor Starr constantly mentions that writing is a social activity where different writers engage in conversations. I implemented this idea to my “Karol Oviedo Post #4” where I continue with the conversation of the dystopian society in the book Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart. I say, “according to girls’ behavior in this book, they have to receive respect by having their significant other be aware that they could have an affair with others also. To this day, that action is not deserving of respect […]” This quote emphasizes how Grillbitch allows herself to be mocked. As a way of demonstrating she deserves respect, she decided to make herself look like she is surrounded by other men who are taking advantage of her. I contributed to this conversation by saying that this immorality comes from the dystopian society she lives in.

Another way to look at how writing is a conversation is when one is discussing the reading. The most imperative deed when engaging in a group discussion is to listen to what others have to say in order to react to it. If one does not listen, the conversations will remain one-sided.