Thursday, April 21, 2016

My Writing: Lizzi Perkins

This semester I learned so much about the writing process. As an advertising major with an English minor I thought, I’m not going to have to write any more literary criticism in college again! But what I didn’t realize was that this class would help me in a lot of other aspects beyond literary criticism.

On the literary front I learned a lot about what a thesis statement is supposed to be and what it is supposed to do for a paper. Granted, I still have a lot of work to do there (my theses are interesting to me but I still have to work to take them in a more controversial direction so my paper has more umph), but now I can recognize a good thesis. Overall, I am still not an outstanding literary critic, but I am better than I was (sometimes I focus too much on the style and research and lose the importance of the primary text).

On that note, I loved doing research! I learned a lot about effective ways to research and I loved getting into the library! Too often I find myself doing all my research online; I forgot the allure and beauty of the library (which sounds weird but is real!). My research really improved as I explored more methods of gaining insight.

But what I improved the most in was learning creativity and drafting skills. I loved in class assignments with partners (I loved getting feedback and learning different styles of doing things) and I loved all the different ways we attacked the drafting process. In other areas of my schoolwork I have applied some of the different methods we used (stickies, drawing pictures, handwriting) and it has made a big difference in the caliber of my ideas and brainstorming. 


I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot! I'm glad I got to know all the other students and learn so much about my own writing process and how to improve it! In the future I plan on getting feedback from a peer (especially in the drafting stages) to get ideas and focus my paper down. I also plan on continuing to give myself more than a night to write a paper; taking the time to write, wait, and fix my essays made a huge difference in the quality of my writing and in my enjoyment of it.

Thanks so much Dr. Burton!

My Writing: Sage Madsen

This semester... wow! It's been one of the hardest semesters ever, but thankfully I had a lot of really amazing experiences despite the all-around difficulty. This class has been one of those amazing experiences. I'd never studied John Donne poetry before, and I ended up studying him in other classes this semester as well... alongside all his intense poetry, I came to understand life a little more, too. 

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

My Writing: Rebekah Hartshorn

I did it!!! I've been procrastinating this class for as long as I could and turns out that my trepidation was well placed. However, I'm really grateful for Dr. Burton's help this semester.

My Writing: Kayla Nelson


So, this class made me realize how much of a mess my writing process was and helped me figure out a more effective way to write. 

The first post was a really fun experience for me! It opened up my eyes and had me realize how much I rely on literature and writing to live a fulfilled life. This was the last time I wrote an essay with my original writing process. 
Another blog post that was enlightening to my writing was when we had to do a preliminary analysis on a Donne poem. This forced me to find at least 10 different points of possible direction. This process gave me a start for any future essays! 
The most helpful of any exercise we did in class was the hour limit of writing. It helped me put a lot of my ideas on paper. 

These exercises helped me understand that lengthening the writing process can be EXTREMELY beneficial to me and my writing! 

It was super interesting to me to see how online and technological sources could be a help in writing. My facebook posts concerning my writing were met with many comments, questions, and ideas from friends I hadn't anticipated hearing from. It really aided my writing process to be able to reach out to an online community. I joined a Harry Potter community discussion group on facebook that had a lot of fun ideas I hadn't considered for my research paper. 

The social aspect of the class was fantastic! It was so great to have peers to talk to about the assignments. I loved sharing my methods for writing prep and process. And I really enjoyed seeing everyone else's methods as well. It created a community of writers that were all working toward similar goals. 

I loved this class and I loved getting to know all of you! WRITE ON!

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

My Writing: Nicole Ratliff

Whelp. It's over. I guess this class was not what I was expecting to say the least, although now that I think about it, I don't even know what I was expecting to be honest. I think in all reality I thought that this would be just like my AP English Language and Composition course where I wrote my first 15 page paper on The Grapes of Wrath... I even chose that to be the same book I would write my final paper on for this semester! But this class was wayyyyy different! Yes, there was structure. Yes, there was a goal. But I really felt that I was constantly being pushed out of my comfort zone. Although not everything I wrote was perfect, I feel that every thing I did this semester improved my writing and now I know what I enjoy as well as what I don't as well as I think I am really beginning to understand myself as a writer.

Although this first post isn't necessarily anything important, I feel like this was the first time I really expressed my love of writing to others through writing! And throughout the semester I used this piece as inspiration and a reminder of why I am an English Major especially when I didn't do as well as I would have liked and felt discouraged.

Besides the first blog post I feel that the first time we tried writing our essays in an hour which can be seen in this post, "Flashback, Flashback!" Giving myself only an hour- a productive hour to write- really helped me to focus on the important themes and concepts that I wanted to address in addition to creating an outline that would make filling in the rest of my paper much easier! I learned that I really like this way of writing in addition to the ways that we built upon it aka being accountable to someone else in class and helping others in their writing process. It was amazing to see how much talking to others really helped me flesh out my ideas for my papers and really understand what I was writing about and why! In my future writing I would love to take more of a social approach, including posting more on facebook and other platforms and really understand if my "why" is important to others!

Although I do have to admit that I am not the best writers of literary criticism, I learned a lot about how to improve my formal writing as well as what kind of writer I am. I am extremely lengthy and sometimes my writing is as complicated as I am! I love to bask in the creative aspects of the writing process and enjoy looking at my work feeling accomplished because of the improvements I have made as well as the successes I have had. I like to compare stories and love to see how to bridge the gaps between generations. I am glad that I was able to learn social aspects of writing as well as improve my formal writing habits. This class was another way I could develop myself as a writer, and I enjoyed it!



Happy End of the Semester! Idk about you guys but I'm ready to hit the beach!

Monday, April 18, 2016

My Writing: Veronica Whelan

This class was amazingly beneficial to me. It allowed me to learn how to actually write a paper in a way that had really never been broken down for me before, and showed me a lot of things that I really needed to learn how to do properly, as well as letting me see what I was already good at. Previous to this class, my abilities to really break down and analyze something were close to nonexistent, and while they are definitely still in need of a lot of work, I have seen an infinite improvement in the way I approach the task of "writing a paper." I have learned how to really divide up my tasks and put an equal effort into every aspect, rather than rather hurriedly trying to shove as much into words as I could, and subsequently losing a lot of meaning and depth in my writing.

While it may not be evident to an outside reader, writing this post really caused a breakthrough for me in terms of creating a solid thesis. Before this specific assignment, I really was at a loss when it came to this basic skill, because I really didn't understand the mechanics of a "thesis." This assignment really forced me to teach myself how to break down an idea and then rebuild it in an exact pattern.

Another assignment that really sparked me was this one. The entire process that we worked through with our W;t essays really had an impact on me. I have to say, this may be one of the very first, proper rough drafts I had ever written in my life. And this is from someone who really, really loves to write. I literally didn't know how to write a draft. This was honestly a huge impact on the way I think about writing papers. It was actually kind of incredible.

Receiving feedback from fellow students as well as our instructor was, while at first a little strange, actually very helpful. It allowed me to see a lot of random perspectives, rather than a single person's. Also, it seemed that every comment had a different suggestion or compliment than the previous one, which helped me to see smaller aspects of my writing that were or were not helping my overall goal.

All in all, I enjoyed this class immensely. I know that I am not supposed to gush too much in my writing (sorry, professor Burton), but this is a response, not an analysis. This is possibly the most useful class, as far as my writing is concerned, that I have ever taken.

My Writing: Jonah Byers

Before this class, my definition of "research" was looking up sources online specifically by title, then skimming for meaningful quotes. No understanding of the source, no actual learning from them and application to my writing, just "go in, get the quotes, get out." I realize now that my first attempt at researching sources for Nicole back in February was much like that; I wasn't so much looking for useful information as I was just trying to find sources that sounded like they were useful. However, the more I tried, the more I realized that just skimming wasn't going to cut it. After that, my research was so much more in depth (literally, in some cases, as I found myself lost in the depths of the HBLL a few times), but I emerged with a much better knowledge of what makes a research paper and how sources are used within it.

I will admit, I still need to work on thesis statements, but at least I understand what makes a good one now. I may not have participated in the different theses assignment (that was the day my computer broke and took the Apple Store most of the day to fix), but reading everyone else's and understanding the differences between them was incredibly helpful for any future writing and criticism I may write.

The most glaring improvement I've made in writing is the use of scheduled drafts. All through high school, I was very much the student who was so confident in their writing ability that they never do more than one draft. I'd write an essay and turn it in without any kind of drafting process, proofreading, peer-editing, or any other kind of revising. I shudder to think of what my grade would have been like for this class if I'd taken that approach for the final paper. The first time we did an in-class drafting assignment really opened my eyes to how actually reviewing and planning my writing improved it so much.

Finally, peer critiques as well as just discussing works with friends really helped me understand where I could go with the assignments. Rebekah and I were just idly discussing different concepts in our papers and, while I can't speak for her, just that discussion really helped me figure out where to go for the final draft. Having a friend or classmate read through your work and drafting was an important step that, as a full-fledged socially anxious introvert, I never wanted to accept, but now, I don't think I'll ever submit another essay or paper without having someone else read it first.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

My Writing: Shelby Dana

This semester was really beneficial for me as a writer and a literary critic.  I learned a lot of different techniques that I had never considered using before!  While some of them I didn’t love, many were really helpful and I’ll definitely use them in the future.

One of my favorite things we did this semester was study the poetry of John Donne and then watch the movie W;t.  It was so good for me to see the difference between a play and film adaptation and all of the different aspects of it  (found here) I found myself not only going deeper into the film itself, but understanding the poem better because of the interpretations of the producers and actors, etc.

Another thing I really loved that we did this semester was working on thesis statements.  (Blog post found here.) This was useful for me because I learned that the type of thesis statement I use can very easily determine the direction that my paper will take.  I liked that there is a formula for us to follow because that helps me to figure things out better and organize them in my mind before I even start writing my paper.  This was a great tip.

Our process in the last paper was perhaps the most helpful for me.  Working with a partner helped me reevaluate my work and clarify my ideas.  I found that when I had to explain what I was thinking about to someone else, I was able to weed out things that were unnecessary, didn’t make sense, or didn’t contribute to the idea of my paper effectively.  Lizzi was an encouraging partner, and that motivation made all the difference!  I also really liked it when Kayla read through my paper and gave me a few ideas for edits that should be made. A fresh pair of eyes makes a world of difference!

While writing the last paper, I discovered a technique that made a semi-intimidating assignment a little easier to handle. At first it was really scary and I didn't do well, but the second time I tried was much better! Here's proof how bad it was.  I decided to just open up a separate Word Doc for each point I planned on making in the paper.  When I looked at it in chunks instead of thinking about the paper as a giant, scary whole, it was easier for me to complete. 


All in all, this was a good class that helped me grow as a writer and I’m glad that I was able to take it! 

My Writing: Justin Rich

My writing actually changed a lot over the course of this semester.   One of the main things that changed for me is the way I approach starting a paper.  Before this class I was the type to just sit down without any preparation and write the final draft.  One of the things that changed for me was that I started doing more preparation and brainstorming before I started writing a paper.  One example of this is when we did the prewriting for the last piece of literary criticism for the class.  For the first time I experimented with ways of getting a bunch of ideas out before I started even writing my introduction.  I think this made me more open minded to different subjects to write about.  In the past I would just think of an idea to write about and stick to it.


The other aspect of my writing that changed significantly was the drafting process. I was never one to draft much in the past.  One of the most helpful things I did especially on the last paper we wrote was draft with a paper and pen.  It is something I had not done since elementary school, but it made the process much easier for me while drafting my final paper.  I felt like I was able to get my thoughts out on the paper much more smoothly and I did not feel like I had writers block at all.  Along with this I felt like the social aspect of drafting was helpful.  It was nice to be able to talk to someone about the ideas I had and where I could go with them.  The people I talked to were able to give me ideas about how I could make the ideas clearer and the essay more thesis driven.  The social aspect of drafting at the same time as someone else in the class also helped me a lot, because it forced me to start writing.  Sometimes the hardest part of the process for me can just be starting to write.  So being forced to write at the same time as someone else in the class helped me to push through this. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

My Writing: Courtney Smith

There were lots of opportunities for growth this semester. One thing that I had never done before was creating different types of thesis statements. (This post is "Thesis Statements" on February 1st.)  It was interesting learning about what types of thesis statements there were, which is useful because the thesis is such an essential part of the paper. I think I can use this as a tool in the future to fine-tune my theses and make sure I am expressing the right ideas. I've also been able to experiment with things that I had never been exposed to before; for example, when writing the "playful pre-write," (I posted this as "Playful Pre-writing" on March 14th) I was able to get a better sense of where my thesis was headed.  It was a great way to try different paths of thinking and use a variety of things to develop more solid ideas about what kind of paper I wanted to write. In the past I did not have creative ways of approaching a paper, so this brought in new ideas and helped me to really absorb the text. It was also good for me because I am an outline addict--I outline absolutely everything that I possibly can so that I can see my work start to finish. I did this thorough outline for the Donne paper (entitled "Writing Plan and Record: Courtney Smith" and posted on January 16th) but didn't for the last paper. I think it helped me to try different types of pre-writing and do whatever felt comfortable for me at the time, since getting started can seem impossibly hard at the beginning. There was also, of course, plenty of practice researching, which was a great experience.

One thing that was helpful for me was the partner writing that we did for the final research paper. There was enough flexibility that we could make this process our own while still having the structure of reporting to someone that you were writing. It was also nice to discuss ideas with other people, especially on the final research paper. Even just working through ideas out loud brought new thoughts to me that I hadn't had before. Sharing during any and all of the writing process is a stretch for me, since generally writing is strictly individual during most of my school years, but it was good for me to see the benefits of branching out a bit.

Monday, April 11, 2016

Reflective Post Assignment

Write a blog post titled "My Writing: [Full name]" in which you reflect upon your writing process and your understanding of yourself as a researcher, literary critic, and academic writer as this has developed over the course of this class. Make specific reference to things you have tried (by assignment or personal experiment), and realizations you've made about the stages of writing or about your particular strengths or challenges as a writer.

Please link to specific blog posts from the semester that reflect your efforts at literary criticism or your efforts to understand and develop your writing process.

Include in your blog post an assessment of the social and online aspects of writing as you've been involved in peer critiques and online drafting during the semester. How has this helped you? What can you do to integrate either social or online aspects to your future writing assignments?

Keep this post to 300-400 words.