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. 

Drafting

I really liked the first time when we drafted by hand so that is what I did this time.  I will just post pictures of my drafts.  I didn't do the pre-drafting post but my goal was to establish a good opening paragraph and thesis that could drive my paper and then experiment with writing body paragraphs that were clear in supporting that thesis.

Animal Farm Research

Working thesis: Despite all the obvious comparisons between the political environment of Animal Farm and the rise of the Soviet Union, George Orwell’s political satire is about the corruption that power causes in an individual and the relative ease of obtaining power in relation to correctly using that gained power. 

Animal Farm Prewrite

The first thing I did was discuss the book with some friends and family members and get their thoughts and ideas.  These are the notes I took while talking to them about it.

Animal Farm

I want to write my paper on Animal Farm by George Orwell.  I read this book as a kid and thought it was really interesting but for different reasons than I do now.  The political ideas in the book are an interesting topic of research for me.  It's also really significant to me because I spent a lot of time in Ukraine which is part of the former Soviet Union.  There were still a lot of Soviet ideas present there at the time I was there.  Also, while I was there, there was a political uprising in Kyiv that was extremely similar to the animal uprising in the book.

I checked out Goodreads and there was quite a bit of info on the book.  It was mostly just a lot of people that didn't understand what the book was about asking questions about it.  But people would answer them and give good information.

I also did a Twitter search and found out that there is a play right now in Newcastle, England that is an adaptation of the play.

I also found some blogs where people go into detail about the symbolism behind the characters in the book.

There is also Facebook page that is basically a discussion group.

I know this was supposed to be done like 3 days ago, but I figured it's better late than never.

I found all the sources that I am going to use in my essay.  I ended up using two of the the sources that Shelby found for me and they were really helpful.  I found that a lot of the sources overlap so I didn't end up using as many sources as I thought I would need to use.

The ebrary was really helpful in finding books that related to my subject.

Research for Courtney

Goodfellow, John A., ed. Understanding Medical Research : The Studies That Shaped Medicine. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 22 February 2016.

This book could be helpful as you try to understand Jason and his ambition.  It is about Jason’s profession of medical research and how we can understand it.

Institute of Medicine. Working Together: We Can Help People Get Good Care When They Are Dying. Washington, DC, USA: National Academies Press, 2000. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 22 February 2016.

I thought this could be a helpful resource in evaluating both Vivian and Jason who you compare in your essay.  This book talks about how hospitals should deal with people that are dying. 

King, Casey. Ambition, a History: From Vice to Virtue. Print.

This book isn’t available online but they have it at the library.  I thought it could be helpful because you discuss ambition and especially the ambition of the scholars quite a bit in your essay.  This book examines the history of ambition. 

"Margaret Edson." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Contemporary Authors Online. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

This is a short biography about the author of the play Margaret Edson.  It gives some good insight into her perspectives on life and why she wrote the play in the first place.

Richardson, Henry S.. Moral Entanglements : The Ancillary-Care Obligations of Medical Researchers. Cary, NC, USA: Oxford University Press, USA, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 22 February 2016.

I thought this could be useful for you because you talk about how Jason just treated Vivian as a piece of research.  This book talks about the responsibilities that researchers have and how they should treat those people they are researching.