Final Reflection.

I can't believe this will be the final blog entry of this quarter. Looking back at my first blog entry

As a writer, I always write with some kind of structure. Having a good idea on what I am going to write gets me thinking. I use my ideas and put that into my work.

I can say this class really help me improve who I am as writer. It helped me use other methods of self expression and interpret identities of a website. This class has helped me strengthened my arguments and help analyze evidence and use it more effectively in my writing. I'm glad I had this class, my first quarter because it definitely helped me grow.

SLO Reflection Two.

Comparing my writing before to my writing now, I notice that many things have changed. This course has allowed me to have a deeper thought on the main argument and instill some of that in my writing. I have never written about identity, so it was interesting analyzing a blog and doing something new. I feel like since I'm in college, my writing and has improved and I have been more explicit with my ideas than I usually am. I am finding more additional knowledge that I can use for evidence and I think it has helped my papers. In the long run, I think this class has bettered my writing, and that's what I was hoping for at the beginning of the quarter.

SLO Reflection One.

I can honestly say this course has helped me become a better reader and researcher. The days went by so quickly but I know what I have learned will be beneficial in my college years to come. All in one quarter, I have learned to use my readings to the furthest extent. This course has taught me how to analyze texts more throughly and grabs key points that could help me get a better understanding. We read two different books and countless articles, and had assignments like creating a precis or the annotate bibliography, which gave me another aid to interpret the material we were discussing. Before this class, I have never used a database to find my resources. I would either find an online source by probably finding it on google, or using a book I looked for in the library, or use our reading to back up my argument. I feel lucky I learned how to use tools like WorldCat early on in the year because I can make use of it for classes to come and they are such easy resources that you can easily attain. Reading or researching may not be my forte, but I can certainly say this quarter has given me a good foundation to my reading and researching in the future ahead of me and I can only keep improving from what I've attained from having this class.

Revision.

Revision is a useful process, where you can take your writing to another level. Either you or another individual can help correct or edit your paper, and it gives you a chance to reconstruct or create new thoughts that you can build on to make your argument stronger. It gives you a chance to focus on the areas you need to improve on.

Essay State.

Well, I chose Option Two for my second essay. Like the first essay, I chose a blog that was fashion focused just because I really like topic and I really like the layout of most of the blogs, they are visually appetizing. I talked about social language and tied it with my thesis of how "blogging has altered the forms of conveying oneself, adding another form of writing providing the author a different method of expression," and tried to find identity in the blog, analyzing it almost the same way as West did but it's definitely still in its draft stage. I'm having trouble with the argument of the essay, it's hard for me to not state the same stuff in my last essay because the blogs are similar and I feel like my thoughts are hard to grasp. Feedback would be nice (:

Essay Plan.

Right now, I have picked prompt two for this second essay. I'm having trouble finding a blog to write about but I wanna keep looking at a similar site like the one I used for the first essay, but maybe a different closely related topic because it really interests me. I plan to analyze the blog I choose and integrate West's article in my essay including her idea about "social language," and try to do maybe a similar study to hers. I haven't started writing, but I will soon and I will also be looking for a different source that will be better fitted for my essay because the one I chose does not fit too well.

Practice Annotated Bibliography.

Luehmann’s identifies how blogging can assists reformed-minded teachers to develop a better understanding on improving their curriculum. An analysis is done on classroom blogs and how it might influence their outcome of the teacher’s specific own learning goals. Luehmann incorporates other experts in the field of critical discourse analysis, especially Gee, to prove her ideas on social networking technologies. Her article demonstrates the effects and benefits of blogging in a course and how it gives opportunities to educators to increase the interaction between their students and themselves, supporting the learning in a classroom and how they can better understand their learning ability. Luehman’s research is a similar study that is closely related to my essay prompt, and would be a useful resource.