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.

Applying West's Article.

Reading Kathleen West's article reminded me a whole lot of our own class. It was an interesting analysis that she conducted on her own students, allowing her to examine the social languages in each blog. Her study focused on the idea of "social language" and how it exhibited their identities, so I think I may define the term and integrate it towards my paper. I picked option two because I think I can write a better paper with the prompt and it might lead me to conduct my own little analysis like West's towards a new blog that fits my liking.

Kathleen West.

When reading West's article, I found it very intriguing. She conducted an analysis on three students in her 11th grade literature class examining the"levels of social organization”: situational, institutional, and societal," (West589) from each of their blogs and how it might influence their responses from their readings in the class. She talks about how the online world has their own digital language and how each student used a language that they were familiar with to express their thoughts that was outside the normal curriculum realm. West noticed how the students used "other discourses to generate new ideas about literature and new ways of communicating their ideas to their peers." (West597). It was interesting how she used blogs for her assignments because she learned more about her students, as well as it was enjoyable and allowed West to examine the social languages that helped grasped the identities the students were portraying through their blogs.

Writing Process.

When writing essay one, I learned things about myself that I didn't even realize. For some reason, I can never do homework or write at home unless it's silent or I'm really focused because I can easily get distracted. I like to work in an environment that is sort of quiet like the library or Starbucks but I like playing some music as I write. I always get something to drink or munch on when I'm doing my work, it makes me feel comfortable, as well as being around people. That's everything I basically did to get me started on the essay. When I first started my essay, I went online and just looked at the blog and clicked on links, just exploring the site. After that I started to make a web and writing everything I could think of that related to each paragraph and made a small outline to get my ideas straight. Then I just started writing, once a draft was formed I just read it over and over again and tweaked things that I didn't like or add something I thought of on the spot that could make it sound better. I think the hardest part was understanding what identity really was, because I couldn't really understand how to find it. After our group conference, I think I got a more clearer idea so that really helped me. I like to learn from I think with all my papers I do the same method and thinking about this as given me a better idea of how I work.

Essay One.

When first getting the essay one, it was a stressful processes trying to find a good fashion blog that I could try to find identity. I was thrilled when I found Fashionista.com because it had elements that I could look at to write a good essay. I think the whole writing process was kinda stressful for me at first. I have never written an essay on identity, and I was confused on what identity really was. As I started looking further in the blog, it became easier finding a clear identity but it was still a little difficult to get it on paper. I thought my essay was alright, it was an stressful week and I think I could have added more evidence and examples from the book and worded things a lot differently.

They Say, I Say.

After reading the book "They Say, I Say," it made me realize many things I can change in my writing. I think the book is a good tool for the basis of writing a paper, and what you can do to get your voice out. The book kinda focuses on how you can connect someone else's words with your own ideas. I think for my paper, I need to state my ideas in response to others and focus on backing up my argument with facts because I think it can strength my paper overall.