Nino's Reflection
My writing style is not very complicated. For the most part, I write how I talk. Sometimes I try to use larger words, more complex sentences, and hold on to a basic structure, but I think I write best when the words are just flowing out of my head. At first I write short simple essays and each draft I try to add things to each paragraph. I try not to force my self to put something on paper, and if nothings coming to mind I move on. My prewriting is usually a small outline consisting of a thesis and paragraph transitions or non existent. Honestly, I don’t really read my essays. A write and focus on one paragraph at a time but don’t really think of the whole essay as a whole. I know this is stupid and I should always be proof reading and making corrections because as they say, “the essence of writing is re-writing.” I don’t really know that I have a comfort zone in writing. If I think something personal can be of good use, I will use it. I also enjoy all genres of writing. I find it challenging and compelling to write about the same subject in so many different ways.
Researching starts with Google. If any other college student says otherwise then they are lying. I enjoy using a search engine because your search ends up being like a chain reaction. I will see something in an article that sounds interesting and then I can search that and the cycle continues. I usually start with something broad slowly narrow down my search, depending on what I find in my readings. I try to get my research from different sources, though all off the internet. Periodicals, magazines, books, and even blogs can make great sources. I think finding different opinions on the same subject is extremely important in researching.
It is pretty easy to tell what got me interested in my topic when you read my memoir. My little sister being raped was an event that really changed my life, so what else would I chose to write about if not that? Doing research really changed how I feel against violence against women. I am against it of course, as I was before researching, but the way I think about it is much different. First I researched the numbers and as I presumed they were terrifying and the conviction rate of offenders was the hardest thing to swallow. What really had me thinking was what is being done to prevent violence against woman. That was the second thing I researched. The more I dug the more I saw that mostly what is being done is superficial: rallies, marathons, dancing, and other things like that. I think those things are great but only when in concordance with laws to prevent this from happening and put people away for a very long time when they do.
This year was a very big learning experience for me as far as revisions go. I have very rarely revised anyone’s paper but my own. Throughout high school, I had the same English teacher for 3 years. Although he was an amazing teacher, learning from only one writing perspective did not help me in revising but only in knowing how my teacher liked my papers. Reading other people’s papers this year taught me a lot about other writing styles and how to approach revising them. Revising my own papers I am very use to and know what to look for, but translating my writing into a different genre and adapting them into different mediums was a challenge. Recreating my “story of my research” essay into a comic strip was really enjoyable. I liked expressing what I had previously written down though pictures and captions. I was able get the same message across but in a completely different mood.
There is a lot to take away from this class and the magazine project. This class gives students an opportunity to learn writing lessons independently. Writing is just the beginning of a paper, revising is what really counts and this class is all about rewriting. I did not put as much effort into revising as I should have, causing me to miss out on some very valuable skills. Although the magazine project was made up of a lot of revising there was a lot more to it than that. I learned that when you’re in a group with people who care about a topic as much as you do, everything goes a lot smoother. At the start of the semester, I chose to write on violence against women and being a subject that hit home for me, I cared much more about my final product. As advice to future students of the class, revise as much as you can and write about something that you really care about. You may end up with something you are really really proud of.
Researching starts with Google. If any other college student says otherwise then they are lying. I enjoy using a search engine because your search ends up being like a chain reaction. I will see something in an article that sounds interesting and then I can search that and the cycle continues. I usually start with something broad slowly narrow down my search, depending on what I find in my readings. I try to get my research from different sources, though all off the internet. Periodicals, magazines, books, and even blogs can make great sources. I think finding different opinions on the same subject is extremely important in researching.
It is pretty easy to tell what got me interested in my topic when you read my memoir. My little sister being raped was an event that really changed my life, so what else would I chose to write about if not that? Doing research really changed how I feel against violence against women. I am against it of course, as I was before researching, but the way I think about it is much different. First I researched the numbers and as I presumed they were terrifying and the conviction rate of offenders was the hardest thing to swallow. What really had me thinking was what is being done to prevent violence against woman. That was the second thing I researched. The more I dug the more I saw that mostly what is being done is superficial: rallies, marathons, dancing, and other things like that. I think those things are great but only when in concordance with laws to prevent this from happening and put people away for a very long time when they do.
This year was a very big learning experience for me as far as revisions go. I have very rarely revised anyone’s paper but my own. Throughout high school, I had the same English teacher for 3 years. Although he was an amazing teacher, learning from only one writing perspective did not help me in revising but only in knowing how my teacher liked my papers. Reading other people’s papers this year taught me a lot about other writing styles and how to approach revising them. Revising my own papers I am very use to and know what to look for, but translating my writing into a different genre and adapting them into different mediums was a challenge. Recreating my “story of my research” essay into a comic strip was really enjoyable. I liked expressing what I had previously written down though pictures and captions. I was able get the same message across but in a completely different mood.
There is a lot to take away from this class and the magazine project. This class gives students an opportunity to learn writing lessons independently. Writing is just the beginning of a paper, revising is what really counts and this class is all about rewriting. I did not put as much effort into revising as I should have, causing me to miss out on some very valuable skills. Although the magazine project was made up of a lot of revising there was a lot more to it than that. I learned that when you’re in a group with people who care about a topic as much as you do, everything goes a lot smoother. At the start of the semester, I chose to write on violence against women and being a subject that hit home for me, I cared much more about my final product. As advice to future students of the class, revise as much as you can and write about something that you really care about. You may end up with something you are really really proud of.