Reflection Blog Unit 3

In this unit, I thought that writing a research paper would be easier, but it was not. I found such huge research papers that it was hard to narrow it down with writing and I followed your advice and only wrote about one. In the beginning of this essay, I was confused on what we were actually trying to focus on and write about. After constantly re reading and finding key points I was able to focus more on my main topic of this semester long paper. In the end, this was not my favorite unit because of the week long spring break and I felt rushed with this essay.

Practice Write 4/19

Over the weekend I went home for a family funeral so I was able to interview my friend for about 10 minutes because that was all the time I had available. I have never conducted an interview before and I believe that I did a decent job for my first time. The conversation flowed easy and natural; there were no off topic because the interview was so quick. As of right now, that is all I have done because I am stressed out with school and my family back down in Southern California. I know I need to begin my essay but I need to re read the guidelines in order for me to start. I also am hoping that I can use one of the topics that we learned in the reading how to embed quotes in block narratives. Other than that, I feel a little confident about writing the essay and I hope that is the case.

Practice Write 4/12

The process that I have been going through that is leading up to the interview has not been easy. I have never conducted an interview before and I am still currently trying to figure out questions that I want to ask. All of the school officials that I have emailed have not contacted me back, which leaves me to ask all my questions to a friend who currently practices saving water in any way possible. I know that interviewing him, I will be in a more comfortable environment and do not need to stress out about messing up because he is family. I just need to make sure that I ask the correct questions but I do not know how much I need to ask. Although this is my first interview, I feel more confident than I thought I would.

Fieldworking for 4/19

In this reading, we learn how to "cite your published and unpublished written data sources accurately for your reader" (1). Citing correctly ensures that you are punished for plagiarizing or making up false information.  As writers, we need to "create texts that embrace our informants' diverse voices and also include our own" (1). By writing with diverse voices, your readers can see the interchanging of your two conversation. There are three different but efficient techniques that you can use while writing your essay to make sure that both of your voices are heard during the conversation. Those three techniques are "1. Burrowing techniques from fiction; 2. Quoting within a transcript; and 3. Summarizing dialogue" (1,2). The main point of this reading is to teach and give use techniques when writing your essay to ensure that all voices will be heard and there is a smooth but distinct transition between each voice.

Questions:
1. I have never done an essay that involves annotating a interview and making sure your voice is also heard. Will we be able to look at examples in class?

Fieldworking 4/12

During an interview, you should keep in mind that when you are interviewing, you are listening to their side of the story instead of yours. You want to push your thoughts behind and listen to what they have to say. When asking questions, you want your questions to have a lot of meaning behind them which can lead to an in depth conversation. Two types of questions are "closed questions and open questions"(pg.3). Closed questions are often "yield single phrases as answers and can shut down further talk" (pg. 3). You do not want to have to many closed questions because that will stop a conversation continuously which makes the interview choppy and unprofessional. Open questions help "elicit your informant's perspective and allow more conversational exchange" (pg. 3). There will not be single answers so it allows your conversation to flow and you can engage in a lively conversation. There is also a way to make sure you are recording and transcribing your interview to ensure you do not leave out any valuable information that you can use in your essay. You may use an inexpensive recorder which will fit your needs perfectly, as long as you can hear your interviewee clearly. By being prepared before hand, your interview will flow more smooth and it makes you more professional. You should go over questions a few times, be willing to change your questions in case the conversation changes and be ready to take notes that are key during the interview. You should also plan on taking notes while you are conducting an interview just in case your recorder stops working or just to remind yourself of key points that you do not want to leave out. In box 22, they go over key points in the reading to make sure that you fully understand what you need to do to get the most out of your interview. The main point of this reading is to make sure you know what types of questions that you want to ask, how to record your conversation and to be confident during your interview.

Questions:
1. I am still going over what types of questions that I want to ask during the interview, is there any pointers you could give?

practice write 4/7

In my words, to annotate something is to go throughout the article you are reading and throughly understand what they mean. You look throughout the article, highlighting, leaving side notes, and really understand what you are reading. A bibliography is when you read and article and write a summary about it. You aren't as in depth with it as you would be when you are annotating, you are skimming it. 

Together they mean that you can write a bibliography more in depth after you annotate it fully. For example, what we did with our reasearch papers and we constantly researched different articles and our goals were to find the authors main arguments, how their argument connects to ours, finding strong and useful quotes, restate your thesis, and lastly citations.  

Practice Write 4/5

As of right now, I have written 4 pages but only on one research article. I re read your email multiple times and you recommended me sticking to just one research article. I wasn't sure if I should add another one and figure out how they relate to one another and my thesis statement. I was looking for a "Cowspiracy" article on the school library site but they do not have any. I am still concerned that I am not writing what you want us too, but it is also not clear on what you want us to write about. If you coulr clearify in class that will be so helpful. As of right now, I need to re write part of my essay and add more information from a different source.