At-Home Journal #1 February 29
Right now I’ve just turned in my research proposal and I’m preparing to start the actual paper based on my research question; “how does social media ruin authenticity?”. At this stage of my writing process I’m feeling okay, I’m not 100% on my research question so I am a little worried about that but I can figure that out as I go along. My goal as I continue this writing process is to dig deeper into my research to find information that better supports my thesis. As well as making sure to show proper analysis and understanding of this outside information in my research paper. Another goal I have is to make sure that the reader is able to understand the point I’m trying to get across. Sometimes when I write I only view the paper from my perspective however this leads to the reader not being able to properly understand exactly what I’m trying to convey. So far what’s been working for me in terms of coming up with new ideas is brainstorming on a piece of paper. I write down my thoughts and see what I can branch out into using those initial ideas. To add on, another thing that’s been working for me so far is to just write down all my thoughts on a document or piece of paper so that way I’m able to better organize them.
What hasn’t been working for me is finding adequate information for my research paper which is why that is one of my goals. It’s also the reason why I’m not 100% sure about my topic because it seems to be difficult to find outside resources that support my sub-topics. What I plan to do is try to use different browsers in order to help my search such as brooklyn college resources, google scholar, and britannica encyclopedia.
At-Home Journal #2 March 31
At this stage of my writing process I’m feeling pretty confident, since we’ve already turned in our outlines I feel like I already know what most of my research paper is gonna look like. The first draft is due this Wednesday night which will be about half of my research paper and since I have my outline it will make it a lot easier. The only thing I’m worried about is my second half of the paper, I’m not sure if I have enough body paragraphs planned out that it will meet the page requirements. However, if that does happen I can always find some more websites that can help me create one or a few more sub topics in order to support my claim. I’m proud that I was able to find some good websites to support my claim even though I had to change my claim a little bit. As I said in my last post I wasn’t sure about my topic so I’m proud that I had the confidence to switch it into something easier to research.
My goals as I continue this writing process is to make sure I have a thorough analysis for each piece of evidence. This is because I feel like that’s one of the most important parts of the paper, this is because I’m explaining in my own words how this piece of evidence supports my claim, and without a proper analysis all you have is a piece of evidence that can be taken in any way. So far what’s been working for me is just getting my thoughts and ideas down on the page which is what I did for the outline. I didn’t start my paper yet, I plan to start on Sunday night and finish the first half by Tuesday. However, when I do start it I will use my outline while filtering and adding in anything I feel necessary in my analysis. What hasn’t worked for me is overthinking what I feel like I should write, I end up forgetting a lot of my ideas and ending up with writers block.
At-Home Journal #3 May 2
At this stage of my writing process I’m feeling pretty good. We are nearing the end of the semester which I’ve been looking forward to for weeks. Definitely stressed about getting all these final assignments in and taking exams but I think if I just pace myself I should end the semester pretty good. I only have a little bit left to write in my research paper then I will have to create my presentation which I’m not looking forward to. However, pertaining to the research paper I am worried about finding another subtopic to finish off my last page or two, especially since it has to be a scholarly one. I’m really proud of myself for handing everything in on time this semester and having some decent participation because I used to not care about school at all so I feel like these past two semesters were a huge leap for me even if no one else has realized I’m just really proud of myself.
My goals as I continue is to keep putting effort into my work and finish off this semester the best way I can. I have a habit of starting to mentally check out within weeks before we actually finish, so I’m just trying to fight that and keep putting in the same effort I’ve been putting in all year. What’s worked for me so far is using google calendar to pace myself. That way I’m aware of all the deadlines because there’s so many to remember. Also what’s been working is completing assignments earlier than they are due, which gives me more room for assignments I may not have realized would take so long. What hasn’t been working for me is my habit of procrastination, but I think it’s most definitely gotten better since high school so I’m proud of that too.
