Final Blog

In my first blog, I talked about my reading skills and my researching skills.  I said that I was an above average reader with good reading habits.  As of now, ten weeks later, I think that I am still a good reader, but have picked up on some better habits such as; critical thinking and analyzing.  I struggled with constructed an essay, but now I find myself quite organized and productive with my writing and reading. In researching, well, I'm naturally curious so researching was a joy for me in this class. I feel that I left this class with a larger understanding of all the different types of resources I can use to reflect on my writing or help with my writing.  Overall, in the past ten weeks,  I feel that I have a better knowledge about weblogs and society, better reading habits, constructed an essay with better organization, and a larger understanding of resources there are in communication, researching, and how to find myself as a writer.  

Critical thinking and writing

During these past ten weeks, I have learned quite a bit about weblogs and how relevant they are to critical thinking and writing. In the beginning of the quarter, I thought I was pretty good at critical thinking and analysis. Well, I was wrong. I didn't think too much about in depth well reasoned and clear analysis too much. But as I grew as a writer and as a critical thinker, I discovered that I can easily transition from an "easy thinker" to an overall textual and wordy analyzer. I can produce a well in depth informational summary of an article or even a paragraph. In doing so, I could write a 4-5 page paper in a flash. With all of the textual evidence and supporting data that I can provide for my essays now, I can produce a well constructed and developed essay. I am now well organized, constructed, and a thorough writer and reader.

Learning through research and close reading.

Throughout my TCORE101 writing class in Fall quarter, I learned how to locate key points from text. No matter the difficulty of the material that is assigned to be read for class, I learned how to annotate thoroughly and find the meaning of what the author wants their audience to understand. In researching, I learned how to navigate through the University of Washington Tacoma library system online. It was frustrating at first but after a couple of tries, I got it under control! As writer, I think I've grown from a rambler to a more constructed academic writer.

State of Essay 2 Draft

By far, essay 2 has been really enjoyable to write.  I did not get a lot of my draft done because I was struggling with the structure of my essay and am being too picky about what textual evidence would fit better with my thesis and go with my supporting data. I think my essay 2 compared to essay 1 by far has more context and textual evidence to support my thesis which will make essay much stronger.  I'm looking forward to getting constructive feedback from the two peers that are reading my essay.  I would love any type of advice, but would really appreciate advice on a better thesis.  Essay 2, here I come! 

Where am I going with Essay 2?

With essay 2, I plan on using more textual and concise evidence to build a strong and productive essay.  I am going to be using Kathleen C. West's article, Rettberg's book, and a source of my own to support my researched blogger's identity.  Nick Sundt, the blogger that I am following who dedicated his whole blog to climate change awareness is very passionate about what he is doing.  What I am struggling with is constructed my essay and where I should place each precise details in which paragraph.  Otherwise, I think I will do pretty well on this essay.

Essay 2 & West

I think I am going to go ahead with prompt 1 or 2.  I am caught in the middle between which of the prompts I want to do.  I want to learn more about myself as a blogger and find my true identity as who I am as a writer by analyzing my blogging styles and voice.  I loved how West used connections with three of her student's blogs with her own and how they found their identity through blogging.  I am excited to learn more about myself and my writing with prompt 1 or 2 for this specific essay assignment.  In her article, she used a guidelines chart that I might be overlooking as well to find my identity.

Myself as a blogger?

What I have noticed so far about my own blog entries is that I am pretty descriptive and engaging. In my last blog, I talked instinctively about Kathleen C. West’s article, "Weblogs and literary response: Socially situated identities and hybrid social languages in English class blogs," and discovered that I tend to write in a story telling angle rather than an explanatory angle in this specific blog post and others as well. I noticed that I use simple language throughout my writing.  I identified myself as being descriptive and juvenile.  For example,”... she talks about the effectiveness of web-blogging and the importance of students interacting with each other through blogging rather than literacy.” I am precise and descriptive in the above mentioned quote from my previous blog by using simple language.