I’ll be going on an adventure for my English class. This coming Wednesday, we’ll be journeying into my university’s archival collection and have the opportunity to observe the different artifacts and documents about my university’s history.
When I think of myself going to into the archives and doing research, I picture myself in an underground library and in an explorer outfit on ladders sliding down vast and tall book shelves searching for lost books. Although I know this imagery is unrealistic, I hope that searching through the archival collection will be exciting and allow me to see research in a new light.
The purpose of our archival search is to find information about my university’s history. Archives are incomplete sets of information and because of this, I decided that it would be in my best interest to remain open-minded about needing to switch topics and to have low expectations for the amount of information available.
Since my university was initially a California mission, I hope to find information about Native Americans and where they were when the mission became a university, how were they treated, where are the remnants of their village before the mission was built, how the missionaries viewed the Native peoples, where (if any) are their graves… I am very doubtful that I will find a wealth of information on Native peoples because of the “Principle of Selectivity” that Tirabassi explained in her essay, “Into the Archives.”
The “Principle of Selectivity” is the process in which one decides which documents or artifacts to keep within the archives and which ones to toss out. I do not have very high expectations that my answers regarding Native Americans can be answered with my school archives alone. In America, Native American history is omitted from textbooks and is heavily romanticized in grade school textbooks, so I would not be surprised by the lack of information. Another thing I would like to add is that the history of natives at my university, specifically, was not very pleasant. I feel that the university would have discarded much of the Native American artifacts because they thought the Jesuit documents and artifacts relating to the mission were more valuable. I will be extremely surprised if my school had a wealth of information about Native Americans but I highly doubt that this will be the case when my class visits the archival collection.
In short, I will head into the archives with an open mind and low expectations while hoping to find valuable information.
Wish me luck as I journey into my university archives!
Hello again! I am back blogging about my next English assignment: a research paper. Throughout this quarter, my professor has asked us to continuously blog about our research. And it is no question that research takes time, dedication, and effort. It definitely is not an easy task, and contrary to the photo below, research is not as simple as pushing a button.
However, the article “The Great Research Disaster,” written by William Badke, an associate librarian at Trinity Western University, reveals one student’s research strategy. The article contains the text from the student, Liw Ekdab’s, research experience and how he used techniques to fulfill requirements. Ekdab used techniques such as using Wikipedia for background information, citing quotes from an abstract, searching for sources on Google Scholar, using lengthy summaries to quote, and using incomplete quotes from incomplete articles. Although Ekdab’s techniques in producing quality research are questionable, most college students can relate closely with it.
My personal research experience is limited to writing high school level research papers. But similarly to Ekdab, I have used Wikipedia to gain basic background information about a certain topic. An example topic could be cheating in high school. After gaining a simple understanding of the topic, I proceed to develop an essential question that I attempt to answer through research. For instance one question in regards to cheating in high school could be, “What factors motivate a student to cheat in high school?”
After developing an essential question, I usually start with Google and type key words to find articles related to my topic and essential question. If I were still researching on cheating in high school, some example phrases I could type into the search bar are “cheating statistics in high school” and “factors that cause students to cheat.”
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However, if I fail to find any relevant articles, I would narrow my search by focusing on a specific part of the topic. For instance, if I was focusing on the different factors that cause cheating, I could research information on each individual factor related to cheating.
Similarly to Ekdab, I would also use Google Scholar as a second resource if I could not find anything by simply using the Google Search engine. Another experience I shared with Ekdab was quoting from the abstract of scholarly journals. Although this practice is not beneficial to the quality of my research, I only did this because in high school we did not have access to the majority online journals and were only limited to what was free on the internet.
Overall, I admit that the quality of my research was not very high. However, I believe that my research techniques are valid and useful. And since I’m in college and have access to a broader database, I can use these techniques on more credible resources resulting in producing credible research papers.
Although blogging is fun, it is not as easy as it seems.
I am actually writing this blog for my college English class, and for our first assignment, the class was instructed to rewrite one of our academic essays for a more general audience.
My previous post, “Down with the Patriarchy,” was originally a lengthy essay about the discussions that revolve around the definitions of “success” and if college is necessary for one to be deemed “successful.” I presented different perspectives from various credible sources while also including my own thoughts on the matter. Success can mean going to college or not going to college and learning valuable life skills. However, my opinion on the matter is that success means having life skills, but one should still attend college to learn those important life skills in a short amount of time.
Although I liked the content of my essay, I admit that it’s a boring read, unless you actually enjoy reading analysis of various education and gender inequality essays. So for this assignment specifically, I had to cut down my lengthy nine page essay into a short blog post that only contained 600-1200 words — approximately three pages long.
Yes, challenge accepted.
For me, getting started was a simple task. In my original essay, I focused on many different definitions of success. However, I felt that my paragraph about what success meant for a woman was the most expressive and passionate, and I wanted to dive deeper into the topic by emphasizing the idea of feminism. I was off to a good start, but after this first step, things became a little more challenging.
What should I cut down? What should I keep? How can I make this essay have a more casual tone while maintaining an academic tone? How can I make this essay speak to a larger audience? Am I making my point clear? Will people care about what I have to say? These questions constantly popped into my head as I wrote my first blog post.
The first thing I did was rewrite my entire thesis to focus solely on the ideas of success for women in order to introduce the topic of feminism. My initial argument and current argument are completely different, and you never would have guessed that my blog post originated from that essay. Additionally, to make myself seem more personable and the content of my post more relatable, I also asked a lot of rhetorical questions to engage with my audience and to catch their attention.
I didn’t want my blog post to bore the reader, you, so I attempted to make my post visually appealing. For instance, I added pictures and videos, broke up long paragraphs into short ones, blocked quotes, italicized and bolded important points, and used hyperlinks to make my post more interesting and appealing to the eye. I loved how these visual aspects enhanced my main point of the post while also making my blog post look aesthetically pleasing. This is definitely my favorite part of blogging because it gives my post a more personable and artistic element that my academic essay could not offer to the reader.
Nonetheless, I do like the idea that a blog is my own personal space where I am free to express my own thoughts and opinions. But I also had to keep in mind that this blog is public and that someone could misinterpret my thoughts and criticize me for it. As I was writing my first post, I had to be aware of my own writing and constantly check if I was making any assumptions that my reader may not have known about. To fix this problem, I asked my peers and professor for feedback as well as asking myself, “Is this topic clearly defined?” And if not, I would either insert a hyperlink or define the concepts myself. This part of the blogging process was the most difficult for me because, similarly to writing an academic paper, I had to step back and critically reflect on my own work by questioning the assumptions I’ve made.
In conclusion, my first experience with blogging was fun yet difficult. Coming up with a topic was fun, but thinking about what to keep and what to cut from a lengthy research paper in order to turn it into a succinct blog post proved to be a bit challenging. I am hoping that my first attempt at blogging was not too bad and that I was able to help you understand feminism from a new perspective.
Does being a woman change the definition of success?
Well, it shouldn’t. But Western society disagrees with me.
As society portrays it, success for a man is being financially well off in order to provide for his family. But for a woman, success mainly revolves around raising a family while also being financially accomplished, having a college degree, looking young and beautiful, maintaining a social life, excelling in cleaning and cooking, attending PTA meetings… the list goes on. But in short, it’s the expectation for a woman to be able to carry out all these tasks with ease while also caring for a family.
But let’s see what Anne-Marie Slaughter, a former professor and director of policy planning for the U.S. State Department, has to say about this. In her essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All,” Slaughter shares her experience of working in D.C. and how it was difficult to balance both her job and her role as a mother. She concluded that:
“‘[Women] can have it all’ is simply airbrushing reality” (680).
Society has placed an unfair expectation for young women of my generation to be powerful leaders while simultaneously caring for a family and “having it all.”
However, there is also a contradictory social expectation that women shouldn’t even be involved in business and that they should just be homemakers.
But didn’t we just establish that success for a woman meant also being financially successful while raising a family? Seems like society will never be satisfied with women.
Sheryl Sandburg, the current chief operating officer of Facebook, explains in her essay, “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” that:
“female accomplishments come at a cost…there is still societal pressure for women to keep an eye on marriage from a young age” (648).
And Slaughter also recalls how her parents
“emphasized marriage even more [than academic achievement]” and how they explained to her that “the most eligible women marry young to get a ‘good man’ before they are all taken” (680).
Both Slaughter and Sandburg observed that women need to sacrifice certain aspects of their life in order to be successful in another aspect. To put it in another way, both Slaughter and Sandburg are establishing that success for a woman is nearly impossible to reach because of societal gender roles. For instance, society has established that earning a college degree is a definition of success that both men and women should try to attain. However, there is also the societal expectation on women should carry the responsibility of raising the family, which forces women to choose between her education/career and her family. Women can’t have both; women can’t “have it all.”
So, the real questions you should be asking are:
Why is success different for a man versus for a woman? Why can’t women do what they want? Why does success for a woman always revolve around family? Why does success for a woman mean handling everything all at once?
So many questions, and they all share a common answer:
Success can be anything and gender should not play a role in determining what success looks like. However, it is clear from Slaughter’s quote that success is not a gender-neutral term because of the expectation placed on women to raise the family. This brings us into the discussion of feminism.
Some say that women are oppressing themselves and that feminism is a delusional movement. Others say that feminism has become a movement of hating men. But do anti-feminists realize that our societal standards for success, beauty, happiness, and normality are generally determined by straight, older white males.
But what is it really?
Buzzfeed, an internet media based company that shares viral news and other enjoyable themes to viewers, made a short documentary about the definition of feminism.
The video features a both men and women of diverse backgrounds sharing their own definitions of feminism and why they are all feminists.
In short, feminism is not a “man hating” movement that tries to make men feel inferior, but rather it is about treating women and men equally in all aspects of life by overcoming gender roles predetermined by society.
I admit that it is difficult to notice gender roles immediately because they are accepted by society and are considered the norm. However, this does not mean that gender roles are nonexistent. Gender roles exist. And for me personally, as both a woman and a person of color, I am judged by both gender roles and stereotypes. The stereotype and labels placed on me as an Asian woman are: quiet and reserved, good at math, pretty in an “exotic way,” raised by tiger parents, small eyes and straight black hair, can’t drive, stingy… The list goes on. But to sum it up, since I am an Asian woman isn’t the “norm” in western society, I am unfairly judged by these stereotypes and am therefore expected to act a certain way. Why should I be placed into a “box” when I am more than a stereotype?
Although these problems cannot be solved overnight, there are ways to fight against the patriarchy and gradually bring it down.
The first step would be to recognize gender roles placed on both men and women. Think about the double standards, and most importantly, don’t be afraid to question society. For instance, the idea of “gender roles” did not strike me until my junior year of high school when I was given a “dress code violation” for wearing a tank top to school because it was distracting to my peers. It was hot; who was offended/distracted by my shoulders?! There were plenty of boys in my class wearing muscle tanks and beaters. Why didn’t they get dress coded? Because they are boys and it is “okay” for boys to show skin.
The next step would be to become an ally for all women and transgender women of all races by supporting them when they speak out against societal norms. By being an ally and supporting one another, everyone is united. It is difficult to fight against something alone. I recall a time in my Cultures and Ideas: Musical Inspiration class when a white male student was talking about police brutality. He was explaining to the class how music helped African Americans through many difficult times throughout American history and went on to say how in today’s society, “those people,” (African Americans) should learn to be more respectful towards police officers. I strongly disliked how he labeled African Americans and also disagreed with what he said, but I stopped myself from arguing with him because I didn’t know if anyone else agreed with me. I also didn’t want to be seen as “another angry woman,” who is immediately discredited for being “too emotional.”
The fight doesn’t end and probably never will, but that doesn’t mean we should give up fighting for our rights and equality for all.
Works Cited
Sandberg, Sheryl. “Lean In: What Would You Do If You Weren’t Afraid?” They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel K. Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2015. 642-658. Print.
Slaughter, Anne-Marie. “Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.” They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Ed. Cathy Birkenstein. Ed. Russel K. Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2015. 676-696. Print.
