Amanda and her blogs

After I finished all the readings, assignments, and classes this quarter, I finally saw the big picture of how to do a research. At first, everything was like fragments to me, and I sometimes even got confused that why I needed to finish my writing assignments in that way. However, right now, after I categorized different steps I took, I realized that I had grasped the whole process and strategies about how to to do a research and build up an original argument based on the research.

A GUIDE TO STRAT EVERYTHING: BEAM

• Background: It is usually the facts in common life and people consider it as common knowledge.
• Exhibits: Interpretation to the examples or terms.
• Arguments: The conversation the writer usually made with his reader to agree with, disputes an idea and sometimes even develop his own further thoughts and opinions to the topic he chose.
• Methods: The way the writer chose to write his research process and some specific ways he utilize to finish the research.

All these definitions were complicated to understand at first. But, once we get ourselves started,  they will be easier for us to understand what the authors want to claim when we apply these things to start our research.  The BEAM theory is like a guidance for us to start reading materials for research, and with the help of BEAM, we can comprehend the key parts of different materials and files more effectively.

A GOOD HABIT TO COLLECT THE SOURCES: BE A GATHERER AND A HUNTER AT THE SAME TIME

Michael Kleine pointed out in the article that when a “hunter” do his research, he usually walk into the world with a strong sense of purpose and direction. The hunter will use his skills and strategies to kill this game. And when a “gatherer” do his research, he usually choose to look about widely, making sense and use of the food he discovers fortuitously. Namely, a hunter finds what he is looking for, a gatherer discovers that which might be of use.

Finding the balance between becomes a “hunter” and becomes  a “gatherer” is the second strategy we need to apply when we learn about how to do the research. The BEAM theory has already taught us how to do the reading and grab the core parts of al the readings. So, the next thing we need to learn about is to make the decision whether we should collect these sources or not. We need to make our own judgement about whether we will utilize these sources or not.

The research may too narrow if we only become a hunter, and the research can also be too lax if we only become a gatherer. People who are smart enough that eventually can play two parts will definitely become excellent researchers.

After we find a good balance of applying “hunting” and “gathering” sources during our research process, we will have clear clues and good habits to deal with various materials, sources, and datas.

A GOOD THING TO DO WHEN YOU WRITE YOUR RESEARCH PAPER: MAKE CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR READERS

Once we finished the reading and collecting parts of our research paper, then it’s time for us to start to organize these elements together and write a research paper about them with logic. However, the simple reporting of these sources is not enough, we need to establish our own arguments and perspectives based on these sources. Namely, we need to take a position of the issues and at the same time, we need to explain to our readers, making sure that they can understand our standpoints and the reasons behind those decisions. It would be better if we can also offer some solutions to the issues, letting the readers realize that we are not only saying “agree” or “disagree” to some issues. But, we are also making efforts to change something.

If we never pay attention to our readers and never think on their perspectives, our writing compositions would then become confusing. We cannot make the assumption that our readers always understand exactly what we are trying to say. 

Making effective conversations with readers can make our research papers and our arguments detailed, well-organized, and logical.

After I applied all these strategies in this quarter, I realized that these strategies eve showed up with orders. Now I finally see the whole big picture: First, the BEAM theory taught us a new way to do the reading in archives. Second, Michael Kleine’s “hunters and gatherers” theory fostered new habits for us to collect the sources in archives. At last, under Kantz’s instruction, we learned that the conversations with readers are also necessary for us to write good research argumentative papers.

These strategies and skills constitutes the steps of writing research papers from the beginning to the end, and with these strategies, I had a clear clue about how to start my research and how to organize those collected sources to a research paper.

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

Kantz did not only help me when I was in the researching process. Her guidance also enabled me to have a clearer awareness to what argument actually is: writing an original persuasive argument based on sources requires me to apply material to a problem or to use it to answer a question, rather than simply repeat is or evaluate it. 

There was one thing I did a lot before: I usually extracted various perspectives from various articles, and then I organized them together as my own perspectives and arguments. Now I realized that I was never making my own arguments at that time. I was only still stating and reporting others’ arguments. 

kantz does not mean that we cannot establish our own arguments based on others perspectives. what she is emphasizing is that our argument should never be just a mixture of other people’s ideas. Our argument should also represent our own perspectives, standpoints, and solutions to the issues. Arguments like those can be considered effective and meaningful.

For example, here are some steps we can do when we are making our own arguments:

• Claim to your readers your own opinions, attitude, perspectives to the issues.
• Offer explanations that why you would you think that way.
• Maker some analysis to study why other people would claims, arguments like that and also try to figure out the causing reasons behind this phenomenon.
• Based on your arguments, you can also raise some solutions to the issue. This can help you readers understand that you are not only just giving your attitude to it, you are also thinking hard to find some solutions to the issues.
• Always remember to make conversations with your readers. It is essential and necessary to make sure that they understand your thinking and writing logic.

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

I know it seems like we are heading to an ending, but I want to tell you guys: No, it’s NOT over.

I have to say that this whole blogging process is totally a new experience for me. The truth is that I did not even blog anything in Chinese before I started my college in the United States.  However, the amazing thing is that I even finished 22 blogs in English within two quarters!! UNBELIEVABLE!!

Even though I cannot arrange the contents of my blogs completely on my own, still, I enjoyed the feeling that I can actually write something down which are closely related to my college life. Sometimes this busy era makes us barely spend time with ourselves. So when I was blogging about my life, I loved the feeling that I was talking to myself through recording some moments in my life. And this self-spending time also offered excellent opportunities for me to think about what happened in my life and do the reflection. 

Not to mention that I also gained some writing skills during this process: Blogging is a perfect exercise for me to make conversations with my audiences. 

Since I am definitely not the only readers for my blogs, I need to make sure that the blogs I write can also be understood for other readers. And it would be better if they love reading blogs. Namely, I need to find effective ways to make conversations with my readers because all the writing compositions are needed to be read by others.

At first, I do not like making conversations in my blogs at all. Why I have to explain everything just in order to make sure that all my readers can understand my blogs? Why can’t I just write things in my own way, because after all, this is my own blog!!! I even hate interacting with my readers.

But, things began to change after servals times of trying: The contents in my blogs became more and more well-organized after I started caring about the audience of my blogs. It may seem easily that I was only making some explanations to my readers, but actually, the whole process is more like a process for me to rethink my ideas, restate my items, and rebuild my arguments. When my blogs are getting more and more readable and interesting for most of the readers, my perspectives, statements, and arguments also became more and more accurate and clear.

Professor Lueck was right. Blogging is, indeed, an excellent start for us to exercise our writing skills and it’s true that the progress can be obvious. 

The writing class is over for now, and it’s true that I may not keep blogging for a long time. But, guys, I promise this is not over. Not to mention that I will carry the skills I gained through blogging in the rest of my life.

This site will always be a peaceful and meaningful existence in my heart, and every time I feel lost, I may still choose to come back and spend some times with myself. I will still make conversations with you guys and let you guys know what happened in my life. So, do not miss me too much. Love you all!!!

Still, I want to give you guys my best blessing:

And btw, not only for every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

Bye for Now!!!

 

Dear professor,

This is Amanda. I’ve written lots of emails to you over the past two quarters, but I guess I won’t get many chances of writing emails to you after this one. So, I decided to write something to you, only this time, I will not ask about the readings in classes or the assignments.

First of all, I want to say thank you to you. And I mean, thank you for everything.

The truth is that I was so confused and scared about English writing when I got into SCU. I did not want to write anything in English and deep down, I felt like everything I wrote down in my second language would be confusing and tedious. The memory of our first writing class was still clear for me: I sat on my seat tremblingly, listening to you talk about the syllabus. All I was think at that time was: Oops, I am so done. She seems so strict and she will never like me after she got to see the things I write. However, it turned out that things went much better than I imagined at that time.

You gave me a really good grade on my first writing assignment. You also encouraged me to let go of the self-doubt I put on myself because you believed that the writing abilities I have are just like those other domestic students have, no less. The comments you made on my first writing assignment literally enable me to have confidence in my English writing ability. At least, I was not that scared anymore. And that was the start of everything.

You taught us so many things about writing from personal narratives to today’s multimedia composition. The words:” I want you guys to gave a damn about what you write in your life.” you said in our first class were like yesterday’s memory. And right now, I think I have a better understanding to what you actually meant at that time. It’s true. Only when we start really paying attention to the things we write, we can make good essays.

And I almost cannot take your class anymore last quarter, but thanks to everything, I got my seat back in your writing class. Then, time flies, our writing class is over. We just had our last class couple days ago.

You are definitely one of the best teachers I’ve had in my life. You imparted your writing knowledges and skills to us, and at the same time, you also encouraged us to think independently in order to build up our own arguments. You used your way to tell us that writing is never a tedious and complicated task, but a form for us to express our ideas, make conversations to our readers, and utilizing effective sources to support our original arguments, etc. You made me enjoy the feeling of writing something from being too scared to write anything.

I feel sad that our class with you is over. But, still, I want to express my sincere gratefulness to you for everything you did to help me, guide me, and encourage me.

Thank you!!!! And

sincerely,

Amanda.

 

Kantz believed that the reason there are “gaps” in all “territories” (can be considered as materials)is the distance between the texts and the readers.  Kantz also pointed it out that factors like language, culture, understanding, or even misunderstanding all can be the reasons that there is distance from texts to readers.

So, under circumstance like this, MAKING CONVERSATIONS WITH YOUR READERS BECOMES REALLY NECESSARY. 

This may still seem really confused, but I had a better understanding to this “gap” theory after I finished my argumentative research paper.

So the ultimate goal of of this argumentative research paper is that I was supposed to establish my own arguments based on the relevant sources I utilized in my research paper to support my topic.

My topic was about the college major decisions which were made by Chinese international students. So, before I started, I had lots of sources which were all can be developed to support my topic. But, the hard part was the process of building up my own arguments based on these materials and also I had to make sure that my readers could understand my standpoints and perspectives. 

For example, most of the authors of my sources claimed that Chinese students were just making compromise to their college major decisions because that’s the thing they had to do under various circumstance. However, I disagreed with their perspectives, so I was supposed to utilize my own argument to demonstrate that their claims were not accurate and complete to my readers.

But, first I also needed to make sure that my readers can understand everything I talk about because of the existence of different languages, culture background, and personal perspectives, etc. So, I also carefully explained all the essential terms in my paper just to make sure my audience can have sense of the terms I mentioned in my paper and it’ d better if they can understand the reasons why these terms matter. 

Namely, I made conversations to my readers, like I was giving a speech to them. I cannot just simply write everything in my mind without any order and logic. But, I had to exhibit the reasons cautiously and rationally. I need to pay attention to the “gap” between my texts and my readers. 

The whole process of making conversations with readers is totally necessary. And your writing compositions would be hard to understand if you never think on your readers’ perspectives. 

Last but not least, the articles you write is not supposed to be only read by yourself, but also for the readers. So do make sure that you care about them, and try your best to make them understand your compositions.

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

Doing the research for a paper can be a burdensome task for many people. And kantz’s strategy “framing the reading” helped me a lot to make the whole research process less frustrated and time-consuming.

Kantz pointed it out that same texts can have different meanings to different readers. That is to say that based on the different understandings and research goals, people usually interpret same texts to various ways.

I feel this way when I was in my own research process. And I realized that in order to target the exact materials I need, I needed to build up and lock my topic first and then find the sources which can be utilized and developed around my locked topic. My research process would be endless if I always do my research based on various authors’ perspectives because how could I organize my own research under the influence of their understandings to the topics?

So once I targeted the topic I wanted to do the research, I began looking through the materials which seemed relevant. And then I extracted the contents which can be used to replenish and support my research process. The whole process became much more effective after I framing the readings which were the good matches for my own research.

What’s more important is that Kantz also offered serval useful tips for me to do before I start the reading process.

1. I can write down some key words or facts about the topic before I start the reading process. Because actually once I wrote down those key words, or even simple thoughts, I’d already done the simple summary for my topic and the summary can be really helpful for me to target the materials I would need in my further research process.
2. I can also even watch some TV commercials to see what facts or elements these TV commercials utilized to make their products and their words convincible and appealing to their audiences. And then I will have a better clue about what kind of materials can be considered as supportive and credible sources.

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

 

Ok, I am going to write something personal in this blog; My first year college life is over.

BTW, why Paul McCartney is this cute!!!!!!

Alright, back to our sad topic. Yes, I am going to need to say goodbye to my first year college life, and I have to say that I actually learn a lot during my first year of college.

1. Just ask your classmates or professors for help if you have questions.  

Yes, just like what I said: ask them for help if you have some questions or have trouble understanding the classes. It’s not like you gonna lose a leg or something, so just ask them gently for help and I promise you that you will always get the help you need.

As an international student, I was too shy to raise questions in or after classes. And the consequence of the shyness was that the assignments I finished sometimes cannot meet the requirements. No wonder those assignments were not good enough, I did not even understand the whole requirements of the assignments at that time. Applause for myself, I even have the courage to write something I did not even fully understand.

Then I realized that I cannot always like that. I need to make progress. So, I told myself again and again at that time that I will not suddenly become an idiot just because I ask questions with accent!!! I began to ask questions in class and also ask questions to my classmates to make sure that I can fully understand the assignments and knowledge. Right now, I can clearly see the progress I made, and I am learning a lot through this.

So, just be brave, and ask questions!!!

Oh, and btw, why not, it’s FREE.  

2. Manage your time effectively. 

This is really important. This is really important. This really important!!!! Write something three times if they are important!!!! ok, this is my theory, but, listen to me, it is really important!!

College life can be challenging, but, at the same time, it can be really interesting and exciting. So, it is necessary for us to manage our time well to make sure that when we get social, we do not mess up our grades. 

There is a confession I need to make here. That is I totally kind of mess up my grades because I enjoyed my party life too much. Even though I claimed to everyone, including myself, that being crazy at Friday and Saturdays’ nights will never have influence on my study life, but, right now, I totally realized that those words were bulls***. Totally Bulls***.  The exhausted me after parties can never do any work during every weekend, which means that my study time became far less compared with other people.

So, here is something I am gonna do in next year: find the balance between the social life and study time. 

Yeah, of course I know parties, raves are super fun, but for better grades, something need to be sacrificed. 

3. You will still be alright if you did not get an A. 

Maybe I was just being naive, but the fact was that every time when my grade became a B, I felt so desperate that I even want to drop out from the college. However, I realized that the anxious and concerned mood is not helping at all. What I need is a mature attitude to deal with the unexpected things in my life, including the not good enough grades. 

So, I guess what I need to understand is that the courses in college is hard, no doubt, so there is no way that I can always get easy “As.” I still need to study hard to get decent grades, but I also need to understand that my life will not be ruined just because I got a B or C. Well, C is still a little bit too bad for me, so let’s just hope C will never happen.

These are the most valuable things I learned during my first year of college. I know that I still have long long way to go, but I do hope that with the experience and strategies I got from this year, I am heading to a better sophomore year!!!!!

So, work hard, play hard!!!

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

 

 

 

The skills I gained in the library sessions were far more useful than I’ve ever imagined, because I though my library sessions’ experiences would be a boring guidance about how to google the materials I need. Then, it turned out that I was the one being stupid, having naïve thoughts like that.

Awesome skill #1: Under the lead of the specialist, I found out the database in SCU library site. What’s more important is that the materials and files in this database are way more integrated and authoritative than the sources I can find in google search. I can just input the key words of my searching goals, and then I can look through lots of relevant files in this database. The database also offers descriptions of all the materials which can save lots of time for me, instead of reading the whole pages to make sure the materials are useful. Not to mention that this digital database can be also utilized in my other classes.

Awesome skill #2: After several times of using database, I even developed some skills on my own in order to find more relevant sources in less time. One of these skills is that I need to make flexible changes to my key words. For example: My research topic was about the college major decisions which were made by Chinese international students. So, it will be not enough if I only input keywords like: Chinese students, college major and decisions. I need to be more flexible than that to find more relevant options for my research. Then I learned to make extending on my key words. I realized that I need to think about the research topic in a more developing way; not only focus on the topic, I also need to pay attention to various sides of the topic, for instance: background and causing reasons. So, I developed more keywords like: Asian cultural background, Chinese parents, Chinese students, and college majors, etc. The result was great because I did find more useful sources for my research paper.

Awesome skill #3: Never looking for your sources randomly when you do the research!!! I found that it would also very helpful if you are intended to find sources that can also be used to make your original argument. Too many unrelated sources will be a trouble for you to build up your own arguments.

Awesome skill #4: Last but not least, the first time I learned how to write annotations and citations in a formal way!!! This was totally an excited and challenging study experience for me. With the information I can get like the names of authors, publishing companies, and pages, etc., in the database, I learned how to make annotations and citations. This skill can be used in the rest of my life!!!

I will value the skills I gained during the library sessions because I realized that these skills are definitely not only for the writing classes, but also for every time we need to write something in our further life. Just like what you guys always say to each other: Yeah bro, this is the real stuff.

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

 

 

 

First, I want to say this loudly: After all these long pages writing assignments I had to write, finally, I do not need to write anything long for my final assignment!!! I love this  “multimedia composition” a lot because it is not only really flexible, but also creative and interesting enough.

So, I wrote an essay about Chinese students’ pressure in my latest writing assignment. I talked about factors like: high life goals, parents’ expectations, and Asian culture, etc can all be the reasons made Chinese students feel stressful. However, then I realized that I ignored a live example: Chinese Gao Kao-the most important and difficult exam in China which can determine whether a Chinese high school student can go to his or her dream college or not. From my description to this exam, I guess you guys can see the position Gao Kao has in China. So I will be not lying if I tell you that Gao Kao can be one of the biggest reasons which caused the stresses.

So, instead of just simply translating my latest writing assignment into a multimedia composition, I decided to make an expanding topic in my multimedia composition-a video to introduce and interpret Gao Kao to my American classmates, professor, and readers.

The amazing part of this “multimedia composition” thing is that I do not need to write everything to achieve my goals. This time, I can actually utilize various ways to build up my ideas, make my arguments, and have conversations with my audiences. 

Finally, I decided to compiled video which includes relevant pictures, well-organized videos’ parts from YouTube, and my voice recordings to introduce and explain Gao Kao to my audience, and I may also make an personal comment or argument about it.

But, all these ideas are just some drafty thoughts. I need more time to think about ways of organizing my sources to make sure that my composition is effective.

Hope you guys are looking forward to my final multimedia composition!!!

Enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers and everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!

 

 

Because the 4 minutes video I made was too big to upload, I will just throw a link here for you guys!! Enjoy it!!!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tomRcWwAEwk

So, I introduced Chinese Gao Kao in this video to help you guys have a better understanding to Chinese students’ pressure and Chinese education system. I also made a more detailed interpretation to my composition.

So, just in case professor lueck is not the only one who has interest in my reflection, I decided also to paste my reflection here:

A Reflection of My Multimodal Composition

            My multimodal composition is a video I made which can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tomRcWwAEwk&feature=youtu.be.

I talked about the pressure of Chinese students and their parents in my latest research argumentative essay, and then I realized that my readers would never fully understand the pressure those Chinese students and their parents have without the awareness of Gao Kao: the most important, difficult and stressful exam for most of Chinese high school students. So I clipped this video about Chinese Gao Kao as an expanded topic of my latest research essay not only to replenish my research sources, but also to help my readers (American students and professors) have a better understanding of the stresses Chinese students have and one of the biggest reasons behind those pressures.

I first introduced the definition of Gao Kao: the only way for Chinese students to go to their dream colleges. I also exhibited the difference between ways of getting in to colleges in America and China, so with the comparison, people can clearly see the difference. In order to make my composition more effective and credible, I clipped the videos sources which are also about Gao Kao I found on YouTube, and I compiled them together in my video to help me explain the exam, the pressure to my audience better. Then, I utilized my voice and pictures to introduce the present conditions in China as background knowledge and transitions for my audience.

However, I realized the simple and vacant words like: tough, stressful, exhausting, and competitive can never describe and interpret Gao Kao completely and clearly. So, I clipped a real Chinese high school life’s video into my composition to show my audience what the high school life is specifically like. The video of Chinese high school life is like a straightforward and effective story to demonstrate the stressful and exhausted high school life those Chinese students have. I believe that when my audience actually sees the painstaking efforts those Chinese high school students made in order to fulfill their dreams and accomplish their goals, they will definitely have a deeper understanding to the pressure Chinese students usually have.

As a Chinese student, I can never forget my high school life because of the stress and challenges. But, I also realized that the exhausted study experience was definitely not the only thing I gained. The fact is that I gained much more things than I even imagined, so I believed that I should also share these parts to my audience to make their awareness to Gao Kao more comprehensive. The words that boy said to his teacher in my composition were also the gratefulness I wanted to express to my teachers when I graduated from high school.

The video is nearly 4 minutes and 30 seconds because when several videos and recordings needed to be interrogated together, it’s really a challenge for me to control the time. I made efforts to delete the unnecessary and repetitive sections to make sure my final composition can demonstrate my ideas effectively.

I hope my audience can have a better understanding to Gao Kao after the viewing of my multimodal composition and this reflection. It’s is also important for me to make sure that I am capable of propagandizing my ideas through multi-ways effectively.

Well, I have to admit that I spent a lot of time on this video. The pains from my neck and back even made me have a another thought that maybe I should just edit some pictures.

But, I feel glad right now that I did not give up on this video, because after I finished it, I realized that this video could be an excellent way to show Chinese educational system to my fellows, readers, even my professors.

I known I compiled this video in an more emotional way, but I think the emotional expression made this video more real. Just imagine, how could I not have any personal emotional feelings to this exam as a Chinese student??

Anyway, I hope you guys like my video and my reflection. And if you do not, watch your back!!! Come on, I made efforts to make those things!!!!!

Anyway, I just want to throw my video link here. So, enough for today’s blog. And here comes my best blessing to all my readers ad everyone:

And btw, not only every night;

Let’s make it every single day!!!