That was a quick 2 quarters. That’s 6 months. I can’t believe it.

Even crazier, I’m already finishing my first year. Unbelievable.

Last post of the quarter so obviously time to drop the first gif of this entire blog. (I’m going to regret this decision later…)

So what did I learn in this writing class these two quarters? I don’t even know where to start. This was my first English writing class ever in my life; in Japan we never did English writing and I was pretty much home-schooled in terms of my writing. So I was actually pretty nervous when I first started this class. Looking at where I am now, I can say that I am just a little proud of myself. (maybe more than a little…)

I think the technique I learned the most was the art of meta-commentary. Since much of my writing came from college essays, it was all about “talk less show more.” That changed 180 degrees. By turning an essay into a conversation with my audience (which of course changes based on rhetoric) I was able to make my points clearer and more effective/persuasive. IN OTHER WORDS, “explain more less miscommunications!”

To anyone in next year’s Dr. Lueck’s class: Use this magical phrase and get an A!! (Source)

Also is the mindset that “writing is a process.” I always would get caught up in the idea that writing was a mere product of research, or even worse only an assignment. Tackling so many different kinds if writing styles, research methods, and rhetorical consideration, I now can confidently say that writing is definitely a process. Every time I re-read my essays there is something I can change, and I’m never actually FINISHED writing. It just means that I had to stop somewhere.

So all in all, we learned a lot about methods and concepts to improve our writing, but my main take-away is that in fact I don’t dislike writing; I even kind of like it. It may be tedious at times, but after all, I really like talking to people, and through this class I learned that writing is just talking to people over pieces of paper.

Happy Writing!!

– JJ

(Source)

Special Thanks To:

Dr. Lueck, the best writing teacher ever!
Kelli, the best peer editor in the country!
Cory, for basically coming up with my entire multimodal project plan!

You all are the best! Can’t thank you enough.

(So in my fourth assignment, a 10 page research paper, I argued about SCU’s on-campus programs and centers, and how they could become more effective in engaging students. Keeping that in mind…)

This is my inner-brain vision when I heard “MULTIMODAL translation” (Source)

Our fifth and final assignment was a “multi-modal translation.” This meant expanding our claim we made in our researched essay into something substantial which could address/back up/enhance the main argument. In addition, it is “multi-modal” meaning it must use some sort of electronic technology, but what isn’t online now days anyway?

I argued how there was a gap between students and administration in the centers for SCU. Through my research, I found that students are most engaged and active when they are involved directly with programs that are close to their identities are backgrounds. Therefore, SCU’s different centers, which all have various focuses and topics, must align their programs so they can invite more students who have interests in the topics these centers cover. In other words, they must listen to what the students want more to improve engagement and the overall undergraduate experience.

SO what “translation” could I do? The first thing I thought of was an infographic. Yes, part of me just always wanted to make one since they look so cool. But also, by creating an infographic about the different centers and showing the data of students currently NOT getting involved in them, I assumed that it could get students who see it to become motivated to learn more about the centers. It could circulate easily on Facebook on Twitter where many students will look, and I could add direct links to the programs.

Aren’t these so cool? (Source)

But then my friend Cory came up with a genius idea; I could make a quiz. One of my main conclusions in my paper was that all on-campus centers should do a reassessment of their programs to understand student interests. But if I made a quiz which directly asked students what their interests was, I could guide them to a specific program, maybe even before students arrive on campus for their first day of college. So this is what I set out to do, and I will explain more on my next post!

PS A huge shout out to Cory! I probably should give you half of my credit for this assignment……

I sure did not expect this coming into college. A third if our writing classes would be in the library, not out regular classroom? Isn’t the library a place to borrow books (not many students even do this anymore) and study until 2 AM? Apparently not.

Our “Award-Winning” Library, also known as the Learning Commons.

We had multiple classes in media labs in the library, with a specific educational librarian teaching us specific skills for academic writing. Most notable was how to find sources. Yes, you might think. “go to google and look up whatever you need!” That might work if you are really lucky, but it is rarely that easy.

In academic writing, professors often ask for citations from “academic sources” or “peer-reviewed articles.” These are articles which are published in academic journals of all kinds, but often these do not circulate in public. Why? Because you need to pay to access these journals. As a university, the library is the one place that has purchased all of data bases which contain these subscriptions, meaning a search through the library website is necessary to get through the pay wall.

These databases aren’t that easy to use at they seem either. You need to know specific techniques such as using “” marks for terms you want to see exactly matched, the difference between AND/OR, and truncating words using * for maximum results.

I did not know that I would be taking classes in the library, but even more important, I did not know that I would learn so much about skills for writing! Some of the simplest process often are the most overlooked, and I ma so glad that I was forced to start by learning the basics again.

This might strange, but I had to FIND my argument.

When we are writing research papers, most often we have the mindset of proving something. Maybe you feel strongly about a specific claim, taking one side of a debate, or compiling evidence around a single topic. Whatever our goal is, we come in with a specific objective, and aim to support or validate that with proof.

Proving your point like…(Source)

Our research paper was different for me. We had just finished an annotated bibliography, so I had compiled many different sources to understand the conversation surrounding what I was interested in, which in this case was on-campus programs. I had a pile of articles in front of me, but that doesn’t mean I had a specific argument. So I had to find one.

The first step to finding my argument was what we called in class “finding the territory.” This meant synthesizing the sources I had found and understanding the general sense of what previous research addressed. My “territory” was many articles that concluded that hands-on experiences is useful for the undergraduate experience, and many case studies that back this up by showing programs could enhance student engagement.

Second, was “finding the gap.” What is a niche in the territory which hasn’t been covered, or is there anything I could add to the conversation? When I thought about what I could personally contribute, I imagined my own campus. What can SCU improve in regards to their programs. My survey clearly showed that students aren’t effectively getting involved on-campus. Is there some connection I can make to the theories and case studies I have read in the sources I have found?

Where is my gap?

Applying the information I have found to improve SCU’s programs; that is the argument I found.