{"id":31,"date":"2017-03-19T16:11:35","date_gmt":"2017-03-19T23:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/?p=31"},"modified":"2017-03-20T22:41:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-21T05:41:20","slug":"what-i-did-and-what-i-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/2017\/03\/19\/what-i-did-and-what-i-like\/","title":{"rendered":"What I did…And What I Like"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Let me ask you something.\u00a0<\/b>Does this look like fun read?<\/b><\/p>\n

\"This

This is not even the worst part…the reference page is a whole page long.<\/p><\/div>\n

Yeah, I didn\u2019t think so. Even if you enjoying reading, like me, I would totally skip my essay if I saw it\u00a0posted online.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What am I Doing?<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My assignment for my Critical Thinking and Writing class. Or better known as the\u00a0mandatory writing course here at SCU.\u00a0I had to transform my 8-page \u201cacademic\u201d essay to a blog post<\/a> for anyone to read. Yup, that\u2019s cutting 2000 words from an essay. Beyond all of the basic concerns that go through my head when I think of “writing<\/a>,” my biggest challenge was: where the heck do I even start? <\/span><\/p>\n

\"As

As the old saying goes, writing is power. (And that’s why we are taking CTW)<\/p><\/div>\n

Start with someone talking! (literally)<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So I\u00a0started by searching for relatable\u00a0topics to explain my argument from my way-too-long essay: The liberal arts and social activism<\/strong><\/span>. Casually going through Facebook (procrastinating like a typical college student), I landed on a classmate\u2019s post about a recent march\/protest on campus. I took a page out of <\/span>Zach Lowe<\/span><\/a>\u2019s notebook (the master of 10-second clips) and started the blog out with the short video to introduce my topic.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Give Some More Examples<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After the introduction, I still had to expand my topic and visualize it to make it easier to understand. Looking back on my original essay,\u00a0I still had to break down my long, wordy sentences into terms I would use if I were talking to friends\u00a0at Starbucks. Let\u2019s look at a quote from my paper.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Through a liberal arts education, especially at a traditional four-year institution, Ungar\u00a0(an author<\/a> whom I cite)<\/em><\/span> argues that education will not be just skimming text books and acquiring a basic knowledge of all subjects in society, but rather developing a holistic and deep understanding of the world. “<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m guessing you didn\u2019t even finish the quote. That\u2019s the point. So instead of long explanatory sentences, I looked for pictures and links of protests on college campuses and political issues to illustrate the whole picture. This way you, the reader, can choose if you want to know more about an example through a hyperlink, just as you would when you\u00a0look something up on your Android<\/a>\u00a0phones (NO iPhones are allowed in my house!). I focused on dropping as many links to social issues and their explanations, since I cannot cover all of the details in my post. Oh, and who doesn’t like captions? They added flair and depth to my pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Get A Bit Serious<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After all, I have a point to make, and it\u2019s one I really care about. \u00a0I want students\u00a0who are similar to me to realize the opportunity we have to make an impact on society.<\/span> Yes it sounds like some cheesy social justice presentation, but I really do. So I\u00a0tried to strike a balance between being making it light and interesting while carrying\u00a0a serious message at the same time. This is why I colored<\/span>\u00a0and bolded<\/strong> key words, and inserted large spaces to between paragraphs to make it an effortless read for the brain and the eyes. I also used charts and links to websites which illuminate the negative aspects of U.S. society. By choosing to focus on what college students can do and have done, I made\u00a0the blog post focused and relatable, unlike my logical and far-reaching original essay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"What's

What’s better than chatting\u00a0about all the issues we have in society over coffee? (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

So What? Why Blogging?<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What makes blogging significant? Well, the bottom line is, as much as we need <\/span>Real Friends<\/strong><\/span> (Hopefully you\u2019ve all read my previous post by now) for change, I need more people to see it, too. The internet connects us beyond geographic barriers and opens new opportunities. Through blogging, although it is\u00a0just an assignment, I am able to communicate directly to an audience\u00a0and spread my message at the same time. There are thousands of liberal arts students just like me, and my hope is that some of you reading this blog are too. And even if you\u2019re not, I hope there is something that resonates with you!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sometimes

Sometimes Facebook friends can be useful too (Source<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Let me ask you something.\u00a0Does this look like fun read? Yeah, I didn\u2019t think so. Even if you enjoying reading, like me, I would totally skip my essay if I saw it\u00a0posted online.   What am I Doing?   My … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1921,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education"],"gutentor_comment":2,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"JJ","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/author\/jburwell\/"},"qubely_comment":2,"qubely_category":"Education<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"\u00a0Let me ask you something.\u00a0Does this look like fun read? Yeah, I didn\u2019t think so. Even if you enjoying reading, like me, I would totally skip my essay if I saw it\u00a0posted online.   What am I Doing?   My … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1921"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31\/revisions\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/jjburwell\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}