CTW WRITING PORTFOLIO

I really enjoyed Kelly’s presentation on social media’s influence on the perception of the female image. It had several noteworthy and important points worth discussing.

I found that one of the most interesting points Kelly made was that the rather sexist and objectifying beauty standards that women are held to is a problem that didn’t necessarily emerge from the use of social media, but rather is something that has always existed but is simply more obvious now that there are so many media outlets at the fingertips of teenage users.

Society and myself included tend to blame social media for the origins of these standards, but in reality, it could be that this is a problem that originated long ago. With this in mind, changing the way we use social media won’t necessarily rid people of the everyday gender biases we innately think about and act upon. It’s an attitude problem, not one of technology.

That being said, however, there is some truth in saying that social media has amplified these standards to a much higher degree than before. With the use of media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, it is typical for trends and expectations to emerge about what people should and shouldn’t post, especially depending on their characteristics such as gender. Women, for example, are expected to post more girly and sexualized content, whereas even boys are subjected to expectations of posting content that makes them seem more masculine. It is these expectations that amplify the already prevalent gender stereotypes that exist in people’s heads.

From personal experience, I often find myself getting overwhelmed with not only running several of my social media accounts, but also trying to fit myself into the expectations that come with it. The whole sharing aspect also makes it extremely difficult to not compare my experiences and life to those of others. I personally have nothing against social media, and love the fact that people can share special parts of their life with others, but its use should be about the user, not about fitting into societal norms and trying to one-up one another.

Overall, I found it a very relatable and relevant presentation.

Images Cited

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I think I speak for most students in saying that one of the most daunting and painstaking parts of writing a research paper is not just writing the paper itself, but also citing the sources used in an annotated bibliography. This is especially true when the paper is particularly long and refers to over 10 different sources. Each source must not only use correct MLA format, but must also accurately summarize the content of the source, set its rhetorical context, name its intended audience and purpose, connect to other sources in the bibliography, AND justify why or how it will be used in your research.

Knowing how time consuming this project would be, I wanted to see specifically why such a list is necessary in the first place. Why do researchers need it? What does it do for the readers? What is its purpose?

After a quick search up I found some fairly satisfying answers. One article in particular seemed to justify the need for bibliographies quite thoroughly. One such point that stood out to me was that it “helps the researcher know the context of the subject in detail and fine tune the research topic.” This reminded me of our discussion in class during which we mentioned how writing such detailed summaries would force us to thoroughly read our sources to gain perspective, which would ultimately help us pin point what exactly we want to say or get across in our papers. Going along with this point is one that says “the researcher can preserve valuable knowledge in the form of a summary which has taken time to acquire”, which makes the summaries seem even more worthwhile because by reading the sources I’d also be doing the actual research by taking note of the information I could later use in my paper.

In terms of usefulness to the readers, I noted the points that mentioned how other researchers can use the same sources for their research papers (if they write about the same subject that is) and thus can save time when trying to find information.

With these points in mind, I feel better about this project and the benefits that it can bring both me and my readers. As time consuming as it will be, it’ll be worth it in the end.

Images Cited

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My classmate Ivanna recently wrote a blog post that talked about the article we had to read for class, “Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively” by Margaret Kantz. She mentions how this article opened her eyes to the idea of building your own argument instead of simply repeating the information that your sources are saying. This point was also one of the biggest takeaways that I got when reading the article.

Too often have I found myself getting bored when writing research papers, or any paper for that matter, because I always felt as though I was simply rewording the information I got from the sources that I was using. There was always a lack of voice and participation that I felt in the conversation, which made the experience of writing both unsatisfying and extremely boring.

As I write more and more papers in this class however, I can feel myself growing more comfortable with making my own contributions and assumptions, and using the sources to back up or add dimension to what I am saying, instead of relying on them to be the foundation of my main points.

This is a point that I find extremely important looking ahead into the future, especially in the area of writing. It is important to develop your own sense of voice and exercise personal creativity. No one wants to read a paper that is simply a cumulation of other ideas unless it has its own twist to it. As Ivanna points out, although research papers are often regarded as very formal and structured, they in fact encourage writers to be creative when participating in conversations, and to not simply rehash old ideas. The whole reason that these conversations exist in the first place is because of their differences in opinions and backgrounds. Each person’s argument adds dimension to the conversation, which is why it’s always important to put in our own two cents.

Images Sources:

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Nowadays, it is too easy to believe what we read on the Internet. It has become such a complex and crowded computer network system with a constant flow of data being added to it every single day. Thus, when it comes to using the Internet purposefully, such as looking for sources when writing a research paper, it becomes extremely hard to filter information that is true from information that is completely skewed or tarnished with extremely biased views.

My last CTW class proved just this point. We were given several pairs of websites that contained information about the same subject. However, one website of each pair was much more reliable and accurate than the other. As expected, assumptions were made and people were fooled. This was especially due to the aesthetic allure of some of the false websites that appeared much more professional than their counterparts.

Most of these false websites were considered unreliable because of their extremely biased authors, from members of the KKK, to vegan hippies, to fertilizer distributors…etc. This activity was a huge wakeup call for me, so I thought it smart to find a guide that recommended tips to avoiding such a problem.

In this article that I found, you are walked through the different steps that you can take in order to not be fooled by false Internet sources. Such steps include evaluating the credibility of the author, investigating the reliability of the content, and noting the timeliness and relevance of the information.

Even more specifically, the article points out that one easy way to get an initial idea of whether the information is reliable or not is to look at its web address. Sometimes the web address indicates who sponsored the content, which may give insight as to whether the information is biased or not.

With my last eye-opening CTW class along with this useful Internet bullsh*t detector guide in mind, I will be much more conscious of not just what I use as Internet sources, but simply what I believe and read on the Internet in general. Nowadays, it is too easy for anyone from anywhere for whatever reason to post whatever they like. While this ability is liberating, it also presents many dangerous consequences, especially for the most naive of students.

Images Cited:

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In his article “BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing”, Joseph Bizup proposes an alternative nomenclature for treating sources we use during the research process, which he abbreviates as “BEAM”. B stands for background, which refers to materials that writers use for general or factual information. E stands for exhibit, which refers to materials that writers analyze or interpret. A stands for argument, which refers to materials that a writer engages in conversation with. And finally, M stands for method, which refers to materials from which a writer derives a concept or manner of working from.

Using the standard nomenclature for research sources, categorizing them as “primary” or “secondary” automatically establishes a hierarchy that diminishes the value of some sources, which shouldn’t be the case. Additionally, in creating a ranking of sorts, the idea of writing a research paper sounds extremely mechanical and structured, when in actuality, it is a very interactive and complex process. As Bizup argues, we should use terms that describe what writers actually do with these sources.

When thinking about this new vocabulary and how it relates to my experience doing research, I can see how the idea of BEAM accurately displays the research process as the complex procedure it is. Many times, my research process involved using many different sources in different ways, whether that be for background information, proving a point, providing an example, or making an argument. BEAM illustrates this process perfectly, the idea that all of the sources that I use are a part of the same discussion and are working together in different ways to ultimately form the heart of my research paper. Categorizing sources as primary or secondary wouldn’t really be of much help to me and would probably end up giving me unnecessary anxiety over what constitutes a primary or secondary source exactly.

I enjoyed reading the article and its critique of conventional labels. It offers a fresh perspective that will aid me in research papers to come.

Images Cited:

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Reflecting back on my first archival research experience, I can fully agree with a lot of the points made in Michael Klein’s “What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This One–and How Can We Get Students to Join Us?” One of the first points he makes about the research procedure is that it is not a linear process, meaning that it is not realistic to assume that “planning and inventing guides a writer through subsequent acts of text production and revision” (Klein 24). The process is much more complicated than that, especially when doing archival research, where you don’t always quite know what you will end up finding.

I experienced this a lot during the first stage of the archival research process. I had no idea what I wanted my research question to be, so in a sense, no planning could be done. In a way, the information-gathering step came before planning in the sense that I was scanning the different artifacts to try and decide what my topic of choice would be. In this way, my research procedure was almost the opposite of what the linear diagram would predict.

Another point that I agreed with was the fact that writers can develop a sense of rhetorical purpose as the process is ongoing, as opposed to knowing beforehand. This refers to the importance of writers staying open-minded about unexpected data and insights that they may discover during the process.

As I experienced during my research process, once your findings come together into a more organized form, and as you continue to gather other bits of relevant information, a sudden “so-what” or insightful point could hit you. This occurred for me during the writing portion of my process. As I re-read my work over and over, I noticed the ways in which my points connected to one another, and thought about how these points contributed to the same bigger-picture or larger discussion.

In summary, I thoroughly enjoyed this article by Klein, as I could draw so many parallels to my own research process experience.

Images Cited:

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My fellow classmate Riley Pendergast recently wrote a blog post about an organization called The Citizens Archive of Pakistan. The organization is dedicated to preserving Pakistan’s culture, as well as educating the Pakistani community about their heritage.

What I liked about this post was that it demonstrated the essence of what archives are for. As Sheila explained to the class, an archive is meant to preserve the culture and history of a place, as well as provide sources of reference for people to look back on when needed. Much like what SCU’s archives are to the student body and faculty, TCAP is to the Pakistani community.

The importance of preserving a place or institution’s culture came to my attention as I did archival research myself. I learned so much about the history of the school through reading through flyers, journals, and other documents from decades ago. Even from just skimming through a couple of issues of The Santa Clara, SCU’s student-run newspaper publication that still exists today, I found that SCU was an entirely different place just 50 years ago. I say this in regards to many aspects, such as the clubs that existed, the rules students had to follow, and the student life in general.

The values that SCU upholds, of course, remain the same, but it was interesting to see how the school’s culture and student life compares to how it is now. Change, after all, is inevitable. Besides, many pivotal movements and events occurred during the past few decades, one of which was WWII.

Upon reflecting on my archival research experience, I now truly see the importance of archives and how they’re necessary for maintaing an institution’s values and roots. This is especially true when an institution, or in this case culture, is as old and as rich in history as that of Pakistan.

Images Cited:

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The research question that I am planning to pursue for my archival essay goes something along the lines of: what role did The Santa Clara (Santa Clara’s student-produced newspaper publication) play in student life and how has it as well as its role evolved over the years?

When thinking about this question, I first wondered about why schools had student newspapers to begin with. What was their importance? To gain some insight and perspective into this question, I looked online for articles that might have some answers and came across the following article.

It was titled “Why a Newspaper Club is Important for Your School”, and brought about several interesting points that I thought held relevance to the artifacts that I had chosen (which were several publications of TSC).

Its number one reason for advocating that all schools have student newspapers is that students need a voice. It essentially claims that having a newspaper provides students with a platform to bring about their opinions and thoughts in a credible and respected manner, while also allowing them to enter a conversation with other readers and people on campus. This is in contrast to students simply being “spectators” and not voicing any of their thoughts but instead silently giving their two cents worth in the sidelines.

With this in mind, after looking at some of TSC’s publications, especially those from the 1940s-1960s, I can see that the student newspaper definitely filled this role in publicizing well-written, yet often times rather biased and opinionated pieces. TSC had several sections of published anonymous letters that were sent to them from the student body, written about almost anything and anyone. However, while there were these opinionated pieces, I also noted that (according to its featured box) a Reverend moderated the paper, which makes me wonder how autonomous the paper really was, and what kind of stories were censored.

Another point the article makes is that despite recent technological advances, journalism will never die, and with it will remain the need to be able to convey one’s thoughts and do research to back it up. I thought this was relevant to my archives because if I did end up studying how the newspaper’s role evolved overtime, I could also see if its role as a platform for quality writing (as evident by stories with credible content) was fulfilled despite all of the technological changes that occurred down the line.

Finally, the last point that the article brought up was that the newspaper was a means of student discovery, meaning it allowed students to voice their otherwise unheard opinions, and in doing so connected them to other potentially likeminded people. This in a sense brings a more encompassing sense of school community, and encourages other people to voice their opinions as well. When reading through several of the publications, I got a sense that Santa Clara’s student body, though not necessarily close in terms of social groups, were nevertheless likeminded people who were very aware of each other’s whereabouts and activities, which was its own sense of community in a way.

Overall, this article presented key elements that I’ll be looking for when further analyzing my archive artifacts.

Images Credit:

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Last class we looked at a document that appeared to be the 1961 issue of Santa Clara’s newspaper publication. The headline announced the integration of women into SCU in a rather sexist and severe manner, with a spacious headline that declared “TRADITION SHATTERED.” From its obnoxious typography to its over-the-top wording, I was immediately intrigued by the archive.

Knowing that we are about to further look into SCU’s archives, one possible research question I may want to further explore would be what the general gender dynamic was like on campus during this time, a.k.a what the attitudes of the male students towards women on campus were, how the women felt about it, and what student life in general was like for both genders (was there tension?).

Other questions I may want to explore to facilitate my research into this subject may also include: did this headline represent the attitude of most male students, or was the case simply that there was a sexist editor in charge of that particular issue? Overall, my focus would be on the true attitudes and values held by the students during that time.

During my search through the archives, I’m hoping to find more newspaper publications along with anything that would reveal students’ honest and uncensored opinions about how student life may have felt and changed. One thing I’m fearful of is not being able to distinguish the more filtered and censored papers from those that are simply expressing changed opinions and values.

Journals would of course be ideal, as they contain some of the most honest pieces of writing from an individual. If there was some sort of diary I could find that would be a huge assistance in determining the typical ideas held by the student body towards the gender integration that occurred during the 1960s at SCU.

With this topic, I could also explore possible catalysts that led to such a change, such as historical events or contexts that were prevalent at the time and how they may have ultimately influenced the school and the attitude that students held.

After reading Gaillet, however, I’m now aware of the erratic nature of archival research. With this in mind, I know that during the course of my research, I may find a different topic interesting and could completely change my question altogether. So at this point, I’m very open-minded about what I am to choose as my topic of choice, and am curious to see what I will discover.

Images Cited:

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As we read further and further into archival research, I’m starting to view it as more of an art rather than a process. Yes, it does involve abiding by very mechanic and structured rules, such as what you can and can’t do when using the archival artifacts, but then there’s also the more complex techniques and methods that are involved with actually acquiring the information.

One of this week’s reading assignments, “Archival Survival” by Lynee Gaillet, was one such article that opened my eyes to the complexities of archival research. What I was first surprised by was the sheer amount of preparation that goes into attaining the needed documents. Applications need to be filled, appointments must be made, self-credibility needs to be established… the list goes on.

Once you finally are granted access to the documents, however, the hardest part becomes actually finding answers. One tip the article gives is that it is important to have a broad reading on the artifact, which means placing it in time periods and contexts besides the one it is actually from. This is likely to occur especially if the information you find in one document leads to a previous or later event that another document describes. In this case, the research process will be much like an investigation, where one clue leads to another. But this, of course, is not always going to be the case. Reading information will involve a lot of analysis and interpretation for times when the answers aren’t so clear and obvious.

Another tip that I found very useful had to do with the importance of analyzing the physical characteristics of the artifact and what it reveals/implies from its state. I could see myself overlooking such important and revealing clues by focusing simply on the words of a document (for example) rather than the physical paper itself. A lot can be said about the physical characteristics of an object, such as the purpose of its layout, the materials used to make the object, the way in which it is presented (implying potential information about the intended audience)…etc.

Overall, this was a very eye-opening article that revealed to me the hidden complexities of archival research, as well as tips that I will be sure to keep in mind in the future.

Images Cited:

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