Thoughts of a College Student

This is it. We’ve reached the end. I know, I can’t even believe it.

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My CTW class has finished and all of my research has come to a close. While I admit, I won’t be missing writing papers late at night, I’ll will miss showing up to this class. This is one of the first english classes that I’ve taken where I felt like my writing had purpose. Coming into college, I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my own writing and none of my previous teachers did a very good job of teaching me how I could change it for the better. This class helped develop my writing academically through research papers as well as casually through my blog posts. This class has taught me some of the most important writing skills that I will continue to use for the rest of my life. In addition, I learned a whole lot about the research process.

Taking it back to the beginning, we started to prepare ourselves for all the research we would be performing by doing a little reading. Does BEAM, hunter/gatherers, and Kantz sound a little bit familiar? As I discussed in my earlier blog posts, these were some of the readings that had an impact on my ideas surrounding research. Here were my main key points I learned from reading these three articles:

• There are different types of sources: background, exhibit, arguments, and methods. Using the correct type of source in the right manner can greatly improve your paper and the points you want to make. Identifying what type of source it is can also help you find other sources that fit in the other categories.
• When you start researching, it’s ok to look broadly. This will give you an idea of who is talking about your topic and where you might want to find other sources. But once you do get that broad sense, you should narrow down your sources and look for articles that directly relate to your research.
• Research is not about re-stating what has already been said. It’s your job as a researcher to “enter the conversation” and offer your own perspective on the topic.
• It’s good to include sources that both support and argue against your claim.
• Use metacommentary to clarify your points and lengthen your paper!

Also throughout this quarter, I’ve had practice researching in the archives and surfing through the database. I now appreciate the value of the archives and the kind of first-hand experience and knowledge I can gain from it. In terms of the database, I know how to narrow down my searches by using * and ” “. I can also identify the different types of sources and how to cite directly from the database.

There are so many sources available for students to use, but so very few actually know how to use them all properly. I’ve learned a lot about research and plan on applying my processes to other classes. In conclusion, this class has taught me how to become a better writer and a great researcher.

Well, it’s time for me to wrap up my blog. It’s been a pleasure writing for you all and I wish you all the best in your writing careers! Peace out!

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Here it finally is! The finished project! The big enchilada!

All that time spent researching has finally paid off! I’ve finally composed my multimodal project using the findings I found in my research. I hope you enjoy!

For my multimodal project, I decided to create a video on Camtasia. And it’s actually pretty neat!

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Camtasia allows you to create something similar to a powerpoint presentation, but better! You can insert text boxes and images as well as transitions between your slides. Camtasia also allows you to change text color and sizing; shapes and clip art images are another fun tool to use. You can also overlap multiple slides and images over one another if you wanted them to appear at the same time on your screen.

But my favorite feature has to be inserting music or audio to go with your video. I’m not much of a talking-over-video person, so I decided to add music to my completed project. I think that it engages the audience more and creates a certain mood depending on your topic and music choice.

Although I had many choices for my multimodal project, I’m glad that I decided to create a video. I feel like this is the best way I can reach my audience and the best way for them to view it easily. I would highly recommend Camtasia to anyone wishing to create a simple, but intriguing presentation. Shake it up a bit!

As we near the end of the quarter, the first words of our final project have been spoken. Now that our research papers have been written and submitted, it’s our new task to transform them. We’re taking all of the research processes we’ve practiced over this past quarter to create a multimodal project!

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Rather than writing a paper directed towards your teacher, a multimodal project will allow you to address a real audience with a real purpose. Who really needs to hear about your research? How will your audience most effectively view and interpret your findings?

What makes multimodal different is the use of technology. For our project, we had several different options available to transform our research paper into a condensed, informative source. This included, but wasn’t limited to, an audio essay, a video, screencasts, images, infographics, and websites.

Looking at My Research

In short, my research paper compared coed to single sex schools and I argued that coeducation was the more beneficial school system for many long-term reasons. I decided that I wanted my audience to be either incoming college students or the parents of students. In order to inform my audience of my research, I decided to create a video using Camtasia.

What’s Different

Everyone’s multimodal projects will look different according to their desired audience, but the one thing that should be the same across the board is the short length. No one will want to read a boring 10 page paper about research; you have to transform it so your audience is able to take away the large key points of your work.

For my video, I paired very short and concise sentences with related images. I also changed the color of certain words in those sentences to emphasize the importance of the message I was trying to get across. In the background, I decided to add upbeat music to keep my audience engaged about this much more serious topic. I thought that it created a lighter mood, but didn’t distract the audience from the topic itself.

I plan on sharing my finalized multimodal project on my blog, so be on the look out!

Metacommentary!

The best and easiest tool you can use to greatly improve any paper. But what exactly is metacommentary?

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To put it simply, metacommentary is a way to clarify something you’ve said. Metacommentary can help further develop your point and can significantly strengthen your essay. It can be used to ward off potential misunderstandings, elaborate on an idea, provide an example, indicate significance, and so much more!

The process is very simple to follow. Anyone can do it! Here are some examples that demonstrate the magic of metacommentary.

Some Templates to Follow:

• Essentially, I am arguing not that _______, but that we should_______.
• That is not to say______, but rather _______.
• In other words, _______.
• To put it another way, _______.
• Consider______, for example.
• But above all, ________.
• Although some readers may object that ______, I would answer that ______.
• While it is true that _____, it does not necessarily follow that______.
• In sum, then, ________.

If there was one big take away I got from my CTW class, it would be the use of metacommentary. Such a simple move can transform how your paper feels and sounds. Plus, you can easily add some length to your papers without writing any unnecessary sentences! How cool is that?

As I write my research paper, I’m reminded of the importance of metacommentary. Before this class, I had never even heard of this writing skill, let alone recognize it in other papers. This is, without a doubt, the most important writing skill I’ve learned and I will continue to use it for the rest of my writing career.

Instead of having a regular class session, we decided to head back to the library with Gale! Gale helped our class with experiencing and researching through the database earlier on in the quarter. Today, we revisited with her to brush up on our database skills and citation write-ups.

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Gale decided to give us a game to play. We were given URLs to journal entries and articles and we had to compose an informational sentence summarizing the important information from it. This included things like the author, the publisher, what type of source it was, and what it was about. During this game, there were some important components that I realized I could apply to my research paper.

• Author’s Credentials: What makes this person qualified to talk about this given topic? How does their background effect the way they present their work?
• Publication: Where was this source published? Where can it be found? Who can view this source?
• Use the Abstract: Many of these articles and journal entries included some sort of abstract or summary. Reading the abstract is a useful way to get a broad sense of what the source is talking about and the points it’s trying to make.

It’s important to include information like this in my research paper because it will prove to me and my audience that I used credible sources. This process can serve as a great way to check the validity of your sources as well as lengthen your paper! Bonus!

Remember those times in middle school when your teacher forced you to write annotations for your bibliography? Did you think you escaped it? Well, now it’s back and longer than ever.

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That’s right. For my CTW class, we were required to write annotations for the sources we found for our research paper. Even though it was a good exercise to get us thinking about how our sources related to each other, it made it no less fun.

For our class, the annotations were much longer than what I’ve been used to and included many other elements. In terms of my paper, here are the things I included in my annotated bibliography:

• Summary: thesis, main points, and conclusion
• Purpose and Audience: author’s purpose and intended audience for their article
• Synthesis: How does this source compare to your other sources?
• Rhetorical Differences: What are the differences you’re seeing between sources?
• What it Does For You: How will this source contribute to your own argument? How will this source fit into your research paper?

Overall, this assignment was very helpful for composing my research paper, even if it was a pain to write annotations for 12 sources…

Even if I don’t write any more annotated bibliographies in the future, I still plan on using the same concepts for other research papers. By observing details, differences, and similarities between sources, I can compose a strong paper that addresses different sides of the topic.

For my research paper, my overall topic was about coeducation vs. single-sex education. As I was finding sources that I could use in my paper, I started to see the areas that have already been discussed (or in other words, the “territories”). In terms of my research, I was more concerned with the “gaps,” or the holes in the conversation. By establishing the territories and gaps in my research, I’m able to find a place where I can “enter the conversation.”

Territories

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In general, scholars and professors were discussing the pros and cons of a coed or single-sex education, depending on their stance. Based on the sources I found, this was territory I was stepping into:

Single-Sex:

• Removes distractions caused by the opposite gender
• Increases retention and participation rates of their students
• Provides students with great opportunities

Coed:

• Collaboration with males and females
• Creates same opportunities for both genders
• Compares the treatment of males and females side by side, (limits discrimination)

Gaps

Now that I had a feel for the territories regarding my topic, it was time for me to find the gaps and enter the conversation. I discovered that with many of the sources I found, they seemed to only talk about the immediate benefits of their chosen school system. I thought that it was interesting how none of the sources considered the long-term effects of a student’s education and the impact it could have on them in society.

*cue me entering the conversation*

For my research paper, I’m arguing that coeducation is better than single-sex education, not only for the immediate benefits, but for outside factors and skills that the students will need to succeed in the future. I plan on talking about how coeducation helps students academically and socially as well as working with the opposite gender and facing inequalities in society.

To aid in our research process, we were assigned a reading by Margaret Kantz in my CTW class. This reading was designed for us to think about our own research process and how we could develop an effective research paper as a result. Kantz focuses on several key points that I know that I can use when thinking about my paper.

Keeping an original argument and purpose

The ultimate goal of researching and finding sources is to form your own argument about the given topic. Rather than repeating and evaluating your sources, you want to come up with a viewpoint no one had considered in the topic’s conversation. In our CTW class, we refer to this as “entering the conversation.” You consider what has already been said about the subject matter and offer your own unique perspective. For example:

“On one hand, some people argue that_______. On the other hand, scholars have said______. However, both sides fail to consider_______.”

Considering who the author is and their intended audience

Something that my CTW class has stressed a lot these past two quarters was considering the author and the audience. Before this class, I never really gave much thought to these concepts, but I realize now how important they are for writing any paper.

For example, let’s say a paper was trying to argue that dogs are better than cats. You might have two completely different sounding papers if one was written by a dog-lover and the other was written by a cat-lover due to bias. Same thing applies to the audience. Who will wan to read their papers? These two people might write different things when they consider who their audience is.

This relates back to my research paper because when I’m searching for sources, I need to consider the author’s ethos and who he or she was writing to.

Factual texts aren’t always “the truth”

Don’t assume everything to be true. This all relates back to the credibility of the author and the message they wanted to send to their intended audience. It’s our job as researchers to challenge and further complicate the conversation already happening. Putting together all of the facts will not create a great paper.

As I continue to search for more sources, I will keep Kantz’s article in the back of my mind. Because not only will it help me develop a strong paper, but it will help me find useful sources that will argue and support my claim.

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The process has started and I’m already stuck.

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I’ve begun researching for my CTW project, trying to find a way to “enter the conversation” about women’s inequality at the college level. Although I started to find sources relating to my topic, I felt that there wasn’t enough to talk about. I initially wanted to compare feminist publications from the 1960s to today, however, the online database only had sources up to the 1980s. It was time to change my approach.

When I was still researching for my old topic, I came across an article about gender inequality in coeducational schools. I thought to myself, maybe I was using the wrong keywords to search my articles? So instead of searching under “gender inequality,” I searched “coeducation” and college*.

The results I found were much better! There were several articles and studies conducted on why or why not coeducation would be more beneficial than single-sexed schools. As I was reading some of the articles, I noticed that they only talked about the immediate benefits a certain school system would have over the other. This interested me because they didn’t take gender into account unless they were talking about single-sexed schools. Thus, my cue to enter the conversation!

Since most of the articles discuss the benefits of either single-sex or coeducational schools, I’ve decided to look at which system would have the most gender equality. Even though they say single-sex school provide more benefits than coed, it’s only directed towards one gender. I believe that coeducational schools do a better job of addressing gender inequality because both genders are present in the same environment. That way, you can look at whether both males and females are receiving equal opportunities.

Time to start researching!