Well, after two quarters in my Critical Thinking and Writing class, it is officially over. I have learned more in these past 5 months about writing than I have in my entire thirteen years of school.

Source: quicklime.com

While the class may be over, this does not mean that I can just forget everything I have learned. The concepts and writing strategies I learned in CTW are tools that I am going to use for the rest of my life and especially throughout the rest of my years in college.

This quarter, as most of you know, was focused on the research process. I learned all about how to do many different types of research writing. From archival research, to surveys, and to researched arguments, I have learned so many useful ways to conduct research that I can use in the future.  Here is a little recap of the different research concepts I learned.

• BEAM
• Inquiry Based Research
• Hunting and Gathering

All three of these concepts taught me different ways to approach research. BEAM taught me the importance of using sources that provide background, sources that can be interpreted and analyzed, sources that can enhance your argument, and the importance of following methods. BEAM provided me with a way to keep my research organized and precise.

Inquiry Based research taught me the importance of further inquiring into each source you choose to use. It is extremely important to conduct your research in the proper way so that you do not use or interpret the sources in a way that is different than what the original author intended. It is important to ask questions about each one of your sources and make sure you are understanding how the source is meant to be interpreted.

Hunting and Gathering taught me about the importance of both targeting and openly searching for sources in your research. Sometimes it is good to target exactly what you are looking for, but other times it is good to have an open mind and just see what you find without looking for something specific. Hunting and Gathering can really change your research and help you find the best sources to further your argument.

I am so thankful for everything I learned in my CTW classes because I learned so much about researching that I can use in all my future classes, not just english. It is so important to hold on to everything you learn from your college english and writing classes because they are skills that are useful for almost every single subject. My CTW class may be over, but this definitely is not the end of everything I have learned. I have enjoyed learning all that I have in this class and I cannot wait to use it in my future classes. Take everything that i have shared with you and use it to your benefit! Thank you for continuing to read my blogs every week, I hope you learned a lot. Good luck with your college journey!

XOXO, Tess O’Brien

Source: Ferris Bueller

Drum roll please…….

Voilà my official finished project!!!

I know this looks much different than what I gave you a little preview of in my last post, but I decided to make a few changes (well actually a lot). The more I worked on my first draft, the more I didn’t like it. So, I decided to start from scratch and it ended up being the right way to go because I am so happy with how it turned out!

Instead of planning a whole Awareness Day at SCU, I decided it would be much more effective to create something that any University throughout the nation could use and distribute to their students. I came up with this idea of a “Mental Health Guide” so students could learn more about how to promote their own mental wellbeing and even how to spot warning signs in their peers.

I chose to design this as an info-graph to make it easy for people who are walking by to read and understand it without having to spend too much time on it. It was really important for me to make it colorful and bright so that it stands out and draws people in to read it. I strategically chose specific colors to highlight mental health awareness (green) and suicide awareness (teal and purple) to symbolize the importance of the issues. Instead of just including tips, I also wanted to include statistics and red flags so that the students could have a broader understanding of how prevalent mental health issues are and also ways that they can help themselves and this crisis.

I really believe that this would be effective on a college campus and I hope that it could help students to better take care of their mental health and end the stigma of depression and suicide. I was very passionate about this project and I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I included every detail necessary to make it as effective as possible. I hope you all found my finished project to be effective and maybe it even taught you something you didn’t know before! Feel free to share this with your friends at school or get permission from your RA to print it out and hang it up in your dorm! Don’t let this problem get worse, help each other out and promote mental health!

Now that I have finally finished my research paper, my CTW professor has tasked us with one last final assignment: Translate our paper into a multimodal project.

Let’s be real, I bet none of you reading my blog want to read my 9 page research paper (I know I wouldn’t). So, to save you from your misery of reading 2,778 words, I am going to turn my paper into something that my intended audience would actually want to read.

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After brainstorming for the last couple of days I came up with an idea. I have decided to create a mock itinerary of what would be a Depression and Suicide Awareness Day here at Santa Clara University. Because my research is so focused on mental health issues on college campuses, I felt that it was really important for my multimodal to focus on that audience specially, especially the Students.

By creating a mock itinerary of an event like this on campus, I am able to reach the audience of not only the students, but also the university community as a whole. It was really important for me to come up with an idea that would reach my intended audience and I feel that this idea helps me to accomplish that.

In addition to creating a schedule for the day, I also decided to create a handout that would be passed out to each student at the event. I created a flyer on piktochart.com that really helped me to incorporate the multimodal aspect of this project. Here is a quick preview of what I have going so far

My idea for the handout is to provide each student with a flyer they can hang up in their rooms to give them some helpful times for maintain mental wellness. A reminder like this will help students to be aware and monitor their mental health and provide them with ways to improve and hopefully avoid issues like depression and suicide.

I am so excited to continue to translate my research paper into this multimodal project. I think this is a great way to get the message of my research across to my audience. Let me know if you think this way of translating my paper is a good idea. I would love to hear all of your input!

I officially have one week left of my first year of college. They didn’t lie when they said it goes by fast… I cannot believe it has already been a year. Here are the five most important things my first year taught me

1. You aren’t going to get all A’s like you did in high school, but that’s okay
   

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   College is hard and it is meant to challenge you, so don’t beat yourself up when you get your first bad grade on an assignment or test. It is not the end of the world, you can always do better next time. If you are struggling, go into office hours. You would be surprised at how much your professors want to help you to succeed.

2. Don’t wait for friends to magically come to you, you have to make the effort to meet people
   

   Source: mememaker.net

   Everyone is in the same boat as you, you are all starting college not knowing anybody. Make the effort to reach out to people in your classes or someone you meet in the dorm. Eat your meals in the dining hall because you will meet so many more people if you do. Join clubs or other activities on campus, it really makes it easier to meet people and it is great to get involved in campus life.

3. It is okay to not be okay
   

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   If you are going through a hard time, whether it is homesickness, depression, anxiety, or even just extreme stress, you are not alone. Go visit your campus counseling center or talk to your RA about it. Sometimes just telling someone what is going on can really help. But know that feeling like this is very common for first-year students and there are probably a lot more people you know feeling the same way, so don’t be embarrassed to ask for help.

4. Step out of your comfort zone every once in a while, you will be surprised at how much you love it
   

   Source: findyourtriessence.com

   It is so easy to stay in your comfort zone for the rest of your life, but if you do, you may never know how much fun you could have if you stepped outside of it for a little bit. Try it at least once. Even if it is something as little as asking your friend in your class to get lunch, you never know what could happen if you push yourself to do something you normally wouldn’t.

5. College is what you make it
   

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   You are only going to be in college once, so make the most of it! College really does go by so fast, so soak up every moment and experience you have. It doesn’t matter if you go to a huge university or a small private university, all it depends on is how you make it. If you don’t make an effort to try and enjoy college, then you never will. You can make fun out of any situation and college should be fun!