Research Paper [Post #5]

Oh dearest research paper, why has your introduction evade me so?

It's already half past seven and I've yet to start my research paper. Maybe, if I just write, I can clear my mind and focus on the research paper then. Alright then, here goes:

Fingers twitching, itching, and writhing, wanting to write and yet, cannot. There's that damn tingly, crawling feeling again, sending shivers and chills down my spine. Like spiders. That's what it's like. Creepy, long legs skipping across the thin veil my skin is. Fidgeting, shifting from one foot to the other. Restless.

How on earth do you even start a research paper?

On another topic, I finally remembered to ask this question that has been plaguing me since the beginning of the term. Does anyone here actually look over their blog post and edit it before they post?

FSTI Chapter 27 [Post #4]

Persuasion and argumentative papers. I remember last year in AP English, we had something like that going on. PK and I worked on a topic involving nudity in art, which we both agreed that the topic was very interesting and different. It was a lot of fun, learning what people thought.

This paper seems more formal and I guess we can't really choose any topic at our discretion (based on our domain). Still, it looks as though the two are similar in their format. Beginning with the background, then moving onto the thesis, argument, rebuttal, and finally, the conclusion.

(I thought we were doing a trend paper, though. Wait, what's the difference?)

FSTI Chapter 34 [Post #3]

I liked that there was this one part that said you shouldn't overwhelm your audience with an overload of information. I tend to do that--I want to get everything done into my paper and so I write with my eyes on my notes and string each piece of evidence to the next. I guess it isn't the best idea.

So, like PK, I have hit many dead ends and have finally decided upon the trend of children and teens affected by ADHD. Actually, now that I think about it, I might change to the trend adults because we just don't see that as often.

When I said I was looking forward to this earlier, I meant it as though we could pick some random topic that sounded interesting. Although ADHD is interesting, it's definitely not something I'd choose to research in my spare time. Now, I just want to rush this paper.

Which brings me to another dilemma: the ethnography. Did I mention I wasn't going to go to PK's workplace anymore? I'm not sure I can dig up a good enough report... and PK thought we should work together. I agreed and now we're stuck.

Edit: Of course I go and read the wrong chapter.

FSTI Chapter 33 [Post #2]

This chapter was relatively short and concise. It began with telling us that we should organize our notes. Before taking this class, I'd never really thought much about the organization of notes. Sure, I took notes and rewrote them so each piece of evidence fit with the other. But I never really went out of my way to cut out large pieces and actually sorting them out.

We spoke a bit in class about organizing notes. This, I liked. The suggestion of copying and pasting evidence onto word documents with the source right by it was a neat idea that I immediately took to. I'll be trying that for this research paper.

I remember back in 10th, my English teacher spent a lot of time talking about how we should write in quotes. We'd spend the period writing and I remember her overhead--the one with the quote cookie sandwich. I think I remembered it clearly--clearer than other lessons--because she brought in Oreo cookies. Me and my stomach. The point is that she taught us how to stuff quotes in our papers and that's how I've always written it.

Alright, so the chapter continues to talk about the thesis, "developing a design", and finally the outline. Of course, I should hope that the class knows how important the thesis is. I don't really think there's much to say about it other than that, yes, it is important and our paper centers around it.

I think the design development is the hardest. It's like trying to begin your personal narrative again, only with a different topic. Still, with the outline, it might be easier than the personal narrative this way. The research paper has loads of evidence and we have a support: the outline while the personal narrative has nothing but our fading memories.

FSTI Chapter 32 [Post #1]

Chapter 31 starts with a comparison between the techniques the authors would be discussing and learning how to write for the very first time. It's a rather neat comparison. I can't remember writing for the first time but when I sit and sift through my old writing work books, I muse on the differences in hand writing. I remember my mother, wanting me to be perfect, had decided that making me practice my hand writing every night would help. (Now that I remember it, it makes sense... since Chinese was a lot harder to perfect and she was used to that, I guess...)

The chapter later goes on to talk about how to skim a book or text. This is unusual because when I skim, I let my eyes run over the words waiting for a key word to jump out at me. But their method is very different. I think I might try it.

I giggled when I saw the right way and wrong way to take notes. I hadn't known there was a right and wrong way. The clear cut differences the text lays out definitely shows and helped me see how I've been doing in comparison to that. I guess I had been taking notes the wrong way.

I've always heard that paraphrasing was a good thing, but there's a wrong way for that too?

I might try the practices later or some other time.

FSTI Chapter 31 [Post #7?]

There are too many topics out there that a person can research. FSTI says you should choose something that interests you but there are too many things that interest me. Still, the guidelines they have for choosing a topic could be helpful.

1. What do I want to know and why is it important?

2. What do I already know?

3. How do I find new information?

4. How do I evaluate what I find?

5. What have I learned?

Alright, so that's what we need to think of while working on the research paper.

The part about working in solitude is ironic because while reading that part, at that moment, my sister was studying her history with her music on full blast. (Of course I had to read it out loud to her.) While I understand a lot of people are like that, I'm not. I need an absolute silence to work on subjects, or to even think. Sometimes, I can manage to tune out the surroundings though.

The evaluation part reminds me of AP European History last year when we did our DBQs. In that, we wrote an essay based on a series of documents. There was this one part where we had to evaluate a document's credibility or biasness.

Hopefully this research project will turn out well. I'm actually a bit excited to learn about a specific topic of my choosing (which, again, reminds me of European History last year. Those historical investigations...).

FSTI Practice [Post #6]

From chapter 7, page 80, practice number 1.

1. Try some thumbnail sketches--one- or two-line descriptions of people you observe. Try to reveal something about character by focusing on physical details, speech, or actions.

She slouched into the couch, curled into the warmth of the blanket and fast asleep. The T.V. blared soundlessly across from her.

She leaned closer to the screen of her computer, eyes narrowing into focus. Minutes pass and she was still attentive.

His fingers dance across the metals, playing with each part and trying to piece them together. He sticks his tongue out in concentration, pushes up his glasses, and continues to work.

FSTI Practice [Post #5]

From chapter 2, page 23, exercise 1:

1. Revise each abstract "telling" that follows.

b. The party was awful.

Jake stumbled over his large feet as he made his way over to find some place he could hide. His head pounded, as if someone were ramming a hammer into his brain methodically. His heart thumped wildly; he was sure that someone would hear the constant allegro of his organ. He frowned to himself, trying to keep the room from spinning as the terrible tunes of old '80s rock blared from a set of broken stereos.

"Move it," he grumbled to a group of guests. He shoved them aside and ignore them as they cast disgusted looks at him.

c. She dresses funny.

At precisely 8'o clock on Monday mornings, Evelyn would walk into the cafe and ask for a cup of hot tea. She was a strange woman. She would enter with a style, a flourish that no one had. It was something of a dance, of a light tip toe as if she were afraid of the floor falling beneath her step. Her shoes would always be mismatched. Once she came in wearing a red heel and a green one on the other foot. Sometimes, it would go terribly wrong and she would come in hopping slightly because of the height difference. Other times, she would even mismatch her socks.

She sometimes wore a skirt--it would always be homemade, she proclaimed proudly. Sewn from dozens of different fabrics collected over the years. Other times, she wore a pair of brightly colored jeans or shorts. Despite the brightness, she managed to pull on a top that worked well with her style. Colorful beads, a top with a long neckline, dozens of bracelets--neither matching nor making sense--and she even wore a hat at times.

[Post #1, 2, 3, + 4]

I haven't posted in a while but here I go...

First off, personal narratives. Since it is due on Friday and today is Wednesday, I am nearly complete. Or, I could be. Before this class, my revisions consisted of merely reading over once or twice and correcting a few words, deleting some phrases, and checking the spelling and grammar. That was it. However, with this class, I learned many new techniques that have become extremely helpful and will continue to use. Never have I written and rewritten a paper so many times. I am on my fourth revision! And that's not including the first crappy draft. It's strange yet I feel a lot more comfortable with my essay as each revision passed.

Today's workshop was also helpful. I'm sure many of my classmates knew some of the things we talked about, but there was a lot of things that I hadn't noticed. Commas are so tricky and I had a lot of trouble with that and still do! The writing groups were also extremely helpful. At first though, we were still in a daze and unsure of what to do, so there wasn't a lot of modifications. However, with the second workshop, I got a lot down and fixed. I also realized that I did repeat a lot of words but when reading them aloud, it seemed even more prominent.

On the subject of papers, I have started ethnography just today. Since I've never done this, I was unsure and uneasy as to how to even begin. Mainly, I just walked around to get the feel for it and watched the employees of Chuck E. Cheese--PK's work place. There were not a lot of people there; it was only Wednesday.

Finally, research papers. The research, I think, is due next Wednesday, right? That leaves less than a week to find a topic (if not already done so) and finish the research. I am unsure about my topic at the moment. I kind of want to do one on how age affects the ability to learn new languages. But that may be tricky--I'll poke around some more and hopefully will find something that interests me.

Field Day! [Post #5]

Today's visit to the University of Minnesota TC Campus was exciting. Listening to Ms Shandy speak and rushing to take notes gave me a bit of insight on how college would be like. I thought, "Ah, I guess college classes are going to be like this" and rushed to finish my notes. She was an interesting speaker and I enjoyed the activities she had us do as well as her demonstration on how two people's interpretation of the same thing could be vastly different. I definitely liked the panel of students/instructors at the end. Hearing what students have done and what they have written definitely gave me a boost and got me eager to start.

PK and I discovered a pair of revolving doors. Guess what we did?

Overall, I definitely enjoyed this field day.

TCE + Ref [Post #4]

This chapter was extremely helpful. When faced with the prospect of an ethnography, I found myself at lost as where to start. This chapter focused on asking questions, when to ask those questions, what kind of questions, and how as well as there is the possibility that the culture you are studying has their own "secret language".

This is for my own reference, but if anyone finds this helpful, feel free to take a look at it or use it. There were too many of them to really remember them all.

Cultural categories: based on the supposition that knowledge is stored as a system of categories in the human brain

Folk terms: informant's language used when speaking about or with their microculture

>analytical terms: researcher's name for tacit terms used by people in microculture

>translation terms: words that members of a group may use when they talk about their group to outsiders

Descriptive questions: questions intended to elicit folk terms

How?

• Ask what they do and say, what things look like and what they are called.
• Put questions to context.
• Avoid asking "What is a...?".
• Don't ask why.

Types of descriptive questions:

1. Grand tour questions: most general; ie: "Could you take me on an imaginary tour of the office and point out everything I would see?"
2. Mini tour questions: questions that ask for more details concerning a folk term, etc; ie: "Could you describe how you...?"
3. Story questions: questions asking for actual events or places associated with microculture; ie: "When was the last time...?"
4. Native language questions: designed to check if certain words are actually folk terms; "Do you use '____' to describe this place to other people within your group?"

Field notes: written accounts of what transpired

TCE + Class [Post #2+3]

Chapter 3 of TCE was much longer than the previous chapters. There was a lot of good details and suggestions about finding a cultural informant and who that person should be as well as who it should not be. I thought the list of what makes a good informant was informative and also liked that the authors explained how many there should be.

Still, the consent form in the back of chapter 3 raised questions. Must we actually write out a form and have our cultural informant sign it?

Today's activities dealing with leads and sets was really helpful. Although I thought my leads were alright, after today, I realized that they could use a bit of work. The activity with designing the sets, however, were especially helpful. I never realized how important the set was and how detailed we had to try to make it! The whole idea of comparing it to building a set for the stage, for a play, gives a new perspective. It's not just an essay anymore. It's an art form.

FSTI [Post #1]

I understand that developing the characters is an important thing when writing but I never realized that a writer could show how a character is in as few as a sentence. Just the dialogue alone can tell the reader a lot about the character. For example, an American person might try to "recreate" a British accent by changing the spelling of certain words or using different words. "Wot is it?", maybe.

It's interesting and pretty awesome to know that you could create characters. I think that it would be amazing to bring to life fictional characters by just words because the writer is essentially giving their "children" traits of themselves. It's like the writer is the mother of the characters.

I was mildly confused on the emphasis in chapter 8 on light. I understand that light can reflect the mood of the scene or give the reader an image, but is it really that important? Still, I really liked the examples the two authors gave us to show what would be good and what would not be so good.

Chapter 9 was very illuminating. While I knew there were different ways to approach a personal narrative, I did not know how exactly to describe it or the most direct approach was. This text and the examples for each organization was very helpful. "Zooming in", "zooming out"... The examples, too, gave me a clearer idea of what the authors were trying to say.

Practice [Post #4]

Reveal the character of someone you don't know through his or her actions. Actions may be as small as gestures made by the hands or as large as decisions made in the face of a great crisis.

My sister sat at her desk. Her computer played music, foreign lyrics echoed from the loud speakers and filled the room as she bent over her desk, pencil in one hand and tediously scratched in her math answers. In another hand rested a calculator, solar-powered, and ready to do the math. Suddenly, she placed the calculator on the desk and reached up to scratch at an itch on her head--it might have been due to her winter hat. She wore her winter hat sometimes inside, especially if her hair was wet, to keep the wild strands tame. And then she was back to work again. This time, she curled her legs closer to her chest, in a fetal position almost, and looked up just as the song switched to another.

FSTI [Post #3]

Skimming through the first three chapters of FSTI, I noticed that the topics were of things we discussed in class: observing, language, perception, and voice. Often, we don't really notice the little details in our lives and that is what the first chapter points out. I could understand to "need" to look at things carefully because just a few days ago, I had only just noticed that one of my friend's eyes was lighter than I had first thought! And we had known each other for...quite a while.

It points out that we can miss the tiniest details and when writing, that little detail is very important.

We've heard a lot about "showing" versus "telling" in writing and here it is again--in chapter two! However, I especially loved the clear cut examples this book shows us. From the first step of merely telling to the final, detailed sections of showing the audience. I took a look at the exercises in the back of chapter two and would like to try it out sometime.

I remember we briefly discuss voice in class and I do agree. Although I believe that essays should show some voice, some character, it should remain focused on the larger task.

The final chapter, "Facing the Blank Page", is the one that interests me the most. I...write a lot and I enjoy writing, and therefore I often find myself glaring at the blank Word document with its cursor laughing hysterically at me. My methods usually included to just get away from writing. I would stop, completely, and go and do something else. I would wait for something and come back and write anything. It didn't matter what I would try to write, be it the work-in-process or a new piece. Other times, I would turn out a bit of music--however, I usually find that very distracting since I tend to listen and sing along to the lyrics (or try to, at least).

I like the list of the habits of writing. It seems interesting and I have attempted once to make writing a habit (guess how that turned out). Maybe I'll try it again...

Ethnography [Post #2]

Ethnography. My first encounter with this word was actually on another blogging site. I happened across it, and curious, skim the contents. The whole project was done through online messaging, through the internet. Fascinating. It was actually on an online fanbase, a small community of fans who gathered to discuss their common interest.

As I watched my friends flutter frantically about due to their English ethnography project about a year later, I became interested. A study of a subculture was something I hadn't thought of before. Pretty soon, they managed to rope me into helping them with their project.

Now, I find myself nervously tapping my feet and excited to work on this project. The only problem was on what. I have absolutely no idea what subculture or group (or culture for that matter) I would study--oh joy, the stress.

Still, reading TCE made me realize certain things that I never actually gave much thought to. For example, when I read that some people said that "green" and "blue" were the same color (as an example for tacit culture), I realized that my parents do that. To them, the words for "green" and "blue" are the same.

Continuing on, TCE began explaining Microcultures, which, before this day, I have never thought of. (Google Chrome does not recognize the word "Microcultures", random thought there.) A culture within a culture--makes sense, yes? Most people don't think of that though. They don't think that say, a basketball team is a culture. I agree, but that might be because most people don't know what culture is exactly.

Which brings us back to the first chapter and the explanation of cultures.

The First Day [Post #1]

I was absent yesterday, so I've only just begun reading the very first assignment for this class and although I've only reached page two, I felt the need to write something.

In the introduction to FSTI, we're comparing the graceful and beautiful Korean pottery with the Japanese. I thought this was an interesting way to begin. As I continued on, I thought, yeah, this does make sense: the process, rather than the product, is the key. This may perhaps be because there are times when I would find myself searching up tutorials or a video of an artist to explain the process of a piece. I'm rather used to this, however I've never really noticed or compared it to the process of writing. Sure, I might have known somewhere buried in my mind that authors/writers/poets have a hard time writing too, that they spend countless hours sitting behind an empty screen with that accursed cursor mocking them. But that thought was never really compared to writing an essay for an English class.

(Random thought: I noticed that in Exploring the Subject, when the author(s) used the business executive example, they used the pronoun "she" rather than "he or she". What does that say? This would also be the place where I would insert an emoticon.)

It's interesting that they say to really look deep into the subject matter one is writing about. And yeah, it does make sense, because most students--and maybe some teachers--don't really dive into their subject matter. This is almost like they're picking apart the process and trying to show how to write--ugh, I forgot my train of thoughts. Maybe I'll come back to this.

I like how they compared writing to a stage performance with the process being the practicing of lines and such, and then the finished product being the final performance or act. It gives a new perspective on how and why you write. Or at least, for me.

I hate to say it but I think I really disagree with the assertion that poetry is not spontaneous because I completely agree with Wordsworth. To me, poetry is exactly that and it's not right if it's organized. That's what prose, or an original story is for. That is much more organized and formatted so that the reader has a much easier time enjoying the story rather than looking at how the words are organized.

Editing: That's what thesauruses are for. (Insert another emoticon here. Can I at least put a smiley?)

"The writing process is the beginning of movement from sight to insight." Why does that sound like there's going to be a revolution or something?

(I also would like to apologize for the over using the commas. I tend to vomit commas.)