Profiling a person's life is a brave task for anyone to do. Just think, if someone were writing a profile on you, wouldn't you want the profile to make your life sound exciting and almost envious? But with little time to really get to know someone, how does a journalist get enough information to make a truly unique and eye-catching profile?

I assume the answer lies in the questions asked. To be honest, I have only ever written one profile before...and it wasn't good. I just needed a grade! But part of the reason why I did not write a good profile was because I did not ask the right questions. I did not prepare ahead of time. I did not have a goal in mind when I began the interview. Having a purpose in mind before going into an interview can help shape and guide your questions.

Why is it so important to have questions and a goal? Because a person's life is invaluable. Everyone has a story to tell that inadvertently affect us. It almost seems that profiles in themselves actually tell a lot about life. Journalists don’t often have much time to interview and write the profiles. A lot has to be learned in a short amount of time, or else it may be lost to the journalist. There’s a lot to be learned from the stories of people, but not a lot of time to learn them. And most people love to share their stories, so why not honor them by writing a well-written profile.

I'm Bringing SexyBack

And by "sexy", I mean "my blog posts". Yes, I have been absent for a while, but I have returned, stronger and more motivated than ever! (or... possibly not - but I can hope, right?)

This week we've been discussing the cultural criticism/journalistic profile assignment that is due after reading break. I'm going to be focusing on the cultural criticism, as that is the assignment that I'm doing and it's the one we spent the most time focusing on in class (due to lack of time, yes, but my point still stands). The main point of these critiques is to analyze certain aspects of our culture by introducing various theories and the evidence to support them. These criticisms need to form a dialogue between the writer and the theories of others and they need to make a point about our culture. There needs to be something to write about. Once you've got these basics down, you can focus on the structure of the critique.

Just like in any other type of paper, it is important to have an introduction and a conclusion. You're going to hook the reader, introduce your topic, and state a thesis in the intro and you'll re-state your thesis and wrap things up in the conclusion. The real meat of the paper comes in the form of the Literature Review and Analysis sections. You can't assume that everyone has experienced the literature that you have, so the Lit. Review serves to fill in the blanks for those who may not be as familiar with the subject material as you (assuming you are the writer). Once you've introduced everything and the readers are all on the same page, you jump into the Analysis portion, which is really what the paper comes down to. You'll live or die based on the strength of your argument, so you're going to want to look at what others are saying and find proof to back up whatever it is that you choose to believe. Once you've got a good argument and some good evidence, you're gold.

So there you have it - That's what a cultural critique is, and that's how you write them. In a nutshell. I'm going to bed.

Grammar Is Kool

I really like learning about grammar. The only reason why I enjoy it is because I know its beneficial to my writing. I usually don't pay attention to it so I am glad that this book, "Woe Is I" is actually an enjoyable read. Even a simple rule like learning what "they're" stands for is helpful. I realize that I probably learnt these things in grade school- but I have to admit I have forgotten a lot of these rules. When I am writing I tend to think what I always do, or how I always spell this word must be right because, I have simply done it this way for so long. Basically, information like "they're"- stands for "they are" is intriguing to me. When I know the reason and rules behind using the grammar that I do its helpful because then I can logically figure out what is correct and what is faulty language. 

Another cool trick that I have come across while reading this book is a rule with the 's. Of course I did my presentation on it, so I could say a lot. However, one trick I now use is, whenever I write it's- I have to make sure I can say it is in the sentence. If I can not then its wrong- or it is wrong.  I think there is a lot more I can learn from this book but, its just funny that we are still learning grammar in College. I would think I would be a pro at it now- but I am not. 

Cultural criticism?

It is my first time learning how to write a cultural critique. To be honest I’m still not quite sure about the differences between cultural critiques, research paper and personal essay. They do sure some writing element /patterns right? Does that mean the only difference between the three is the engagement of our culture? Because as far as I noticed cultural critiques have a lot of similarities with personal essay and research paper, such as finding evidence to support our ideas, or provide different points of view and discuss why we think they are wrong.

I will just write down some points that I learned from class and see maybe some of you can help me figure this out-what is a cultural critique anyways?

-Don’t just talk about ideas or concepts. Critique is not just a review. Explain how does it relate to/affect our culture?
-Don’t just retell other people’s points of views. Provide ideas and explain why it is important.

And I’m having trouble to think of a topic…I’m sure there’re lots of things we could write about our culture and mess media. But getting A topic is hard (at least for me). Any suggestion?

Cultural Critique....................

This week we looked at cultural critiques. I am not very familiar with cultural critiques before this class, so I found this week really interesting. A cultural critique is a look at culture using research to evaluate the way a culture acts either negatively or positively. The idea is to look at an aspect of a culture, whether it be a movie, a book, a TV series etc.. You then analyze the culture by looking at other literature on the subject.

A cultural criticism paper’s structure is comprised of four parts. The introduction in a cultural critique serves the purpose of letting the audience know what type of paper this and what it is that you will be discussing. Secondly, the cultural criticism has a literature review. In this you introduce the reader to what has been said about the topic before. You can either disagree, agree, or agree with some modifications with the sources.

Thirdly, there is the analysis section. In this section you take the topic and analysis in light of your sources and in light of the culture as a whole. Finally, there is the conclusion. Besides summarizing your argument, it is important to tell your audience why you think this topic is worth reading about. A cultural critique should not just be theory for theory’s sake, but be relevant to your audience.

woot!

I find that when I am writing a paper, I think that the focusing on the main point is the most important. We are writing the paper to prove a purpose. You need to have a solid foundation to expand upon. I find it hard to focus on a certain idea, so really when writing a paper. I usually do not fully know what I am writing about, until I am finished.

      Murray mentions the importance of being a careful reader, not to take over someone elses ideas. I think that this is very important, especially when critiquing other people's work. We need to have open minds and helpful advice, but we need to be cautious when suggesting ideas, because we don't want to take over someone's work.

Something Murray really focuses on is making sure that as writers we focus getting the main idea down, rather than focusing on grammar. I find that I have no problem with this. I often worry myself about grammatical errors in the beginning. Although this may not be a problem noe, I find that I have so much work when I do grammatical checks at the end.

Grammar...........

I'm not sure what is up with this. I posted yesterday, but today I can't find it so I'm posting again. Sorry if it ends up being a duplication.

A grammar rule that befuddles rather than clarifies is not a rule at all. This is what Patricia O’Connor states in the preface to her book Woe is I. Grammar has never been my strength. The grammar rules all seem so much like useless details. Does it really matter where the comma goes? After all, what is really important are the ideas that I am trying to present rather then if I got all my t’s crossed and i’s dotted.

Grammar, however, is important. Ideas alone are rather worthless unless you can find a way to communicate them. This involves speaking or writing and both of those require grammar. Ignoring grammar will cause people to be unsure of what you are saying and therefore unsure of your idea. Many ideas have failed to be recognized beneath the words used to communicate the idea.

However, I still struggle with grammar. The rules do not tend to appear logical or important to me. Woe is I has helped with this. Rather then just stating the rule and expecting me to follow it, Woe is I works through why this rule is important and how to remember the rule. I find this quite helpful and hope to improve on my grammar in the future.

Editing takes time.

The statement Murray makes about looking at the big picture when editing I feel helped me when it came to writing my personal essay. I typically don't edit my papers, especially when I write them late at night or when I do I only check for spelling and grammar mistakes. I now have begun to focus more on the stylistic aspects of my papers because it isn't hard to change a few small things to make a big difference. One of the hardest problems I do have when editing though is once I change one thing, the whole essay may need to be reworked which can take forever. What seems like a simple task of adding or deleting a few words soon turns into writing a whole new paper but I guess that is the sacrifice for good grades. One tip I learned last semester in the infamous Writing 100 was when in the editing process is to make sure that all sentences and most importantly, all topic sentences in the essay relate back and make sense with the thesis statement. This too I feel helps substantially in my writing.

Note Edit

I thought Murray had a lot of good things to say when it came to editing papers. Personally I find this to be one of the hardest things to when writing a paper. I liked what Murray said about no just doing the nitpicky details of grammar in editing but rather going to the big picture first. I find it much more helpful to start out with the big picture and then move to the smaller more picky details. This helps me as a writer to not get so caught up in Grammar, instead I can look at the big picture and make changes structurally that will make the paper much better.

I also enjoyed the section on note taking. Having done research paper I can probably say I have made most of the mistakes Dr. Schut mentioned. For me I find the most helpful way to do research is to make a word document, and keep my thoughts and page numbers in the file as I read the book. I especially find this helpful if I want to take down interesting quotes. Overall its effective for me because it cannot get lost. I also like the idea of using sticky books to mark the important places in the book. However, I would still prefer

The draft

Murray writes that, "writing is thinking"(172). This makes sense, you have ideas and you respond by allocating them from your mind onto your page. What makes me stumble a bit is what exactly you should do once you put your ideas down. Or more specifically, how do you compose a draft you can actually write on? I understand you need all the necessary components such as, the introduction, thesis statement, point 1,2,&3, and conclusion. Great- you write these down in an orderly fashion that suites your writing style. Now what do you do?

I agree with Murray, when I am composing my "discovery draft"... "I want to know what I am going to say and how I am going to say it[,]I want neatness, order, correctness" (172). This part of the writing process is most frustrating to me because, its such a huge task. Everything on that one page is what you are going to expand on for the next 8-10 pages. So what if your outline is a drag? You need to re-draft. Ugh, I find this part so hard because, I don't know everything I am going to say for my entire paper. I guess I am stuck on the question, what do you do when your outline stinks? I don't like to re-draft because, I think its too long and painful to come up with better ideas. 

Good readers

In Murray’s Writers Help Writers chapter reminds me the experiences in writing center. A place that could bring both joy and disaster depend on the situation and the reader you work with. For sure there are times when readers point out something I didn’t think of and makes me see the paper in different; or times their positive comments about my paper gives me the confident about my ability of writing. Those times are wonderful. But there are also times when the readers try to make my paper into theirs without asking me what I was trying to say and that really frustrate and confuse me a lot. I felt that I was suppose getting help to express my ideas more fluently but it ended up just having a grammar checking section and sometimes even left with confusion.

I agree with Murray about reader should not take over others’ draft, and revision isn’t just the matter of spelling and grammar checking. A good test reader should help us to develop our strengths of the draft and make us “eager to write” (200-201).It didn’t happen a lot of times in writing center, but it does happen sometimes. And I think the best way to avoid this problem is giving my main idea at the beginning so they will have a basic idea about what I want to say on the paper.

Outlining

Wow, I have never know that there are eleven different kinds of outlines I can use before reading chapter nine. The ontlines are really useful for my writing becuase I will have more choice to choose the best way of my writing. Also, more kinds of outlins help me to expand my thought. When I was studing in ESLI, the professors only taught me one kind outline which is demonstration of outline 3. In fact, that kind outline helps me a lot when I was a beginner of learning english. However, when you use one kind of outline,which will make you feel boreded.
On the other hand,I just have no idea what I am writing about when I am writing papers sometimes. Outlines helps me recall my ideas, and it helps my writing logic. However, I totally have no idea about that how can I use a different outlines to write the same logic article?

I was thinking about that taking notes was not necessary for me to get a high grade. Taking notes only can hlep me solidify the knowledge on the class. It was not helping my exames. However, afrer class review is very important for student to memmize what professor said on the class. When I know how to use notes, I start to enjoy studing.

baby sparrow, learn to fly...

What I got from chapter 9 in Murray’s book was that there are many ways to do outlines. The first few examples of outlines started off pretty normal; however, as the chapter progressed, the outlines got stupider. I will never use some of the outlines that he suggested. But I will use outlines. I do use outlines. Mine are usually closer to a formal outline in structure. I like to keep things neat and arranged in some logical order.
So on to Badke. I do take notes... sort of and sometimes. Every source I use gets its own page on Word and away I go, taking notes. Each source is cited at the top of the page as well. Sometimes I will switch back and forth between paper and computer screen. And that’s usually as far as I go with note taking. I have photocopied a few things before. I made sure I took down all the information that I would need for the bibliography and wrote it on the copy. I only do this occasionally though. In the end, the readings this week made me think about how I outline and note take.

The first big research project I did was probably in grade 4 on owls. We had to use Powerpoint to present and we had to have notes. I took notes the same way in grade 7 and a much more advanced version of the same method in highschool. Badke called my method summarizing and I tend to think he's right. This is the simplest form and it has always worked for me in the past. I would usually read a paragraph, write out the main point in bullet form (and a sentence fragment so I'd be forced to rewrite it entirely in my own words later to avoid plagourism), and note any useful statistics that were included.

I am way to familier with this method by now to switch to something new. I should give some other methods a try to see if they can replace the simple summarizing (except photocopier obviously, way too much money).

Note Taking

In Research Strategies chapter 8, Badke gives some extremely helpful advice on note taking. Note taking is something I have never done well and often avoided, up until this past year. Recently I realized the value of taking notes so that when I read material I stay focused and can take away the main and important points. Since I have started to become a better note taker, I have quickly seen that I have improved on reading material and remembering it.

Badke lists and explains several approaches to note taking. The first one is the photo copier. This meathod is definitely not for me, I think it is too much work for what its worth. The notebook computer whiz is a very interesting take on note taking. He explains how you can use one of those electronic pens to take notes and to copy lines straight our of your material. I have never tried this but it sounds like a great idea that could work for me. He then goes through the most common note taking types, the quoter, summarizer, and the paraphraser. I am definitely a summarizer because I read a page of material and I right down the main point in my own words usually summarizing much of what is going on in the chapter.

This section of the chapter helped me a lot because it forced me to consider which type of note taker I am and evaluate if it is working for me. If you are not a good note taker, I suggest that you figure out how to become one because I learned that it is very important to do so.

#4

I totally just have to go for it when I write! I find that if I just go for it I am able to get my idea out on the page. I fins that once I just get everything out on the page I am then able to go back and correct and critique my ideas.

It was interesting to read about Murray's thoughts about the need to stray off the path. If we consistently stay on the straight path we will just be writing things that your teacher already knows. In once sense I agree. I think that id we are so particular about every little thing we write, we offer no flavor to our writing. This then gets boring and can be unbenificial. I think that flavorful writing comes form those who take chances to go off the "straight path" and offer a different flavor to a certain paper.

In chapter 15 Murray shares some ideas that enable you to get your writing process going. He suggest that you focus on Conflict, Tension, Mystery, surprise, information, worry, joy, connection, personal territories, point of view, voice, new, and significance. 

He states that a focus line is a response to life.

I think that if you have a focus in writing, it helps you get your odes and thoughts focused on a certain idea. He gives some tips so that you can find a focus. Murray suggests that you begin by ending, or controlling an image, or anticipating the reader's need.

Overall I found that these chapters have been helpful in getting outside the box, creating the right outline and finding a focus.

EYE

Murray here again talks about how our ideas would come as we write. “When I start writing, the pictures I did not know my brain had taken in come to mind” (Murray 133). I think in some degrees what he says is true. For me the best way to brainstorm is to write. Writing any random thoughts about the topic and a lot of time it takes pages to get ideas that would later put on my paper. Although it takes a lot of time on brainstorm stage, this step gets me a fuller engagement on my writing and a sometimes I do find ideas I would probably never thought of if I didn’t have my free writing.

His idea about the writer’s eye is interestingly similar to what I learned from my theater class. The actor’s eye. As actors we try to find relationships, scenes before and scene after in order to have fully engagement with the scene and the character. And the same concept for writers, being aware of specifics, patterns, and past and future will make its writing alive. Following that I think not only readers will enjoy the writing, writer will as well enjoy the process of exploration.

Relevant Research

Murray says in chapter thirteen that the researcher must have the courage take his eye off the ball when writing a paper. Murray then tries to reconcile the fact that a researcher must have the courage to take his eye off the ball with the fact that in order to be an effective researcher you need to be organized and focused. Murray makes the point that if we always keep our eye on the ball our research becomes boring and irrelevant. We do not want to write papers that are unoriginal with nothing to add to the subject we are writing on. However, I would argue that we do not need to take our eye off the ball in order to make good research. Rather I would argue we need to look at the ball from different perspectives. We need to use our curiosity to look at all angles of the issue thereby making our research relevant.

I really liked the point that Murray and Dr. Schut’s point made about using counter voices in research. This makes writing a lot more interesting and easy to do. I like the idea of a research paper being a conversation with the reader and the other experts in the field. This in my opinion will lead to a much more engaging and thought provoking papers.

Sources.............

I have a source. What now? This is the question that I have long struggled with. One of the main reasons my papers tend to be low on sources is because who has time to read so much? Badke addresses this issue in chapter 8 of Research Strategies. He begins by saying to deal with all resources as quickly as possible. This seemed rather counter intuitive at first. Should I not contemplate and search for deep meanings in my sources? Yet, I believe Badke is suggesting that you do not take time to contemplate the information that is not relevant to your topic. “Be efficient and discerning” he urges.

Badke then continues to baffle me completely. He suggests I read the “title page, preface, forward, and introduction.” In other words, he recommends reading all the parts of the book that I normally view as extraneous. I have always been told the introduction is the most important part of the book, but my argument has been that the introduction is also the most boring part of the book. However, what I believe Badke is doing here is trying to give me tips on how to research well, not to be entertained. The introductions, I am told, contain a basic overview of what the book is about. This is helpful when you are trying to gain only what you want from the book and you are trying to do so in a timely manner. That is very useful when you have only a week to write numerous research papers and you are not very good at writing in to the early hours of the morning.

Putting the pieces together!

Reading through Murray this week was short, to the point, and enjoyable. I found chapter 9 very useful because, he gave 11 examples of different ways to outline. As I read through them I found two that I particularly liked. The first one was outline #4, making lists of Beginning, Middle, End, and Brain Storming List. I think I like this structure, because I am a list person. The second one I thought useful was outline #10. In English, my Professor is teaching this kind of technique. So far all I know is that you write on 3 by 5 cards all your ideas in an orderly fashion and then you can physically move your ideas around by moving the cards. I think that making a habit of incorporating either one of these structures or putting a bit of both of them together will really help me understand the structuring process of a paper. Right now I just put random ideas on a page, which are (really) good, but they don't have any where to go once I have written them. My ideas seem to get lost in a big picture that I haven't defined yet, and can't, because there is no definite focus. 

This brings me to the next piece of advice that I thought very well communicated from Murray: The Focusing Line. "... It is the product of all the observation and thinking that comes before the writing: listening, brainstorming, mapping, freewriting" (143). I now understand necessary details that have to be figured out before you start writing. So far I see that you need creativity and structure. After you have enjoyed your creative train of thought you then come to the focusing line. I like this idea very much. It is not your thesis statement, but it is a way of organizing all your creative ideas before you delve into tackling the thesis statement. Basically the focusing line focuses you. Now that is sweet and simple!

POST #4

Three things I would like to talk about after reading Badke's chapter 5 & 6. They are keywords searching, hidden Internet and information evaluating. 

First of all, I was highly impressed by Badke's words in class. He sated that search engine was not able to know your mind. They just show you the texts that include the words you typed in the search box. His words waked me up. I used to have weakness on determining search words. I used to chose very obvious terms, like the subject or object of my topic or thesis. And I know this is not an efficient way. So, in order to avoid the wide and vague search results. I prefer to use advanced search. However, through reading 5.1.1 Making the Catalog Work for You, I learned I should critically think about my research question, then use some terms that are very related to my topic, instead of the topic itself.  Also, I should think about some terms that can reflect my topic as well. I am practicing the new idea of keywords searching in my assignments now. It is not easy, but I think I will get it with Professor's help.

Secondly, I found a new thing in chapter 6, hidden Internet. I am very interested in this section. I've never noticed those "hidden Internet". In other words, I might once searched them, but I gave up because they require username and password, or some sort of payment. It might be not necessarily to look at those hidden Internet, but I think it's good to know them.

Lastly, I think I have a controversy with the standard of evaluating information. I mainly agree that it is very important to evaluate the authors' credibility, education background, the organization's credibility and so on. When I was taking ENGL 101, I've learned this from Professor Melinda. Now the same idea got addressed by Professor William. I can see this is really a serious part in research. However, I personally think not only scholars or high educated people have great and correct perspectives. Sometimes, an fantastic idea or a new practical theory comes from a normal person. And I am very enjoyed to see other people's perspective on some particular issue or topic. They always inspire me a lot and make my thoughts rich. 

How to Use Search Engines

I had always thought about that using search engines is the easiest thing in the world. You just put the key words in the Google, choose your favorite information and then click the mouse. However, I have learned lots of searching skill from these two chapters. Such as use library catalog. The skill helps me find books in the library. As you know we cannot read books on the internet, libraries still an important source of our researches. Therefore, a good library catalog user will find more information than a guy who doesn’t know how to use it.

In Badke's book, he shows lots of interesting web pages, like http://books.google.com. I think that web site is really awesome!! We can read books online and it is free!! Although we cannot read the whole book, it still helps us to get the theme of the book easily. When we use this web site, searching information will become lots of easier. We should not go to library find books but maybe the books are useless for our writing. However, we can search the main point about the book and then go to library or book story to get our books.