Post on 19-Dec-2015
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Dear Reader,
I’m not going to lie and start off my letter with the ever so cliché ‘can’t believe
this chapter of my life has come to an end, it’s so bittersweet’… instead I’m going to
lay out this semester for what it truly was, which was a journey through hell. But
hey, I made it out alive. I didn’t necessarily walk into UWRT with my mind set on
how I believed the class would be, but like all students that have checked out ‘rate
my professor’ I had a general idea. Now please don’t confuse my original statement
of this class being a journey through hell with me not liking it, because I honestly
loved my UWRT class. I don’t think I’ve ever been a class with such open minded
amazing peers that I’ve gotten along with so well, or more importantly that have
shaped my style of writing so much. I looked forward to 2pm every single Tuesday
and Thursday, even when it was days we had assignments due. I say that the class
was a journey through hell because of the extent to which I struggled with some of
my assignments, but I like to think that each and every one allowed me to grow in
one form or another as a writer. Speaking of assignments, I’d like to share with you
my thoughts on all of them individually, starting with my literacy narrative.
The most fun I’ve ever had doing any type of schoolwork would undeniably
be when I sat with my mother and discussed the topic for my literacy narrative.
Since we had to choose a narrative based on our own personal experience of
learning a new form of language I immediately thought of the long debated northern
versus southern dialect debate. Since I moved to North Carolina around middle
school I spent the first half of my life around an extremely Northern, extremely
‘proper’ form of English and nothing could have possibly prepared me for the
craziness that is southern slang. Finding the perfect story though to portray my
newly found southern speech was a bit difficult, which is why a conversation with
my mother was essential. I tried to reflect some of the humor that my mother and I
shared while talking into the writing of my paper. As you read my literacy narrative
I want you to pay particular attention to the places in my narrative that make you
laugh, because this laughter springs from the humor which I felt like was the most
important element of the entire paper. I thought that my literacy narrative was
some of my best work from the entire semester because I put a lot of work into
making sure I had all of the elements from the prompt such as a strong opening
scene, conflict (tension), and dialog. I also found I was much better at writing a
narrative than I was at all of the other papers I wrote in UWRT.
My topic proposal was an interesting write for me. Since I had to be difficult
and chose long term abduction and long term effects for my topic proposal
(probably one of the most unique topics anyone in Malcolm’s class has ever chosen)
I wasn’t even sure I would be able to compile enough information to even complete
my topic proposal, and I wasn’t the only one. I talked with multiple classmates and
asked their opinions and they all feared I would struggle with the topic. Fortunately
you’d be amazed how much someone who is passionate about a topic can find out
about it on the Internet. This paper was one of the most important pieces of work in
the class because it was the foundation for every other paper I wrote that had to do
with my extended inquiry project. For example in my topic proposal I had to layout
what inquiry questions I would base my research on and I had to layout all of my
following steps for how I would gather the information necessary for my paper. The
one way I struggled with the topic proposal is that I didn’t find enough background
information on the dynamics of Stockholm syndrome, which would have been
beneficial to anyone reading my paper.
The hardest paper for me to complete was my annotated bibliography. The
term ‘struggle’ doesn’t do it justice. I made so many errors with my sources. The
fault, unfortunately, was definitely my own. If I had taken advantage of all of the
sources that had a step by step of how to cite sources, or even the ones that showed
common errors of citing sources, then who knows, I might have been successful in
completing my annotated bibliography. I do like to think I had a lot of growth as a
writer however after I completed this. I remember struggling with sources back
when I was in high school and completing my senior project, and as bad as I was
then my teacher never made an effort to point out my horrible work or an attempt
to help me fix my mistakes. My one strength in my annotated bibliography would
have to be my selection of my four sources and their summary and how I planned on
using them. I also benefited the most from my professor’s notes because these
allowed me to fix my sources, and I perfected three out of the four of them once I
cited them at the end of my EIP first draft.
We wrapped up the UWRT 1103 course with the completion of our final
paper, our Extended Inquiry Project. My EIP first draft wasn’t terribly difficult to
complete, but it was definitely a process and I had to put a lot of time into it. I think
for me personally the most difficult of the EIP draft was actually starting it. It took
me so long to think of an attention-‐grabbing intro that would still introduce facts
and help the reader to immediately recognize what my paper was on. I also had a
difficult time coming up with a title, of all things. Some of the others that I had
brainstormed were 1) Long term Abduction and its Long Term Effects, 2) Ensnared
and Mentally Impaired, 3) Abduction: Oppression of the Body and Mind, and finally
4) Shut In and Locked Out. I chose the fourth one but added Exploring the Mind of a
Kidnap Victim to it. I really felt my title was a good representation of my EIP because
a long term kidnap victim is essentially ‘shut in’ by being locked into a house or
other place where their abductor is holding them, but at the same time they become
‘locked out’ of their own brain due to all of the mental abuse they suffer. My other
weaknesses while writing my EIP were having sources to match up with all of my
paragraphs and I still struggled a bit with my works cited.
Completing my final copy of my Extended Inquiry Project was out of every
single assignment in UWRT the most difficult for me. I had trouble with it because of
the fact that I had already put so much information into the first draft of my paper
that I wasn’t sure how I was going to expand it three additional pages. My growth
from the first draft of my EIP to the completed document is definitely in the shape of
cited sources and my use of sources. After three attempts I’m proud to say that I’ve
finally figured out this whole ‘citing sources’ thing (or so I hope). I can’t speak much
on the extent of the growth from the first draft to the completed copy due to the fact
that I haven’t received any comments or grade from my professor on it, but I’m
keeping my fingers crossed that I showed improvement.
Aside from our papers we completed in UWRT, my class also kept a daybook
and a blog. My daybook was not only a fun way for me to reflect on the other work I
was doing in class, but it was also an excellent tool in allowing me to see what were
my strengths and my weaknesses when it came to my writing. But when it comes to
the work that I am the most proud of it would beyond a doubt be my blog. Keeping a
blog has always been an aspiration of mine but just like the hundred of journals and
diaries I’ve started throughout my life, it just never stuck. I guess it was the fact that
I was actually assigned my blog entry and had to complete it for a grade, but I didn’t
falter in posting not once. And after a while I guess I began to discover that I’m
actually pretty good at blogging. I loved the idea of having a topic from a video or a
paper to reflect on and that I could just be honest and open with my opinions about
it. A couple weeks into the semester I even began my own personal blog and I have
high hopes of continuing it throughout all of college, and who knows, it might
become a long time hobby of mine.
It’s hard to comprehend just how much I’ve learned in just one semester. I
feel like I absorbed each and every little piece of knowledge possible while sitting in
in my UWRT 1103 class. And it is because of this that I want to thank Malcolm
Campbell for being one of the best teacher’s I’ve ever had the pleasure of having.
Upon the completion of UWRT I felt like I would actually consider myself a writer
now (to an extent). The main things that I’m going to take with me while moving
forward are the following;
-‐ When writing a narrative use lots of dialogue and tension
-‐ Keeping a daybook makes you a better writer
-‐ If you can’t find the sources for a subject, it’s probably not a strong topic
-‐ ALWAYS triple check your cited sources (seriously, always)
-‐ And most importantly, write how you want to, not how you think your
reader will want to read it
Remember, no one said writing was easy, but in the end it’s so worth it. And there’s
always something beautiful at the end of that hellish tunnel.
Sincerely,
Mia Pippin