I believe this is one of the few times that I have actually enjoyed a class “unit”, so to speak. In all seriousness, out all the assignments I have been given at this university, this is probably one of the few that I would select to do again in the future. Right off the bat, I can say with certainty that I truly loved the creativity involved with this blog unit and Unit 1.
To be quite honest, writing for research is not my favorite thing; if I had the choice, I would be interpreting and analyzing some famous novel like Catcher in the Rye or something. This preference makes complete sense though, since that was pretty much how I was evaluated and graded by all my previous teachers at all my previous schools. Even with admitting that research writing is not my favorite hobby in my free time, I have come to truly appreciate it. My first year as a college student is coming to a culmination, so not only am I reflecting solely on my experiences in this unit and English 105, but through both semesters. I have come to the conclusion that life is simply what you make it, and we all have the choice to take advantage of the resources and people around us. I believe this blog has provided me valuable insight and experience that I can refer back to in the future.
Research is undoubtedly something that every single student in our class will ultimately be involved in a some point. If any of us tried to write research papers like the way we write for analytical or argumentative essays, however, things probably wouldn’t go well for us. The actual aspect of the blog that made me most aware, or even self-concious of my writing, was the fact that people other than my instructor would be looking at it! No longer is our sacred writing reserved for only our professor. But when involved in research, I understand the significance of being able to present important findings and information to your peers. I am under the impression that once you put yourself out in the “research world”, you are open to receive all sorts of criticism if your work is not satisfactory. One interesting thing I noticed while researching my topic was that I found myself becoming more and more engaged with my topic. I wasn’t just mindlessly looking for new information or sources; I felt a connection. I felt an obligation to discover new information and even enlighten my peers with a topic they probably knew nothing about.
For me, it is a bit easier for me to reflect on my personal growth once I take writing into consideration. I was never really much of a math guy; numbers never lie, but words can, and that’s why it’s more interesting to me. When preparing my short and long posts, I felt this strange, consistent voice that always told me, “Hey, someone in your class is going to read this today. Don’t make a fool out of yourself”. This remarkable concept of blogging arguably motivated me to really put effort into what I was writing; not only that, but also writing for friends and for peers. My professor was not going to be the only person reviewing my work. This itself was different, and very challenging. Many times I felt like I would be judged if I said something one way or said something this way; unfortunately, anyone who publishes any of their writing, research or not, must face this challenge. Writing is such an important tool for communication in the world, and knowing different ways to write for different audiences is truly invaluable. This unit has helped me handle my discomfort of writing for the public eye, but it is an experience that I believe will serve me well in the future.
I believe this blog helped me develop a more inquisitive attitude towards my subject matter, but also forced me to contextualize and argue it’s relevance in the modern world. It’s a relatively easy task to produce facts and information about something; difficulty lies within the effort to stress it’s importance. I found myself not as concerned about “what” I was writing, but more about “why” I was writing. I felt, in a sense, I had a purpose to write. I felt that trying to stress the “importance” of something is more or less like trying to define what the word “important” means; how can you truly categorize something as “important”? Before I start to ramble and really go off on a tangent, I guess I can simply say I felt like my critical thinking skills were attacked and challenged(in a good way), but ultimately adapted in the end. The whole process of assigning meaning to our topic was something I really identified with; as a hopeful psychologist, I believe we can assign meaning to everything that happens to us in life everyday. Being able to experience that process through writing was really exciting.
In short, this is where I believe the unit came “full circle”, where all of these aspects and things I touched on above come back together. Research is not the most exciting thing in the world, but writing helps spice it up; however, writing must be complemented with the ability to critically think about the subject.
The Antebellum Times 