Research Reflection Annotation

The topic of my research paper was humanity in regards to prejudice and injustice. The purpose was to get the readers to think of others as humans just like themselves, with the same rights, emotions, and pains. There have only been two different drafts of the paper; one that I turned in for peer review and one that I turned into the professor. I took my paper to the writing center before handing it into my professor and I intend to do this again before turning in the final portfolio. I took the notes given by my peer and the person in the writing center into consideration when revising my paper for the second draft. What I learned while researching my topic, along with the steps I used to produce my paper, will help me write more research papers in other classes in the future.

Abstract/Annotated Bibliography Reflection Annotation

The image I chose to explore was a picture of a hand with the word “love” written on it in different languages. From this picture I decided to research the topic of humanity in terms of prejudice and injustice. I chose to present this topic through historic examples, from different countries, of prejudice or injustice against humanity. I found these examples from databases and online sources. While researching my topic I read about a lot of interesting things that I didn’t use in my paper but were still fascinating to learn about. These examples on top of the ones I used in my paper are knowledge that I will keep with me and hopefully be able to apply later on in a different class.

Overall Reflection Annotation

In the second half of this class we learned more about the different aspects of the writing process and we focused mostly on a different style of writing, researching. On top of our weekly readings we also explored the messages behind images, how to research, and various ways to outline, draft, and write thesis statements.

One thing I learned from the Richard Miller video was that it is possible to research scholarly sources without entering a library. This is made possible by technology and the transformation of communication. I incorporate this idea in my life because when I write a paper I always type it on the computer and then revise it, I never physically write it out on a piece of paper. When we researched images on the internet, we had to extract a meaning from the picture; sometimes the image is making a statement, sometimes it’s telling a story. When I look at a piece of art I always try to discover a meaning within the image. While learning about researching, I was introduced to the world of databases. I learned how to use them and what kind of information I could find within them. Having found out how to utilize databases, I spent a lot of time with them exploring and searching for information for my paper. We were introduced to many various ways to outline, draft, and write thesis statements. Each method applied to different styles of learning so that everyone could find a method that worked for them. While writing my research paper I used some of the techniques introduced to us.

In the future when I write I’m definitely going to incorporate the use of databases and the different methods for outlining, drafting, and writing thesis sentences. These items have helped me the most when it comes to becoming a better and more organized writer.

Drafting Plan

Saturday: spend an hour going through the sources I have and extract information from them.
Sunday: spend an hour going through the sources I have and extract information from them.
Monday: spend an hour to write using the information I have.
Tuesday: spend an hour to write using the information I have.
Wednesday: spend an hour writing and looking for new information if necessary.
Thursday: spend as much time as I need to finish the draft. Take the paper to the writing center.
Friday: turn in draft to a student.
Saturday: spend an hour revising
Sunday: spend an hour revising
Monday: spend an hour revising. Take the paper to the writing center.
Tuesday: turn in draft to the professor.

Reflection from class

In class we used three different methods to review our introduction paragraphs. I didn't like the relationship method because it seemed too tedious. The does/says method was easy to accomplish which i liked however i don't feel like it's thorough enough. The t/p/a method was the best in my opinion. It clearly points out the topic and purpose of the paragraph and also demonstrates how all the sentences are relevent to the topic and purpose. In the future I will most likely use the t/p/a method.

Video Summary

Since we didn't have class on Tuesday we had to watch three videos that presented the information we missed in class. The videos taught us about outlines. As we move on to the drafting phase of our next portfolio we need to focus on organization. There are many ways to organize thoughts. Some work better than others depending on the kind of learner you are. The traditional way to outline your paper is by using roman numerals. This method works best when you have topic, support, and evidence sentences. Another way is by freewriting. This way is good for natural drafters, however after freewriting it is necessary to edit and cut your ideas in order to write the paper. The third way to outline is by MEAL, which stands for main idea, evidence, analysis and link. Many people use this method for their body paragraphs, and not necessarily their introduction and conclusion paragraphs. The last method for organizing your thoughts is by showing and telling. Telling is simply making your observations while showing is using evidence to support your observations. Typically each paragraph will contain three or four shows and three or four tells.

Annotations for 3 sources

Source 1: Identity and Violence Amartya Sen
This book focuses on a persons identity, how we tend to identify others, and the violence these perspectives cause. This is relevant to my topic of humanity because it gives insight to why people perform acts of prejudice and injustice.

Source 2: "A Legend in humanity" Robyn-Denise Yourse
This newspaper article is about John Legend's effort to reach out to humanity. This is relevent to my paper because it provides a positive example of the good in people and how his fame helps him spread the same message i'm trying to convey in my paper.

Source 3: "prejudice" Encyclopedia Britannica
The encyclopedia entry for the word "prejudice" explains different kinds of prejudice and possible reasons why it occurs. This helps me explain to my readers why we have prejudice and why we need to get rid of it.