english 106i
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Friday, October 03, 2003
The writing of this project did not take my long. I sat down for a while, gathered my thoughts together, and then started writing flawlessly which took about an hour. I handed in that paper as my first draft. The real work started with the editing of my second draft. I started changing sentence order, correcting grammar, modifying my transitions, organization, and last but not least, I answered some of the rhetorical questions I had forgotten to answer in the previous flawless draft. The process of rectifying the final draft on the other hand, was merely the same as the one pertaining to the second draft. I did not show up for the conferences because I was not required to, therefore, I cannot say that they were of any help to me. My friends however, proof read my paper and gave me some feedback on it; that helped me a lot. In addition, their feedback was interesting too just as the process of writing this paper. I found it enjoyable because I was expressing my anguish towards the topic. As for what I think about my paper, I can't really judge. However, I think that my previous paper was more creative and better but I might be mistaken. That is how I felt about the previous paper but it turned out to be that I was wrong. I am sure that I do not have any grammatical questions, not any unanswered rhetorical questions. The ideas, organization and transitioning were pretty well done; I think I did a good job on that, but I am not very satisfied with my transitioning. I think that I am just being too picky; however, that's a very plausible excuse. Overall, I see my paper as a very good quality paper and I had more time I don't think I could have it adjusted more.
Sorry! Last time in my blogger entry I meant project 2 (I called 3rd project because 1st project had no number). This project I think it is harder at first because I have no idea what I should write about. But the help of our teacher to lead us step by step of writing this project such as how to choose the topic, how to do the outline, how to organize by asking many questions and what should include in introduction, paper’Äôs body and conclusion make me feel more confident in choosing my topic and writing it.
I spent a lot of time in writing my first draft and I was happy with it because, to me, this is the most difficult step in writing a paper. If it in right direction, second draft and final draft base on it to change. My strength is when I already have ideas I know how to develop them. I still have weakness about grammar specially using correct tense; therefore when I revising my paper I should pay more attention on this area. I think conferences really help because each of us have different topic to write therefore we need one-on-one conference. I have more confident and think this English class really help and teach me how to write at college level so that I can use what I have learned in this class to write papers in many other classes’Äôs assignment. I don’Äôt think that time is a problem in this project because I planed and set time for it. In this paper it seems I know a lot about this topic as my classmate said and it’Äôs not good; but I think still something more I want to know and investigate; I hope it will be fine.
Thursday, October 02, 2003
My writing has really developed from project 1. I feel more comfortable writing about my own opinnion and more freelly. I think reading other people's writing helped me to develope my ideas. And their apipnions helped me too on changing some things in my paper. But with all that I think that I need to make better conitions between my ideas. And I think I can do that by reading other people's writing and that what I started to do.
In developing my project I have been able to think through many things I hadn't thought about before that have to do with my subject. All the activities that we have done in class have really helped to know if I am doing things right or not. I put a lot of work to it on the first draft, so right now I haven't had the need to do much changes. I really liked to know what the opinions on my classmates were.
Project 2 is more interesting than i thought it would be. I couldnt imagine writing on one topic for four papers. But starting project 2 clearified a lot of questions i had, for example i thought io would never be able to write four papers on one topic but realizing how the papers are to be structured i found out what each of the projects required. I got to pick a topic that i was very interested in, and wanted to find out more on the topic. I feel that through these projects one can realize that there is a lot more on a topic than he/she thought there would be. This project does require a decent load of work, but reading other peoples papers and the examples in the book have given me a lot of ideas, on how to write this paper. The peer comments have also given me a lot of good ideas.
My project two is preceeding pretty well. I am satisfied with its organization and length, so I figure I won't make many significant changes other than the grammar. However, my paper didn't get a chance to be reviewed during the group discussion last time because time ran out before my turn. As a result, there might be a few problems I didn't see here and there. I think a trip to the writing lab may help if I can set aside some time to do so.
The only problem I got so far is concerning that how precisely should I describe the historical background of my topic (which is the political issue between Taiwan and China). One of the comment I saw on the first draft review suggests me to explain more about it which could make it more interesting, but a few of my friends said that what I wrote owe to be more than enough. Then I tried to view my own writing as a reader, I thought it was OK but who knows if I was automatically biased toward my own paper? After all, I might stick with the current stuff I got, and think more before handing it in.
Being mainly an introduction to the topic, I think project two isn't too tough to handle, especially when I already had some knowledge about it. So I will look forward to a satisfying grade on this particular assignment.
My project 2 was a real eye-opener. It got me into thinking about the problems that the world is facing as a whole. It increased my thinking to a global scale. My second project is on the deadly disease called AIDS. I want to find out about all the research that is happening around the world to help combat this disease.
However, more important to me was helping my chauffeur fight both the virus as well as stigmatization. Therefore i concluded that my future papers were going to research the developments in my country to combat this disease. I also want to find out about all the organizations that are working with these patients and helping them regain their lives. I want to find out about the organisations that are providing these victims with both moral as well as economic support in their effort to lead normal lives.
I also want to find out about the education being provided in my country as the future is at stake. I want to find out whether the government is making sure that everyone is becoming knowledgeable about the disease as well as methods to prevent it. I want to find out what the government is doing to increase the awareness among the people, especially among the uneducated class.
I feel that my project is almost complete, as far as ideas are concerned. If there seem to be any doubts with regarding my organisation i shall make the changes. The peer evaluation really helped the cause of this essay because it helped me realise what the readers feel when they read my paper.It helped me realise how much they know about the topic and how much i should explain. From now i will always consider the audience while presenting my paper.
Lastly, this paper was personal to me. It brought out emotional feelings and i am ready to do all the research that would help the cause of AIDS victims, for my future papers.
Project 2 has been as interesting as project one. This project allows us to explore into the questions we have about a topic. We get to choose the topics which we have questions about and want to find solutions. At this point of time i feel i can write four papers on the topic i have choosen. The examples and the questions in the book have helped me write my essay better. The peer evaluation and the conferences have given me feedbacks that have helped me improve upon my essay. I hope i had more time so that i could think more about the topic and come up with better ideas. Through this project, i have learnt to write by posing questions and by trying to find solutions to them. I have learnt how to impress on the audience, the solution to the question i pose. I still need to improve the organisation of my essay and transitions.I strongly feel that this project has demanded a lot of work than the first project. The first project was all about personal experience but the second project is a exploratory essay. I have certainly put in more work into my project 2 and hope to get a good grade on it.
Project 2 is fun. We get to do choose our own topics and do some research on the topic. I always have a lot of ideas flowing through my head and now is the time whereby I can see the extent of my ideas. The only problem I find in writing this project is lack of time. If only I do not have to do any other homeworks for my other classes and concentrate on this project. I think I would find more detailed or concrete support for my project. Besides that, project 2 is pretty much all about question. What makes you curious about the specific topics. Why you want to write about this particular topic and what is it all about. I still haven't found most of my answer yet but sooner or later when the following project comes about I think I can manage to find most of my answers. Moreover, words limitation is also a headache for me. I find that I am too long winded; I have too many things to write and sometimes I lost track of my main point. On the other hand, project 2 is quite a fun thing to begin with and I think I will enjoy throughout the following projects.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
This project 2 is hard for me because first, I had to think about the topic really carefully because the topic will be for my next project’Äôs topic. Then finding the question for my research is also hard. But finally I have found the topic that interests me. It’Äôs about the impact of September 11 to international students. Some examples and explanation in the book really help me. And from the conference also, I finally found the question for my research. In this process of writing, I learned more about the regulation and other things that effect international students. But I still need to find more about the feeling of other people especially international students from different countries. To be honest, I have spent a lot of my time just to think for the topic. Currently, I’Äôm trying to revise my second project by carefully editing its content and structure organization.
I've chosen to write on Firefighters, trying to explain their selflessness and readiness to make even the ultimate sacrifice. I've always been inspired by their courage and sense of responsibility and a classic firefighter book "Report from Engine Co.82" has long been one of my favorites. I think I've found a good amount of some interesting material, mainly books about firefighters and some books and articles relating to firefighters and 9/11, that should help me with my future projects in this class. Throughout most of my project, I've been using examples from the Fire Department of New York - this serves it's purpose well, because the FDNY is pretty diverse and has an enormous workforce (20,000) and therefore can serve as an all-round example for pretty much the rest of the country. I've tried to look into the psychology of firefighters to see what factors have brought them to the Fire Service, and how their upbringing, living, might have affected their choices in life. I've tried as much as possible to put the most amount of information and relevance into the word-limit, and I hope to find out tommorow in the conference how well I've been at that.
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The Project 2 is harder than the two earlier projects. My topic is about asthma. I think this is a right topic for me because I have experience and know a little bit about it. I’Äôm worry about the interview I have to plan for different doctors that expert about asthma as our teacher said. Now I’Äôm having a solution. I just talked with my friend who was in the same class with me at the Hue School of Medicine. She is now working at Cochine Hospital in Paris as an internal medicine physician. She is the one that I’Äôm looking for and she is really an expert in respiratory diseases. I’Äôm going to interview her to ask questions about asthma. Then I will interview Pharmacist Jeff, who I worked with at Low Cost Prescription Pharmacy, to ask about the side affects of asthma medicine. And I might call to interview my son’Äôs pediatrician at Riley Hospital to ask about children and asthma.
The examples about how to do the outlines and how to organize the ideas for the projects as well as how to use the transitions are very helpful. I also read several similar books that I have at home for more examples. I got on the internet to look for information about asthma such as US Pharmacist, WebMD and many more website about asthma and children but I can not find articles about asthma and pollution; I will work more on that. I’Äôm thinking about the topic very often trying to find more ideas for my project.
We usually say ’Äúlife goes on’Äù and ’Äúdon’Äôt look back’Äù. But sometimes in our life, something we did and later on we feel regret and think that if we had done differently then things would happen different consequently.
I regret that I didn’Äôt know how important English was to my life because I didn’Äôt know that someday I would be end up in America. When I was in high school I thought English just a subject of school’Äôs curriculum I have to choose. Then in college I have to study Russian for four years as second language; even though this had happened against my will, and all that time I didn’Äôt work on my English at all because Russian is a tough language I spent all my time to learn how to read Russian medical books. When I came to the United States I don’Äôt know that I should read more often, starting from easy reading books. And when I stayed home to take care of my kids I didn’Äôt use my free time to read until two years before I came back to college. If I know how important English was, I would read more. Besides reading my text books I want to read many kinds of magazines, novels but now actually I don’Äôt have time.
