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Map #3

As I finish up my last map for this quarter, I can tell that I grew as a writer in many ways. Throughout this course I developed my theory of writing, and my final theory is understanding and learning through from failures I encountered. Looking through my assignments I was able to develop my theory, I am able to observe how my theory evolved and was built upon with the assignments I had during my 10 weeks in this class.

When this quarter began, I believed my theory was “To get your point across, write with purpose, audience, tone, and evidence in mind, and in the end it will work out just fine”. I focused on things like tone, audience, purpose, and evidence. I know those things are important but what is more important is understanding the writing process and learning through failure. My new theory does incorporate aspects of my old theory since understanding and learning requires skills like tone, purpose, etc.

As I look back on all of the maps I created, they all had something to do with a process. On my map 1, I had a car and each of the car parts, writing skills/key words, have to be present on the car, the writing piece, for it to work and be successful. On my map 2 and map 3, learning though failure was incorporated because it is a process since you have to continue to try and fix piece/skills together to be successful. All of these theories about writing helped me expand my understand of writing and myself as a writer by showing me writing is not just completing assignment but understanding and learning from them. The maps also showed me I can grow as a writer no matter what the writing genre is.

All my maps I created in this class showed how much I evolved as a writer and as a learner. The theories helped me continue to deepen my writing process and transfer information into and out of my writing to make my writing the best it can be. I learned to step out of my confront zone and write in ways I never wrote before which helped me gain more experience on different writing styles and processes. My maps also helped me understand that it is OK to make mistakes because mistakes are an opportunity to understand, learn, and improve.

#writ1133du

Research Journal #8

Wow its already time for journal #8. Sometimes it feels like the quarter never ends, but sometimes it just feels like it flew by. Throughout this quarter there are many things I learned about, which all connects back to my research process and my writing.

I learn that there is more to research that meets the eye. There are multiple types of research and each type has more than one section to it. There are two main types of research, secondary research and primary research. Secondary research was a bit hard to find (academic ones) but after learning the important key words to use it became a bit easier. I learn that primary research is more than collecting the data yourself. It is also about connecting the data that was collected and comparing and contrasting they not only with each other, but with the secondary research to make the findings more impactful. I learned that secondary and primary research should not just stand alone because they are better suit when they are together; they compliment one another.

This course taught me you can never stop learning and improving your writing. Even if the first draft is bad, it is ok because you can learn to improve the mistakes you made to make the next paper better. Making mistakes is not a bad thing, but a opportunity to improve.

I improve myself as a writer through this course. At first it was hard for me to get use the new genre of twitter and tumblr since I have to use informal speech in an academic setting, but after some practice (lots of practice) I started to get the hang of it. I learned to step out of my comfort zone more and continue to not give up, which is something I will continue to do in my future.

#writ1133du

Reading Response: Disciplinary and Transfer

Transfer is necessary for college success, especially in writing.

Conclusion #1: knowledge (like writing skills) can be transfer to other contexts.

Learning one thing can help with another thing. In the first reading it said, “learning in one context or with one set of materials impacts on performance in another connect or with other related materials”(3). You can use something you learn and apply it to something similar or totally different. Most skills are transfer easily when the context are similar to each other. In the second reading it said students “reported having gained much of their current writing ability...in courses such as history, chemistry, or metallurgy”(129). The second reading also talked about how instructors should teach “the concepts of disciplinary and the cross-disciplinary transfer of such rhetorical skills as the ability to think consciously about a particular reader;s needs”(142). This shows how subjects that might have seemed different actually help transfer knowledge that can be used in other places.

Conclusion #2: Connections are important

Everything is connected somehow, but sometimes it is hard to see the connections. In the first reading it talked bridging which is "the making of abstraction, searches for possible connections, mindfulness, and metacognition”(8). Making connections is important to help student think outside of the box. In the second reading it talks about how students are not see though connections they need because they are writing to not “bore the reader,’ they failed to see any connection between what they have learned about writing in English class and what they see as the objective, fact-based, information-telling writing demanded”(131). Connections are important not only tho help improve writing but helps understand how writing is not just for the audience, but for ourselves as well.

Transfer is not only for this class. we can use the knowledge we learn in this class an apply thing to our specific majors. Making connections with things we know will help deepen our understanding and also helps us learn things quicker.

My theory of writing is slowly becoming bigger with all the new information I learned. I will now add that connections to information will help improve writing in many ways.

I had a hard time deciding a song but, the song I chose was Breaking The Habit by Linkin Park because to become a better writer you have to break old habits that will restrict you.

#wit1133du

Research Journal #7

With Primary research completed, its time to make more connection between all the research I gathered. There are already some similar data between the two. In the secondary research, a common theme was how Batman was seen as someone people look up too. For example a text stated, “someone who is strong and capable might do the right thing and help...scare life’s bullies away” (Langley, 2012). In my primary research some people also see Batman as someone admirable by stating “He's hugely popular, and I think he's inspirational because he fights against evil even though he doesn't have any super powers. So anyone could be Batman”.

Although many of the research that are similar with each other, there are some research that does not line up with each other. Like some people stated in the survey, they don’t admire Batman. One response stated, “I don't like darkness in general. And batman derives from "bat" which is darkness to me”. That response was interesting to me because I never thought of the bat as a symbol of darkness. The primary research is very interesting to me cause I can see what people thought about and makes me wonder, why didn't I think of it like that?

Not only was the survey interesting, but the observations were too (on Saturday @ 2pm and around 9). seeing people’s reaction to what they see and their conversation with others during the movie was something I never really payed attention to before.

I need to start organizing my primary research via color coding, connecting things together, and finish writing papers during week 8.

#writ1133du

MAP #2

Well my drawing is not the best but it represents a map. When I think what is important in writing, I thought of learning through failure. In Concept 4 All Writers Have More to Learn Writers Have more to Learn, “Failure is an opportunity for growth”(63). My map shows my understanding of writing by representing how writing is not something you can do well on the first try but something you need to practice. Writing is a proceed that people need to understand to be successful, and to understand that process people need to fail and learn form those failure. Howard Tinberg stated, “the objective is not just to have our students produce effective writing- that is, to respond in logical and thoughtful ways to question post. We also want our students to demonstrate consciousness of process that will enable them to reproduce success”. Failure will help people “respond in logical and thoughtful ways”.

My map is a bit cluttered but each picture represents not giving up and continuing to try and in the end there will be success. Each process produces different results, which will help your writing improve.

Learning through Failure is my apart of my theory of writing. Knowing that it is ok to fail is important because it can be seen as a learning opportunity that will help me better understand my writing. My map shows to never giving up and continue to try because in the end, you will succeed.

Failure is an opportunity to learn and in writing it takes time to succeed. Hard work does pay off in the end.

#Writ1133du

Research Journal #6

For my primary research I had to change my survey and interview questions because they were too broad. I narrow down my questions with the help of Dr. Kt. I had some trouble setting up the survey on survey monkey, but I somehow managed it (I dont remember how though...maybe I was just clicking on random things lol). I had a mix of multiple choice and short answers questions. I sent most of my friends and high school teacher the survey links( most via facebook) and posted on twitter and to them to share with other people. I was worried about not getting enough responses, but on the second day already had more than 60! I was surprised at my survey results. I was expecting more people my age to respond, but I had a lot of people who were older that respond. Some response I can tell they read the question to fast because they put there name and gender instead of the age and gender.

I complete one of my interview as soon as I could (thanks to my good high school friend who came to meet me here!!!) I still have another one I need to do, which I am hoping to get done by Wednesday.

As for my observations, I observed a couple of people one group watched, “The Dark Knight Rises” and another watch “Batman: The Movie” (1966). My wrist still hurts from taking notes for the whole entire movie. (expecially taking notes for 3 hours straight during “The Dark Knight Rises” ).

#writ1133du

Reading Response Transfer of Learning

Transfer of learning? what is that you ask ? well its is taking something that is learned and applying it to another context. There are a few different transfer like high, low, near, far,etc. the low transfers “happens when stimulus conditions in the transfer context are sufficiently similar to those in a prior context of learning to trigger well-developed semi-automatic responses”(Perkins and Salomon 7). This means that similar ideas in new information can help someone learn the information quicker. There are some obstacles when it comes to transfer one is how teachers are teaching in a way that is convent for them but are not helping the students which means the students are not transferring the information.

Transfer can easily happen when playing games. Learning the rule and techniques for one games will make is easier to learn new games quicker. Since most games are similar to each other, people are about to transfers their knowledge about gaming and pick up the new game faster.

Like the low road transfer and near transfer, I can use my previous knowledge of writing to help me learn new concept quicker. Also, if the new concept seems different that things i have learned before, can make connections and patterns like the high road transfer to help me.

Transfer helps me connect all the writing technique and concepts together to help me find who I am as a writer. Transfer does not happen quickly for me so I need more time to connect things. Knowing how to use transfer to my advantage will help me appeal to audience get my point across quicker and clearer.

#writ1133du

Poster

#writ1133du

Peer Review Reflection

In the peer review workshop, me, Johnny and Josh discussed and read through our literature review. It was a good way to compare how everyone created their literature review with my own and if they were similar. There was a lot of constructive feedback to help improve each others writing, and debating how to pronounce “GIF”. Reading out load help us hear the error that we might not have notice before. Everyone was open to giving feedback and receiving feedback. There was some confusion about what and how we were suppose to do the peer review when we started but once it was cleared up everything else went fine. There was also not enough time to read the literature review thoroughly and give better feedback. After reading my literature review, Johnny and Josh gave me some useful advice, which was to focus more on Batman in the overview instead of superheroes in general since my topic is focused specifically on Batman. I also had a lot of grammatical errors that I did not notice when I was writing by literature review. I will use the advice my peers gave me to make sure my review is focus on Batman, which will make my writing better. I will go back to my paper to make sure I focus more on Batman and reread my review to fix little mistakes like grammatical errors. I learn that I still have trouble with writing, but I am still improving. I tend to writing to fast to try to keep up with my thought which leads my to miss some ideas and mix up words.

#writ1133du

Research Journal: week 5

Moving on from secondary research, it time to start the primary research.

Observations to do:

(Must Take NOTES!!)

Observe people watching Batman movie and the Batman movie (for at least 90 mins)

2 movies one recent on and one old one

After observation, need to answer:

What surprised me?

What intrigued me?

What disturbed me?

Some survey questions are:

(Must Have: IRB Survey/Questionnaire/Poll Statement)

(Must Take NOTES!!)

Age

Gender

At some point in your life, did you ever admire any superhero(es)?

Around what aged were you when you heard of any superhero?

How many superheros have you heard of?

What is the first superhero that comes to your mind?

Did you only any superhero merchandises at some point in your life (like movies, comics, posters, action figures, etc.) ?

Do you still admire any superhero today? please explain.

Do you read, watch, or talk about any superhero(es)? If so, please list and explain. If not, please also explain.

(Should I focus on any superhero in my survey or just Batman???)

Some interview questions are:

( Must Have: IRB Interview Permission)

(Must Take NOTES!! and RECORD and have EYE CONTACT)

What comes to mind when you hear the word “Superhero”? Why?

What impact do superheros have on society?

What are your thoughts on Batman as hero? Please explain.

What are your thoughts on Batman as a role model to children and people today? Please explain.

How is Batman portrayed in movies, comic books, etc.?

Does he impact society today? Please explain.

#writ1133du

Reading Response: Threshold Concepts #2

There were many important concepts that we read about, and a threshold concept I created is:

Understanding writing is important to being a successful writer.

Understanding how successful writing process was used, people will be able to produce more successful writing. Being a successful writer does not mean writing something that fulfills the requirements, but to demonstrate what you know and that will make a successful writing piece. As Howard Tinberg stated, “the objective is not just to have our students produce effective writing- that is, to respond in logical and thoughtful ways to question post. We also want our students to demonstrate consciousness of process that will enable them to reproduce success”. Knowing what you are writing about will make your writing stronger. Understanding writing is key and to do that you need to continued to learn about writing. Trying to understand writing can be hard as stated in threshold concept reading one, “all writing abilities can be learn once and foe always. However, although writing is learned, although writing is learned, all writers always have more to learn about writing”(59). Writer can never stop learn so there are things that are not understandable yet. I know learning and understanding everything about writing is impossible, but learning as much as you can is possible and it will take some time.

As you continue to learn, you will continue to understand writing. This process will take some time, but it will help in the end because it will make you a successful writer.

#writ1133du

Practice Primary Research

For our research proposal, we decided to analyze the overall dining hall experience for first year students here at the University of Denver. The goal was to understand how the students felt about their dining choice throughout their first year of college, while also analyzing the social aspects of the dining hall services, as well as the mood that was created due to the experience.

Method:

To research this question, we utilized interviews, surveys, and observations in order to better understand the situation as well as the topic at hand. We started by going to the dining halls to observe our subjects, and we noted what food they got and how they interacted. In order to get more versatility from our results, we decided to observe both Friday and Saturday as well as at different times of the day. On Friday, we observed at 9 am, 11 am, and 5:30-7 pm. On Saturday, we observed at 11 am and 5:30-7 pm. By doing two separate days of observations, we were able to better understand how the dining hall experience differs on weekdays and weekends. We then proceeded by handing out surveys to understand how students felt about the dinning hall. We gave out our surveys to undergraduate students with a total of 15 surveys handed out. We focused mainly on undergraduate students because they don’t have many other options in terms of where to eat. We also conducted an interview to get more information about the dining hall experience. By combining the above methods mentioned, we were able to collect data in which helped us to analyze the overall situation.

Results:

While analyzing our research as a whole, we found common themes as well as some contradicting ideas based on the people we observed, surveyed, and interviewed. One common theme we came across while observing was that there was a lot of food waste from students who were eating in the dining hall. We weren’t sure if this was due to students putting more food on their plates than they could eat, or if they just didn’t enjoy a lot of the food. Based off the responses we got from our surveys, we assumed that a lot of the food waste was due to an overall dissatisfaction with the meals being provided. After collecting and comparing the data we received from our surveys, we found that a majority of the subjects were far less than satisfied with the food being provided. They described the food as “making them feel sick” and claimed they “definitely would not recommend to a friend”. While the results we got from our survey don’t guarantee to be the reason for the food waste, it definitely provides an explanation as to why people aren’t finishing their food.

Another connection we made between the data we collected from our surveys and what we found throughout our observations, was that a lot of people tend to enjoy and eat the same type of foods. Common foods that kept popping up throughout our surveys were pizza, pasta and salad. All three foods are readily available at the dining hall (except for breakfast during the weekdays) and could also be the reason a lot of students claim to feel “bloated” or “constipated” after eating at the dining hall. We found that many people felt that while there were healthy options being provided, the majority of them didn’t taste very good pr didn’t look fresh enough to consume. While it's true we can’t make the claim that everyone who is eating in the dining hall is eating unhealthily, it provides us a reason as to why a lot of our subjects claimed to not always feel their best after eating. Also, during an interview with a DU undergrad, when asked what she normally eats at the dining hall, her response was “whatever doesn’t look sketchy that day.” While this response made us laugh, it also gave us more evidence that most students don’t seem to find the food at the dining hall to be as good as originally thought.

Although we got a lot of data from observing the dining hall, we found that it was beneficial to our research to go to the dining hall multiple times a day in order to get the most accurate results. From doing so, we noticed that breakfast during the weekdays seemed to be the most empty and least social. We are assuming that this is due to a lot of students being in class and not having enough time to go to breakfast. Lunch, on the other hand, was pretty busy; especially at 12 and 1, right after classes got out. We found that dinner was the busiest and most social of the three, with a lot of students segregating themselves by sitting with a large group of girls or guys. (Although some large groups had a mixture of the two). Also, we found that around 11 am, or brunch on Saturday, it was also very busy and seemed to be more of a social event than just an eating event. We are assuming this was due to not having class on the weekends and thus, no time constraints. Furthermore, through an interview with another DU student, when asked when her favorite time to go to the dining hall was she claimed “either at dinner time throughout the week or at like 11 on the weekends as that's when I go with all of my friends”. This goes alongside our observations that at least for first year students, a large part of the dining hall experience seems to coincide with the social aspects of college.

While a lot of our primary research seemed to connect and support each other, we found that a lot of the secondary research did not. When looking at the sodexo website, they claim to be a high quality dining service. They also boasted that they got pretty good reviews and ratings, especially compared to dining hall services in colleges throughout the United States. We’re not sure if students at DU expect more in the quality of food or if it's because they really miss their home cooked meals.

Discussion:

The result of this research suggest that the dining hall experience is not the best. Since many people are not finishing their food and are throwing it out, it is a sign that something is wrong with the food or the student's appetite. In the survey there was a lot of responses that talks about how they were dissatisfied with the quality and quantity of the food in the dining halls. On the DU dining website, it says “Food You Can Feel Good About: We pride ourselves in using scratch cooking techniques that features the natural flavors of the quality products we purchase”, but there are multiple responses suggesting dissatisfaction of the dining hall experience on campus. These results are significant because it shows there needs to be changes to the dining hall experience. And while we can’t speak for everyone at DU, it seems that the majority of people don’t plan on utilizing the dining hall services as much next year. Although it may be convenient, if sodexo wishes to continue to maximize their profits from DU students, we suggest they make some sort of change to their overall service and satisfaction.

#writ1133du

Research Journal #4

This week I had to connect my secondary source to one another, which was harder than expected. I found some evidence that are related to one another and I put them in my literature review. I am still trying to make more connections between the articles and books I found.

Something things that were similar in the articles was:

Morals:

In “It’s What You Do that Defines You:” Christopher Nolan’s Batman as Moral Philosopher

he “depict a darker side of the ‘superhero’ mythos, highlighting the humanity and fallibility of these figures and placing their actions under scrutiny… the films reflect the moral complexity and ambiguity of our own society”

“society in which morally correct decisions are not always clear”

In Batman and Philosophy the Dark Knight of the Soul

“usually we think a person is obligated to do something that would benefit many people, but what is that ‘something’ is committing murder? Which is more important, doing good - or not doing wrong?”

etc.

Role Model:

In “A Dark and Stormy Knight: Why Batman?”

Batman is seen as “someone who is strong and capable might do the right thing and help…scare life’s bullies away”

In “Between the Hero and the Shadow Developmental Differences in Adolescents’ Perceptions and understanding of Mythic Themes in Film”

“people often look to heroes to help them overcome what seemed to be insurmountable obstacle”

etc.

Primary research:

create survey about research and give them to people

do interview

I will continue to read and find connection between my secondary research.

#writ1133du

Practice Run: Primary Research

Summary/Check in for our group’s primary research:

We met up at halls and started by making a survey with questions regarding the dining hall and how students felt about their experience with it overall. The survey was a total of 12 questions and included both multiple choice and short answer type questions.

We then proceeded to give our surveys to people we know as well as people we saw in the dining hall as we did our observations. So, for the observation part of the primary research, so far as a group we have gone to the dining hall at 9 am, 1 pm, and 5: 30 pm. We visited Halls for breakfast and lunch, and Nelson for dinner on one day, and Nagel for dinner on the next. We observed each session for about 30 minutes.

We still need to do an interview for our research, although plan to do so on Sunday. We’re not sure exactly who we are going to interview, although many people have expressed their willingness to express their opinions and feelings of the dining hall.

As for observations, for the times we have gone to so far has been when it’s the busiest. So, we plan on going a couple more times over the weekend at different times just to see how it compares. Also, while observing, we have noticed that a lot of people don’t finish their food and often get a lot more than they actually eat, some guys getting two whole plates of food only to eat about a quarter of it. Also, as far as breakfast lunch and dinner goes, breakfast seemed to be the emptiest while dinner time was the busiest. We still have more to observe and note although we feel as though we have a pretty good start.

Reading Response: Threshold Concept

1. One threshold concepts in the article was failure is apart of writing. Learning to accept failure may not seem that appealing but it will help you understand what you did wrong so you can improve. “Failure is an opportunity for growth”(63). I am not good at writing so I failed many times but I learned for those failures and improved my writing. This concept appears in the class because everyone had failed before and for research people don’t always get the data they want the first time so they have use their failure to find another approach to their research to find their conclusion. Since we are going to do research, we need to understand that it is ok to make mistakes and get a result we did not except because we can learn for them.

2. Another concept is you never stop learning to write. Writing is more than manipulating words and phrases. There are many different strategies and many different contexts and "writing strategies that are effective for them in one context are often inappropriate and ineffective in another context...even when strategies work, writers till struggle to figure out what they want to say and how to say it” (59). So it is ok if I don’t really understand writing sometimes because there is so much to learn about writing. There is so much more to writing that no one can learn everything about writing!! Even in class we have to learn the writing style of tumble and Twitter, which is still hard for me to grasp.

#writ1133du

Research Journal #3

This week I had to focus on secondary research articles. Mainly I had to focus on the academic articles, which are hard to find considering my topic of Batman. I couldn’t just search Batman’s impact on society in the online databases, so I had to broaden my search. Finding academic articles were a lot hard then the non scholarly ones. Some article I thought were go to use were not even close to what I want when I started reading them. Here are a few articles:

Academic:

In “It’s What You Do that Defines You:” Christopher Nolan’s Batman as philosopher article by Vilja Jonhson stated The Dark Knight Rises, “depict a darker side of the ‘superhero’ mythos, highlighting the humanity and fallibility of these figures and placing their actions under scrutiny. In this way, the films reflects the moral complexity and ambiguity of our own society” (Johnson 952). This quotes helps show Batman’s connection to society. This article explains the how Batman changed from the traditional morals which starts to make people question his role as an hero.

Non-Academic:

“A Dark and Stormy Knight: Why Batman?” by Travis Langley Ph.D. talks about why people are drawn to batman and how he is as a character. “ We want justice. People who believe in a just world suffer less stress and depression, and enjoy life more than people who do not” (Langley)

“Examining Batman: The Conflicted Hero Of Darkness" by Anushree Nande “Like Batman, we are forced by him to look deep within us, confront our worst fears and face doubts we’d rather keep buried. We are forced to question our morals, our beliefs, the limits to which we can be pushed and what we will do when we are tested, when we fall. What is it that we’re living for?” ( Nande ). This quotes questions societies view of morality and fear. Should people hide their fears or faced them?

#writ1133du

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