Nathan Durgin

Hi my name is Nathan. I write about various topics. I love theater, movies and nature. Feel free to check out some of my posts! School: Millersville University Millersville, PA

[maggiechern]

Original Content 2

What do you like most about your learning? 

The thing that I like the most about learning is being able to understand what I am learning and then being able to use it in real life. If I am learning something that I really can't apply to my life outside of just the general education life then I wouldn't say that I really like that, as it does not feel as meaningful. Being able to apply it to my ordinary life, just makes what I learned more meaningful and makes it feel like there is a purpose to it.

[ndurgin33]

I can relate a lot to this post. As I said in my previous Original Content posts, learning skills that can be applied outside of the classroom is a very rewarding experience. I also think it adds a new level of purpose to my learning as well. It makes me feel like I am really preparing to enter the working world and more confident in my own skills as well.

[xozach]

What I Liked Most About My Learning

What I enjoyed most about my learning in this class is expanding on my understanding of the writing process behind the final product. Now I understand the significance of drafting, feedback, and revisions when writing web content. I also think I've gotten better at thinking more critically about my own ideas instead of simply trying to meet the class requirement.

[ndurgin33]

This post stood out to me because I also think that this class provided me with the opportunity to think more critically and not just trying to meet class assignments. The nature of this course required critical thinking and just simply meeting requirements was often to shallow for this level of writing. This was both my favorite and the most challenging part of this class.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 15 #3

What do you like the most about your essay?

What I like most about this essay is it doesn't focus on an academic topic but rather allows me to express how I will use the skills in this class in my future line of work. I have enjoyed the reflective tone and the payoff of being able to use the skills learned in this class in my future work. This is very rewarding because many classes will just have you learn skills and then never really apply them in the real world but with this class and style of writing you get a unique opportunity to learn important writing skills that can really be used in any line of work.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 15 #2

What are you most proud of with your writing process? 

The aspect of my writing process that I am most proud in is my overall ability to adjust and change it according to the tactics learned in this class. Prior to this class I mainly tailored my writing process to basically focus on one type of paper being academic research papers. Through this class, I have since adapted it to account for data driven papers that may not include physical sources but instead require me to analyze my own data as my source. This has better equipped me and my writing process to help take on various assignments of different styles and not just one singular type of assignment.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 15 #1

What do you like most about your learning?

What I like most regarding learning in this class is the emphasis in putting purpose and meaning behind every detail in the projects. This has been really useful to me because I am very used to writing in environments where images were for show and I never realized the importance of adding context to these images. It also has helped me gain a deeper understanding about writing in general and I am sure I will use the tactics learned in developing meaning in every detail of assignments in the future. It adds depth and i really enjoyed learning how to properly construct meaning and purpose in my papers. Hope this makes sense!

[ndurgin33]

Thursday Check In

I still am having trouble believing we are almost at finals week. It has truly been a crazy yet productive semester. As I progress through my last assignments for this class, I have a few questions regarding writing skill development in this class.

How do we bridge the gap between technical proficiency and an authentic creative voice?

Is deliberate practice more effective when mastering a single genre or when experimenting across many?

How can we utilize AI as a collaborative tool without sacrificing our unique human perspective?

I asked these specific questions because as someone who spent the semester learning how to write properly and develop a sound writng process these skills are ones that I would like to retain even outside of this class.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 14 #3, Request #3

The coding guidelines in the Timeframe and Methodology section require clarity so that other researchers may replicate the analysis. Currently, Step 3 states, “Only read the video title and code each according to the research question as follows: If the video title implies an extremely expensive/ultra-budget or prototype/spectacular product (employing sensational terminology such as ‘Robotic Camera Man,’ ‘WILD,’ 'Outrageous,' ‘Craziest,’ ‘REAL vs FAKE,’ etc., and/or refers to the extremity of the budget/experiments, code it as ‘Extreme.’ Otherwise, code it as ‘Mid-range’.”

Are these coding guidelines clear enough for replication purposes? Are there any unclear cases in the appendices, where the video title has both sensational and pragmatic elements? Would you suggest adding additional criteria for decision-making, such as stipulating that at least two sensational cues must be present, or listing some supplementary trigger words? Does the description contain any ambiguous terms? Any suggestions for making the language more concise without losing its meaning will be appreciated.

[paytonkillianmu]

Original Post 3

I’m looking for focused feedback on this visualization from my Content Analysis. Specifically:

Is the comparison between categories clear at first glance?

Does the design make the takeaway obvious, or is it too cluttered?

Would labeling or color changes improve readability?

[ndurgin33]

I'd say this is a very organized chart and shows your data pretty well. A stylistic change I would recommend is maybe adding different shades of blue and maybe grey for penn state reds for MSU and a color of your choosing for Indiana to relate to the school colors. I think in terms of data though this comes across cleanly.

[jaygold974]

Original Post (3/3)

what did you learn about your writing process that will help you after college? 

I learned that it is ok to make multiple drafts despite it being more work, I am able to learn from the mistakes. With most writings I don't really make drafts but now, I will try to keep that habit because I want to ensure my papers will be perfect because its a process.

[ndurgin33]

This post stood out to me because this shows how making drafts is an important habit to develop when working through big projects such as this one. It allows you to divide the process up into in this case three sections and improve on your work as you go.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing Week 14: Post #3, Request 2

The “Viewership Volatility: Extreme vs. Mid-range Peaks” section needs to align with the graph and contain less repetition. At the moment, the wording is as follows: “However, taking into consideration the 'ceiling' level of viewership, everything changes dramatically. Upon analyzing the above graph, one can see that when it comes to finding out the ceiling level of virtualization, the 'Extreme' type of video is always associated with delivering the most powerful spikes of viewership. For instance, one can consider the 'Extreme' category video 'REAL vs FAKE Tech', which became the most popular video with 12 million views throughout the experiment; the second one, called 'North Korea's Illegal Smartphones', has the same amount of views – 11 million. … and finally, the great volatility of the 'extreme' orange color data line symbolizes the 'high risk, high reward' principle of these types of content."

Does the connection between the graph and the text sound coherent? Do I need to refer to the 12M spike and provide particular examples earlier in the paragraph? Is “high risk, high reward” enough, or do I have to elaborate on the concept? How could I make sure that my message regarding volatility and spikes is conveyed clearly yet without being too repetitive?

[wyzhex]

What I learned about drafting that will help after college

What I’ve learned about drafting across multiple drafts for the content analysis project is to be patient with the writing process. Errors will inevitably occur, and it’s up to you, as the writer, to identify them and develop better solutions during the revision process. I believe the writing process is particularly effective for me because of the revision process. In the past, I didn’t utilize the writing process for revisions as much as I should have, which prevented me from noticing errors in my projects. However, by using the writing process over the course of multiple weeks working on the assignment, I feel much more confident in my writing skills now.

[ndurgin33]

This is incredibly important to point out. It is very easy to get stressed out about your writing process and this can lead to getting very impatient in it. But to sit back and trust the process is a scary but rewarding thing to practice. I also didn't revise as much as I wanted to in my final two drafts which prevented me from seeing some errors I made.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 14 #3, Request #1

Figure 2, Figure 3, and Figure 4 need to have more visual contrast and clear labeling so as to distinguish sensational from practical title styles. Is there enough visual distinction in these figures between extreme thumbnails inspired by curiosity and mid-range ones that can be used? Would it be appropriate to add labels such as "Extreme Example (1.4M views)" and "Mid-Range Example (4.2M views)" directly to the images? How about any cropping of images or changes to the captions that would improve the visual distinction between sensational and practical? Is it necessary to add some comments to these images? Would it be better to include full titles of videos below the pictures or add some arrows towards sensational words, such as "TriFold" or "Robotic"?

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 14 #2

What did you learn about your writing process that will help you after college?

My biggest weaknesses as well as strengths are deadlines. I used to wait for motivation, but now I know how to work well under pressure when I have a detailed plan and an insane playlist (for motivation of course). Second, perfectionism holds you back. This happed to me a lot while drafting. Through this project I have learned that you don’t need to be perfect the first time you write something, you can edit your mistakes later on. Most importantly, it dawned on me that writing is not about creating masterpieces; it’s about getting down to business. Discipline rather than talent helps make it possible.

[ndurgin33]

Original Content Writing: Week 14 #1

What did you learn about drafting across multiple weeks that will inform your writing process after college

The main takeaway I had that had to do with drafting that will inform my writing process after college is that drafting is a gradual improvement over your work. I used to employ drafting as a gradual process of completing a paper but I found that having the paper complete and using drafting to revise the paper is a much more effective strategy than completing it over time. This is so I can add in new ideas and revise and not incrementally complete the project. I will use this process out of collage because a lot of my projects in the media world will require drafting. Mainly for scripts. So having a good drafting process will be important and this project allowed me to develop this process.

[gavinboland]

Post 2: How are you developing style to build your argument in the content analysis?

I’m developing my style by being intentional about clarity and consistency rather than trying to sound overly complex. I’m using headings and subheadings to guide the academic reader through my argument and keeping my language focused on explanation instead of description. Stylistically, I’m repeating key terms like content strategy, audience expectations, and engagement so the argument stays cohesive. This helps the reader see patterns across sections and understand how my analysis builds toward clear conclusions instead of feeling fragmented.

[ndurgin33]

I find both me and the creator of this post share very similar ideals when it comes to style in this project. I also want to stay consistent and not sound too complex. I feel this makes it easier to digest by the reader and helps the flow of the paper feel more complete and less like just a listing of ideas.

[little-b1rdy]

what does your final revision process look like?

Typically for the final revisions, I will have most of my thoughts and data laid out. This lets me get a decent amount of critic on the existing information that I will need to change for the final.

For the previous ones, it was more about getting a better understanding of the layout of the essay while the final is for actual information.

Depending on how many drafts a project requires, I will alter my "schedule."

[ndurgin33]

This is a great example of adjusting ones writing process depending on how many drafts a project requires. I for one prefer this method of drafting. It allows you to get more feedback from peers and from the professor which really helps in a project of this nature. I have had a lot of classes where they only want you to submit the final project and find this is a much more effective process.

[tyl0611]

How will having a good revision process help you move forward beyond this class?

By having a good revision it will help a lot when it comes to writing the final copy. If my revision is good the final copy will not need as much work or effort in order for it to be the best it can, making it much easier for me in the end. Additionally, by having a good revision I can add more new things in the final copy without much extra effort. 

[ndurgin33]

I think this is a very good insight into how a good revision process is important. The better the revisions the less work you will have to complete when the final copy is due. It also opens your paper up to new ideas that you may think of as you work through the revision process.