Sunday, April 11, 2010
Reflecting on Our First Assignment
Take a few minutes and reflect on what it was like to write your blog post about The Laramie Project. Describe your writing process and tell the rest of us about how your piece changed from your initial ideas to your final draft. How did your research shape the argument you made about the film? What observations or feedback did your peers give you about your draft that helped you revise? Ultimately, what did you learn about research, writing for a more public audience, or The Laramie Project by working on this assignment?
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Overall I enjoyed writing this piece. I felt I had a lot of creative freedom and had the ability to express my feelings and thoughts opening about the issue. The topic itself was interesting to me, which made it easy to choose a topic and form an opinion. Due to the controversy surrounding the Laramie Project I was able to form a solid opinion and claim. My writing process was quite simply. One of the quotes in the movie caught my attention above all the rest and I was easily inspired for the direction I wanted to go with my paper. I knew what I wanted to say, so the only issue was finding other information to support my claim. Luckily, I came across an article that touched directly on my topic. From this article I was able to find background information as well as opinion and quotes from the author. The feedback that helped me the most was that I needed to state my claim more clearly. Although I know what I wanted my claim to be, I never clearly stated it, which my peers helpfully pointed out. This assignment strengthened my familiarity with the Penrose website, which I will not use as a primary resource in the future. I also learned how to voice my opinion about something I am passionate about without offending the opposite party.
ReplyDeleteI originally started with my piece by trying to find evidence for or against change in Wyoming with regards to hate-crimes legislation, and to find out why no legislation had been passed since Matthew Shepard's death. As I progressed with research I found that Wyoming was not a singularity with regards to its hate crimes legislation or lack thereof and changed my investigation towards why many individual states still do not have many hate crime laws that we believe that we should take for granted as Americans, and why this is so. My peers gave feedback on how the paper was structured as well as how effective I was at getting the readers attention and gearing the paper towards a specific audience. What I was able to take away from this is how to more effectively present information for the specific audiences that I would be targeting with this assignment.
ReplyDeleteDoing the first post about the Laramie project really confirmed what I had always thought about people and agencies that, while not outright hating gays, are not at all comfortable with them. My sources were largely articles and press releases from various (mostly conservative christian) websites concerning homosexuality, usually in the context of gay marriage (simply because it was the easiest keyword to use when looking for people's sentiments about gays.)
ReplyDeleteIn this case, peer feedback helped a lot with the tone of my paper. Exploring people's discomfort with homosexuality is something I'm really passionate about, and I was letting that passion get in the way by coming down REALLY hard on people who didn't deserve to be condemned for feeling differently from me.
The audience shift actually didn't bother me at all. I think mostly because I knew this blog is going to be read only by people with a fairly rich acadmic background, I didn't feel the need to go out of my way to cater to the audience.
Writing is never an easy process. Finding and choosing the right topic then implementing it into a paper can be an experience to say the least. I usually try to brainstorm as many ideas as possible then try to narrow them down. I’ll start writing a paper with two or three ideas then attempt to take some of them out. I started to write about why there shouldn’t be a death penalty from Matthew’s perspective but quickly scratched that idea. It wasn’t until the peer review session that I understood what topic I would actually be writing about; the way a hate crime is defined through Matthew Shepard and the Laramie Project. My peers showed me that my paper did have a thesis when it looked invisible to me. They also showed me ways I could strengthen my paper by using specific events. The research I did gave example of hate crimes and non-hate crimes varying from the Holocaust to the Virginia Tech Massacre. This proved that there is a difference between a hate crime and an individual committing a crime based on hatred. Out of all the obstacles I had to overcome in this paper, the things I learned were the challenges of appealing to a specific audience and the levels of ethos that are needed to persuade someone into your thinking.
ReplyDeleteWriting this first assignment required me to think and write in a way that I previously had not. My first idea for a topic was to write about simply how most people are inherently good, but how certain factors can force others to lose that natural instinct. I was not able to find a lot of outside sources to support my claims, so at first I found this assignment very difficult. My first instinct was to find a different topic to write about, but through the peer review workshop, Colleen explained that so far she really like where I was going with my paper. I decided not to change my topic because it seemed to have potential. However, I was still having a great deal finding sources. After receiving help on sources from Professor Bateman, I recognized a trend of people speaking about the relationship between society and the way people behave. This realization helped me see that The Laramie Project I about more than good and evil, it is about the town itself. I reformulated my paper to discuss how society and its institutions as a whole, and Laramie in particular have had an effect on the inherent goodness of mankind. Ultimately, I learned a lot about taking the time to really think through an idea and how to deal with a topic that is difficult to find support for; instead of changing topics completely, I tweaked mine slightly so that it touched on the same big picture but came from a different aspect.
ReplyDeleteWriting our first blog post about "The Laramie Project" was an interesting experience in the sense that it surrounded a topic that is so raw and relevant in today's society. I enjoyed creating a piece dedicated to Matthew Shepard and Laramie but my paper definitely underwent changes because it is difficult to choose one topic regarding this unfortunate incident. However, once I was set on a topic, I had some trouble organizing it and utilizing the appropriate research material. Since I wanted to explore the idea of why Laramie was a target for all the media surrounding Matthew Shepard's death, I needed to find sources that would support my argument. Luckily, I was able to use Amy Tigner's piece as she discusses the "mythical" qualities of Laramie. Source searching was only one aspect of this experience as the peer-review was another. It was a great tool steering me in the right directing as my peers were able to provide me with helpful feedback focusing on organizational issues as well as clarity issues regarding my essential argument.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I learned that researching and writing to a more public audience is a skill that I have not quite acquired yet. I hesitate and question myself whether I know what I am doing and if my purpose is clear. Overall, writing this first blog was an eye-opening experience which allowed me to gain more knowledge about writing and the issue itself.
I had identified a topic right away. I wanted to see the effect a case like that of Shepard's had on current law regarding hate crimes. At first I had some useless sources that stuck my draft. Then I was able to guide my research for hate-crime laws a little better and I was able to find great info about the effect these laws had.
ReplyDeleteFrom there I changed the overall argument. I wanted to portray in my selected topic, that is to support sexual orientation as a criteria for hate-crime laws. During the peer review, my peers were able to point out that my draft was too "statistical" and that it required a bit more interpretation rather than just plain fact which I believed helped to shape better arguments to support my overall claim.
After the piece was finished, I realized that attempting to target a specific audience is incredebly hard since it requires even more thought to portray a convincing argument to a specific group of individuals that might share a same belief. Also, I learned that research is often the part of a piece of writing that takes me the most time instead of the actual writing.
Initially, I wanted to write and research about small town crimes. Then, after doing some research, the idea of writing about hate crime motivation started to grow on me. I found one specific article about different theories to the motivation of hate crimes against gay men and loved the ideas and topics in the paper. I based my paper on this one research article and tried to find other’s that would confirm it. I thought the peer reviews really helped make my paper better. I have never had to read my paper aloud for other’s to comment on, but it actually helped me revise my rough draft. My rough draft needed work and I am glad that in the peer reviews it was suggested that I understand who the audience is of my piece and that I add some emotion into my piece to get my point across.
ReplyDeleteBefore this assignment, I knew very little about the Laramie Project and after watching the movie and researching more about it, I have become really interested about hate crimes and the motivation behind it. This paper also helped me understand how to write for a broader audience and more public audience through a blog. I am not the person who loves to write, so it means a lot coming from me when I say that I enjoyed researching and writing this assignment.
Initially watching Tectonic Theater Company’s “The Laramie Project,” I was intrigued by how Matthew Shepard was portrayed in the play. I believed he wasn’t a character in the play. I thought Moisès Kaufman, author of the play, used Matthew to give context to the situation in Laramie, and lend importance to the interviews given by the townspeople. Doing research for my paper, I discovered the answer as to why Kaufman made this creative choice. I realized that Matthew wasn’t a character because it wouldn’t mesh with the purpose or goal of “The Laramie Project,” to investigate the effects of Matt’s murder on the town of Laramie.
ReplyDeleteGoing into the peer review, I presented a rough outline with supporting quotes. I received great feedback as to how to incorporate the quotes I gathered into a paper, and how to tie everything together into one cohesive and convincing paper.
Throughout the process of researching and writing my blog post on “The Laramie Project,” the greatest lesson I learned was the importance research has on writing. My research not only supported my idea, but also shaped and improved my argument. I feel that I wrote a better paper because I approached research differently. Whereas before I took quotes and tweaked them to support my argument, I tweaked my argument to be supported by the quotes. Writing my paper, I felt it had a much more natural flow and consistency. Ultimately, I believe the new process of researching and then using my findings to create a thesis will benefit me greatly in the future.
Writing our first blog post about "The Laramie Project" was an interesting experience in the sense that it surrounded a topic that is so raw and relevant in today's society. I enjoyed creating a piece dedicated to Matthew Shepard and Laramie but my paper definitely underwent changes because it is difficult to choose one topic regarding this unfortunate incident. However, once I was set on a topic, I had some trouble organizing it and utilizing the appropriate research material. Since I wanted to explore the idea of why Laramie was a target for all the media surrounding Matthew Shepard's death, I needed to find sources that would support my argument. Luckily, I was able to use Amy Tigner's piece as she discusses the "mythical" qualities of Laramie. Source searching was only one aspect of this experience as the peer-review was another. It was a great tool steering me in the right directing as my peers were able to provide me with helpful feedback focusing on organizational issues as well as clarity issues regarding my essential argument.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I learned that researching and writing to a more public audience is a skill that I have not quite acquired yet. I hesitate and question myself whether I know what I am doing and if my purpose is clear. Overall, writing this first blog was an eye-opening experience which allowed me to gain more knowledge about writing and the issue itself.
When beginning the assignment about The Laramie Project, I had no idea what argument I wanted to make. That was new for me because the whole point of the assignment was to make an argument about the film. I was in a bit of distress for a couple of days until thought about what intrigued me about The Laramie Project and that, of course, was the fact that the people of Laramie had to defend their hometown against accusations of hatred and bigotry. The argument was an interesting one to make in that it was very much an appeal to pathos and not so much logos. The research for this paper was unique and at times frustrating because I had to gather information from the movie and the play and not so much other sources that may have been more objective. I was worried that my argument was weak and that the secondary sources were less than adequate, but after the peer review, I learned that I was not as bad off as I thought. On the contrary, I was surprised. My peers in the group said that my sources were good and that I should use more personal anecdotes. That was comforting because it is easier to talk about something when there is personal experience or stored information.
ReplyDeleteUltimately, I learned that research is an excellent way to gather information and that it is actually something that we use quite often and in a casual setting as well as an academic one.
The writing process for the Laramie project was exceptionally helpful. What I particularly liked were the insights I was able to gain from the peer review. Without this beneficial reflection and evaluation process my paper would not have been as concise and organized as it ultimately turned out. I also found it interesting to write to such a broad audience. My piece was focused on illuminating injustices for the entire nation. Because this audience was so large I believe it opened up some avenues for creative expression and imagination that would not have been otherwise possible. Aside from the more technical aspects of this paper, I truly did realize the impacts of harsh discrimination and social injustice. The Laramie project made it easy to understand how negative underlying morals can be perpetuated simply via tradition or ritual. This continuation of mistreatment can then lead to more severe conflict, and in the case of Laramie, utter catastrophe. It is my hope that my paper may outline some of the ways we can prevent such horrific actions from ever happening again. Above all, the writing experience revolving around this Laramie assignment contained a myriad of lessons and ideas that I am grateful for being exposed to.
ReplyDeleteWriting my blog post about the Laramie project was an extremely interesting experience. In the beginning, I planned to write more of a reflective piece examining the level of media attention to the case. In the end, I had a paragraph that looked at this issue but the focus of my paper was more on the way the media portrayed the different dynamics of the incident. It was interesting looking at how one media outlet (The New York Times) looked at the incident and how they tended to paint the incident in a very black and white way. I felt like the film was more honest. My peer review was extremely helpful and really made it easier for me to focus and decide what my final point was going to be. I was originally having trouble making my piece appropriate for a blog audience. I had a more classic essay format and that was hard to break away from though I am not really sure if my organization suffered. I really enjoyed this project. It was something new that was challenging but interesting to learn about.
ReplyDeleteBetween brainstorming topics and my final draft, my blog post on The Laramie Project changed tremendously. At first it was even difficult to choose what to write about. The Laramie Project had many important factors that could have been written on. After looking at many different possibilities, including looking at other similar crimes or looking at the politics behind the case, I chose to focus on how different types of media viewed the Matthew Shepard case. Even then, I was still a little unclear about where I would go with the paper. I began to research media involvement in the murder, which was especially valuable to me because I wasn’t sure what I was going to talk about. The research that I did allowed me to find a few main points I could focus on and set up how my paper was organized. Then, the feedback I got from the reviews that I received helped to shape my focus. Writing for a public audience was somewhat hard for me. I’m used to writing scholarly articles and I usually outline my paper in a form that a traditional paper would look like. This made it difficult for me to talk to a general audience. I did like this project though, because it helped me get better at addressing different audiences. I also learned how helpful and influential research can be.
ReplyDeleteWriting about the Laramie project in blog post form was a very informal and enjoyable way to cover a tremendously interesting issue in regards to hate crimes. I started by looking at hate crime statistics and status by states and extrapolated information from them to create a piece that discussed how certain states have failed to act in regards to hate crimes legislation and why. The research modified my argument a bit as I thought that there would be stronger federal hate crimes legislation, however upon realizing that many states don’t have hate crime laws I strengthened the argument I made in regards to hate crimes. As I had already done a blog post before last quarter for Professor Bateman I learned very little in regards to increasing my capabilities to write for a public audience, I did learn a lot in regards to the Laramie Project and how various states and people view legislation that would punish hate crimes. Furthermore I learned how useful it can be to dig through public federal websites for statistics that are more accurate than the ones listed on Wikipedia.
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