Another Dialogue With Dave

It is sad to say but this is unfortunately my last blog. I hope that I was able to positively assist you in learning how to “change you writing”

For the last exercise we are going to reflect on our experiences with this project. We are going to end our blog series the exact same way as how we started, with the technique of fastwriting. With ‘Dave’s’ questions on the left hand side, you have 3 minutes to write your answers.

Dave’s questions are as follows:

1.     “ Hey you, I think you can’t really say that one opinion is better than another one. Don’t you agree?”

2.     “There’s all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery. What did you discover?”

3.     “After all this work, what do you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?”

The following is my example:

Dave:

1.     “ Hey you, I think you can’t really say that one opinion is better than another one. Don’t you agree?”

2.     “There’s all this stuff in the book about research as a process of discovery. What did you discover?”

3.     “After all this work, what do you take away from this experience? What have you learned that you can use?”

Me:

1.     I disagree, I think one opinion can be better then another. I say this because if one opinion is just mere personal feelings while another opinion is actually backed up with evidence and a good argument then the later of the two is ‘better’

2.     I discovered the importance of patience, that one can not merely just sit down and write a research paper, it takes time, research and a lot of thoughtful effort

3.     I have learned how to analysis my writing from different perspectives. For example when we wrote three different introductions or when we cut up our paragraphs and rearranged them.

It is always good to reflect back and see how far we have come. This is not goodbye but just till the next time.

Love, Serve, Repeat

Cutting Through The Rough Draft

In class today, we participated in an activity that is different to anything I have ever done before.

I took my rough draft and using scissors, I cut up all the paragraphs. I then organized the paragraphs into two piles. One pile was for the paragraphs that were directly inline with my thesis, while the other pile was for the paragraphs that did not line up with my thesis.

I was then asked these two questions based on the paragraphs that were inline with my thesis.

1.     Experiment with the order/ structure of your paragraphs. Try at least 2 different set-ups. How are they different? What did you learn?

2.     How did this whole process help you re-see your essay?

I found the results extremely interesting; which are as follows:

1.     Experimenting with the structure of my paragraphs affected the way my essay looked and sounded, as well as allowing me to see different perspectives of my essay. Changing the order of the paragraph actually affects the voice, style and tone of my paper. Experimenting with the order is helping me analyze which tone and direction I want to take my paper in.

2.     I discovered that my paper needs to be clearer in my opinions, learning to separate my own voice more from my researchers voices.  In general, I thought this process helped my to re-see my essay from a different perceptive all together. It felt as if I was apart of the audience reading my paper. Overall, this exercise was extremely insightful and beneficial.

At first this exercise may come across as a waste of time, however I advice you to persevere through it. I found the results extremely beneficial and insightful. I hope this exercise helps you see your research paper from a different perspective.

Love, Serve, Repeat.

Wrestling With The Draft

In class this week, we started to go through our rough drafts for our research paper. We were asked to take two different colored highlighters and analyze our paper.

With the first highlighter we were told to mark the parts in which you were a less active author, these are the parts that are not your own voice. Examples include: facts, quotes sources, any ideas of information that belongs to someone else.

Next, using the second highlighter, we were told to mark the parts in which you were a more active author. These are the parts that are your own voice, opinion, ideas, analysis, commentary and synthesis.

Once both these steps were complete, we were asked the following questions:

1.     Which color dominates?

2.     Are you turning over too much of the text to your sources?

3.     Are you ignoring them and rattling on too much about what you think?

4.     Or does your source use seem appropriate to support your purpose?

After reflecting on my own personal rough draft I noticed that my colors were extremely even, which I would like to change in order to have more of my own voice. There were big chunks of my own voice followed by big chunks of other people’s views; there was no connection between the two, which was an eye opener for me. I need to find a way to connect my voice while using my sources to strengthen and argue my point of view. My quotations were just randomly placed with very little thought, information and analysis on them. I didn’t find my self rattling on about my own views, I actually found my self not speaking enough about my own view and depending to much on my sources to explain my point of view. However the content of my sources were extremely insightful and appropriate, which does in fact support the purpose of my writing.

As you can see I critically analyzed my rough draft which now allows me to go back and improve my paper where I see fit.  I advise you to apply this exercise, as it is extremely insightful.

Love, Serve, Repeat.

Three Ways In

Drafting an introduction for your research paper is vital. The introduction is the foundation of your paper and sets the direction in which you wish to go; hence it is crucial to establish a successful introduction.

For todays blog we are going to compose three different beginnings or leads to our research paper. These should be at least a paragraph or two.

Mine is as follows:

1.     Ricardo “Kaka” dos Santos Leite. The FIFA World Player of the year and winner of the Ballon d’Or both in 2007 is one of the most talented soccer players ever to grace the stage of world soccer. However this is not all Kaka is known for, after winning the 2006 UEFA Champions League, which is the largest club soccer tournament in the world, he fell to his knees and reviled a shirt that said “ I belong to Jesus”. Kaka is a strong Christ loving athlete who competes at the highest level, proving that athletes can both be Christians as well as competitive athletes.

2.     Worshiping God is the sole purpose of our creation. We were designed to bring him glory and praise his name but due to the fall, our selfish desires have corrupted this view. Many Christians believe that sport fits under this category, that people who compete in sport are merely filling selfish desires but is this true? Can sport not be a way to worship God? Can athletes not both competitively compete in sport and put God first at the same time? This is a much-discussed topic in the world of Christian athletics that I wish to provide you insight on in my research paper.

3.     Sport is a fantastic way to worship Christ. Christians who compete at the highest level of athletics have more to play for because they are not merely playing for them selves or for the fame that comes along with sport, but in fact they are playing for their Lord and Savior whom they owe everything to. They play for a higher cause with a higher passion because there is a purpose much greater then themselves. There is no reason why Christian athletes should not be able to compete with non-Christian athletes at the highest level of competitive sport.

The purpose of constructing three different introductions is to identify you own view on your topic, which allows you to write a better and more complete introduction for your research paper. I hope you find this activity helpful in starting to construct your first draft.

Love, Serve, Repeat.

Sharpening Your Point

At this stage in the development of your research paper, it would be a great idea to think about what your thesis might be. We can do this by developing a tentative thesis. You should ask yourself: what do I think right now based on what I’ve learned? If you find that your answer is more argumentative and that’s the way your research paper is heading, then developing a tentative thesis is even more vital.

Using the templates on page 158 in the book “The Curious Researcher” by Bruce Ballenger, I came up with the following thesis for my research paper:

My research on Sport being an act of worship appears to confirm my impression that Christian athletes can competitively compete with non-Christian athletes.

I hope developing your tentative thesis is helpful in the advancement of your research paper.

Love, Serve, Repeat.