Blog 2: confessions paper
Thursday you will turn or have turned in your Confessions semiotic domain paper. Use this blog to give feedback on that assignment. Did a particular approach really help you? Is there something that you thought worked well in your paper that you can share with your classmates in preparation for the Diary paper? What will you do differently or how will you approach your Diary paper differently? What advice would you give for the Diary paper now that you have written your Confessions paper?
posted by cmartin at 1:52 PM
24 Comments:
Janz21
(in response to teacher's post)
Throughout discussion, as several of my classmates pointed out, I couldn't understand how so people were getting such great quotes from the book. At least while I was reading I did not really think any quotes would be useful. However once we went over the assignment in class I realized that if I would have been looking for certain things, writing my paper would have been a lot easier. I found it useful while writing my paper to first examine both the internal and external domains of a blog and a book separately. After analyzing these domains I then incorporated the Confessions reading and mixed the two domains together. I also analyzed how and why it worked best when used as a book or a blog.
I think when writing my Diary’s paper I will use a slightly different approach. For one, I know now what exactly I am looking for so I will definitely look for certain quotes in the book that will help me back up my argument a little better. This means I will depend on my journal a lot more so that I do not have to waste time going back to the book. This is also probably the best advice I would give my classmates in approaching their Diary paper. Make sure you take all the information from the book as you read it, including page numbers!, because it will save you a lot more time!
Aenders
I was a bit anxious at the beginning of the week when we had to start thinking about our paper. However, our discussion as a class helped me gather my thoughts and outline my paper. I’m glad Ben brought up what are the functions of a book? We had gone over the blog format so much I didn’t really know where to start with the book. Also, through discussion I was able to visualize how my paper should be structured. I realized the importance of not only comparing the two different formats, but also realizing how those formats would affect the readers and the credibility of the story itself. Over all I feel group discussion not only makes you think “deeper” about the material, but also gives you an outside perspective you might not have thought of before. I hope in the future we have successful group discussion on the Diary as we did for Confessions.
Aenders
In response to Janz21
I would have to agree with Janz21. I read the book thoroughly; however I only had about half the quotes others had. I truly feel great citations from the book make a point or argument more clear. I know for our future paper on the Diary I will try to take better quote cites.
The semiotic domain paper was particularly frustrating at first for me. I didn’t know where to start, where to end or what my body was going to be. But that was until we had the class discussion. The class discussion helped clear things up a lot. When I say a lot I really mean a whole lot. Not only that, the discussion gave me the opportunity to voice my concerns as well as my chance to bounce my ideas off of my classmates. It also showed me that there were other people with the same problems as me and that we were all in the same boat. After the discussion it was just a matter of organizing my thoughts and putting them on to a paper. This by the way wasn’t easy either. I had to get a little help not only from the Professor Martin as well my friends. But once I got started, I was going till the end without stopping. Everything we needed for the essay was provided for us through the books, the discussion as well as Professor Martin. I think now that I know a little bit about semiotic domains and what to expect in a sense, the dairy paper will be a little bit more easier to approach and write than the Confessions paper. But that doesn’t mean I won’t have problems. I will. It’s just that this time around; I will use the discussions more to my advantage. I think the discussion is what really helped with this paper and will help future papers.
In response to aenders, I completely agree with her. I really think the discussion was what really helped me with this paper. If it wasn’t for the discussion I can honestly tell you that I wouldn’t have been able to write the paper at all. It was through the discussion that I was able to come with the essay organizations. Also it is true that if it wasn’t for Ben asking about the book domain, I really wouldn’t have anything to write about on that topic. Like aenders I hope we have more future discussions especially for the Dairy paper.
The Confessions semiotic domain paper seemed at first like it would be quite challenging. After reading and thinking about how Gee approached Pikmin 2, however, I was able to grasp the ideas I wanted to convey in my paper. What helped me the most was thinking and planning before I started writing. I did not just jump into it or else it would lack organization. My side notes also helped me when I was looking back through the book for quotes. The discussions and the peer editing additionally gave me ideas to incorporate in my paper. For my Diary paper, I will keep taking notes during the reading in order to help me during discussions and when I write my paper. The only thing I will do differently for the Diary paper is give myself more time to actually write it.
[In response to mnuthi]
I also found the class discussions extremely helpful before writing my paper. I not only got helpful ideas from my peers, but also the reassurance that I was not the only one a little apprehensive about writing it. I too feel more confident now about writing the Diary paper because I am more familiar with semiotic domains.
Matthew
I am not sure that a particular way because Ms Martin never gave a direction it seemed like I was never exactly sure what I was suppose to write and add or not. I did though want to incorporate Gee as much as problem. My classmates view different really helped in the way they pulled in some information and could incorporate them in my paper.
Differently I think I might incorporate more of the book and explain the images because this book has pictures in it. Advice not to stress so much but just write and go to Ms Martin until she tells you to stop or kicks you out her office and I will use the all the comments and incorporate them into my paper and maybe use some of the discussions topics cause those help.
Matthew In response to Everlea
The contrast method when I read her paper and reviewed it worked well for her I not sure if it would as much for me cause she added more content from the book that I did. I used more of Gee and generational Gap. Sleep is good and helpful and last minute works does not allow the student to get in depth as much as they would want.
I honestly found that the Confessions Semiotic Domain paper has been one of the hardest papers I have ever had to write. I did not know where to start or what direction I planned on heading either. The thing that helped me the most, was probably the class discussion. If we had not talked about what the paper should be evaluating, and gone through everything with the class, I would have been lost. One thing I did find that made it easier for me to write the paper, was the idea of separating my paper into sections. I took a separate piece of paper and actually wrote out little notes in sections so I could organize it really easily. By doing this, I was able to organize my thoughts and it made my paper flow better too. I am planning on using this same technique when writing my Diary paper, and all future papers because I found it easier to write overall. I do not know how I exactly plan to approach my Diary paper yet, I usually can not get a feel for the paper until I go through the readings first, but unlike I did for Confessions, I plan on taking more notes on things other than the content. When I wrote in my reading journal for Confessions, I spent a lot of time focusing on content, and that is exactly what I should have been avoiding. If I take better notes when I read this time, I will not have to go back through the book to search for details when writing the paper. Both taking notes as you go and trying to organize your thoughts before hand is probably the best advice I can give to my fellow classmates. Hopefully those two things will smooth out the paper writing process and make it easier in the long run! :)
In response to Everlea...
I used to find it hard as well to write in books, but now I am able to at least underline a quote I like, highlight a sentence, or even cat ear a page that has something important in it so that I do not have to go back and find the details I want to include in my paper later. I know that takes a lot of extra time and it sometimes can get very frustrating. Also, the compare and contrast technique was a very good idea, and I am glad it worked well for her. I did not choose it, but I think I could have written a good paper with that format as well. Good choice Everlea!
Scottie
I had a really hard time writing the Confessions paper since there was no layout or specific format for the paper. The topic was so broad it was difficult to figure out where to start and how to approach it. Once I figured out what specific point I wanted to make, I made an outline and it was much easier to write the paper. When I write the diary paper I will definitily start out with an outline stating the main points I want to make and go from there. One piece of advice I would give for the Diary paper would be to start the paper ahead of time so you have plenty of time to form your thoughts and ideas for the paper.
Scottie
response to everlea
I agree with everlea..it definitly took me longer to locate what i wanted to use in the text because I dont like to mark in my book either. It distracts me from what I am reading, but i did write in my journal later which helped some. Next time I will try and mark in my book so it will be easier to go back and find what I want to write about.
Lalaj03:
Personally, I had a difficult time figuring out how to write my paper. I felt the question was ambiguous which left me wondering what direction to take. Discussion definitely helped because everyone else pretty much had the same questions I had. Looking at classmates’ papers helped as well because it made me realize I was making my paper a lot more technical and difficult then it needed to be. Advice for Diary paper after writing having written the confessions paper is to not make it so technical. After writing the confessions paper I feel more prepared to write the Diary paper, now I have a better idea of what to do.
bberger
When writing my paper I took the approach of breaking down the two semoitic domains into two parts each. One was the social background behind each semiotic domain and other was the characteristcs that make each domain unique. Finally I compared and contrasted the two and added my comments on how it made it unique to mix the two different medias. I think that reading my classmates papers gave me some really good ideas and view points that I did not think of. I think I will try to incoporate more of the story line to use it as backing for the audiance that the author is trying to speak to.
Lalaj03 in response to Everlea:
I used the compare and contrast method too. It helped me analyze books and blogs more thoroughly. Like Everlea I also don't like to mark up books so it made it difficult for me to locate things. Eventually, I ended up doing it out of necessity but I rather not. Rereading chapter 2 in Gee helped me too.
bberger
in response to Matthew
I think that the reason she didn’t give us any direction is because she wanted to see how we interpreted what a semiotic domain is and also how we interpreted the semiotic domains of this book. As I mentioned before and I agree with Matthew that my classmates differing views helped me to see the domains in a different way than I would otherwise. I also agree that our class discussions were a good way to get started on my ideas and will be a good way to start my ideas for the next paper.
Craig
Like all papers when you start it seems almost impossible to be able to fill up the required amount of space. However like many other people have said when you start to recall the class discussions. It allows you to have several different views to incorporate because of our different backgrounds which affected how we thought about Confessions. I also found it helpful to break it down into the blog part then compare it to a book. This allowed one to make sure you incorporated both the book and blog relationship. When writing the Diary paper I will make sure to listen to what other people have to say. This way I will be able to incorporate more views than just mine.
Craig
{In response to Scottie}
Having an outline seems like it would really help with the organization of a paper. It also seems like it would allow one to list main point, which to incorporate in the paper. By doing this you would have all of the points of you paper, the hardest part and all you have left is to write it.
Stierney
While writing the semiotic domain paper I think the thing that helped me the most was not relying on too many specifics from either What Video Games Have to Teach Us or Confessions. I wrote the best when I analyzed what I had recorded in my reading journal. When the Diary paper comes around I will probably try and take more notes on the formatting of the book and its duality so I have more to refer to. I would suggest that you reread the semiotic domain section in Gee just to keep the main ideas fresh in your head.
(stierney - continuation of above)
In addition, the best course of action is making sure you have a plan of how your paper will be organized. During that last paper I had a hard time keeping things in a good order while keeping up continuity.
[in response to Craig)
I completely agree about the different perspectives. Writing the last 2 pages was made that much easier after we had had the chance to look over some of the others' papers. After all, everyone has their own way of thinking based on their background and past experiences. This definately applies to thinking about how to write a paper.
janz21
(in response to mnuthi)
I completely agree with mnuthi....the assignment was nerve wrecking until we got to discussion...it was helpful hearing everyones thoughts on the paper, and the ideas that may or may not work when writing it....I also agree with mnuthi that the diary paper should be a little bit easier now that we have been through confessions but that we can not underestimate the assignment either!
When I first started writing my rough draft I realized that I had no idea what I was talking about. My paper really didn’t have any direction. It wasn’t until we had the class discussion and I was able to read and listen to other peoples take on the book that I was able to write a concise paper. For my Diary paper I am going to try to think outside the box this time in the hopes of actually writing a rough draft that I can build off. Although, I am willing to bet that once again, the class discussion is what is really going to be the biggest help to me.
In response to mnuthi
As I wrote earlier I completely agree with mnuthi, the fact that the group discussions opened my eyes to all sorts of new ideas that I hadn't even thought of. Like you wrote, once the discussion was over it was only a matter of organizing my thoughts and putting them down on paper. Without the discussion though I would have been completely lost and more that likely, turned in a D paper.
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