From 5f4e8d7262a3e0d3c78471a5fa110492d1c2dede Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Holden Rohrer Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2020 12:52:56 -0500 Subject: wrote versions of everything cover essay is very partial (needs 1200 words) and the reading response essays are limited in the analysis --- markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html | 136 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 136 insertions(+) create mode 100644 markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html (limited to 'markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html') diff --git a/markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html b/markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0dfb832 --- /dev/null +++ b/markley/portfolio/03_digital_reading_journal.html @@ -0,0 +1,136 @@ + +

Introduction

+

The Digital Reading Journal focuses on the +Process Outcome of the ENGL 1101/1102 program. +During the semester, I responded to various prompts connecting course +material to contemporary issues and other media. +Through these posts, I learned that I can tell that I need to understand +the material better if my sentences become long and unwieldy. +This journal helped me improve my writing process because transcribing +my thoughts on course content required me to sufficiently support those +ideas, and when my support was thin, I stretched out the ideas. +This was exacerbated by several rounds of information-adding revisions. +I am including an early post that shows my least developed writing and a +later post with my best writing. +These two posts are my "process documents" for this assignment because +they show how, as I understood the material better, I was better able to +avoid rambling sentences devoid of content. +The supplemental imagery also changed between these two posts. +In the first, it is pretty generic and reiterates the more vague points +I'm making, but in the second, my images are in fact directly relevant +to the content and increase the value of the article more than just +visually. +

+

Digital Reading Journal

+ +
+
Goals
+
This assignment has two goals: the first is to assess and + improve understanding of course material, and the second is to + develop a writing process and reflection skills. + The assignment has asked me to relate the course material to + other things I read, watch on television, or see on the + Internet, in various weekly prompts. + These prompts ask me to develop a relationship with medicine and + the normative idea of health, so that I can develop ideas about + this social construction outside of course material in popular + culture. + Developing a writing process is a major goal of the program, and + this reading journal represents a more sustainable writing + process. + I can transfer the practice to other projects, writing out my + ideas semi-formally before I create the final work. + I will use this strategy when I'm working on larger + communication projects to think out the connections with + other cultural or analytic ideas.
+
Purpose
+
The reading journal is a blog organized into weekly prompts + about class readings and the course theme of health. + The prompts are open-ended questions about course material like + "...explain how The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. + Hyde represents the moral dimensions of health..." that + require critical thinking and assess understanding of the + material (as a replacement this year for in-class discussions). + This writing process also creates value as a reference: in my + essays and in the final video, I reused ideas, quotes, themes, + and concepts that I've developed in my journal entries. + These ideas are particularly focused on popular culture and + modern issues because "health" is a general lens for social + issues and language. + +
+
Audience
+
+ This is a personal journal, so I am the main target for my + writing. + Formal writing is, however, still required because writing out + ideas where they make a cohesive argument or at least are + individually valid. + Proper argumentation or presentation enhances its value as a + reference because I can directly reuse the analysis I've already + done. + Because of the fact that strong rhetoric can make it easier to + develop strong rhetoric in the future, I have written in this + journal to an imagined academic audience familiar with the + course material. + I also see value in practicing argument, particularly with + health and the standard course material being reused in the + Reading Response Essay artifact and the theme in the Medical + Object Video. + That's why I try to develop a convincing case in each post + rather than rattle off a list of ideas for future use (which + would make for less interesting posts). +
+
Design for Medium
+
There are three ways in which this medium is distinct from + other written media, like an essay or an article. + Firstly, I control the surrounding design and theming: Wordpress + is a great tool for background visual design. + I chose to go with black-on-white text and a pretty standard + theme because I don't want the colors to get in the way. + I also didn't use anything other than the plain blog as the main + page because the project is for personal use. + Secondly, the blogposts are much more visual than a standard + essay. + I reused (with proper credit, of course) Creative Commons + licensed photos from Flickr and Wikimedia to enhance my writing + and interject other points or have a visual reference for the + entry. + Lastly, the web gives different techniques for a website to be + passable, like alt text for accessibility and the ability to + link out to sources (a boon to the quality of each entry).
+
Revision
+
+ Each post is a process document, so they are meant to have + developing ideas, but there are still improvements I could make + to the posts and the design. + Firstly, I think I underused the electronic medium. + While I included some photos in each post, they didn't always + develop my ideas further, and I could have looked further than + just highlighting the points I had already made. + Three other electronic-specific tools I underused were links to + other sources and bold and italics. + Both of these would increase my rhetorical strength by + highlighting a central theme. + For an academic reader of the arguments I'm putting forth, + emphasizing the thesis or key terms might give them a clearer + understanding of what I'm presenting, and a better resource to + review for myself. +
+
+

Process documents

+

Earlier Post

+

This earlier post shows how I used very long sentences to deflect the +need for clear, substantive arguments and used similarly insubstantive +image supplements.

+ +

Later Post

+

In this later post, my writing has grown and the text and images are +coherent and build on a single argument, and because of that, my +sentences are shorter and more focused.

+ -- cgit