This Year I had my first English class in college and i discovered it wasn't as easy as i predicted. As a writer i usually don't struggle to write papers, although i wouldn't say that i struggled to write in this class, i had a rocky start. At first with our first project, in which we practiced analyzing an article, i simply wrote each part in class as we talked about them. It was dring project 2, the actual paper, that i realized i needed to change my approach. Writing in class didn't provide enough time to write the entire paper but writing at home provided too many distractions. So I decided to switch it up. I learned that it was possible to reserve an individual study room in the campus library and that turned out to be my saving grace. In an isolated environment with nothing but myself in a small room, I was blue to focus better. The dim lights allowed for a relaxed atmosphere with a light closely over looking the table have the perfect lighting so I could see the keys of my laptop. Adding in the perfect music and in a short time I cranked out an eleven page paper. I was able to focus and get my work done by isolating myself from any distractions; fueled by caffeine and excitement about my writing topic. This semester was also the first time I had ever come into contact with the APA style of citation. At first it was a bit tricky getting use to the different style, although the in text citation was very similar to what i had always done. Ultimately i ended up using an online guide to help me whenever i had to make my works cited pages. I actually find APA to be very easy to use now and ended up using it for other classes as well.
Project 2: The Misplaced Fear of Religion in Schools
Project 1 was teaching us how to analyze an article, which we did in class. Project 2 was an actual paper we had to write about an issue, but doing it in an almost analytical way. I chose the topic, Religion in Schools, and article that i did primarily because it is one that fascinates me. I have always been interested in culture, primarily in religion and when i was in school there were no classes i could take about it. I tried to get world religions in my high school but couldn't get enough people to sign up for it. When i saw the article while looking in the Atlantic, i knew instantly i wanted to use it. I chose the Atlantic as my foundation source because i like the "voice" it has. I can't really explain more, other than i just really liked the way it chose to show things and the way it made me care about what i was reading.
When it came to doing the research after deciding on my topic, i hit a wall. I tried looking online at public forums but those have always been hard for me to read and follow along the conversations. I tried academic journals, which were slightly helpful when it came to statistics and facts but didn't really provide the information i needed. I knew the only source that would help me write an excellent paper were directly in the issue: teachers and parents. So i reached out to two high school educators i had had while in school and also to a friend of mine who had mentioned where she stood on the issue as a mother. I was surprised at her answer and asked her more questions which ended up as an almost interview. The same thing happened with the educators. With all of their permission i was able to use our conversations in my paper and they were truly the most helpful sources.
Returning to my foundational source we had to figure out "questions" that the source raised. For me it was obvious, what were the experiences of the people who were in the issue and what were possible solutions? I was also highly concerned with the consequences of the issue if it went unchecked and thought that answering that question would be a good conclusion to my paper. Answering these questions wasn't as easy as i thought it would be given how hard it was to find online sources and sources that weren't entire books (because the issue i had chosen has been the topic for MANY books). But once again it was direct contact with people whose lives were impacted by the issue that saved my project. It first i wasn't really sure what to ask or how i was going to be able to use it in my paper. But once the ball got rolling everything fell into place. I ended up barely using my online sources at all, which was a surprise because i figured that they would give me more to work with. I ended up focusing on my direct sources rather than information that were just on the outskirts of the issue given to me by my online sources. My strategy was to dive straight into the center and work my way out to a possible solution or to the dire consequences.
I chose to write my paper in sections because of how we went about discussing it in class. The first section was actually "project 1" in the class that i decided to keep and reuse in my project giving how it validated my article and the original source. Being honest i hadn't realized that the two projects weren't connected. It was in this first section that the questions from the original article were covered as well. When it came to sources we started talking about scholarly journals and i decided that i wanted to have several as sources to validate my own paper and prove that i had done my research. I didn't end up using even half of the information as quotes for the paper, however i did read them all and they influenced how i wrote my paper. One in particular had been broken up into sections with subheadings, a style i chose to mimic in my own paper. After finding little help online i reached out to the people i was familiar with enough to talk about the topic and ended up focusing on them. This was the entire second section of my paper. The third and final section of my paper i admit was biased by recent political actions and reactions. However i found that the information and examples i provided in the final section and closing were exceedingly relevant the issue raised in the beginning article.
Project 3:
Project 3 was to follow and write about a specific case study. Seeing as my interests are in religion and society i ended up choosing a religious case. It was one i was already familiar with, i had remembered reading about it when it actually happened. The case was of a widow getting her husband's religious symbol approved by the VA so that it could go on his head stone. The issue had been going on for over nine years but it was this widow that really pressed it and almost took the government to court. I felt inclined to choose this article due to my slight bias, i also follow a very similar religion to the one presented in the case; i have a necklace with the same symbol on it. Getting to write about something as c lose to home as this gave me motivation to write the paper and to do it justice.
Researching this topic was both easier and harder than the first project. Although i had more options in my sources and there were lots of sources about my case, a lot of it was repetitive and almost seemed to draw from the exact same interview. It wasn't until i found an online article published on a christian newspaper that seemed to have a bias to it that i got any new information. At first when i saw it was from a christian newspaper i was hesitant to even read it. When it comes to paganism, many christian sites tended to have a lot of negative output. However this one was supportive of the case and provided a lot of in depth information and quotes from an interview that i hadn't found in any other newspaper or journal. Once again i was also faced with having to add variety to my source list. I didn't just want to have websites and news articles. So with the help of my english professor i was able to find an actual law journal to use as a source. It also went highly in depth to the case and the factors surrounding the case.
When it came to format i had mixed feelings. In my original outline i had planned to cover the case as a first part and then write a second part about how the case was about discrimination and present further evidence of discrimination of the religion. Just as i had added a section in Project 2 about consequences of the issue, i wanted to present a section to the third project that gave another dimension to the paper. However at the last minute i decided that i didn't want to distract from the case study and opted out of the second section. I followed the same format as my first paper, using headings to break it up and give the reader a heads up about what the next section was. I feel that this format gives the paper a more organized look and makes it easier to read. I use it in all of my papers now and think that it is a pattern i will continue to follow.
In my paper i decided to do 4 sections: an introduction, "the case", "further struggles", and a conclusion. In the introduction i spoke about the religion at play, Wicca, which is a form of neopaganism. I gave information about it and the symbol that the case was focused about: the pentacle. I also introduced the antagonists, so to speak, of the case, the Department of Veteran Affairs - commonly known as the VA. In the case i explained about how long the symbol had been on pause from even being viewed, much less approved as a symbol for headstones as well as what got the ball rolling. Roberta Stewart, a new widow, was the one who pressed the issue and threatened to take the VA to court. Her objective? To get the pentacle approved - or even rejected as long as it got seen! - and placed on her late husband's headstone so that he could join the ranks of all the other fallen soldiers who were able to have their spiritual paths etched into their final resting place. In the third section "Further Struggles for Wicca" i was able to compromise and include evidence of further discrimination and ridicule for the religion in play. It was a happy medium between having an entire second section to the paper and not having it at all. I kept it short so as not to pollute my paper with too much of my own personal bias. I decided that after such a negative and blunt section that the paper needed to conclude on a more positive note. I wrote about how although there are struggles for the religion and those who identify as Wiccan or Pagan, the future is hopeful.
Conclusion: Overview
All in all i have to say that i thoroughly enjoyed my first english class in college. I liked having a few shorter papers to write rather than one big paper due at the end the way my anthropology classes are. The class was mildly interesting when it came to learning new ways to research and find sources. On one of the earlier days the professor introduced a publication called "The Atlantic" in which i took a articular interest in. Even though it had nothing to do with my paper i dove further into the publication to discover that they accepted short stories from readers and that select few would be published. My professor encouraged me to submit my own work and even offered to help me revise it and make it ready. The class was usually relatively quiet with students on their laptops searching and reading through sources for each paper. Although i had no qualms with speaking out and asking the professor questions about outlines or different sources, something i did almost every other class. It had a very relaxed atmosphere that i liked and i would without a doubt recommend my professor to other students.
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