Final Reflection

Scot Bishop
5/7/2012

English 105, Dustin Marquis

Final Reflection         

At the beginning of the semester, I chose to write a blog post titled “Evaluative Summary.” This post was an exercise designed to practice evaluating, analyzing, and qualifying an author’s work through the means of a summary. Using the work “Vulnerable Teens, Vulnerable Times: How Sensation Seeking, Alienation, and Victimization Moderate the Violent Content-Aggressiveness Relation” by Michael et al., I summarized what they said within their work, while at the same time, backing the work itself with opinions on things like how strong their argument was, their examples used, if there was any bias, etc. For this particular assignment, my audience was the parents and friends of teens that feel like outcasts. Through this assignment, I was able to bring a level of understanding to my audience, and also give them direction on how to help their teen friends that need assistance in life.  My thesis statement for this particular assignment was “The authors cover their ground well, and create an environment where their argument is taken in with open arms,” however, this thesis is only argumentative within the context of the work that I am analyzing.  I would not consider this thesis statement to be well-defined. The vague term “covered their ground well” has no definitive meaning, however, the final part of the theses “... create an environment where their argument is taken in with open arms” is very specific, and accurately describes the stance which I take on this particular scholarly work. My thesis statement has all three parts described in the text that we have utilized throughout this semester: context – the scholarly work itself; subject – the quality of the argument of the authors; claim – that their argument creates an environment where their views are taken in with open arms. My ability to analyze is displayed in the second paragraph of the essay. I have analytically determined the purpose behind what the authors have done in their work, and make evident its relevance to the reader. This particular assignment received an A+, so It is logical to assume that I worked with the authors’ work well to satisfy the requirements of the assignment.

At the end of the semester, I took all my prior knowledge and applied it to one large project, the research paper. My paper is entitled “Marching Band vs. Sport: Is there really any Difference?” In this paper, I dive into the world of public school athletics, and describe how “marching band is a sport, and therefore should be considered part of public school athletics programs, and gain the social and financial benefits associated with being a part of that organization.”  This assignment serves the purpose of being an overall evaluation of the skills that I have perfected while taking this course, also to show my maturity both as a writer and as an analyst. My audience in this assignment was just the general public. Ultimately, since the public school system tailors to the needs of the public, they are the ones who make the decision whether or not my thesis statement becomes reality. The thesis statement, as noted above, is very concise, and gives good direction to the rest of the work. It has all three parts of a well crafted thesis statement. One example of my ability to analyze in this work is taking the concepts highlighted by my authors’ works, and taking them to the next level. It is one thing to just list off information, but if one can’t apply what they know to the context of their argument, then their work is null and void. This is the basis of how I worked with my sources and integrated them into my overall thesis. I strongly believe that this paper was an adequate demonstration of my ability as a writer and analyst.

In the beginning of the semester, I did not have a secure grasp on the concept of writing direction. This is why doing a summary was easier than doing a structured original research essay. When doing an evaluative summary, the pathway is mostly laid out in the work you are working with, and all you have to do is follow that in order to do a good job. This is not true in the context of the research paper. I had to plan out each of the individual steps that I had to guide my reader through in order to arrive at the conclusion at the end of the work. In the evaluative summary, in each paragraph, I follow the same general “format” when giving the reader information. The author’s viewpoint is stated, then described, then applied to my argument. In the research paper, there is no repetitive format for how information is presented. It all depends on the cited information, and how it works within the context of my argument. A specific example of both of these points is paragraph three in the evaluative summary, and in paragraph eight in the research essay. Both accurately display the evolution of my writing from past to present.