Portfolio annotations

Overall Reflection
Overall, portfolio number 2 continued with peer revision, drafting, and reading. But we also obtained new information on outlining, thesis statements, reading images, and researching. Outlining was a way to help a writer organize their thoughts on what they prefer to write. There are different kinds of outlining; for example a person can organize by using roman numerals, free writing, or the MEAL plan. Outlining can be telling what a person’s observation is and it shows by using evidence to support an observation. On the other hand, thesis statements are what display the main purpose or topic of an essay. It can introduce a point that the writer is trying to give to the reader. For example, my thesis statement from my essay is “In our society’s case, perfection is imaginary due to war, poverty, sickness, torture and crime. Seeing our community as a perfect environment is certainly setting high standards that would take time and consideration from people to achieve.” My statement shows the reader that the essay will be talking about perfection and how a society can or can’t be perfect. In order to produce my essay, we had to read an image to get the topic of our paper. I chose a picture that seemed powerful to me by the form of body language and emotion represented. Therefore, I wrote my essay with the same attitude I had by looking at the image.
From the new information we learned for portfolio two made my work easier than not knowing the technique of outlining or researching. For outlining, I ended using the “spider plot”. Which has the topic in the middle and from this box I made subtopics boxes, each containing their own details. Using this plot helped me to focus on what I had planned to write so I wouldn’t run off track. Also, researching was more interesting due to the topic I had chosen to write about: Perfection/Utopia. For research, I tried the internet first and I found information but I wasn’t sure if it was relevant. I then found books on Utopia at the library and trusted the info that I received. At the library I ended up getting twice as more information than I did from the internet. By researching, it helped me to produce a thesis statement which led into helping me start my essay. My thesis does the job of covering the topic I will discuss in my writing. Also from learning how to read from an image I found this activity more exciting because it was interesting to figure out the point to an image. From observing my image is how I came up with the topic of “perfection.”
In the future I want to continue using outlining techniques and researching and eventually improve on these skills. I became a huge fan of peer revision also. I’ve never done peer revision until I was introduced to it in this class. I find it helpful because my peer usually finds issues in my writing that I would have never seen. I like the honesty from my peer because in the long run it saves me embarrassment when it is time to hand in my paper. Out of all the new techniques we’ve learned, peer revision was my favorite. As for research and thesis statements, those will only improve from the amount of time I spend on them. I tend to come across research papers once in a blue moon because essays that are assigned to me usually have to do with my personal thoughts. But I will defiantly take what I’ve learned on thesis and research into consideration because I know I will come across these types of essays again.

Research Reflection
Researching on my topic “Utopia” and “perfection” wasn’t hard but it related to many other topics such as politics and relationships. As mentioned before, I first turned to the internet to begin researching. I noticed perfection is a topic that can be told through other people’s opinions on what it should be. I found many online articles from other people that contained their own personal feelings on the subject. I even found videos that documented random people and explained their thoughts on perfection. Meanwhile, when I searched Utopia on the internet I found a great deal of history on where the term was founded and why. But after a while of internet searching on perfection and Utopia, I began to find repeated information. I turned next to the library and found 2 good books on Utopia and these books ended up answering all of my questions. What, where, how, and why there is a word Utopia.
I’ve learned that researching on the internet may get you far but if you want to look for info to go much deeper into a topic, I recommend a library. As said before, the internet can be sketchy at times and not provide people with the right information. When I began research, the internet was a good starting point for narrowing down my topic, then with the topic I chose I went on to using more relevant information out of a library. I will admit I never did take the time to read written articles from authors to support pieces of information in my paper. Even though the internet provided me with enough personal thought articles from others, I still should have read actual articles from a magazine or journal to see truthful information.

Abstract
Context: I will be exploring the term Perfection and describe is the word is imaginary or reality.
Problem: I will discuss why the world around us is not perfect. There are too many different cultures, beliefs, and goals to settle on one agreement.
Launching Point: I want to cover how not having a perfect world effects people.

Essay Reflection

Writing this research paper helped me to improve on my skills of researching and writing a thesis statement. Putting in all together the methods I learned this semester: outlining, peer revision, researching, drafting, and reading images, I now can take what I learned and turn it into any good paper. I tested this knowledge by first choosing an image I thought was powerful. In the image are a man, a woman, and a child in a stroller. By the way the couple is standing with the child in the middle, staring out onto a heart sculpture reminded me of how “perfect” this image was taken. Keep in mind this was not a planned scene, the picture was taken at the right moment. After examining the picture a little bit more, the body language of the couple showed they may have issues going on in their life. The way they are both positioned, looking at the heart, could resemble troubles in love, money, or just the moment itself. This picture showed a perfect example of the world today. It represents families in their same situation; by taking a break from what is around them and admiring how something is so simple but yet beautiful. Therefore, the topic of my paper was perfection and later leading into the term Utopia. Then as I wrote my paper I continued with my knowledge of the thesis statement, drafting, and revising. By the time I was done with the paper I’ve experienced throughout my research all the skills needed to make a great paper. Even though I favored more methods than others, I will still continue to use all of them.