Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Reflecting on the Quarter
As we wrap up the quarter reflect on what you have learned in WRIT1133. Do you think your writing has advanced? How so? What is the most valuable thing you have learned? Do you believe that you will use the research techniques from this class in the future? As for our topic, do you view the homeless community differently? What did you learn about the homeless that you did not know before? Will you volunteer at PHC next spring?
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I most definitely feel that my writing has advanced. Not only has my writing advanced, but my though processes, research strategies, and confidence have also advanced. Through this quarter, my most improved aspect of my writing is definitely being able to incorporate scholarly sources into my writing. I have a much broader and more sophisticated way at searching for articles and sources to use to help prove my point in my articles. I think that everything I have learned about databases, research, and first-hand experience will benefit me in the future as a writer. I think that this is because so much about what I have learned this year has come from these things. All of these different ways of learning have impacted me to the point of changing my stereotype on a group of people that has been in my life for over 19 years. I view the homeless population much differently in that it is not always their fault that they are homeless and also that they are not the lazy bums that I have prevously though them to be. One new thing I learned about homelessness this quarter is that families are homeless. Although this may seem obvious I had never even thought about the concept of this before this course. I will most definitely volunteer at PHC next spring in hopes of seeing my client from this year again and finding out how much better he is doing.
After completing WRIT1133 I have a lot of invaluable tools to take away with me-- not only to use on for my writing, but also for life. As for writing, I learned how to use the research center online in the library and how research can be invaluable for papers. It proves to be support necessary to make a substantial argument to the public readers. Also, I learned that research doesn’t come in one shade-- there are many different ways to research and compile that research into a piece for a public audience. I learned that quantitative and qualitative research are both affective when used properly. I have also learned life lessons, such as assumptions should not be made based on what people around you believe. It is important to experience something before assumptions and opinions are formed otherwise it leads to single mindedness. My opinion of the homeless has changed greatly with all of our readers, discussions, and volunteer work. I don’t think they are lazy in the least. I think that most are people just like me that have simply had a stroke of bad luck or made mistakes-- but in the end, we all make mistakes. I think that I will be returning to volunteer next year because it was an experience that not only I needed, but the clients needed, too.
I definitely think that my writing has advanced because of this course. Doing rough drafts of every essays, then having them reviewed by two peers and usually Prof. Bateman made for a lot of feedback. As I went back through my papers to edit them I definitely felt like I always was able to improve my writing from the comments I recieved. I think I also was able to improve my research based writing a lot. It has always been my least favorite way to write and probably my weakest writing style so having to write every paper like that this quarter forced me to make improvements.
The community service associated with this course was also very good to do. I competely signed up for this course by accident. I had no idea I was in a service learning course until I walked in the first day. Having done a lot of volunteer work in the past, my attitude towards the homeless did not really change much, but if definitely felt good to do some service work because I had not done any since going to college. I definitely think I will volunteer at PHC in the future if my schedule allows me to.
I believe I have learned many things in WRIT 1133. i believe that this course was pretty advanced and challenging.I believe that learning how to incorporate sources into my writing was the best out of of what I have learned. I also liked learning how to use the Penrose library to use it for scholarly sources. I believe i will use this techniques in all of my papers that might come. I also noticed how much my perception changed from now and then on homeless people. I used to think that they were homeless because they wanted to live that way, that they were uneducated and they were pretty much lazy and did not want to work for a living. I believed they just wanted everything to be handed into their hands. Yet now after my field research my whole perspective has changed I learned that many of them have college education, and were in some time in good economic status. I view this people in better way. This has impacted me very much
I have learned a lot from taking this class. This class has been the most challenging writing class for me that I have taken at the University of Denver. It has showed me how to write essays using research found from credible, academic sources. It has then showed me how to incorporate my opinion through analyzing the outside sources. Not only have I learned a great deal about different writing styles such as using quantitative and qualitative styles, but I have also learned a lot about homelessness in general. I have learned a great deal about false stereotypes of homelessness from writing an essay about it. Also I have volunteered at the Denver Rescue Mission and had the opportunity to guide a homeless man to get services at Project Homeless Connect. Those experiences and the knowledge I’ve gained about homelessness have given me new views about the homeless community. I will no longer develop the same stereotypes that other people form because I have come to realize how wrong they are. I plan to volunteer at Project Homeless Connect next year with the idea to help another homeless person. I have written many essays about my experiences with the homeless and done much analyzing of pieces that involve the homeless. This has helped me gain a better understanding of research techniques such as how to use databases and find credible, academic sources.
This quarter has been a very different from the last one. I had the same teacher but because it was a service learning class it was flipped around, not only were we writing the papers but we were the researchers this time around. It was a different perspective when I was writing the observational essay. My writing has definitely advanced, I know I have struggled to get it in on time but I really believe that I have improved my writing. I will definitely use these research techniques in the future.
As for the homeless topic, I have learned more than I thought I would. I always knew that not all are lazy and really do work hard and some are just in bad situations that don't help out their problem. I didn't know about Denver's Road Home 10 yr. project. I found this to be very interesting, I actually want to do some investigating myself on how this will work, I read the report but I have some questions that I want answered.
Over the course of this quarter, this WRIT class has helped give me a better perspective on my writing techniques. I can honestly say that the feedback that I recieved on my papers was well very well recieved by myself, as well as internalized and finally used to help me write much better pieces. This was a welcome change from last quarter. Nevertheless, with regards to specifics, I can say that I now understand and can decipher which tactics to use with certain audiences. I can distinguish more qualities of different writing styles like qualitative, quantitative, and interpretive. I also feel like I developed my ability to see my writing for how it actually is, I used to never read over and edit my work and now I can tell that this process is essential for a true piece of writing to be good. I am sure I will employ the research methods we used in this class in the future, but it will be for different classes other than writing, actually implementing the structures that have been given to us to make sense of future studies.
With regards to the theme of homelessness that our class was focused on, I feel as though my perspectives and overall conception of homelessness in America has been significantly altered. I can say that I wasn't one of the kids who believed all of the negative stereotypes about homeless people, nevertheless I was very unaware of the extremely tedious and difficult process of getting back on one's feet after having been homeless. The obstacles faced by homeless continue to stagger me and make me realize I really dont appreciate all for which I am extremely fortunate.
I think that my writing has definitely improved. I feel much more confident with my writing as well. What has improved the most is my understanding of the penrose research database and obtaining useful, pertinent, scholarly articles for my essays. This will definitely come in handy for the years to come. I think it is very important to be able to use these resources properly in order to make essays stronger. As for my opinion on homelessness, I don't really know how much has changed. I feel as if some of my attitudes have changed but there are also some that have changed. I also feel like circumstances may play a role in my indecision or attitude towards people who are homeless. I can say one thing though...I definitely feel as if I can be more PC when reffering to or talking about people who are homeless. I don't know if I'll volunteer next spring...I guess we will see.
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