Mid-term Reflection

Christian Primm

1) I write best when I really get into what I am writing about. If I dont have an interest in the discussion topic, I probably will not have the same quality that I would if I was genuinely interested in the topic. If there is some connection or interest that I have to the topic, I usually find myself writing with better structure, word choice, and so on. It all seems to just flow out instead of me forcing words onto the page. In these circumstances I rather enjoy writing because it allows me to record in a sense the ideas and opinions that I have on a given topic. So far as time goes, it doesnt matter to me if I write a week before its due or the day that it is due as long as I have enough time to get involved in and think about the subject which I am writing about. 2) When I was working on one of the first forum posts in this class, getting curious, I found myself interested in the effects of technology on peoples lives. Now it just so happened that when I went to church that Sunday, my pastor spoke about how he and his son would communicate when his son was deployed in Afghanistan. It dawned on me at that moment that finding out more about communication between members of military families would be an interesting thing to research. I think that the original interest that I had was due to me writing or typing in this case about technology and how it affects our everyday lives. Something sparked an interest and then that took off when I heard my pastors story. If I hadnt written about this in the first place, I most likely would not have taken the interest that I did in it. 3) I would have to say that of all of the writing that I have done in the past year, a resume for an internship has probably been the pick of the lot. I suppose that there is some bias in there because I received the internship along with a note praising my communication skills. This resume was important to my future career as an engineer because I knew that I needed some sort of practical application to go along with my learning and an internship is where you find that. My favorite line in the resume was me talking about my high school career stating: I graduated from Central Academy of Technology and Arts Magna Cum Laude with a 3.75 GPA. I participated in an Engineering Academy while studying here and received a model student award for high performance during my senior year. The reason that I like this is because I am usually a pretty modest guy but this basically makes you list all of your accomplishments and honors to date. It made me feel proud that what I submitted and how I presented it made an impact on whether or not I received the position. 4) When I first started the inquiry process, my topic was just a simple interest. I didnt really pay it a lot of thought at first and even thought that it wasnt the topic for me at one point. It grew on me however and has stretched my interest farther and farther as the process has worn on. The initial research was difficult because I was at a loss when the information wasnt there. As I found out later, I was not using the correct search terms which made all of the difference. When we visited the library, the librarian helped me access the materials which I needed via correct search terms and an interlibrary loan. This new information increased my interest in the topic and made it so that I enjoy learning about my topic. I think that the process of researching helps a writer better understand and respect the topic which they are researching. 5) These sources make me wonder about the merits of social media versus the downfalls. There are obviously merits when talking about how social media affects military families such as the fact that the families are able to connect with one another and share events from their daily lives. I do not however know everything that there is to know about this even though I have

Mid-term Reflection

Christian Primm

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done my research. Using this metaphor, I should ask questions and learn from the people who researched this before me to better understand my topic. I think that it would be interesting to interview my pastor and have a section of my paper from his point of view. The information would be valid since it would be from a person who has firsthand experience in the matter. I think that if people saw the information presented from the eyes of someone who has experienced what I am researching, they would better understand the topic. Someone who has gone through the whole process of having their son deployed to communicating with them on social media, to seeing them come home would be able to present the information better than I could. I think that as important of a topic as this is, it wont drastically change the day to day lives of either myself or the reader unless we have firsthand experience in the matter. I do have some experience in the matter which comes from the feeling that I got when my uncle (an engineer for the Marines) was send to Iraq for close to 8 months. I know that social media was important to our family and his own because we always tried to stay in contact with him. I think that this topic and the research which I am conducting on it could prove that the effects of social media are either mostly positive or mostly negative based on the readers perspective of the issue and could make them view social media in a different light. Social media has definitely changed the lives of those people who are serving in the military. It has allowed them to stay close to their families while away in foreign countries protecting our freedom. #military #social media Up to this point I havent missed a single class. I also have paid attention in class and attempted to complete all of my assignments on time. I think that this proves that my participation has been satisfactory. I plan on continuing with these standards and hopefully can go through the entire semester with no absences and a good grade because of my willingness to complete all of the assignments by the time that they are due. Is knowledge from an interview important to gain even though the gained information could lean to one side or the other? Why is reading such an important part of writing? What are the merits of having peers proof read a paper if they are not interested in your topic? Can a research paper lean towards one side of an issue more than another, and is this proper? How is presenting facts which are already published somewhere else considered doing something new? If you are proof reading a paper with very few positives, should you emphasize the few things that they did right or focus only on the problems in the essay?