ENGL 2116 002 Dana Cox

Austin Traylor 1 September 12, 2011

Getting Acquainted Project

Objective: During class we were assigned a project called the Getting Acquainted Project.
The aim of the project was to encourage us to learn more about our classmates, create connections, and ultimately create a closer environment in the classroom. Of course the project is graded so while I might say encouraged, there really isnt much of a choice behind it.

Research and Results: Throughout the days in class we spent learning each other I was
grouped with three other students, John Taylor, Zach Sylvester, and Bradley Martel. Originally these were the only people I had planned on getting information from for my survey and I only planned on asking what their favorite genre of book was. After getting this information and ruminating on it for a while though I changed my question dramatically. I decided to change my question instead to how often they read for enjoyment in college. Afterwards I determined that having more results would benefit my survey, so I proceeded to question multiple members of other groups. After all if Im going to show results from a survey then it is better to have a larger group of information then a smaller one.

Original Results: My original survey only included the members of my group, but as the
aim of the project was to get me to interact with my peers in the class and the fact that having more results would benefit me, I decided to get the input of multiple other groups. My original question was How often do you read for enjoyment in college? I had hoped to find some similarities or difference with my classmates as I enjoy reading myself, but since entering college that hobby has taken somewhat of a back-seat. The results showed that I wasnt alone in this and that the same had happened to quite a few of my classmates who said they had enjoyed reading often prior to entering college. How often students read for enjoyment in college
Little to none 35% Infrequently 24% Everyday 12% Frequently 6% Now and then 23%

Figure 1: Results of the first survey, asking students How often do you read for enjoy since entering college?

ENGL 2116 002 Dana Cox

Austin Traylor 2 September 12, 2011

Expanding on the Results: Now after seeing the original results of my survey and
hearing how a few people had stopped reading as often as they used to since entering college, I began to wonder what exactly their reading habits were before entering college. Based on this curiosity I formed another question, How often did you read for enjoyment before college? I expected the results to show that a few or more of my peers had read more in high school or during the time before they went to college, as I hypothesized that with the workload in college as compared to those time period, coupled with the responsibility, stress, and textbooks, more than a few would put their hobbies, and reading in particular, on hold or decrease them in frequency. How often students read for enjoyment before college
Little to none 18%
Infrequently 12% Now and then 18% Frequently 29%

Everyday 23%

Figure 2: Results of the second survey, asking students How often did you read for enjoy before entering college?

Comparison of reading habits of students before and in college

Pre College 4 5 1 3 4 In College 4 3

Figure 3: A comparison of the two surveys results, showing the difference in reading habits before and after entering college.

Everyday

Frequently Now and then Infrequently Little to none

My Findings: After looking at the results the two surveys I conducted on the class
presented me with, I found that a lot of students shared similar reading habits as me and my friends before we entered college. However once we entered college quite a few of my peers in this class, as well as my friend and I, stopped reading quite as much. While the reasoning might be different as to why each of us stopped reading as much as we used to, it was nice to know that some of the students shared similar habits to mine and had similar problems with reading in college as me. While we might not all enjoy the same kind of book, the fact that a few of my classmates share the habit of reading and find the act of it enjoyable shows that there are some similarities between us. Those similarities, as miniscule or unimportant as they are to one person, could be important and ice-breaking for someone else. Reflecting on that fact I feel that all in all I feel like this project was quite successful and helped me get better acquainted with some of my fellow students.