Blog Post: Closing Post and Reflection
With the research proposal finished and submitted, I have now been asked to reflect on my work and what I have learned this semester. The specific reflection questions Professor Bacabac has posited are twofold, so quoting from her directly:
1. "What have you learned about the processes of designing a sound research study in class?"
2. "What have these processes taught you about your future roles as a technical/professional communicator and digital rhetorician?"
On the first, I now have a fleshed-out, systematic framework for writing and conducting research myself. While I had already read other scholarly articles and been briefed on how to read them (such as sections to prioritize and sections to skip, for example), being on the other end of the paper and writing it from scratch — or at least, writing the research proposal from scratch — was a different experience. As it turns out, it was messier and more plodding than the finished, tidied-up final product makes it look, and requires long chunks of time allotted to each stage and multiple conferences to ensure I have a plan of action and am on the same page as everyone else. If nothing else, it was a case study in learning and documenting a process narrative, chronicled from my first blog post (in which I listed off potential interests) to my penultimate blog post (in which I recappped the research-proposal outline and how I refined it post-debrief with Professor Bacabac).
On the second, I would say that in addition to planning and outlining a research proposal from beginning to end, the act of writing itself — as in, composing prose and assigning words to the subject matter — was both taxing and a craft that needed to be honed and practiced. While certain ideas and concepts seemed "common-sense" and easy to discuss in conversational or layman's terms (such as what encyclopedias are, for example), the scholarly nature of the assignment and more academic culture of graduate school required that I "elevate" my diction and constructions, meaning I had to come up with and assign the right words to make what seemed like a straightforward, elementary concept sound scholarly and polished. Needless to say, I was breaking out the concrete imagery, vivid descriptions, and illustrative metaphors en masse. And while I probably overdid it more than once, better that than define a visual encyclopedia as "an encyclopedia with lots of pictures in it" or something informal like that.
1. "What have you learned about the processes of designing a sound research study in class?"
2. "What have these processes taught you about your future roles as a technical/professional communicator and digital rhetorician?"
On the first, I now have a fleshed-out, systematic framework for writing and conducting research myself. While I had already read other scholarly articles and been briefed on how to read them (such as sections to prioritize and sections to skip, for example), being on the other end of the paper and writing it from scratch — or at least, writing the research proposal from scratch — was a different experience. As it turns out, it was messier and more plodding than the finished, tidied-up final product makes it look, and requires long chunks of time allotted to each stage and multiple conferences to ensure I have a plan of action and am on the same page as everyone else. If nothing else, it was a case study in learning and documenting a process narrative, chronicled from my first blog post (in which I listed off potential interests) to my penultimate blog post (in which I recappped the research-proposal outline and how I refined it post-debrief with Professor Bacabac).
On the second, I would say that in addition to planning and outlining a research proposal from beginning to end, the act of writing itself — as in, composing prose and assigning words to the subject matter — was both taxing and a craft that needed to be honed and practiced. While certain ideas and concepts seemed "common-sense" and easy to discuss in conversational or layman's terms (such as what encyclopedias are, for example), the scholarly nature of the assignment and more academic culture of graduate school required that I "elevate" my diction and constructions, meaning I had to come up with and assign the right words to make what seemed like a straightforward, elementary concept sound scholarly and polished. Needless to say, I was breaking out the concrete imagery, vivid descriptions, and illustrative metaphors en masse. And while I probably overdid it more than once, better that than define a visual encyclopedia as "an encyclopedia with lots of pictures in it" or something informal like that.
Hi Ethan! These closing remarks make a lot of sense. I am glad you are able to reflect on this proposal!
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