Hello, this is my number 7 and latest blog. Due to Covid-19 we had to take the course online and for this reason we have a reduction in the number of blogs. This blog is a reflection of what we have learned so far in this course.
Also for this blog post we need to read and interpret the two articles Reflective Writing and Genres in Academic Writing: Reflection.. Another thing to do in this blog assignment is to elaborate on the acronym GRITT, which we studied during this course. GRITT stands for Genre awareness, Rhetorical awareness, Identity as an author, Theory of writing, and my Transfer of writing to future writing situations. 1. Your Genre awareness: What is genre awareness? How has it changed in this course? Please discuss the genres of your memoir and either your MLA research paper or your op-ed. Genre awareness is becoming aware of how certain texts are similar in their structure and organization, how content is dealt with, and how vocabulary, sentence structure and tone are used. In this class has changed a lot my genre awareness. I have learned a lot about different writing structures, although I have studied Albanian language and literature for me it is something new to study here and many things are different. Genre awareness is very important for the way you write and read as well. A new way for me was the memoir I made on this blog at Narrative Project. It was very nice and easy for me to make a memoir after I talked about a part of my life in a relaxed but always adhering to the rules of Genre awareness. My MLA research paper was more difficult for me as I had to refine the resources I had taken to do the MLA work. It is a completely different genre than memoir. What I have done in this paper is to address a problem by giving my opinion as well as informing the audience about this problem. The guidelines of an MLA research paper are very strict, so you have to follow them. 2. Your Rhetorical awareness: What is rhetorical awareness? How has it changed in this course? How did you apply rhetorical awareness in your research project writing? Here are helpful resources: What is Rhetoric? / Exigence in Rhetoric (ThoughtCo.) / Rhetorical Purpose / Rhetorical Modes Rhetoric is the art of seeing the available means of persuasion. In order to improve our technical communication, we must be rhetorically aware. Rhetorical awareness is understanding that successfully fulfilling the purpose of your writing is dependent on your ability to anticipate and address the needs of your audience. A rhetorical situation is made up of:
My Rhetorical Awareness has changed because of what I have learned in this course. Now I am more aware of what I write and for whom I'm writing about. I am more aware of what I am writing and who is going to read it, giving enough information to be read by a certain audience. I used rhetoric to persuade the reader and also to inform about the problem I posed in my research paper by addressing the audience who is aware of the problem but who do not know the ways in which the problem can be avoided. In this part I have given my opinion to persuade the audience. 3. Your Identity as an author: How are your past academic writing experiences different from your present experiences with writing in this course? How are the past and present experiences the same? How has it changed in this course? Include a conversation about naming and establishing a relationship with your author-self. Also discuss some or all of the following: being a blogger/vlogger, website author, memoirist, research author, reflective author, found poet, counter-narrative writer, etc. My past writing experiences have been very different from today. I have learned a lot from the beginning of this course, thinking first of all what I will write, why I will write and for whom I will write. Unlike before, I didn't think at all about why I would write, but I just sat down and wrote something. I didn't care if someone read it and understood what I had written or if it was completely out of context. At “A letter to my author self” it was very different to look at myself from the outside and be able to direct a letter to myself, I had never done that before. This way of writing and being aware of what I write I am very convinced that will help me in my future as well as in the continuation of studies and in life as well. It was the first time for me to write blog posts and I really enjoyed having a website of my own and being able to post on it having an audience of my own as well. I've always liked the idea of having a portfolio showing yourself from where those who read it understand more about you. 4. Your Theory of writing: How has this course impacted the way you define and value writing? Which composition concepts/terms do you most value? Include a one-sentence thesis or tag line that represents your theory. From the beginning of this course until now, the way I look at the writing has changed a lot. I have always liked to write, but I saw it as a way of relief by not worrying too much about what I was writing. In this course I have learned different ways of writing and to be honest I enjoyed it a lot. Looking at my blog I learned different writing genres and it also made me more aware of what I was going to write. Writing has revealed that I can enjoy it a lot and it can create different emotions. What I have learned in this course and I am convinced that it will serve me very well and in the future is to look at writing as a process not as a finished product. Thinking of it as a process and what I am going to write will flow more naturally and will not make you feel stressed about how you will start or continue your writing. Now I can say that my writing theory is, "Sit down and write something, maybe something beautiful will come out of it." 5. Your Transfer of writing to future writing situations: How do you plan to use your growing writing knowledge to compose texts in future academic and non-academic contexts? Include a discussion about your writing processes, writing mindset/author identity, genre awareness, and rhetorical awareness. Conclude the conversation with a future scene of writing to illustrate how you might enact writing transfer in a different context. “Transfer,” a term that refers to the extent to which the writing taught in the first year writing class can or should help students write more effectively in other courses and disciplines. I hope to use the increasing knowledge of my writing in the future. What I know for sure is what I have learned in this course will help me ongoing, both in my academic aspect and outside of it. Now I feel more confident when I write. I know what I'm writing about and to whom is addressed. Doing assignments in English Composition has helped me a lot with the way I write and I am very confident now and it will serve me even better in the future. Now I know how to do a research paper and do an MLA, how to write a memoir too. What will also serve me for sure is how to start writing even though I may feel trapped, frustrated or if I think I don't know what to write. It is enough to sit down and throw all my thoughts and I know that writing will flow naturally. It is something very good that will help me a lot and in future. Now I feel more secure and not frustrated when I think I have to write about something, I know that if I sit down and start writing down what comes to my mind and the writing process will come gradually, it's all enough to sit down and to start. I can say without a doubt that I really enjoyed this course, probably from all the classes I have done so far.
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Hello back!! This is my blog number six and in this blog assignment we are discussing counterfactual. So this could be a reflection and we have to imagine how things could have turned out differently. The counterfactual is a mental simulation where you think about something that happened, and then imagine a different ending. For this we are required to read and interpret Rewinding & Rewriting: The Alternate Universes in Our Heads (NPR Hidden Brain Episode) and Two Views of the River (Mark Twain). We have to interpret also the two scenes from Kramer vs. Kramer: Action Scene (Shows/Deepens the Conflict) and Kramer vs. Kramer: End-Resolution Scene. For my memoir I'll write about the decision to come to America and loss of my son.
Narrative project If I were to look back, to see how many things had changed in almost 3 years, I would have never imagined how my life would flow. How many things happen in a single year. Time moves so fast that in 365 days your life can change 360 degrees. It often happens that life abducts us, not realizing that time flies and it all lasts like a blink of an eye. In life I have been aiming to make decisions that have made me reflect and think if I would go back in time I could do otherwise. If a year ago I would have been asked if I regretted the decision I made to come to America and create a future here, I would have said I would like to return to my country. It all started on a warm September day, when I was told that some mistakes had been made in the US lottery and that there were other new winners. I had decided not to apply for the American Lottery anymore as I knew that I would not win even though I applied every year, the time was passing so my husband and I were creating the necessary conditions for a comfortable life in Albania. I don't know what pushed me that day to rethink if I was the winner of one of those who had made mistakes in the system, having given up all hope that my American dream would never be fulfilled. I couldn't believe my eyes, I was one of the winners. My whole life was troubled at the moment. I had been applying for the American Lottery for 8 years every year since it was my biggest dream to live in America, and at the time I had given up, and just when things seemed to be going well in my life, I was going to win the lottery... I had a mixture of emotions and I felt I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. I had thought that for me America was impossible and would always remain a dream, but never thought that someday I would have to choose to really live here. The first confrontation is always a blend of happiness that I could finally fulfill my greatest wish, but never thought if I could live away from my family. I know that even today the biggest concern of my parents is that they want me close. It is not easy to decide to leave the whole family, the friends where you have spent 30 years of your life and going to live on another continent. I know that has been the most difficult decision in my life. In Albania, not many things work, but I grew up there, I had my family, my friends, my country. Coming to America was not at all easy, thinking I had no one here. There were many things starting from the language that wasn't my native language, family, different lifestyle and everything was new to me. Being alone in a country like America without any support is very difficult. My whole decision came only to build a better and more secure future for children. My arrival in America was followed by many sacrifices and with loss of my son was even more difficult. Being alone in my greatest pain with no support from my family made me think I might have made the wrong decision to move away from my home. The following year, being more sober of all that has happened and how much my life has changed, makes me reflect that my coming to America was one of the right decisions, and thank God for making me this future. Only when I think about the benefits of living in America do I realize that going back would be the biggest mistake. Just because I was here my son was able to live for almost 5 months, in Albania it would be impossible even for a day. I have learned to appreciate the moment and opportunities that life has to offer, even though sometimes facing things that can completely change you and your worldview. Hello back readers. This is my 5-th Blog post. This blog post requires us to create an emotional scene with dialogue and symbolism. For this we need to read some articles which I will list below. One of these articles is My Name is Margaret (Maya Angelou), on which I am most relied upon to create this scene. Personally, I wrote about the day of my dissertation.
I got up in the morning and was really excited. I took the computer with me, my dissertation, and directly held my breath for school. I had to be earlier than others as I knew I would be called first because my name starts with AB. As I climb the stairs of school all anxiously thinking about how to make the presentation, I run into the hallway and my friend who called me and makes a sign to hurry: "Move quickly because it's the professor and he want to meet us, I don't know what he want to say" I could hardly hold my breath and was thinking "What happened that the professor wanted to meet us?". He was the professor with whom I had worked the dissertation. Even my friend had the same professor who had been pursuing her diploma thesis. We both had the same topic, the difference was we had dictionaries of different years to study. I could hardly breathe as I reached the classroom where the professor was waiting for us. "Come on, Anisa, good morning!" "Good morning, Professor" I answered, my voice trembling. "We've got a problem," the professor continues. Meanwhile my face had already betrayed me and my heart started beating so hard that I could barely speak the words:" What problem?" My friend didn't seem too worried and was still listening attentively. "The professor who is the opponent for your dissertation, has realized that all the forewords of your diploma are the same" "What does that mean," I answered momentarily, "Was you professor that said to make the foreword and give it to my friend Nertila, as we have the same subject." "I know, don't worry, nothing won't happen because I spoke to the professor, I explained. I wanted you to know if she will mention it." "You just have to say we've worked on the topic together." I was a little quieter and I said to the professor, "If that's what you say, okay, but I'm afraid if they bring us any problem." "As long as the Professor is telling us not to worry, there is nothing to worry about. If the Opponent asks us, we will explain that we have worked together on the topic" - my friend continued. "No worries, she doesn't have anything with you," the professor reassures us. We left there and headed to the group of students who were waiting in line. We join them and I hear my name. "Anisa, come, you are the first one for the dissertation." As I hear the name, I'm afraid and without thinking, I say to one of my friends, "Arjola, go you first because I don’t feel ready." Arjola did not hesitate and went first. The minutes were passing and my anxiety was growing. Finally it was my turn. As soon as I entered the class I encountered the commission of professors.There were eight professors out of whom I had four of my professors who taught me over the years. The other four were from the Institute of Linguistics and the opposing professor. My professor was sitting in the corner and I had him by the side as soon as I sat down. I sit down and say hello to everyone. The chairman of the commission, my Syntax professor, says to me: "Continue Anisa with your dissertation , you sure did a good job." Shaking my voice, I went on to explain why I chose this dissertation and where my thesis work was focused. It was my professor's word. "Anisa has done a very good, excellent job I would say. She has done a good search of compositions that show physical and emotional traits in today's Albanian Dictionary, finding a topic for a doctoral thesis as well. I have followed her work step by step and I would say I'm happy with the result. " At the end of the speech, the opposing professor intervenes: "First of all, I would say it's a good qualitative dissertation, If I wouldn't have found two different students to have exactly the same preface." I see the amazement in the eyes of all the professors, glancing at me. I feel the face blushing and my mind and words not matching. I can hardly say, "We worked together and had the same dissertation." Opponent raised my diploma and my friend's and distributed it to other members of the commission. "Look at you too, it's exactly the same with another student's dissertation" I look at the Phonetics professor who says: "Anisa even if you have a twin sister wouldn't think exactly the same way. This is your own study and you can put it out for publication. But how can you publish it when you have the same thing with your friend. It's called plagiarism. " I couldn't hold my tears and they began to cover my cheeks. I didn't know what to say, I just trembled. I looked at the professor to help me get out of this situation, but he had his head down and didn't speak at all. "I don't believe Anisa has done it, tell me no!" - Professor of Syntax said. I couldn't talk anymore, I just cried endlessly, disappointed by my professor and endlessly ashamed in the most important day of my life. All the professors asked my friend to listen and her version, and they decided to make a meeting about how they will proceed with us. I don't remember what I saw in those moments, I just cried over and over and talked to my mom on the phone: "My life is ruined if I don't graduate." I listened to mom crying and tried to calm me down, but she knew very well that when it came to school, it was one of the most important things for me. They call me and my friend again in class. I was shaking and I was looking forward to hearing the decision. With eyes down, I couldn't look at the professors out of shame. But I was angry with my professor who didn't say a word to protect us and even though he was the one who told me to prepare the content and then give it to my friend, (even though my dad and brother prepared and say I couldn't make the foreword and give it to someone else because it's a theft and it can't be exactly same thing for two different people). Anger and anxiety had abducted me. "Girls, we have decided to either give 5 (passing grade in Albania), or come back in the fall to do the dissertation again and work from scratch," the commission's decision said. I couldn't stop crying and got out of class. We spent all day in school waiting for all the students to finish so we could talk to professors. Later in the afternoon I could talk to my professor who was the director of the Language Department. Explain the whole situation and how we had worked the diploma for so many months. She promises me that a commission will be set up to set a different date for us both so that me and my friend can graduate in time. I was immensely grateful to my professor for giving us another date after two weeks of being able to work the preface from scratch and being able to do the dissertation in time. It was a good lesson for me, but at least I graduated in time. Welcome back to my blog. This is my fourth blog and for that I need to read the material and take note of the three writers, Don Murray, Mary Karr and Anne Lamott. My job is to stage a conversation with the three writers at the table, discussing the most effective way of writing and the writing process. During the discussion I have to list three quotes from the three writers and also three quotes of mine, 12 in total.
Below I will put links from where you can find the material of what they think about writing. Hope you enjoy this conversation just like me.
We are in February, but strangely this Sunday's sun reminds me of fresh spring days. I don't know, but I have an extraordinary desire to go hiking. I put on my coat and I don't know but I got in the car and headed to town, where I had heard that there was a book fair for three days. I had been thinking all these days, because every year I wanted to buy books at the fair and have a collection every year, but I had it away and had to give up. Perhaps today, the beautiful time, made me go to that fair, (or the fact that I had the assignment of English Composition to finish and today was the deadline), was a motive even though I didn't know what I could find in that fair for my assignment. I go inside and look at people, just as I carelessly pass from one stand to another, looking at different publishing houses. I don't even know what book I would like to have this year, but my eyes go to a stand where there was a table and some sitting people talking, and the conversation had abducted them so much that they didn't realize they were catching the attention of everyone passing by. Curiosity made me approach and hear better what they were passionately discussing. I approach and see a white bearded man who directly reminded me of Ernest Hemingway's "Elder and the Sea". At the table with him were two women, one with blondie hair that always had a smile on her face and the other woman, who seemed completely involved in the conversation with a very penetrating look. I was watching them carefully and trying to remember where I had seen all three before. Unbelievable, but in vain do not say that chance is the king of the world. It was exactly the three writers the professor had given us this week to do the assignment, Don Murray, Mary Karr, and Anne Lamott. They were there to give autograph for their books. Enchanted as I was, I approached and heard Don Murray say: “Be patient, listen quietly, the writing will come. The voice of the writing will tell you what to do”. And Mary Kerr, in sign of approval shaking her head, also adds: “Writing, regardless of the end result—whether good or bad, published or not, well reviewed or slammed—means celebrating beauty in an often ugly world. And you do that by fighting for elegance and beauty, redoing or cutting the flabby, disordered parts”. As excited as I was, I got involved in the conversation by saying - "It would be better to put our thoughts on paper, even not quality, not thinking of an ideal final product", and all of a sudden I got their attention, -my professor mention that all the time, I explained. With the blush on my face, I required an apology for my intervention, but all of them approved with a smile. Explain that my assignment also consists of the thoughts of the three of them, and they without hesitation make room for me to sit next to them. Asking me where my assignment consisted, they continue their discussion about the productive way of writing. What goes on is Anne Lamott saying: “You don’t have to see where you’re going, you don’t have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard”. Yes, Mary replies, it's true, : “Every writer I know who’s worth a damn spends way more time''losing `` than''winning ``—if success means typing a polished page that lands in print as is. Scriveners tend to arrive at good work through revision”. Seeing the curiosity in my eyes, she continues : In fact, after a lifetime of hounding authors for advice, I’ve heard three truths from every mouth: (1) Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks; (2) other than a few instances of luck, good work only comes through revision; (3) the best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality. The conversation continues with the intervention of Don Murray, “Writing is primarily not a matter of talent, of dedication, of vision, of vocabulary, of style, but simply a matter of sitting. The writer is a person who writes.” Yes, I support it by saying: "I like to always use one expression: Write, always write, however silly it may seem, maybe something beautiful can flow from it". Yes, Anne adds, it's true: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something— anything—down on paper”.The discussion was ongoing and it involved us all. I watched them talk passionately and I was fascinated. Looking at Mary I say: "We always need a notebook to throw every thought that goes through our minds, later processing would be easier and we would have a more productive writing." Mary supporting me continues: “Revision is the secret to their troubles—and yours. That, and a sense of quality that exceeds what you can do—that gives you something to strive for. Actually, every writer needs two selves—the generative self and the editor self”. You're right, Don adds, and continues: “Don’t look back. Yes, the draft needs fixing. But first it needs writing.” Yes, says Anne: “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later”. We kept talking and I felt lucky that I finally knew what to write in my assignment. I thank them and tell that I would always be grateful that they accepted me into their discussion, asked them for an autograph too, and left with a smile on my face.Take the road back home, and with the sun caress my shoulders. I was so excited, I was looking forward to starting with all that I learned from the three writers. I knew what I was going to write ... Hello back my virtual friends! We are again here and this is my third week on this site. I feel like I have my audience now, even though I don’t believe that someone is reading my web page. LOL. Anyway, I feel enthusiastic how this English Course is going and believe me, I’m really enjoying it.
So, this blog post is going to be focused on reading “A fable for the living” by Kevin Brockmeier. This assignment is to create a letter speaking to our author self. The metaphor in the short story is the connection that is felt with someone who isn’t actually there. Dear cowardly girl! Why do you look at me with that frightened look, cowardly bunny. Yes, I'm telling you, that when it comes to taking a step in your life, you look like a bunny and find a thousand excuses not to start at all. I know it's hard, I know you think that don't have the age to start school especially with a small child. You think and rethink that you have no time to devote to school, and that the little girl needs a lot of attention and care for you right now. I know that all life seems to be just school and after ten years of school breaks it seems impossible to start all over again. It's not easy, I understand, you have a lot of things in disadvantage. It is difficult at this age to resume school, as you have done and Master seems even more tedious and in a foreign language that is not your native language. But I know, I have faith in you that nothing is impossible. Good wishes and little willpower is enough and you will see that you will succeed. Think positively you little coward and you will realize that there is nothing you can do. It sounds difficult, but make a plan, set some goals. I'm here to support you, to say you can and will succeed. You have already begun to love the course of English Composition. To succeed you can set at least three steps and you will start loving to write again, as before. First, you Need to Believe that you can do it. It takes a lot of work, but exercising daily will be easier. Secondly, Enjoy this class, is what you most like to do, to write. Don't be afraid and I don't want to hear you say that you do not know how to do it. Write a little every day to get results. And lastly, Stay Focused and Think Positively. Positive thoughts lead to a better outcome and to success. It's just the beginning, but if you're focused and confident, you'll still be able to enjoy writing like before. Don't be afraid. I trust in you cowards! With love, Anna Welcome back to my Blog. This is my second blog post and we will talk about why we are creating this website and how multimodal affect our writing. We will discuss which are the five modes of the multimodal and what is the C.R.A.P and why is important for our website.
Here you can find the links that relates to the topic that we will discuss about the multimodal and the C.R.A.P.
Hello, my name is Anisa Bici and this is my first Blog for my English Composition 1. I’m excited to share with you what I think and what I like. This blog post will be based off of 35 questions. The questions provided below originated from a french writer Marcel Proust. Marcel Proust argued that one's true personality was shown by their answers on questionnaires so here we are! For more please don’t hesitate to read all the Questionnaire. I will provide the answers for The Proust Questionnaire.
__1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? The idea of perfect happiness for me is to have a good family. When I think about my daughter, husband, parents and brother with his family are good, I feel the happiest man in the world. __2.__What is your greatest fear? The greatest fear for me is to think I might lose my family. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? The trait that I most deplore in myself is that I trust a lot to the people and end up disappointed __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? The trait that I most deplore in others are lies and rudeness. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? The person I admire most is my mother, because I have never known a stronger person who has sacrificed all her life for us and continues to suffer because my dad is in a wheelchair. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? Are a lot since I am obsessed with shopping and end up wasting all my money, maybe just for one bag. __7.__What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is with my son that I lost and I miss him every day of my life. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? The most overrated virtue I consider honesty. It is very difficult nowadays to find honest people. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I try not to lie, but the only reason I lie is that I'm never on time. I always aim to be late and end up lying saying I'm on my way while I'm still at home. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? What I most dislike about my appearance is my belly, and now after my pregnancy I feel overweight. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? I don’t really have one. __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? The quality I most like in a man is sincerity, intelligence and loyalty. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? The quality I most like in a woman is independence and confidence. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? The phrase I most overuse is: Never give up, God thinks for each of us. __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? My son that passed away and my gorgeous daughter. __16.__When and where were you happiest? When I gave birth to my daughter it was the happiest moment for me after the loss of my son. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to have piano talent. I really like to play the piano, it seems very relaxing. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? The only thing I would like to change on my own is to not be stressed for everything. I stress myself even about the smallest things happening in my life. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? My biggest achievement I would consider completing University and Master of Science in Linguistics. I would also consider achievement the first award I received in my home country, in poetry. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I never thought about it, because I believe in God and I know that after death there will be life again and will be again me. __21.__Where would you most like to live? I would like to live with my whole family, wherever possible we could be together. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession are a pair of earrings who have been gifted by my parents when I was 10 years old. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Losing my son in August 2018 and all the suffering he went through for 4 months of his life. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? I miss my job as a Data Entry. It's the work I've done with most pleasure and I loved doing data entry. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? Talkative :) __26.__What do you most value in your friends? What I value most in my friends is the sincerity and how we support each other. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Homer, Tolstoy, Balzac, Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hugo, Albert Camus, Shakespeare, Pushkin, Moliere, Remarque __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? I don’t have one. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? I can’t really relate one to identify myself. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My parents, they have sacrificed all their lives for me and my brother. __31.__What are your favorite names? Ammar, my son’s name ( means: with strong faith in God), Asia: my daughter’s name. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? I dislike the injustice and the dishonest people. __33.__What is your greatest regret? The fact that I did not make a second university in Economics. __34.__How would you like to die? Maybe sleeping, not in pain but ready for the other world. __35.__What is your motto? If you believe, you can achieve. |
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