Reflective Paper Page -- 1
Writing. It’s a process.
In the beginning of this course, I was asked by my Professor to read the introduction to Composing Inquiry. As I read it, I came across various new terms, and ways of writing and thinking, that I never imagined would become so useful to me. Now that I look back on the work I have done throughout the semester, and read this introduction again, I realize how much I have gained and learned. I have become very comfortable with the ideas and concepts presented in the introduction that not so long ago were new to me.
In the introduction, one of the new terms I was exposed to was inquiry. I was immediately surprised to find that ‘research’, a word I would have immediately associated with inquiry, was only a fractional part of the inquiry process. In fact, according to the book, “to engage in inquiry means that real people are considering something carefully and deliberatively enough that they aren’t going to settle for a sound-bite answer” (Marshall 1). In other words, inquiry in this case, is not just finding an answer to a question, as done in research. Instead, inquiry is a process that involves looking into a question or matter, and putting in “efforts to investigate, think through, reconsider, and generate new knowledge” (Marshall 1). One way to go about this inquiry process is through writing.
Writing is a process that involves inquiring. It requires questioning, researching, and putting ideas together to prove or disprove a point. In doing so, an argument is formed. It must be clear to the reader how the argument was formed, either with the use of secondary sources or even statistical analysis. Once the writer has formed a clear argument, the inquiry process begins. After, their work will be read by others, and the writer will realize that either there are more perspectives to the argument, or that the argument is simply not clear enough yet. Because of this, writing becomes a never-ending process. There is always room for new information, new feedback, or a new outlook one can obtain or incorporate in the work.
This claim was proven to be true for me during this English course. I have been exposed to new readings and writing assignments. I have learned to work with numbers, interviews, images, and challenging readings that required analysis, critical reading, and plenty of revising. In doing so, little did I know that I was applying what the book considers “‘habits of mind’ essential to inquiry” (Marshall, 2). The “habits of mind” I found myself applying most often, included curiosity, flexibility, precision, and self-reflection. Through the use of these qualities, I feel that my writing truly has improved.
The works included in this portfolio best represent the way I have combined the process of inquiry with my writing. Additionally, the supplement, or fourth work, in this portfolio, includes revisions I have made on my peers’ works, which reflects my ability as a writer to provide constructive suggestions to my peers. I chose to include this as the supplement to my portfolio because I find it is an essential component of a writer’s skills, and I feel confident that I have done a successful job in providing helpful feedback. To me, a successful job in making revisions consists of pointing out strong writer qualities that the writer left out or misused. In order to make this evaluation, I followed the rubric given in class, and would consider all the higher and lower order concerns. This included critical thinking, content, organization, audience, purpose, consistency, forming clear arguments, framing, and so forth. (See Blue tab in portfolio).
My first work is the “Survey Assignment”, which was of the most interesting assignments for me. My survey involved testing student’s knowledge on Politics versus Pop culture. The assignment was quite challenging because for the first time I worked with incorporating statistics and graphs into a formal essay. In addition, it was the first time I actually put together and distributed a survey. This involved various steps, including composing a pilot survey, and considering ethical requirements. My initial paper on the survey assignment included analyzing the results I got from my surveys, and trying to find a correlation between students with a high GPA and their knowledge in Politics versus Pop culture. After receiving feedback from both my professor and my peers, I found that my argument was hard to follow, especially because the statistical results I obtained were difficult to understand. Moreover, I realized that my argument wasn’t necessarily proving or disproving my initial hypothesis. Instead, it was simply pointing out a random correlation.
Therefore, in an attempt to resolve the complexity of my paper, I redistributed the survey to a smaller target population, and made a simpler analysis. In doing so, I managed to answer my initial hypothesis in a more direct way. Additionally, I incorporated graphic illustrations to help the reader better understand my results. I found that I used four specific “habits of mind”: Curiosity, Flexibility, Precision, and Self-Reflection.
The way I found myself applying Curiosity in revising my paper was by finding a new approach to testing a hypothesis. More specifically, as the book puts it, I used “interests and prior knowledge to develop new angles or consider different perspectives” (Marshall 2). I used my prior knowledge and experience in conducting a survey and its analysis, in creating a new and improved argument through a different perspective. As for Flexibility, just as the book mentions, I “[tried] different strategies to complete a project” (Marshall, 2). I took a different approach in analyzing my survey and putting together my paper. Furthermore, the result I obtained from conducting my second survey, differed from my initial results and therefore, I had to be flexible in that I had to be “able to revise a position in light of new evidence” (Marshall 2). Precision, the third “habit of mind” I used, was key to this assignment, as I had to be precise with the statistics I used and the argument I made in order to keep the reader from getting confused. Lastly, of the most important “habits of mind”, was Self-Reflection. After re-reading the feedback I received, and my first paper, I was able to asses my work, and find an alternative way to make it better.
Revising this paper was indeed challenging and time consuming. However, I feel confident that the revision was a great improvement from my previous work. Through the use of secondary research, graphs, and a simpler analysis, I have done a better job in clearly presenting my argument to the reader. (See White tab in the portfolio).
My second work, the Interview Assignment, was actually a follow up on my survey. I found an interesting statistic that I wanted further information on. Here again, I found myself using the quality of Curiosity, to initiate the inquiry process. This assignment was probably the most challenging in that it was the very first time I had conducted an interview, and incorporated it into a paper, without simply rewriting the entire interview. Therefore, I tried to include an analysis as to the responses I received from my interviewees.
In addition, I came across another “habit of mind”, Tolerance. In this case, I had to be open minded and tolerant of the interviewees’ perspectives on a certain matter, even if I did not necessarily agree with them. I also had to apply the quality of Precision, in that I had to consider ethical methods of investigation, and choose the best word choice, in order to keep from seeming biased as to one opinion over the other. In this case, it was difficult to incorporate secondary sources into my analysis being that my topic of investigation was extremely specific. (See Yellow tab in the portfolio).
The last work in my portfolio, is my Political Cartoon Analysis. Although the reading was difficult for this assignment, I feel that it was helpful in a way. It forced me to use and thus, improve my critical reading skills, which are very important to the inquiry process. The required reading was Edwards and Winkler’s essay, and after reading it many times and deciphering it to the core, I was finally able to understand it. From there, I was able to choose the images that I would interpret as ideographs.
Initially, even before fully understanding the essay, I wrote a first draft of this cartoon analysis. However, when I actually did come to understand it, I realized the changes I had to make to my paper. I found myself being Self- Reflective in my paper, in that I was noticing the flaws of my paper, and what aspects I needed to improve in order to enhance it. Then, I was able to incorporate their logic and reasoning of the idea of ideographs into my paper. Some of the feedback I received was that I had misinterpreted some of the images. However, I chose not to make any changes to that in my final copy of this assignment, because I personally feel that an interpretation of an image is strictly based on the person interpreting what they see in the image. (See Red tab in the portfolio).
The purpose of a portfolio is to present the work you have put together over a span of time. It aims to show the growth and learning over a period of time and therefore, this portfolio best represents the work I have done throughout this semester. In reading it, you too may understand how it is that I came to identify with and really use the process of inquiry in my writing. Enjoy!
© Joelle Mendal
Margaret Marshall Composing Inquiry: Teachers’ Resources Prentice Hall 2008