Michael+Milano

Michael Milano's page!

I finally figured this out. Woo.


 * SET 3**

4/19/10

Since I've just started with the project and almost literally just began my annotated bibliography, I suppose this space would be best used to describe, critique and evaluate my research and review strategies when it comes to the articles I selected and the articles I discarded. I tend to find myself haphazardly fumbling through endless articles with very little success until I finally focus my energies on the actual search queries and not the titles of the articles returned by each entry. It helps to reflect on the way in which you're asking the computer to search for you and potentially revise the methods you adapt throughout the research process in order to accomplish your goals and find your articles much quicker than simply beating a dead horse with the same old search terms.

Some of the different methods I tried out included term substitution, using the " " symbols to designate solid terms, taking breaks in between searches to refresh the mind, and a few others that really helped me get the articles I needed. Unfortunately I only just started my project so this is about all I can write on this topic, but it did provide me with a nice chance to reflect on my patterns and realize that I actually did have patterns to begin with.

How do you revise the way you work? Is changing your methods a good thing or should you stick to tried and true ways of doing work? How is it that everyone else accomplishes these goals?

4/21/10

Since my last entry, I have began to draft my annotated bibliography and summarize my sources. It has taken almost all of my effort to read through these dry pieces of information and make any sense out of them simply because of the scientific specific nature of the articles. So far, I've not included real citations or any serious facts or figures in any of my reviews just so I can organize them and get a grip on the different facets of the topic as discussed by each article presented. In class, we read a few articles so far this semester that have somewhat helped me through this process, one of which was the article that basically helped you with how to get started writing. A lot of times, I'll simply sit down and crank out a long piece of material that I actually never look at again. Unfortunately, with this assignment, it's not necessarily a possibility due to the nature of it, but I have for a few of the articles simply regurgitated information I found in them.

Over the course of the drafting process, I found myself engaging in a few different acts that I had not previously realized I was participating in. In my head, I tend to brainstorm webs, connections and one by one form synapses between ideas and points in my paper, something that's usually done on paper by hand. For some reason, doing that on paper confuses me much more than simply thinking about the things I aim to write about. Another strategy I utilized was the "break taking" thing. We learned about how giving your brain a little rest between sessions of writing can help refresh your thought processes and help you think about things from an angle you might not have before. Finally, I realized that although I tend to be averse to stop-start editing, I had a habit of correcting myself through each and every sentence after I wrote them, reading them back to myself and hearing things I would probably not ever say in real life.

What strategies do you employ when you're in the drafting process? How do you edit your work and do you think it would be beneficial to try other methods of revision?

4/22/10

It's only been a short time since my last entry, but I have made significant progress on my project. I have almost all of the sources I'll use on the final bibliography and I have decided that for the actual format of my final paper, I'll be writing a letter in reference to artificial reefs addressed both to the mayor of my town and interested activists everywhere through the Transworld Surf Magazine forums. The evidence I have gathered so far points to the extreme importance of reefs in the ocean and the help that artificial reefs give the existing natural reefs in terms of ecosystem support, fishing, tourism and other human influences that are damaging these fragile environments. The demand for tourist diving, fishing and other activities puts an immense strain on the ecosystems in question to flourish and provide the tourists with what they want to see when they want to see it, which is not necessarily on par with the Circadian rythym of the ecosystem's natural abilities to rejuvenate surrounding and integral life. This is only one example of why artificial reefs benefits the marine ecosystems, as well as provide surfers with a greater opportunity to enjoy surfing. People commonly misconceive surfers for beach rats, low life scoundrels who don't care about anything. In fact, surfing is a deep spiritual experience that connects you with the ocean in a way that you cannot hope to be connected with anything else in the world. Once you catch your first wave you better make arrangements to be able to catch a whole lot more, because you won't be happy until you're back on that face in between the still and the storm, carefully balanced on the edge of disaster at the peak of human harmony in nature. It's these times that people realize the importance of bonding with the ocean and maintaining it's purity, which is why surfers are so involved with oceanic conservation. This passion is what I'll use to sway and persuade, making evident the dire need for such a process to be undertaken.

How do you think personal opinions or passions should be injected into a formal plea to political or social figures for a cause? To what extent are they beneficial or detrimental? How much personal experience is too much to share in an instance like this when the topic is so close to the person's heart?

4/26/10

I'm still not even close to finishing my project, but I am almost finished the final stages of preparation and drafting. Now that the annotated bibliography is almost completed, it's nice to look back and reflect on what I accomplished and how I did so. This assignment was blatantly different than anything I had been taught how to do so far in my college career, having a different formant, different requirement and different process than all of what I've learned. In the beginning and, (though I hate to admit it,) even now, I don't particularly understand why the project incorporates certain requirements into the key components of the composition as I don't see them as completely necessary or even beneficial to the process, but I do however understand the importance of pushing your own limits and trying new things even if you disagree wholeheartedly with them, because although you may not understand or even want to do something, diversity is what makes people who they are. The changes in my process aren't what makes me the writer I am, but the way in which I react to, adapt with and reform them to fit my style absolutely is what makes my writing my own. I know it's cliche to mention all of these things but the more strange and foreign processes I try and experience, the more I strengthen my own style by knowing my personal preferences. It's like driving a car all your life, loving it, knowing it's the car for you, and then driving other cars that you might not want to necessarily even be seen in in order to potentially bolster your skills in your personal car and learn more about the other options out there. You never truly know yourself and your style's identity until you identify it through other eyes and dispositions.

How do you see yourself and do you think this project has helped you become a better writer? How might you change or keep your style based on what you have learned here?

I commented on Michelle's last post and Emily's last post.

I commented on Michelle's discussion post and Megan's 4th post.

April 6 Yesterday in the writing center, I had a session where the client was almost impossible to work with. He was abrasive, rude, and completely uncooperative to the point that I almost told him to leave. We started reviewing his paper and working out the kinks when I realized that the client wasn’t necessarily a rude person, he just did not like having his work critiqued and not knowing what to do when he was wrong. As soon as I recognized this I changed my approach and started asking him questions that only he could answer based on the paper he had, like “What was your thought process here?”, or “How might you say this differently?” His demeanor immediately changed from defensive to cooperative and he started correcting his own mistakes, looking into his own structure and creating new ideas from things I had not even thought of. This instance reminded me of a previous reading we did this semester, called ‘Inside the Tutoring Session’. It goes through the process of writing and gives ideas about how to better acquaint your client with the steps, and also shows ways to help explain those steps to them if they don’t understand. On page 24, it talks about the Facilitating step of tutoring and how each individual is unique in their thought process. I re-read this passage and realized that in a way, this is what I was doing; catering the process to the individual. It really worked.

Comment from Megan: I understand that it's hard for writers to receive criticism of their own work, but that abrasiveness probably comes from the fact that he doesn't understand the writing process and that a first draft (or even a final draft) isn't complete or absolutely perfect. I think you did a great job of handling this person; I think I probably would have not handled that situation as well as you did!

March 30 Ryan 54-65 “The Writers you Tutor” Today I had a writer in the center with a little bit of a language barrier, but not one disruptive enough to prevent her from getting her points across. We struggled a little bit at first while I was getting a grasp of what she was trying to say, but after about 5 minutes of conversation I understood. She was much more able to write the language then she was to speak it, and it made for a challenge. We finally established a basis of communication and got on with the session just fine, accomplished what she wanted to and got a few things done that we didn’t expect to as well. I remembered reading about clients with language barriers in Ryan, page 54-65. One of the sections of that reading mentioned some strategies for helping students with language barriers, including the fact that you have to have patience with them. It's not helping anyone when you get frustrated and repetitive, and it in fact may damage the client-tutor relationship.

March 28 Rafoth 115-119 “Tutoring in Unfamiliar Subjects” Last night I had a session with someone with a subject that was completely unfamiliar to me. I stressed about it when I started to flounder and have trouble understanding the paper that was written, so instead of continuing in this manner I simply stopped, took a breath and asked the client what on earth he was talking about. We both laughed, which made the session a little more comfortable, and he then explained what he was talking about. When he was finished, I asked him why he didn't write the content in the manner that he explained it to me in the first place. As if it was unheard of to do so, he had an “ah-ha” moment and changed a lot of his paper. We both thought it was stronger afterwards because of that. I went to the readings and found one about this particular type of incidence and realized that I had in fact done the right thing. In Rafoth, on pages 115-119, strategies for dealing with subject matter foreign to you is presented and ideas for productive time are mentioned. I felt that without actually referring to the book's content, I had done just what the book had prescribed. It's nice to not mess things up once in a while.

March 23 Ryan 7-12 “The Writing Process” Today I had a session with a client who had a paper that was, to say the least, really bad. The thing lacked pretty much all aspects of what a paper should be and to be honest I don't even know what he was trying to say. I asked him a few questions, got the drift of what he was trying to say and then suggested that we go back to a different step in the writing process. He asked me what that was. I winced a little bit, shook me head and started from the top. In the Ryan reading, page 7-12 on the Writing Process, it outlines the different steps one takes when drafting a piece of literature or professional writing. I feel as if this kid had skipped the brainstorming, organizational and editing steps and went right to the final “here we go, this is what I have”. So we brainstormed, we organized, and possibly most importantly we cut things out that didn't need to be there. After the session he knew what he had to do to keep improving the work and sounded intent on doing so.