Professor Joshua Belknap | Co Req ML | Spring 2023

Writing About Writing in a New Genre 4/18/23

Now that you’re working on your first draft of your final research project, it is time to revisit a couple of questions regarding this project to see how your thinking about it has changed and evolved since you started thinking about this topic. In your free write today, write an abstract (description/summary of your project) that answers the following questions, not listed one by one (like Question>Answer, Question>Answer), but in paragraph (more of a narrative) form. Your description should describe your project to anyone potentially interested in your topic who might want to learn more about it. We’ve been thinking, talking and writing about these questions related to your final project for the past two weeks, and the reason is that I really want you to think about how your research topic connects to you personally and why you care about it (even if that means writing about the fact that your research topic will lead to the kind of good job that you want). I’m not afraid of repeating, if the reflection clarifies our ideas to ourselves! Here are the questions to address, in narrative form:

  1. How did you decide upon your research topic? Be specific.
  2. In what way do you feel personally connected to your topic (i.e. why do you care about it)?
  3. Provide a 1-2 sentence statement of what you want to teach your audience (the most important thing you learned in the Reflective Annotated Bibliography in Unit 2) 
  4. What is the specific audience you are trying to reach (I know you’ve shared this with me, but I’m wondering if your ideas have changed or evolved since you started. “Everyone” is not a sufficient answer) and why they should care?
  5. The genre you are planning to write in and why you chose it (some of you have changed your genre)
  6. A plan – now that you’ve written your first draft, how do you think you can improve this project?
  7. Anything you might be worried about. What are your concerns about finishing this project? 

9 Comments

  1. Duc Giang

    1/How did you decide upon your research topic? Be specific.

    A good research question should be broad enough to be useful beyond one single case. It has been a social issue in the United States for a long time.

    2/ In what way do you feel personally connected to your topic (i.e. why do you care about it)?

    I think the way I feel personally connected to my topic is my experience to live in the United States. When I came here I saw the black people don’t have treatment equality.

    3/ Provide a 1-2 sentence statement of what you want to teach your audience (the most important thing you learned in the Reflective Annotated Bibliography in Unit 2) 

    I want to teach my audience to understand how racism is bad and that it brings a lot of problems in the economy, education, etc in the community.

    4/ What is the specific audience you are trying to reach (I know you’ve shared this with me, but I’m wondering if your ideas have changed or evolved since you started. “Everyone” is not a sufficient answer) and why they should care?

    The specific audience I trying to reach out to is students in college. I think they should care to understand about racism is bad and they need to know everyone should be equal.

    5/ The genre you are planning to write in and why you chose it (some of you have changed your genre)

    The genre I planning to write is an investigative report. I chose it because it has the evidence to prove my topic is true and how is racism impacts healthcare during the pandemic in NYC.

    6/ A plan – now that you’ve written your first draft, how do you think you can improve this project?

    I think I can improve the statistics, and evidence to show everyone sees the topic.

    7/ Anything you might be worried about. What are your concerns about finishing this project? 

    I might be worried about the artist’s statement.

    • Duc Giang

      A good research question should be broad enough to be useful beyond one single case. The topic I researched was “How does racism impact healthcare in New York City during the pandemic?”. Because it has been a social issue in the United States for a long time. I want to let people know that racism in the United States affects health care when the black community lives in an inadequate environment. I think the way I feel personally connected to my topic is my experience of living in the United States. When I came here I saw that black people don’t have treatment equality. I want to teach my audience to understand how racism is bad and that it brings a lot of problems in the economy, education, etc in the community. In Lesson 2, I researched my topic of how the black community is more infected covid than the white community, and the inadequate health effects of black people in terms of whereabouts, lifestyle, food, etc. The specific audience I trying to reach out to is students in college. I think they should care to understand that racism is bad and they need to know everyone should be equal. The genre I planning to write is “an investigative report”. I chose it because it has the evidence to prove my topic is true and how racism impacts healthcare during the pandemic in NYC. I think I can improve the statistics, and evidence to show everyone sees the topic. I might be worried about the artist’s statement.

  2. Denisa

    I decided to write about child abuse because a lot of reasons for example ignoring a child’s needs, putting them in unsupervised, dangerous situations, exposing them to sexual situations, or making them feel worthless.

    I personally think that children should not be mistreated, they are the most innocent being and I think that no child should be abused in any way.

    My specific audience that I am trying to reach are community audiences: parents, prospective parents, other caregivers, children, youth.

     They should care because they must be careful because all types of abuse against children occur in cases where it is these people who are part of this community who commit this type of abuse, also when I mention children I want them to have knowledge of what abuse is and to know if they are being abused.

    The only concern that I have is finding a good idea how I’m to deliver the appropriate message to my audience to raise awareness.

  3. Darianny Morales

    • I decided on my topic because it is a very interesting topic that is rarely discussed among adolescents themselves.
    • Personally, one way in which I feel identified with the topic I chose is because since I was little I was very skinny and people called me a toothpick but later my body changed and because of that I began to have insecurities (like any other person) and well I felt bad with my body. And it’s something that I still deal with today, with accepting the shape of my body.
    • I want to teach teens that it’s normal to be dissatisfied with his body shape but it’s not normal to get hurt.
    • The audience that I want to address this to are teenagers since they are discovering themselves and they are the ones who spend the most time on social networks looking at photos of people with “perfect bodies”.
    • The genre I’m planning to write is a podcast. I chose it because I wanted to express myself in a better way so that teenagers feel understood by me.
    • I think that I should improve is to look for more evidence that supports my point of view.
    • Something that I am worried about is that they do not understand me in a good way or that they do not understand my point of view.
  4. Carla Garcia

    The topic of how X-ray diagnosis helped people with COVID-19 is important because X-ray imaging has played a critical role in diagnosing COVID-19 patients. Also, many people are not informed that not only nurses were a help but also radiologist technologists had helped with COVID-19 diagnosis. I feel like this is an important topic to care about because it has a significant impact on people’s lives, especially in times of crisis which as the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    The topic of how X-ray diagnosis helped people with COVID-19 is of great importance because it can inform healthcare providers and the general public about the effectiveness of using X-ray imaging for diagnosing COVID-19 patients. I want to teach my audience about how using X-ray imaging for diagnosing COVID-19 was an important tool and demonstrate how X-ray was very useful for healthcare professionals and COVID-19 patients.

     The specific audience I am trying to reach includes healthcare providers and the general public. My audience should care about this topic because it can help them understand and inform them about the importance of using effective diagnostic tools in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. For this project, I will be doing an infographic because it can be an effective way of presenting complex information visually and engagingly. In this project, using infographics can help simplify the information and make it more accessible to a wider audience. Infographics can also be easily shared on social media, which can help increase the reach and impact of the project. 

    To improve this project I will be focusing on using visual elements that are consistent with the overall theme, ensuring that the layout is easy to read and navigate, and incorporating feedback from peers or experts. One concern about finishing this project could be ensuring that the visual elements effectively communicate the message and are accurate. Another concern could be managing the amount of information presented to avoid overwhelming the audience.

  5. Heylin D

    I decided to choose this topic of “how social media negatively affects teens mental health?” is because I want people to understand that taking care of our mental health should be a good thing to do, trying to put yourself first before anything else. It’s important that we pay more attention to what causes our mental health and fix it. In a way I feel connected to this topic because everyone goes through things like this, including when I have also experienced seeing other people and even myself on what and how we struggle mentally. What I want to teach my audience is like what I stated it’s important that we teach teens and even ourselves to stay more aware of our mental health and do what’s health for our physical well-being and mentally. That goes for cutting down screentime, trying to be productive, do activities (including your preferred hobbies). The specific audience I want to reach out to is I would say teens and adults because teens are what the main concern is and as for adults, we need to be aware of teens mental health and ours as well. My genre I might be doing is comic because I think it would look cool and easier to tell the topic as the audience can watch and maybe learn. I think what I can improve on this draft is maybe explaining and showing details/pictures examples on why it negatively affects teens mental health in many ways as well.

  6. Tatiana K

    When I first heard that my character Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18th, 2020 I got very curious about every little thing that she had done, the landmark work on women’s rights. And the very first thing I was attracted by was the documentary on Netflix, this way I decided that documentary is going to be very interesting and attractive for my audience.

    I may not be personally connected in a way with my topic but I have the same feeling to help people that need help or to protect those who can’t protect their self. Every movie i see, where women being bullied rips me apart.

    The best I learned from my Unit2 is the way my character didn’t give up a second on to achieve the goals she had and she believed, she fought her ideas until she saw a result. With no much support. At Harvard, Ginsburg tackled the challenges of motherhood and of a male-dominated school where she was one of nine females in a 500-person class. She was always brave and setting an example of courage. This is what I would love to learn more about it and teach my audience also. And everyone should care about and be sure that there is no inequality for women.

    I refer to men, I still observe men who do not allow their women take a decision about even a joint life “silent woman”.

    The genre I chose is documentary as I think this attracts people attention and the most important is that documentary is based on true stories and that make people think about their behave. I’ll improve my project with videos and films as an example of my main idea.

  7. Bryan

    I decided my research question by thinking about a suject that really called my attentions and one that i could find a lot information related to that questions. I think I could find myself connected to the topic because, I feel like I am someone who really cares about equality for everyone but more specifically about the health care and the support that everyone deserves. The most important thing that I actually want to show to my audience is how the system care can actually change and cause negative and positive impacts. i could assum that my audiences would be the working class or more specifilly those people who does not have resources to through times like the covid 19 pandemic. But i can also say that my audience could be the elderly or families with good economic sytability.I also think most of the people should care because that could develop a better heath care system in which a lot people would benefied form it. I think as citizens is our responsability to care about those people who are not able to take care about them self. A good way for the to improve this project ithink it would be find facts that will prove my my importants points of view. I always think that when you defend a point of view theres someone or something that opposes it and I might be worry that] counterclaim has more certainty than my project or topic

  8. Sandra

    The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide, resulting in numerous deaths and causing economic and social disruption. Therefore, it is not surprising that many researchers have chosen to study various aspects of the pandemic, including its spread, impact on different populations, treatments, and vaccination.

    When deciding on a research topic related to COVID, researchers may consider their expertise, interests, and the potential impact of their research on public health. They may also look at the gaps in current knowledge and seek to address them through their research.

    For example, a researcher who has expertise in epidemiology may choose to study the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 and develop models to predict its spread. A researcher with a background in public health may focus on the impact of the pandemic on mental health and the development of interventions to support those who are struggling.

    It is crucial to educate the public, including high school students, about the COVID-19 pandemic, its transmission, prevention, and impact on health and society. With the right information, high school students can make informed decisions and take appropriate actions to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.

    As high school students are often active and social, they may be at higher risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19. Therefore, it is essential to educate them about the importance of wearing masks, practicing physical distancing, and washing hands frequently to prevent the spread of the virus.

    Additionally, high school students may face challenges in adjusting to the pandemic’s impact on their education, mental health, and social lives. Providing them with accurate information and resources to cope with these challenges can help them stay resilient during these uncertain times.

    The genre I would choose to teach high school students about COVID-19 would depend on the platform and context. For example, if I were creating an online course, I might choose an interactive and multimedia format that combines videos, animations, quizzes, and discussion forums. Alternatively, if I were presenting to a classroom, I might choose a lecture-style format with slides and handouts.

    Overall, the goal of teaching high school students about COVID-19 is to empower them with knowledge and skills to protect themselves and their communities during the pandemic.

    The project should be tailored to the needs and interests of the intended audience. For example, if the project is aimed at high school students, it may need to be presented in a way that is engaging and accessible to that age group.

    As the COVID-19 situation is constantly evolving, it can be challenging to keep the information up-to-date and relevant. Regularly checking reliable sources and updating the project accordingly can help to address this issue.

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