Good Bye

This will be my final post as i am turning in my research journal today. After lots of time spent doing this seamingly worthless project i have come to realize that it really did help me to clear my mind so i could just focus on the task ahead of me, which was writing an academic research paper. Although i am very happy to be done with this project, i think i may begin to journal on my own. I most likely will not do it as a blog but probably in a note pad. Mabye this can be my way of staying connected to writing throughout the next few very busy years of school.

What still needs improvement

Although i have gone a long ways this term in improving my writing, there is still a ton of stuff for me to learn. I really need to improve my sentence structure as well as expand my vocabulary in order to maintain an academic and professional tone throughout my writing. As always, grammar is going to be one of my constant struggles, and is something i hope improves as i further my education. All in all, i now have a very firm foundation so i can continue to refine and build my skills on top of it.

How i have improved as a writer

This semister i really learned to write with authority and clearity, as well as improving my sentence structure and word choice. As compared to the begining of the term, i have grown so much as a writer its hard to compare. I know the majority of these blogs have horriable grammar and spelling, but that is only because i am trying to get my thoughts out as quickly as possible. But really i have improved a ton. I now feel i am ready to take on the major asignments that will follow in my career as a student.

Coming to an End

So the semister is coming to an end and i am preparing to turn in my last english project. yes thats right, this will be the last english class i will ever have to take!! Its kind of odd though, because every other english class i have taken i have hated but for some reason this class made me enjoy writing. I am kind of sad knowing that this ne found love will soon fade away, because God knows i have no time when i am taking my engineering courses for extra work. Mabye this summer i will write another paper and try to get it published. Just to go out with a bang so to say.

I got a B!

So i got my paper back today, i scored a 224/250. I guess thats not bad, its actually pretty good compared to how i was writing at the begining of the semister. But why couldn't she give me one more point so i could have had an A? I dont quite understand that, because it really did turn out great. I think i am going to talk to her and see if i can get that extra point back, i really want an A! I just really feel that this is an A paper, so its not fair if its got a big B on it. I guess it is the highest possible B, but still i was onlt one point away from an A!!

The Final is growing closer

So for par of our final exam we have to define terms in a few sentences. this whole final study guide has have all the questions on it, i am really suprised! It seems like a trick or something, because my instructor has been fairly hard all semister but know is letting us know the questons before the exam! It kind of blows my mind! So naturally im assuming its a trick of some sort. Mabye the final is scored like golf, the lowest score is the best, and everyone will prepare alot and score alot of points, but in reality that is lowering their grade. I know it sounds crazy but thats the only explaination.

Self assment

so for our last project we have to put togater this portfoilo of all our work from the semister, and then write an essay about how we have improved as a writer. Why do english teachers always want students to write these stupid things? They are just so much of a waste of time its not even funny. I have to spend time writing a stupid paper when i could be studing for the final, or my other classes! But considering i really need a good grade, i should probably just shut up and write the paper.

The Final Exam

So now that the research paper is done and turned in, we have been preparing for the final exam in class. And the teacher gave us the essay question so we could pratice writing the paper before hand. The topic is appling a model to fairy tail's. I was gone from class on the day we began this discussion so i am still kinda confused on what we are doing, but it seems way to easy for the final exam! I mean all we have to do is write a short essay about a fairy tail, and we are allowed to use our handout with the model that we will apply to it.

FINIISHED!!!

The paper is done and turned in!! WOW! I am so happy its over, but at the same time i feel this weird feeling about handing my instructor the paper that i have spent the last three months working on so she can analyize every stinking bit of it. I also kind of sad to see it go, i have never enjoyed writing but this project was different. I think i learned to love writing research papers. I know it sounds weird, but when this paper get returned to me i might keep revising it and try to get it published.

Revision Time

So i finished drafting my paper, but its rough. I have so much revision to do its not even funny. and i am now down to the last week before the paper is due! I also need a title, here are the ones ive got so far: Teens and film go togather like sulfur and water, I am McLovin; How teens are effected by the movies, and The portrayal of teens in film. So far i am liking the second one the best, but i guess this is the last thing i need to worry about, ive got tons of work to do.

I figured it out

Everyone, dont worry, ive written my personal experiences part and somehow made it flow witht the rest of the paper. I was doubting how i could write this and make it sound good at all, but the more i read over what i wrote, it actually seems pretty good. So know on to the next big hurdle, finishing the paper on time. Its really coming down tothe wire and ive still got a ton to do. Ive got to write about five more pages and then revise the hell out of the whole thing, and i only have two more weeks till its due!

Tone of my writing

I am trying to figure out how to write with good tone. But what is good "tone"? I think i should write with authority, clearity, and academic purpose, but how do i write like that when i am describing my own experiences? The last few times i have written that part of my essay it seems out of place, and it doesn't flow at all. Mabye i need to re arrange the order of my paragraphs so i can make it make alittle more sence. So far this has been the hardest part of drafting this paper

My experiences

So my teacher reccomended that i used my own, "first hand experience" to support my topic. So i guess that means talking about partying and getting drunk in an academic paper. That just doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the tone of the paper very well. I guess if i focus on how teens try to act like how they see teens party in the movies that is effecting their parting behavior. But realy how much worse can watching a movie be for teens who are already acting like that? Does it just renforce the idea that parting and getting drunk is ok?

Review of Lit.

So why i am really struggling writting the reveiw of literature that is a required part of the paper. It just seams really hard to write something thats interesting as flows well, but at the same time discuess all the research material that i am basing the paper off of. I am also trying to relate my own experiences with this culture of stupidity into the paper, and im not quite sure how i am going to do that yet. It just is very hard for me to write in an academic tone while talking about drunk teenagers puking their guts out all night.

New Paper?

After that meeting with my instructor i went home and read the few pages of my draft that i had. I realized that everything i had written really didnt make any sence and i realy didn't like where it was going. So instead of trying to revise the hell out of it i just deleated the whole thing. I was really in the writing mood because that night i wrote about 6 pages on my new paper. I really refined my thesis and made the body of the paper much more clear and easier to follow. Now i incorperated alot more detail from the movie inorder to show how teens are portrayed in film. It seems like i just wrote a whole new paper compared to the old one!

Restart

So today i went into my instructers office before class and told her about my problems whith my draft. I explained to her that i am realy having a hard time maintaining a clear focus and clear thesis. I also told her that i am really not sure what i am trying to accomplish with this paper. Because isn't the point of an acedemic paper to create some sort of new knowledge? I am really glad i went and talked to her because she gave me a ton of ideas and really helped me get a good grasp on my purpose in writing and what i need to focus on in the paper.

Time waster

I am getting really tired of writing these journal entries. This project was assigned to help us keep track of our thoughts throughout the process of writing this paper. But i seems to me that all this is doing it taking time away from actually writing my paper. It just kinda sucks because i really need to do these stupid things to boost my grade in the class. I guess live is full of doing things that you dont want to do. Anyway i am in the process of trying to write my draft, and it isn't going all that great. I really am not sure what my purpose in this writing is, and i really need to spend some time figuring that out.

Critical Thinking

Since it is obivious that critical thinking is so important to teens decision making, then why is it not taught at the highschool level? As teens venture into college they have the oppurtunity to take critical thinking classes. And also it is clear that this Culture of Stupidity decreases in popularity in later college years. Is that because in college these teens learn how to analize these films to better understand that these portrayals they see are just fiction? So my queston is why are these critical thinking skill not better taught at the highschool level, since it is that age groop in which this problem is most prevalent.

Highschool Education

How are teens today educated as compared to the teens of generations past? It seems like today there has been so many advances in technology that its hard to even compare to older generations. But there is once major difference between the two, and that is in the circulum that is being taught. In past generations, most teens were instruced in critical thinking and problem solving. Today it seems like those skills are a lost art. In this certain are of study, critical thinking would allow teens to understand that these movies are just a false reality that should be taken as fiction not fact.

The truth

So why is it that adults can understand that these new teen comidies are not acurate protrayals of teenage life, but teens do? It seems like teens should be insluted that movie producers think of them in such a negative fashion. Because all the comidies i have seen lately have shown teens acting stupid and reckless and all their friends prising them for it. That is not how all teens in real live act so why is it that most teens in movies act like that? But what really bothers me is that teens in our society beleive these lies form the movies about how they should act. Mabye the reason teens beleive these lies and adults dont is because of the way they have been educated.

Culture of Stupidity

I breifly covered this in my last post, but i believe movies today are begining to create new social norms among highschool age teens. I have noticed that many teens today no longer value hard work and good grades, but likewise they praise their peers who slack off and proposely act stupid. This new norm is being supported by many new teenage comidies such as my example SuperBad. I am calling this new norm the Culture of Stupidity, in which teens value acting stupid more than being smart. I realy wonder why teens believe these false portrayal's that are in the movies?

Sources

So i have been finding alot of sources that suport my arguement i am having a hard time finding a good peer reviewed academic article that breaks down the movie i am using as an example to suport my arguement, which is SuperBad. The olnly information i can find regarding this is movie reviews which are no help to me in an academic way. I am also having a hard time finding sources that cover how these influences from movies decrease as the teens grow older. I want this to be a key point in my topic because i have noticed that in college kids are rewarded for doing good, hard work. But when now in many highschools, teens peers often reward them for slacking off and being lazy. So im am trying to find any scholarly research done on that so i can suport my ideas. I guess i am going to have to look harder!

What do teens take away from the movies?

So by the research i have been doing it seems obivious that teens take so much away from movies than most people think. In a report i was reading, it said that teens use movies to tell then how to dress, do there hair, and even influence then on future career choices. In another report read it showed how teens remember scenes of movies better and more accuratly when there is some sort of destructive behavior in the scene. So if movies really do effect teen bahavior this much, then why do producers make films that influence teens to act poorly?