Blog Post #3

CONTENT:

One of the biggest takeaways from my project is how good of a job Our Planet did in accurately portraying an even amount of both uncharismatic and charismatic animals. However there still remains the need for future research and actions to be taken surrounding not just charisma bias, but animal conservation as a whole. This includes, but is not limited to, looking at other mainstream media types (social media, advertisements, etc.), researching specific species more in depth, and conducting research over a larger time gap than what I was able to do. Also, although my scale was not perfect in it's scoring, I think that it can be applied-and tweaked- in future research regarding charisma assessments. Going back to my results, however, I think that other media types should base their own work off of Our Planet, because of how well they were able to do a representative sample of animals on their show. 

PRODUCT:

I was able to learn several things through my final presentation, oral defense, and paper. Although I'd done presentations in the past, the idea of presenting for 20 minutes was daunting to me at first. However through the extensive research process, I was able to understand my research better than what I initially expected. As a result of knowing my research so well, it made my presentation come down to two things: audience engagement and body language. I'd say that I was able to develop eye contact skills, eliminate nervous behaviors, and speak more confidently than what I could do before. Through my oral defense I got better at thinking critically in a short amount of time, and responding with a clear answer. Finally, with my paper, I took away several things from this process. The key ones being my newfound ability to identify a gap in the research, integrate the scholarly conversation, and develop a research method to conduct my own research. All of these aspects are applicable in my future, as I'm a business major and plan on making public speaking a major part of my life- and will hopefully be reviewing and creating scholarly literature regarding my studies. 

PROCESS:

Through this process I was able to discover my research habits and tendencies, as this was primarily a student-led class. I knew going into this that I'm a procrastinator, so I realized I'd have to learn how to navigate this. I was able to manage my time best with a calendar and the weekly check-ins, which helped hold me accountable with turning my work in on time- and eventually my bigger works, such as my paper. I took away from this that I need to stay organized and have time frames for myself to get work done to stay on top of my assignments. This will be extra helpful in college when it is fully my responsibility to get things turned in on time.