Writing and Communication

Revision

Chelsey Cunningham

BIS 499 E

4/27/15

Writing and Communication

"The Sublime essay" for the Topics in Environmental Studies: Art and Climate Change Ecology, BIS 397 is a good representation of writing and communication. This is because of the process it took to put it together. The assignment was to write an essay about the word "sublime" in relation to a class lecture by Professor Carpenter. We were supposed to build off of (use "on") his ideas of sublime in order to properly analyze the meaning of the word. I wasn’t used to combining environmental science with abstract art ideas, let alone writing about it. The term sublime had a confusing definition and this essay required a lot of thought and reflection. Now that I understand the meaning of the word sublime in relation to art and climate change I am able to better understand the meaning of this assignment. I now view sublime as a cross between excitement and danger. For example the feeling of being in an ice cave might be scary but fill you will a sense of wonder. This essay helped me to reframe my thoughts and to better understand the idea of the Sublime in relation to climate change. The learning objective of this assignment was to conceptualize the class lectures and to create a personal reflection of what the word sublime meant to us in context to art and climate change. The writing process was almost like a free write in the sense that it was based off of (on) opinion combined with a class lecture.

Another example of work that effectively challenged my writing and communication skills is the "Identity-Keyword essay" that I wrote for Power, Dissent and American Culture, BISMAC 305. This challenged my writing and communication skills because the assignment required me to write and communicate about the various meanings of the keyword "identity" through my personal observations on campus. I was able to learn the true meaning of keywords throughout the quarter by reading the book "Keywords for American Culture Studies". Throughout this course I learned about the importance of keywords and the history behind them, such as the keywords, borders and racism. At the end of the quarter I was assigned my own keyword to dissect and philosophically breakdown in essay form. This keyword for my assignment, as stated before, was “Identity”. I chose to break down the word in psychological terms and in the dictionary definition. I posed the question: "What defines it? Who defines it? and How is it defined?". My paper was designed to play with those questions and create a thoughtful discussion. I also chose this keyword essay because it was a fun way to re-contextualize and reframe keywords from a unique perspective. I did this by researching the keyword online and tracking the various contexts it was used in. I never understood the various definitions and interpretations of keywords until I was able to put together an essay myself. The learning objective was to figure out the ways in which language can impact a conversation or reading. There are various keywords that hold several meanings to several people. examples? I learned how to approach readings with a more objective approach by not jumping to conclusions, by keeping an open mind and realizing the several contexts that can change meanings in text. examples?

Chelsey Cunningham

BIS 499 E

4/21/15

Writing and Communication

"The Sublime essay" for the Topics in Environmental Studies: Art and Climate Change Ecology, BIS 397 is a good representation of writing and communication. This is because of the process it took to put it together. The assignment was to write an essay about the word "sublime" in relation to a class lecture by Professor carpenter. We were supposed to build off of his ideas of sublime in order to properly analyze the meaning of the word. I wasn’t used to combining environmental science with abstract art ideas, let alone writing about it. The term sublime had a confusing definition and this essay required a lot of thought and reflection. Now that I understand the meaning of the word sublime in relation to art and climate change I am able to better understand the meaning of this assignment. I now view sublime as a cross between excitement and danger. For example the feeling of being in an ice cave might be scary but fill you will a sense of wonder. This essay helped me to reframe my thoughts and to better understand the idea of the Sublime in relation to climate change. The learning objective of this assignment was to conceptualize the class lectures and to create a personal reflection of what the word sublime meant to us in context to art and climate change. good on content here--need to discuss/analyze your actual writing process and style more specifically

Another example of work that effectively challenged my writing and communication skills is the "Identity-Keyword essay" that I wrote for Power, Dissent and American Culture, BISMAC 305. This challenged my writing and communication skills because the assignment required me to write and communicate about the various meanings of the keyword "identity" through my personal observations on campus. I was able to learn the true meaning of keywords throughout the quarter by reading the book "Keywords for American Culture Studies". Throughout this course I learned about the importance of keywords and the history behind them, such as the keywords, boarders and racism. At the end of the quarter I was assigned my own keyword to dissect and philosophically breakdown in essay form. This keyword for my assignment, as stated before, was “Identity”. I chose to break down the word in psychological terms and in the dictionary definition. I posed the question: "What defines it? Who defines it? and How is it defined?". My paper was designed to play with those questions and create a thoughtful discussion. I also chose this keyword essay because it was a fun way to re-contextualize and reframe keywords from a unique perspective. (more here on how you did this?) I never understood the various definitions and interpretations of keywords until I was able to put together an essay myself. The learning objective was to figure out the ways in which language can impact a conversation or reading. There are various keywords that hold several meanings to several people. I learned how to approach readings with a more objective approach by not jumping to conclusions. what did you do instead?

Artifacts

Comments

Deborah Caplow

Apr 28, 2015

Hello Chelsea,

Good work on your revision, with good clarification.

Could add examples in places.

(Keep in mind that in general, the revision should also be based on your own critical analysis and the peer review process, in addition to my feedback.)

Deborah Caplow

Apr 24, 2015

Hello Chelsey,

Good start on this mini-portfolio essay, with thoughtful discussion of your two artifacts. Need to be analyze your writing processes and style a bit more--it could be helpful to give examples, with quotes from your own work to support your assertions. See comments marked in bold.