Inquiry 4

Throughout the semester we wrote four essays, each one taking a different approach to our writing and thinking. I think the most interesting one was inquiry one where we did a close reading. This inquiry was the most difficult for me. It challenged my normal thinking and writing process. Normally, if I have to do a writing assignment I can just sit down, put some music in my ears and brainstorm. Once I have brain stormed and thought about how I am going to set up my paper and what key points I want to talk about, I will start writing and fill in the gaps while I am writing. When I am done writing I will close my computer and not look at it for a day or so. I always write my papers way before the deadline. I find I do my best writing when I am not stressed about a deadline or any other impediments. After that time goes by I will revise my paper. Sometimes it hardly needs any revision and some times they need a lot of revision. Inquiry one I had to treat much different then my normal writing and thought process. We had to watch a tracking shot and make observations, which took me a great deal of time. I watched the video maybe five or six times just jotting down things I noticed and from the colors to the music. To me they all had a significant role in the shot. Once I found a great deal of observations I had to sort them into importance and figure out if they each one could be part of a pattern so it could ultimately become a theme. This process is similar to my normal thought process except it is more in depth then mine. As I stated above I more or less get key point and then fill in from there. In the new process I had to use far more detail and connectivity before I could even begin to write.  This project made me extend outside my comfort zone for it made me think much more critically and effectively. The reading “Water” by Abbey helped me to redefine my ways of reading space and thought process.

            I think the first and the second project correlated well with me. I was able to take what I learned from close reading of visual digital space and parlay that into an actual space on our campus. I think the biggest thing I took from the first assignment was attention to detail. In the first inquiry we need to look closely at details of the videos so we could come up with some patterns and themes. I wrote in the first Inquiry “She is wearing black and the camera only stays on her for a couple of seconds but it is long enough to take in the expression on her face and the clothes she is wearing. The dress she has on is black with white flowers going down both sides. Flowers seem to be very important, all the people are throwing them from the balconies of the buildings.” which shows my attention to detail and through that I was able to make a pattern of flowers along with other things, which lead to a theme of a funeral of a country. This helped me in my second inquiry describing the space I was observing and the forces that were acting on it. Because of the first inquiry, I was able to pick up on this observation and I wrote, “On either side of the entrance of the space it has small shrubs and flowers. The half circle shape is made to be inviting and engulfs you into the pathway”, which lead me to figure out that most things on the campus are done in the idea to attract you to come to Miami University.

I believe that because of the challenges of the Inquiry’s and readings we did in the class, I altered my writing and thought process to become a better writer then I already was. I think my new thought process will help me in my business degree by paying attention to detail and being able to see what forces are shaping the space or spaces I will be working with and how I can make them better or more productive by doing a close reading of them.

Writers Letter

Dear Ryan,

            My role in the project was to be the group leader. I gave duties to Reis and Stanley in a positive manner. I made sure they were staying focused and staying on track. It is easy to get off topic when trying to type two thousand words, so when we were working as a group I helped keep us on topic. Everyone in the group participated up to my standards in their areas. Being the group leader, I took the liberty of working in every area of the project. I did not expect Reis and Stanley to do that as well because I took on the responsibility of being the group leader. It also helped me to check in on all areas of the project to make sure we were doing it right and answering the questions effectively. I wrote a significant amount of the essay with Stanley, and Reis helped fill in some of the areas we had trouble writing, like about the rhetorical tools we used because Reis did the majority of the Prezi. I helped do some finishing touches on the Prezi so Reis was not the only one making the Prezi. When It came to revising the paper I spent an hour to two on revising and making sure it flowed properly and filled in on areas that were either unclear or that were lacking information. Reis and Stanley helped adding and taking out what was needed and what was not needed. I enjoyed being the group leader because I got to see the development of all the parts of the project. From the brain storming of what media to use all the way to the revising. I liked being able to see the project grow and being able to add to areas that may have been lacking. It was also really interesting to read a collective essay that we had all contributed to because when it came to revising you could sort of tell that three separate people had input to the paper. All three of us have different styles of writing, so when it came to revising, I, along with Reis and Stanley had the challenge of taking the essay and shaping it into one voice instead of three. I think with me working in all areas of the project helped to pull it all together because I knew what was going on in the other parts and I knew how each could relate and how we could tie it all together. In all, I think our group did a great job and I think we did a great project!