Tyrika Scott Elizabeth Hinnant English 1102 April 26, 2014

Course Reflection

Overall Course
When we first began this course, we were told that our main focus would be on research and inquiry, and learning how to put the two together and become in conversation with other scholarly works. My previous experiences with research are from high school, and my experiences with inquiry are from English 1101. This is why coming into this class, I thought that it would be fairly easy. To me, this was not at all the case. The reason I say this is because before this class, Ive never wrote a proposal, an ethnography, or an annotated bibliography. Since I already knew had the concept of inquiry down and critical thinking, I figured that these assignments could be done, and would get done slowly but surely. My understanding of a research paper was finding information on a specific topic and incorporating it into your own work with your commentary. However, throughout this course, I have a better understanding of research and that is, finding useful information that supports an argument, critically analyzing this evidence, and using it to reach new conclusions, while in turn being in conversation with other scholars work. Now that were coming to the end of the course, Ive also realized that I have progressed as a writer in ways such as understanding how

primary and secondary sources work in conjunction with one another, and finding my own critical voice.

Organization
The way I decided to organize my e-portfolio was to exemplify the recovery process of an alcoholic or any other substance abuser. This idea came from the topic of my EIP, which is about 12-step meetings, with a focus on Alcoholic Anonymous. As you move through my eportfolio, you will see the first assignments of the class, to the very last, along with feedback, writers notebook and forum entries, and process work. Within these pages you will also see quotes and pictures about sobriety which is the main goal of an alcoholic. Writing can also be a very vigorous process, which is why I decided to incorporate the recovery process together as one.

Writing Notebook Entries

I decided to include my writing notebook entries that pertained to my EIP. For these notebook entries we were told to come up with questions about the group of people that we wanted to study and observe. The very first group of people I decided to observe was UNCCs Quidditch team. I was very amused by the game, and became interested in this group because I was curious about how the game was played. After coming up with questions, I decided not to use it because they didnt lead to a bigger inquiry question that was worth studying. A little after this, I came up with the students with disabilities as a group to study. While writing questions, I realized my questions might be offensive to some. I had the right ideas in

mind, but for some reason I couldnt seem to put it together. Next I moved to UNCC Cheerleaders as my group of study. I came up with many questions about them. It seemed that the inquiry question was becoming to be about a cheerleaders body-image or self-esteem. Even though it appeared to be the group I was going to study, I still wasnt satisfied. Finally, after days of searching and thinking, I came up with the recovering student addicts at UNCC. As soon as I found it, I knew that this was the group for me. I wrote many questions about them, and came up with my very first inquiry question: How does being on a college campus affect the recovery process? Although this wasnt my final inquiry question, this gave me a step closer to conducting my research. This page represents an alcoholic who is at the beginning steps of recovery. Their taking time to find out who they are, and their purpose, while trying to stay grounded and not pick up another drink. With comparison to my work, it ties into my long process of coming up with a group to observe for the EIP and me trying over and over again. Think of it as small steps, leading to be changes.

Forum Entries
On the same page as the notebook entries, there are the forum entries as well. These forum entries represent my intellectual growth throughout this course. The analyses of the forum entries I chose are as follows: Entry #9: I chose this entry simply because it gave me a new outlook on how research papers can be written. Before reading Ballengers research paper, I thought that all research papers were formal, boring, and most of the time dull. Ballengers was

different because he told a story, and included personal experiences. In the future I could take his example into consideration when writing another research paper. Entry #2: I chose this entry because Ballengers technique of writing out questions for certain areas of a group really helped me when it came to finding the best group to study. If I found that there wasnt many questions in more than one area then it was probably best that I picked another group of people. Entries #5 and #6: Personally, these entries show how much Ive progressed as a writer. I was able to read The Four Faces of Ethnography to its entirety and summarize each type of ethnography and their characteristics to the best of my abilities. I think that my summaries are very well put together, and concise. Entry 11: I really like this forum entry because I was able to reflect on my research and understand why its important for my readers to know. I think this type of thing is important because if you cant convey to your readers what theyre reading matters, then your argument is pointless. This entry allowed me to take a step back and check to make sure that my message or argument is being well presented to my audience.

Process Work
Since this page includes my process work, or drafts, I wanted it to connect to an alcoholics road to recovery. Recovery is a process and it takes time for change. My drafts took me some time to write and more time to revise. Writing is process, and drafts come before the final piece. In comparison to an alcoholic, strength, courage, and wisdom have to be present in order to obtain sobriety.

The EIP Proposal was not that difficult to write. For me, it was finding the right group to observe and because this was difficult to me, I had to change my proposal three times. Besides that, everything began to come together. The Ethnography was challenging to me since Ive never written one, and because there were so many ways you could go about writing an ethnography. I think that struggled the most with why it was the WHY part of the assignment. The WHAT part I had no trouble with. After getting my observations, I typed of everything and thought that was the end. After peer feedback and your feedback, I was able to incorporate the WHY into my ethnography. The Annotated Bibliography was also puzzling because it was hard trying to find relevant articles for my topic. Many of the articles I found were studies done by researchers or physician analyses. Reading through almost every article just to find out that it didnt have any information I needed wasted a lot of time. Finally after finding my sources, it became easier to write. While writing my bibliographies, I noticed my analyses were becoming slightly weaker towards the end, which was further claimed by you. After I received feedback I tried to make them stronger with being more specific with how I would use the article in my research.

Polished Work
I decided to name this page PROGRESSION not PERFECTION, because for one that is how I think of a final draft, and two because Alcoholics need to know that progressing is good, but theyll never be perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, and they are normal in recovery. The drafts Ive posted here are completed to the best of my capabilities and though they may not be perfect, they have still evolved and are better than they were before (if you catch my drift).

Also on this page is my Final EIP Compilation or as seen on the page EIP Paper. This surprisingly was not the hardest assignment to due, since Ive already finished my ethnogr aphy and annotated bibliography. I thoughtfully integrated my sources into my ethnography in a way that I think works best. I dont think integrating sources was my failure, it was more of developing my argument throughout the entire paper. Based on what Ive presented, I believe that I deserve an A in this course. My portfolio is complete, I thoughtfully arranged and made it easily navigable to view, and completed all of my assignments to the best of my ability. I also thoroughly explained and illustrated my engagement with my e-portfolio genre (AA and recovery process), and clearly explained my growth as a writer by analyzing my writing throughout the course. Ive grown tremendously in this course, and Ive gained knowledge about writing that I didnt know before. Most importantly Ive found my own voice!