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Matthew Albano

Mrs. Wolcott
ENC1101_CMB-14
September 17, 2014
Writing Self Study
The best quality that a reader and writer can possess is the ability to truly listen. Too often
do we only hear what we want to hear or write what we want to write but should instead sit back
and listen to what we are saying. Sandra Perl, an English professor of Lehman College, writes
about this subject in her article The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers by
defining this specific topic as Selective Perception or when students reread their papers and
translate what they have written to what they think is right on the paper. Perl also uses the term
Egocentricity meaning that the writer mostly talks about points that will only benefit him or
herself instead of reaching out to the audience. Another poor writing habit that Perl writes about
is Rule confusion where the writer takes simple editing or writing rules and creates a
hypercorrection. The last habit that Perl describes in her article is Editing meaning that
students try to make their lexicon, syntax, and discourse more correct or flow easier throughout
the paper.
All of these terms were connected in a social experiment that Perl conducted with 5 unskilled
college writers. In her elaborate study she gathered her results of the unskilled writers through
the Think Aloud process, but forgot to include a variable that might affect the results of her
experiment. This variable is the time of day, during the 24 hour span there are hours where we
are more productive with our activities than other hours. In Perls study she mentions the
variable of time meaning how long it took each individual student to complete the assignment,

but what if the students took part of the experiment at a more prime time of their day? This
would definitely affect Perls results even though that the subjects are unskilled college writers.
My personal study focuses on when and how I write, which was recorded with my week long
study. Within the study I noticed that there were more productive parts of my day compared to
others so my goal is to analyze my data to figure out When I am most productive and why?.
Throughout this study I have figured out that I am most productive after recharging myself or
when I have a strong interest with the subject at hand. The method of study that I chose was the
Process Log described in detail by Paul Prior, an English and Center of Writings professor at
the University of Illinois, in his article Tracing Proces: How Texts Come Into Being. When I
recorded my hourly information I usually waited until after my main events to write down what I
remembered and what I had done. Some main events could include Music History class,
watching a movie or practicing for private lessons. My reasoning behind writing after the main
events was to reflect and analyze the important readings and writings that I had done during the
main event.
When I analyzed my weeks worth of data I immediately noticed the difference between the
types of readings that occurred during my weekend versus the weekday. Most of my weekends
reading and writing was dedicated to what I refer to as Fun reading/ writing that took little to no
mental effort making my overall day seem less productive than a weekday. This means that I
could spend more time on more academic activities such as reading, studying and practicing
instead of watching TV or hacking on the piano. If I was doing any academic reading or writing
it would be more towards the middle of the day around 12:00PM-3:00PM, but they were marked
low as far as productivity because I was distracted for all of the recorded events. Like most, I
envision my weekends as a time to sleep in my safe haven and relax from the long week,

however I could be more productive during my weekend by practicing at the music building
more often so I can practice other things or work on other academic assignments during the
week.
During the week my days are more planned out so I noticed a couple of patterns with my
similarly scheduled days. On Monday and Wednesday I noticed that I use a lot of focus for my
Theory III class mainly because I am interested in music theory and the fact that I dont want to
fall behind in the hardest required music theory course. Right after Theory I notice that there is a
drop in my effort of focus and productivity in my Intro to Music History class; I can assume that
my numbers are so low because I spent a lot of energy focusing on my theory class and history
classes bore me quite a bit. In my next class, Vocal Tech, I am more focused because the class is
more physically involved by showing proper posture, breathing and singing so my productivity
was higher compared to my Music History class. For the next couple of hours during percussion
ensemble I noticed that I was really focused but did not feel as productive in the end of either
ensemble because my individual productivity also depended on the productivity of the ensemble.
The next two hours I like to call my free time where I eat lunch, catch up on homework and
practice for my private lessons. In my free time I showed a lot of focus with an average amount
of productivity and a couple of distractions. Next I have Symphonic band which had a similar
vibe to percussion ensemble where I used a lot of focus but the overall productivity was low.
After Symphonic band at 6:00PM I teach the Hagerty High School front ensemble; I show a lot
of focus and productivity probably because I really enjoy teaching students music and the
students also enjoy the activity. After teaching at HHS I usually go back to the home to study
and do homework, when I look at the data the numbers were pretty low probably because it was
towards the end of the day and it was past dinner time so I was more focused on what to eat

instead of the actual academic assignments. Just by analyzing two similarly scheduled days I
tend to be more focused after I eat or if I really enjoy doing the activity, and when I am in
ensembles my productivity relies more on the effectiveness of the ensemble rather than my
individual contribution. I also might consider eating dinner right after I teach at HHS so I can be
more productive with my assignments.
On my Tuesday and Thursday schedules I noticed that there were only a few similar pattern
results when comparing it to the Monday Wednesday schedule. My first class, Piano III, at
8:00AM shows low numbers because I have a strong piano background as a child so the class is
a basic review for me. My class right after piano I have Theory III lab which takes a little more
mental effort because the class is focusing on analyzing while playing the music, so my numbers
were a little bit higher. From 10:00AM to about 2:00PM I have a more extended free time where
I eat lunch, catch up on assignments and practice for my private lesson material. In this case I
listened to music while I was doing my homework and used my phone as a metronome so it was
overall pretty productive with no distractions. Next I have my Mallet 3 lesson where I play off
the assigned material and show off some personal works that I have been working over the week,
I personally feel that I didnt gain as much information from this particular lesson since it was
more of a review of skills that I already possess so I said that it wasnt very productive because
of it. After my mallet lesson I drive to the Hagerty High School band practice where the focus is
more of putting the ensemble together; with more people to work with I saw that the practice was
at a slower pace and that the front ensemble was not getting a lot of playing time during the
practice so I scored this as a not very productive practice. After HHS band practice I went back
to the music building to finish up some assignments and practice which was productive because

the amount of mental effort and focused required for these specific assignments was pretty low
so as a result I was productive.
While analyzing this information I can now answer: How can I transfer my productivity into the
other parts of my day? With anyone who has observed their own writing habits throughout
their day can understand that they can most likely make their day more productive by taking
away a couple of distractions, planning goals around their most effective times and/or find
motivation behind what they lack in. Some relatable distractions that anyone could diminish
throughout their day could be their use of their cell phone, specifically social networking because
it can wait until after our main goals are completed. The next step would be to try and plan your
main goals (homework) of the day around your prime time so that they can be accomplished, for
me my prime time was right after I ate a meal, so working on homework during lunch would be a
novel idea. The last step is to try and find motivation to actually do the activity, whether it is
getting an A in the class or being able to relate to the class topic finding a way to be motivated
is key to actually wanting to do the work for the class.
Through this study I was able to find cause and effects of why I was more productive in some
hours of the day than others. This cause and effect turned out to be an Algorithm, a term that
Mike Rose, a professor of Social Research Methodology at UCLA, uses in his article Rigid Rule,
Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language. For example, eating as an Algorithm is an activity
that is necessary for my daily routine since I do well after I recharge myself with food. Through
the algorithms I find in this study I can create more elaborate strategies to follow during my day.

Works Cited:
Prior, Paul. "Tracing Process:How Texts Come into Being". Wardle, Elisabeth and Doug
Downs. Writing about Writing. Bedford/St. Martins. 2014. Print.
Perl, Sondra. "The Composing Process of Unskilled College Writers." Research in the Teaching
of English. Eds. Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. 13.4 (1979): 317-36. Print
Rose, Mike. "Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis
of Writers Block." 1980. Writing About Writing. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs.
2nd ed. Boston: Leasa Burton, 2014. 527-31. Print.

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