I learned a lot by completing the blog post assignments this past semester. The blog posts taught me how to organize and convey my ideas about certain readings, videos, podcasts or general topics discussed in class. They helped me condense my ideas into a streamlined source of information that I could look back on to recall the things I learned throughout the semester. Knowing I would have to write a blog post after a reading, video, or podcast helped me focus more attentively on what I was doing and forced me to pick up on the important information so I could write about it and analyze it later. I learned these things more and more each time a blog post was assigned. They became easier and easier to write because I became used to reflecting on my ideas and sharing them. This knowledge I have gained is significant as it contributes to my learning in this course because it is very important in an English class to be able to analyze and reflect on the work you are assigned. Analyzing is something I have struggled with in past English courses, so completing these assignments have definitely helped me practice that skill. This will also help me in my future classes and my future career because it is always crucial to be able to harness your ideas and generate them into a written format that is easy to understand. Next, I need to continue to practice analyzing and synthesizing texts, videos, and other sources of media because I understand it is an important skill to have in college and beyond. I hope to do this in my future classes, whether it is an English class or not. I believe the idea of analyzing can be applied to many different subjects and fields, which is why I am glad I had the opportunity to gain this skill throughout the past two semesters in EN11 and EN12.

I learned a lot from completing Project 3. Having to find a pop culture artifact, I had to think outside of the box to think of something that involves risk and is popular in today’s society. At first, I really struggled to locate an artifact, but once I realized I could broaden my search past just nuclear risk, I started to find some ideas and I eventually decided on The Lorax. I could easily depict environmental risk, and I also really enjoy the movie. From this project, I learned about visual media/rhetoric, presentation skills, and general analysis skills on a pop culture artifact. When I was creating my slideshow presentation, I remembered to keep the CRAP principles in mind for visual rhetoric, specifically alignment and contrast. I also learned more about how to organize my information in a way that is appealing to an audience, as well as work on my presenting skills. I am still working on becoming better at making eye contact with my audience, as well as becoming more confident overall while talking in front of others. I feel like this project helped me look at artifacts of pop culture in a different way, which was really interesting to do. This knowledge is very significant to my learning beyond this course because I am a Business major, so presenting is going to be apart of my future. I always get nervous for them, but I am glad when my professors push me to present so I can build my skills and become more comfortable at it. Next, I need to think about how I can memorize my presentations better so I can avoid putting a lot of words on my slides. I liked the presentations that did not have a lot of words because it was more engaging to just hear what my classmates had to say about their artifacts, so in the future, I hope to make my presentations less text heavy and more visually appealing for my audience. Overall, I enjoyed completing this project and learned a lot from it.

I enjoyed my experience as an audience member for the class’s presentations. I made sure that I listened carefully to each person’s presentation because I know how nerve racking it can be to get in front of the class. I know I wanted to give the same respect to the rest of my peers that they gave to me when I was presenting last week. I found it really interesting to hear all the different artifacts people chose, as well as how they analyzed them and connected them to a specific risk. I think everyone was really creative in the ways they organized and presented their information to the class, so they all kept me intrigued and entertained. I like how there was not a specific example for this project, because it allowed people to set up their slides in different and unique ways, which made each person’s presentation special. As an audience member, I really appreciated my class’s creativity, clear speaking, and overall inviting nature. My experience as an audience member could turn into some advice for presenters in the sense that I believe a good presenter is someone who is engaging with the class, such as when people asked questions about their artifacts and if the audience was familiar with it. I also think a good presenter can speak clearly and effectively, while not rambling on for too long on background information that is not connected to their claim. I think it was helpful to hear people’s claims at the beginning of the presentation as well because it helps the audience connect all the other information you are telling them to a central point about risk. I know I need to work on some of these things in the future, and I hope to become better and more comfortable at presenting in the future.

In order to revise my project 3, I first went through all my slides and made sure they all contributed well to my overall thesis. I tried to keep the background slides on The Lorax as minimal as possible, but I still feel like I need to give a basic synopsis of the plot and characters so everyone is clear on the connections and analyses I am trying to make. A major issue with my slides was that they were too text heavy, so I went back and trimmed down a lot of the bullet points into the most important ideas. Instead of writing everything I need to say directly on the slides and just reading off of them, I figured it would make for a better presentation if I kept the words minimal and just put speaker’s notes. This means I need to take more time to practice what I am going to say since I will only have basic points that I will need to build off of. I also did not cite my sources in my presentation, so I decided to add a slide at the end with my citations. I feel like there is always something more I could do to my presentation to make it better, so for the final draft, I will look at it more carefully to look for any mistakes or areas that need further clarification. I hope that my presentation flows well and that the class clearly understands the points I am trying to make. I can pay attention to and manage my stress level by being extra prepared for when I have to speak in front of the class next week. If I am very confident in what I am saying it will be much easier to present than if I am unfamiliar with my topic and main points.

My composition process for Project 3 has been much different than the first 2 projects. To create the draft that I am bringing to class, I started with learning more about my artifact and made sure I was clear with its message and central theme. I have always been familiar with Dr. Seuss’ story of the Lorax, but since a newer movie version came out in theaters in 2012, I wanted to focus more on that. Since it is more current, I figured it would be better suited for this project. It also has several famous voice actors such as Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, and Betty White, which contributes to its status and overall popularity in today’s culture. Once I gathered a decent amount of ideas, I went ahead and began to organize my ideas into a presentation format on google slides. I started with a presentation overview, or table of contents, to keep my ideas streamlined and to the point. Next, I added slides pertaiing to The Lorax backround, charactes, and plot, the risk invlovled, what the movie is trying to convey about that risk/its overall message, as well as connection to readings from class. I always find presentations very daunting becuase I want to be as prepared as possible before I have to speak in front of the class. I compose them much differently than a standard essay becuase I have to think of the live audience I am speaking to. I think of how I react to presentations, and try to customize my presentation to something others would not mind listenting to. The overall composing process is different in the sense that I need to remember my information to convery more than writing it all down, because an audience finds a bunch of slides with words on them boring and unengaging. This is something I need to become better, and I hope this project helps me with my presenting skills. This project also allows me to be creative and think critically about connections in the movie to what we have been learning all semester.

All of the pop culture artifacts have to do with nuclear radiation, and its overall effect on human health. In the Fallout: New Vegas trailer, it opens with a dark and eerie scene of a cowboy smoking a cigarette with jazz music playing in the background. It then goes to a dark graveyard scene where a robot is sifting through rubble caused by nuclear fallout. This symbolizes the harmful effects of radiation, and how it can destroy communities with a single explosion. At the end of the trailer, a voice can be heard saying “war, war never changes”. This means that war, more specifically nuclear warfare, has long-lasting effects. The eeriness of the video has a sad and depressing rhetorical effect. In the evolution of radioactive spiders biting Peter Parker in movies, cartoons, and games shows how a radioactive spider bite greatly affects humans who are bitten. In this specific situation, the radioactive bite actually helps Peter Parker and gives him powers that he did not previously possess, but the radioactive energy still left a major impact. In the video about Bruce Banner, Bruce jumps in front of a gamma radiation explosion in order to protect his friend who was about to be exposed. After this happens, instead of dying or becoming ill, Bruce Banner feels 100% and his prior aches and injuries have vanished. As Peter Parker, the radioactive energy helps him and gives him strength and powers that he would not previously have had if he were not exposed. In the Simpsons episode “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish”, Bart works with nuclear materials, but he is not careful with them when the whistle blows and it is time to go home. This leads to radioactive material getting on his clothing. When Bart and Lisa are fishing, they catch a fish with 3 eyes, and the government puts it together that the stream is right near a power plant, and that is what’s causing the mutations. This episode shows the effects of nuclear energy while using comedy to help readers relate more to the topic. Lastly, Edward’s reading “Fallout” discusses downwinders, and how they are subject to cancer and eventual death from nuclear radiation. The Grammie in the story was sent to an “invisible death” considering that nuclear fallout is deadly but can not necessarily be seen. The author stresses his hatred for atomic weapons and says, “Celebrating a mushroom cloud, is like rejoicing in the Black Plague”. This excerpt appealed to pathos since it discussed a sad and tragic death from the radiation. Overall, the videos and reading all related to nuclear energy, and how that energy affects so many different aspects of human nature and health, whether factual or fiction.

I learned a lot by completing Project 2. Even though I felt like I had a pretty solid background on visual media from last semester in EN11, my knowledge of it grew larger from completing this project. Since my partner and I decided to do a podcast, I feel as though it helped me branch out of my comfort zone. Last semester I chose to do infographics because I feel as though I struggle with creativity, but after doing the podcast, I feel like it was the best choice. We were able to take a dark and somewhat depressing topic and make it interesting, while also adding an essence of comedic relief. I also learned how to fit my work to appeal to a specific audience. It can be difficult to compose and present information to the audience we are trying to reach. The length of the podcast, the language used, as well as the topic of our podcast were all factors that led us in the right direction of deciding who we were creating it for. It was definitely a challenge to organize our ideas into a script that was intriguing to listeners, but I think we did a good job of executing that. I learned all this by brainstorming with my partner Jill, as well as using the knowledge from the podcasts we have been assigned to listen to in the past. This knowledge is significant because I am not always going to be organizing my ideas into an essay format. It is important for me to be able to display my information in various different ways and platforms, especially in the business world. Next, I need to continue to build upon my creative and visual media skills in order to be able to express my ideas for the appropriate audience.

In order to revise project 2, my partner Jill and I collaborated together to create a script for the podcast that we will be recording later this week. For the first peer review workshop, we brought in a draft of our summaries for our technical document. Our technical document is about the risk of space carcinogenesis. After this workshop, we used the summaries we wrote to create a script for our podcast. We named it J & C podcast for our two first names and tried to be creative in the way we are going to talk about such technical and grim topic. We tried to incorporate a sense of comedic relief to make it easier for our audience to relate to the topic, and find it more entertaining to listen to. Working in pairs makes the revision process easier because you can rely on each other to bounce ideas, which in turn makes the final product better since it includes both perspectives and personalities. The only reason working in pairs makes the process more difficult is because we have such different and busy schedules, that it can be hard to find a convenient time for the two of us to work on the project together. It definitely makes it easier that we are roommates, so overall I have really enjoyed working with Jill on this project. Composing in new media makes the composting process a little bit harder because I always struggle with the creative aspect of projects. Jill is very creative though, so she has helped me to be more creative and think outside of the box. If it were me working alone on a visual media project, I would have just decided to make an infographic or brochure, but so far the podcast is going well and I think it has been a good decision so far.

Research is defined as “the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions”. When I think of research, I think of gathering information from multiple sources in order to contribute to an argument or claim I am trying to make about a specific topic. Research is for anyone who needs more information and/or insight on a subject or topic. Research answers questions as well as clarifies any misconceptions about a topic. People research because we are not all experts in every topic out there, which is why research is necessary when we do need to know more. Researchers use different methods because different things work for different people. Certain methods of research are also geared towards certain topics, so there is not always one right way to find information. The research method I have used is mostly online. I have used the databases as well as other websites to gather information for my papers and other projects. The part about research that confuses me is which types of research are credible vs. which are not credible. I feel that it is sometimes hard to the most appropriate sources because you do not always know if what the author of the website or article is saying is justified and accurate. I always try to look up the authors as well as check the platform of the website or article to see if I am familiar with it or can define its credibility. Research can mean nothing if it is not gathered from a credible and reliable source, which can be hard to differentiate when searching online. I hope to become better at researching throughout my time at Fairfield and learn how to most effectively find sources to contribute to my work.

While composing Project 2, Jill and I’s first step was to go through our technical document and pick out the important information we wanted to include in our final product. Since our document is so many pages, we had to pick and choose what we wanted to focus on. Some of the information that was in the document was too sophisticated and complex for us to understand, which is why we decided to talk about the points that would be more universally understood by our audience and that we would be comfortable talking about. We produced what we are bringing to the workshop by summarizing the key points of our document for our audience. As of right now, we are thinking of recording a podcast for our final product, so we want to be able to understand what we are talking about and put the information into words that others will also understand. We are in the process of getting our ideas and thoughts organized so we can write a script for the podcast. This process is much different than Project 1 because we have to think more outside the box and be creative, whereas Project 1 was an essay so it was more straight forward. Visual media comes with more options and choices for the final product, which can make it more difficult to figure out how to produce a successful mediation of our technical documentation. I find a project that revolves around creating a lot harder than a straight forward essay that answers a question. Working in pairs affords me the opportunity to discuss my ideas with someone else in order to solidify my ideas, or be presented with a new opinion. I think working in pairs makes for a better final product because it includes smart ideas from 2 people instead of just 1. composing new media affects the writing process a lot because you have to go about it in a new way, which is challenging. In revising, I hope that we can create a script that captures all the important parts of our technical document, while also being creative and appealing to the audience we are recording the podcast for.