When I first sat down to try to write the essay, nothing popped into my head. No questions came to mind at all, which was strange as I have a lot of questions that I could have asked. So I tried very hard to think of the fields that I wanted to perhaps pursue. What did these people do? How did they do it? That started to spark more in depth questions. So instead of sitting down at my computer, I grabbed a notebook and started to write down my questions into separate columns. The columns were dedicated to the questions about specific fields, as well as more general questions that could pertain to all fields.
After this was done, I started to go through my columns, checking the questions that I felt were the ones I was most curious about. Some of these questions I felt were more relevant to my immediate interests. I also felt they might be good questions to include in our research paper. But, they were questions I didn't know much about, so I generalized about them as much as I could. Doing this also generated even more questions.
I chose questions mostly on what I was interested in. Since I'm mostly interesting in editing and medical writing, I started with those questions. I truly don't know much about either of these positions, so I was really just posing questions with no answers. I tried to provide what I thought these jobs included, but I couldn't be sure about them. But, I asked questions that I hoped would help me later in the semester, as well as questions I could go back to for my own information later.
My next step was to ask a general question. I felt this was important because it applied more to the pros and cons of a job situation. I wanted to know what were the differences between working for a company of some sorts and freelance writing. What sort of skills does each position need? What are the downfalls? These are some of the questions I wanted to include.
After I had my questions picked out, I needed to actually write it all down into a three page paper. This worried me a little bit. I wasn't sure if I had three pages worth to write about. But, after I started, the questions turned into more questions and I had three pages.
The paper, instead of making me glad it was done, inspired me a little bit. I realized I wanted to know the answers to all my questions, even the ones I didn't choose to write on. Hopefully later on in the semester, I'll find out more about the answers to my questions.
FINAL Creative Gallery
14 years ago
1 comment:
Your first few lines here would be particularly interesting ones to explore in more detail were you to conduct more thorough research into your writing process for this particular essay. In these opening sentences, you seem to be describing your process of "interpreting and negotiating" the initiating text (to use Paul Prior's words). That is, it would be interesting to hear more about what your initial thoughts were about what the initiating text (the assignment description) was asking you to do and perhaps how your understanding (i.e., interpretation) of that initiating text changes as you drafted and revised your exploratory essay.
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