Introduction:
Although I have provided an introduction to each link of my portfolio, I wished to put all of these elements together summarizing the full content of the portfolio into one concise paragraph to inform readers and onlookers of the purpose and intent of this website. While hopefully, you will learn a little about myself, my intentions are more that you will see my progression as a writer and as a student. As a writer, I hope my grammar, my thesis, my descriptions, and my overall presentation will improve through each blog, in-class writing, and essay. As a student, I hope to be more aware, informed, and knowledgeable, and through this ethnography project, I hope to become a far more diverse and well rounded student.
I chose the blogs and in-class writings in this portfolio because I feel they illustrated my progression as a writer over this semester as well as revealed slightly bit more information about myself. The two blogs both served as practice for the ethnography project. The first was a practice observation at a dining Hall at Virginia Tech, D2. I observed the dining hall for around twenty minutes making observations about the place, people, and atmosphere. In the second blog, I wrote about my initial observations of my actual site, the bus system. I wrote of waiting for the bus in front of Burruss Hall at Virginia Tech and what I saw, felt, and heard. In the in-class writings, I included questions and answers about my interests in reading and writing. This in-class writing provides more insight on my likes and dislikes in english. The second in-class writing is more of an analysis of a sample ethnography project. The Iowa 80 ethnography was a great example of the detailed observations, interviews, and research required to write an elaborate and accurate ethnography.
The most important revision I made to both of my essays was to find a concrete balance between the descriptive language and providing information about the people and the places I observed. I often found myself getting so caught up in describing the people and places that the reader became lost in the detailed language and lost sight of the primary and initial actions being done by the people. Hopefully, I was able to create a balance that allowed the essay to flow and read more steadily. As a writer, I believe I am becoming more comfortable with my style and introducing my thesis in a concise manner. I hope to continue improving and perfecting my writing skills, and even more so, I believe through this ethnography project I will learn more about the different and diverse cultures of Virginia Tech broadening my horizons and learning more about the different lifestyles and practices of other individuals.
I chose the blogs and in-class writings in this portfolio because I feel they illustrated my progression as a writer over this semester as well as revealed slightly bit more information about myself. The two blogs both served as practice for the ethnography project. The first was a practice observation at a dining Hall at Virginia Tech, D2. I observed the dining hall for around twenty minutes making observations about the place, people, and atmosphere. In the second blog, I wrote about my initial observations of my actual site, the bus system. I wrote of waiting for the bus in front of Burruss Hall at Virginia Tech and what I saw, felt, and heard. In the in-class writings, I included questions and answers about my interests in reading and writing. This in-class writing provides more insight on my likes and dislikes in english. The second in-class writing is more of an analysis of a sample ethnography project. The Iowa 80 ethnography was a great example of the detailed observations, interviews, and research required to write an elaborate and accurate ethnography.
The most important revision I made to both of my essays was to find a concrete balance between the descriptive language and providing information about the people and the places I observed. I often found myself getting so caught up in describing the people and places that the reader became lost in the detailed language and lost sight of the primary and initial actions being done by the people. Hopefully, I was able to create a balance that allowed the essay to flow and read more steadily. As a writer, I believe I am becoming more comfortable with my style and introducing my thesis in a concise manner. I hope to continue improving and perfecting my writing skills, and even more so, I believe through this ethnography project I will learn more about the different and diverse cultures of Virginia Tech broadening my horizons and learning more about the different lifestyles and practices of other individuals.
