Going the Traditional Route Academically

 It is 8:31pm and I have finished my research paper! :)

Although my annotated bibliography was a general overview of the subject of woodcutting and illustrations, I was grateful for my annotated bibliography and that I had taken the time to write down notes that looked interesting to me. When we were given this assignment, I took the time to go back and review my notes looking for a common theme that might interest me. There, I discovered multiple notes on the social impact of woodcuts for artists and the illiterate. This immediately sparked my attention as I am a sociology major, so I decided to do more research on the subject.

The day we were given this assignment, I went back to the library and found four books that I had used in my annotated bibliography, found the topics I wanted, checked them out as they were all still there, and started to read. First, I compiled pages of quotes that fit my topic and then sorted them according to sub-topic. After doing this and seeing what material I had to work with, my thesis came together nicely. I wanted to get my paper done as quickly as possible as I had other pressing, longer assignments. (And still have to finish them. . .) Thus, I was grateful for the research shortcut of my annotated bibliography. Also, because I was the only one who specifically researched woodcut illustrations, I did not find other students annotated bibliographies helpful as I wanted to stick with my original topic that had sparked my attention. 

I admit I was frustrated that we were not giving this “academic paper” assignment when we were first assigned the bibliography . . . I would have changed my researching techniques had I known the end goal was not merely a blog post, but an actual academic paper. I also was frustrated that we only had one week to do this paper right before finals as I have half a dozen other papers to write this week for other classes. However, I still got this paper done, so I feel satisfied.

Reflecting back on my experience, I realize that when I was given a traditional "learning" assignment, I stayed within my traditional ways of researching the topic I had already collected information on. I did not even think to look at students' blogs other than my post to find information, especially because I researched a unique topic. Instead, I turned to the library and books. As a senior graduating next year, I realize the traditional ways of write a paper that is so many pages using so many sources are engrained within me and that it is hard to change these habits and use social sources for learning, especially if people are not writing on the subject I am most interested in.

Regarding the medium of blogging, I made one blog post to get feedback on my thesis, received one comment, and modified it accordingly. However, due to the lag of responses, I did not find it a useful medium for ideas and feedback. I did appeciate Alex's well-developed controversial thesis and incorporated more arguable elements into my thesis after seeing his.

However, the peer review in class was helpful. I came with a completely written draft, so I was able to get good feedback on the structure of my paper and work on the details instead of the general format.  One-on-one peer feedback is more valuable to me than a blog post. I appreciate it when other people are able to physically mark on my paper to point out and write suggestions. As Andrew suggested ways to improve my paper, I immediately jotted them down. Due to these notes, when I later revised my paper, I remembered exactly what he had suggested and implemented them accordingly. 

Overall, I had a positive, traditional "academic" research paper experience. However, I see the limitations of a print academic paper. I wish I could have incorporated illustrations into my essay as that was the topic and would have enhanced my paper as illustrations communicate ideas more rapidly than words. Also, with the medium of print, only one person can view my final product at a time, which is another disadvantage of the traditional paper. However, because it is written with an electronic medium, I could easily copy and paste the texts into a blog post if I wished to share it with more than just my professors.