MP #2 Last Draft

Introduction

In today’s society communicating through what Sheelah M. Sweeny calls ICT’s or information and communication technologies is the norm.  What Sheelah is referring to when she says ICT’s are ways of communication such as texting, e-mailing, Tweeting, or using IM.  You can go just about anywhere today and see someone on their phone or laptop using one of these networks.  But are these networks corrupting our communicating and writing skill when it comes to academics?  Should using the networks even be considered writing?  I want to explore these ideas, specifically texting.  I would like to pose the question “what is the difference in composing a text and composing an academic writing?”

I think it is safe to say that any of these forms of communication can be considered writing.  Why?  Because you are composing your thoughts in to sentences and even paragraphs. Even though you may not be writing about history or philosophy for school, you are writing.  Many people don’t consider texting writing; I know I didn’t until I was exploring the thought with my professor one day.  I didn’t realize how much I actually write on a day to day basis considering I hate writing.  But I constantly have my phone with me and I’m just about always texting someone, as most people today are.  But is texting and writing for school really that different?  Yes and no, there are some differences and some similarities.  I came to this conclusion through research I did through the internet, library, and I also conducted some of my own primary research through a think a loud protocol.  After the think aloud protocol I also wrote out what was said and coded it according to a scheme I created.  I created this scheme after learning about them in class.  My teacher used a general scheme she made and I just spun mine off of that.  I know it wasn’t exactly the same but it was similar.

Methodology

For primary research I did about a forty-five minute think aloud protocol of myself texting my friend to see what I did and how I responded and such.  Designing a method for this research wasn’t too hard considering we were required to do a think aloud protocol, which I did texting my friend Jordan just having a general conversation.  We asked things like “what are you up to” and “how are you?”  We didn’t talk about anything specific just random things that came to mind.  While conducting my research I found that trying to say out loud what I was thinking was hard at first, I would forget to say what I was thinking and at times I was talking to the computer instead of thinking out loud, but eventually I got the hang of it.  I found that most of the time I will think a few minutes before I compose a text message.  I would also read over what I typed and as I typed what I was going to text.  I was pretty straight forward about what I was going to say back most of the time, but several times I had to think several minutes before I could decide what to reply.  I know that I also do this when I am writing for school.  After I type a good little bit, I’ll go back and read it out loud before I add another sentence.  And after I add the sentence I’ll read it again to make sure it makes sense.  I consider that editing or revising.  I edit a text message the same way I do a paper for one of my classes.  So through primary research I found that my individual processes to approaching composing a text or a paper are similar.

Discussion

Through secondary research I found mostly ways of composing texts or papers that are different.  The most popular difference I found had to do with grammar.  When people are trying to communicate quickly through one of the ICT’s you don’t think about whether you’re grammar is correct or not.  Many people will shorten their message any way they can.  Some common examples are “u” for “you,” “lol” for “laugh out loud,” and “4” for “for.”  I myself cannot stand when people type like that it drives me crazy; I prefer to take the time to type everything out.  But if you’re on the go and trying to send a message fast I can see why you would do this.  On the other hand, some of the younger generation does this just because they can and also because in reality they don’t know how to correctly spell the word that they’re trying to type.  So they just do the best they can.  The problem with this is that the texting language people use can begin to spill over into their academic writing.

Many teachers despise that student’s texting language spills over into their work.  But some are embracing it and even allowing students to use their laptops and mobile devices in class.  I’ll use my own English class for example.  We take and use our laptops in class every day.  We do almost all of our work on our blogs or in a type of chat website and our teacher doesn’t mind us using text talk.  I think this helps me stay interested in what we are doing and learning about.  But it is a college level course so we are expected to know the difference in being able to write a paper and freely being able to text and type however we feel like it.  Also during this research I also found some teachers have found ways to incorporate cell phones and texting in to the learning in their classrooms.  Colleen Gillard talks a little about research she has done with this in her blog.  She describes a few ways teachers have found to incorporate using your smart phone in class.  One teacher had her student’s text in their thoughts on Romeo and Juliet to a sort of message forum she displayed on a projector in front of the room.  There is another tool where students can respond via text message to multiple choice and free response questions a well.  At ECU we used something similar in orientation.  We were asked survey type questions and asked to text in our answers and the findings would show up on the projector screen in the auditorium.  I think this is a great idea to keep students engaged in learning, I know it would keep me a little more interested in class.

Another difference in composing a text message and composing a paper for academics is that when you’re texting someone it’s very casual, and usually you text someone for a certain reason.  When you are trying to right a paper for class its stressful and your words don’t just flow out; at least mine don’t.  You are also writing for a specific purpose that you usually don’t get to decide when writing a paper.  A paper is something you have to write if it’s assigned.  You can send a text whenever you feel like it.  Text messages involve only a little bit of thought, if any at all; whereas when you are composing a paper you have to think for a while about what you are going to write about and how you’re are going to approach writing about it.  Most likely you are also going to have to do research for the paper you are writing.  You don’t have to do research for a text message.  This would be the biggest difference I see in composing a text and composing an article or paper for school.  There is a whole lot less thought put into text messages.

Conclusion

In conclusion I’m not sure if I think that writing a text and writing a paper are more alike or different.  For myself the processes are similar, texting is just on a smaller scale.  I thought that after this research I would feel like they are more similar, but when I think about the effort being put into each of them, it takes a lot less to text.  I do however feel like texting is writing and sooner or later, whether we like it or not, we will start using smart phones more in the classroom.  Eventually using mobile devices for learning will be the norm.

Writer’s memo

I decided on the topic of “what is the difference in writing a text message and writing for academics?” I decided on this topic after talking with my teacher about the topic I had before this one which turned out to be too broad and difficult to write about.  The topic I had chosen at first was ‘how do I write?”  At first I thought I had a pretty set view on my topic but as I started researching that changed.  Now I have mixed feelings about whether or not writing a text message and writing for academics are similar processes.  I feel that they are alike and different at the same time.

So far the only revisions I have made were grammar errors or sentences pointed out to me that could be better worded.  I will do more revisions once I receive feedback from my teacher.  I got some suggestions from another student in my class and I took those suggestions to better my paper.  I did not reject any suggestions because they were all things that needed to be corrected.  The revisions I made were all just small grammatical errors or punctuation errors that I easily and quickly fixed.  These few revisions helped me make my paper look and sound better.

For my reviewer I have these questions: Is my paper headed in the right direction?  What can I do to make my paper even better? Is my paper structured well?  The only thing I’m really concerned about is whether or not I went in the right direction for my autoethonography.  Everything I put in my paper just kind of flowed out of my thoughts and from the research I did.  I will feel much more confident with my paper knowing that I wrote it correctly.

Draft 1

In today’s society communicating through what Sheelah M. Sweeny calls ICT’s or information and communication technologies is the norm.  What Sheelah is referring to when she says ICT’s are ways of communication such as texting, e-mailing, Tweeting, or using IM.  You can go just about anywhere today and see someone on their phone or laptop using one of these networks.  But are these networks corrupting our communicating and writing skill when it comes to academics?  Should using the networks even be considered writing?  I want to explore these ideas, specifically texting.  I would like to pose the question “what is the difference in composing a text and composing an academic writing?”

I think it is safe to say that any of these forms of communication can be considered writing.  Why?  Because you are composing your thoughts in to sentences and even paragraphs. Even though you may not be writing about history or philosophy for school you are writing.  Many people don’t consider texting writing; I know I didn’t until I was exploring the thought with my professor one day.  I didn’t realize how much I actually write on a day to day basis considering I hate writing.  But I constantly have my phone with me and I’m just about always texting someone, as most people today are.  But is texting and writing for school really that different?  Yes and no, there are some differences and some similarities.  I came to this conclusion through research I did research through the internet, library, and I also conducted some of my own primary research through a think a loud protocol.

For primary research I did about a forty-five minute think aloud protocol of myself texting a friend to see what I did and how I responded and such.  Trying to say out loud what I was thinking was hard at first, I would forget to say what I was thinking and at times I was talking to the computer instead of thinking out loud, but eventually I got the hang of it.  I found that most of the time I will think a few minutes before I compose a text message.  I would also read over what I typed and as I typed what I was going to text.  I was pretty straight forward about what I was going to say back most of the times, but several times I had to think several minutes before I could decide what to say back.  I know that I also do this when I am writing for school.  After I type a good little bit, I’ll go back and read it out loud before I add another sentence.  And after I add the sentence I’ll read it again to make sure it makes sense.  I consider that editing or revising.  I edit a text message the same way I do a paper for one of my classes.  So through my primary research I mostly found that my individual processes to approaching composing a text or a paper are similar.

Through secondary research I found mostly ways that they are different.  The most popular difference I found had to do with grammar.  When people are trying to communicate quickly through one of the ICT’s you don’t think about whether you’re grammar is correct or not.  Many people will shorten their message any way they can.  Some common examples are “u” for “you,” “lol” for “laugh out loud,” and “4” for “for.”  I myself cannot stand when people type like that it drives me crazy; I prefer to take the time to type everything out.  But if you’re on the go and trying to send a message fast I can see why you would do this.  On the other hand, some of the younger generation do it just because they can and also because in reality they don’t know how to correctly spell the word they’re trying to type.  So they just do the best they can.  The problem with this is that the texting language people use can begin to spill over into their academic writing.

Many teachers despise that students texting language spills over into their work.  But some are embracing it and even allowing students to use their laptops and mobile devices in class.  I’ll use my own English class for example.  We take and use our laptops in class every day.  We do almost all of our work on our blogs or in a type of chat website and our teacher doesn’t mind us using text talk.  I think this helps me stay interested in what we are doing and learning about.  But it is a college level course so we are expected to know the difference in being able to write a paper and freely being able to text and type however we feel like it.  Also during this research I also found some teachers have found ways to incorporate cell phones and texting in to the learning in their classrooms.  Colleen Gillard talks a little about research she has done with this in her blog.  She describes a few ways teachers have found to incorporate using your smart phone in class.  One teacher had her student’s text in their thoughts on Romeo and Juliet to a sort of message forum she displayed on a projector in front of the room.  There is another tool where students can respond via text message to multiple choice and free response questions also.  At ECU we used something similar in orientation.  We were asked survey type questions and asked to text in our answers and the findings would show up on the projector screen in the auditorium.  I think this is a great idea to keep students engaged in learning, I know it would keep me a little more interested in class.

Another difference in composing a text message and composing a paper for academics is that when you’re texting someone it’s very casual, and usually you text someone for a certain reason.  When you are trying to right a paper for class its stressful and your words don’t just flow out; at least mine don’t.  You are also writing for a specific purpose that you usually don’t get to decide when writing a paper.  A paper is something you have to write if it’s assigned.  You can send a text whenever you feel free to.  Text messages involve only a little bit of though if any at all, whereas when you are composing a paper you have to think for a while about what you are going to write about and how you’re are going to approach writing about it.  Most likely you are also going to have to do research for the paper you are writing.  You don’t have to do research for a text message.  I guess this would be the biggest difference in composing a text and composing an article or paper for school.  There is a whole lot of a less thought put into text messages.

In conclusion I’m not sure if I think that writing a text and writing a paper are more alike or different.  For myself the processes are similar, texting is just on a smaller scale.  I thought that after this research I would feel like they are similar, but when I think about the effort being put into each of them, it takes a lot less to text.  I do however feel like texting is writing and sooner or later, whether we like it or not, we will start using smart phones more in the classroom.  Eventually using mobile devices for learning will be the norm.

MP #2 prospectus

The problem I want to look at is whether writing a text message and composing an academic writing are really that different.  These are not two topics I have ever thought about together, but it poses and interesting research topic.  I have also found that it has been a topic recently looked into and researched so that will make it a little easier for me.  This interests me because I know not very many people text and think that maybe it helps their academic writing or that is has anything to do with it at all.  I’ve certainly never considered it so I’m curious to see what I will find.

So the question I would like to explore is “what is the difference in composing a text and composing an academic writing?”  Is there a difference?  Does texting somehow actually have a way of helping us when it comes to writing academically?  These are all questions I wonder about and want to look at.  It could be a problem because professors/teachers look at texting in class as a disturbance or anytime for that matter because now- a-day’s people do it so much.  People often wonder why the younger generation is constantly texting and often thinks it takes up too much of our time. To a certain extent I could see how texting could actually be helpful to academic writing.

I’m not very far along in research though I have started finding several sources.  I think I have a decent plan on how to research this question.  I think that recording myself texting and then observing it and comparing it is the best plan of action.  I do not have a thesis statement yet but I expect to discover that although there are differences there are also so similarities to composing a text and composing an academic writing.  I also expect to find that texting probably in some way helps us when it comes to the process of writing for school.

Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 301-04. Print.

In this article Lamott discusses shitty first drafts.  She explains how people think that good writer’s just sit down and the words flow out of them.  Then she goes on to tell us that’s not how it works, everyone must have a first draft that’s really not that great.  She talks about her first drafts and how she’s scared someone will find it before she can fix it.  Even though Lamott types shitty drafts, she goes back and edits and makes a good second draft then maybe a terrific third.  This article helps me realize that it’s ok for your first draft to suck, just sit down and take the time to go back and make it better.  This article will be helpful to me because I always type several drafts of a paper and sometimes I even go back and re-word or re-write a text message to sound better.

LMK, IDK: Texting Is Writing, Researcher Says.” PhysOrg.com. 9 Sept. 2010. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.physorg.com/news203267108.html&gt;.

In this little article Jeff Grabill does a study on first year writing student’s asking them “is texting writing?”  A majority of them said yes, texting is writing.  Jeff himself agrees and makes the point that this generation is one that actually writes the most out of all the others, between texting and internet websites such as facebook and twitter.  A lot of our generation also write things such as poetry and songs in their free time.  This source will be useful in getting me started with forming arguments for my paper even though it’s not very long or detailed.  I think this article is biased because his opinion agrees with the research he’s doing but I also think its objective considering he took a survey of what the college students thought.  This source will help me start to form arguments and it makes my opinion that texting is writing a little stronger.

MacGregor, Neil. “Writing and Texting.” » GoQ : Home of WordQ SpeakQ : Word Prediction, Spoken Feedback & Speech Recognition Software. GoQ Blog, 13 Sept. 2011. Web. 22 Mar. 2012. <http://www.goqsoftware.com/uncategorized/writing-and-texting/&gt;.

This blog will also be a good starting point for my research and ties along with Jeff Grabills research.  Neil MacGregor makes the point that basically texting isn’t going away anytime soon so we might as well get used to it.  Texting may have started out as a small form of communication, but now all some people do is text.  It is writing it’s just a different form of writing.  Neil also has some great analogies that I could possibly stick in my paper.  This will help with my research and the goal of this blog is just to offer a view to this issue I wouldn’t say that it is biased even though it makes some valid points.  This blog also strengthens my opinion a little more that texting is writing.

Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 191-215. Print.

Perl’s main argument in this article is that to date all of the writing process research has been done is on average writers and hasn’t included unskilled writers.  So if it hasn’t been done on all types of writers how will it really help?  So Perl conducts her own research on unskilled writers.  She makes up a code, observes the unskilled writers during the process more than once, and then analyzes the data.  This source will be useful because I want to observe myself writing, so it gives me some idea of how to go about doing that.  I think Perl is being objective because even though she’s only studying unskilled writers, she’s doing it because other researchers studied what they call ‘average’ writers.  This will definitely help with the research aspect of this project.

Prospectus for MP #2 Draft

Out of my own curiosity I wonder what process I go through as I write or if I even have one. I’m not sure if I have a process or a certain way of writing or if it’s different every time I sit down to compose. I’m leaning towards the assumption that I do it differently every time because I’m the type of person that has to take a ton a breaks when working. I honestly find every reason I can to take a break, just because I usually dread writing that much. I’m not good at sitting down and just getting my work done.

So the question I would like to explore is “how do I compose?” I think this is an interesting question because I’m sure that everyone has a different process when it comes to writing. I wonder what mine is, if I have one, and if it’s similar to others. I don’t see this question as a problem; I see it as just an interest.

I’m not very far along in research but I think I have a decent plan on how to research this question. I think that recording myself writing and then observing it is the best plan of action. I do not have a thesis statement yet but I expect to discover that I do have some small processes, or you could even call them rituals, that I go through every time I sit down to write. But I also expect to discover that I don’t have a set process every time I write. I think that I always do something different.

Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Processes of Inskilled College Writers.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. By Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 191-215. Print.

Perl’s main argument in this article is that to date all of the writing process research has been done is on average writers and hasn’t included unskilled writers. So if it hasn’t been done on all types of writers how will it really help? So Perl conducts her own research on unskilled writers. She makes up a code, observes the unskilled writers during the process more than once, and then analyzes the data. This source will be useful because I want to observe myself writing, so it gives me some idea of how to go about doing that. I think Perl is being objective because even though she’s only studying unskilled writers, she’s doing it because other researchers studied what they call ‘average’ writers. This will definitely help with the research aspect of this project.