Reflection on Pre-Production

           This blogpost is intended to be a reflection on the Pre-Production process of Project 3.

What were some of the successes (or, things that went right) during this week’s process work? Explain, with evidence.

           

            During my pre-production week, I believe that I was successful in finding great evidence in support of my argument. This includes the judicial reports, the case study done, as well various articles that help build my case.

What were some of the challenges (or, things that went wrong) during this week’s process work? Explain, with evidence.

            My biggest challenge during this weeks process work was actually just staying on top of my work. I fell behind on blogposts, but I'm slowly catching up in that aspect.

How do you think next week will go, based on your experiences this week?

            I think this following week will go pretty well, seeing as though I just have to refine my draft and make sure my essay has logical flow and follows the conventions of a Standard College Essay and the rubric for Project 3.

How are you feeling about the project overall at this point?

            I was definitely a little overwhelmed at first. Once I fell behind on a few blogposts, I felt like it just all piled on all of a sudden. Luckily, I was able to create a solid rough draft, so as far as the project production goes, I am on track. My main goal now is to catch up on all my blogs as soon as possible.

Production Schedule

            The following blog serves as a Production Schedule for my Project 3 Production phase.


For Project 3, I went about it a little differently than I had intended. Due to some personal issues, I ended up getting behind on my blogposts and pre-production phase. In order to make up for lost time, I jumped straight into creating a very put-together rough draft. I already had my sources chosen and I knew what I wanted to write so I spent more time on a polished draft, and decided to come back and update my blogs. So as far as my production schedule, I had my outline created, I made a solid rough draft instead of a rough cut, and I even did my works cited page. Since I created a complete draft, I am looking forward to refining my draft over the next week into a strong final draft.

Content Outline

            The following blogpost is intended to share my Project 3 Outline (Standard College Essay) with my peers.


The link to my content outline can be viewed on Google Docs through this link.

Peer Review 9b

             This blogpost is intended to be a peer review for Shauna Bratton's Quick Reference Guide for Project 2.

Author: Shauna Bratton

Link to Project: Open Post to Peer Reviewers

             For this peer review, I checked out Shauna Bratton's Quick Reference Guide about how important Physiology is to everyone and how they can apply it to their lives. Shauna did an amazing job of researching her topic and being very thorough with her explanations. I feel as though her information would be great for a scientific poster, however, it does seem a little lengthy to be a Quick Reference Guide. I hate to say that she needs to cut down on information, just because she did such a great job of being thorough, but the way it is now does not really reflect the style of a QRG. In addition, she could try to make the QRG a little more visually appealing by using different fonts and/or colors throughout the QRG. She has a really solid draft and I'm sure she will pull through for her final version.

             

Peer Review 9a

           This blog serves as a peer review for Nicholas Hoover's Quick Reference Guide for Project 2.


Author: Nicholas Hoover

Title & Link to Project: Writing in Linguistics

           For this peer review, I made a form suggestion for Nicholas Hoover's Quick Reference Guide for Project 2. He had a really solid draft, it had all the conventions of a QRG, there were just a few things that he could fix. A few suggestions that I have are creating more white space and/or maybe cut down on the writing. It is supposed to be something that people reference quickly, and the sections should be short and concise. If there is no spacing in between sections, the QRG tends to look heavy and very wordy, which will be a big turnoff to his audience. Also keeping the information concise will keep the reader engaged in the project. Overall, the information is great, he just needs to work on making it an easier read for his audience. My comment for Hoover's blogpost can be found at the link above.

Reflection on Post Production

            This blog serves as a reflection on the post production for my Project 2 podcast.

What were some of the successes (or, things that went right) during this week’s process work? Explain, with evidence.

            I would say that my biggest success for this week was learning how to properly utilize Audacity. I had some previous experience with it from high school, but I didn't have to use it to the same extent as I did for this project. It took me a little while to figure out how it works, and after watching multiple videos and consulting a handful of friends, I finally figured out all the tricks I needed to pull of my podcast.

What were some of the challenges (or, things that went wrong) during this week’s process work? Explain, with evidence.

            During this week's process work, I really found it hard to get myself to really change the content of my outline. I knew it needed some heavy revisions, but I felt like if I started to change a lot of things, it would not end up being the same project that I had intended it on being. I started off by cleaning up my entire podcast script, fixing grammatical errors, making sentences flow better so it comes off more fluid when I was recording. I took out some extraneous information and added in some details, enough to where I was fairly happy with the script. I mentioned in my previous blogs that I was totally going to revamp the entire script, but after doing some tweaking, I realized I had a fairly decent draft to work off of for my final.

How do you think next week will go, based on your experiences this week?

        

    I think it's gonna be okay. Now that this project is over and we are moving into the next one, I will definitely use the skills I attained from audacity, in order to create my video essay. I just have to make sure I keep coming up with solid drafts, that way it makes the revision process and final product 10x better than it would be if I had not created a draft with some substance.

How are you feeling about the project overall at this point?

            I actually feel pretty good about how my podcast turned out. I was really overwhelmed that I wouldn't get a script to where my audience would be engaged, but I had people listen to it (and made them be brutally honest) and they said I did a good job at following the conventions of a podcast and breaking up sections so they would not carry on for too long. I definitely could improve the podcast to something amazing, if I had a little more time after the revision process, but I honestly am proud of what I made and think I covered all the bases.

Editorial Report 9b

This blogpost was intended to analyze the editing process of different sections of my podcast.

Link to Rough Cut for my Interviewees Discussed found here.

Revised transcript for Intro:

            "Before I dive into an analysis of these different genres, it is probably best to provide some additional information about my interviewees and how they utilize these different forms of writing. My first interviewee was Dr. Jerel Slaughter who is the department head of Management and Organizations and a Robbins Professor of Management. He said that roughly 50% of his time is dedicated to administrative purposes and running the department, while the other 50% is spent on teaching and research. Slaughter is constantly switching between his two professions at the university of Arizona, meaning that he needs a seamless form of communication between himself and his peers. He revealed that email is his favorite mode of communication , and medium to write in. It is quick, simple, and the most efficient way for him to not only communicate with his peers, but to teach his students. He notes that for his Applied Topics in Bargaining and Negotiation class, the class is more discussion based and the students will usually read articles supplied by Slaughter and talk about them during class rather than have him lecture. For this reason, Slaughter really only needs email to update his students on what articles to read. Occasionally, Slaughter will post a powerpoint to teach his students, but he would rather have the students engage with one another and learn with a more interactive environment. Another aspect of Slaughter’s career is his research. He is constantly working on research projects, along with teaching and running his department. His publications play a huge role in both the professional and academic aspects of his life.

            The second interview was held with Dr. Allison Gabriel, a professor of Organizational Behavior in the Eller College of Management. Gabriel has her doctorates in Industrial-Organizational Psychology and has brought her talents to the university of Arizona with the intention of researching more and teaching about emotions at work, motivation, employee well being, and interactions amongst professionals. A majority of Gabriel’s time is spent conducting research and working with students to help kickstart their own research. Gabriel notes that since she teaches in a large lecture hall, it really limits what she can do in class and she doesn’t get a chance to really interact with her students. Because of this her go-to writing and presentation platform is a Powerpoint. It is the simplest way for her to convey information to her students, solely for the fact that she doesn't get the close interaction that she would if her class was significantly smaller. For students who like to go a step further and engage in Gabriel’s research, she encourages them to follow her on twitter where she is becoming more active. Gabriel realizes that the up-and-coming generations are all about social media so she created her own account in hopes of bridging relationships with her students and other colleagues. She is aware that this method is a little unorthodox but is a firm believer that it will catch on eventually. In addition, much like Slaughter, Gabriel uses her research as a tool to communicate and teach her students and fellow colleagues. Their published articles, as well as the hundreds of thousands of other ones out there, allow them to teach students about the importance of research and to help spark ideas for even more research."

How did the content change when you re-edited it? Why do you think the content is being communicated more effectively in the re-edited version?

Much like the revision process for my Intro in the previous blog, not too much had changed for the content in this section that covered the background info to my interviewees. I know it seems a little lengthy, but not only did I include background information on the professionals, to give the audience a better sense of who I was talking about, but I went on to talk about the different types of writing genres that they utilize on a daily basis. Some of the background information such as the department they work in and what they do, was initially placed in the introduction, but I moved it to this section only. I fixed up some grammar errors and made the sentence structure flow better. I also added sound effects and an interview snippet from Dr. Gabriel herself.

How did the form change when you re-edited it? Why do you think the form is presenting the content more effectively in the re-edited version?

I think the re-edited version is way easier on the ear than the rough cut. The information all flows in an orderly fashion, and the fact that I discussed the different genres used by the different interviewees, gives the audience a better feel of the types of people that use those writing genres and the targeted audience. In my rough cut I had absolutely no sound effects at all, but for the edited version, I included transition noises, background sounds to emphasize certain parts of what was saying, and I even incorporated some of my interview with Dr. Gabriel. As you can see from above, this section was very dense with information, but I think I was able to get a solid hold on making it interesting for the audience. I definitely think it is "less of a drag" to listen to than it had been initially.