Reflection on Project 1

What Have I Done?

OpenClipartVectors "Exhausted, Tired, Sad, Stickman" (2014) via Pixabay. CC0 Public Domain License

This first project has left me completely exhausted. In this post, I will look back on my process of creating Project 1, compare it to past schoolwork, and analyze what I have learned.

Challenges
While writing my QRG, my major challenge was time management. I had multiple family emergencies and financial pitfalls - not to mention my laptop broke. These unexpectedly interfered with the time that I had scheduled to work on my project. I ended up doing at least half of my project either last minute, or in the wee hours of the morning because that was my only available time. (In other words, this project was brought to you by Red Bull) I have also never had to invest much time into projects until I encountered this one. I imagine that this will be setting the trend for the rest of my college experience.

Successes
I completed the project! Along the way, I also learned a lot about how I write, and how I can improve as a writer. The clarity exercises and peer editing specifically gave me fantastic insight. I was able to use my understanding of my personal writing weaknesses as a strength. These exercises allowed me to go back and edit my QRG with a clearer idea of what to look for and aspire to.

Effective strategies
I found that my large image in the beginning of my QRG was compelling enough to immediately draw readers in, and decided to carry that idea throughout my QRG. Almost each section has a corresponding image or embedded media. I also found it helpful for myself to use small paragraphs, some as long as one or two sentences, to illustrate major points.

Ineffective strategies
I found that longer paragraphs, even conclusions, are not a good move in a QRG. Usually, I was told to use my conclusion to carry an essay home, but this project was slightly different. The conclusion still did that same thing, but it could be broken up into more than one paragraph. At first, I was very hesitant to do this, but once I changed it and read my project over, it made much more sense.

Similarities to past writings
This was similar in purpose to an essay for me. I see this project as an essay on steroids. It might look prettier and be easy to navigate, but it still is a text that has a 'thesis' and a 'conclusion' which help the audience understand a concept. When I thought of the QRG in this manner, it was a lot easier to approach using my normal writing process.

Differences from past writings
Some major steps that I had to add to my writing process due to this project were: research, and the triple-check. I had to find images and sources along the way, whereas in essays you are handed sources at the beginning. I also had to go back after publishing it and make sure all of my media and links worked. There is no such equivalent in essay writing.

Did I gain any useful skills?
This project has allowed me to broaden my definition of  a writing for school. I feel as though I will be able to more easily adjust to whatever genre of text I encounter. My writing process has also become malleable, which will also allow me to quickly adjust to our next genre of writing. Overall, this has given me a perspective of writing that I never had before: I now look for purpose, conventions, and other examples whenever I encounter a new genre.

Reflection: After reading Jessi and Cynthia's reflections, I realized just how much we all weren't ready to manage our time properly. Whether it was due to procrastination or just plain random events, lack of time seemed to be an issue for us. I also noticed that we each struggled in our own way with this project. While I mainly struggled with finding time, others had more trouble conforming to the QRG genre. Overall, we all overcame our struggles and created Project 1. Woohoo!