Blog 10

 Jonathan Sack

Blog 10

     I think that I have definitely benefited from this class. The biggest benefit I got was something slightly tangential, but this is definitely the most important thing I learned. This was the lesson of using the Learning hub as much as possible. I am not sure if I would have ever used the learning hub if it was not required in this class. Being forced to use it just once showed me just how useful it can be. I found it to be an extremely helpful service on campus (and free to boot!), and will now use it as much as possible in my following years at UIS.

     A skill that I have developed further in this class is the ability to include humor in my writing. Most writing for school is comparatively boring and extremely formal research papers. Our Project 1 gave us an opportunity to have more agency with our writing and be creative. This was useful for me, and I think that I was able to practice making my paper fun to read and not just logically sound.

     Our Project 3 was useful for me to recognize sarcasm in literature. This is rather specific to the exact song I chose. It had a lot of points within it that were sarcastic, and some that were ambiguous as to whether they were sarcastic or genuine. This helped me practice this skill, and the skill of analyzing literature in general.

     My biggest issue as a writer right now is less of a "technical" issue and a bit more abstract. I have trouble organizing my thoughts and getting started. Once I get started, it gets easier to keep writing my papers, but having nothing but an empty page and needing to craft a complex argument can be really daunting for me. I get writer's block. I have worked on this a little bit by always making sure I make an outline before writing the actual paper, but it is still a big problem for me.