Taylor Doster
October 9, 2012
English, Mrs. Pratt
Midterm Reflection
Honestly I don’t know which type of writing I enjoy the most. The only time I ever really
write is for school, essays, test, in English class, or the occasional letter to a friend. I have never
been really a strong writer, so I don’t really find writing very fun. If I had to choose I would
probably say I like social writing best. I like writing to my friends or family to tell them
something. Like how I have been, what I have been doing, work, school, and other things.
Sometimes mixing things up and writing a letter rather than calling someone can be a little more
personal. I guess it depends on what you need to tell the person. I think I can communicate better
when I need to tell someone something that is really bothering me if I write it down. For
example, me and my brother use to be best friends. He is two years older than me, and last year
he started dating one of my best friends. Long story short, she told him a bunch of lies about
stuff I did and said about him, and now he won’t talk to me. This has been going on for almost a
year now. The day before I left to go to college I wrote him a really long letter apologizing for
anything and everything and telling him how much I miss him being my best friend. Writing like
this is probably the kind I like most. I hate the situation I am in, but being able to write
everything out and read over it really helps. It lets me clear my head and get everything I needed
to say out. Very therapeutic.
I don’t have many light bulb moments when I’m writing, but most of the time when I do
it is when we are having a timed free write in class. Or when I am just bullet point(ing) my ideas
on a piece of paper before I begin writing the actual paper. One example was the time we were
given a few minutes to come up with as many questions as possible for our Inquiry Proposal. I
started with writing down simple questions at first and then as I kept writing, more and more in
Taylor Doster
October 9, 2012
English, Mrs. Pratt
detail and good questions started coming to mind. Then the problem was not forgetting the good
questions before I had time to write all of them out. I think writing helps you have these “ah ha”
moments because you physically have to start putting things on paper and then when you see it
all coming together, you might come up with a new idea you wouldn’t have thought of
originally.
The writing I am most proud of this semester was about the French Revolution. It was an
essay on a test, so I can’t really give you a word for word quote but I can give you a general idea.
I understand the French Revolution really well and I am also really interested in the topic. I think
this definitely made it easier to write about. Also, knowing it was 50 points on my test was a
good incentive to do the best I could. I tried to remember all the basic stuff to writing a paper
because I didn’t want to lose points for a dumb mistake. I think the part of the paper I was most
proud of was the conclusion. Not that I knew a bunch of facts to throw into the body paragraphs,
but how I tied everything together at the end to make a strong point. It just kinda came to me. It
was one of those Ah-ha moments I described in the last paragraph. As I kept writing things down
and trying to bullet point my ideas, before I could forget them, it just came to me. After I
finished the essay I read back over it and thought, “dang, that’s good”. I still haven’t gotten my
grade back, but I’m hoping the teacher thought the same about my essay as I did.
My inquiry project is going pretty well I think. Originally I wasn’t sure what I wanted my
topic to be. I just did an inquiry project at Wingate last year about advertisements in the social
media, so it’s sort of in the same playing field. At least with the social media side of things. I
remember looking at all the forum post trying to get a good idea for my topic, and then one day
when I was on Facebook it came to me. I broke up with my ex-boyfriend about seven months
Taylor Doster
October 9, 2012
English, Mrs. Pratt
ago, and it was honestly the best decision I have ever made. However it has had more
consequences than any decision I have ever made also. As soon as the status changed on
Facebook, friends started commenting, messaging, texting, liking, and blowing the whole
situation up. My ex decided to post really crude and dirty status’s on his wall about me and our
relationship, including personal things that I did not want all of Facebook to know. My own
brother and best friends started liking his status’s and talking about how funny he was on the
comments below them. This drama is still going on! My new boyfriend can’t stand it, and now
me and him both are the laughing stock of all my old friends. My ex told lies about me and said I
had been cheating on him. Well, this is a prime example of exactly what my project is about. I
was on Facebook and saw that all my friends, that are also friends with my ex (including my
brother), un-friended me, and blocked me. I haven’t ever been one to care about what people
think, but it was my brother that really hurt my feelings. Well, this is where the idea came from. I
thought it would make an interesting topic especially since I have a direct relation to it. Over the
last couple weeks of reading articles and books, I see that the topic is even more broad than I
thought. So I decided to narrow it to just dating relationships on Facebook, which I had more
connection with anyways. This whole research process has taught me that even when I think my
topic is pretty narrow, there is always a ton of information in the subject. Also it taught me that I
am never the first person with an idea about something. Clearly, there have been hundreds of
other people interested in this same area as I am. The research process is really helping me find
good, valid information and narrow my topic.
Doing research on my topic has raised the same or similar questions as I had already
asked. More important that raising more questions, it gave me better answers to what I asked. I
Taylor Doster
October 9, 2012
English, Mrs. Pratt
was just basing my answers off my own psychological degree, which is none. And trying to
come up with my own reasons why people act the way and say the things they do. Research has
given me new ways to look at the reasons people do things, and examples of things that happen
due to relationships on Facebook.
When I first started my topic I didn’t really understand how broad it was. I knew that
“everyone” has a Facebook and most everyone has some sort of relationship on Facebook, but I
didn’t know how many cases were out there about breakups and bullying because of social
media sites like Facebook. That is another area I want to research a little more. “How social
media sites cause break ups that lead to cyber bullying”.
I think my topic has already changed my perspective in so many ways. I am deleting my
Facebook very soon because I am tired of all the drama. I have talked to my boyfriend about it
and we are both planning to delete ours. It causes way too many problems when you’re trying to
have a serious relationship. It’s really amazing how many people out there just want to hurt you
and bring you down. And Facebook is often the stage they choose to do exactly that. I don’t need
to worry about my past, his past, which is my friend, or what people think about me. I think my
paper will influence people to feel the same way about social media. Or at least better understand
the topic.
My Questions:
1) What’s the best way to write an introduction? How do I write a good introduction without
answering the question in the first paragraph?
2) How to come up with good transition sentences?
Taylor Doster
October 9, 2012
English, Mrs. Pratt
3) What is the point in MLA format, and why are there so many different types?
4) What are the guidelines for when to cite a source? I know that everything from a source
has to be cited, but what happens if I learn things about my topic that become my general
knowledge, and I don’t cite the information? Is that plagiarizing?
5) What are ways I can make my essays longer? I always need a four page paper, and can
only come up with enough words to write two pages. Which is more important, more
information that isn’t very detailed. Or to go more in depth and have more details on a
little information?