My research paper

Well first off I would like to say happy halloween to everyone out there! I am so excited to dress up tonight! I am excited to set the clocks back cause then that means, late partying, and extra hour to sleep in!! Anywho, I am looking up some more research on childhood obesity and I am greatful it is such a big topic and important discussion in the world today because it makes it that much easier to do research on. I still have to go to the library and find books on it and get some important facts because I think that is how I am going to start my introduction off. I have a basic outline of my paper but it isnt quite clear yet so that is why I need and would like more information through books. I must say that looking at obese children is actually quite sad because then you think about their health issues on the side like heart disease, diabetes, etc. I think it was sad that a child should be at risk at such a young age. Anywho, I am going to get back to doing more research. I found that it is much more simple and much more trusting if I found research and information through health sites that are official or through professional doctors on a site. It is hard to trust the internet these days so I just want to make sure that I am getting right informatin through right sources so I am not ending up with false statements on my essay. Well everyone, be safe tonight and I hope you have a wonderful halloween!!

10 Writing Habits

After reading the ten expert habits, I quickly realized that I am not an expert writer. I have found that the best way for me to write a paper is to think about the topic for a few days and brainstorm. After I have some ideas I sit down, and write all of my ideas down, usually in order of how I want the paper to flow but much of the time some of my ideas need to be cut and pasted in a better spot, or sometimes just deleted. After all of my ideas are down and I feel comfortable with some of the structure, then I put together opening paragraphs, thesis statements, and conclusions. A couple of things I could probably do that would improve my papers is to reduce my expectations for early drafts. This would allow me to just put more ideas down on paper without worrying about grammar, punctuation, or any of those small things that just seem to trip me up in a first draft. Another technique that would help me would be to print out drafts along the way. I do struggle with not being able to see the 'whole picture' and making major edits to papers. Printing it would help so I can make notes on the paper for changes that need to be made, and also make it easier to organize ideas.

I require a peaceful space from which to create.

I seek out a quiet place to write my papers, usually my bedroom. A peaceful space
free from loud noises and other distractions. I employed the idea-mapping technique
while writing one paper and I was really happy with the result. The idea map helped
me to organize my thoughts before I started my rough draft. It also helped me to decide
whether I had enough supporting information to backup my claims. I also try to schedule
my time by planning for drafting, revising, and editing, but it doesn't always
work out for me. My fluctuating work schedule contributes to a difficult balancing act
of time management.
I also try to think rhetorically from the start, but to this end,
I could use improvement. I'm going to try and incorporate this technique
(perhaps more fully) into my next paper. As I revise, I'm also going to try to think
increasingly about the needs of my readers. I think these things will help me be a
more effective writer, or at least I hope that they will. Anyhow ,another blog down,
just 5 more to go. cya :)

10 habits!

the best habit that i have would probably be composing rough drafts directly to my computer. I can just get my ideas down just by typing. It really helps because i can use those ideas to actually get a good piece of writing going. Some things that i really need work on is reducing my expectations on early drafts. Often times i feel like my first draft needs to be perfect with a couple grammatical or organization errors that i can fix in my final draft. When this happens i will usually feel stuck or "Blocked" as the book likes to call it. Sometimes i will just sit there with a blank page and just sit thinking for a long time...i can work on just getting words down on paper even if it looks like a bunch of trash and doesn't make any sense. Another thing i can work on is writing over a period of time. Usually i will just wait until the last minute to write my paper because in all honesty, i'm not a big fan of writing, generally speaking. Another good thing that i do when writing is exchanging my draft with other people and letting them read and analyze what i have to say. I get good feedback and that seems to help me out A LOT when i am writing my final draft etc.

I admit to habit #10. I find myself in the same situation as many students in college. I have to find the balance with all my extra-curricular activities. I work full time, go to school and have lots of physical training. I always write my essay papers as soon as I can figure out what my topic is. So I think that when I have a legitimate topic, I actually just start writing. I usually have a direction in mind of where I want to take my paper. But as life has it for me, I never really finish my paper on the first sitting at writing it. I try to write as much as possible at home, and then I just send it to my work computer. I pull up my paper to continue where I left off. I really only have 10-15 minutes here and there to write while at work. After about a few days or so, I usually have a decent 1st draft. It’s not perfect of course, but I am satisfied with it. Until I have someone correct it, then it gets demolished! This habit just works for me because I know when I have lulls in my day; I can always find something productive to do. This method is probably not the most efficient, in fact, I would like to be able to just write freely and not worry about being correct with everything. I like to be somewhat of a perfectionist and get it done all at once. I know my grammar is not optimal, nor is my use of words. That’s why I would like to be less picky and just write so I can get all my ideas on paper and then just figure it out later with someone to correct it. Little by little I guess.

Another blog of my choice..

Ok so I am sitting in the library doing anther blog of my choice because I am have an hour to occupate my time here in the library before class starts. I am really excited to start our research paper! I found a topic I am highly interested in and that would be child obesity. Should we have a better plan to prevent child obesity? I am excited cause I actually found a topic I am interested in. I am slo excited to find and see other peoples point of view. I think it is rather interesting and exciting. I am not too sure on what else to write about because from my knowledge, we have to blog about something that pertains to the class. So all I can think about is our research paper. Anywho, I really appreciated having a guy come and present to us on how to loook for different research items through the online UVU library system. Because we know how to access all this and where to look, it makes it that much easier. I also like having books available at our own library about almost any research question or topic you may have. I am excited to do my research paper because I am interested in Health and childhood development and I feel that child obesity ties into both catergories of where I am interested. So hopefully I don;t procrastinate this paper and do a wonderful job on it. Well I guess that is all for now. I need to go study for a math test that I have to take tomorrow and I am totally not ready for it. See ya.

My Writing Habits

One of my habits while writing, is to save the correctness for last. When I write I tend to type really fast. I don’t really care if words are spelled correctly, if my sentences are complete or not, and whether other grammatical rules are followed. I start my papers this way so that I can get my ideas out before I totally forget them all. I also do this because if I don’t, it takes me a lot longer to write my paper, and I end up wasting a lot of time. In addition, if I first focus on making my paper error free, I typically forget what I want say and my paper ends up not as well written as I would have liked it to be. Having this habit helps me to write better papers and to effectively get my ideas and points across.

One habit that I need to work on more is to know when to stop. I tend to be a perfectionist and I want my paper to be perfect. I proof read and edit my papers many times and never know when my paper is good enough and when to stop working on it. I rewrite, erase, and add ideas that may or may not be needed. If I work on this habit more, I think it will take away the stresses that I have about having a good paper and it will make my satisfaction of the papers I write to be “good enough.”