Response to Discipline Related Websites
I'll start off by saying that I am no expert in writing. Since the seventh grade when I started writing structured essays, it has always been a struggle for me. Formatting, grammar and citing never came easily to me. Each year I would have to back track and figure out how to structure a specific essay, when almost everyone else was able to remember and start their papers right away. In high school, my grades were very good. My GPA though was always brought down because of my english classes. Yes, my teachers would help me with my papers, but only to an extent. I took what I would learn in class, but it never seemed enough. My problem was that I never researched out of class. Sources were a foreign idea to me. Never once did I think to google how to do an MLA essay, or cite a specific source. Instead, I took the low grade that I was given. Once I entered college, the world of researched opened up to me. After clicking on different links on both of these websites, I decided to bookmark them on my internet tab. I know that I will refer back to these websites in years to come with any subject matter I need to write about.
When I first clicked on the Duke University link, I will admit that I was kind of lost. I didn't see an article to read and wasn't sure what I would even respond to. I started looking at the variety of links that the website proposed. I looked for the link which I could relate to the most. Being a science major, I clicked on biology and ended up reading through the entire link very thoroughly. Lab reports and research papers in my biology courses would have been made a lot easier if I had this link. It was very well explained in terms that even I could understand. I clicked on a few different links to see how they were written as well. Each subject had descriptions of each and every type of writing that could be assigned in a related course. It even had an article on how to write about photography. I would have never known that there are accurate ways to write about each and every subject. This website may have been a bit confusing at first, but it turned out to be a great tool that I plan on using for any paper that I have to write.
The second website that was from the University of North Carolina blew me away. I may seem a bit exaggerated to some, but I did not even know helpful pages like these exist. I thought the first link was great, but this handout goes into even more detail. It is also categorized a bit easier on the home page. It is not as confusing as the first link. The organization of the website leads you directly to whatever type of paper you need to write. There is more of a variety on the second website as well. The first website focused more on the subjects of writing and the different types of writing strategies that go with each subject. The second website also has a selection of subjects, but it has several links on writing problems. I myself have more writing blocks and problems than I can count, so these links will prove very useful to me. My favorite link on the UNC website was the writing anxiety link. When I have to write a paper, I immediately start sweating and over-thinking. I work myself up to extreme anxiety. After reading the writing anxiety article, it all makes sense. Now when I go to write our next project, I hope to control my anxiety and write a more relaxed paper. This handout also has links about the voices of writing which is something I have always struggled with. There is also a link on blogs that I clicked on, as we write in blogs for this class. It talks about class blogs as well as blogs used as a hobby. I think I might create a personal blog after reading about them. This website will also be useful outside of classes. I will be able to apply these helpful sites to writing business letters, letters of recommendation, and resumes. I took a lot from these two sites and look forward to applying them to future papers in this course as well as others.
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