Fall 2018 Reflection Journal
Grant Goldenberg
December 5, 2018
1
Contents
Journal Layout 2
1 Week One Prompt: What’s your theory of writing? 3
2 Week Two Prompt: Rhetoric & Space, Affordances & convention 3
3 Week Four Prompt: Developing Research Questions & Operationalizing Research
Questions 3
4 Week Five Prompt: Peer Review 4
5 Week Six Prompt: Evaluating & Annotating sources 4
6 Week Seven Prompt: Research Design 5
7 Week Eight Prompt: Research Methods 5
8 Week Nine Prompt: Data Analysis & Visualization 6
9 Week Ten Prompt: Drafting & Citation 6
10 Learning Community Event Reflection: Dawn or Doom 7
2
1 Week One Prompt: What’s your theory of writing?
Think about what you know/have been told about writing. Where does this knowledge come from? What
rules do you follow? What do you do when you are starting a new assignment? What’s most important
about writing?
The knowledge I have accumulated about writing generally originates from two different locations; lessons
and guidelines from past teachers and mentors makeup the largest component of my writing knowledge.
Through countless school assignments and projects I have managed to cultivate a unique writing style
that mimics my own inner voice by answering the questions posed to me by my mentors. These varied
questions allowed me self reflect about my writing style and gain an appreciation for and consolidate a
large database of knowledge about how to work in various different genres. The other main source of
knowledge regarding writing that I have learned most from are the works of other writers. I have always
enjoyed to read and thus I have read many classic novels ranging from William Shakespeare to Bram
Stoker. All of these works imparted their own wisdom on me each stressing different ideas and concepts.
Overtime I have been able to subconsciously incorporate these tips and tricks into my writing and they
have only worked to enhance my voice.
The rules that I follow when I write largely depends upon the style in which I am writing. Academic
essays require and more standard generic evidence based structure while creative writing allows the
author to break many of the standard rules associated with academic writing. Often these rules will
also impart how I may approach an assignment. Structured academic writing often requires the user to
construct a strict and often detailed outline laying out the necessary evidence to support one’s argument
in a succinct and clever manner. Creative writing discourages this and often is written seemingly a
stream of consciousness. In my opinion the most important thing is that the written prose maintains
the voice of the writer and when writing this is generally my primary goal.
2 Week Two Prompt: Rhetoric & Space, Affordances & conven-
tion
What are you learning about the connections between rhetoric and design? How does this help you think
about writing? How can writing help you sort out the different kinds of information you have encountered
this week?
The connection behind rhetoric and design, while not entirely obvious, is of great importance to the
way consumers rate the construction quality and functionality of a design. Rhetoric in its most basic
sense is the use of language to pose a point or persuade. When viewing rhetoric from the lens of design
we subconsciously answer the following questions: what activity does this design influence, how does this
design function, and is the idea posed in this design intuitive to the user? All of these questions discuss
the rhetorical background of the design, the often hidden message, idea, or use that the design attempts
to express.
Just like a well thought out design, carefully crafted prose often requires a well constructed and argued
thesis defended by solid evidence. By looking at the points the author constructs, the author]s stance on
an issue or idea should be clear to the reader. Similarly, in the field of human-oriented engineering, the
customer should be able to easily identify the use and functionality of a machine, based on its design.
As we completed our photo walks this past week, it can be easy to jump to conclusions about why
certain images portray failures of design. With careful analysis through a medium such as prose were are
able to analyze the rhetoric or idea behind the design and evaluate its effectiveness without overlooking
other aspects. Prose forces us to support our arguments with supporting evidence and logic which can
often be amiss from rapidly constructed arguments that fail to use a theory of writing as a basis for
analysis and construction of an argument.
3 Week Four Prompt: Developing Research Questions & Oper-
ationalizing Research Questions
What makes a good research question? What’s the difference between a big inquiry question and an op-
erationalized research problem? What is your process for developing a problem statement for research?
3
A good research question should act as a systematic launching point for research on a specific topic
or in a particular area of study. A good research question should be able to guide the entirety of one’s
analysis and the overall result achieved through this research should answer the original research ques-
tion that was established. In the case of a big inquiry question, these questions are broad in scope and
cannot be solved with a single sentence or one-word answer. Big inquiry questions often require thought
as these questions often encompass smaller sub-questions that must be answered systematically to gain
a greater understanding of the overall inquiry. On the contrary, an operationalized research problem is
an inquiry that is far more specific in its scope of development when considering research procedures,
surveys, protocols, schedules, and empirical observations. Operationalized research questions are often
inseparable from the data collection process and are more often than not an iterative process.
Generally, when developing a problem statement for research after selecting a topic, I will promptly
develop a thesis statement. The idea is for this statement to my guide research throughout the entirety.
The report should be short and precise and should help decide what sources are deemed appropriate
and unfit for my study. After Selecting my topic, I select the type of analysis that will be achieved by
my research. Is my work considered a qualitative or quantitative study as this will decide the types of
literature reviewed in my work? After selecting the type of analysis, I will often begin to locate sources
that pertain to my topic. I usually follow this research with a literature review to refine my thesis and
problem statement.
4 Week Five Prompt: Peer Review
Think back on your practices during peer review this week and try to characterize yourself as a responder.
What are your habits? What character/persona do you take on? How might these behaviors affect your
editing practices?
As a peer reviewer, I take on the persona of an editor and grammarian, as I am most definitely charac-
terized by my attention to detail. Some peer reviewers are better at distilling the main idea of literature
into a succinct statement and analyzing the individual’s overall argument as a cohesive piece of prose.
My specialties are not concentrated in this area but in the intricacies of its supporting evidence. As a
peer reviewer, I pride myself on my skills as a grammarian. I prefer to consider the audience for which
the piece is written and determine the governing conventions for that audience. The way writing may be
styled in academic settings versus say a reflective can have a significant impact on the reader. In formal
writing personal pronouns, the passive voice, and casual grammar are not permitted, while in a piece of
reflective or descriptive literature vivid language, informal grammar, and all tenses are fair game.
As an editor, I also consider myself a bit of an artist when it comes to typesetting and designing the
layout of a piece. Like grammar, the arrangement of an article can clarify or obscure the message of
good writing. Furthermore, proper formatting and stylistic choices reflect the time and care the author
puts into his prose. As a general rule of thumb, I tend to typeset my pieces in LaTeX if given the option
as the overall quality of the article is improved tenfold. By merely framing an author’s masterpiece in
an elegant frame (the LaTeX format) it gives the piece that little extra shine to make it gleam for miles.
5 Week Six Prompt: Evaluating & Annotating sources
What is your criteria for evaluating research resources? Why is it important to adhere to criteria for
evaluating sources? How do you effectively use online and library resources in your research?
When locating sources for research, it is critical to evaluate sources with keen eyes as not all litera-
ture is created equal. When looking for research literature, I tend to value my sources based on four
aspects, purpose, authority, reliability, and coverage. When evaluating a paper’s mission we are deter-
mining whether the source provides useful information that can be cited in our work. When evaluating
based on purpose, I often question the motivation of the author, if the author is attempting to provide
a commercial service and the intended audience of the piece. When I discuss the authority of an article
I am mainly concerned with the author and publisher. I often find myself asking do I the name of the
author without any prior research, what is the occupation of the author, does the author cite sources,
how recently was the paper publish, and when was the piece last updated. These questions allow us to
identify how the author ranks against a colleague in his or her field. Next, I check the reliability of the
4
source, especially if it will be cited more than once throughout my research. If the source is a website
is provided URL’s broken. If you were to return to the source would it still exist? These questions
discuss the dependability of a piece and consequently the dependence of my argument. Lastly, I explore
the coverage. Coverage allows us to determine the popularity of the source and the way the data is
presented in its respective field. Is specific data cited when the literature is cited by others? How many
people have cited the article? These items help to determine the coverage of a piece in its respective
field. When using the web, I often use the advanced search function in most search engines and databases
to facilitate the discovery of many sources that pertain to my work. Furthermore I also make use of a
research website Sweet Search which catalogs sources across the internet that are considered reliable for
students to use for research.
6 Week Seven Prompt: Research Design
Why is it important to develop a strong research plan/design? What process do you follow for conducting
research individually? How have you negotiated that process when working with your group to produce a
research design for WP#2?
Constructing a robust research plan/design is a critical step in the methodology that is the research
process as it provides a solid outline on which to fall back upon in the likely case that’s one efforts
to complete research are obscured by confusion or unexpected barriers when completing research. A
research outline keeps you accountable often encompassing a research plan/schedule which makes sure
you complete the necessary tasks for the day regardless of outside distractions. Such a schedule can
keep an individual on task and promotes a positive feedback loop that provides a small hit of dopamine
in the brain when you cross out an item on your research schedule encouraging a researcher to stay on
task. When completing research individually, after producing a problem statement, defining research
objectives, and deciding on the type of analysis I will use in my work, I often conceptualize my research
idea or experiment. This allows me to better understand the necessary procedure, equipment, and or
sources needed for my project. Next, I operationalize my work developing my necessary research pro-
cedures which may include surveys, protocols for experimentation, interviews, observation sessions, etc.
This often is combined with iterative data collection, which introduces the selection of a data set with a
specified dependent and independent variable. This operationalization allows me to construct concepts
into variables, variable into measurements, and measurements into processes. From this point, the ac-
tual research process itself may vary sometimes requiring further literary review if missing information
or unknowns remain while other projects may need additional data aggregation to confirm obscure or
ambiguous trends in the data. After data aggregation is complete analysis can begin. A study must
interpret the data an not restate it. What trends are in the data? Where these trends expected? How
does this relate back to your problem statement? Does the data collected relate back to your thesis?
When I can answer these questions with sufficient and clear evidence, it is grounds to conclude my work
and recycle my data so it may be published in order provide resources to other researchers, in the same
manner, that other researchers so graciously provided their data and work to me. In terms of my research
group we have been very considerate of each others research habits but more often than not my research
group will often follow my research habits in order to complete research.
7 Week Eight Prompt: Research Methods
In what ways is academic research a nonlinear process? Describe the role of research in academic writing.
How are you making decisions about research design and methods? What complications are you encoun-
tering? How do you understand the role of primary and secondary research for responding to problems?
Academic research, in my opinion, is indeed not a linear process even though we might plan to be
as such. It is very common when completing research after one may have already completed a litera-
ture review of papers regarding their topic, forming protocols for experiments or aggregating data that
they have overlooked a particular aspect of their research, whether it be unknown variable, an incorrect
assumption, or improper design. Setbacks and barriers when completing research are bound to appear
and in this, since analysis is undoubtedly iterative often requiring the researcher to return to previously
reviewed studies or to seek new research altogether regarding a specific aspect of their work. In another
sense, data collection can undoubtedly be considered iterative as in most experiments the control may
5
remain constant while another variable may change. In this sense iterations of the same test are run how-
ever the same test is usually never repeated. However, translating these results to the page can often be
challenging, and thus the role research in academic writing comes into play. The idea of academic prose
describing research is to be clear and succinct with a grounding thesis or hypothesis thesis that clearly
drives their methods of analysis. Academic writing also serves as both the sharing and battlegrounds
of ideas. One researcher may hold a different opinion about a specific topic; however, it is this duality
between researchers and scholars that drives progress in most fields. Often reviewing the work of others
helps to construct problem statements and research methods of one’s own. When reading a paper, I
always take note of what was tried and omitted from an experiment. It is often what one researcher con-
siders to be a silly argument that results in exciting and often groundbreaking results. It is this notation
that usually helps me to determine research methods and procedures in my experiments. Concerning my
own research, my greatest difficulty will be translating personal opinion into an empirical rating system
when describing the accessibility of different locations on campus that will be viewed fair by the majority
of responders. However secondary and primary research has helped me overcome these issues. Using
secondary research, I have found a few papers detailing empirical ratings systems for the accessibility of
a space, which I intend to modify and fit to our study. I have also used friends as individuals to test
my rating system. I did this by giving them a sample test and asking them if they thought the rating
system encompassed all the necessary characteristics and if they thought it was fair. If negative remarks
were given, I recorded these and asked for an opinion on how to rectify these issues.
8 Week Nine Prompt: Data Analysis & Visualization
What ethical issues should be considered in producing and using visuals? In what way are processes for
making visuals similar to writing processes?
When producing and using visuals there are a host of ethical issues that should be considered. However,
the ethical issues I generally stress when creating figures include accessibility, bias, and simplicity. How
accessible a figure is to a reader is an important characteristic of a figure to consider when designing
and presenting new information. Your research is only useful if it can be read and understood by others
in your field. For instance, when designing a research document, one should be sure to check if its not
only accessible to the lay-person but also the disabled. Without visual aids such as alt-text and a proper
title some figures are practically nonexistent to the blind. However with a proper title and descriptive
alt-text even blind individuals can still derive the message that your figure is attempting to convey via a
carefully worded description. Bias is a also another ethical point of contention when producing visuals.
When we complete research we aim to provide the raw and analyzed data to the reader in a form which
does not interject the opinion of the author into the research. Interjecting one’s opinion can blurry the
results of the work making it difficult to separate the sentiments of the author from the facts presented
by the reader. Consistent obviously biased works can also reflect badly on the reputation of a writer
as readers may become skeptical of the quality of the work produced. Lastly, the simplicity of one’s
figures plays largely into its general readability. If a visual contains quality information but cannot be
comprehended by the audience due not to design, accessibility, or bias but because of technical language
and issues such as ambiguous labeling (or in some cases no labels at all), the figure becomes ineffective
at conveying a message. The simpler the visual the better.
9 Week Ten Prompt: Drafting & Citation
In what ways do digital technologies make collaborating and writing drafts more efficient? How does the
collaborative drafting process differ from your individual drafting process?
In my opinion, there is no question that technology has almost certainly enhanced the processes of
drafting and editing. Take your typical journal in mathematics. A professor, researcher, or hobbyist has
an idea and begins to toy with it mathematically testing and toying it by hand. It eventually ends up
as the topic of a research paper where the idea is taken through the stages of the academic drafting and
revision process. Before a math paper is published it is generally put through a process known as peer
review (an idea not seldom seen in mathematics but also in English and the physical sciences). Before
the computer age erupted introducing the internet and file-sharing, to provide suggestions to an author,
an individual would need to procure a “pre-print” a completed print version of the drafted article so that
6
the quality of the article, as well as its mathematical argument could be checked rigorously. The obvious
drawbacks to pre-computer era drafting and editing are clear, it was more difficult to make revisions
using highlighted and colored text something the computer could produce with ease without switching a
pen or pencil. Comments and suggestions are easily organized rather than being scrawled in the margins
of a sheet of papers. Computers can now help check the grammar and mathematics of these papers and
furthermore the internet has revolutionized how we share ideas. It takes a few keystrokes and a click
to research a topic that used to take hours when your local library was the greatest database available.
Today we are blessed with online databases full of documents that can be easily cited. Furthermore, we
benefit from services such as Google Docs and Microsoft Office Online that allow multiple individuals
to work on a piece of prose at the same time. It’s this author’s opinion that collaborating and drafting
indeed has become simpler with the birth of the computer and the internet. However, this process of
revision and drafting is prone to change especially with the number of individuals participating in a
project. Generally, I prefer to draft and edit individually. When multiple individuals draft and edit at
once it feels as if “too many cooks are in the kitchen.” While it may be useful to brainstorm with others I
find drafting and editing to be a solitary process where collaboration is only introduced after a full draft
has been produced. When working in groups it is often necessary to split the work by topic, however, I
prefer to work alone while drafting. Splitting jobs when drafting and editing often leads to a segmented
understanding of the argument as well as the problems with the draft that a solo drafter gains inherently
via active editing.
10 Learning Community Event Reflection: Dawn or Doom
What was the event? Give a short summary. Talk about how the activity helps you understand your
role as part of an engineering community, and summarize how the event helps you make sense of your
current research interests, or data science more broadly.
The event I attended at Dawn or Doom was a seminar regarding the presentation of information and
data in the form of visuals. The lecturer who led the seminar discussed the issue of inadequate and
overly complex visuals and figures in STEM. In the seminar, the lecturer discussed common figure layout
issues as well as ways to correct them so that researchers can make their information as accessible and
simple to understand as possible. The lecturer explained this encouraged active engagement and thus a
better uptake of the knowledge presented. This presentation interestingly enough struck a chord with
me as I have many times played the role of the confused and befuddled reader trying to make sense of
overly complicated charts, graphs, and figures. I can attest to the fact that complex visuals and figures
can distract and discourage a reader from understanding the information. It is not uncommon to need
to refer to another paper or browse the internet to gain a knowledge on a figure format only to return
to the visual that produced these questions wondering what your original question was. As an engineer,
scientist, and mathematician a question I consistently consider whether my solution is accessible to an
audience. This seminar hits right at the heart of the matter and certainly introduces techniques I can use
to maximize the effectiveness of my visuals. The main question is will STEM as a whole come together
to address this issue? So many journals ask for figures and visuals in a traditional “boring” format that
it is in the best interest of the author to answer their requests. I have hope that publishers will make an
effort to combat the ambiguity and over complexity of these figures.
