Good Enough: Getting the Writing Written and Letting It Go

I feel like I can relate a lot to Bowman because she is a perfectionist, yet she is a procrastinator. I always put off my assignments to the last minute, but when I go to do them, I want them to be my best work. From this, I have learned that you should work piece by piece. Within my research paper, we have written each piece seperately like the literature review, methodology, and works cited. This means that you can do the writing process step by step instead of trying to cram it in all in one day. Also, she points out the fact that writing will never be perfect. Some of the greatest writers were not perfect like Mark Twain, so why should any of us expect to be perfect. The third point that I learned was that writing is never finished because writing always moves forward. This has to do with my project because I am always able to revise and fix anything within my paper.

Living Sources

Ballenger makes a good point when he describes how we should find experts to interview. I think it is important for students to pay attention to this because as students, we don't always know the best ways to go about finding information like this. Ballenger says to check your sources, check the phone book, ask your friends and instructors, check the faculty directory, check the Encyclopedia of Associations, and to check the internet. I also agree with him when he states that people who have gone through the life experience can give a lot of insight to your interview and therefore your paper. Ballenger suggests that the personal interview is most productive because it more natural, like a conversation. Interviews are great tools to clarify any information and also to gain understanding on topics that is unavailable anywhere else. An interview can provide information that other sources can't such as anecdotes, direct quotes, and descriptive material. When conducting a survey, it is important to keep your audience in mind. I plan on looking through magazine ads to see how women are portrayed in the media and also to interview my best friend who had an eating disorder to see if the media had any effect on her.

Reflection of Lit Review

I learned a lot from all of my findings; I learned that most often, if not all the time, media has a huge impact on teenage girls' body images. Magazines, television, and music videos are three primary sources of media that influence girls. Most of the time, teenagers do not realize that the images displayed in the media are altered, meaning that they have been airbrushed and distorted to make it look perfect. Girls then assume that they have to live up to this perfect world, when in reality, this is not the case. It was really hard for me to organize my lit review, and I am still thinking of a way to do this. I don't know how to organize it because there are not many topics within my question. I think it is important to include the lit review because it proves that you have researched and can explain your topic. Not many people know the true facts of how the media effects teenagers, so I think it is important to educate everyone on this information. I had previous knowledge about eating disorders and thats what spurred my idea to focus specifically on the media and body image. In my own findings, I might interview different girls throughout the university, interview my friend who had an eating disorder, and analyze different magazine ads to see how they portray women. I would like to find out if girls can relate to this topic of if the media influences their views of themselves. In my research I found that when girls viewed a picture of an underweight model, they soon began to feel negatively about themselves.

The Art of Quoting

To write a good research paper, you need to insert quotes of authors to make your statement effective. As stated by Graff, "One of the best ways to do so is not only by summarizing what "they say", but by quoting their exact words." This means that you can include paraphrased sentences, although including a direct quote makes a better arguement. Also, Graff mentions, "Be careful not to select quotations just for the sake of demonstrating that you've read the authors work; you need to make sure they support your own arguement." I wholeheartedly endorse what Graff implies in the above statement because often writers include irrevelant information that has nothing to do with their topic. Finding a relevant quote can be difficult because as you write, you may find that your focus has changed and what you thought to be a good quote, no longer fits.