With our final wellness day right around the corner and temperatures getting warmer, it feels as if the end of the semester is in sight. As a graduating senior who recently transferred to UNC, the finish line is close but bittersweet after spending most of my time at UNC at home. Many of us who are not in Chapel Hill, like myself, wish we could be around to see Carolina’s campus blooming after what felt like a long winter.
In English 105i, we are wrapping up our second unit project. Our work in Unit II has been preparing us for a social health sciences conference presentation. We recently submitted our Feeder 2.2, a presentation proposal, and now we are working on our presentation scripts. Feeder 2.2 provided me with great practice for writing concise and informative paper abstracts, which is often the first thing people read when searching for scholarly articles. After creating an annotated bibliography, writing a proposal, and conducting primary research, I felt prepared to draft my first script for last Thursday’s class. Writing a script is a new concept for me, and I am thankful we have two in-class workshop days to gain valuable feedback from our peers. I hope to present at other conferences someday, and after this unit I will have a great foundation for preparing a script and formal presentation. Because a script is read aloud to an audience, it is important to restate your main points more than you would in a formal paper. I am used to writing papers, and it has been difficult to reiterate my topic without feeling repetitive. A polished script will be a great aid for recording our presentations. Because presenting online is unfamiliar for most of us, we have spent time in class and at home discussing the best practices for delivering our presentation online, even practicing short impromptu presentations in our breakout rooms last Tuesday. As a bit of a perfectionist, I already anticipate recording my presentation multiple times to ensure it is flawless. Thankfully, I have done multiple job interviews online and have mastered the perfect lighting and camera angle for my room.
For our Unit II project, we were able to choose any North Carolina challenge, injustice, or inequity related to health and share with listeners the causes and implications or potential solutions of our topic. I am excited to present on anti-vaccine sentiment in North Carolina healthcare workers. As someone who has worked extensively on COVID-19 data and has a population health and logistics background, the vaccine rollout peaked my interest. After discussing some primary research practices in class and reading handouts at home, I was prepared to conduct my own research. I surveyed healthcare workers around North Carolina who were hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine and have gathered great insights that will hopefully improve vaccine acceptance! My presentation on vaccine sentiment will be timely, with Governor Cooper recently announcing all adults will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in North Carolina on April 7.
This coming week, we will submit our finalized scripts and record our five to six minute conference presentations. Our next class session this Tuesday will be our last workshop with the working groups we have had all semester. Although it has been nice working with a consistent group, I am ready to meet more people and gain new perspectives! We will also finish our discussion of introductions and conclusions. As someone who prefers writing body paragraphs, introductions and conclusions are my weakest writing point. For myself, coming up with a great hook is often the most difficult part of paper writing. I am glad we will be discussing introductions and conclusions more in class! This upcoming Thursday, we will begin Unit III, Writing in the Humanities. After reading a section from the Tar Heel Writing Guide, we will jump right in by selecting our project topics on Thursday. I am excited that this unit will utilize Adobe software, which is a great skill to have for future employment. I cannot wait to see what interesting things I will learn in Unit III!
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