Following what was an icy syllabus week, most students begin preparing themselves for the rest of the upcoming semester. The second week of classes is usually filled with getting back into the flow of school, classes, and clubs, but this past week was a mix of all of that stuff plus the added stress of awaiting a COVID test result. With the semester swinging into reality, Davis library, once again, started to attract larger portions of the student body looking to check one more assignment off the list.
As the entire campus started creating routines for themselves and instructors were just starting to get the hang of referring to the students by their names, the students in English 105i-027 jumped right into their Unit 1 Project. After familiarizing themselves with information about rhetorical contexts and the writing process, students came to class ready to make progress on their scientific writing. Starting off the week on Tuesday, students worked in groups to refresh themselves and their classmates of their assigned reading in the “Tar Heel Writing Guide.” Students sparked discussions ranging from health and medical research to popular health journalism to the subtopics of the medical and natural sciences and the methods, sources, and priorities of scholars writing in health and medicine. Not only were students reflecting on this new information, but everything seemed to come together with the realization that researching health and medicine can be considered researching a subcategory of natural science. After reflecting on how scientists and scholars begin their writing process, students felt more comfortable with the writing process and started their Unit 1 Project. Brainstorming potential topics, students were suggested to explore all of their scientific interests to figure out which topic they wanted to turn into a popular health video essay.
After receiving feedback from the instructor and tweaking their topics, students were led to the library on Thursday morning to learn about the large variety of resources that are made available to them through the university. Receiving information regarding the plethora of resources available to them, students began to explore multiple different databases and learn about which databases would be the most efficient for their fields of study. Using these resources, students were urged to conduct secondary research in an appropriate and efficient manner in order to find an article that they could dissect for their popular health video essay. Equipped with their research article and plenty of other sources, students began working on their Feeder assignment in which they went from researching their topic in general terms to ultimately selecting their article. From analyzing the most prominent sources of information to reading through their articles, students were told to focus on the significant aspects of their article including the main points, hypothesis, methods, conclusions, and limitations. The end of the feeder assignment was aimed at getting the students to focus on the larger implications and general importance of the article they are reading while implanting the idea of integrating the information of multiple sources.
Now, aside from research, databases, citations, and feeder assignments, students were surprised with yet another snow day. Unlike the ice of the prior week, students woke up on Saturday morning to a layer of fluffy powder. The night was filled with sledding down hills, running through the snow-covered fields, and laying down to make snow angels to ultimately come inside to drink a mug of warm hot chocolate with numb fingers. The day off was a nice stress-free day for the English 105i students as they prepare themselves to be immersed in research, peer reviews, and writing for the next few weeks. Despite the added stress, Section 027’s students are excited to see their improvement in analytical skills, collaboration, writing, and research. Personally, I am anxious yet thrilled to see where the upcoming weeks bring Section 027 students and myself in the next few weeks.
Featured image source:
Dulaney, Todd. “Living in North Carolina: Oh, the Places We’ve Been”. Digital photograph. UNC-Chapel Hill