Module 4: Writing to Synthesize.
The first lesson I learned from writing this anthology project is that researching is not as easy as it sounds. My chosen topic was empowering young black girls through literature, and as I hunted for related articles, I was overwhelmed by how many results I found that skirted the edge of my topic but didn’t completely fit . The few that I did manage to find, after narrowing down my search to very specific results, were mostly written by the same two people. I realized that while there was a lot of research surrounding fighting systematic racism, and empowering black children, there wasn’t as much of a focus on black girls. Instead of being discouraged by the results, I was more determined to learn about what these young girls face and how through the power of literature they can be inspired to reach their full potential.
The second lesson I learned was that I tend to overwrite rather than making my words count. I learned this as I took the instructions to write my proposal in the form of a list as a suggestion and not the criteria. As a reader, and someone who enjoys writing, my first response is to write like a storyteller rather than an academic. It will be a learning curve for me but as I’ve learned in class, “revision is one of the most important stages of the writing process”(Graff 139).
Nice – a link to Graff and Birkenstein’s book!
THEY SAY, I SAY continues to be my favourite academic writing book to use in ENGL 100.