E-Portfolio
Presentation I
![]()
|
|
Presentation II
Reflection
Jonas Angelo Metran
Dr.Kimberly Bunts-Anderson
EN202 - ON01 English Composition II
11/24/2019
Class Assignment: Reflection
Personally, even though I believe that phobias are an interesting topic, it was very difficult to research. Phobias, although a condition that affects a high percentage of people in this world, is hard to professionally assess. Most of the local data I’ve obtained is through self-diagnosed accounts, and there is a lack of experts on-island to explain and/or treat this condition. To remedy this, I decided to narrow it to just NMC students as its results would give me a statistical overview of how our school perceives this type of anxiety disorder. This made my paper have a clearer question to answer as opposed to keeping it more general. Mental illnesses along with anxiety disorders have always been interesting topics to me, and if I find the time I would further my research into irrational fears.
As opposed to other English classes, which usually write their essays on different topics, our course commits to one for all our papers. I personally like this method as it allows us to go in-depth on a particular topic as opposed to researching multiple subjects with surface-level information. It also helps connect to our final research paper and makes the process of collecting information substantially more accessible. Because the other papers required us to collect information that is needed for our final paper, it greatly reduces the time needed to create a 16-page research report. I also like how we were given the choice of what topic to research instead of being assigned a subject I lack interest in.
Unfortunately, I found little use for the textbook in helping me through this course. For instance, the information in the text did not help me in quizzes that were based on it, and I had an easier time simply searching up information online or using our handouts on moodle. If I were to think of the most useful resource for my papers, it would be our guidelines. It gave me an idea of how our writings should be structured, the content needed and how to order it, and how long the paper should be. There was also an audio-recorded guideline for one of the papers, and I found that very useful as well. It was able to go in-depth like a typical guideline but also answer concerns that we might have had.
Overall, it was easy for me to acquire non-academic sources because a lot of data on phobias are through non-scholarly accounts. Like many other mental conditions, it is quite a growing topic, especially in the United States. Through a quick search in my Internet Browser, I was easily able to find dozens of non-scholarly information on phobias. However, I personally had quite a difficult time finding useful and relevant academic sources. A lot of the articles I found were either too specific or outdated, and I was only able to use small portions of information to correlate with my local data. In the end, I was able to use charts, percentages, and facts from the scholarly articles to help with my paper. I also had a really difficult time getting responses from on-island and off-island experts. Despite messaging in advance, I was unable to get any response. This is possibly due to the off-island experts having outdated emails and professionals on-island being busy.
Out of all the primary research options, I believe that I would do surveys and personal interviews the most. Surveys allow me to get an idea of the general population’s opinion on phobias, and due to it being online, I am able to gather the data with relative ease. It is also relatively quick and easy to make, and finding people to take the quiz proved to be not difficult. It is convenient to have people’s input organized and ready to be assessed. For interviews, I am able to get a more in-depth account of how it’s like to have a phobia. I can use the session for direct quotations that help in answering my topic’s point, which was if irrational fears are prevalent among NMC students. Both have their strengths and were useful in the data-collection process.
Personally, I believe that my academic writing skills improved greatly. Although my diction and vocabulary skills have only increased slightly, I believe that I learned a lot about the mechanics of writing a formal research paper. Compared to English 101, I am more capable of fixing errors, forming smoother sentences, and properly citing information. I still think I have a lot of room to improve on skills such as finding useful academic sources, choosing better words, and structuring my information. Fortunately, I believe that through frequent writing, my technique will continue to improve.
One of the biggest parts of our course was writing four different types of essays and our final research report. Through this, I learned how to summarize lengthy information, choose between making direct quotations and paraphrase, and deduce what type of sources would be relevant to my topic. We also learned how to analyze different types of literature, which I believe I improved a lot through this course. Before I took this, I had a hard time understanding how to find information that is useful in answering a paper’s question. But despite the initial difficulty, I managed to utilize these skills to complete my paper. Although I would like to improve on writing more effectively and proofreading accurately, I think that my general knowledge on these aspects will allow me to succeed in future papers.
With that being said, I strongly believe that I can utilize the skills I have learned in this course for future classes. I am more aware of the different types of papers for research, and I can use the criteria needed for each as a foundation of what makes a good paper.
My research outcomes came out as expected. I believed that a lot of people on campus have a specific type of phobia, and the results proved my prediction to be true. A lot of people I interact with have a specific type of phobias such as fearing heights, tight places, and the ocean. With that being said, it is reasonable for me to assume that this can also apply to the students of the Northern Marianas College. Most people not only experience irrational fears but are afraid of opening up about it due to stigma.
In conclusion, this course has taught me a lot of things and allowed me to research a topic that I found great interest in. I learned a lot about how academic sources are found, structuring papers, collecting data, and proofreading my papers. Phobias, while a disorder that many people experience is a topic that is rarely discussed on our island. My research paper attempted to answer if that was true, and I feel like I succeeded in that. Although I still have quite a long way to go in improving my writing skills, this course has given me a clear idea of what I can work on.
Dr.Kimberly Bunts-Anderson
EN202 - ON01 English Composition II
11/24/2019
Class Assignment: Reflection
Personally, even though I believe that phobias are an interesting topic, it was very difficult to research. Phobias, although a condition that affects a high percentage of people in this world, is hard to professionally assess. Most of the local data I’ve obtained is through self-diagnosed accounts, and there is a lack of experts on-island to explain and/or treat this condition. To remedy this, I decided to narrow it to just NMC students as its results would give me a statistical overview of how our school perceives this type of anxiety disorder. This made my paper have a clearer question to answer as opposed to keeping it more general. Mental illnesses along with anxiety disorders have always been interesting topics to me, and if I find the time I would further my research into irrational fears.
As opposed to other English classes, which usually write their essays on different topics, our course commits to one for all our papers. I personally like this method as it allows us to go in-depth on a particular topic as opposed to researching multiple subjects with surface-level information. It also helps connect to our final research paper and makes the process of collecting information substantially more accessible. Because the other papers required us to collect information that is needed for our final paper, it greatly reduces the time needed to create a 16-page research report. I also like how we were given the choice of what topic to research instead of being assigned a subject I lack interest in.
Unfortunately, I found little use for the textbook in helping me through this course. For instance, the information in the text did not help me in quizzes that were based on it, and I had an easier time simply searching up information online or using our handouts on moodle. If I were to think of the most useful resource for my papers, it would be our guidelines. It gave me an idea of how our writings should be structured, the content needed and how to order it, and how long the paper should be. There was also an audio-recorded guideline for one of the papers, and I found that very useful as well. It was able to go in-depth like a typical guideline but also answer concerns that we might have had.
Overall, it was easy for me to acquire non-academic sources because a lot of data on phobias are through non-scholarly accounts. Like many other mental conditions, it is quite a growing topic, especially in the United States. Through a quick search in my Internet Browser, I was easily able to find dozens of non-scholarly information on phobias. However, I personally had quite a difficult time finding useful and relevant academic sources. A lot of the articles I found were either too specific or outdated, and I was only able to use small portions of information to correlate with my local data. In the end, I was able to use charts, percentages, and facts from the scholarly articles to help with my paper. I also had a really difficult time getting responses from on-island and off-island experts. Despite messaging in advance, I was unable to get any response. This is possibly due to the off-island experts having outdated emails and professionals on-island being busy.
Out of all the primary research options, I believe that I would do surveys and personal interviews the most. Surveys allow me to get an idea of the general population’s opinion on phobias, and due to it being online, I am able to gather the data with relative ease. It is also relatively quick and easy to make, and finding people to take the quiz proved to be not difficult. It is convenient to have people’s input organized and ready to be assessed. For interviews, I am able to get a more in-depth account of how it’s like to have a phobia. I can use the session for direct quotations that help in answering my topic’s point, which was if irrational fears are prevalent among NMC students. Both have their strengths and were useful in the data-collection process.
Personally, I believe that my academic writing skills improved greatly. Although my diction and vocabulary skills have only increased slightly, I believe that I learned a lot about the mechanics of writing a formal research paper. Compared to English 101, I am more capable of fixing errors, forming smoother sentences, and properly citing information. I still think I have a lot of room to improve on skills such as finding useful academic sources, choosing better words, and structuring my information. Fortunately, I believe that through frequent writing, my technique will continue to improve.
One of the biggest parts of our course was writing four different types of essays and our final research report. Through this, I learned how to summarize lengthy information, choose between making direct quotations and paraphrase, and deduce what type of sources would be relevant to my topic. We also learned how to analyze different types of literature, which I believe I improved a lot through this course. Before I took this, I had a hard time understanding how to find information that is useful in answering a paper’s question. But despite the initial difficulty, I managed to utilize these skills to complete my paper. Although I would like to improve on writing more effectively and proofreading accurately, I think that my general knowledge on these aspects will allow me to succeed in future papers.
With that being said, I strongly believe that I can utilize the skills I have learned in this course for future classes. I am more aware of the different types of papers for research, and I can use the criteria needed for each as a foundation of what makes a good paper.
My research outcomes came out as expected. I believed that a lot of people on campus have a specific type of phobia, and the results proved my prediction to be true. A lot of people I interact with have a specific type of phobias such as fearing heights, tight places, and the ocean. With that being said, it is reasonable for me to assume that this can also apply to the students of the Northern Marianas College. Most people not only experience irrational fears but are afraid of opening up about it due to stigma.
In conclusion, this course has taught me a lot of things and allowed me to research a topic that I found great interest in. I learned a lot about how academic sources are found, structuring papers, collecting data, and proofreading my papers. Phobias, while a disorder that many people experience is a topic that is rarely discussed on our island. My research paper attempted to answer if that was true, and I feel like I succeeded in that. Although I still have quite a long way to go in improving my writing skills, this course has given me a clear idea of what I can work on.