Reflection on the Semester's Work:
Throughout the year we have seen many
assignments focusing on discovery and investigation which I found suited the
course quite well. I feel that by completing these assignments I have been
able to make findings about the deeper meaning of a text as well as what personally
works best in written and mixed media communication for academic purpose. Specifically,
in Inquiry one we looked at an unusual form of written work and were told to do
a close reading. Prior to starting I figured this would be straight forward and
fairly simple as I was used to analyzing text in other classes at Miami and
previously in honors courses during high school. I chose to do a close “reading”
on Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters which is a song by Elton John that I have grown
up listening to and never really knew what the lyrics meant. Realized after
starting the investigative process that it would not be as easy as I had
thought and that the only way I was able to effectively understand it and form
ideas about its meaning was to go line by line and look at the sentence alone
then in context of Elton John’s life and the rest of the lyrics. I was able to
make connections between unrelated lines that alluded to an overall theme that
I based my essay upon. For example, the metaphorical use of a rose bush and blooms
to allude to the special and good things in life that don’t grow in negative environments
and for those that “run things through” which is a line that I tied to this
concept as well. I feel that this analysis was a way to open my eyes to literary
depth in places I otherwise would not recognize it like music, poetry, or media.
A take away from this class that I will be able to apply to other academic and
work related communication is to draw from types of work other than books and
essays to support an argument. Between all of my projects I learned the most by
juxtaposing my essay in inquiry two with the video we made inspired by it in
the third. I have never been asked to do this type of investigation on a topic
in my academic career and I was able to it on something I had legitimate interest
and belief in. As a writer this was my strongest point in the semester because
I explored what I actually wanted to know and built an argument upon it which
made for an essay in my voice rather than a bland one of trying to simply check
boxes for a grade. If I were to go back and edit or revisit my work I would
most definitely attempt to work elaborating more on my points and how I
structure all of my essays. I think more creatively and about how things look
and sound which tends to hurt me on papers that require a specific research
focus or structure. This class has not helped me with this specifically but by going
step by step and having a required methodology I was able to get a better grasp
of what needed to be where and develop my ideas to their full extent before
just putting words on paper like I have always done in the past. Overall, this
class has not only allowed me to investigate literature and media like Sherlock
Holmes but discover what my strengths and weaknesses are as a writer in educational
settings which moving forward will make me a stronger communicator in all
facets of life.
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