Goal 1 (10%)
(To consider my audience’s comprehension as well as keep a purpose in mind while writing)
In my development of adjusting to the new assignment criteria, it was difficult at times but as time went along I could see slight improvements in my work. Specifically, articulating my papers to cater to the audience that I have in mind as I’m writing about a specific research topic. By Practicing using clear and concise language also using transitional words and phrases to help my audience follow my train of thought and understand the connections between my ideas. Overall using these strategies helped me keep my audience’s understanding in mind while writing.
Below is a link to a blog I wrote about y experience with interviewing. I feel I kept my audience in mind throughout the whole blog.
https://iris.siue.edu/codesteam-ywca/2022/10/12/interview-reflections/
Goal 2 (20%)
(Improving articulating of my speech and feeling confident to speak gracefully while maintaining acceptable eye contact)
Since the start, I’ve had a struggle with this goal, and previous instances can reflect that. Although, throughout the semester I found myself increasingly more confident to speak in front of my peers as I got comfortable. Also, implementing personal practice strategies to improve and utilize for future presentations helped me develop as well. With practice within the research team, this overall improved my presentation skills. For example, we had to gather two articles for an assignment and summarize them, I inconveniently came unprepared but acquired two articles that were up to par. Within a short period of time I was able to gather enough information to present and even though I was unprepared I spoke with confidence compared to the beginning of the semester.
Below is a presentation
Goal 3 (20%)
(Adapt to working with a team through collaboration and groups projects resulting in sufficient research and/or solutions)
Although I didn’t get to ask the question off camera during the introduction I would explain our objective to the participants before filming. I would even approach someone first person and initiate our plan and introduce everyone. Other than that I was behind the camera the whole time recording every interview and some interactions we had with the interviewees. Below is a link to a blog post going in depth about my experience
Goal 4 (30%)
(Discover a more broad understanding of the world religions through other people’s perspectives, religious views, spatial upbringing, etc by executing attentive research and interviews)
In the beginning, we were able to go out and interview different individuals and gather vital information for our research topic. With the high diversity on campus getting interviews with people of various skin tones, cultures, religions, and upbrings wasn’t a problem. Overall these interviews helped me understand personal perspectives on a topic from a plethora of backgrounds
In my last project for the research team, I got to learn more about the people in Alton. Less than half in the area have a religious belief at 48.9%. I learned the majority of those with a religious belief are divided into Christianity by factions with 1.2% of those people affiliating with Islam. With climate change divesting Alton many people of faith fell back on their religion. This research helped me understand other perspectives and even religious standpoints to an extent
Below is a documentation of sources I used to research my topic
Goal 5 (20%)
(Learn how to analyze critics I cite and interpret an understanding to differentiate my writing effectively and ethically)
Since the start of the semester, I’ve strived to fulfill this goal by taking steps before using anything for a source. I would read the critic’s work carefully and annotations as I read. Make sure I fully understood the main points and arguments of the critics, as well as any examples or evidence that they use to support their claims. Finally, synthesize their information by checking the resources they utilized and fact-checking certain points.
