Throughout the whole semester, I've done three main projects for my ENG363 course, including two written projects and one video project. The process of doing these projects not only allows me to develop my interests in the topics, but also provides me with a great opportunity to analyze issues with critical thinking skills. Since the reading documents for this course require comprehensive understanding and thoughtful analysis of each topic, I also feel my reading comprehension ability has been improved through the semester.
For my first hyperessay, I came up with the idea to explore masculinity instead of femininity with regard to the topic "Race and Gender" because I thought masculinity and its portraits in modern society has been much less analyzed than femininity and I wanted to reveal some interesting facts I observed about nowadays masculinity. When I was doing my project, I found my interest in the topic I chose was further developed by the research I did and different perspectives I gained. Moreover, as I talked with professor Heather in the individual conference, she told me that the academic analysis about masculinity was not as little as I thought originally. Then as I did more research on this topic, I actually found out many sources provided different analysis of both masculinity in general and masculinity in modern society. This in turn helped me thoroughly think and analyze my topic. Therefore, I really appreciate the talk with professor Heather and the opportunity offered by the individual conference. I think it was very helpful for students to refine our work.
Furthermore, I also think I gained a lot through my movie project. Not only did I master some techniques of the movie-editing software, i-movie, but also learned some interview skills. As I interviewed three people, I found that if I chatted a lot with my interviewee before I conducted the interview, the interviewee would say more about the topic, thus making the interview more flourishing. This is the case I interviewed with my first two interviewees, but not with the last one. I think interviewees will be more relaxing and comfortable if the interviewer talked something else with them before the interview begins.
For my first hyperessay, I came up with the idea to explore masculinity instead of femininity with regard to the topic "Race and Gender" because I thought masculinity and its portraits in modern society has been much less analyzed than femininity and I wanted to reveal some interesting facts I observed about nowadays masculinity. When I was doing my project, I found my interest in the topic I chose was further developed by the research I did and different perspectives I gained. Moreover, as I talked with professor Heather in the individual conference, she told me that the academic analysis about masculinity was not as little as I thought originally. Then as I did more research on this topic, I actually found out many sources provided different analysis of both masculinity in general and masculinity in modern society. This in turn helped me thoroughly think and analyze my topic. Therefore, I really appreciate the talk with professor Heather and the opportunity offered by the individual conference. I think it was very helpful for students to refine our work.
Furthermore, I also think I gained a lot through my movie project. Not only did I master some techniques of the movie-editing software, i-movie, but also learned some interview skills. As I interviewed three people, I found that if I chatted a lot with my interviewee before I conducted the interview, the interviewee would say more about the topic, thus making the interview more flourishing. This is the case I interviewed with my first two interviewees, but not with the last one. I think interviewees will be more relaxing and comfortable if the interviewer talked something else with them before the interview begins.