Monday, February 26, 2007

Agitated Bibliography

When I got my annotated bibliography back, I was expecting no less than a check plus. All my sources were credible and researched, and I felt I had done well explaining how I could use them in my paper. However, when I was handed back a check minus, I immediately read the teacher remarks.
Apparently, although I have aced essentially every English class I have ever had, and have excellent SAT verbal scores, I still have trouble with "basic sentence structure" and "linking sentences that are 'weak'". This made me angry because I know I am a good writer. These two phrases make me sound like I am an idiot, or like I am in elementary school.
I was also criticized for my MLA formatting errors, which is understandable. However, I consulted the slides given to me in class and on blackboard, and the website given as a model, so I don't think it is neccessarily all my fault.
These comments on my paper annoy me, but not as much as the comments in class. The logic of saying that because we as college students are adults, and thus we are expected to automatically know how to write an annotated bibliography is similar to saying that once you move to Aspen, you must automatically know how to bomb down the double black diamonds. I personally have never written an annotated bibliography before, and felt I did a pretty good job.
So in conclusion, I was not happy with the comments on my annotated bibliography. I put in effort to the project, I just didn't use correct format when citing sources. I spent the time doing the work, I was just unfamiliar with the assigment. So before you attack my first attempt at an assignment 'that all adults should know how to do', tell those new neighbors in Aspen to hit the slopes.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

While Writing...

While I was writing my annotated bibliography, I was multitasking quite a bit. I was watching the Superbowl when I started it, Sunday night. This distracted me a lot more than it usually would because it was a big game and one of the last of the season. The next morning I woke up early to continue working on it, and listened to music while researching my sources. When I got tired of listening to music, which was only about a half hour into the paper, I turned on Comedy Central. I kept the volume low as to not completely distract me, but I did turn around to watch a few of the funnier things.
After I had done all I could in my room, including researching websites and articles from databases, I left for the library. I brought my Ipod, but took it off to get help finding the book I needed. I had already researched the book and found that the library had one copy in stock. When I got back, I left the T.V. and music off so I could finish off the bibliography with concentration. I finally finished with about forty-five minutes left before class. I looked over it to make sure everything made sense and there were no gramatical or spelling errors, and then I packed the paper away for class.
Although I had other things going on while writing my annotated bibliography, I feel I did a good job on it.