Dec.12, 2006
Dear Portfolio Reader,
Welcome to my blog!
At the beginning of my college study, I started to read English novels and became interested in them. This semester, I joined Ron’s class on academic writing to learn the formal writing.
This blog was set up as part of the of course requirement. The first item, the introduction, is about myself—my hobbies and my attitude toward the writing. And, the following items are my essays from draft one to draft three (final draft). It was revised every two weeks according to my instructor’s advice and my partners’ Then, follow a reading log and the timed-writing.
In the first six classes, we focused on the reading and discussions of six short stories. During this period, I learnt the plot summarizing, character analysis, symbol, the key elements in interpreting the story, etc. Later, we did free writings to put what we learnt in use. After that, under the guide of our instructor, I began to set up the blog and embarked on my thesis work. Groups were formed to discuss the story and make best effort in finding a simple, clear and strong thesis statement. It was not as easy as I initially thought, for I wanted to write something different. However, shortly after, I began to realize that it was impossible to perfect an essay in the first draft.
I chose the third short story, Swaddling Clothes, by Japanese writer, Mishimo Yukio, for further interpretation as part of the class assignment. The topic of my essay is about the absent father figure in this story. This topic was from the spontaneous reflection that the newborn baby symbolizes the post-war Japan upon reading it. With this idea in mind, I came across two helpful books: Chrysanthemum and the Sword, Patterns of Japanese Culture and The Father: Historical Psychological and Cultural Perspectives, which enlightened and helped me in shaping up the entire discussions in the thesis from a perspective of the Japanese historical and cultural background.
Yet, the biggest problem in my writing is with the language. I was concerned that a good idea cannot be presented effectively due to language problems. I started to draw up an outline to see if the essay would be logical and understandable. The first step was not lightly taken and I had to spend a lot of time on rereading the story to identify evidence in the novel to support the theme of my thesis. Upon finishing, I read it over and again to avoid the slip of the pen and other grammatical errors. In the second draft, I focused more on the content, for some parts were not clear enough. The finial one was again to revise some language problem based upon the instructor’s proofreading.
In writing my essay, I realized that writing was a process, just as “Rome is not built in a day”. I will keep on practicing.
Best,
Dorothy
