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Trying Something New

 I am trying several of the new tip and techniques I learned from the Zerubavel's book.  We were asked to write a power paragraph.  So for my power paragraph, I formatted it in an attempt to write an abstract!  Lets see how I did.
For decades, student activism has been a major part of college campuses. Students have used their voices to draw attention to many social and political issues happening in their community and nationwide. Student activism is one of the leading influences for student engagement. As students become integrated into their college communities by interacting in challenging social situations with others, they begin to question and challenging the social norms of the university. However, students who identify as first-generation and/or marginalized enter into the college environment at a disadvantage and often do not engage in social activities. Participation in student activism activities can affect the engagement levels and retention of these disadvantaged students.

 For this power paragraph I used the following suggestions by Zerubavel:
1.    Writing time: I woke up early to write.  This is my ideal writing time as this is the time I feel the most creative.
2.    Scheduling: I scheduled an hour and half to write.
3.    Discipline and commitment:  Waking up early to write anything is a commitment. I value the intimate time I share with my bed.
4.    Power writing: I wrote for 20 minutes straight without reviewing what I wrote.  It was my brain dump time. This helped me get out all of my thoughts without worrying about how it sounds or if it was grammatically correct.
5.    I brain dumped in one document and then revised my sentences in another.
6.    I finished my paragraph within in 40 minutes (edits took me 20ish min). 
7.  I also limited the distractions around me. Place my cell phone on vibrate and turned the music on low (no Cardi but a little light jazz). 

Comments

  1. Prof BensonMay 23, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    I love the idea of "brain dumping"!

    "Power paragraphs" and abstracts serve different purposes :
    Power paragraphs are about convincing someone of something within the space of a paragraph.
    Abstracts are less about convincing and more about giving an overview of what a longer piece of writing will be about. It is more of a summary, whereas a power paragraph is more about analysis and argumentation.

    ReplyDelete

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