Almost done with expansion

I am happy to announce that I only need two and half additional pages to reach the page requirement. I have been expanding my essay for about five hours now and am in serious need of a break. So, I am considering options and am contemplating the whole "physically attack your paper" approach to revision. I have never tried such a fun revision option and I suppose now is a great time to branch out and try it. Since I have been writing on the max and in class, I have a few of paragraphs that are a little out of order. I feel as though cutting up my paper would help me rearrange the paragraphs and create better flow within my essay. So far there is a timeline flow to the essay, but a few expansion paragraphs are sprinkled throughout the essay. In order to better organize the paragraphs I may cut each sentence up to further rearrange the paragraphs.

Are you using any out of the ordinary approaches to revision?

ESSAY EXPANSION TIME :-)

Expansion is harder than I thought it would be. I was thinking all this new insight was just going to come right to the top of my head. Now that it is time to expand, I am feeling less than analytical. So far I have expanded an extra five pages, so I only have eight pages to go. I know I can do it, it just seems so daunting. I should look at the bright side, I am half way to the finish line.
I guess I chose the hard route, since I am only expanding one essay.
What are you expanding for your final portfolio?

Back to where it all began!

I just peer workshopped my own piece of writing! Alright, I suppose it is revision not peer workshopping.. but WOW. I did not remember what I wrote, and it was only a month or so ago. Looking at this piece makes me want to chop it up, expand and change the direction of the ending. I did not think so much could change in a matter of weeks, but there is so much more to this particular story that there was before. Even though this final portfolio will be a ton of work, I am really excited for the end result.

Has anyone else starting revising their work?

Peer Workshop!

I am so excited about this peer workshop! I have been wanting to workshop my writing all term, so I am glad to finally be able to. It is always nice to get a fresh perspective on your writing, as reading a draft over and over again gets annoying. I am HOPING that my piece of writing gets all marked up so I  can revise and expand my writing.

I have only workshopped writing once, and that was in class. So, this take home workshop is a whole new project for me. How are you liking this type of peer workshop?

Article Discussion

The first part of the article had me thinking "well DUH"... The basics of psychology tell us that we are shaped by our surroundings; what we do, who we do it with etc. So, when this author brought up the idea of extracurricular performances and writing influence each other (academic and non-academic) I completely agreed, but I was also waiting for something a little deeper and more promising.  

I suppose this article expanded more on the view of non-academic writing by adding in more verbal areas of communication such as a play that could be considered a type of writing. But the idea of role-playing in writing classrooms which seemed to me like classes already available: speech, debate, small group communications, drama, and acting classes ring a bell?

So, as I read on I began to understand the foothold performance has on youth.  Students seem to want to express themselves without being constricted by specific topics or strict guidelines. This leads me to believe performance is an inevitable part of the academic future. I am not sure at this moment if it will create a positive outcome for writing, but I do know it will change writing drastically. My only wish is that these performance centered writing classes be offered to higher level students due to the importance of academic writing in your beginning level courses.

ALLERGIES

After hours of research, I finally chose a specific avenue regarding sunflowers. Initially I was leaning toward an edible twist for sunflowers, but nearly all the research I found was vague and uninteresting. I felt no spark or intrigue when searching for nearly three hours. Finally on a whim I searched allergic reactions and hit the mother-load! 

Throughout my research travels, many allergy journals were complied which contained specific case studies with references to sunflower seeds, pollen and dust. The research was fascinating and ranged from dermal to lung allergic reactions. The most promising article referenced a specific protein that caused the allergic reaction, this could prove important for potential vaccines. 

Now I am faced with a narrative project that is quite promising. I will be discussing allergies in the manor of an allergy journal review. The entertaining part will be my unique twist on it all. I am undecided when it comes to my contribution, but I have though of some possibilities. 

1) Use this research to propose a medication (topical or oral) instead of a vaccine. 

2) Propose sunflower petals as a potential allergen. 

3) Compare to peanuts and discuss the unimportance/ insignificance of sunflower allergies.

Any thoughts?

Sunflower Petals

Alright, I may be thinking too hard. I need to come up with some sort of new twist on sunflowers. This is a daunting task... These plants have been around ofr hundreds of thousands of years and I just dont know what to do. I have thought and thought about it, but I just cant find something new to contribute to sunflowers. 
Lets face it, they are used in bread, tea, nut-butters, biodiesel, salads... and thats just to name a few. Should I come up with an idea about sunflower petals? That topic seems the least over-done, I am just not sure that I can think of something original. So, as for sunflower petals.. all I know right now is that they are edible, bitter and peppery, but edible! They are used in teas, you can sugar coat them and add them to ice cubes. 

Sunflower Petals

Sunflower petals...
Brainstorm:
- Possible use in prenatal tablets (What could it promote? Could it help the development of a fetus?)
- What properties does a sunflower petal have? How could this be used medicinally? (Anti-inflammatory, coagulant, pain reliever?) "Sunflower-aid"
- Use the petals as a sort of wrap or tortilla? (Do they hold-up when cooked, or do they fall apart?)
- Benefit of using sunflower petals in shakes? (Protein shakes.. nutritional value?)

Here comes the hard part. It is time to look up each of these ideas and run with the idea that leads to the most amount of research and literature to back up a entire paper. I still believe the hardest part in all of this will be finding something that has not been said before. I am sure these are "odd ball" ideas for flower petals, but sunflowers have been grown for many years and thus my challenge begins. 
Let me know what you think about my brainstorming.