Reflection Memo - Paper #2

     The topic of popular cultural artifacts are so broad and it seemed difficult for me to narrow it down. However, I liked the freedom and flexibility I had in choosing the artifact to write about. I chose to write about Facebook because it is the popular cultural artifact that I use the most.
     When thinking of the issues that relate to Facebook, I didn't want to stick with just one because there were quite a few that I brainstormed. There must be a reason why Facebook is such a popular cultural artifact though, so I also brainstormed the advantages of Facebook. Because I now had the pros and cons of Facebook, I felt it appropriate to structure my paper in a way that illustrates both.
     One obstacle while writing this paper was making sure that my audience did not think that I was neutral on this topic. Although I was showing both the good and bad of Facebook, I needed to make sure I emphasized my point of how Facebook stalking is a concerning issue.

Reflection Memo - Digital Remix Project

     When thinking of which paper to choose to remix for this project, the narrative paper seemed of upmost interest to me because it reminded me of a movie that could be based on a true story. So, as I was looking through the possible genres I could use, a "movie trailer" fit perfectly.

     I watched a lot of trailers before planning out my storyboard just so I could get a feel of what real trailers look like and how I could make mine characteristic to them. That could be considered "research" in a way as I was looking into trailers for similarities and facts.

     The average duration of movie trailers are about 1:30-2 minutes long so I wanted to fit mine in that time slot as well. The filming process was fun as I got to involve my friends into the project and direct this trailer. I have never used iMovie before which was a disadvantage but it wasn't too difficult to learn how to use. This project was definitely my favorite one over the papers that we did in this course.

Reflection Memo - Paper #3

     For this music research project, I first thought about what my favorite thing about music was. I asked myself why I listen to music in the first place and the answer was because of the lyrics. I think lyrics are one of the most important parts to a song and so I decided to write about them. Then, I had to connect this idea of lyrics to an issue and the first thing that came to my mind was profanity.
     As I was writing my rough draft, I wanted to incorporate evidence of the points I was making about the evolution of lyrics so I included lyrics of different songs by different artists for support. This slightly changed the structure of my paper (in a positive way, I hope).
     This was the first time I had to conduct my own primary research and it was a good experience. I wish I would have had a better outline for my paper before the interview took place because I realized afterwards that I could have asked better questions. I consider that one of the weaknesses of this paper.
     I look back and conclude that I should have done more research earlier. It is much easier to write with the research already done than trying to search for more sources to fit into my paper.