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Andy Trinh
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
7 December 2014
A Timely Reflection
I have traveled from the past to the present. I went into depth about the Victorian era and
stopped where I am at the moment. During the fall quarter, I learned how to write a paper based
off of scholars words instead of my own. Besides summarizing scholars, I slowly grew capable
of analyzing an entire scene minute by minute, making connections with the main idea of my
writing. In my Rhetorical Analysis essay, I introduced, summarized, and provided synthesis for
the passages used. On the other hand, my Literature Review essay required a conversation
through scholarly texts. As a class, we read excerpts from scholars Leroy Panek and George
Dove, linking them to Conan Doyles stories of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. These are the
links I incorporated into my Literature Review essay. Using what I learned from the different
eras, I connected the Victorian era to the modern day television shows Elementary and Sherlock.
Providing evidence for these connections molded me into a stronger writer because I had to
actually take the time to watch and analyze the shows as well as read the original stories. In
Writing 37, Intensive Writing, I learned how to cite sources, analyze and deduct, and reflect on
my own actions.
When analyzing genre, I figured out that there can be more than one in a story. In The
Hounds of The Baskervilles, Doyle incorporates horror as part of the novel when describing a
dangerous place. That is the great Grimpen Mire. A false step yonder means death to man or

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beast. Only yesterday I saw one of the moor ponies wander into it. He never came out...By
George, there is another of those miserable ponies! (loc. 1908). This Grimpen Mire represents
the horror convention of having an eerie setting. The use of horror adds more mystery into the
story, which is only beneficial to the reader because Holmes has more questions to answer.
Incorporating the scary element into a detective book helps me understand which types of
writing mix together. This guided me when I began writing my Literature Review essay because
I had to explain what the scholars were stating about the detective genre. Although we have
studied the genre of Wiki pages, videos, and even academic papers, this essay was based on the
convention of Watson in the detective genre. Even though I talk about the mix of two genres
here, it gave me a perspective towards connecting Watson to the middle class, male audience.
In each presentation, I discovered that having only pictures is more effective than images
and words. It is better to understand what I am going to present and just have images that the
audience can observe, instead of having the information displayed on the presentation slides.
This worked on my habit of flexibility because I adapted to this type of presentation. Before, I
just put all my notes on the screen, distracting the audience from listening to the words coming
out of my mouth. Also, I take the lessons from studying genre and context into account when
presenting. These connections come from scholarly texts, novels, and short stories that were
given to us by the professor. Through that method of comparison, I showed the habit of
creativity because I generated ideas from the scholarly texts and Holmes stories.
I have learned a lot about how other authors use each others work to formulate ideas.
When reading The Different Story, by Dove, I was able to understand how the detective genre
had its own unique structure and how the reader plays a special role. From providing excerpts in

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my essays, I learned that I am able to connect many things as long as I have evidence and
support for that evidence. Also, I used to read stories and novels that try to explain what these
scholarly texts do but in a more entertaining way. These scholarly texts are mainly informational
and want to make the reader understand that there is more to what is in a simple short detective
tale. In relation to Doyles stories, the reader only sees what Watson sees. Since Sherlock stories
are written in Watsons perspective, I am limited to his deductions before Holmes shows off.
After reading short stories and novels, and watching television series, I think I have understood
these texts well. This was proficient in my Rhetorical Analysis essay because I needed to connect
excerpts with my points about the scenes I studied. After dissecting a section of an episode from
the television show Elementary, I utilized these details to match ideas formulated by the scholars
through their own texts. In academic writing, I understand that I need to properly explain the
topic I am writing about. This means I should make sure that I focus on my thesis and not stray
from the message I am trying to get across. Also, the controlling idea should be specific,
sophisticated, and eloquent. The reader will have more appeal towards the essay if I match this
expectation. Through this, I worked on my habit of metacognition by reflecting on what I have
done with my papers and how to make them better.
Also, I learned that summarizing is used when wanting to condense a piece of writing
where the meaning is more important than the words. Sometimes scholars say things that are of
importance, but do not use fancy or keywords to describe their thoughts. Therefore, it is better to
summarize it up for them. A summary should get the main point across while allowing the
smaller ideas to escape if they are not relevant. It is beneficial to stay away from the same type of
sentence structure because I chose the passage for the meaning and not the words themselves.
When paraphrasing, I should not add in my own ideas. Other than that, it is mainly for restating

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what the scholar explained in similar words and structure. I want to stay very close to what the
scholar has to say and not add ideas in. Besides summarizing and paraphrasing, quoting is
another form of citing. Do not jump into a quote because it sounds good because it may have a
poor meaning. I learned that I should read what it is about, determine whether there is another
statement that gets the point across more effectively, and decide if it connects to the thesis of my
paper. Also, a quote is not a grenade, which means it does not explode and drop amazing quality
into my essay. I need to elaborate on it because if it is thrown into the paper without reasoning,
then there is no explosion. These three skills make up most of the they say, I say type of
writing. I do know that for a literature review, it is necessary to have these skills because you are
not adding your own perspective but restating a thought as well as providing evidence from
excerpts.
In my literature review essay, I analyzed a scene from The Hounds of The Baskervilles
where Watson was introducing himself to Stapletons wife. In this analysis, I only had some
focus on how the sources conversed on the topic. I tried to make sure the reader would better
understand the meaning behind the context, but my analysis lacked a strong synthesis. This
expresses my habit of engagement because I tried and learned that I failed at a certain part but
worked to fix the problem. There was an even amount of summary to synthesis in this part of my
essay, which led to less focus on the topic. In my revision for the essay, I made sure to shorten
the summary and effectively explain what the scholars are speaking about. In my Rhetorical
Analysis essay, I revised the passage about the last episode of Elementary, Heroine. At first, I
gave a lengthy summary and only analyzed the scene based off of cinematic elements. Through
my revision, I added synthesis for the points made about the elements used in the scene. I talked
about why certain techniques of filming are used during important moments and how they let the

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director portray exactly what he wants to the audience. Also, it was too confusing to put all of the
cinematic element analysis at first and then reason with it, so I put synthesis after every element
mentioned. Lastly, I connected the excerpt from Chapman in a more sophisticated way, making
sure it had better focus.
Peer review is something that benefits both parties. This is because getting feedback and
constructive criticism is easy to learn from. Also, the person who gives the advice is able to tell
what he/she is doing wrong in their own writing as well. For instance, I can help peer review
somebodys wiki page and discover something that does not seem right or appealing. Since I
probably had the same problem, I can go back and check to see if I did anything or everything
wrong. As the writer, you only see so much because you are the one creating the text. However,
the reader looks from a different perspective and is able to catch the little faults. This makes it
easier for writers to find their own mistakes before hand as well. This is why people say you
need to read in order to become a better writer, so you can see what is proper and what is not. On
another note, I learned that collaboration is a tricky thing because of conflicts. These include
personal lives, other priorities, and inconveniences. Sometimes everybody except one person in
the group can make a meeting, so the entire group decides not to convene. I understand one
person can make a difference, but if there is almost every single member of the group willing to
meet, then why disband it? Also, collaboration is easy if one person acts as a facilitator. This job
is absolutely necessary to initiate the project or small group work. When one person instructs
everyone else, it makes things easier and run more smoothly. If there are two people who want to
lead though, then they need to talk it out because the collaboration will go nowhere. They will
constantly shoot down each others ideas.
Under the Connect assignments, I learned that Integrating Source Material into a Text and

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Pronouns were the most difficult tasks for me. These were the two topics that I recharged as well
because I needed extra practice. When I went back into these assignments, I depicted the habit
of curiosity since I did them over again. A couple modules from the Pronoun assignment that I
struggled on were recognizing that pronouns must agree with their antecedents and their
compound antecedents in number. Another one is recognizing that singular pronouns are used
when referring to singular indefinite pronouns and plural pronouns are used when referring to
plural indefinite pronouns. Although I have done these revisions and received several peer
reviews, I need to keep working on my writing skills. There are many grammar lessons I intend
to complete again because the first time I did not absorb all the information. I do notice an
improvement in my writing, but it is not where I want to be by the end of this class.
In this Intensive Writing Class, I learned how to do a presentation properly, close read
and analyze scenes minute by minute, quote sources from scholars, and connect my excerpts to
the thesis of my writing. In a presentation, there should be no words on the power point besides a
title and caption for the pictures. The audience will not pay attention to the words coming out of
my mouth if what I am explaining is already on the screen. Also, pictures are far more interesting
to look at during a presentation. All I need to do is understand what I am going to talk about and
use the photo as a reference. Then, there is quoting, summarizing, and paraphrasing. I learned
that you should use a quote when the words themselves are important. However, paraphrase
something if the meaning is worth more than the words. A paraphrase should be approximately
the same length and show a similar structure with different wording. On the other hand, a
summary should shorten the passage into a couple of sentences and capture the main ideas.
Lastly, when there is an excerpt in my writing, I learned that it does nothing if it is not connected
to a point. Just because there is a famous quote or amazing line imbedded into the writing, does

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not mean the paper grows in quality. There must be a link to the main idea in order to really
emphasize the meaning of the excerpt provided. These skills will take me further into my writing
skills and help when I am writing other types of papers. I also need to continue working on the
flow of my essays. The rough parts of my writing reside in the transitions, whether it is from line
to line or idea to idea. There is not a consistent flow of sentences that is easy to read, so I need to
smooth it out. From this class, I also learned that hard work pays off, and if I do the assignments
before hand, the work at the end will be less stressful.

Works Cited:
Chapman, Brian. "10 Reasons Why Elementary is Better than Sherlock." What Culture. What
Culture, LTD., 9 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.

Handlen, Zack. "It's Elementary, Sherlock: How the CBS Procedural Surpassed the BBC
Drama," A.V. Club. The Onion, 20 Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Aug. 2014.

Risk Management. Elementary. CBS. New York, United States. 9 May, 2013. Television.
"Heroine." Elementary. CBS. New York, United States. 16 May, 2013. Television.

Panek, Leroy. An Introduction to the Detective Story. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State
University Popular Press, 1987. Print.

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