Final Portfolio

Here is the link to my final portfolio.

http://english101portfoliobyjohncosta.weebly.com/index.html

Thanks for a great first and second semester!

The Grand Finale

At this point in the semester we only have two classes left until our  ethnography and final portfolios are due. At this stage of the semester all of my research is done and now, it is time to piece together all of my work. Right now I am having trouble working my pieces together to reach my final conclusion. However, I am going to write my conclusion first, then reorganize my first three papers as supporting evidence for my conclusion. Along with my paper I also have to complete my final portfolio. I feel very comfortable about my final portfolio because it is the fourth one that I have had to do. Over the course of this semester i have seen a huge improvement in all aspects of my writing. Also, due to all of the observing, research and interviews I have improved in my steps before writing the actual paper. If I could not observe, or do research or interview then these papers would have been really hard to complete. This English 102 class has giving me the tools and confidence to research anything that I want to research.

Bringing it All Together

It this point in my ethnography project it is time to tie all the elements together. After reading FeildWriting: From down draft to up draft I realized that this stage of my project is really all about organization. Not everything is necessarily going to flow together when joining pieces together. So, it is important to stick with it because it could take sometime to find the right pieces that will work well together. The second reading, Revising For a Reader also broadened my horizon, it made me realize many things. I learned that even though I have tons of great research some of it will not be necessary for my final product. In order to have a great final project I have to me able to let go of some data that might not be needed. Lastly, after reading Nicole's final draft earlier in the week I realized that the conclusion is where it all truly comes together. In Nicole's final essay after reading her conclusion it was evident that all the data she wrote about was to support her conclusion, which was togetherness.

For my final field work project I plan on taking all the step necessary to tie all of the different components together. I thought that it was going to very easy to make everything flow and work together. However after doing all of the readings this week it is going to take a lot of revision to get my paper right. I feel that "tweaking"  each of my papers is going to make them even stronger for the overall conclusion of my paper.

Here is a website I found that can be used as a checklist while revising your paper.

 http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/revise.html

Interviewing and Listening

After reading I realized that there is a lot more that goes into an interview than simply asking questions. While interviewing it is best to keep an open mind, and to expect the unexpected. It is important to gather background information so that the interviewer can relate to the topic. Also, more questions can be build if there is more knowledge to base the questions off of. I learned that it is important to ask both open and closed questions. Open questions being that there is not a set answer. An open ended question can lead to questions that may have never been asked because they have no set structure to stick to. Then there is closed questions which are basically yes or no answers.

I always thought that the questions being asked in an interview was the most important. While the questions being asked are important, what the informant has to say is the most important. Follow the lead of the informant because that is when some of the most detailed and informative information can be revealed . While in an interview it is important to acknowledge the informant and let them know that you are interested in what they have to say. If they do not think you are interested they will not give you the information you are looking for. So, keep your eyes from wandering and do not look at your watch or a clock.

Lastly, after reading Jennette Edwards work I got a really good feel for how interviews should be fit into an essay. Everything flowed very nicely. She did not put anything into question and answer form, which helped make the essay flow. After doing these readings I am confident I will be able to construct great questions for my interview. Also, I think that I will be able to "press the right buttons" on the person I am interviewing to get as much information as possible out of them.

This is a great website I came across that has some great tips for interviewing.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/559/04/

Bolwing Interview

In Nicole's essay about the Hanover Bowladrome she started it off by giving a brief history about bowling. Then Nicole gives us an inside look at the staff and customers at the bowling alley. I thought that the flow of this paper went along very well with the two previous essays we had read. The thing I found most interesting about this essay was that it was more than just an interview. The descriptions once again made everything crystal clear. I could not believe that some of the women bowling in the league had been doing it for over 20 year. I was surprised that it was not competitive unlike the men's league.

I was not expecting this interview paper to go into as much detail as the other papers. However I still managed  to find out about how carol her kids love to bowl and they have birthday parties at the bowling alley each year. Also, that bowling runs in the family. This bowling alley is very family oriented.

After reading this essay I got a very good idea of how my paper is going to shape up. At the Abington Police Station I am not sure how I am going to split up my interviews. I will definitely interview some of the officers. However every time I have been in the station everyone is soft spoken so it will be hard to get my  annotated information. I cannot wait to dig deeper into the inside of the Abington Police Station.

Group Projects: Design Principals

This past week our English 102 class had to prepare and present a group project. My group, The Hangover, picked to do our presentation on Design principals. We had to inform the class about the four basic principals of design; proximity, contrast, repitition and alignment. We did so with a powerpoint presentation. One of the challenges we faced was to effectively use powerpoint.

Aside from the actual content of our project, I learned alot from this group project. First of all, it is very important that the group stays on task. There was limited time to put together  a "killer" presentation. Not only was it important for the sake of our group, but because in the real world there will also be limited time to prepare presentations. Also, it is important to use time effectively, because in my case I commute to BSU so I was not going to be able to make it back to school to finish the project if it was not finished in class.

Another improtant thing I learned from this presentation was performance. Making eye contact with the audiece so they feel engaged is important. Also, I learned how to gesture and move around just the right amount so that I was not uptight, but at the same time I did not distract from the presentation. When one is not the focal point of the presentation, it is important to not be distracting because it can take away from the presentation as a whole.

This website has great tips for presentations, check it out http://www.nvcc.edu/home/npeck/speaking/tipsforpreparinggroup.htm

Midterm Portfolio

This is the link to my midterm portfolio for my English 102 class.

http://english101portfoliobyjohncosta.weebly.com/index.html

The Gym

February 17, 2011
3:20 pm
2 treadmills, 2 stationary bikes, 1 elliptical, free weights, 2 leg machines(nautilus), 3 arm machines (nautilus), 1 bench, 1 cruncher --> small gym
four others in it & it seems crowded
3 females, 1 malefemales all knew each other & kept looking at me --> made me feel uncomfortable, what were they thinking?
male was checking out females --> what was he thinking?
male was overweight and listening to the TV
2 tvs, 1 on sports center blaring the current sports
smells of sweat and cleaning spray1 treadmill spinning quickly
lights were off --> relaxed feeling
comfortable room temperature



Today I went to the gym at my friend's condo complex. It is a small gym with about 6 Nautilus machines, treadmills, bikes, elliptical and free weights. The gym was free to go to and there was a relaxed feeling. The male showed up in a business suit and changed in the restroom. Judging from his clothes, he was coming from work straight to the gym. He was walking slowly on the treadmill. The females were all together. I think one was a trainer because she was telling the other two females what to do. They were preforming sprinting exercises. I think they were training for a spring sports season at their high school because they were both wearing Braintree High Track and Field t-shirts. Everyone there was sweating and showing signs of working hard, even though I think the two genders were working out for different reasons.

Lay of the Bowling Alley

While reading Nicole's Lay of the Land essay, I was immediately drawn in to the lively hood of the bowling alley. I was hooked by the second sentence when Nicole said, "The sounds of shoes sliding against smooth wood lanes and bowling balls rolling like thunder then slamming against multiple pins rings in my ears". The vivid imagery made me feel like I was at the bowling alley. This essay was very descriptive and allowed me to have a clear mental image of the bowling alley. One of the images that stuck out the most to me was about the stain covered red rug. I could easily picture drinks and pizza being dropped all of the carpet on a busy Saturday night. Also, when you discussed the man wearing the HHH shirt, I thought it was interesting that you inferred he was going to go home and watch wrestling. I thought this was an excellent example of Land of the Lay essay.


This essay has been very helpful for my project on the Abington Police Station. Now I have a good understanding of how much research I have to do. Also, the more detail the better. I want my audience to have used all five senses by the time they are done reading my essay. When I accomplish each of these areas my audience will know exactly what the Abington Police Station looks like. Lastly, I will also feel very awkward at the station at first because the officers are very intimidating.

Abington Police Station

For my ethnographic project I have choose to step into the foreign world of the Abington Police Station. The Abington Police Station near the center of town across the street from Island Grove. I decided to pick this as my research site because I am a Criminal Justice major. Also, not that I am complaining or anything but I have never been in the police station before so I am curious to see what it is like on the inside. The station is fairly new and I think it will be very interesting to see all of the state of the art equipment that is in it. The station tries to get involved with the community by hosting a fishing derby each year. On the public access channel the police Chief Mjenski hosts a show to give the community an update about the different activities going on in town. Aside from the distant look I get at the police station as I drive by it every now and then, my knowledge does not even begin to scratch the surface of the inner workings of the station. All I really know is that from the outside it is HUGE and it looks way to big for the little town of Abington.

There are many things I would like to know about the Abington Police Station. First of all, I want to know what the inside of the police station looks like. My reasoning behind this vast curiosity is because I have had to listen to my parents complain about tax dollars paying for this station. I want to see what all the tax payers paid for. Also, I want to know what time of the day, year, and week the police station is the most busy. Is it on the weekends? at night? Or during the week in the middle of the day? What is the most common age of people being arrested, and what is the most common reason for being arrested? How does the dispatching work?  Was this new state of the art police station really necessary? This is just the beginning of the many topics I will dig deep into to be an insider of the Abington Police Station.

This is the Abington Police Website, check it out.

Iresearcher kickin' it at the blowling alley

After reading Iresearcher all I can say is that I want to go bowling right now. I thought this was a great introduction into the topic of the paper. I enjoyed the well integrated personal aspect of the paper while at the same time introducing each of the topic that was going to be discussed. It was not overwhelming, I thought each topic of research was casually introduced. Sometimes, when I read a paper the introduction can be congested with a lot of information squeezed into it, this was not the case. The sensory details were very good. A particular image that I had stuck in my head was the strobe lights and fog in the bowling alley while the music blasted on a Saturday night. Also, every time i go to a bowling alley I always wonder what it is like behind the lanes, how does the machine that resets the pins work? How does the ball return machine work? Each research topic introduced had me hooked I want to find out what it is like to be an insider of a bowling alley.

Writing II

For my first semester at Bridgewater State University we made blogs to express how we felt about previous readings in my English 101 class. As the semester was coming to an end, I decided to pick Nicole as my Professor again. So, now for my second semester this blog will reflect my work in English 102. I think it will primarily be about components that will make up my ethnography. At the end of the semester there will be a link to my website posted, so stay tuned to see a really cool ethnography coming soon!