November 20, 2007
Writing Within Majors
All of us here at Case Western Reserve University have experienced the outrageous work load and surplus of writing assignments but how will this writing change once we declare our major? Will the work load become more intense and specialized to what we will be writing about in the future? After talking to senior Preston Baliga, a Biology major, it seems that the writing done in classes like SAGES will be the climax of writing here at Case.
Preston is about to graduate after this semester and has completed all of his courses required for his major. After he graduates, Preston plans on going off to med-school somewhere to work on becoming a doctor. According to Preston, the extent of the writing done in his biology courses has been through lab reports. Every lab report requires a detailed introduction introducing the concepts of the experiment, why the experiment is being performed and what is being done throughout the experiment. Aside from the introduction, the most important piece of writing in a lab report, aside from the recording of accurate data, is the discussion and conclusion section. It is here that the mathematical results recorded in the data and observations section are summarized and interpreted into words. It is from this section that different conclusions are drawn either supporting or refuting the beginning hypothesis.
“The ability to accomplish what you want through writing is directly related to your success. Results are only useful if you can communicate them to the scientific community,” Preston said. Basically what this means is that the ability to put results into words to explain the significance of different outcomes is a valuable tool to have. No employer is going to want to hire someone who doesn’t understand why certain results came out the way that they did.
Though Preston feels that the never ending lab reports have greatly improved his writing ability and will definitely help him in the future with internships and job opportunities, the majority of his writing has been outside of his major. In his biology classes, aside from lab reports the only other writing done is on tests where in other courses he has taken, the amount of writing has greatly surpassed that of his major. Preston noted that his worst writing experience took place in his philosophy course when he had a 15 page turn paper due at the end of the semester.
Throughout the time we all spend at Case we will do enormous amounts of writing that may or may not pertain to our prospective majors, but they all serve their purpose—to further our writing abilities, so when the time comes to write an important piece while applying for an internship, job or graduate school we all have the abilities to do so. Also, in Preston’s case, though he did not engage in most of his writing activity within his major, the writing he did do within his major is the necessary requirements for what he will need for graduate school and internships so it served its purpose as well.
November 13, 2007
Dittrick Medical Library Visit
Writing is one of the primary ways of gaining insight into the past, which educates others on past ideas and notions which aids in the progression through all fields of study. These writings, while useful and informative are useless if they are not kept in good condition and in order. There are countless pieces of writings from the past, though it is nearly impossible to know how many of those are found and stored by archivists. The Dittrick Medical Library contains thousands of pieces of writing from the past that they store within their facilities. The archivists record and store all of the writings discovered in a delicate manner, making sure that if ever necessary they can find exactly what they need and it will be kept in good condition.
The Dittrick Medical Library uses the finding aid system to locate their contents. Another commonly used organizational system is the Dewey Decimal System, which is probably one of the most common forms of organizing writings and is used in almost every library nationwide. Its purpose is to organize the thousands of writings in the library so that the customers will be able to find which book they want to read through a number system. Without it, finding any particular book would take an unreasonable amount of time and effort if it was found at all since it would constitute looking through every book with no reference points.
Without these systems in place to organize contents in places such as libraries, the lack of order would be a major inconvenience to most everyone. While the lack of order would make the jobs of the archivists much easier, it would also make their work meaningless since no one would be able to access the facilities contents. All of a sudden finding an article or document on early forms of contraceptives, which was talked about during our visit to the Dittrick Library, would take too much time and effort for it to be worthwhile, thus hindering the progress to potentially be made by viewing and assessing what others have done through their writings.
Archivists also have to make sure to take care of these documents; paper and ink are not indestructible objects so they must be handled with care, and stored in temperature controlled rooms. For this reason, some of the documents have been placed on display for the public to view and not touch and other documents are available for the public to handle and look over. If every person were to handle an original document discussing the primary efforts in creating the first contraceptive, no matter how careful they are, the document will get worn and weathered, thus losing value and practicality depending on how bad the condition gets.
Another way to avoid the wear and tear that the documents and other forms of information would undergo within the publics’ reach is to make copies of the material and preserve the originals. This way there is no loss in translation from original to copy, the original is saved and can be preserved properly and the library can loan out numerous copies rather than just the one.
Archivists have and important job in controlling and maintaining the preservation and order of historical documents. These documents’ writings would be useless if it weren’t for the writings that surrounds them, allowing those respective others to find what it is they are looking for.
October 05, 2007
Writing in Cleveland
Writing is a powerful tool used by everyone whether to convey their emotions through text, or to inform the public about certain events and so on. Writing can be used for almost any purpose by anyone. Walking around Cleveland, one can’t help but run into words; there are flyers posted on telephone poles, billboards advertising for anything, store fronts with their names lit up with neon letters and graffiti can be found everywhere. All of this writing helps to make Cleveland what it is, whether the writing is good and constructive or detrimental in some way, it all aids in the composition of Cleveland.
Everyday on the way to Benedictine, my high school, I would pass the RTA. On the side of the RTA were famous peoples’ faces with their names listed underneath each picture respectively. All of these people were had some Cleveland connection, whether they lived there for a number of years or were born there. Those people helped Cleveland by doing something great and now Cleveland is recognizing that by honoring them by disclosing the fact that they have some form of Cleveland connection. Langston Hughes’ picture is one that is on the side of the RTA, and everyone that passes the RTA on their way to school, work or home will see that. Whether or not they recognize it or pay attention to it is up the individual viewer but the fact is that they helped make Cleveland the city that it is today.
Aside from honoring those who helped to shape this city, words are used to separate us into our own sections. I am from Cleveland Heights but went to school in Cleveland and had to pass through Shaker Heights to get to Cleveland. Without the written word saying “Welcome to Shaker Heights” or “Welcome to Cleveland,” passing through those cities would mean nothing. Words can help us to recognize where we are and what different cities offer to the community as a whole.
Words can also be detrimental to a city or society. Graffiti plagues the cities, especially downtown Cleveland; people writing their group names on the side of buildings or just profane phrases to try and gain attention. This kind of writing brings down the city by destroying its appearance. Who would want to live in a city where your house will be spray painted on with whatever anyone wants to write on it. This kind of writing has no purpose aside from trying to gain attention or destroy a city.
Writing throughout the Cleveland helps to make it what it is. The graffiti, while not adding anything to the growth of the city, shows what Cleveland is and what people think of Cleveland. Obviously people have given up on caring about the city in parts where graffiti does mask the houses in certain neighborhoods. The billboards and signs posted around help to show what Cleveland has to offer, what is in the city. Store front signs also show what Cleveland has to offer in terms of restaurants and stores and what the Cleveland scene has to offer. Writing is a powerful tool to help define what makes a city great or less than great.
September 30, 2007
Writing on the campus physically vs. virtually
The virtual world is open to anything and knows no boundaries. Websites range from entertainment sites, club sites, informational sites and so on, so that every type of writing exists on the web. In the same respect writing around the campus is open to anyone who wants to write whatever they want, no matter how crude and uncalled for it is, everyone can write whatever they want. Even though these types of writing sound similar in content the internet allows for any amount of information necessary where chalk drawing are meant to be short and direct. This being said, chalk drawings and the virtual world of writing go hand in hand with each other; the chalk drawings alert the campus of events of which more information can be posted online to describe what it actually is.
The virtual world is growing rapidly but it does have its limits. Even though upcoming events can be advertised on websites and email, there’s no way to guarantee that anyone will see it. I never go on www.case.edu because there’s no need for me to do so, so if there was an event posted up on the home page I wouldn’t have found out about it but if that event were advertised on the sidewalk that almost every student at Case walks on each weekday on their way to class, it’s pretty hard to miss that.
Chalk drawings are a great way to raise awareness about upcoming events as previously discussed in an earlier blog, but there are limits to chalk drawings effectiveness. Advertising for “Club Delt” on the sidewalk is effective because everyone will see that Delta Tau Delta is having an event but if they were to go into detail about what “Club Delt” is on the sidewalk people would lose interest and pass it by. That’s why the internet is such a good resource and why it goes hand in hand with the writings around the campus, because Delta Tau Delta could advertise for “Club Delt” and if people wanted to learn more about it the internet is a great way to go in depth about what “Club Delt” is.
The internet can be seen as taking over writing on campus, and in some ways it has, but for the most part it aids the writing all around us. No one would spend their time reading a page of information on those advertisements posting areas because, usually the expected readers are the people passing by who wouldn’t have the time to read all of that information but if there were a brief description of the event with an html address below, those people could find out just what is going on and if they want to attend.
Not only can too much information on the sidewalks be a bad thing but nothing on the sidewalks and everything on the internet hurts the event as well. Not many people would be able to find the event being advertised because there’s no way to predict who will look on the site that the event is posted on. Personally, I am almost never on my computer anymore and occasionally look at my email. I always skip over the bulk email sent out by people advertising for events because I just use my email for school purposes only, like when professors email assignments or different class information that is necessary for the next time the class meets.
The virtual writings and the chalk writings on campus are closely connected and aid each other in their purposes of advertising for whatever is going on but going to the extremes with either one is never a good thing.
September 21, 2007
writing on the body
Students on campus engage in all sorts of writing, from advertisements for sporting and fraternity events to the student elections this past week. Fraternities advertise in other ways than just on the sidewalk or on bulletin boards. On campus, the fraternity members walk around wearing t-shirts and hoodies representing their organization. They’re showing their pride in what they belong in as well as trying to recruit new members. At sporting events, Case students show up with individual letters written on their torsos. Spelled out, these letters say “C-A-S-E” or “S-P-A-R-T-A-N-S-!” but individually they hold no meaning.
Writing on the body holds numerous meanings for each person. A friend from high school got “No Regrets” tattooed on his side. For him this phrase was a reminder about a close friend of his who died abruptly one night, but that’s a common phrase and for someone else that tattoo could mean something completely different. Does that phrase have one sole meaning or can it mean anything for any different person who sees it?
If something is tattooed on the body it seems more personalized to the person who has the tattoo rather than writing on a page. Writing on a page is meant more for other people where tattoos seem more individual where there is one sole meaning for any tattoo. Writing on the body has a sole meaning for the person who is tattooed because they have inscribed a personal experience into their skin, which means one thing and does not have any number of meanings.
Writing on the body can be meant for any number of reasons; for other people to see what means something to that individual or for that individual to use as a reminder of past events. Either way, writing on the body is more personal than just writing on a page because it will be carried with you wherever you go, no matter how long it lasts.
September 14, 2007
Blog #2
Nathan wrote in her book about how residence hall writing, as on doors of dorm rooms, defines who we are. How true is that statement?
Around Norton house, where I live, the only writing on the dorm room doors are either profane words, graphic images or quotes from movies that pertain to nothing. On one of the doors in Norton, aside from the penis’ on the dry erase boards, there is a quote that says “I like pasta” next to a drawing of a person’s face. What about that statement or even the drawing defines the person inside the room? Nothing, aside from the fact that he likes pasta but how defining can that be about a person.
In our class discussion people spoke about how some people left notes for their roommate or even little inside jokes on the dry erase boards but does that define who they are as people? When I think about what defines me as a person I think of what makes me who I am. I enjoy playing baseball competitively and playing other sports for fun, I like to go out rather than staying in and I enjoy going to malls to hang out and shop for clothes, shoes and whatever else is there. I could go on forever about what I like to do and what I don’t but it is those actions of what we do that define who we are, not inside jokes on our doors or random movie quotes written around the residence halls.
Aside from the writing on the doors, there are countless signs and papers posted up all over the residence halls; papers advertising for an upcoming event for whom to elect for class president. There are so many chalk drawings on the sidewalk advertising for upcoming sporting events or different fraternity functions. In a way these words define college life. While they advertise for upcoming things that are happening around the campus, they also give an insight into what the students of the campus are up to, assuming that a good amount of people attend the events. Most of the events are run by the students as well so the events advertised on the sidewalk of the campus show what the students of the campus care about and what they put their time and effort into.
Defining a whole campus with words and signs would be impossible but it’s those words that show give outsiders and inside scoop to what the students do at night and on weekends or whenever the events are taking place.
How will technology change the writing around the campus? Will everything switch from chalk drawings to email? And if this is the case, will those emails now be the defining features of the college campus or was it the physical act of putting the effort into drawing in chalk on the sidewalk or printing hundreds of copies of a flyer that has a good chance of being covered in graffiti the next day that defines a campus and the people that make that campus what it is?
In my opinion to define a campus with words and signs it has show the effort and dedication that the students took in organizing the event or their passion for whatever sporting event that is taking place. Anyone can email the whole campus something that took them two minutes to write up and then be done with it but when someone actually cares enough about something to send their night advertising for it outside for however long it takes, that is truly what defines a college campus.
August 31, 2007
Academic Integrity
Cheating in high school is nothing out of the ordinary, at least where I come from. If you didn't know the answer you asked the person to the left of right of you or checked your notes under your desk or on your hand very cleverly concealed from the teacher. We would spend more time coming up with the most elaborate ways to cheat than actually studying the material. The way I saw it was any corners that could be cut would be cut in order to do the least amount of work as possible.
High school students tend to do the least amount of writing as possible without ramifications; if you can get away with it, it’s fine. This hinders the amount of writing that high schoolers are exposed to resulting in a lack of efficiency and direction in writing.