2/21/2012 Midterm

While composing my webtext and discussion posts this semester my main goal has been to create an academic, objective tone.  I have been striving to create an unbiased webtext that examines the two issues fully without letting my personal opinions get in the way.  Thus far, my biggest challenge is writing with an objective, informative tone, rather than a persuasive tone.  I am examining studies that have been done as well as other evidence and drawing my conclusions off of this research.  I am tempted to explain my personal views, so my biggest challenge has been to objectively provide information and logical conclusions based of off accepted sources.  Before completing any research, my only knowledge on this topic was personal opinions that I learned from family and friends.  However, after conducting research I have learned a substantial amount more than I started with.  I am overcoming the challenge of writing objectively by fully reading articles to understand the author's main points and then analyzing their information to comprehend how it relates to my topic.  I feel that I have learned a lot about my topic as well as how to analyze and use various sources.

Another obstacle that I have encountered has been writing in a professional tone.  I have never used a blog before, and I have discovered that writing online is different than writing on paper.  At first it was tempting to write similar to styles on social networking sites, without proper English or grammar.  I have learned to utilize links and anchor texts.  

I have also learned a lot about using proper sources.   Before completing research on my topic, I was tempted to use any source that seemed reliable on first glance.  Now, I look at the author and their credibility, as well as the objectiveness of the site.  I now only use sites that contain unbiased, reliable information to add credibility to my own webtext.  I feel as though learning to properly analyze other websites allows me to find faults more easily in my own.  This has allowed me to think about what effect my writing styles and choices provide and the effect on my writing as a whole.

I have also been trying to write with a more sophisticated writing style in order to convey an academic tone to my webtext.  It has been challenging to use a wider variety of words and sentence structures, but I know variety will increase a readers' interest in my webtext.  Also, I have based my font choices and colors on my academic tone.  I have chosen dark font colors on a white background, which allows for easier reading.  I have also opted for plain fonts, rather than swirly fonts.  I have also been looking at images that will add credibility to my site, such as scientific images and images with neutral colors.   In order to overcome this challenge, I have examined other webtexts and scholarly articles for inspiration.  I learned what color choices are harder to read, and I have analyzed images to understand their effect on the overall webtext.  I have also learned techniques such as breaking up my writing into sections to make reading easier.

Overall, I feel that my writing journal and webtext have provided me with a greater understanding of online writing.  I have learned to adapt my previous writing style to suit the needs of writing on a website.  Also, I have learned the importance of providing objective information and analyses to enhance my argument.