Hollie's+paper+1+reflections

Paper 1 was a narrative/ discussion paper on the topic of 'Why do video games matter in todays society'. I always dread the beginning of writing a paper, I put it off until I have finally mustered up the courage to just dit down and battle it out. It's not that I dislike writing, in fact I often enjoy, it's just that opening paragraph that always gets me, I also have issues with organising my thoughts and ideas and coming up with a good closing paragraph. I find it a lot easier to organise my thoughts on paper first with a pen - I feel it is easier to edit things and move things around, without the rigidness of doing all of this in a word processing program. For this essay, my approach was to first organise what I wanted to discuss, e.g. the gaming industry, my experiences, art vs. entertainment and conclusion etc. I then number each point which will be a paragraph and then look at the order to see if it flows. This meant that even though my original thought order went 1- 6 my final order went: 1,3,2,4,5,6. I then start to do my research, again taking notes by hand using my own symbols and form of shorthand. I also always remember to copy and paste website links into a blank word document for reference further down the line. Also if I find a whole quote I will sometimes copy and paste this into the blank document to put into my work later.

Then I sit down at my dining table and just type. Ideally I like silence but sharing an apartment with another human and a high energy dog often times does not allow a silent environment! I find if I listen to music when typing a whole essay I get distracted easily. I also find myself procrastinating quite a bit which is why I know never to leave a writing assignement till last minute if I want to go to sleep that night.

When it comes to my rough draft I follow my paragraph order and when ever I get stuck on a point I just make a note to myself and my proof reader, e.g. discuss this in more detail, find a way to mention my gaming experience today, come up with a good sentance to finish this paragrtaph with. This allows me to not stress that I can't find the right words and it makes it easier for me to move on and come back to the point later on.

I generally spend most of my time on the opening and closing as I think they are the most important. You want your reader to be grabbed by the opening and finish the reading with a better understanding or more questions.