Writing Assignment 1

I have made portfolios in a few of my English classes. My technical writing class was my first experience with online portfolios, and I struggled a little bit. I'm not the most technically savvy, and I'm pretty sure that I still don't understand how to use Dreamweaver. It's not that I struggled with what to include or anything, just how to put it all up there. I had a slightly better experience with my multimedia writing. I think that may have been because the entire class was focused on building my web portfoilio and there was a lot of specific instruction about how to do it. Unfortunately, I have probably forgotten a lot of that information. I've had paper portfolios for other classes, and I kind of like doing those. I enjoy getting to see my progress and keeping track of various projects over the course of a semester.

My biggest concern for this particular project is what I'm going to include. I am doing a lot of copyediting, and that doesn't strike me as something I'm going to progress at over the course of a semester or as something that shows variety in my abilities.

My biggest strength is my organizational skills. I'm a pack rat, so keeping things is no problem. And I'm fairly good at expressing my thoughts and showing off what I think is important.

Week 2

This past week I have been copyediting journal articles for the IJSE. They range anywhere from 25-47 pages and it's taking me about an hour to do 10 pages. I feel like that's a ton of time, but I'm trying to be really picky about things and do a good job. I got 7 articles and 2 weeks to do it in, although Val said again today not to kill myself getting them done in that time frame. I guess that they're ahead of schedule on the journal so far. But I really don't want to be the one to put them behind, so I am trying to get them done. However, I only have 3 done at the moment because I am the world's worst procrastinator. I got all of these articles last Wednesday, and when did I start them? That's right, not until Sunday night. But I have the whole next week to finsh the next 4, so I should be fine.

Obviously, I need to work a bit on my time management skills. I also feel that my APA style is getting significantly improved. It's taking me a lot less time to check all of the references because I'm more familiar with how they should be. But my one rant is why did my high school use MLA format? I don't think I have ever used MLA format since. I've used APA and Chicago, but never MLA. Franklin High School, you did not adequately prepare me for college. Oh well, I'm surviving. Also, I think there should be a specific English class that centers on the difference between i.e. and e.g. and when they should be used. I know the difference, but it's still causing stress in my life this week.

Other than that, I'm just working along on my articles. I only had two minor questions on the three articles and Val answered them for me this morning. She told me to email if I have any questions in the upcoming week. She seems happy with my progress and is still being very helpful

Week 1

Last Wednesday I had my first meeting with my internship at FIT. I talked to Matt and Val about the things I would be doing over the course of the semester. It will be mostly copyediting, with a few other things thrown in there. I also took a little grammar and mechanics test and Val was happy with how I did, but noted that I should be careful about making sure that sentences have agreement. That was the thing I missed most often, so I'll be extra careful to look out for that.

My assignment for the week was to read four articles that will be published in an upcoming journal and get pull quotes from them. This journal has quotes from the article in larger font and set off within the article to emphasize them. I selected them based on what I thought was interesting. Matt said I did a good job with them.

I had my second meeting with my internship people this morning. Actually, only Val was there because Matt's wife had a baby yesterday. She gave me seven articles to copyedit for the IJSF. They are due in two weeks, give or take. The Journal is actually a little ahead of schedule, so if it takes me longer she said that was ok. I will be doing all of the editing electronically with track changes and the comment function in Word.

So far, my internship seems good. Matt and Val are both very, very helpful and said that I can stop in, call, or email anytime I have a question. The fact that all of the Journals are related to my major and future career is just an added bonus.