Explanatory Synthesis Notes

In my synthesis essay i will be explaining why our culture is so obsessed with appearances. I have an article about why we look in the mirror so often. I will be discussing bullying, society's idea of beauty and how that affects how we view ourselves and why we try so hard to look a certain way.I'll discuss some statistics on the workplace and how being more attractive may help with advancements & how this connects back to us being obsessed with the way we look. I'm going to talk about how media reinforces this idea. And the effects on our society if we were forced not to care about our appearances so much.

My first source has some statistics about how more attractive get treated better in the workplace, etc. It lists reasons why physical attractiveness is so important to us and this is exactly where i want to go with my paper so i know this will be beneficial. 

My second source is a video about amish life. How they live without societal standards affecting their everyday life.

My final source is an article about bullying. This will help me discuss my point on how people are bullied because their outcasts- but why are they outcasts? because they don't fit societal standards or they try to hard. But they try to hard because they want to fit into societys expectations and this causes them to still be bullied. They are trying so hard to get away from it but the more they try the worse it gets. Round this out to how we want to look good we care to much about others opinions and it only gets us in trouble. 

Explaining my interests

Interviewer: Explain your interest in science?

Me: My interest in science stems from my hatred of it as a child. I thought i was awful at it and i never fully understood the concepts. I didn't ever like my science teachers and i never had fun in the class. But as i got older, i realized that science was my best subject. I never put much effort into it because i didn't like it, but i was good at it. And so i thought to myself, "I wonder how well i could do if i actually took the time to study?" So i did. I dedicated more time to studying and rereading my notes. I put more effort in class and asked questions and i saw how interesting it actually was. I'm very logically based. I'm less of a creative thinker and more of a concrete idea thinker. Science goes perfectly with that. There's so many questions about the world, and science has an answer for all of them. It just enthralls me when i can pick out an idea and find a reason for it. I love knowing, i love love learning. Science is the best way to learn. It is the most extensive opportunity to learn and broaden your mind. It just feels good to know. I think mitosis is fascinating. Learning the blood flow of the heart, and arteries made my entire week. Everyone i know, also knows the path of blood flow because i talked about it so much. Science has an answer for how we are made, our development, the air we breathe and why we need to breathe that, the chemicals that surround us and so much more. And i love most that science is not bias. If something comes up that can better explain an idea, it either replaces our current understanding or broadens it. With religion, science has gone back and forth. No one knows for sure whether or not there is some superior being, but no scientist discredits religion, because they understand that theologians have logical reasoning behind the possibility of some greater being. One of the greatest scientists to ever live- Stephen Hawking- even admits there has to be something greater than us. Science breaks ignorance. I love that.

Synthesis Paper Reflection

I did not accomplish what i originally set out to do for this paper. My initial interpretation of what this paper should be was completely wrong. So my vision changed entirely through the course of composing my final draft. I was not happy with any of my drafts until the final one. My design plan was related to my paper in he sense that my topic of persistence stayed the same but my examples changed. I had that same idea for my personal experience but i narrowed it down and i changed my sources entirely. I'm still not entirely sure this is exactly what the assignment was but i am very happy with the way my paper came out. I synthesized my weight loss journey. Mainly how it all started and the feeling i got when i first started working out and the rush i got when i realized i could do it on my own. I reflect on how rewarding pushing yourself is. And i relate this to my definition of persistence. I hold this very close to my heart because this was a very sensitive experience for me. I was very embarrassed the whole time and i hope that how personal my story is helps convey my compassion about my message in the way that i want.

I feel accomplished though because i did portray my meaning of persistence. In the beginning of my composition of this paper i had the idea of what i wanted to convey but i wasn't expressing it how i wanted to. And after drafting and rewriting i was finally able to explain my point exactly how i was thinking it. I wanted my audience to feel the way i felt about this topic and my goal was to use my emotions to help convey my message with my feelings attached to make it as powerful as my experience was for me.

Peer Review

Not to be pessimistic, but i hated the peer review process. I think it is a huge waste of time. As much as i take it seriously, underlining my thesis statement does not improve my paper. I would much prefer to have the professor review my paper. I think it is a waste of time because you spend 45 minutes reviewing someones paper, and they read it once for 5 minutes and dont take the majority of what you say into account. I think one entire class is rough let alone 2 full classes. I respect the process in reviewing and improving your paper, but i think there are better ways to do it.