#week7readingresponse

[ecopoeticsatchicago]

Week 7 Reading Response

           This week’s readings were an interesting compilation of maps, texts, and stories. What struck me most was found in Denis Wood’s Everything Sings, when he describes how all maps have a narrative. I have always been fascinated by maps, but more of the traditional cartography and it is interesting to think about how before mass production of maps and the internet, each map was hand drawn and a small piece of the cartographer was imprinted there. To read a map as a poem is to interpret each symbol as a part of a larger collective narrative. This reminded of how it felt to watch the video of The House That Crack Built. Each time the narrator flipped the page; a new piece of information was added to the story that made it more and more sad and elaborate. It felt similar to the second reading of Wood where each map had to be decoded as part of a larger story. For instance, the telephone lines that were called squirrel highways placed the map as a part of two narratives, one human and one animal. But perhaps my favorite line from Wood was when he describes how “a reference map may have a subject, it cannot have a point” in his delineation of maps and poems. This clearly defines how to think of a map as a narrative; if you think of the reasoning behind the creation of the map, then you can begin to understand the story that it is trying to tell.

Emily Moos

[juancedillo01-blog]

Week 7 Reading Response

This week’s readings were about synthesis and summary. The way the book presents these subjects helped me understand how to write a better abstract and blend my ideas for the lit review. I liked how the book provides different examples of how summary is used and then a section of an actual paper that was a summary. I found it really interesting how the book mentions what to and what not to include in the summary which reminded me of the news for some reason because it seems like they all leave out information in order to make the viewer feel a certain way.

The synthesis chapter talked about how to “blend” information together in order to write a better paper as well as more clearly present information. I think I do this automatically when I write but I really enjoyed the section on how to use synthesis to compare and contrast information from different sources which I sometimes struggle with. The chapter also included examples of synthesis in academic papers which really helped reinforce what it was trying to say.

There was also a chapter on the handbook about research for the lit review. It was fairly short and to the point. It basically talked about how not to ask bias questions for primary source research and how to use the resources at the library including the data bases and books. The last part of the chapter talked about how to avoid plagiarism which is super important because even a small mistake while writing an academic paper can haunt one for the rest of their life.