Revised Learning Blog

Before I started researching for this article I was a little unsure as to the content that I needed, so I was planning on writing the article from what I already know how to write. By this, I mean longer and more drawn out essays. The first day that we specifically talked about newspaper articles and how they were short, sweet, and to the point, I realized that I had to revise my outline that I had already set. My outline consisted of talking about how Spring Break as we know it today started, how it has changed over the years, different hot spots that are popular for college students, and what some college students do instead of going to get wasted for one or two weeks. After narrowing that down with the assistance of peer editing and a few class discussions, I chose a sub-topic that I think will be more interesting to my peers. Also, it will hopefully be short, sweet, and to the point. I was debating one day on how I would be able to write this, because I have always had an issue with length. I tend to write more than is needed. While in high school this was encouraged because students willing to write more than the bare minimum came few and far between. In college, that is not always the case. I even had to revise my admissions essay for Illinois State four times to get it down to the acceptable word limit. During my research, I am hopeful that I will get a better understanding of the format for newspaper/online articles because I have never written one before. In regards to this unit, I think it will be easier for me to spot the correct format for the article I am writing, considering we discussed this numerous times in class. As I mentioned before, I will be using interviews in my article. With these interviews I hope to get different perspectives on spring break so I can have a more rounded insight about my topic when it comes to writing it. I want everyone who reads my article to be able to relate to something that someone has said in it. This is mainly the reason why I have contacted many different students from various colleges. To narrow this even more for Illinois State students, I plan on taking a survey from random students on campus to give insight to our specific students. I think this will be very beneficial to my article. After gathering all the information that I have already, from class, peers, and individual research, I think that when it comes time to write my rough draft I will be more specific on my topic and it will be easier and more beneficial to receive feedback for my final draft.