Accessing and Analyzing INformation
Semester 1: How did the Iceman Die Presentation?
Reflection: Before this project began, our class learned about the Iceman and the story behind his finding and death. After learning these facts, we were split into groups and had to create a plausible form of death for the Iceman according to the evidence we had found. During this project, I was able to effectively come up with a reasonable form of death for the Iceman, as well as find evidence from a dozen sources to support it, create a diagram of the Iceman's injuries, and truly re-enact the Iceman's death. By picking apart articles about the Iceman and creating a skit to prove how our theory was possible, I was able to analyze the information given to me and effectively determine the probable causes of death and how that would correspond in a reenactment. After completing this project, I had a stronger ability in finding believable sources. I was also stronger in discovering the information that best supported our stance and being able to tweak it accordingly. However, I would like to improve upon being able to find evidence that both proves and disproves a theory in order to better understand how plausible a certain idea could be. In order to improve this skill, I plan to look very closely at a particular topic and pick it apart, piece by piece, in order to see both the strong parts and flaws in the theory.
Artifact 1: "How Did the Iceman Die?" Presentation
Semester 2: Black History Month Editorial
Reflection: For this project, I had to draw a conclusion as to whether or not Black History Month should be celebrated and write an editorial on the three main reasons that supported my conclusion. Along with the three supporting reasons, I had to explain how the Civil Rights Movement corresponded to and supported each of my ideas as to why Black History Month should be celebrated. In order to include not only my opinions, but also facts of the Civil Rights Movement, I had to research other editorials written about the same topic and analyze the information to discover effective argumentative points and historical facts. I was responsible to access and research others' viewpoints on the celebration of Black History Month and analyze their thoughts to pick apart fact from fiction and avoid bias until I was writing my paper. Throughout researching and writing my editorial, I was able to effectively search for reliable sources, and ignore them when they were not, as well as discover bias in a source by analyzing the information I accessed to discover the true facts verses the opinions. While writing my paper, I was able to clearly convey my views in the form of an editorial paper while placing heavily analyzed information I had accessed to ascertain my paper had not only viewpoints, but also the information necessary to support it. Although I was able to effectively complete these skills, in the future I would like to further improve upon looking for reliable sources to support my ideas, though that was a bit difficult since this whole project revolved around writing an opinionated paper and in order to access information I had to look at biased works. However, I would still like to be able to improve upon my ability to pick out the important pieces of information in a piece and ignore bias when it appears. In order to accomplish this goal, I plan to examine other articles about similar topics to see if a certain author will have more bias than another and trying to pick out truth versus fiction in whatever piece of writing I encounter.
Artifact 2: Black History Month Editorial