9/24/2021 Week 5

This week was a bit limiting. Our bi-monthly meeting was rescheduled last minute, meaning that our week's worth of work went without comment. This was a bit disappointing because I was looking forward to comments on my first bought of editing. I'm worried to formally continue editing without my supervisor's judgment.

However, I understand that scheduling conflicts are a normal part of life. Instead of mulling too much about it, I instead sought to reflect on my comments and further prove my points. This was actually a very helpful exercise and made me feel like I could defend my points much better. For example, I knew specific ways to improve the paper and page numbers/sources that could use this advice. Now, when we meet next this upcoming Tuesday, I think I will be able to talk about my comments much more eloquently.

Because this week's meeting was rescheduled, I had little other work this week. Mostly, I tried to re-read the paper I had been assigned last week. I also reinforced my method from last week by practicing on papers I was not assigned. I also began re-reading The Elements of Style. This is a common enough book, and one that I have already read multiple times, but I wanted to continue to grow my understanding of grammar. When it comes to internships, you only get out of it what you put into it. I wanted to make sure that, even though this week was less scheduled than the last, I was still working on improving my skills.

Another way I tried to continue to improve was by applying concepts from another class within this internship. A common mistake in all writing is the overuse of Passive Voice. this can make your writing convoluted and weak. In the method I outlined in my last post, I dedicate an entire step to searching out the "to be" verbs to limit its use! Beyond historical writing, Passive Voice is a mistake in all writing genres. So, when we learned about it in my Professional Writing course, I paid special attention to any tips that I could use in my internship. Through this, I began to understand what passive voice "sounds" like in writing. This is pretty hard to explain, but I think through practicing passive voice in another class, I am able to find Passive Voice in writing more organically. As I rely less on locating it through "to be" verbs, I can shorten this step in my editing process. I can also notice it easier in my own writing.

Finally, we were told through an announcement this week to begin "documenting" our internship via photos, screenshots, and short videos. This will be difficult for me since my internship is entirely remote. Most of the time, I work from my bed! However, I do plan on taking photos of our group zoom meetings and screenshots of my writing process. I am excited to document this process formally so I can continue to remember it down the line.