Christy R.’s blog

Evaluation

Against my own design specifications:

Design Specifications:

1.      Accurate, detailed, and grammatically correct texts.

2.      Correct MLA citations and correct wikipedia format.

3.      At least 2 other people’s reviews. +1 more when Ms. Wilson checks :).  

My achievement:

1. Pretty accurate, detailed and grammatically correct description, but not totally. For example, I spotted another mistake (oooonly after I posted it already……………………….!!) saying, ‘They are also known to improve soil quality in degraded and eroded areas of land due to its rapid spread in large areas,’ when it should be ‘their’ instead of ‘its’. I moved texts around a lot to try and make the paragraphs more smooth for the readers but that example sounded really awkward. I think that next time, I could take this even to the next level – and use my yahoo answers account as an advantage. I could simply ask the community’s contributors to review my article before posting. Yahoo answers has many knowledgeable users that I know of, so I think I could personally trust the site to help me out. Besides, I’ve asked and answered many questions on yahoo answers before and it’s been one of the best informative sites I’ve used. (Yes it can get addicting too with scoring points - and you do that by answering questions, 10 points for being the best answer, and voting for the best answers.) 

2. I used citationmachine.net for the MLA citations and I researched wikipedia about its format (for ages), so I think this step was pretty fair.

3. Tselmuun, Udval, and Namuun read my article although only Tselmuun and Udval commented. Then I also gave the article once to Mrs. Wilson. ^^I would say I did pretty good on following my own design specifications (because I made it to suit me heheh). Hopefully the other criterions would be good too?

Against each stage of the project(using the rubric as a guide): 

Originals:

A: Self-grading for investigation: 5 – Because I didn’t complete the whole task on time (finished step 3 + self grading Wednesday morning). 

B: Self-grade: 4-6 (but leaning onto the higher side :P), since I know what I did and how long it took for me to finally reach this stage, I know that I had a bit(juuust a bit…) of a time-management issue. Because it took me so long to find a topic to write about or edit on criterion A, the time pressure incurred with B, and because the article I wanted to edit was already edited by someone else, I had to find another article I was interested in/familiar with to edit (I usually feel more motivated=), which, in turn - meant I had less time to complete criterion B. However, a few hours spent at home paid off, and I feel as though this was one of the assignments that I worked harder on yet, since I actually brought it home and spent time on it, actual time – not just 10-20 minutes.

C:Self grade: 5-6 just because! Edit: BECAUSE … it took me forever to learn the wikipedia format! But I learnt! =) 

D: (aww it’s a sad face.) Self grade: 5-6, hopefully, because I somehow lost bits and pieces of my sanity doing this last - or almost last part of the project even though I am still motivated about it. All the reading up on the wikipedia format, what the system accepted, what it didn’t, etc. - wasn’t so fun for someone like me that doesn’t like to read long descriptions. Didn’t help that I am a slow reader also heheh. 

What I think of it now: as an overall I think I could’ve gotten a pretty good 5 or even 6 because I for once actually tried harder on this project than I did on the last, and I felt it also because I had to do more work at home. I enjoyed it more as well and the negative parts usually hanged around my head but I actually overlooked the fact that I got it in late for A(memory issues had a little bit involvement =/).  

Checking over my wikipedia article again: 

My wikipedia page – had not been changed much. I looked at its history, and on the history, it says 2 users, Soxred93 and Addbot edited my article – but there is also an m next to their edits, m standing for minor edits. As I compared the histories, I realized that Soxred93 added a ‘uncategorized tag’, but I wasn’t sure what Addbot did. I think he/she simply edited a row of space.  

Either way, it doesn’t seem like that much of an issue to me. Something I could overlook, too. I could try and categorize my article though. Should ask for permission first. ^^ 

Improvements I could make:

-         I could improve - yes, grammatically and informatively on my descriptions even more next time by asking contributors of Y!A to check it over for me.

-         Even though I’m careful, most of the time I’m just not as careful as I want to be. I could always try brushing up my reading skills over the summer, because when I tried to learn about the wikipedia formats and its dos and don’ts, I lost a lot of patience. The texts were long, and I sometimes got impatient because of them. Most of the time I didn’t even want to read. I thought it was too boring to start:P so I tried skipping a lot. But I realized that most of it was relative to each other. That was when it became… annoying!!!!!!!

-         Get more sleep. As my usual need-to improve – that’s been on the list for over 3 years. Teenage hormones mess it up. The internet messes it up. Homework messes it up too. I guess I’d just have to experiment on and on until I find the better ways to handle them. And theeen. My beauty sleep. ^^ (Lucid dreams have its part in there too!!!!!! Stop those lucid dreams….)

Evaluation for my evaluation: I think I did fine with E. I hope for a 5 or 6 because I’ve also added what and why, and how I could improve. ^^ And I also tried to follow the rubric. Effort counts too…. D: *:D