Annotated Bibliography: Chronologically Through Time
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1. Smith, Kaitlin. The Derivation of Order. 15 Dec. 2013. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Class: English 124
This assignment allowed us the freedom to draw on another piece of literature of our choice to inform an argument about a short story we read in class – “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas.” In high school I loved indulging in literary analyses, and my favorite book was A Clockwork Orange, so I thought this paper would be the perfect opportunity to combine my two loves.
In the essay, I contrasted the means by which each story’s respective society achieves order: one through the regulation of emotions, and the other through regulation of the body. I argue that both emerge as effective techniques in the context of each story. I describe how emotional control suffices in retaining order in Omelas, but when this fails in the society of A Clockwork Orange, leaders feel they must physically control people’s actions.
At the time, I felt this paper resembled assignments I had completed in the past. I felt comfortable writing this essay, and it would not be until later classes that I was challenged to tackle prompts that called for new styles of writing.
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2. Smith, Kaitlin. Misogyny in College Sports: How the Overwhelming Support for Men’s Teams Over Women’s Leads to Sexist Perspectives and Elevated Instances of Sexual Assault. 24 Apr. 2014. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Class: English 225
When given the liberty to choose a topic for a research paper, I saw it as a learning opportunity. Sexual assault on college campuses remains a hot-topic, and I hoped to learn the reasons behind its pervasiveness.
The essay argues that the culture of college sports in the US is harmful to women in multiple ways. First, male teams are favored over women’s in funding and cultural support, and second, the icon-status male players receive conflicts with their ethical conscious. Male athletes are disproportionately more likely to commit acts of sexual assault, which I attributed to inflated egos perpetuated by the culture. In the end, I recommend that school leaders combat this by enhancing female sports programs and the excitement they generate, and educating male athletes about the implications of their status and sexual assault.
Reading through this essay, I am not particularly impressed with my writing. For a research paper, I interject quite a bit of opinion and generalizations. Additionally, the argument of this paper does not exactly cohere. I describe differences in support for male versus female sports programs, but am only able to loosely connect it to my findings about elevated instances of sexual assault. Overall, it is clear that I did not have much experience relying on research to form an argument.
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3. Smith, Kaitlin. "Artist Spotlight: Oh Wonder." 10 After. N.p., 14 Nov. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
In 2014, I wrote an artist review about the male-female duo “Oh Wonder,” which was posted on the music blog of a club I was in at the time. I wrote this purely for fun, and had never before written a music review. In the review I write about the duo’s elusive identity and lyrical versatility, using direct quotes from their songs and interviews they had conducted.
This was one of the first times I ever published a full creative piece. I used alliteration, rhyme, and humor to make it as engaging as possible. Although as a critique, I fail to challenge Oh Wonder in any way, and mainly just elaborate on how much I love their music, it flows well and carries an appropriate tone. After this piece was published, Oh Wonder found it on Twitter and re-Tweeted me, which makes me happy to think about to this day. It was because of this experience that I decided to take an ULWR class on review-writing, where I was able to improve upon my critiquing abilities.
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4. Smith, Kaitlin. Analysis of Textile Industry Response to Social Issues. 5 Oct. 2014. Section of Undergraduate Academic Group Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Class: BA 200
In this assignment for my Business Administration class, I wrote an analysis about the textile industry’s relationship and response to various social issues. I highlight the industry’s notoriety for outsourcing labor to countries where safety and wage regulations are sub-standard. This helps firms cut costs, but conflicts with human rights and can lead to PR catastrophes.
I highlight this assignment as important to my development as a writer because it was the first of countless industry analyses and group papers I would write in the business school. I had never practiced professional business writing before, and this analysis is noticeably more verbose than my business writing now. Content wise, I clearly struggled with this assignment, ultimately discussing criticisms of the agriculture industry that are plainly irrelevant to the assignment.
Group papers became a way of life in Ross, and I learned that writing in clear, concise language was the best way to ensure consistent tone once everybody combined sections. Additionally, generating an industry-overview became a formulaic task, and rather than rambling like in this piece about textiles, I am now able to write with clear structure and flow. Improvements in my business writing are some of the most visible to me in my evolution as a writer, and I’m glad to be able to carry this skill with me into a corporate environment next year.
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5. Smith, Kaitlin. Why I Write. 20 Mar. 2015. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Class: English 220
In the Gateway course, we all wrote a paper reflecting on why we write. This was my first deeply reflective essay in college. I specified three main reasons why I love writing: the beauty of language, the catharsis of self-reflection, and the ability to connect with readers. While writing this piece, I decided I wanted to utilize the “beautiful language” that I referenced. Writing with as eloquent of a tone as I could manage, I realized how difficult it was to experiment with tone.
In this way, the Why I Write essay, and subsequent assignments in the Gateway course, marked a turning point. I learned that I struggle to adapt tone and style naturally to different contexts. Afterward, enriching my vocabulary became a goal, and even now when I read anything from novels to the news, I study the methods writers employ to evoke different tones. Although I’ve acquired strong professional writing skills, I still struggle when experimenting with tone creatively. I plan to continue to use personal journals and creative writing assignments to practice.
6. Rating Systems in Music Writing Get 0 Stars. Rec. Apr. 2015. Kaitlin Smith, 2015. Podcast.
Class: English 220
After re-purposing my Oh Wonder music review into a critique of music reviews in general, I re-mediated that piece into a podcast. In researching and creating material for the podcast, I interviewed a music writer from the Michigan Daily about his writing process. The central argument of the podcast was that music reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. Although they help listeners sort through the endless ocean of available music, assigning a rating to a piece of art fails to acknowledge the fact that every person might experience it differently.
Interviewing the Daily reporter was my first experience conducting a formal interview. I prepared by writing a list of questions and asking them without much follow-up, which I now understand is important to do. I enjoyed creating this podcast, assigning voice inflections and musical underscores appropriately to different parts. Although it ended up sounding a bit cheesy at times, it was an exercise in tone - the central theme to my Gateway Portfolio.
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7. Smith, Kaitlin. Marlon Brando Resurrected in Listen to Me Marlon. 6 Oct. 2015. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Class: CompLit 490 (ULWR)
After being inspired by my experience writing a music review for Oh Wonder, I enrolled in a class that focused on writing critiques. The first of four critiques we would write in the class was about the film: Listen to Me Marlon. What I most loved about this class was the passion with which our professor spoke about art. She challenged us to analyze films below the surface and write about elements of the film that moved us or bothered us, ignoring many of our inexistent film-educations.
In my review of the movie, I give a brief summary before offering my analysis. I pose that the dramatization of the movie offers an inaccurate, hyperbolized image of Marlon Brando, this may have been the filmmaker’s intent all along. The film is a narrated by a montage of Marlon’s own audio tapes, which allows him to tell his life story posthumously. This allows viewers to engage in an intimate conversation with Marlon, whether or not his life experiences are portrayed correctly.
I loved writing the content of this review just as much as I enjoyed using a tone that was slightly more flexible than what I was accustomed to. Since this assignment, I watch movies with a more analytical eye, attempting to perceive filmmakers’ intent and examining whether or not it was executed well.
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8. Smith, Kaitlin. Destructive Power of a Confused Mind. 26 Nov. 2015. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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Class: CompLit 490 (ULWR)
This assignment was also completed for the class about critiques, but instead of a film it is a review of a novel. We reviewed the novel, Globetrotter, by David Albahari who writes in a stream of consciousness style. In the review, I summarize the plot and dive into an analysis of its central themes and how they interact with his writing style.
Writing this essay was different from the other pieces we had written thus far in the class. To write a substantive review, I needed to research Albahari’s other works to use as points of comparison. I also drew quotes directly from the text to add emphasis, starting the review with a particularly striking line of text. As a contribution to my evolution as a writer, this essay challenged me analytically to comprehend what Albahari intended to communicate, but also creatively in incorporating textual elements.
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9. MUSIC Matters. HIP HOP TRIO MIGOS TO HEADLINE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MUSIC MATTERS CHARITY CONCERT ON APRIL 13. N.p., 25 Mar. 2016. Web.
This represents one of many press releases I wrote during my junior year for MUSIC Matters, a club that kept me extremely busy all year. I highlight it here because writing press releases is a skill that I learned at this time in college that calls for a unique writing style. In writing this, I tried to incorporate as many catchy lines as possible without sounding cheesy, and keep it brief while including all valuable information. Writing press releases, in my experience, requires the maintenance of a delicate balance of those elements.
In addition to MUSIC Matters, I’ve been asked to write and distribute press releases for my work at a nightclub and for other organizations on campus. In these pieces I practice writing clearly and concisely, but add in eye-catching phrases by highlighting awards, famous names, and surprising facts that draw people in to the piece.
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10. Smith, Kaitlin. Examining Implications of Free Will, Individualized Stigma, and Institutional Interest in “Bariatric Surgery: The Solution to Obesity?”. 8 Nov. 2016. Undergraduate Academic Essay. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Class: Anthro 425 (ULWR)
In this assignment, we were to examine a contemporary news article through the lens of three different anthropologists we studied in the course. This essay was the fourth of the semester with the same prompt, and I had done poorly on the previous three. The writing assignments in this class were some of the most difficult in my writing career, particularly because I was initially unsure how to best structure the essays. I found it difficult to structure my ideas into different sections while also tying them back to a singular thesis.
After a long journey of editing and feedback, I produced this paper, which I ended up doing the best on of all my work that semester. In writing academic essays, I now recognize the particular importance of outlining in my process. When ideas are nuanced and sometimes contrasting, it is easy to allow thoughts to wander, but coherence is key, and can be more easily achieved through outlining.
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