Matthew Lovett

ID# 20566522

Investigative Essay Reflections

 What was your experience like while using secondary sources this week?
Beforehand when only had one source, I felt as though I didn’t have much foundation for my
question. Like I did not have much to support it and my research and conclusions felt empty, but that
changed when I found some more compelling sources. It gave me that sense of exploration and
wonder piecing together different parts of a puzzle that was the answer to my question. It was also
very eye-opening to hear different perspectives from these sources and to read what they had to say.
I didn’t have much to go off of from my question in the beginning but slowly I overcame that as I
researched further. After reading and viewing each one I got a better understanding of what I was
asking, and my perspective became clearer, so I knew what I was looking for specifically. After that, I
found more possible sources and I felt like I knew what my goal was and had better knowledge of
what my question was.

 Did the Haller text help you think about sources differently than you had before?
Yes, the acronym they used throughout the text, “walking, talking, cooking, and eating”,
brought the entire way I gather sources into a new perspective. The way Haller connects different
places where to gather sources and shows how one source leads to another demonstrated to me how
one could gather sources in an organic way. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I can’t go to a library
and research extensively, but Haller’s text also opened my mind to the way researching can be done
online and how it can just as informative as researching offline. Out of the entire acronym, “cooking”
is my favorite and best describes the process of creating an essay, which is the combining of the ideas
from the sources you’ve gather while also providing your own commentary. It was also interesting
how the last part “eating” is explained to be more of a about memory, as you let what you have
gathered and wrote settle, you begin to ponder and experiment more about that particular subject.
Which is very much true, I have many times found myself after researching and forming a basic idea
of what I want to write about discovering new ideas to integrate into my work from my own thoughts
and talking with other people.

 Did you like the way she presented her book chapter as a conversation? Did that
surprise you?
While it did surprise me the way she formatted her work, and it is a very good and
enlightening read, I do have a few problems with the approach she took. Yes, it is better to follow a
conversation such as this than reading a chapter which is more grueling to follow, but I felt as though
many times the conversation wasn’t following naturally. The professor and student did have a few
moments where it did feel as though two people were talking and the point the professor was trying
to make was clear. But then there were certain moments it felt as though what the professor was
saying was just copy and pasted from a regular chapter in a book, it disrupted the flow of the message
I feel. One moment they’re having a genuine conversation, the next the professor gives this huge
paragraph of text unnecessarily over explain one part of the acronym and the student replies with a
short sentence like he was able to understand all that information. I acknowledge understand that it
is very hard to replicate real talking through text and I am not discredited Haller in anyway, I am just
saying it could’ve been done better and the conversation could’ve flowed better if the professor
talked more naturally at certain points.
 Matthew Lovett
ID# 20566522

 What kind of expectations do you have for your upcoming investigative essay?
What do you think might be important for a text like that?
I hope it provides insight into what I believe is an underrated form of teaching, as most of
what is taught in school is through text and reading. Visual learning is something that all academic
institutions should consider utilizing as every student is different. It also is important into the
development of a person’s mind, because the way they are taught during the stage of their life when
they absorb knowledge better, will affect them in their adult life and the way they learn other
essential skills later. It is very important to me that academies and organizations recognize that just
because a student isn’t as fluent in reading as others doesn’t mean they should totally give up on them
and understand there are other learning methods that can be utilized. To me it seems that visual
learning is the most effective method and should be explored more in the classroom. I think it is
important for investigative essays such as mine to include credible sources that have studies to back
up their claims. Many of my sources link or refer to others that are research studies or other articles
that apply to their text or presentation. It’s important to seek out those because it provides more
support and foundation for your answer so now you have a solid argument that can’t be disputed or
disregarded.