Work Logs

3 March 2021
Today, I reached out to Paula Dillon, a teacher at Northgate High School, to be my
mentor for the project. Mrs. Dillon currently teaches AP European and US History which were
some of my favorite classes as Northgate. I think that as a social sciences teacher, Mrs. Dillon
can provide a great perspective on my topic on literature and its influence on history which
balances a lot of different aspects of social sciences, like historical examples, how people are
influenced, and how literature is produced by writers. Especially for my interview, I think she is
a good resource for my research paper and can help me understand my topic better. I look
forward to having Mrs. Dillon as my mentor and scheduling an interview with her soon.

4 March 2021
Recently, I started to research for my research paper to find information on the influence
of literature. Finding information on this topic has been very difficult, given that there just is not
that much writing specifically about the effect of literature on the population. In order to find
information that I can use, I am going to start looking for more specific historical examples and
use popular classic fiction books as examples for how literature is influenced by history.
Similarly, I will need to research about particular eras in history that are relevant to my point,
like the Enlightenment era or, specifically for literature, the late nineteenth century in which
realism dominated artistic expression. Understanding these times and how art and literature are
related to them will be essential for my essay.

8 March 2021
Mrs. Dillon responded to my request for her to be my mentor and filled out the mentor
agreement form. Afterward, we began scheduling a time for the interview for my research paper
and I started to think about what questions I should ask. For an assignment, I wrote down ten
questions for the upcoming interview about literature and history. I want to ask Mrs. Dillon about
how significant she thinks literature has been to changing or affecting history. Specifically, I
think historical events and how they were influenced by literary pieces would provide pertinent
evidence to my research paper. I also want to ask her about the value of literature, what it can
achieve both personally and historically, and how it has influenced her life and career.
19 March 2021
Today, I completed my outline for my research paper and thought about how I would
develop my argument. I chose to split literature into two categories for my analysis: nonfiction
and fiction. Secondly, I decided that my frame or condition for the argument is that for literature
to be historically significant it must produce a change which would not otherwise happen. These
two aspects are important to my essay as my argument follows that fiction literature cannot
produce historical change while nonfiction literature can. I am happy with this structure and
think it flows well as I will first break down the two different types and how literature is
composed, and then explain how the two can or cannot produce historical change based on how
they are composed.

21 March 2021
I started to write my rough draft of the research paper which has been going fast after I
made an outline for it. The hardest thing to follow when writing the essay is the developing
structure, but I think that I have set up a smooth and organized way of slowly working through
the question that is understandable for the reader. When writing, I worked in some additional
ideas that help make aspects of my essay clear, like the separation of literature into two
categories and understanding which types are capable of steering the course of history or not.
Similarly, I think that clearly defining influence as a change which would not have happened
otherwise will continuously be important to my argument, as laying these conditions will make
or break the answer that I develop to the argument.

22 March 2021
I spent a lot of time gathering more evidence for my research paper and working on my
rough draft. This involved some internet research looking at specific historical examples, like
Crime and Punishment and its effect on Russian culture. I also went through some of the books
that I have read, like Modern Man in Search of a Soul by Carl Jung, and reread certain sections
to use as evidence in my paper. I particularly like Jung’s sections because they helped me phrase
some of the arguments I was trying to make, especially about fiction and archetypes. Afterward,
I continued to work on my rough draft, integrate the evidence into the essay, and start to make
my works cited and works consulted with all of the correct citations.
25 March 2021
Today I had my interview with Mrs. Dillon about the influence literature has on history.
The interview went well and Mrs. Dillon helped me to understand the effects that literature has
on people and society. She described literature as both a mirror and a model for society that both
influences people and reflects current sentiments. We also talked about specific examples like
Pride and Prejudice and Uncle Tom’s Cabin and how they were both influenced by their
historical contexts and influenced many who read them. Furthermore, Mrs. Dillon talked about
the power of literature to help us empathize with other people and understand culture and society
from different perspectives that we would not usually consider. Overall, the interview was very
insightful and offered a lot of good material for my research paper.

26 March 2021
I finished my research paper rough draft today which involved adding information from
my interview with Mrs. Dillon and integrating some more quoted evidence in my paper. I also
had to finish writing the conclusion which reinstates the importance of fiction literature and
distinguishes the different effects and purposes of fiction and nonfiction. Afterward, I read
through my paper and had some others read and review my paper to make any comments,
suggestions, or edits. Going through the edits and suggestions, I made some last changes to the
rough draft and finished my works cited and works consulted, placing everything into
alphabetical order. Finally, I formatted the draft correctly and did some final edits and checks,
and submitted the draft to the teacher for review.

30 March 2021
Today, I worked on my senior project website and began to plan out my project. For the
website, I began to format the project and research page. I was able to begin adding things to the
site, like embedding my works cited and works consulted into the research page and adding a
brief biography of Mrs Dillon. I also finished working on my homepage and making sure I
included all the required components. For my project, I will write the first part of a book and
storyboard the entire novel. I plan on beginning to storyboard the story soon and I already have
some ideas of what I want to write. For instance, I think a story in which the characters exist
entirely underground without any concept of being outside would be very interesting.
31 March 2021
Lately, I have begun thinking about and formulating ideas for my book and storyboarding
the novel from start to finish. I have stuck with the underground idea and my storyboard has it as
being a pretty sizable novel if completely finished. For now, I plan on writing the first chapter for
my project and I have focused specifically on what I want to happen for that chapter. While
reading a different book, Consolations of Philosophy, by Boethius, I also found a poem which
perfectly fits the theme and setting of the book that I think I will use as an epigraph. I still have
not figured out what mood I want the novel to have as I think it would be interesting to have a
darker and more disjointed mood from the perspective of the main character, but I do not think
this style flows as well for the overall story.

4 April 2021
Today, I finished storyboarding for my novel, including the details that are necessary for
the first chapter and broader details about the story as a whole. I thought of all the main
characters for the story and created a general story structure. Furthermore, I finished planning
aspects of the setting around the story which was a challenge. The fact that the story takes place
underground in a society in which the characters have always lived underground, makes it hard
to describe or explain their environment without using words that imply an outside. For instance
I should avoid using words like underground or cave in the story and should instead use words
like cavern, tunnel, champer, space, etc. that imply a closed in area or reminds the reader of an
area underground but does not hint to the narrator revealing any special knowledge too early.

15 April 2021
After finishing the storyboarding portion of the novel, I began to write the first chapter of
the book. For a while, I flipped back and forth between the challenge of whether to use a first
person and more dramatic and disjoint perspective or a more traditional, third-person narrator.
When writing the beginning of the chapter, I decided to preface the chapter with a letter from the
main character. I think this is an interesting idea, and having a preface letter or statement from
the main character, Syme, could add the emotional intimacy of a first-person narration that I was
wanting, while still allowing the story to flow in an understandable and clear way. I am not yet
sure if I want to do this for every chapter, but it is definitely an idea I want to use in the book.
20 April 2021
With the upcoming due date for the final draft of my senior project, I revisited my rough
draft and started to add some of the comments and suggestions the grader left. Earlier, I had
picked up my paper from the school and read through the criticism that the grader made about
my essay. One of the things I decided to change about my essay was my conclusion. I wanted to
redo most of my conclusion as I did not like it very much and wanted a conclusion that better
phrased my answer to the original question, while still adding some additional significance. I
also rewrote some sections and added more evidence and quotes toward the end of my essay,
because I felt like it was a little lacking compared to the beginning.

21 April 2021
Today, I had my second interview with writer Glen Dahlgren. He is the author of the
recently published fantasy novel, Child of Chaos, and I wanted to ask him about the creative
writing process and storyboarding fiction. The interview was very productive and he mentioned a
lot about what it is like to plan out and write a fiction novel. He gave me great advice like
leaving room when writing a story for discovery and changes and to present my work to others
for their advice and criticism. The information he provided me was also relevant to my research
and related to the portion of my research essay that breaks down fiction writing. The advice he
gave me will always help me to manage my time and write the project portion.

23 April 2021
Recently, I finished working on the final draft of my research paper and submitted it in
person to the school. To finish the paper I had to add in the information from my interview with
Glen Dahlgren and make some final changes to the paper. Firstly, I gave my paper to some of my
peers for them to read and review. Afterward, I addressed all of the comments and suggestions
and added the interview to the end of the fiction section of my research paper. Although this
makes my paper a little evidence-heavy in the fiction section compared to the nonfiction section,
I think it is necessary since it requires more explanation and understanding from the reader.
Overall, I feel confident in my essay and am happy with how it turned out.
26 April 2021
I returned to my senior project website in order to continue making progress there and
add more of the requisite aspects. Today I added all the forms that I needed to have filled out for
the Proof section. These include the letter of intent, the waiver, the mentor agreement form, the
expert /mentor critique form, and the mentor verification form. The other day I reached out to
Mrs. Dillon again to ask her to fill out the mentor/critique form and arrange a time for us to meet
so she can sign the form in person. After adding the forms, I formatted the page so that it was
presentable and went through the website checklist of requirements to finish anything else I
could do at that moment.

5 May 2021
I continued to write the project portion of my senior project and finished chapter one of
the book. Finishing the first chapter took longer and required a lot more changes than I expected.
I do not have as much practice or experience writing fiction compared to nonfiction, so making
progress on the first chapter and making decisions about how it should flow took me a lot of
time. Otherwise I attempted to write consistently and the more I wrote the more I was able to
write smoother and faster. I am fairly happy with the first chapter, but after writing the first part,
I want to continue writing the rest of the book and making writing a consistent practice as a part
of my regular schedule.

14 May 2021
Today, I looked at videos my teacher posted on google classroom of past presentations for
senior projects. This has led me to begin thinking about my presentation and how I should
prepare beforehand. To start, I want to make a general outline for my presentation so that I
follow the structure of my research paper and integrate my project well. Secondly, I need to
create a slideshow to use during my speech and enhance my presentation. I also looked at the
rubric for the presentation and how I should fulfill all of the required parts for my speech.
Overall, I do not think I will have to practice very much for my presentation or do much
preparation, as long as I plan out properly ahead of time.
17 May 2021
After wrapping up many of the earlier portions of the senior project, I went through my
website and added a lot of the required pieces that I recently finished. This includes parts like the
work previous work logs and embedding other documents properly. I also added the final draft of
my research paper as it was returned to me and I went to the school to pick up the graded copy. I
was happy with the score I received, especially considering how I challenged myself with the
topic and how I chose to answer the question. I also mostly finished making the website look
neat and presentable and formatting all the pages correctly to fit the requirements. Although the
senior project has taken a lot of time to complete, I am glad that it is almost over!

18 May 2021
Today, I completed some of the last steps toward my senior project and wrote my
reflection for the end of the project. In the reflection, I talked about what I learned about the
writing process and how I plan to continue writing the book from my project portion throughout
the summer on a regular basis. The most important thing I think I learned was treating creative
writing as a process that allows room for discovery and changes to allow the story to adapt and
change as a whole. I think this also helps to reduce the pressure of writing and will help me be
more comfortable writing more frequently and being comfortable going back into my writing
and changing and revising larger sections. At the end of the day I finished adding the last pieces
to my website and worked out a time with Mrs. Dillon to sign my verification form.