Workflow Reflection & Plan

English 215: Strategies of Academic Writing | ASU | Spring 2020 | Savanna Conner

Academic writing, as you know, is work. A writing workflow, according to Tim Lockridge
and Derek Van Ittersum (2019), "describes a process for completing a literate activity and
the tools use in that process." In this project, then, we are going to craft writing workflows
through workflow mapping and workflow thinking, so that we can take charge of the work
of writing.

The Basics
Due: Monday, February 3rd @ 11:59pm (on Canvas)
Point Value: 50/1000 (5% of your final course grade)

Part 1: Reflection
The workflow reflection moves forward from an in-class activity we’ll do called workflow
mapping: “a way to visually and spatially examine the tools and technologies within a
writer’s process.” In class, we’ll focus on the tools you use—but in this Reflection, we’ll
consider more elements.
🡺 Navigate to Part 1: Reflection for instructions on completing Part 1.

Part 2: Plan
If workflow mapping and reflecting looks backwards, then workflow thinking looks
forwards. Workflow thinking, Lockridge and Van Ittersum tell us, is “the act of reading
knowledge work as modular and intertwined with technologies… through workflow
thinking, writers break any particular task into a series of smaller steps and search for
writing technologies and practice that might improve, challenge, or alter their work.” In
your Plan, you will craft a plan for completing the smaller steps of your Unit 1 work—while
attending to the helpful and hindering writing practices that you uncovered in your
Reflection.
🡺 Navigate to Part 2: Plan for instructions on completing Part 2.

Submission Instructions
Everything that you submit will be written on this document (instructions below). After you
are done, save this document as a .doc, .docx, or Google Doc, and upload it to Canvas,
under “Workflow Reflection & Plan.”
Part 1: Reflection
1. Save this document and title it “[Your Name] WRP” (e.g. Savanna Conner WRP)
2. Respond to the prompts (below). Type directly into this document.
3. Read back over your responses. As you read, consider whether practices or tools in
your writing workflow help or hinder your work to achieve your goals. Signify which by
adjusting the font color—green for what helps, red for what hinders. (Think of
“hindering” like Lockridge and Van Ittersum’s friction: “a moment when the writer
wants to accomplish a particular task with a particular method, but the chosen tool [or
method, in our case] obstructs that process.)
4. Choose two practices coded help and two coded hinder. Using the Comment feature
(Insert > Comment), do a deeper reflection on each. Reflect upon why you think those
particular practices or tools helped or hindered you.

Prompts
Reflect upon a recent, long-form writing project, like a research paper that you had to
write for a prior class. Answer the following questions about that writing project.
Overarching questions are in bold text, and questions to get you thinking are italicized.
Your responses should be about 100-200 words each.

What were the overall goals of the writing task?

What various goals were you trying to accomplish in completing this task? What did the
final product need to do/look like in order to be “successful”?
Last semester I was tasked with writing one of the most difficult assignments that I have
encountered. The assignment was a 10-15 page research and analysis on a short story
that was discussed in class. I have never written a paper of such a length so to say I was
intimidated would be an understatement. In order to be successful, the paper had to be at
least ten pages (more if because I was shooting for an ‘A’) and needed to utilize five
sources throughout the paper. The purpose of writing the paper was to demonstrate to
our professor that we can successfully create an original thesis and use analysis and
research methods in order to back up our claim.

What were the smaller goals of the writing task?

What steps did you need to take to complete this project? Were there different phases of
work or different pieces or sections of writing involved?
Right off the bat there were two main goals that needed to be done before even beginning
my research. The two goals were 1.) Decide which short story I found interesting enough
to research and analyze, and 2.) Develop a research question that my thesis would
essentially be answering. I first decided that Rudyard Kipling’s “The Man Who WOuld Be
King” would be the subject of my paper. After the thesis was constructed and approved
by my professor, it was time to research. I used online databases such as JSTOR to
assist me with the research process. After gathering the valuable research through note
taking, I began to write. This is the point in my writing process that is easiest for me. I am
able to continue to write without much writer's block slowing me down. Utilizing the
quotes and research I found, I was then able to construct the final product over a period
of a few days.
How did you manage your time in order to complete the writing task?
What were your time management goals, and how did you achieve them? Did you
determine specific times or lengths of time for working on this project? How did you
determine what part of the project to work on at a specific time? What kinds of hurdles
stood in the way of time management? What time management techniques worked for
you? Do you use any specific tools or practices for managing your time?
When it comes to time management, this is where I know I struggle. I am a super
procrastinator and waited until about a week and a half before the due date to even
develop a question for my short story. Because of this, the only plan I had to get it done
was to cram it. In the week and a half I had to write the essay, I spent my first day
deciding what my research question would be and after finishing that I would be done for
the day. Next, my goal was to do some preliminary research on the Kipling, India in the
1850’s, and other events to give me more context surrounding the short story. After
developing my thesis on day three, the next seven days were used to write out the paper. I
would typically spend one day per page and a half just so I would be able to get it done on
time as well and not overwork myself.

How did you keep track of your ideas and resources?

What were your idea/resource-tracking goals, and how did you achieve them? How did you
organize ideas articulated in various documents (like research articles, brainstorming
documents, various drafts, Canvas announcements, assignment prompts, and feedback)?
What kinds of hurdles stood in the way of keeping track of those things? What techniques
worked for you? Do you use any specific tools or practices for keeping track of ideas and
resources?
I am unable to retain information when typing noted using a computer, so my not taking
and ideas had to be done using pen and paper. This allows me to be careful with the
words I write and also guarantees that every word that I am writing by hand has meaning.
For articles that I was going to employ, I created a folder with PDF’s or hyperlinks to get
me directly to the source. My teacher did not use canvas, let alone send out many
announcements, so there was no need for a folder dedicated to professor
announcements. One of the main hurdles I faced when taking the hand written notes was
the actual storage of these notes. I wrote many ideas down but ended up losing most of
the pages due to my lack of organization of loose leaf paper. Perhaps a notebook would
be a better alternative than regular printer paper.

How did you manage the emotional/affective parts of writing work?

What were your goals for making writing less stressful and more enjoyable, and how did
you achieve them? Did you have any strategies for dealing with the potential emotional
drain of writing work or for maximizing the enjoyability of writing work? What kinds of
things—like personality traits, writing environments, and technologies—make it difficult for
you to work? Do you have any strategies or tools for making the work of writing more
enjoyable than draining?
When I am writing a paper and get stressed about it, I am often unable to differentiate
myself from my work. This caused me to be incredibly on-edge for the week and a half I
foolishly allotted myself to work on this paper. This was only amplified because it was
around finals week. My friends were busy with their own work and my girlfriend was
working overtime to save for Christmas. In order to keep company, I would write with my
puppies around but like most people, who could ignore puppies after so long? So I would
often get distracted which then caused me more stress than necessary. Ultimately, for
this paper stress management was out the window, especially considering my girlfriend
seems to be able to tell when I am stressing out before I even know what is going on.

Part 2: Plan
1. Review the various (other) work that I have assigned (thus far) as part of Unit 1
(Annotations 1-4 and the Disciplinary Map). List the smaller steps that need to be
taken to complete each project. (You do not need to list those steps in this document.)
2. Working backwards from each due date, craft a timeline for completing those
individual steps. Be sure to include specific dates and times for completing each step.
As you do so, you should consider what you uncovered about your time management
strengths and needs in your Reflection. Provide your timeline below (which can
include steps for completing both the Annotations and the Disciplinary Map).
3. Return to your deep reflection comments from Part 1 and select one writing strategy
or tool that hinders you. Lockridge and Van Ittersum tell us that we can purposefully
select and employ tools to help our writing processes; thus, you will select a particular
tool that you hope will help you overcome that hindrance. That tool can be anything
 from a new system for color-coding your reading notes to a particular app that helps
you write with fewer distractions. In 250-400 words, explain that new tool and how you
might employ it to overcome a hindrance you highlighted in your Reflection. Provide
your plan for experimenting with that new tool below.

For example, something that hinders me from doing writing work is that I have a
difficult time keeping track of the variety of different tasks that I must complete (both
short-term and long-term); additionally, I have a difficult time feeling accomplished
when I produce words on a screen. So, I adopted bullet journaling my first year of my
PhD program. Bullet journaling hybridizes art and planning. So, I get to have the
cathartic experience of art, which feels more like a tangible accomplishment—and I
have an enjoyable system for keeping track of my plans. (Talk to me if y’all want to try
it!)

Timeline
January 29th- Annotation 2 article will be found by so i have a couple days to interpret
and analyze the article.
February 2nd- Work on and finish the annotation
February 5th- Annotation 3 article will be found.
February 9th- Work and finish Annotation 3.
February 12- Annotation 4 article will be found.
February 13- Consider start doing some basic mapping out the basics for my genre
analysis due February 25th
February 15- Work on genre analysis outline.
February 16- Work and finish annotation 4.
February 18- Start mapping out ideas for Method/Theory infographic and Disciplinary
map.
February 20-24- Focus on genre analysis while also further developing my ideas for the
Infographic and disciplinary map.
February 25-March 2- Work on and complete the Infographic and map.

Plan for Experimenting with a New Tool

As I have previously mentioned, I have a bad habit of procrastinating even when it comes
to important big assignments. One thing that i should utilize is this timeline that I have
constructed in this document and copying all of the dates into a planner. As mentioned
above, one of my greatest strengths in my writing is when I construct hand written notes,
I truly retain the information better, With this in mind, using a planner or agenda with hand
written due dates will actually allow me to retain the due dates in my head easier and I
will also be employing a strategy that helps my writing but in a different way. That is not
to say that technology is bad. I can also set alarm reminders on my phone when I should
start working on these assignments. This alarm will serve as a nudge to get working on
homework and will hold me accountable. My plane will serve as follows; Step 1 would be
to first hand write everything into my agenda/planner. Written in the planner will not only
be due dates, but the days leading up will be marked with when I should be working on
the particular assignment. Now that I have all this information written by hand, Step 2 will
involve entering these work days and due dates onto my phone and have it remind me in
advance on when I should be working on them. This will give me no excuse to wait until
the last minute because my phone is something that I will always have with me. Step 3 is
just me executing the plan and actually working on the days that I have mapped out in
order to stay ahead and on top of all assignments that are due throughout this unit.