Life in the Clouds

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It all began at the end of December in 2012. Actually, it had been going on for a while now, since the hurricane at least. While driving around bored only a few days after Christmas, I made the most outward effort to do so ever by wandering into CVS and purchasing a 5 x 2.5 inch spiral notepad to carry around in my pocket. For too long it pained me to forget so many of the things I thought about on a daily basis, as the busier I got, the more frequently this began to occur.

The start was slow and the notes were far from profound. As a less intensified effort to refrain from blowing my brains out, they were a good way to help pass time and retain memories while drudging through the pitfalls of depression. Even though I had the spare time back then, I wasn’t writing at any substantial length. In fact, I went dormant for months, not even writing a single paragraph for personal pleasure.

As I look back on over a year and a half of note taking, it’s surprisingly easy to view trends in where it took me; how I was feeling at the time, what was going on, how busy I was. Even more importantly was the infectious rate with which it spread. Multiple sticky notes are always open on my desktop, filled with clusters of quips and random phrases from certain months or seasons. My cell phone even has notes open on it, from miscellaneous events or weeks at a time.

In a way, these are merely the times when I didn’t write. Getting caught up in the blunder of everyday life is the culprit of many of my problems, which allowed the notes to feel sufficient for a while. Working, socializing, relaxing, killing brain cells, and maintaining homeostasis – it all takes so much out of me. Something was missing, as I felt that I had been doing an injustice to myself by not articulating any of my ideas at substantial length.

After a while however, it began to take on a life of it’s own. During the fall of 2013, I began to write in word documents at length, the 21st century form of the notebook at this rate. As much as I wanted to consider it a leisurely activity, this was often while my mind was racing too much to handle it all. At times this made it difficult to continue. Some days you have to motivation to elaborate, some days you don’t. Yet if you do persist in at least trying to write about something, it begins to come as a catharsis.

By far the greatest benefit from all the things I’ve written personally over the last year and a half, from upwards of 60 pages of notes and word documents, are the memories that will not be lost as a result of doing so. In going back and reading many of the things I’ve written, what I enjoy witnessing the most is the element of progression, as well as knowing when the piece was written and being retroactively self-aware of my mental state at the time.

Producing a physical version of my thoughts on the page, regardless to how terrible or elegant they may sound, is a solid way to extend any memories deemed important into a stable entity. Even today, when I continue to re-read months and months of notes and entries, I look at everything differently each time, sparing cringes, laughs, bewilderment and surprise where each is appropriately due. Most of all, I am thankful for the justice this habit has served to my memory, as I don’t think I’d be able to forgive myself for never beginning to take notes.

Writing & Research

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Research is a key element of progression and advancement across many disciplines. Whether it is for scientific or business purposes, the integration of research into a particular field can not only provide opportunities for moving forward, but as well as insight regarding the development of previously unfamiliar ideas. An important aspect of starting and conducting research is the creation of a research proposal. Tailored specifically to the subject matter at hand, research proposals are not only practical in conveying the framework of an idea, but they are also structured and formatted in a way that seeks to challenge the idea and reimagine it’s potential impact. Even beyond proposals and in research papers at large, there is a significant expectation for ideas to be conveyed effectively and in an informative fashion at all times. 

When assembling a research proposal, there are a number of highly important things to consider. Depending on the field in which the research is being done there will be a handful of criterion to consider in planning a proposal. In just about every case, one of the first things a research plan is centered around is the formulation of a hypothesis. Contrary to popular belief, there are a number of ways in which a hypothesis can seek to answer a question, which is ultimately tied into the type of research being conducted. A hypothesis can be either directional or non-directional, which can seek favor for one effect over another or purely the presence of any effect.

Key to choosing the way in which a hypothesis is phrased is the kind of research being conducted. In the case of experimental design, used prevalently in sciences such as biology and psychology, there is an extensive the amount of planning that goes into formulating a research question. Often times, ethics plays a strong role in setting up boundaries for what you can and cannot do in an experiment, as well as how you must go about the handling of human subjects while creating the most safe and valid design possible. It may take a while to find the proper methods and statistical analysis tools required to produce significant results for the research you wish to conduct, however the time spent ensuring that you’ve created a stable and accurate design will ultimately prevent trouble in the long run.

Within each field specifically, there is a very particular format for the way in which not only research is conducted, but also in the way that it is written about. It is important to stay true to the language of the research you’ve conducted, while also keeping in mind who your audience is when writing research reports. For the most part it is best to use primarily palatable language, while as often as possible keeping paragraphs and sentences shorter rather than longer. By far the most important aspect of writing in research, which is applicable across any field, is the ability to be concise. If what you have written is able to convey as much clear-cut information in as few words as possible, readers will be much more easily engaged and interested in what it is your research has to say.

To Infinity and Beyond Undergrad

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As I approach the beginning of the final full month of my undergraduate career, a number of feelings and thoughts cross my mind. Initially, I feel accomplished and somewhat proud that I was able to successfully endure a journey that managed to knock a number of my close friends off the very same track. Yet the more that I look back on these last eight semesters, I can’t help but feel some degree of regret regarding the way in which I navigated the college experience. However, this regret does not hold me back in any sense and I feel that everything in my life up until this point has prepared me the best that it could for the future that lies ahead of me.

Despite the sense of fulfillment graduating has granted me, it is only partially grounded. The truth of the matter is that although I am hopeful and excited to embark on a life after college, I’m reasonably anxious as to what exactly my future will hold. For starters, I have decided to take a year off before pursuing a graduate degree. Although this was a decision I made over a year ago, it was not an ill-fated one, as I would rather be sure of the program that I wish to enter rather than rushing into whatever one I gained acceptance into. While I worry that my hesitance may have prevented me from receiving any opportunities right away, I feel that I made the right decision in that I have allowed myself more time to hone in on a more focused area of study. Additionally, time off from school can allow me to obtain experience in the field and be able to dedicate myself to a full-time internship or work.

In these times especially, graduate school, internships and professionally oriented jobs all require a number of skillfully written pieces in their application process that will be carefully reviewed upon submission. From cover letters to personal statements, there is an expansive range of expectations held for college students seeking to enter the professional world. Working on a professional autobiography that seeks to focus students’ ambitions and the way they write within the scope of their intended profession has allowed me to view my prospective career path in a consistently evolving light. Even more importantly, the assignment has allowed me to focus on the ways in which I wish to present my own writing in a professional manner, while also maintaining my own style and flavor as a writer.

One of the key aspects of applying to graduate school is the submission of a personal statement. Despite having taken the Personal Essay as a course, for the longest time I felt that I would have nothing of substance to include in one. However, after somewhat viewing my college career in hindsight, I feel that I could assemble a quality personal statement that does not necessarily fit the cookie cutter mold of detailing volunteer work and personal achievements. An interesting take on the personal statement would be to detail your own personal experience in a humanizing light, while providing context as to how or why this set you on any intended career track. Although this is not easy to do, it is perhaps a more viable option for people who may or may not have done a whole lot of extracurricular activities throughout college.

Although it was a long process and the results may not have been as clearly visible at first, four years of college not only changed me as a student and a person, but more specifically as a writer. God forbid I did not go college, let alone a university with an excellent writing department, I could not imagine the level of false confidence I would have in my writing abilities. The emphasis placed on growing as a writer throughout college is a multidisciplinary concept and is applicable to any field of interest. Even those interested in non-humanities based studies are required to write, often extensively at that, and it is highly significant that writing be viewed as a craft with immense impact and purpose. Without developing proper writing skills, one could easily fall ill prepared for a particular job opportunity, especially if these flaws are transparent enough to show through in something such as a cover letter.

Overall, life beyond undergraduate studies is highly demanding and can often be of intense academic rigor. One of the most important skills developed to soothe the transition into professional life is writing. The ability to flex proper writing skills when necessary can make or break your appearance as an academic, as well as a professional, and is way too often undervalued as a device to advance both your personal and professional self.

At the Drop of a Tweet

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In the rapidly evolving age of information that we are currently planted smack dab in the middle of, there are a handful of emerging methods of communication at our disposal via the Internet. One of the most readily available forms of social media is Twitter, a website that has shown great impact outside of purely casual means. Take for example, the way in which many young people around the world spread information surrounding the relatively recent Arab Spring in a rapid-fire fashion. In this sense, a website such as Twitter has the potential to be revolutionary, yet we often seem to view it as a cultural vice on which people gossip about celebrities and their personal problems.

Earlier today, as a class, we participated in an academic Twitter summit, sharing questions and ideas with students, professor and scholars across the globe. Until early last week, I had no idea what an academic Twitter summit was, or what it might even relatively hold. However, after participating in this experience firsthand, my eyes have been opened to the immense possibilities that a social media website as such can offer, in addition to the magnitude of ways in which the communication of ideas will be impacted in the future as a result of our growing mastery of technology.

One of the first and most amazing things about the Twitter summit was that by simply using a uniting hash tag, anybody from around the world could be involved in the conversation. The reason why this is so phenomenal is that in the past, communicating with people all over the world was much more difficult and took hours, if not days to facilitate proper conversation. Here we are, in 2014, in a classroom, typing up 140 characters or less to articulate our professional concerns and inquiries with any number of distinguished academics. Thirty years ago, they would’ve called us crazy; we now call it the wave of the future in spreading ideas.

The possibility for this activity to expand in the future, both in terms of membership and exposure, is highly promising. Granted that prior to recently, I was even unfamiliar with the existence of these types of things, the number of academic and professional uses for Twitter is constantly growing. A website that was once viewed as a distraction or not worthy of my time has proven to not only refute those ideas, but also be much more than that, as a device for professional and personal advancement. It is highly plausible to meet someone important on Twitter because they saw an idea or work that you have posted. In the event of something like this, be it an academic from Cairo or an employer in your city, you have the chance over the Internet to forge a connection with them and establish a potential fruitful relationship as a result of your exposure via Twitter.

As an afterthought of the Twitter summit, I was also exposed to a number of great insights regarding professional level writing and its ties to the ever-growing Internet. While some offered borderline obvious insights (be careful of what you post, remember that you have a global scale audience), a number of highly interesting points regarding the nature of writing in general were raised. Of the most interesting ones that were brought to my attention, was from a student in our class, who inquired on the interpolation of creative and academic writing.

This is something that I have always personally struggled with, often being too dense and wordy in reporting psychological research. However, I feel that the point raised is worthy of rumination. I do believe that there is a way to adhere to the tenets of academic writing while also being able to flex your personal skill as a writer. Although there may not be as ample of opportunities compared to creative fiction for example, it is entirely possible to integrate your own tone and style into writing at the professional level, especially on the Internet. Blogging in the professional realm, for example, serves as a great opportunity for the cohesion of two styles as such to occur.

Overall, thanks to the eye opening experience of the academic Twitter summit, I have been motivated to spend more time engaging with the academic and professional aspects of social media sites, as well as quench the thirst I currently hold for obtaining greater knowledge and personal exposure of my work as a writer. Although I have said this before, I am pleased to embrace the wave of the future in communication and the opportunities it will grant for the betterment of our collective academic knowledge.

Why Write?

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Why should we write? Better yet, why should I write? My firsthand response would be well, because I like it, but the truth is that it runs much deeper than that. Passions don’t sprout straight from the ground up without some sort of catalyst.

At its core, writing is one of the purest forms of expression. Language has the ability to weave abstract thoughts and seemingly intangible emotions into rhetoric and prose, using diction as the building blocks for the articulation of these ideas. Written language manifests itself through a number of means, constantly increasing with time. Initially, spoken word was the main vehicle through which ideas were spread, gradually followed by more and more physical volumes as access to technology permitted it. Whether it’s for personal pleasure or academic gains, writing is an important aspect of life and should be universally embraced.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a fleeting interest in writing. Ever since elementary school I’ve enjoyed doing it; this trait was most likely exacerbated by a dual interest in reading early on, which I can’t quite attest for nowadays. Later, I would want to attribute this preference for language arts as due to a lack of success in classes such as math and chemistry, but looking back it was pretty clear that I was somewhat naturally inclined towards writing from the get go.

It started off with little bits of sentences, journals with innocent phrases and misspelled words that would be accompanied by poorly drawn doodles; the kind of stuff that mothers save for you to either awe or cringe at later in time. The earliest I can remember enthusiastically producing writings at length was in fifth grade, around the age of eleven. Granted they were a part of schoolwork and likely of little substance, enjoying the act of writing was what I remembered. Rather than going out to play on a warm spring afternoon, I found myself immersed in the blank page, a world of endless possibilities, armed only with a pencil and an open mind.

Throughout the years, school taught me much more than I could ever remember, but surely it began to show signs of impact along the way. Writing is a craft that is constantly evolving, one that you can only get better at the more you engage with it. The standards for writing were raised significantly in the latter half of high school and although it felt difficult to keep up, it was a challenging and necessary preparation for the even more markedly increased expectations held in college.

Here at Stony Brook was where I learned by far the most about being a cohesive and effective writer. Over the course of three years, it felt almost as if I had forgotten everything and completely learned how to write again from scratch. The idea of just throwing words on the page to be superfluous and meander towards a point now seems repulsive. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that in reviewing some of my works not even as old as five years ago, the unrefined style makes me shiver. Rather than just slapping together a disconnected narrative drabbed in SAT words, I’ve begun to take a more holistic approach to writing, considering both its tenets as an academic discipline and an art form.

However, the most often overlooked aspect of writing in today’s society is the level of importance it has in the professional world and beyond. Writing plays a role in every academic discipline and often is a central facet in a wide number of careers. Even if the job you have does not require you to write, we are all eventually obligated to write for whatever reason at some point in our lives. In light of this, whether writing is enjoyable or not, being able to view a potential piece of writing as an extension of yourself provides an interesting angle for approaching the task. Your thoughts and ideas will make way for themselves to create an image of yourself on the page. Suddenly, something that was initially tedious to write can seem much more fluid and natural when you attempt to establish a consistent message and tone parallel with this throughout.

Overall, writing is one of the most widely applicable academic disciplines and is of great importance to become familiar with. I feel that I change as a writer constantly, growing with each and every time I pick up the pen. I don’t doubt that this feeling will last a lifetime. In a way, it’s even promoted by the instant access of information in today’s day and age, which permits us to always be learning. There is no capacity for knowledge in this realm and I wish to continue growing as a multidisciplinary writer, only getting better with time. Writing is truly a craft that one must able to embrace and shape into meaning of their own.

Resume Writing in 2014

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Seeking a job in today’s day and age may not be the easiest thing to do, especially considering the high levels of specification that often come with certain careers or positions. Often viewed as some sort of template document, the professional resume is an important tool that when utilized properly, can make all the difference in applying for a particular job. For the longest time, I too was under the impression that there could only be one proper way to produce a resume; that is, if I were lacking certain qualifications, my resume simply felt empty compared to that of one of my peers. However, the informative article “Resume Writing” produced by the University of California at Berkley does an excellent job at highlighting the essential aspects of a resume, placing emphasis on presentation, language and selection of detail based on the position one may be applying for.

One of the key decisions a person must make when applying for a particular position is choosing the type of resume that will be best for them in terms of marketability. Under the notion that a potential employer may only view an individual’s resume from somewhere between eight and thirty seconds, it becomes of high importance to organize the resume in a fashion that highlights the key components of what you are trying to sell to the interviewer. The two most common types of resumes are a skills resume and a chronological resume; more often than not, a chronological resume is the more universal and applicable resume style. In lieu of these ideas, constructing the resume around what an employer is seeking is completely possible, simply on the merit of organization and presentation.

For example, when listing education, a section that would almost never be absent on a resume, it is important to prioritize the order in which information is presented. Contrary to my own initial belief, the emphasis should not be placed on the institution or university from which you graduated, but rather the degree you received. This again relates to the idea of what you are trying to sell; the university from which you came isn’t of the upmost importance, it’s the specific educational qualifications that they are more than likely looking for.

An additional factor to consider when listing educational attainments is placing an emphasis on college, especially when applying for a job in a professional field. However, for some, myself included, there may not be a whole lot that particularly seems to stand out in that section. In light of this, there are a number of possible solutions. By listing an interesting or impactful course you succeeded in that may also bear a specific connection to your field of application, it could perhaps set you apart from other applicants by highlighting your passion and familiarity within the topic. Even something as much as a well-written undergraduate thesis or similar research endeavors that may not seem all that important could have a strong impact on your selection, granted that there is some connection it bears to the position for which you are applying.

Another key element of successful resume writing is centered on the specific use of language in phrasing one’s accomplishments and past efforts. Specifically, when fleshing out academic experience, work history and / or community involvement, the implementation of certain language has the ability to make your efforts stand out more and seem professional. These kinds of action verbs can be used effectively when detailing, for example, your duties under your current employer. Simply listing, ‘responsibilities included’ is not ideal, especially when the term responsibilities indicates that you were more or less obligated to do something. Using verbs such as ‘implemented,’ ‘strategized,’ and ‘expedited’ as opposed to just saying ‘did this’ and ‘did that’ are much more effective in driving home the point that you were a driving force behind the tasks being mentioned. Additionally, this type of language can be an important transition tool; specific wording could make the duties of a restaurant job applicable to the larger frame of a professional career. This use of language also holds true for sections such as technological skills, where by simply mentioning you know how to do or use something is much less effective than taking the time to practically word your skills in a marketable sense.

Overall, this article and class alone have been extremely helpful in developing a more professional resume. In the past, it felt like I had been peddling the same resume year to year, leaving me to only wonder what potential employers could possibly think about it. Now I feel highly confident in my ability to produce quality resumes that would be applicable to a number of positions.