Essays/Final Reports

HECOL 370: Shirt Lab

For our final project of HECOL 370, we were instructed to independently create our own lab report through the help of a guide book, and previous knowledge we had gained throughout the course. The focus of this final lab was on men’s shirts, where over the course of four weeks, we conducted various textiles tests on our randomly selected shirts in order to develop an understanding of standard textile tests as well as prepare a comprehensive garment report. With this being the first report I wrote during my degree, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with where to start and how to go about it. I did not do too great on this report, however reflecting on it now, this report started to get me thinking about what I could do to write more academically, as well as begin to familarize me with how large-scale papers of this nature are written.

HECOL 301: Final Report

For our final project of HECOL 301, we were instructed to create a program plan in collaboration with an organization randomly assigned to us. This was a project that was slowly worked on throughout the semester, with final report being the culmination of everything we had done. My group was assigned to the EMCN (Edmonton Mennonite Community for Newcomers) in order to create a program intended to help new seniors in Edmonton get better acquainted with their community. This was a massive project that involved lots of delegation and responsibility between our group. Again, we did not too amazing on this final report, but reflecting on the report and presentation, I believe this assignment gave me some needed confidence in my academic writing ability and presenting ability too. I believe that this assignment also helped me develop a better sense of autonomy; we were instructed to meet with the organization on our own, we all got our sections of the report done on our own time due to conflicting schedules; this sense of autonomy is something that I believe made me feel less nervous about doing something in a similar vein, such as reaching out and scheduling our site visit with our practicum supervisor.

SOC 315: Final Research Project

The final project of my SOC 315 course involved writing a research paper of your own choice, where we were instructed to create a research framework, research questions, hypotheses, and positionality statements. The topic of my research project was to examine social media usage and how it may effect young adults. Reflecting on the outcome, this was a final project that I did a lot better on than previous ones, most likely due to practice and experience previous writing endeavours. Success with writing about a topic of my own choosing gave me a lot more confidence in my writing ability and ideas as a whole. Looking back, something that I did not do a lot of before this assignment and course was looking at my own biases and pre-conceived notions, however I believe having to write many positionality statements geared me to start being more self-reflective.

HECOL 476: Final Research Project

For final research project of HECOL 476, we were instructed to write a research paper, where we were given a number of topics related to the different ways textiles may be preserved or degredated through natural means. The topic of my paper was about how textiles buried in the earth may be preserved for hundreds of years, or destroyed in a matter of weeks, where I had to explain how this contradiction is possible. This paper required lots of scientific background, as well as having to find examples of archeological textiles that had been buried in the earth. Reflecting on the outcome of this project, this was highest mark on any large-scale writing assignment I had done and was something I was very proud about. Again, my writing skills and confidence in my ideas improved from this assignment, and having to explain lots of background before really getting into my topic I believe has helped me be able to write with more flow and be less choppy with my ideas.

HECOL 470: PPE Infographic

For this project, we were instructed create an infographic on a piece of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) and discuss what industry it would be used in and for what purposes, as well as the specific standard tests that are conducted on the PPE to ensure that it is safe for use. I chose a full-body suit that would be used in medical laboratories, detailing the conditions this suit would be used in, its design features, and tests done to ensure it is safe. This infographic was then presented to the class. This was an assigment I had success with, and reflecting on it I believe it really helped me practice the shortening ideas and explainations and practice presentation skills. With this infographic and presentation being taken from our research paper, it was necessary to be straightforward and concise with our information in order to make a digestable presentation; something that I do not think I was too great at before. My public speaking ability has also not been the greatest, so any opportunity to practice it is a positive outcome.

SOC 301: Essay #1

In my SOC 301 class, we would be given weekly short essays where we would need to apply course content to something tangible; current events, themes of movies, something you saw happen in the real world. For my first essay, I wrote about socialist feminism and ideas of the second shift and applying it to a situation with a band that I really enjoy. The situation involves the opening act at a Nirvana concert, where the opening act was an all-women band that was harassed on stage by the crowd, with Nirvana retaliating by purposely giving the crowd their worst performance ever. Reflecting on this essay, I did really well and better than any other essay I had written previously, due in part to all of the writing I have done throughout my academic career, but mainly due to the fact that my chosen topic being something I had a very vested interest in. This essay and my success had led me to develop a genuine interest in writing, and again helped feel confident in my ideas and what I had to say.

SOC 301: Essay #2

Another one of my weekly SOC 301 essays, I wrote this one on the movie The Substance (2024) and how it relates to ideas of marxist feminism, socialist feminism, and hyperfemininity. This was a movie that I really enjoyed, so being able to write about it and examine it in order to apply relevant concepts was something I also enjoyed. As a result of this I did really well on this essay; it was the first time that I had gotten 100% on any sort of writing assignment. This really helped my confidence in the class, but academically as a whole as well. It was after this essay that I felt good enough to participate more in class, answering questions more often and being more vocal in group discussions. I think the confidence that I was building through these essays has had a very positive outcome on me and is apart of the reason I have talked more throughout HECOL 408.

HECOL 408: Unboxing Video

For this project for HECOL 408, we were instructed to create video in which we would describe our placement site’s organizational chart, as well as find objects that represented where we in our career development, the type of field supervisor we seeked, something to represent the placement site and the nature of its work and something to represent our choice of a human-ecological model. I chose a dove to represent where I am in my career development, an old lighter to represent my ideal field supervisor, a quilt to represent the placement site, and an onion to represent a human ecological model. Reflecting on the outcomes, I found lots of value in making a video as it is something that I have not done a lot of. The writing of a script helped with my ability to speak, and being a material culture student, the use of objects to represent things about myself made the assignment feel more personal and meaningful. The assignments I have done throughout HECOL 408 has played a big role in easing my nervousness about the practicum, and being asked if my video could be used as an example for future classes has helped to reaffirm myself and feel secure in my ideas and processes.