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Repurposing Project

Third step: Draft 1. Here’s where the struggle happened. I decided to write about serial killers instead of capital punishment because having written an extensive research paper on the death penalty two years ago, I already knew a brain-full about the subject. Serial killers on the other hand, though always an interest of mine, were more of a mystery; I wanted to explore the topic. My first idea involved tapping into my creative side to write an autobiography from the perspective of a killer. This “autobiography of a killer” didn’t get much further than an idea, however, because I soon realized that one, I had zero desire to write about the gory thoughts of a person who murdered for sport and two, even if I did have that desire, no one would want to read it. So scratch that idea. My second idea came from my interest in serial killer Charles Manson. I wanted to write about his life and why he became a killer, but I struggled to come up with an original argument. No paper without an argument is worth writing (in my opinion as an aspiring lawyer), so I knew this draft would be far from my last. That being said, it didn’t go completely to waste; my first draft on Manson lead to an idea for my second draft and eventually, the final repurposing project.

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Fourth step: Draft 2. For my second draft, I decided to write a blog post. I did this because a blog gave me the most freedom to be creative and write in a casual voice. After a productive office hour session with my professor, Naomi, I ended up with a blog about the TV show Criminal Minds. In it, I planned to include aspects from my draft on Manson (which can be seen in the outline portion of the draft) as well as information and analysis about capital punishment in regards to the television show. This draft is one blog post and an outline, but it served as an effective blueprint for my final project.

Fifth step: Final project. My final project appeared as a complilation of four blog posts based off of blog posts from the website Hollywood Reporter.  Blogging eliminated the main restriction I faced throughout the repurposing process in that I didn't have to pick only one topic; I wrote posts on Criminal Minds, Charles Manson, and capital punsihment casually and creatively. Though rewarding, putting together the blog as an actual blog and not just four Word documents did not come easily to me. Our minor in writing cohort blogs every week, so I did have some practice, but only in posting- never in actually creating my own blog. I think it's safe to say that I have become a master at linking words in my post to diffferent pages and adding pictures with captions and alt texts. Overall, I'm really proud of the work I did with my repurposing project. I had the opportunity to write about topics I love in an entirely new medium.

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First step: Pick an old paper. Being a bit indecisive, I couldn’t pick between repurposing either an argumentative research paper on capital punishment or a short response essay on serial killers, so I kept both in mind. Despite my indecisiveness, my love for all things related to the law and criminals made this part of the process simple. I knew I’d be spending the better part of the semester repurposing and then remediating projects on whichever topic I chose, so I wanted it to be something that intrigued me.

 

Second step: Proposal. I proposed two options for my repurposing project, one revolving around my serial killer paper and the other around my argument against capital punishment. If I decided to use the first, I would write a biography or autobiography of a killer. If I chose the latter, I would compose a trial-style closing argument for the abolition of the death penalty. Because my proposal was relatively vague—I wrote about two completely different ideas because I couldn’t pick one— I didn’t have too much trouble writing it. Unfortunately, that missing struggle during step 2 of my process consequently led to unnecessary struggle as I proceeded to step three: creating my first draft.

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