For this sketch I decided to visualize my notes on isolating plasmid DNA from bacteria. In biology class we were doing this lab and we had to take notes on the procedure, as we only had only one hour to complete this lab due to COVID restrictions. My mind thinks in both words and pictures. I know not many people have an internal monologue, but I do. I have always wondered what aspect of my mind is used in when I learn and process things.

When I initially took notes, I did not use any pictures and memorized the procedure verbally. When I did this, it took me some time to memorize and it was more recitatory. I had to go through the all the steps of the procedure to get to certain detail. When I visualized the notes into this sketch, it was much easier to memorize, and I could isolate certain details by visualizing the image in my head. It is almost like photographic memory, but a very very dull version. It was very interesting to draw my notes as biology labs are often centered around the microscopic world, and doing the lab in person seems mundane. I tried to make these steps more animated to make easier to visualize in my head.

When I was drawing up my notes, I realized how related different topics were to each other. When I just wrote generic notes for a specific lecture, I had a tunnel vision focus on whatever I was taking notes on and did not try to connect it to the whole lecture. When you draw visual notes, it is much easier to see a more general outline of the lecture. I also saw myself trying to apply the knowledge instead of just trying to memorize it.

I was very excited to do this week’s sketch since visual note-taking is something I already do on a regular basis. Whenever I have enough time to rewrite notes, I try to rewrite them in a simple but effective way. I really enjoyed creating these notes for my Intro to General Sociology class. Now, I feel more inspired to rework more of my notes from now on. This was also my first time taking handwritten notes digitally on GoodNotes. It was surprisingly easier than I originally thought it would be and I feel encouraged to continue using the medium. I especially enjoyed having the ability to mix my handwriting and drawing with typed titles in cool fonts.

For these notes in specific, the visual concepts I incorporated onto the page has helped me make a mental image for the research process and different types of sociological research. Some of the research methods are new concepts but with the image now attached with them, I have a connected image I can refer back to. One thing that is important to remember from this lecture are the steps of the research process. With the flowchart I used, I remember the exact order of the steps. At the start of this sketch, my lecture notes were pretty boring and unlikely to be reviewed, but now these visually appealing notes are worth rereading.

Prompt: https://eng181s21.davidmorgen.org/assignments/sketches/sketch-3-visual-note-taking/

For my Combophoto I decided to combine a water tower and a hot hair balloon. I had a lot of trouble coming up with an idea for this assignment so I spent to looking up random words on google images and trying to see what came up. I eventually found some inspiration with a water tower. Originally I was going to use just a regular balloon but it was a bit boring. The hot air balloon is a bit more visually interesting to look at so that is what I ended up going with. I like the final product, the fact that something meant for flying is now stuck to the ground in this odd manner is humorous to me.

When I first read the prompt for this week’s Sunday sketch, I immediately knew that I wanted to use notes from my Roman literature class. The reason being we read Cicero’s Pro Caelio, which in a self-contained perspective is pretty simple defense speech. However, in class, our professor showed us that there were several outside motivating factors. I found the speech to be so layered after class that my fully written notes were a little confusing. To help myself, I decided to show these outside factors was by making thought bubbles. One example of this in my sketch is Cicero’s eyes watching Clodius and Pompea. Basically what happened was that Cicero had evidence that Clodius was having an affair with Pompea. Clodius was then elected a high ranking official and he exiled Cicero for trying to ruin his name. Therefore, Cicero has motivation to defend Caelius because it means ruining the name of Clodius’s sister, Clodia.

Surprisingly, visual note taking was a very enlightening experience. When I looked at my written notes, I interpreted the information as only facts in a court case that happened thousands of years ago. I am glad that I decided to make a sketch with these notes because my brain is stimulated in such a way that I can see the bigger picture without a super intense focus. For example, for my notes relating to Clodius and Pompea, I had written a couple of sentences. However, in my sketch, it is very concise, I can interpret the information very easily. For all my notes for that class session, I can just look at the sketch and get all the information at once.

These notes are from my intro to macroeconomics class. As you can tell, we are learning about gross domestic product ( aka GDP ). While I was creating this, I realized that I overlooked a couple of pieces of notes in class. I didn’t fully comprehend the slides. I enjoyed drawing my notes out because I was able to break the main idea apart, work on the smaller sections, and bring it back to a whole. I allowed me to get a better sense of the topic and easier for me to look over. On the bottom part of the notes, we were showed how to do certain calculations, and I like being able to take notes on what each number means and how it is relevant to the situation. Labeling and color coding allows me to focus on different things rather having a big block of black text. I knew before this assignment that I was a visual learner and that I like to revise my notes, so my notes are more like this assignment. I can’t really do this with all my classes because some are more reading based or excel based and there are also time constraints. However, this semester I am planning to incorporate this type of note taking more into my upcoming notes.

Sea Faucet

I often go to the beach, since I live in Southern California and the beach is close to my house. When I stare at all the water in the sea, standing on the pier, I feel refreshed. As I love going to a beach, I chose a picture of a blue, clear sea. I wanted to add a picture of a faucet, but it took me such a long time to find a feature of removing a background. Through this Sunday sketch, I learned which photo editing site is the best to remove background as I want. I think my final image conveys that we should not pollute the environment. Lots of people enjoy swimming or surfing. Also, people love to go to the beach and pier. However, protecting the sea and the environment would be the number one thing that we need to care about.