Digital Story Versus ARP Writing

        My approach to the digital story versus the analytical research paper was extremely different. The biggest difference came in the preparation. The digital story writing involved no preparation besides reading what other students had already posted. The analytical research paper involved several steps and forms of research. The page I wrote for the digital story came completely from my thoughts. The analytical research paper included thoughts of the author of the short story I was writing on and the thoughts of the authors of the secondary sources I used. Creative writing was a much less structured experience than research paper writing. The digital story was a chance to just write from your own creative mind with no argument, while the analytical research paper was much more in-depth project where you are always seeking to back up your argument.
        The events leading to these two different types of writing differed extremely. For the analytical research paper, there was a lengthy writing process. It first involved picking a primary source to write an analysis on. Then, we found secondary sources and talked about how they were related to the details we explained in our analysis. We then integrated these sources and made arguments about our primary sources. Each of these steps served as a guide in how we were supposed to write our paper. The digital story writing was completely different. It was based on immediate thoughts rather than building an argument over an extended amount of time. There was basically no preparation and hardly any guidelines to follow.
        This difference in immediate thoughts versus developed thoughts also made a huge impact on the two different types of writing. At the beginning of the analytical research paper process, I had no idea what I was going to write about. I did not really come up with a concrete argument until we did the secondary source integration. This step helped me draw a connection and create an argument. The digital story writing was more of a result of my reaction. My group and I read what the groups had already written, and we simply just wrote what we felt should happen next in the story. There was no research and no reflection; we just developed thoughts and wrote all in one step.
        In the end, both these types of writing style were very beneficial. The analytical research paper was thought provoking and lead to the writing of a unique paper. The digital story telling also lead to a unique form of writing, but it did not hold the same strength that the writing in the analytical research had. The purpose of the digital story was simply to just tell a tale. The purpose of the research paper was to come up with an argument and back it up. This is the difference between creative writing and research paper writing. The flexibility of the structure determines how your mind thinks. For the digital story, you just wrote about your gut reactions to what you had already read. You may think differently of the subject later, but you have already written what you felt at first. The research paper gives you time to reflect on your initial thoughts and critique them. You can alter them over time to formulate your final idea. Both of these types of writings are both beneficial and important. Which style you choose is dependent on the topic you are writing on. If it is just a story, the creative writing style is a better style. If you are writing on something you feel strongly about, you should do the research style of writing.