Self Asses-Enc1102

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GRAY
Alexis Gray
ENC1102
April 20, 2016
Overview of the Course
Throughout the semester, I have learned so much about writing and the different
stages you go through when conducting research. I was unaware of these different stages
and the importance of them until I took this class. At first, the reading responses to the
textbook readings seemed tedious and unnecessary. However, once I started my research
project I was able to locate the idea or theory behind a section of my writing within one
of the textbooks. This class was phenomenal and really opened my mind to the
possibilities in writing. Writing is a stable part of college and can apply to all majors and
their complimentary discourse communities. My major is health sciences and I plan to
continue my education at a medical institution. While trying to achieve this goal, I will
have to take a number of science related courses. In doing so, I will have to respond to
and write my own research projects and respond to labs. This course has given me the
knowledge that I can use to excel within my future career. I will be able to communicate
more effectively with my peers, professors, and excel in my schoolwork because of the
writing mechanisms I have discovered throughout this semester.
Goals for the Semester
My goal for this semester was to improve my writing as a whole. I believe I have
developed into a stronger writer because of the different stages we had to go through
during our research project. For example, this class was different from previous English
courses I have taken because at each stage of my project we were mandated to peer
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review each others drafts. At first, I did not know how beneficial peer reviewing would
be to my writing. However, after participating in the process and receiving constructive
feedback from my peers, the information I gained was invaluable. My peers were able to
pick out pieces of my writing that I could not see were incomplete or ill developed. With
their help, I was able to revise my drafts and reconstruct my ideas, which improved the
quality of my paper dramatically. I really liked how we started out with higher order
concerns in our drafts and worked down to sentence level or local problems, as we got
closer to the deadline. By doing this, we were able to revise and reconsider our claims,
examine their validity, and see if they were able to supplement our ideas and add to the
conversation we created in our papers. As we got closer to the end of the semester, the
peer reviews that examined local problems helped us finalize our papers and create
stronger papers as a whole.
In Class Discussions
In class discussion also really helped me grow as a writer because we examined
each aspect of the writers claims in the textbook. I was able to understand the material
more when we talked about it in class in-group discussions. Some of the text material was
hard to understand or boring to get into at first. However, class discussions gave clarity to
the readings by illustrating each point on the board. Additionally, the use of visuals in
class discussion was very helpful because it allowed the class to grasp the information in
two different means, textually and visually. It was also very helpful when we viewed
other students writings because it allowed me to view if other students shared the same
opinions.
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Apply New Knowledge to Future Endeavors
I still have a lot to learn about writing. I think the writing process can never be
learned completely, rather improved with new information and means of expression. I
still have trouble grasping the different qualities of the APA format and how it differs
from MLA, which I used a great deal in high school and during my freshman year of
college when I was undecided on my major. Also, I would like to work on being specific
and backing up my claims with specific examples, so I can make my arguments stronger.
By backing up my claims I am a more valued writer because I have evidence to support
what I am saying and that I am not just making it up as I go.
Although there are still many things I need to learn about writing in my field,
health sciences, I have learned a great deal. First off, my critical reading skills have
drastically improved. This is because I learned how to read in between the lines and draw
connections between the different readings throughout the semester. The biggest thing
that I will take out of this class is peer reviewing. It is so important and beneficial and can
be applied to all majors. It is more welcoming and less intimating than reviewing your
work with a professor. You are able to communicate more thoroughly with your peers
than with your professors, for the most part. Because of this, I am able to ask more
questions and receive more personalized feedback based on the relationship I have made
with my classmates.
Another aspect I will take out of this class is the creation of a paper does not
happen in one sitting but rather in multiple attempts and through drafting. Before this
class, I would just write whatever came to mind and correct it as I wrote it. But after
strategically planning, drafting, and revising the same paper multiple times, I am now
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aware of its benefits. For example, it wasnt until I submitted my first draft and received
peer feedback on it did I know that I had to revised my entire research project and narrow
down my ideas tremendously. I did not realize how vague and confusing my paper was
until I picked a single event and analyzed three different perspectives in my second draft
of my research paper. After the completion of that draft, I feel more confident in my
argument and the claims I make are now backed by sufficient evidence. I am so glad I
took this class because it helped me become a more successful writer.

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