Throughout the semester of taking this writing class, I can genuinely say that my skills as both a writer and a reader have significantly improved. From meeting many of the course objectives stated in the syllabus to development in my own writing and other learning moments, my perceptions of writing have evolved as I have made my way to become a more organized and concise writer who truly values writing. As such course objectives were met and my development as a writer progressed, I became a writer who was more aware of analyzing, evaluating, and incorporating skills which helped me flourish even further.

As for the first course objective (acknowledge your and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility), I feel I accomplished this goal throughout the course of the semester by improving upon how I view the range of linguistic differences of myself and my peers. These differences accounted for uniqueness in all written assignments done in the class and further helped myself as a writer to observe these differences. The second course objective (enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment) was met in many different ways. For example, my strategies for reading were significantly enhanced with the discussion boards done as part of the class since these required much of my critical reading and analytical skills. I also feel like this evolved my perceptions of writing as it formed something I rather did not fully appreciate into something I valued. I valued how we could each have our own opinions and come to different conclusions on the discussion boards and express our own thoughts by the form of writing. Furthermore, my skills for drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment were greatly improved upon with several of the written assignments done as a part of the class. For example, I had created several drafts for the scientific controversy paper which I then revised and edited to create my final piece. In addition, I feel I did not fully meet the third course objective (negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation) as it can be seen throughout my writing that I did not fully express the ability to negotiate my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation. This was due to the lack of time spent on this course objective. To improve upon this in the future, I feel it is important to have the audience in mind and to think from their perspective as well as my own as a writer. The fourth course objective (develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes) was very fully met as my group and I constructed our research paper. In writing this paper, I was able to develop collaborative and social aspects of writing as we worked collectively as a group rather than on our own. Further, I feel as if I met the fifth course objective (engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond) as I was better aware of different genres of writing and the best forms/types of writing to convey a specific message. For example, the technical description enhanced my knowledge on a certain genre of writing which rather informed the reader into the specifics of an aspect of something. The sixth course objective (formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing) was strongly met as I developed a particular stance in each and every piece of writing. This particular stance developed through each writing piece and became more noticeable, especially on the discussion boards and in the scientific controversy paper. Though I feel as if I already had a strong start to this course objective, it definitely did improve throughout the course. The seventh course objective (practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects) was more specifically met in the group research paper towards the end of the semester. This was largely due to the research aspect of the paper in which library resources and online databases helped to support our main idea and claim. Nonetheless, the eighth and final course objective (strengthen your source use practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources)) was met and improved upon in almost every written assignment. For example, the research done in the group research paper improved all of these listed skills as my group and I had to analyze and integrate certain parts of research into the paper.

Overall, I have progressed as a writer and critical reader/thinker in many ways over the course of the semester. Each and every written assignment contributed to this progression, and I can truly say I have improved much upon all of my analyzing and incorporating skills. Additionally, my perceptions of writing have evolved in a manner where I can find myself stating my thoughts in my work as a writer more concisely and explicitly, all while appreciating the true power of writing.

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