English-2010

Julie Woodward

Louise Bown

Substantial Reflection Essay

05/01/2014

Reflection Essay

ePortfolio Link:

(http://juliesportfolio.yolasite.com/)

               Taking this course, English 2010, has given me the opportunity to improve my writing by learning how to understand multiple genres, adapting style and design, brainstorming, drafting, and revising many different documents by peer review. The class objectives included reading and researching critically, analytically, and rhetorically, choosing appropriate research strategies for a particular writing task. A critical aspect in the writing process was to cite sources appropriately in my papers to give factual insight on the subject, and to have hard proof and evidence. In this reflection essay, I will explain how the work I have done throughout the semester has helped me reach the objectives of this course.

While reading a variety of literary and other writing work, we learned the importance interpreting, evaluating, and synthesizing the ideas into these writings. Through this course I have been able to effectively participate in group work and have learned how to be an active member in a group project that has guided me through my papers.  I achieved this while participating in our Community Writing Project which required researching a topic of concern in which I had to analyze both sides of a position. I learned many styles of presenting an argument to my audience, and how learning who my audience is really makes a huge impact on how I should present my position.

 In choosing the issue of concern with my group for the Community Writing Project, we were to find something we thought was an important issue going on in the community. While presenting our ideas to the group we had an opportunity to show why it was a growing concern and the purpose behind us writing about it. We included conductive reasoning and specific research in our choice of topic to persuade our group into doing the project on our choice of area of concern. While deciding which one to use, each of us had the ability to view others opinions on each topic which helped us make a decision on the topic of concern, which happened to be the topic I chose, child bullying.

As our group wrote papers on the topic of concern and during the process I was subjected to receive peer review, as well as give it to the peers of my group on the rough drafts of our papers so we had the opportunity to revise them before we turned the final piece in. I was able to use the peer reviews to my advantage, as someone else can often point out something you easily might have missed. The comments that had good feedback were just as helpful as the constructive comments to me because it showed me what I excelled in and what I could do in future papers by using the same technique. Like one person mentioned how the bold, colorful pictures stood out on the paper and brought the reader’s attention to them. The constructive comments helped me realize the errors I made on my paper, or what I failed to expand on that might have not made sense to the reader as it did to me. For example, I got a comment referring to the lack of references I had in my MLA section, although I know I had them, I just forgot to list them, which was really good feedback to have. Using this method of feedback was extremely helpful in my writing process.

As I was critiqued on my papers, I also had the opportunity to review the papers of my peers in my group. It was very interesting for me to be able to read others work on the same type of paper and issue I was working on. It gave me the opportunity to view others writing patterns, as well as give them feedback I thought would help the paper. In one paper I read, there was an area that was very confusing and that a reader from an outside perspective could not understand, I believe giving that feedback to my peer was helpful to him. Another comment I gave to another group member was on a paper that strong paper, so I suggested adding more facts and verifiable references. I think my greatest strength as a peer reviewer is analyzing the paper in detail to the understanding of what they are trying to present. If the reader does not understand the full purpose of the topic, the paper will not make sense. Doing peer review has helped improve my own writing by being able to point out what I thought as flaws in others, I was easily able to attribute to my own. It helped open my eyes to things I noticed while reading other papers, but missed while writing my own. By having the ability to review my peers writing assignments, as I described, has strengthened my own ability to write.

I believe that the documents I provided in my Final Portfolio reflect my progress and ability as the difference between the first and second drafts are substantial. In the first draft on my Memoir I dismissed the effects bullying made on me as a child, and as I grew up. In the final draft I made sure I added specific examples citing just that. I think adding the effects it had on me was a critical part in the paper that made it a lot stronger. In my brochure I made the mistake of not citing my references properly, which was a big mistake because I took a lot of time looking up facts and statistic for my brochure, however forgot to add them into my references. Forgetting references is a big thing to miss in a paper because it shows a lack of research and investigating. Not only that, but it completely dismisses the authors who originally wrote the information, their due credit. Being able to revise these documents made my writing skills stronger.

Putting together my Final Portfolio was not an easy task to undergo, as there were so many things to entail, and so many decisions to make. The process I took in deciding on which pieces to use included which ones had the best peer review, which ones the teacher graded the highest, and which ones I enjoyed writing the most myself. Another big part of deciding which ones to use had to do with which one I was able to revise well enough to be included in my Final Portfolio. I think the greatest strength of my writing is the use of literary analysis. Reading, researching, asking questions and exploring helps me to get a feel for how the writing sounds and how it makes me feel. If I don’t feel it is strong after rereading it, I will revise. Knowing the interpretive question about the work I am studying in my documents is the first insight that starts the writing process. That goes for my Portfolio as well, but something I believe that is important in the portfolio is also being able to analyze and recognize my own writing styles, and not being afraid to change things as much as needed. That sometimes can be a challenge for me is changing something I might think is good, but suggestions of others tell me otherwise, but when I actually do change it and reread it I realize the change made for a better paper that helped me grow as a writer. If I went through this process again I think I would reference the book given to me for this course a little more. When reading through it there was so much great insight that led to a great paper, however when it came to actually writing the paper, I would forget to look in the book, and just write it off the forum I had.

In conclusion this course has ultimately taught me how to adapt my writing style into a paper or other document using genres, rhetoric, literary analysis, and research. Learning these techniques has challenged me and made me a more thoughtful writer. I learned the importance of working in a group and the advantages of involving myself in peer review. Being able to interact in that way has been a great teacher for me and has taught me how to take in good and bad feedback. By preparing my Final Portfolio it has given me the chance to really review and rework my writing into what I want it to be. Revision is key in the process and taking the time to change it helps me in my writing process. I am glad I was able to take this course and hit the objectives of writing proficiently.