Week 2
One of the self-reflective experiences I had in my freshman English class is during the time when I wrote my first paper. This paper was a Literacy Narrative, and it required me to write about my relationship with writing. Unlike what I was normally used to, this paper didn’t constrict my writing style. The college advantage English class I took in high school had a clear-cut way, language, and style of writing that was expected from students. The way I was taught to write in school always included the use of proper English, and proper grammar, as well as the typical paragraph-after-paragraph essay format. There was never room for any creative freedom. Consequently, the Literacy Narrative was difficult for me to write since I was never used to having the freedom to write however I wanted, essentially being able to write as if I was speaking to a friend. This led me to realize that there was more to writing than the typical academic standard.
The most important thing I learned from this class was to write outside of my comfort zone. Although I might have been taught to write in one specific way, that shouldn’t limit me or hold me back from writing freely. I also learned that it is perfectly normal and acceptable to write papers in a non-standard format; specifically, writing research papers. I find that not restricting myself to a specific writing style has allowed me to write about a certain topic with more ease and I plan to continue using this with my future writing assignments.
Week 3
In my freshman English class, I researched the topic of musical prodigies and answered the question of whether they were born or made. By its genre, it can be classified as an academic argumentative essay because its purpose is to educate and inform the audience on a subject the author has already taken a stance. My purpose for writing in depth about this topic is because I grew up around classical music. Whether it was playing a classical instrument myself or listening to others play, I have always had a deep passion and love for it. In the classical world, there are a handful of “child prodigies” and I wanted to learn more about the psychology and reasoning behind what makes them possible. The purpose of my research and writing was to answer my own question: Are musical prodigies born or made? While this was just like any other academic paper I had to write for class, I wrote this with other classical musicians or anyone who is interested in the classical music field in mind. Many of my friends are classical musicians themselves, and my research question was one of the most highly debated topics in our friend group. This paper was meant to bring facts and data to answer the question in the most logical way possible.
Unlike several other essays I’ve written in my academic career, I was able to go outside my comfort zone and write in a way that is completely unlike the usual academic essay format. For this paper, one of the requirements included modeling our essays after a “model essay.” In other words, we had to find an article and write our paper according to that article’s language, style, flow, and tone. This has built my creativity in writing immensely and has given me a new understanding of not only how to write, but how to perceive others’ writing style and make it into my own.
Week 4
For the Product Review Essay, the item I chose to review using grading criteria I established, was an Albuterol Sulfate HFA inhaler. This essay was written to describe and review an inhaler and determine if it fulfills its purpose based on specific standards. Specifically, I reviewed the inhaler based on its cost, availability, size, and durability. The grading of these 4 criteria led me to make the final decision that it does indeed fulfill its purpose. Out of all the items I could have chosen from, I specifically chose an inhaler simply because I have suffered and continue to suffer from asthma. It is an item I’ve known my whole life because I have become so dependent on it. Since I am very familiar with this specific inhaler, I decided that it would be the most appropriate and convenient to write about.
This paper is simply to inform readers about a specific type of inhaler and state the reasoning behind why it fulfills its purpose. While asthma is one of the most common and expensive chronic diseases in the U.S., few people are well-informed about inhalers. For those who are well-informed, this review will come off as just plain and common information. But for those who are not well informed, it is a simple and to-the-point review of a life-saving medication.
The use of an outline and drafts helped me a lot with this paper. Usually, I write the outline after I finish a paper since I find it hard to organize my ideas in such small and confined sections. However, for this paper, I found it easy to outline my ideas since its requirements were straightforward. Also, my original draft was different from my final draft, I went from reviewing my bedroom door to my inhaler. The reasoning behind this is that I found the door too difficult to properly grade based on certain criteria since not much is known about it. Without the use of multiple drafts, I would have been stuck reviewing the door instead of something more straightforward and easier.
Week 5
The recent lab report analysis has been the most helpful to my writing process. Being able to rhetorically analyze these reports has given me the ability to annotate and critique certain aspects of the content which I would normally overlook. I can properly utilize this ability in the future, in cases where I would need to analyze certain articles to look for specific details and information, or lack of them. Despite this, I would still like to spend more time learning how to effectively annotate. I’ve always been taught to just highlight key information, without asking questions or including my own thoughts. If there is no clarification during class time, I intend to do my own personal research on the matter, whether it be through YouTube or with an English professor.
Week 6/7
For my Lab Report Analysis paper, I rhetorically analyzed three reports revolving around child psychology. The genre of this paper would be considered genre analysis as it examines the structure, purpose, audience, and organization of a piece of writing. The reason I chose to focus on child psychology is that I found it to be the most fascinating topic when I took AP psychology back in high school. This made it easy for me to find 3 reports using the CCNY database, and even easier to read through all of them without getting bored. For this paper, the purpose was to provide a thorough analysis of the 3 lab reports and provide an understanding of which report had the best structure. The audience would be geared towards an academic audience that has an interest in child psychology and determines what lab report they should read. The context of this paper is analyzing three lab reports and determining which one does the best in terms of its structure.
Week 8
I am using the labor log to keep a track of the time spent completing each assignment, but also keeping track of when they are due. For instance, for one assignment, there will be an outline, best draft, and final paper. Each log allows me to be more mindful of how much time I spend completing each one. One specific instance would be the most recent paper, the Lab Report Analysis paper. I kept track of what I needed to do with the Labor Log. I kept track of the research, annotations, outline, best draft, and final paper component, and when each one was due. This is similar to the calendar I have which keeps track of when all my assignments are due. By looking at the log, I can manage my time so that assignments won’t be pushed till the night before its due. While many assignments do get pushed to the last minute, I have a general idea of knowing what is due at what date.
Week 9
I’ve had many experiences working in groups. Whether it was during high school or college, it never ended well. For instance, in my most recent oral presentation for bio lab, 2 of my group members were deadweights, contributing 0% of the work to the physical aspect of the presentation itself. The other group member and I pulled 4 all-nighters working on this project. While contributing absolutely nothing to the presentation, the other two members decided to show up for the speaking portion of the presentation, essentially earning a free grade.
Group work in this class has been fine in the sense that there hasn’t been an instance where we all had to work on something that would be graded collectively. I would assume that group work would refer to the peer review sessions we have in class. It’s neither good nor bad for me since I have a tendency to dislike critiquing and being critiqued by people I am not familiar with. I plan to optimize my experience completing the project by making sure my group members and I won’t procrastinate till the night before the deadline. While I have several other projects to complete on top of this one, I do not plan to do the work of others as that will be their responsibility. Since my group has 7 members, I do not think that will be an issue.
Week 10
My Technical description paper’s genre is categorized as a technical description. Technical description papers are written to convey technical information about a product to a specific audience. The motivation for writing this paper and choosing this product is to provide the audience with a detailed explanation of each part of the Second Generation Apple AirPods. The purpose of the paper is to communicate complex information in a clear manner so that it will assist the audience in understanding the product on a structural level. This paper is for an audience that does not possess technical knowledge of the item but would like to know the specifics of the parts.
Week 13
One learning course learning outcome I grew to learn is enhancing strategies for drafting. The more papers I wrote for this course, the more I grew to learn and develop in drafting. I learned to improve on this area by starting off by freewriting. By freewriting, it was less difficult to come up with ideas and having to stick to one thought at a time. As I keep freewriting, the ideas come and go naturally, allowing me to go back and expand on each thought. After freewriting as much as I can, I would then structure each idea into its own section, allowing the formation of “paragraphs.” Once every idea is separated, then I would elaborate on those ideas. This has made it significantly easier for me to write, as I tend to think of one idea, and sticking to that thought till I can no longer write about it. I would say that as a result, my ability to draft papers has significantly improved compared to my drafting abilities two years ago.
Week 14
The composition process is divided into prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. I have learned that planning before I write has proved to be the most useful to this process. Having a plan before I write has allowed me to organize my thoughts and decide what I want to say and how to say it. Specifically, I would usually open my notes app and start writing my thoughts out, without worrying if I make any sense or not.
