During this semester, I learned new skills, as well as I was able to further develop and improve previous skills I have had. This course was wonderful as it allowed me to research topics I’m interested in, work in groups and develop presentational skills.

During this course, one of the learning outcomes I have achieved is my ability to use  library resources, online databases, and the Internet to gain sources for my different writing assignments. This is something I have done before; however, I haven’t really used it as much as I did for this class, and definitely not as indepthly. It was quite hard because I couldn’t really find articles specific to my topics for my literature review and research paper using library databases. However, it was much easier to find articles by simply using the internet. I felt like I can more directly and specifically find what I’m looking for, so I preferred that more. In my experience, even though I used the advanced search it gave me articles that only covered one aspect of my topic. For example, for my research project my topic was related to sleep and technology; however, when using the library  services, the majority of these articles were either about technology or sleep, but I only found about 5 good articles to use. Overall, I prefer using the internet to gain sources, rather than online resources, but I was able to manage using both and citing them. 

In addition to this, the sources I have acquired I have been able to use in practices. For example, in my annotated bibliographies I was able to show my understanding of the articles by summarizing them, and citing them. Additionally, I am able to incorporate them into my sentences and writing. For example, when summarizing how sleep disorders can be evaluated,

incorporated information from an article as such:  For example, patients can obtain witness reports from housemates, parents, or “a collateral history from a bed partner” (Rourke, Anderson, 2014). Here, I integrate a quote into my sentence. This skill is something I’ve thought I’ve always been good at; however, sometimes I think I over quote, or cite sources.  Practicing this skill has allowed me to develop creativity  in incorporating quotes, paraphrasing, and citing sources in my writing. 

Next, another skill I’ve been able to develop is my ability to engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes. This is something I first experienced last semester when I took FIQWS and we were tasked to read our peers drafts of their writing , and provide feedback. I further improved this by analyzing the clarity of their thesis and suggesting ways to improve their thesis. For example, for my peer’s research paper draft, I suggested adding more quotes and analyzing it more, and I helped her develop a title that suited what she wanted to talk about in her paper, which was about hyperthyroidism but her title referred to the relationship between hyperthyroidism and mental health, yet she expressed to me that she wasn’t sure what it should be titled because she wants it to be more general. So, I suggested an example such as “Hyperthyroidism, and its effect on people’s daily life. Further, I’ve helped and present pros of Inhabiting another planet in which I collaborated with my group members. In practicing this skill for the peer reviews and group assignments, I’ve developed more confidence to speak in group settings and suggest ideas to my peers. 

With that being said, I think I’ve always been exceptional in formulating and articulating my stance in my writing in a concise manner. When introducing my stance in my introduction paragraphs, I tend to give background information and insightful thoughts at the beginning of my paragraph, and then clearly state my thesis at the end. For example, in my research paper, I talked about the benefits of technology and how it is useful, and I talked about modern day sleep tactics based on insightful thoughts, and used a counter statement by stating as my thesis that technology can be bad because it can harm sleep. So, I think this semester I’ve done a great job in presenting my thesis in a creative way. Further, with these writing assignments and working with my peer’s, I have developed strategies for enhancing my reading, drafting, revising, and self assessment skills. In terms of reading, for example, for the jargon to layperson translation group project, I tried to read the first and last sentence first of each paragraph so I can understand what it’s about first, and then I would look for sentences that sound important, yet give the gist of the information presented. Further, I would take out unnecessary words between commas so that the sentences are easier to read, and successfully I was able to write my section based on the article. My main goal for drafting is just to get as many ideas down as possible. In the past when I drafted, I would write the whole paper as if it was the final, and barely edit it later. However, now I accept feedback from my peers and revise based on what they suggested. For example, my peer suggested I used more transitional words in my literature review, so in my revision I added words such as “next,” “moreover”, and “furthermore,” as well as trying to eliminate unnecessary words. One thing I struggle with however, is correcting grammar or spelling. Most of the time, if i’m being honest, I have a nonchalant attitude about grammar and spelling and don’t give it the attention it deserves, thus I need to consider it an important part of my writing. Furthermore, I am able to self reflect and recognize my weakness such as in my literature review reflection I stated that I need to work on making my sentences  less wordy. Enhancing these skills helped me to pay more attention to key details.

Expounding on writing tactics, this semester I’ve also learned to acknowledge myself and others’ range of linguistics as resources. With this I’ve noticed how different my writing is compared to my peer’s and it really helps when taking notes to help better your own assignment. For example, when doing a peer review with my partner for the research paper, I noticed how my sentences tended to be more wordy or longer and sometimes over-explain, while her sentences tended to be short, with some not having enough information. However, my partner helped me to understand that not all of my sentences need to be so wordy or long, and I helped her to understand that some sentences can be expounded more on or can be combined with other sentences. Furthermore, in terms of engaging in genre analysis to explore effective writing, I’m not entirely sure I know how to do that and incorporate it into my writing, but I understand that its important in order to make it more appealing to your audience. I understand that using creative writing tools, being intentional with your audience and having a certain tone is important to capture attention, and I can further work on this by looking for tone, audiences and specific tools used in articles I read.

Furthermore, this semester, I gained a new skill by attempting to negotiate my writing goals and audience  expectations regarding conventions of medium, and rhetorical situations. For the Jargon to Laypersons Translation, the goal was to take a hard article and make it easy for a selected audience to understand. We selected highschool students volunteering at a local hospital, and my main strategy was to think about how I would have wanted to be taught in highschool, given they have no clue or background information about the topic; my group successfully done so and identified the importance of teaching this audience by stating “These students may be the ones administrating this antitumor therapy one day” and that they may want to go to the medical field. By doing this, I compromised my typicalness of over-explaining and being too wordy, too making it short and concise so that my audience can understand.

To conclude, this course has helped me to develop new skills that I can carry on with me through my college career, and has helped me to pay attention to aspects of writing that I have never really considered giving close attention to. Furthermore, it has helped me to identify what I need to work on as a writer.