Final Reflection
Unlearning old knowledge proved to be one of the hardest for me this semester. I'm use to focusing on my grammar, spelling and punctuation from high school, so I didn't properly understand the importance of adjusting my focus to other aspects of my writing like clarity and conciseness. Last semester was a bit better to cope with in these aspects because actual prompts on what was expected in a piece of writing were not given. We were given freedom to pick a genre on a relatively vague subject matter and write about it to best of our ability, so my teacher was lenient with her grading and remarks concerning our works. Adjusting to this class was a whole new experience. I was already extremely familiar with the laid-back responses, so handling the flurry of precise requirements for each detailed prompt was not easy. I had to unlearn my old laid-back mannerism of handling writing prompts and put more effort into the aforementioned sections of my papers.
During the process of my unlearning my old knowledge, I also learned that though there are some important details -like clarity and the subject matter- there is no specific way that something should be written. There's no reason why an argument cannot be written as a poem or a report can be written as a prose. It really doesn't matter as long as all the main points of discussion are kept constant. I didn't experiment at all with the different genres this semester, but I plan to use it as much as I can later on if I get the opportunity.
An important lesson I learned this semester is that most of the time listening to other people's views can be helpful to your own writing. Several times during the semester, we had class discussions and people shared their opinions on the topic and I usually add sure to take notes. These notes on other people's ideas were usually extremely helpful when I began to write my own paper because I got to compare my views to theirs and ended up with better than I originally had. In other words, listening to people's opinions is crucial for a good piece of writing. Even if sometimes the views may be clashing and seem like they won't be able to mix, they end up strengthening your argument because you eventually have more points to compare your views to.
One thing I'm guilty of not doing often enough is practising and revising my writing. I feel like writing one paper alone drains me both physically and mentally, so revisiting the paper to make any vague changes on what I believe I had already given my best on was a herculean task. I just couldn't do it as often as I needed to, and my writing always required a lot of revising anytime I got it back from the professor. Even the thought of going back to begin evaluating the whole paper and make it better was exhausting enough. Revising was not a strong suit for me at all this semester. I do hope to get better at it and maybe even do a better job in the initial draft of the paper and not have to face extensive revision.
Mid-Term Reflection
So far this semester, I can tell my writing has gotten a bit better. I have also gained a lot from the objectives we’ve gone through. I especially liked the exploring objective. It was a very interesting objective to learn because I was able to expand my search whenever I have a topic to consider. I learnt to “expand the telescope” of my search and also to shrink it back in and tailor my writing to the specific topic at hand. It was an interesting way to approach writing because it led me to many things which were related to the topic, whether closely or not, and it also gave me the challenge of trying to compress the information I found into what will be necessary for the topic. It was fun but tasking at the same time.
Another objective which I found very enlightening is questioning. It was quite a useful objective. Questioning is a good way to go where you want answers to questions, but I also learnt other ways we can use questioning. I learnt how to use it to create conversation between myself and my readers or other peers during reviews. I also learnt how to use it when I was stuck without knowing what to write on a particular topic, during these moments I ask myself questions like “what is the objective of this paper?” or “how long is it supposed to be?”. Asking questions has been a helpful tool so far and I’m sure it’ll be even more useful in the near future.
Still on objectives, I also found paying attention very helpful. It helped me realize the importance of paying attention to detail when not only writing, but when doing anything in general. It taught me to give my total attention to any task I have at hand in order to complete it with accuracy. This is one lesson I will try not to take lightly and enforce on all future projects.
I can’t exactly tell how much better my writing has gotten this semester, but I am sure it has improved compared to my writing last semester. I found out that I still write a lot in passive voice, but I am working towards writing with more of an active voice. Also, I am beginning to find it easier to write longer papers after segmenting each topic to be considered in any paper. I hope to get better in the future, but for now I’m not exactly sure where I stand. This portfolio contains journals and essays that show how far I have come in the semester, so I hope you can be the better judge of how much better I got.
Bio
Hello! I'm Prudence Phillips, A freshman Computer Engineering major from Lagos, Nigeria. Coming to the US has been a great experience for me and I have learnt a lot in the past six months of my stay. This portfolio is a presentation of my works in my Reflective Writing Portfolio Class. Enjoy!
