Self Reflection

The Freshman Inquiry Writing Seminar Composition course provided me with valuable information that significantly improved my writing and comprehension of the various types of papers. Throughout the course, we were exposed to more challenging tasks that required skills that we obtained as the semester went on. In the beginning of the course, I struggled grasping a multitude of skills such as incorporating an adequate amount of evidence in my writing as well as writing in MLA format. I was able to gradually alter my writing techniques to create better work.

One of the first skills I learned was how to identify and establish a genre. The idea of understanding a genre was essential in both reading and writing a paper. The first paper assigned was a literacy narrative which, in essence, was a story exploring what the author experienced in regards to reading and writing. For this paper, I spent a lot of time recounting the experience that I was to write about in order to organize the details in a coherent manner. I did this by creating a draft with bullet points of the events in chronological order. Once I established my details, I was able to properly relate them back to the genre, which was literacy, and I expressed how my experience significantly impacted my desire to express myself through writing. I personally enjoy writing stories, so this assignment was enjoyable.

During the writing process, one thing that aided my writing was the peer review that we did in class. My peers listened to my draft and shared their input which was to make the “hook line” more exciting. This insight not only helped me become aware of the importance of gaining the interest of the audience, but the first sentence helped me cultivate the tone of the story. Since this paper was a literacy narrative, I was also introduced to the importance of rhetorical terms and situations. A literacy narrative is story telling which implies that the purpose is to grab the attention of the audience and express one’s stance with clarity. Once I became familiar with these rhetorical situations in the literacy narrative, I was able to apply them to the other two essays that were assigned as well. The exploratory paper was a bit more challenging though, as it was mostly just informing the audience of a position without including bias and by using a plethora of supporting evidence. I struggled mostly with the documentation in MLA format since the paper required many citations. I was able to thoroughly explain my research; however, it did not connect efficiently with my purpose. As a result, comments from my peers and professor guided me to organize my evidence more coherently for the next paper and properly connect my purpose to my research. I also learned to center my pieces around rhetorical situations which served as guidelines of what to address in each essay aside from outside research. Additionally, for the Researched Critical Analysis, I was much more prepared in regards to organizing my claims and staying relevant to the purpose of the essay. This essay was centralized around arguing a position and substantiating the claims using in-depth research and critical analysis of a fairy tale. It was considerably easier than the exploratory essay because I was able to make a clear argument and use research to support it. I accomplished this by beginning with a thesis in which I addressed rhetorical situations such as the purpose and the audience. I also utilized new techniques such as summarizing every text I read before I use it, which helped me analyze the works I referred to in the essay which bettered my understanding of what I was writing. Additionally, my use of MLA format improved in this essay which made my points more consistent and easier for the audience to read. However, I somewhat lacked research in substantiating my claims that there is a prevalence of child neglect in many fairy tales.

The presence of peers and the Professor definitely contributed to the improvement of my writing. The insight provided me with different perspectives that I still keep in mind every time I write a paper. I was able to improve in my usage of MLA format as well as keeping my writing relevant to the purpose. I will continue to work on minor issues as well by carefully collecting enough information to support my thesis because that can make the most difference to an audience. The skills I acquired in this course will definitely continue to help me grow and flourish as a writer.

Work Cited

Bullock, Richard. The Norton Field Guide to Writing. 4th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.