Throughout the course I was able to achieve a notable change in my writing as I connected with the learning outcomes during the course. In this course, my strengths at my work were following the established format on each paper I wrote and keep up an overall good work on my documents. On the other hand, I had some little weaknesses such as word counting, misspelling, some misunderstandings with the new APA format, etc. My favorite piece was the technical description. I enjoyed this assignment the most because it was a different type of writing piece that I usually do not do. Most of the time on high school and even college, all the writing assignments are essays on a certain topic. However, the technical description required a deeper investigation on technology, which caught my interest, and a well written description of this technology. If I had more time, I would have managed my time more efficiently and probably write a better piece with less errors. On the other hand, my least favorite piece was the rhetorical analysis. For me, it was more difficult to understand what was the objective of this piece or how began to write it. Moreover, it required a strong knowledge of writing strategies to understand what was the author’s purpose, which was something I have not learned before.
I think my overall performance in my writing was good but I still need to improve to achieve excellence. I think I did well explaining most of my ideas and showing knowledge of the topics I discussed. However, misspelling made my ideas a little more harder to read and would not allow the audience to completely understand what I’m trying to say. In my assignments I wanted the readers to see that I posses a good understanding of the topics I am discussing and the formats I am using. However, what I achieved with these documents were for the readers to know that even though I am not an expert with the APA format or I cannot express my ideas as clearly, I am still trying hard to master it and to develop a clear stance in the papers.
My process to achieve well written is the following: first, I read the assignment’s objectives and requirements to know what I have to do. Then, I read the grading criteria to know what I have to achieve in my writing and what the expectations for the documents are. Keeping all of this in mind I write my papers, while trying to keep the format. At the end, I try to correct spelling errors, add images or tables, and check any format details. Once I have done this, I submit my work. It works relatively well because I get to achieve most of the expectations and requirements for all the papers, however when I do correction of spelling, I should focus more and read the paper twice or three more times. It also helped me to copy down in my drafts the objectives and requirements and write the paragraphs while reading them. Or to just write the question to be answered and once I am done to format the information in paragraph form. A technique that did not help me is just to write the paper and then check the grading criteria. It does not usually work because I have to correct almost the whole document at the end which means I wasted a lot of time. For example, on my technical description draft I wrote: “As technology keeps evolving, people now have inventions that would have seemed impossible in the past in the palm of their hand. This paper is a visual and written explanation of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3. This paper includes its historical background, main parts, and their functions, and the effect of this product on society.” This was my abstract and as I have not written one before, I had no idea what I was supposed to write her. But because I read the writing criteria before and the objectives, I realized it was not hard to write. Therefore it was easier for me to finish up the abstract.
Moreover, my performance in the course was also good. I was able to understand all the topics and to write correctly almost every assignment. I spent most of my time witting the assignments, finishing up just on the deadline. The only time I was able to fully collaborate with other classmates was when I wrote a project proposal and developed a power point. However, I had a chance to discuss some topics and regard some questions with all my classmates in a separate group chat. Furthermore, I was able to five and get feedback on my documents through the peer review activities. I also was able to discuss with my professor regarding some questions, though I did not did this all the time. Lastly, I did not visited the writing center, mostly because I did not have the time to make an appointment or fear as I am not familiar with it. By talking to my classmates or instructors, I was able to clear some questions that allowed me to finish my work on time. Plus, by going to the writing center I might have been able to correct my misspelling and get a higher grade on the assignments.
My writing in this course was a huge step forward better written pieces in the future and for me to follow more and new strategies. In the past I would just write the entire document and the just compare it to the writing criteria. However, as a said before, this was a unsuccessful strategy that would make my papers messy and would not deliver a clear message to the audience. Now, my ideas are shared more clearly and I can develop a stronger stance in my assignments. Now I know better strategies to write and I can use what I learn son the assignments, such as IMRaD or appealing strategies, to convince my audience about the topics I am writing about. Furthermore, I now can use APA style to write my documents, I can do a rhetorical analysis, a technical description, I know how to write letter better or a project proposal. Overall, I surely can say that I learn a lot in this course.