13.5 Reflecting on My Writing Experiences.

1. Your assumptions and ideas about writing before taking your first-year writing courses and how these assumptions were reinforced or challenged.
1. I thought writing essays was a simple intro,body,conclusion for all my writing needs. I never had imagined approaching writing as an essential tool that requires critical thinking and careful execution. At first those ideas were reinforced because all my prior classes drilled it into my head and nobody ever told me that it was an elementary form of writing until this course. The biggest challenge to these ideas was professional emails. I had always revised emails to make sure they were concise and proper.
2. The most important lessons you have learned as both a reader and a writer as a result of taking your first-year writing courses.
1. As a reader, I have gained much more motivation to understand what the author's intent was and take care to try and understand a confusing sentence or learn new words.
2. As a writer, I have taken much more time to plan, organize, brainstorm, execute and revise. I see the power in peer reviews and annotated bibliographies. Taking the time to hone in on clarifying my writing projects.
3. The ways you generated ideas, narrowed down topics, and worked on thesis statements.
1. Opening my mind and allowing curiosity to ask deeper questions allowed me to then select a motivating direction. Then pulling my discipline together, I could do research all while generating an annotated bibliography. By this time I would have a better understanding of the subject and can formulate a general thesis. After writing my first draft I would revise the thesis to a molded fit into my project.
4. The peer review process, including feedback you offered and feedback you received.
1. The peer review process was one of the most helpful parts of the class. I was able to see my writing through other people's eyes and see mistakes I had missed, the confusing writing that made sense to myself, and lend ideas of how to achieve my writing goals.
2. Because of my lack of experience in peer reviewing, I relied heavily on course guidelines and followed the "rules for writers" to make sure my editing was well thought out and helpful.
5. Individual or group conferences with your instructor.
1. N/A
6. The discussions you had about your paper with people who were not in your class.
1. One of my projects was on a subject that was well above my head. After doing my best to learn the subject, I approached a few professors in the field and asked for their opinion on my drafts. I was very happy to find that my rhetorical analysis was well received and found to be accurate.
7. How you approached the revision process for each essay.
1. The revision process was a long drawn out process before this course. now with the amount of planning involved, I have dropped a lot of the time spent revising. I used to copy and paste a lot and then scramble it around. It was nonsensical. Now the revision process is much more structured. Copy-editing has been very helpful as well as paragraph analysis.
8. Your understanding of reading and writing in different genres.
1. Learning the myriad of genres was a big revelation to me. Every audience and message has appropriate genres to use. Researching the genres to use for my last project was helpful in learning how to execute a good public writing.
9. What you would do differently if you were to take your first-year writing courses again.
1. I don't think I would have done anything different because I put all my effort into learning everything the course set out for me. I have done my best.
10. How college writing fits into your life now and how it will fit into your major and future career.
1. This writing course fits in my current and future life mostly for technical papers, emails, scholarship essays and personal statements. I found that I will be able to carry these skills with me the rest of my life and is only the beginning.