Course Reflection
Dear Reader,
Prior to beginning my journey in ENC1101, I had no idea what to expect as it was my first college-level writing class. During high school, I didn’t consider myself a good writer, and out of all my classes I had always struggled with writing the most. I had a hard time with creating a plan for my essays and spending time on reviewing the assignment before it’s due. I never felt like it was ready, as I am a perfectionist. I also struggled with my confidence in my writing abilities. This led me to procrastinate on my writing assignments and delaying the process. I hoped that this class could help me to be more confident and teach me how to be a better writer, and it did.
This course was categorized into three units, where each unit taught you a different skill. Unit one comprised of reading and analyzing a source rhetorically and creating a presentation as a group. The source was an article written by Peg Tyre called “The Writing Revolution” where she described how a school underwent a departmental reconstruction to enhance the students’ grades in writing. I was not sure how to read and annotate because the process was foreign to me but I tried my best. In completing that assignment, I learned so many different things. I learned how to identify the purpose, genre and audience of a source, as well as the author’s ethos, logos and pathos. I also learned how to read with and against the grain of the author’s point. It was very exciting and I continued to use these skills in the lab reports for my Biology Lab course.
Unit two comprised of reading four different sources and creating three strong personal response blogs. For these assignments, I had to use the source from unit one, and also read and annotate three additional blogs. This was very helpful because I had to repeat the writing process several times. Although I knew that I am sequential composer, I really took time to figure out the best process for me. Carrying out the writing process became easier with each blog. Additionally, my professor utilized a technique called peer reviews where other students in the class read your essay and give constructive criticism. This helped me sort through journals to use as sources for my lab reports in Biology Lab and determine which ones were useful.
Finally, unit three allowed students to share their own personal theory of writing after reading all of the other sources. We took everything we read in the articles and formulated our own opinions of writing. Unit one and unit two equipped us with all the skills we would need to create our theory of writing. We had to decide the purpose of our essay, the audience we were writing to, and even if the essay was going to be open-form or closed-form. It took me a small amount of time to think about my thesis statement for that assignment.
After considering what each source described and reading with and against the grain, the authors’ ethos, logos and pathos, I realized that teachers in one way or another had an impact on the author or their experiences. Therefore, I concluded that teachers had a great influence on the way students learn and write and based my theory of writing on that idea. It was challenging for me to organize my essay and decide which source best supports my point. However, in my conferences with Professor Gregory my problems with writing the essay were rectified.
In conclusion, I can say that my confidence in my writing has increased and I am a better writer. I found a writing process that works best for me and I learned a great deal of important rhetoric that I can use in ENC 1102. I feel more prepared for future assignments and not just in literature classes as I use these skills in other courses. I learned how to analyze sources and how to articulate my own opinions. I understand myself more as a writer and I have a better relationship with writing.