Course Reflection and Learning Analysis

Brief Introduction:

Overall, this course has been helpful in the development of my writing skills. I do not think my writing has changed substantially as a result of this course, but it has improved. New concepts including peer reviews, external reviews, and prewriting, have been introduced to me and allow me to now put forth even better work than before.

 

WP1:

The first writing project was my own literacy narrative. The informal nature of the assignment was somewhat different from traditional high school essays, which are usually formal. The assignment gave me an initial exposure to the second and third course objectives as I performed tasks necessary to master them. This piece has a clear thesis as well as logical organization and development as I recount my experiences with reading and writing in chronological order, demonstrating a few of the requirements for course objective two. Further improvements have been made (to this piece as well as the others) in the form of subtitles to help with the organization of the text, showing an understanding of the current rhetorical situation. Course objective three was explored in the form of collaboration through peer reviews as well as repeated revising and editing to continually improve the writing.   

 

WP2:

The academic summaries and response done in the second writing project demonstrate a knowledge of all three of the course outcomes. Reading and analyzing the articles, especially distinguishing between main points and supporting details, goes along with the first course outcome. Integrating these sources without plagiarising is where the second course objective comes into play. Also demonstrating an understanding of the second course objective is the presence of a clear and coherent thesis that sets up the paper and the content within. The third and final course objective was also a major part of this paper as the text went through repeated revision influenced by collaboration with other students and external reviewers.

 

WP3:

This writing project was somewhat relaxed compared to the others. The text has no clear thesis or topic as it is a composition of a personal, professional, and college profile. Despite this, the paper is organized in an easy-to-follow manner, illustrating that understanding the rhetorical situation is key to communicating effectively. Because of the style of the assignment, a thesis was not necessary to create effective organization and development. The paper also shows some degree of the first course outcome as a substantial number of sources were compiled, making reading and interpreting each one a somewhat daunting task. Incorporating these sources demonstrates further mastery of the second course objective as plagiarism was avoided and information was integrated appropriately. As with all of the assignments, WP3 further continued the trend of constantly revising and editing as well as collaborating through at least one external review.

 

WP5:

I found the rhetorical analysis to be surprisingly interesting, most likely because I was able to choose any commercial I wanted. Unit five introduced the concepts of rhetorical appeals and logical fallacies to me. Incorporating an analysis of these topics into the text did not come as any significant challenge. The paper as it appears in the portfolio demonstrates this and my continued growth in mastering the three course objectives for English 1010. The first course outcome was explored in more depth than in WP2. I had to perform a highly detailed analysis in order to understand not only the main purpose of the commercial, but how the speaker was attempting to do so. The entire paper is an analysis of this and other supporting details that make up the rhetorical situation. The second course objective is demonstrated mainly in the presence of a coherent thesis statement and the overall format of the essay which shows an understanding of the rhetorical situation for the assignment. The third course outcome is once again demonstrated by the many peer reviews and two external reviews the text underwent as well as the revisions made to create a more fluid and comprehensible piece of writing.

 

Final Thoughts:

English 1010 has been a beneficial course in improving my writing skills before finishing high school and entering college. Going through this course I have learned not only how to be a better writer and utilize a new process of writing, but also how to better analyze different rhetorical situations. I feel that this portfolio demonstrates my claims of learning and growth in English 1010 as well as mastery of the course objectives.