Final Reflection

English 1103 Megan Keaton Final Reflection Paper 27 April 2013 Throughout my writing process, I have searched above and beyond to find my identity as a writer. During this voyage, there have been many factors that have contributed to the building blocks of the writing styles that I currently possess. Luckily, I have been exposed to and consistently participated in writing activities that have challenged me as a writer. Stepping foot into this course, I was unsure of what to expect. I was afraid that my writing styles would be challenged in ways that I have never seen or experienced before and just when I least expected it, I was tested. Coming out of AP English in high school, I was taught to master the traditional structure of conducting an academic paper. Almost every paper I composed consisted of an introduction paragraph with a thesis statement, three to four body paragraphs with supporting details and examples, and a conclusion. I vividly remember the day when I was challenged as a writer, and the way I approached my writing changed forever. It was a Wednesday morning and as usual, our English 1103 class was to meet in the Friday building at 9:30am. There was a warm climate in the room, a climate perfect for learning something new. I proceeded into my daily warm-up activity, or writing into the day on my views about social class, which has acted as exercise to foster my thinking. Just as my thoughts were directed on the right path as a result of my writing into the day, they were suddenly altered by the following assignment that was proposed to the class. My instructor, Megan Keaton, went on to propose the Exploratory Essay to the class. With the Exploratory Essay I was required to analyze and connect readings that I have been doing in class and establish what is missing in the article, what I want to know more about and additional questions that I was left with. Its purpose was to challenge me and get me out of my comfort zone and to get me away from the traditional writing structure that I had previously learned to know. This was sincerely the first time I reached such an obstacle in English. I did not know where to start. I spent time contemplating on how I would approach such an impeccable challenge and after a few hours of thinking, I decided that every time I approached an assignment, I would set goals for myself. My goals for myself in writing my Exploratory Essay were to find a common theme and arguments by the authors of the articles that supported my common theme. Also, I had to make sure that my writing focused on my main theme and that the reader understood my purpose for writing. I was interested in trying a different approach for my paper, so that I wouldn’t have a regular introductory paragraph with body paragraphs. I felt that an intriguing way would be to state and explain my argument and address the additional questions I was left with. For the most part I reached these goals. When attempting to achieve these goals, I tried to use my time wisely. I scheduled library time to focus sternly on my paper and I used the Writing Resource Center at UNCC as an aid for when I found difficulty in writing my paper. With the help of my peers in class I was able to find the issues in my writing. There were some things I couldn’t see that needed editing and with the support of my peers I was able to incorporate bright ideas into my paper. As a writer I learned that because of the Exploratory Essay, I am now capable of finding a common theme within an article or story and form questions about the article or story. Most importantly, I learned that I have the ability to establish whether the authors argue their point well or not. Also, I learned that I can use constructive criticism to my advantage. By using the ideas and advice given by the reader I have the ability to improve my paper and improve myself as a writer. The easiest part of the process was forming questions because there were times when an authors’ argument was unclear to me. There were specific things that were consistent throughout the articles that fostered my inquisitiveness. On the other hand, the hardest part was finding a structure that fit my vision. I had a hard time incorporating my questions into my paper and finding good flow for my paper. After the process, I gained the ability to establish an authors’ argument. I learned how to make sentences meet the demands of my writing and help the reader see my purpose for writing. I concluded that doing more arguing and less summarizing was the most essential piece to this assignment. Overall, from completing the exploratory essay I learned that it is alright for you to take risks with your writing. Furthermore, I learned to jump into my writing, finish where I feel is necessary and take different approaches to writing. While trying to find my identity as a writer, I came across another obstacle that I was challenged to overcome in writing when Megan proposed the Annotated Bibliography . The Annotated Bibliography was once again designed to challenge me to accomplish something new. With writing my annotated bibliographies, my goal was to focus on establishing the main arguments of the author, analyzing the main arguments of the author and discuss how it will be beneficial to my inquiry paper. I achieved these goals by discovering five sources that I could potentially use in my inquiry paper and arguing the author’s main beliefs and how they applied to my inquiry paper. In the process of developing my annotated bibliography, I took the time to carefully spend time on analyzing each source individually, making sure I spent the maximum amount of time I could possibly spend on each source. Throughout the process I found that the more sources I did, it got easier to establish the author’s main arguments and analyze those main arguments. Also throughout the process, I took advantage of using both positive advice and structured criticism by my peers to build my annotated bibliography. Through an in-class workshop I was able to see the perspective of my peers in how well I argued the author’s main points. My peers were able to tell me whether I met all the requirements of the bibliography and what my strengths and weakness of my bibliography were. Megan also contributed to my bibliographies success by exemplifying how a fully developed annotated bibliography looked. The easiest part of building my annotated bibliography was establishing what the author was implying through the information I provided. On the other hand, the hardest part of building my annotated bibliography analyzing the authors works. As a writer, I am now aware that I am capable of applying the approaches used to analyze articles, journals, books and films in an inquiry of my own. As I matured as a writer over the semester, I was anxious to apply what I learned so far in the course. I could see myself getting a step closer to finding my identity as a writer. When Megan proposed the academic paper as a part of Joining the Conversation , and I instantly knew this was my opportunity to apply everything I had learned from previous writing assignments. I pondered on a goal that I could potentially find for myself when writing my academic paper. Since my annotated bibliography answered all the questions that I was left with after reading various authors’ articles, I looked for any holes that I saw in these authors’ writing and backed it up with initial research that I did. I based the structure of my paper off of two points, how children’s social class backgrounds affect when and how they seek help in the classroom and how parental involvement affect children in the classroom. Within this structure I included a hole that I found in my authors’ writing, which is how I saw time as an underlying theme between all the articles. Overall, I believe that I reached my goal of expressing how time served a vital role in social class help seeking. Throughout my writing process, I made sure that I spent my time wisely. I used the advice that I received from Megan in class on how to incorporate the information I provided in my joining the conversation assignment in my academic paper. Once, I found a foundation for my paper, I took it to the writing resource center and got assistance on how to structure my paper. Furthermore, each member of my inquiry group served a vital role in developing my paper. They were able to show me their perspective of how I could better my writing without overstepping their boundaries. I saw myself change and develop as a writer because I am now capable to point out information that I believe should be included in someone’s writing. Also, I am able to take constructive criticism from my peers and make it an advantage. The hardest part of this process was figuring out how to structure my paper and actually trying to start to my paper, because my goal was to get away from the traditional style of writing that I learned in high school. On the contrary, the easiest part of this process was applying my information to my paper because I already did all of the necessary research. As I progressed in the course, I saw myself develop and find my identity as writer by gaining values presented in different writing activities. By setting goals for myself and striving to achieve them I have been exposed to my strengths and weaknesses as a writer.