Reflecting On How Improved As A Writer

Two weeks prior to the start of the fall semester, we were asked to hand in a Guided Self Placement Letter to the Professor on the first day of class. In the letter, I had two major goals I hoped to achieve by the end of the semester: learn to write for various purposes and audiences, and learn to write research papers. 

 

The syllabus was constructed in a way that helped me complete my first goal. There were four units, writing projects, in this class: An Argumentative essay, Analysis on Bias essay, Memoir and Final Reflection essay, respectively. Each unit focused on different writing projects which involved writing for different purposes. For example, I wrote Unit One - an argumentative essay, with the purpose of persuading  the readers to consider the point that going to college is worth the large accumulation of debt acquired. While I wrote Unit Two - bias essay with the purpose of uncovering the hidden biases in 3 selected news articles about the ENDSARS protest. It was a frustrating and humbling experience because after each paper I assumed I had a thorough grasp on writing and could be considered a writing scholar, but when the next unit began I always ended up sidelined and baffled because it required a different skill set than the previous unit, and came with new struggles and difficulties. I had written this goal with the mindset of learning to write for different purposes whether it was writing for entertainment, to impact knowledge, or to persuade the audience, but this course taught me more than that. It taught me to appreciate the numerous writing genres and the amount of effort required to get the final draft. I have a much greater respect for authors and journalists because even though writing might not be considered as vigorous a subject as STEM courses, it is more mentally tasking than it is given credit for.

 

ENGW 1111 did not include the kind of research papers I wanted to learn about - a scientific research paper, when I wrote my second goal. However, it did include an argumentative essay that helped me tremendously when it comes to writing research papers. I learnt how to begin and conclude formal writing, how to find and cite sources and how to properly integrate and explain evidence to back up my claims and argument. My first encounter with a research paper was in 2017, when I decided to write a paper on Turmeric. I had gathered evidence to support my claim and discussed my plans with a lab scientist. We talked about conducting an experiment to see if my claims were authentic and could be backed up by science. Since this was my first research paper, I had no clue how to begin, what to include and the format of academic papers. I selected and read three different published research papers to get a grasp of how published papers are written. However, when I got to the third paper, I gave up because after the first couple sentences, I was lost, confused and couldn't understand what was going on, even though I re-read the paper’s numerous times. I concluded that my lack of understanding was because I wasn’t very knowledgeable in the subject which meant I wasn’t ready to write a research paper. Disheartened, I abandoned the project. It was a relief to realize that my lack of understanding wasn't my fault but it was the matter of the author not properly conveying the information they wish to relay in an easy to read format. Below is an excerpt from my Journal in which I detail the eureka moment that gave me the confidence to someday try to write a scientific research paper:

 

"Diving deeper into Chapter 3, the author highlighted the fact that the most essential quality in formal writing is clarity. Anyone who reads your writing should be able to follow it easily and know where it leads to. And the professor made a point to illuminate this, in a way that was fascinating. Most academic papers are hard to read not because the reader’s are dumb, but because the author hasn’t learnt how to formally write an academic paper, that conveys the information in an easy to follow format, for anyone to understand. This made perfect sense. Because anytime I try to read a research paper, after a few sentences, I feel lost and end up more confused than I initially was, which led me to conclude that it was beyond my intellectual capacity. It feels good to know I was wrong!"     (Journal 3)

 

The excerpt above highlights how I came to understand the importance of clarity in formal writing. Anyone should be able to follow an essay from the introduction to the conclusion without getting lost whether the individual has no knowledge about the subject or is a seasoned professional. If I someday decide to write a research paper, I know the most important quality is clarity. I have come to realize that every writing should be clear enough that the reader could easily understand the point the author is trying to make and as Einstein said, “If you cannot explain to a six year old, you don’t understand it yourself.” I have seen this lesson of clarity slip into the way I read and do assignments whether it’s writing proofs for math classes or writing code for computer homework. 

 

Aside from the two goals I hoped to complete at the beginning of the course. There were other parts of this course I genuinely loved and have come to appreciate as a writer. The first and my favorite part of the writing process is the reflectiveness after each unit and every week. I believe that one has not properly achieved mastery over any concept unless they think deeply about it and can write or relay to someone else what they learned in their own words. That’s why my favorite part of this course is the journal and the reflection at the end of each unit. Every week and after each unit, I get the chance to see my progress as a writer from having no knowledge of how to start the assignment to having limited space to include all my points into the essay. The feedback and reflection shows me how I can transform my writing to meet more professional academic standards. It makes me appreciate and see how every aspect of this course: lectures, discussion, journals, the rough draft, peer review and final draft has greatly impacted my writing. Below are two excerpts from the Unit One and Two Reflection: 

 

“Currently, I approach writing not with the sense of needing to get an assignment done and off my schedule but with the opportunity to learn from others. I always loved writing and this assignment made me realize that no matter how good you are with stringing words together, you need other people to bring your attention to things you missed or bounce some ideas off,”  Unit 1 Reflection

 

“Even though this unit made me anxious, I learnt to accept the fact errors happen and  it’s okay to make mistakes while writing and no one is expecting me to have a stellar paper, it was only after class on 10th of November, when I stayed to ask the professor a few things that I learnt the lesson of leaning back and  enjoy the writing process instead of been obsessed with every aspect of my essay,” Unit 2 Reflection

The first excerpt highlights how I learned the importance of group work and why no matter how talented or gifted you are as a writer, you will always need the help of others. The second excerpt highlights how I learned to stop obsessing about the final outcome of my writing and just appreciate what I learnt and how far I have come as a writer. After the strenuous part of finishing a writing project, we sit down and think about how our writing has changed and appreciate everything we did that got us to this point. And even though, I sometimes don’t see why we do some things in class, e.g breakout rooms, during the reflection it makes a whole lot of sense why it was included in the syllabus. This, I’ll say, allowed ENGW 1111 to remain as my favorite course of the fall semester. Because of this, I plan to keep a journal for every class during the spring semester and every semester after that, maybe I’ll come to appreciate the importance of some of the things taught in my courses that I fail to see the relevance. 

 

Furthermore, each unit gave me an essential toolkit I need when writing, which is feedback. While writing my rough draft for unit one, I struggled to meet the required length (1,500 words) whilst ensuring my argument was persuasive and as easy to read as possible. When I was done with the rough draft, I barely achieved my aim with a word count of 1164 words and I was still skeptical about the clarity of my argument. There was one thing everyone who reviewed my essay said, my essay was clear but it required a bit of work to understand how some points backed up my argument. I sat down and thought about this and my mind immediately went back to Journal 3, “the most essential quality in formal writing is clarity.” Iread my essay again and tried to think of ways to make my point clear and argument persuasive enough to convince the reader to consider my thesis. After each paragraph, my essay was reviewed by my mommy and aunty. After they read it, I asked them if the point was clear enough to consider my argument. Needless to say, my problem after applying all the feedback wasn’t clarity but  trying to fit all my points in 1500 words. I had to shorten some points and even when I did, my final essay contained 1970 words. There are a lot of examples I could include about how drastically my writing improved after receiving feedback. I'll say feedback, negative or positive, is crucial because it is far easier for two people to spot a mistake than it is for one, brainstorm about the best way to present a concept and offer a different perspective. All through this course I have come to see the importance and necessity of feedback and it has become my second favorite aspect of the writing process. I plan to use feedback as my main weapon to make my ideas and project  move from good to exceptional. 

 

I gained a lot from ENGW 1111, which exceeded my expectations. I learned to appreciate group work, to revise my writing after receiving feedback, to give feedback that is respectful and helpful, to engage in class discussion, to ask for help when needed, to appropriately cite sources in my writing, to think about what I learned about myself as a writer, and not fretting about my final draft. I can confidently say I came out a better writer than I was at the start of this class, there are still areas I could work on like writing argumentative papers, and participating in class discussions. But I know as I practice and use these skills continuously, I’ll get better. For this, I want to say thank you to Professor Richard for her constant help throughout the semester, for giving us the chance to appreciate understanding the importance of the writing process, and for creating a syllabus that enhanced my writing abilities and helped me achieve my writing goals.  To this I drop my pen, my laptop, and ideas and look forward to the wonderful writing adventure ahead.