Over the semester, I have been tasked to complete several writing assignments that have each served a meaningful purpose in the development of my writing performance. From the letter of introduction, all the way to the recent collaborative project, I have had to showcase many strengths, as well as alter and work on weaknesses found in my work. While difficult to accomplish, by using resources such as Learning Outcomes, collaboration, and other sources of writing, I was able to improve my own style of writing to meet the college level standards. The journey was long, but I was willing to change and set aside my old ways, in order to learn of new concepts and forms of writing, so that I could use those resources to enhance my own writing style.

In the majority of my writing, I have noticed my strengths in enhancing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment, developing and engaging in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes, and engaging in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond. I also possess the ability to effectively formulate and articulate a stance through my writing, with the support of various library resources, online databases, and the Internet, that helps locate sources appropriate to my writing projects. Finally, I accurately strengthen my sources using practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources). On the other hand, I tended to hold some weaknesses within my writing as well. At times, I struggled with negotiating my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation. Finding what the audience wanted to be informed on was a challenge, especially in my rhetorical analysis on a research paper in the field of chemical engineering. Through my time searching for a way to locate this information, I found that the solution to this is to find context clues within the beginning of the text, particularly in the abstract. This portion of text will usually outline the intended audience, as well as the content that they should be receiving throughout the entirety of the paper. Once I incorporated this tip into my writing, I improved on my mistakes in that assignment, and was able to increase my score.

My favorite piece that I wrote in this class was the letter of introduction. I liked this assignment because it gave me a chance to open up about my personal life. I was able to paint a picture of my personality and hobbies, along with some of my accomplishments, goals, aspirations, current affairs, and future endeavors, on paper. Making connections from writing to my life sometimes inspires me to think about below-the-surface topics, one of them posing the question: What I would need to do or change in my daily agenda in order to elevate myself from where I am now to a more productive state?

My least favorite piece that I wrote in this class was the technical description. I was not as fond of this assignment as I thought I would be, mainly because of the constant search for valid and trustworthy sources to back up every last one of my claims that I boldly made. It was also difficult for me to go in detail about the product of interest that I wrote about. The terminology used in my sources to describe the specs and features of this device were advanced, and required a specific level of understanding in the technological field. As a result, I was forced to explain these things in a way where someone who has never heard of these words before could get a basic understanding of what is being described to them. This was a bit strenuous and I did not enjoy it, but despite this, I still rose to the task and completed it.

The writing in this course heavily affected my development as a writer. Back in my previous English classes, I found myself slowly but surely working on important writing skills needed to effectively reach a point of emphasis in my assignments. While there was progress, I felt like it was not fast enough. However, this class accelerated my progress beyond imagination. I realized quickly that I needed to step my game up and make improvements to my writing style, in order to align with the criteria of each new writing task. I also learned how to utilize new aspects in writing such as APA citations, appendixes, and citing pictures or figures. Additionally, I have come to the point now where I can deeply analyze text, and thoroughly write about it, according to the prompt or task that is given to me. I have learned how to breakdown text, in order to understand the intent, as well as the impact that it brings to the anticipated audience. As a result, my writing has drastically upgraded in complexity.

As the course went by, I developed new writing habits and processes to make things easier for myself whenever I have to write a paper. One of these new habits is creating detailed outlines of all the requirements that need to be fulfilled within the assignment. I would then use this outline as a guide to help my paper flow smoothly, especially with making sure my stance or point of view is apparent and easy to understand and catch. I also began incorporating a larger portion of ethos, logos, and pathos in my writing, which in turn makes the audience or readers more inclined to continue reading. These three rhetorical appeals add dynamic and backbone to my papers. For example, in my collaborative project, my group and I used logos to justify the technology being used to create an upgraded vehicle camera device called the “All-Round Car Camera Security System”. We mentioned that “The integration of 5G connectivity within automobiles will give drivers full access to video captured on the ARCCSS for a week via cloud storage system” (Four Piece Camera…, 2020). We also talked about the 360-degree security that the system provides for drivers so that they may have better sight as they driver, park, or even when their car is vacant (Four Piece Camera…, 2020). Small integrations like these made a big difference in the overall substance of our paper, giving the audience a reason to keep reading, keeping them engaged to our point of view and plan of action.

Overall, I think I performed fairly well in this course. Aside from a few mishaps with late work, and misunderstandings with paper edits, I feel like I dedicated myself to getting better as a writer, and learning how to understand text beyond its surface. I gained the help of some classmates, as well as my instructor, who was never too busy to give me pointers on what to change or emphasize in my papers. At the end of the day, my work speaks volumes. My work shows growth, determination, and my own unique voice to the audience. I want my work to link to me in a way that others will read and appreciate the time and effort it took for me to develop and improve these writing skills mentioned earlier. My work should be inspirational to others, and even to myself, to keep getting better, and overcome whatever obstacle that tries to slow me down. I am thankful for everything that I have learned and obtained during the duration of this course. May these skills be put to good use in the near future.