Final Reflection
Throughout this semester in ENC2135, I definitely have felt a significant improvement in my writing abilities. Originally, I felt like this class was just a typical basic college requirement where I would not learn anything new. However, the three projects we had in class and the various discussions really taught me a lot about how to write more effectively and how to use genre and research in my writing. More specifically, I actually felt that I learned the most in this class through my conferences with Mat and with my meeting with the RWC for Project 1.
The conferences that I had with Mat gave me a chance to critique my writing with an outside opinion. In high school, I hated asking anyone for help, so I never really got to do this. But, with Mat reading along with me, I noticed so many flaws in my writing and could see so many ways to make it better. Mat’s notes on my project’s after they were graded really showed me the fundamental issues I was making such as using vague language and having bad essay structure. This is what I wrote in my reflection after the Project 2 conference:
“After my project 2 conference, I feel confident that I am on the right track. Some things that I will work on in my paper are adding more fact-based observations rather than generalized assumptions and adding more content relating to the visuals of my text. I also will be adding a more interesting introduction paragraph that describes my topic on a more personal level. I feel that so far I am making good progress and my text analysis is a good basis moving forward.”
In my visit to the RWC, I met with a student who was very educated in writing skills and grammar. She read through my Project 1 essay, and informed me of a few ways to improve my writing. The biggest tip I remembered from that meeting was when she told me about how in writing, it is better to show something rather than tell it. What she meant by this was that instead of writing something like “it was fantastic,” it is better to write a detailed description of the various things that made it fantastic.
In addition to these things, I never really had experience revising essays in high school. My high school essays would not have due dates for various drafts, they would just be a final due date for one final draft. Because of this, I never spent time revising my work. I would write an essay at the last minute and turn it in. Having the chance to create various drafts for my essays and then revise them in this class really opened my eyes to the significant improvements that can be made on essays by writing drafts and revising. Each time I made a draft of a project in the class, I would notice improvements that I could make on the previous draft. It was amazing to me to see that every time I read the essay I would notice something that could be better. If it were not for this class, I would probably have continued to write last minute essays rather than edit and revise over time to create better quality work.
One of my favorite and most memorable lectures in this class was the one about the advertisements. I found it extremely interesting to analyze these texts and see the purposes behind subtle features. This activity definitely helped me notice more details in my analysis of the texts in Project 2. I also enjoyed the discussions of the genres in Project 3. Seeing everyone’s different genre ideas really showed me how a message can be clearly conveyed and the thought processes and strategies in marketing. The Wikipedia article and the entirety of Project 3 definitely showed me ways in which I can effectively use genre and language to my advantage.
Overall, ENC2135 was a surprisingly eye-opening class that most definitely left a permanent impact on my writing (for the better). Mat was an amazing instructor who was always willing to help, and his unique class and teaching style gave me a whole different view on writing.