When writing the Pollan and Singer essay the biggest thing I struggled with was establishing points of view. When Pollan would introduce a new opinion like Descartes I would think that he was the one arguing that point. Through writing lab and working with Meghan I was able to establish who was saying what and clean it up to the best of my ability. I really enjoyed writing this paper because it allowed me to read someone else’s body of work, watch them formulate their own opinion on the subject and then find my own opinion as well. Another thing that was challenging about writing this paper was not closing off an argument even if it sounded ridiculous. Peter Singer argued “eating animals was immoral.” Though I found this argument was laughable I knew I had to read it and try to understand it in order to produce the best essay and formulate a proper final opinion on the topic.
When writing to a question I struggled specifically finding what question I wanted to write to at first. I originally had put one question and then when writing began to answer another. In a way this was good because the original question I wrote sparked my idea to see if there was a way to convince people to change their eating habits since the fast food restaurants won’t change what they put in the food. I formulated a strong opinion against fast food restaurants by trying to see if there was any way they would change their menus. Upon realizing that they wouldn’t I knew that we must boycott these restaurants for the safety of our health. I learned that I need to use they say/I say in order to get a variety of vocabulary.
My least favorite essay to write was the creative reading. Even though I found the research part very interesting once I started writing I found it difficult to stay focused on one topic. I was writing about the Unabomber and eventually worked my way to robots that can run and jump just like humans. Eventually, I was able to connect everything and say that if robots were to take control of themselves the Unabomber’s efforts would be justified by the robot’s actions if they were to create chaos. Another thing I struggled to integrate into my essay was quotes from the different articles I went through.
My largest areas of growth in this course was being more comfortable with writing. I was so used to structured writing that I wasn’t able to use the skills I acquired during the course. One of the skills that I got really good at was annotating. I used to just underline things that I thought was important and that was it. This semester I learned that I needed to write my opinions on things I used that I read in the margins because every time I would go back to the article then I could incorporate my thoughts into the essay. This allowed me to improve my writing because when I used my own feelings, I felt more interested into the writing I was doing.
My smallest area of growth was probably trying to write a good question or thesis statement. Even though I was able to produce a decent essay most of the time I still think that I trouble to find exactly what I want to write about. I saw it specifically when I was writing the essay about fast food when I was trying to choose a question to write to. One point I will be answering to the fast food chain owners and then at another point I would be talking to the costumers eating there. I realize that maybe I should plan out my essay and pull evidence from what I’m going to use in order to have everything organized.
The new ideas I was introduced to was critiquing own and others work. In the rubric it says that a good critic “suggests different evidence for use” and “assessing the accuracy of a writer’s statement.” These were things that I was never to exposed to in high school when peer editing. Usually I would just check for grammar and formatting errors for the most part. Now
I know how I can help my peers to the fullest and give the good feedback as well.
This seems like a pretty insightful reflection on your efforts during the more formal writing assignments of the course. As you revise, try to work some more quotes in – from Habits, TS/IS, the rubrics, your own work
This seems like a pretty insightful reflection on your efforts during the more formal writing assignments of the course. As you revise, try to work some more quotes in – from Habits, TS/IS, the rubrics, your own work.
Next semester you’ll get the opportunity to do more focused work on thesis-driven papers. You’ll still want the openness and flexible structure, but will be asked to support and complicate your ideas with evidence.