English 110 freshman composition
Self Assessment Essay

Self Assessment Essay

The Journey To Becoming Not a Good Writer But a Writer…

Throughout the entirety of this semester I have learned many new things, not just about myself but also about the art of literature itself. Now coming upon the end of the semester I am able to look back at the hardships and realize not only my struggles but accomplishments as well. Although I have learned a lot from this class that doesn’t come to say that I have yet to fully master some of the course learning objectives presented to us from the beginning. 

The first course learning outcome is “Examine how attitudes towards linguistic standards empower and oppress language users.” I would say that this is one of the course learning outcomes that I have understood and learned most about. All throughout the semester we conducted many readings, one of my favorites being “How To Tame A Wild Tongue,” which is one of the examples that helped me learn about the different perspectives behind linguistic standards. This is something that I have related to for most of my life without me even noticing it. For years I have been taught the “proper way,” to speak and write English, this class helped me realize that when you are finally comfortable with who you are and being able to feel that way expressing yourself that is when English is “correct.”

The second course learning outcome is “Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” When speaking about exploring and analyzing both in reading and writing different genres this is something that I have learned a lot about. Throughout this class we have gone over a variety of texts and even videos that can be associated with different genres. I would say that I have definitely gained a better understanding on how to further explore and analyze texts of different genres. However, with that said one thing that I still struggle with is rhetorical situations. I still sometimes confuse myself with the concept of a rhetorical situation within writing and also struggle to use rhetorical strategies within my own writing. 

The third course learning outcome is “Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.” This is also a course learning outcome that I could use more work on. Although we have had several workshops during class I was never that good when it came to collaborating, revising and editing the writing of my fellow peers. It is something that I have always struggled with even before college, I never really knew what to look for and struggled to differentiate a crappy essay to what would be considered as a good essay. The only thing I would say that I have improved in is reading the literacy pieces, I have gotten better at analyzing and coming to a better understanding of the texts that I read whether that be assigned pieces to peer pieces. I would also say that I have improved in creating drafts and learning from my mistakes that I made within the draft. 

When speaking about the fourth learning outcome “Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations,” it is something that again I haven’t learned much about. I still found myself at a struggle when trying to implement these skills into my writing. Same thing with the fifth learning outcome which is “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” it isn’t that I never understood this course learning outcome, it’s just that I lacked implementation of this within my own writing. I would say that I only have one piece (that being my research paper) where I utilized print and digital technologies for my writing, even then it wasn’t a lot.

The sixth learning outcome being “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias,” is something that I would say I excelled at. Through the provided sheets and guides by my professor I would say that I have been able to further develop my skills when it comes to finding resources for my paper and being able to evaluate them on credibility. Adding on to this it helped me “Compose texts that integrate a stance with appropriate sources, using strategies such as summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation,” (seventh course learning outcome) Being able to find the proper sources and being able to explore and analyze those sources it helped me compose my research paper using the skills of summary, analysis, synthesis, and argumentation. 

When looking at the eighth course learning outcome “Practice systematic application of citation conventions,” I really never understood what this meant. The way I interpreted this was being able to use citations effectively within my writing. This is something that I need to improve on since I lacked the use of citations within my writing. I understand that this is an important part when it comes to writing because it not only shows your understanding of the text that you read but also shows that you have gained an understanding on how to implement those citations within your writing in relation to your topic. All in all I may have not learned all the course learning outcomes but I for sure enjoyed my experience within this class and will look back at this semester as a big step for me.