Mike Whipple
Adams
ENG 102
29 Nov. 2007
Reflective Cover Letter
With the fall 2007 semester at Mesa Community College coming to an end I believe that I concretely improved my writing efficiency. The combined daily deadlines helped hone in on particular skills needing attention such as research preparation and organization of research sources.
The first course competency, writing for “…specific rhetorical contexts…” was approached in, (Deadline #3). I started out on, (D#3, HW#4), by following the directions from the syllabus on methods to determine my audience toward which my research paper was specifically directed towards. In the same deadline, (D#3, HW#5 ), I also learned how to conduct an audience analysis that helped my research by determining if my chosen audience was correct for the topic. The most effective activity required to create an effective argument was the need to narrow the research question to be specific as possible, which I accomplished in (D#2, HW#4;D#3, HW#2 ). With the help of the deadline requirements, I was able to follow a structured manual that provides required development of the research rhetorical context such as purpose, topic, audience, and others.
For the second course competency, which centered upon “Organizing writing to support a central idea…,” I learned that an outline method that I previously been utilizing in my writing was the Toulmin outline which was covered at this site given by the syllabus. This method allowed me to improve in my arrangement of evidence and arguments. The most beneficial knowledge that I was able to receive was the need to put all of my arguments out first, then fine tune the delivery method by moving clumps of information around before writing the essay. When when it came to revision in, (D#12, HW#2, HW#3), and talking about how I chose my page layout in, (D#12, HW#6), I was very glad that I had made efficient use of the Toulmin outline to create a more directed and clean sounding paper. In the preparation of gathering sources (D#2,HW#3, HW#6; D#3,HW#7; D#4,HW#5; D#5,HW#4; D#6,HW#4; D#7,HW#2; D#10,HW#2), for my essay, I used annotation with my sources, which was a new tactic for me. The outline significantly helped in organizing where to pull supporting quotes.
In the third competency the frequent grammar activities allowed me to brush up on areas that I was a little rusty in and improve my papers through writing in more concise fashion. The usage of commas was an area I know I still need a little practice with, even after completing (D#4, HW#2). Also in (D#4, HW#2), I reviewed hyphens. I had never seen any correct way to use them before, but I did learn that you can use a hyphen to continue a word on next line. Another area of improvement that I believe still needs attention was my incorrect use of tense. I addressed my use of tenses in (D#6, HW#7), where I made revisions to WP#1 to create a correct flow after reviewing the Purdue OWL website. When working on (D#8, HW#5), I noticed missing abbreviations in my bibliography. With the help of the Purdue OWL website, I was able to locate the correct abbreviations. Finally, as with most humans, I noticed simple mistakes that were overlooked at first glance in my WP#3, and adjusted accordingly in (D#13, HW#1).
In order to fulfill the forth competency without having to leave my house or pull books from the shelves, I was able to utilize ebrary.com. I ended up using quite a few of the online versions of books to support my research. For internet based sources, I used the MCC library home page with electronic research links to connect to sites such as Opposing Viewpoints. Being in a hybrid (technologically current) class I was thoroughly grateful for the availability of ebrary.com and the simplicity of use. A brief example of information collected from Ebrary was presented in (D#5, HW#4; D#6, HW#4 ). This competency also helped me strengthen my skills in creating annotations, which seriously needed improvement. After completing most of the class I do feel that I understand how to create annotations that are the most efficient for the writing task at hand.
The fifth competency set out in the syllabus pertained to the integration of sources within the writing project in order to support arguments and rebuttals. Once I have my outline created and quotes and sources picked out, I believe I am fairly proficient in my skill of interweaving quotes and paraphrasing original sources with correctly formatted parenthetical documentation. I utilized quotes and paraphrases throughout my research paper, (WP#3; D#10, HW#3), and this paper in itself, (WP#4; D#14, HW#1). I believe that I am able to learn and use formatting because my best subjects are math and science which require strict formatting and settings, sort of like MLA formatting but in English.
The sixth competency is based solely on maintaining correct MLA parenthetical documentation to avoid the case of plagiarism. With my previous knowledge i had sufficient abilities coming into the class but for some unidentified reason I enjoy using MLA formatting with the technical aspects even if a teacher does not require it. With a full blown research essay such as, (WP#3), I was able to get a good deal of practice.
Using one of the most beneficial tools available to almost any writer, peer review; I was able to complete with improvement the seventh course competency. With the help of my seemingly always decreasing number of classmates, I was able to improve vastly through peer review. As I previously said in, (D#8, HW#3), having other people review your writing allows you to instantly see what mistakes you are blind to and understand how in what manner the tone is perceived by another person. From removing “fluffy” sentences to noticing annotations that needed buffing up, I improved my writing skills by noticing which skills needed improvement, and using deadlines that allowed me to focus upon areas of improvement in my writing. Through a peer review reflection, (D#5, HW#3), it was brought to my attention my occasional misuse of word tenses, which later in (D#6, HW#7), I was able to work upon.
Competency number eight requires that I am able to assess not only my own faults and ways to improve but also successes. I feel confident that I am able to use MLA formatting and documentation in my writing. I do often feel that my word choice sometimes could be boring, but I feel this is my “style” of writing. One area I would feel better if I can improve in is my word tense. It has helped to improve and decrease my mistakes of tense through peer reviews and rereading multiple times. While during the course it seemed that reflections were getting obsessively annoying, I can look back and notice that while the repetition killed the benefits from being able to look back at, what I did learn or had issues with, allows me to plan or outline a future method of improvement. While I would list individual deadlines and reflections it would just be time consuming as there are thirteen of each I recorded all on My Blogger.
Competency number nine is possibly the most natural to my pre-ENG102 (Hybrid) class experience. Number nine requires that one have a working knowledge of, “…appropriate technologies,” in order to, “…generate, format and edit.” With a previous great deal of knowledge about troubleshooting and designing all aspect of computers I was able to easily adapt to the hybrid class format. While, I have never extensively used Google to the extent I have now, I was able to use it effectively with such tasks as peer reviews, peer editing, and posting drafts and final copies. Another important site I learned to use was turnitin.com. I had known such sites existed but never used one for a class. I enjoyed the paperless effort with no printer issues, no staples, and ,no smearing. Also, I was able to use my previous account with my high school to access Noodle tools which I believe was a great asset to my writing and should be utilized in class. It seems that I created a whole new gang of free accounts with everything from a new Gmail to getting a del.icio.us account. One thing about the del.icio.us account I was slightly disappointed about was the lack of support in class. It seemed that I could be used more, such as having an account with all the deadline reading links contained within.
As with the purpose of the course to “…further improve [my] written literacy skills,” I feel that this class improved my skill to write a precise and effective research paper, but also strengthened my confidence to believe in myself that I can write a well-organized paper.
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