Self-Assessment
Mrs. Szetela’s English 1010 class was not exactly what I had expected from an introduction to writing class. When one thinks introduction to writing they might think writing, writing and more writing, this was not the case. The first day was as expected (well actually this was the second day, I could not find the classroom the first day), Mrs. Szetela asked us write how we prepare to write different paper, if we have the same technique or if it varies from paper to paper. This kind of assignment was expected, and then something unexpected happened, we did not turn it in, nor did we turn in the next couple writing assignments. At first I was wary of this technique, how were we supposed to get grades if we do not turn anything in, but then slowly I began to realize that she was preparing us for the important assignments that we would later turn in.
The first of these assignments to be assigned and yet the last ones to collect were the notebook entries. The notebooks were a relatively easy although they did make you think and write. I saw them as a way to not get rusty with our writing, while at the same time teach us little tricks about writing and look at words in a different way. Revisions were non-existent in my notebooks. Once they were on the page, there they stayed because, I saw them as a journal of sorts, an English 1010 journal you could say. The only thing I struggled with while writing the notebooks was the fact that a lot of the questions asked for the notebooks seemed like the same question, so trying to make answer different for different questions became challenging. The only thing that could make the assignment a little bit easier or more enjoyable was to have a notebook entry or two completely freehand, that is, make the students write a very short story or something of that sorts. This is my personal preference of course.
The next, and most difficult assignment (for me at least) was the Rhetorical Analysis. The reason it is called the most difficult was because I had no previous knowledge of rhetoric or the rhetorical appeals, I had heard the names of them but had no idea what they meant. I began to lose count of how many revisions I had done to the rhetorical analysis, for one because the article I was reading was relatively long it was called, "Food Justice and Food Retail in Los Angeles" By: Mark Vallianatos, but as I became more practiced with the appeals I would realize there was something else wrong within my paper. With all the revisions that had to be done, this paper became my best one of the semester, when at first it was the most stressful and aggravating. The reason my paper turned out the way it did was because Mrs. Szetela pounded into us (not literally of course) the ideas of the rhetorical appeals, pathos, ethos and logos, which I am now very familiar with.
The rhetorical analysis was the first big assignment brought in by Professor Szetela and as it had ended with success for me, I was actually excited to begin the next one, which would happened to be the annotated bibliography. The bibliography was more of a pre-requisite for the research paper. I did very little revisions to it because it was more of a list of research than an actual paper. While I did not consider it an actual paper does not mean it was not very helpful with my research paper. The most difficult part of this assignment was reading all the articles required, although very informational, most were very boring, this is of course my fault for choosing the subject but there was just so much reading involved.
As I said the annotated bibliography was more of a pre-requisite for the research paper than an actual paper itself. That being said it definitely helped, once I got to working on my research paper the research had already been done and was waiting for me. Now, the problem I personally encountered was that I picked a bad subject for the research paper. The issues found for the subject were all very one sided and they were on the same side. In the end I had to change my subject to “Is McDonald’s good or bad?” I had other choices for a subject to write on that I would have preferred but this was the best one I found that related to food. After switching my subject the revisions to my paper came more often because I was having to do more research. The first draft of my paper was very splotchy and unorganized. Eventually the paper came together in an organized fashion, partly because of all the revisions and the fact that I did not procrastinate at all on the paper. My research paper is a good example of how my writing has progressed throughout the semester. I know am a much better writer, some problems still occur in my structure and grammar but they are little.
My strengths as a writer consist of a good voice and I can flow from subject to subject with relatively ease. Some of the weaknesses are my grammar is a little weak and when trying to explain something I tend to elongate the explanation when it would be better to just get straight to the point.
With these strengths and weaknesses brought out in the open it is accurate that I have become a more complete writer than before. With this “completeness” comes a sense of confidence, which in turn will also make my papers better.
The first of these assignments to be assigned and yet the last ones to collect were the notebook entries. The notebooks were a relatively easy although they did make you think and write. I saw them as a way to not get rusty with our writing, while at the same time teach us little tricks about writing and look at words in a different way. Revisions were non-existent in my notebooks. Once they were on the page, there they stayed because, I saw them as a journal of sorts, an English 1010 journal you could say. The only thing I struggled with while writing the notebooks was the fact that a lot of the questions asked for the notebooks seemed like the same question, so trying to make answer different for different questions became challenging. The only thing that could make the assignment a little bit easier or more enjoyable was to have a notebook entry or two completely freehand, that is, make the students write a very short story or something of that sorts. This is my personal preference of course.
The next, and most difficult assignment (for me at least) was the Rhetorical Analysis. The reason it is called the most difficult was because I had no previous knowledge of rhetoric or the rhetorical appeals, I had heard the names of them but had no idea what they meant. I began to lose count of how many revisions I had done to the rhetorical analysis, for one because the article I was reading was relatively long it was called, "Food Justice and Food Retail in Los Angeles" By: Mark Vallianatos, but as I became more practiced with the appeals I would realize there was something else wrong within my paper. With all the revisions that had to be done, this paper became my best one of the semester, when at first it was the most stressful and aggravating. The reason my paper turned out the way it did was because Mrs. Szetela pounded into us (not literally of course) the ideas of the rhetorical appeals, pathos, ethos and logos, which I am now very familiar with.
The rhetorical analysis was the first big assignment brought in by Professor Szetela and as it had ended with success for me, I was actually excited to begin the next one, which would happened to be the annotated bibliography. The bibliography was more of a pre-requisite for the research paper. I did very little revisions to it because it was more of a list of research than an actual paper. While I did not consider it an actual paper does not mean it was not very helpful with my research paper. The most difficult part of this assignment was reading all the articles required, although very informational, most were very boring, this is of course my fault for choosing the subject but there was just so much reading involved.
As I said the annotated bibliography was more of a pre-requisite for the research paper than an actual paper itself. That being said it definitely helped, once I got to working on my research paper the research had already been done and was waiting for me. Now, the problem I personally encountered was that I picked a bad subject for the research paper. The issues found for the subject were all very one sided and they were on the same side. In the end I had to change my subject to “Is McDonald’s good or bad?” I had other choices for a subject to write on that I would have preferred but this was the best one I found that related to food. After switching my subject the revisions to my paper came more often because I was having to do more research. The first draft of my paper was very splotchy and unorganized. Eventually the paper came together in an organized fashion, partly because of all the revisions and the fact that I did not procrastinate at all on the paper. My research paper is a good example of how my writing has progressed throughout the semester. I know am a much better writer, some problems still occur in my structure and grammar but they are little.
My strengths as a writer consist of a good voice and I can flow from subject to subject with relatively ease. Some of the weaknesses are my grammar is a little weak and when trying to explain something I tend to elongate the explanation when it would be better to just get straight to the point.
With these strengths and weaknesses brought out in the open it is accurate that I have become a more complete writer than before. With this “completeness” comes a sense of confidence, which in turn will also make my papers better.