Self Assessment

Promise Butler

Prof. Ewan

FIQWS

May 10,2019

Self Assessment

Throughout the duration of the FIQWS course I have grown so much as writer and as a person. FIQWS provide me with knowledge that I didn’t even know existed. To add on to that, I learned that the information I did know goes way further in to depth than what I was aware of. For example before I attended FIQWS I new about citing the text however, I didn’t know that there were different forms of citation. Due to FIQWS I learned about signal phrase, in-text citation, end- text citation  and many more. Majority of information that was discussed in class was new information and it really help expand my writing. If there was a piece of writing that I wrote for my highschool and a paper I wrote for the FIQWS course there would be a complete difference. The way I phrase things in my write is completely different. The vocabulary that I use is different and it has enhanced tremendously. This course challenged me as a individual and my ability to connect and work with my peers as a collective. I learned to respect other people opinions regardless if I agree with their views or not. These challenges really helped me with expanding my writing abilities and my morals.

Throughout this process I learned how further cite the evidence that I use to avoid plagiarism, record sources, credit the author and separate your ideas from the authors. I never knew that was nessarcery. To credit the author I would usually use the author’s last name and a page number.  Full source introductions was a level up I definitely had to understand more and get some getting use to. Their was always some sort of text introduction but it wasn’t as into depth as the full source introduction. This FIQWS course was really an eye opener. It made me realize That writing is way more complicated and important than what I need. I thought I new everything about writing but I clearly didn’t. At this point in the course I still fail at grasping certain material because it is so much to remember and implement into you writing. Trying to perfect everything at once is really overwhelming. Once I perfect one skill their another skill that is added on that I don’t really know how to use or don’t understand fully. It’s just a lot of information being thrown at me at once. It is impossible to have everything well put together especially if you haven’t used it before. However, I have obtained a lot of information due to this class.       
    If I could compare my introductory letter to my argumentative essay there will be a clear difference in how formal the papers are. The difference in mistakes will be completely different. Throughout the course you can tell that I have learned to spend more time on editing and revising my paper. I have developed a different way to write and and edit my papers throughout the course. I spend a lot more time when revising and editing my papers. My papers are likely a better representation of that. The way I write my papers is completely different as well. Before just started to write what came to my head first then attempt to make sense of it later. I currently separate evidence into categories depending on the components I want to acknowledge in my paper. Then I create an analysis for each piece of evidence relating it back to the prompt. Once I have my evidence and my analysis I create a topic sentence that provides a transition from one paragraph to the next and a introduction of the topic. As shown above my writing and editing process has gotten a lot better since I started FIQWS. My understanding of why editing and having a working process has increased tremendously. I didn’t really see the point in having a writing process because what was in my head seemed good enough. However, I learned that in formal writing the audience doesn’t care about what’s in your head. I also learned that when you write your noy writing for yourself but for the audience. I have come to an understanding that editing is important becuase the audience isn’t in your head. Therefore, your writing should be able comprehend and have enough room so that the audience’s imagination can run wild.

As a writer you have to understand that the audience is going to interpret the information you give them as they please. No matter how much detail and information given the audience is not going out imagine it like you do. Their could be 50 different interpretations based on the same information. The writer has to be okay with the different scenarios that are going to arise from their writing. The author also has to be okay with the audience not liking their writing based on how they interpret the text. This is when editing and revising the paper comes into play. Making sure that my writing is on the verge to its best potential is very important. Your writing can never be perfect which is why I said on the verge. Theirs is always going to be something that you can do better. There’s always room for improvement no matter how good of a writer you are. Even famous authors edit and revise their papers.That’s why they have become so great. Anne Lamott the author of Shitty First Drafts states”All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third draftas.” This indicates that editing is a big portion of the writing process. Editing and revising is key when trying to be successful when your writing.

The semester was very short and the amount of work that was crammed into one semester was unbelievable. I cant believe that I was able to pull it off even though i’m not used to that work load. Going from a high school english course to a college writing course was a wild transition that took a minute to get used to. Adapting to the differently learning and work style was really hard I almost thought I couldn’t do it. My confidence has grown after time because I began to get more comfortable with the class. Even though I got used to the class I don’t feel like I reached my full potential I am capable of some much more. I let the work load et to me and it resulted in mediocre work which I am not proud of. I did my best with the time the time and conditions I was given. I atmpted to give my all in my writing but I was getting to caught up with pleasing myself instead of the audience.       

Like i’ve stated above multiple time above My understanding for writing has increased there’s no doubt about it. I exercised my writing skill so much I could never forget it. All of the writing vocabulary, text and essays I have wrote and read has allowed the information adhere. Properly learning MLA format was really helpful in the writing process. It provided me with structure and guidelines. If it wasn’t for that MLA My writing would not have enhanced  as much as it did. My thoughts on writing are completely different now that I have worked to get better at it. I used to think that writing was easy but now I know now that it is far from easy. Writing is something that I really have to practice it is not what I expected it to be. I wish I was better prepared for this course because I feel like I would have down better work if I was used to the material. It was like I was thrown in ten feet of water and was expected to swim. I do think that I pulled through pretty well. I managed to understand all of the information given to me and apply it to my writing pretty especially with the challenges that I faced. I could have taken a lot more away from the course if I had more time constantly use the MLA format. However, FIQWS was and still is something that I benefited from tremendously. It was really a life changing experience for me. The course taught me a lot of new things that I’m going to be able to use later on in life. The career I want to pursue deals a lot with writing. Therefore,taking the FIQWS course challenge me and got me one step closer to my goal.