The self-assessment essay focused on this semester of writing for the sciences. It reflected upon how my writing style has improved overall and how this class was beneficial to my overall development as a writer.  It compares the papers written throughout the semester and compares the writing styles used to show this development.

Jennifer Sanchez-Flores

English 21003

Self-assessment Essay

 

Prior to taking this course, my writing skills were average. However, the increasing level of difficulty of the writing assignments allowed my writing to improve through each paper.

All of these papers involved proper research in order to properly execute the given task. Many readings, especially for the Research Paper, were needed for the writing of the paper. A variety of science writings were used. For example, when writing the position paper, my paper focused on the use of hydropower over the use of other alternative energy sources. In order to further emphasize my position, I not only had to look for research that helped to prove my position, but also looked for research that did not prove my point.”The construction of hydropower can negatively disrupt the present ecosystem and release waste into the environment but only during construction. These negative aspects will not be damaging for future generations of species.  Not only did the James Bay hydropower plant construction drown crossing caribou in 1984, it destroyed the habitat of the plants and animals living in this area.” I had to argue against this argument in my position paper. “However, this hydropower plant alters the ecosystem, meaning these species will adapt. The ecosystem can be rebuilt newly formed around the hydropower plant.”  These articles had different tones to them, and were written differently and for different audiences that allowed me to explore many different readings. The writing process for the position paper was also quite different than the writing process with other papers that are only meant for informing.

The writing process for each of these papers also required different strategies. As a result, revising and editing processes also slightly differed. Prior to this class, my writing style had always been to write my first draft as my final draft with a bit of revising in between. By the time the writing of the research paper had to be done, this was no longer my strategy. I still drafted a long first essay, but then started a new document incorporating all the best qualities of all that had been previously written down, but leaving a majority of the first draft behind as I had thought of many new ideas and gotten the old ones out. Collaborating with my classmates was one of the best options for revising to me personally. As a writer, I tend to focus on the best portions of my writing when reading over my work, so I fail to see the portion requiring help. With a new pair of eyes to look at my paper, there is no bias, and they’re just reading for errors and ways to improve my paper. In the future, when writing papers, I hope to have someone available for this peer advisement.

Your goals as a writer changes when the message you are try to convey changes. In both my position paper and my research paper, a goal of mine was to convince the reader. In these papers, my goals as a writer was to use a tone that allowed them to come to their own conclusion about the paper. I expected the audience to come into reading the paper with simple knowledge about science, but enough to take the matter seriously and be someone unsure about the direction to take their opinion on the subject. My paper would help guide their opinion to the “right” decision. While writing the informative paper, my only goal was to inform and improve the reader’s knowledge. “Although the idea of cloning raises many ethical concerns, there is various information that the public lacks in order to determine their perspective on cloning.” This was my thesis statement in my informative paper. The reader needed to be aware that opinions should be based on facts from the information they obtain. I want them to be intrigued and want more knowledge on the subject, and my paper was written only to those with no science background.

As mentioned before, the collaborative aspects of the writing process were the most beneficial to my final drafts of papers. For anyone, having someone read your paper will allow for a correction in areas in your paper where there might be holes. Especially in areas where the wording might not make sense. When we read our own wording they could make sense to us but if someone else finds it confusing then others who read your paper will have the same issues. I enjoyed revising other papers during this process as well. It allowed me to see the writing styles of others and see how they analyzed their readings. I ensured I gave honest feedback as I would want someone to give me honest feedback.

This class required the use of digital and print technologies. For the collaborative portions, we were to have a printed out copy of our draft for any marks that the revised needed to make. This also allowed me to read it out loud and be able to properly see if there were any mistakes in the wording of a sentence. Digital technologies also allowed the instructor to grade our papers and leave comments on our work.

Locating research sources was a primary part of developing thesis statements and topic sentences. They were necessary for all of the papers written, especially the research paper. Prior to this class, locating research articles was difficult because I had no knowledge of what databases to look into first and which ones were worth looking up. However, as I was required to constantly look for new articles, I soon realized that the Gale resources database had the most valuable articles that I needed to improve the structure and argument of my papers. Retrieval of these articles required knowing that a source is credible. Bias is present early in article and through this class and the writing of the position paper, I was able to determine which particles would be able to strengthen my paper.

Analyzing articles was the proper way to obtain the most valuable information for my papers. When analyzing an article, I printed to read with a pen in hand while underlining the most important information and then worked to find the main idea after skimming and understanding the author’s ideas and goals of the paper. Unfortunately, I did not do this for the informative of position paper because these texts were simpler. However, the articles I used for my research paper were much more advanced and I had to work harder and struggle more to interpret and analyze the content. “Both trials concluded what was already proven and known, and unfortunately failed to show an improvement in the field. Both studies concluded that these vaccinations are safe. The trial focusing on the influenza virus proved that the vaccine is safe, and functions properly, in children. The study focusing on the influenza virus, unfortunately, failed to show that they should replace regular vaccinations in traditional clinics because they work just as effectively.” In order to come to these conclusions for my research pap, both studies had to be analyzed thoroughly to make these ideas shown. I know that for future papers that require the difficult analysis of papers such as the research paper, I will allow myself the proper time to analyze the information I have before attempting to construct a thesis statement for my own paper. I will take away valuable information I’m glad I was able to get from this class.