Maria Wu Cen
ENG 2150, Dr. Blankenship
26 May 2016
Project 4 Assignment: Portfolio Reflection
I as a Writer
This writing class had flown by so fast. This might be because it was a hybrid class, so it felt like it’s even faster since we only met once a week. I enjoyed using Blogs@Baruch because it was convenient. In Writing II, I grew not only as a writer, but also as a person. The class started with overwhelming number of readings and responses on those readings. All these readings actually led up to the major projects. From the rhetorical analysis on Shark Tank, research-based argument, creative remix of my research project on model minority, to this piece, I have seen myself improved as a writer.
We have done many classwork and activities outside and inside of the classroom. Some of the activities that stood out to me was that I was able to critically analyze texts such as Baldwin’s “Letter to My Nephew,” by considering its audience, argument, thesis, and purpose. Writing class does not only limit to academic writing, but also incorporates other writing/works outside of classroom, and world events. Considering audience is crucial to me. Taking from what I learned in this class, I should consider who I am talking to (a broader or narrower group of people).
Furthermore, the revision process of this class had shaped my writing. For example, the process of peer-editing was effective because I had the opportunities to get feedbacks from my writer’s group and also from Professor Blankenship. This class was also challenging. For my Shark Tank essay, I wrote more than six drafts and changed my thesis many times. I usually do not have a thesis to begin with. I have to research, and see what others think about the situation, I put myself into the situation and formed my own opinion on it. Furthermore, most of the time, I just had to keep writing, then I re-read my essay, and a thesis just emerged. For example, in my Shark Tank paper, my original thesis was “People think that these investors are helping you to succeed in your dreams/ company, but they are actually sharks that bite.” However, for my final revised draft, my thesis was “After investigating the metaphors of “Shark Tank,” it is clear that the show is actually a reflection of the ruthless nature of capitalism; the world of business and capitalism is as ruthless as a tank of sharks. The real winners in the competition are not the aspiring entrepreneurs, but the sharks themselves; in other words, the investors.” As one can see, my final thesis is more refined and focused than my first thesis.
Taking this class made me become a more conversational, articulate, and persuasive writer. The feedback that I received from my classmates and friends asking me to expand on ideas or questioning why they should care was tremendously useful for me to develop as a writer. Instead of stating the facts, or how I feel about something, I actually explained and described the topic in details. I saw that the course was designed to integrate both mechanics and more abstract, conceptual questions of identity.
We touched upon racial differences throughout this course. What does it mean to be Asian? I never understand why Asians had to score higher on SAT. I thought it was just because there’s a greater population of Asian in New York City, so there is more competition. However, I was wrong. The reason is that I was Asian, and that I had to live up to the model minority stereotype.
I have become better in incorporating sources in my writing, so that it does not seem as if I want to throw the citation in there. But, actually fitting into my narrative piece perfectly, so that my story flows well. For example, in my research-based narrative essay, my writing sounds logical from saying ‘In his “The Model Minority Is Losing Patience,” The Economist discusses the disadvantages that Asian-Americans have in the educational system” to “An article in The Economist, “The Model Minority is Losing Patience,” discusses the…”. I also thought that the annotated bibliography was helpful in helping me incorporating sources. I had never heard of it until this class. If I have a good annotated bibliography, then I can insert it in my paper perfectly. Another citation technique I learned is when I cite and I want to use the parenthesis in the end, I should not mention the name of the publication such as nypost.com or latimes.com. Instead, I should use the author’s last name, so that my reader can quickly go to my Works Cited page to see where I got the source from.
Throughout this semester, I had trouble with topic sentences and summarizing sentences. I had too many details everywhere that I had to get organized. As a result, I would re-read my essay over again and re-arrange parts in my paper. Sometimes, I would use the reverse outline technique. That is after I finish writing my draft, I write an outline to see if my paper makes sense. As in grammar, I had to be careful and read my paper out loud a few times. There are some simple mistakes that I knew and learned about, but I still did not catch it while writing such as “The reason they do not do that, is because they are saving up their money for their children–my siblings and I”. Since I already stated the “reason,” I do not need “because”. Moreover, “I” is suppose to be “me” because my siblings and me is the receiver or the indirect object.
The major takeaway from this class that I will apply to my future classes was making the video for my research-based narrative. There was a lot of thinking involved such as I had to brainstorm over the spring break about what type of medium I should use. I had to think about what images I need to get my point across. The remix project was a good start for future projects. At least now I learn the basics of iMovie, so the next time I make a video, it won’t be as challenging as the last time. To put it in another way, multimodal composition created an opportunity for me to rethink my writing and make rhetorical choices to turn my argument into another medium.
I used to dislike writing and reading, but this class made it fun by not making as an obligation to fulfill. Other readings we did such as “Revising Attitudes,” “Shitty First Drafts,” and “Everybody’s a Critic “really motivated me to write. The hardest part is to start writing and the “Shitty First Draft” brings that point across. It is okay to have a terrible draft to begin with. The first thing I do is get my main points down, then expand from there. These readings make writing seem attainable because it is like taking baby steps towards the end goal.
Overall, good writing is a long process that takes time and steps to progress. This class had made me think outside the box in many aspects. All the techniques and materials I learned can be used in any of my future classes. This class made me become a more articulate and engaged writer. I had a fantastic group of classmates and an amazing Professor. Thank you for everything!