Throughout the semester we covered a lot of ground. Some things were harder to follow than others and certain aspects I felt I excelled in. For example, the learning outcome “formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing” was a fun one for me. I felt as though it gave me the power to express myself through my writing of which I will touch upon later. On the other hand, the learning outcome “enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment” was one that I struggled with a lot. In our final reading response, I spoke about this learning outcome and how I felt I have come to understand it, and that it will be a key factor in good essays to come. Sadly, this was not always the case.

While trying to understand my writing capabilities it was difficult for me to go back and look at my previous work. This class pushed me above and beyond when it came to improving my work. It was mandatory to hand in a first, second, and final draft. Therefore, I could not write an essay and simply be done with it. That is where the reading, drafting, revising, and editing comes into play. At the beginning of the semester, and my college experience previous to this class, I would write my essays and put them aside. I never wanted to admit that they could use more work or that I could improve them in any way because that would mean that I did not do my best work on them the first time around. This class, and this learning outcome in particular, helped me look past that way of thinking. Now when I write an essay, I understand that revising my first draft is not a bad thing at all. Instead, I look at it as though, as my father says, there is always room for improvement. Self-assessment was always a tricky subject for me, and I struggled a lot with it at the beginning of the semester. In my first essay for this class, the rhetorical analysis, I did awful. I truly believe that in part, it is because my first and second drafts are not very different from my final draft. I realize now that going over the rubric twice or even three times to make sure I have put everything I need into my essays is a big part of understanding the correct format of my essays. If I had gone back to those essays and revisited the rubric more than once I would have caught things such as making a direct point as to who my audience is. In my rhetorical analysis I wrote,

“Even though this journal is open and free to the public, it is published in PLOS Medicine which already attracts a very specific audience of researchers and Women’s rights activists.”

If I had done the correct revisions on this essay, I would have realized that I should have written something along the lines of,

“Even though this journal is open and free to the public, it is published in PLOS Medicine which already attracts a very specific audience. An audience similar to this articles’, which consists of researchers and women’s rights activists.”

This slight change of wording shows directly who my audience is and could have gained me an extra three points. As I stated in my reading response, knowing this mistake now and being able to recognize it in future classes, is all that matters.

Now, I would like to discuss the learning outcome I feel as though I succeed in. Being able to ‘formulate and articulate a stance through and in my writing’ is an important part of creating a successful piece. This outcome was especially important in our Public Awareness Campaigns. It set the tone of how we felt about our campaigns, which were important to us as individuals. My campaign was about finding an oral contraceptive that worked best for women. This was quite a personal campaign because my sister struggled with this for about seven years. In my campaign, I formulated my stance and added to the tone of the piece by including an interview I did with my sister. We spoke about her struggles and drawbacks of finding a birth control that fit her needs best. This created a stance of urgency because it was occurring in current time when I wrote my campaign as well as created the tone of emotion or pathos. This interview was between my sibling and me, and I am sure that many of my classmates have siblings who could be going through something similar.

Typically, at the end of a semester, I do not go back to look at the learning outcomes and see which ones I accomplished and which I struggled with. So, this was a different experience that I am grateful for. In conclusion, knowing that I am ending this class and taking things with me that I otherwise would not have recognized is eye-opening.

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