Throughout this course I have developed a lot as a writer and this has been shaped by classroom discussions and interacting with my classmates during peer review. I began to see a lot of growth in my writing when it came to reading assigned readings such as The Turabian and Her Body and Other Parties because during my blog posts I would have to analyze these readings which was good practice for my final papers. Throughout all these assignments I learned to adapt my writing to different genres, and became more confident in my writing. While doing collaborative work and research I developed writing habits which helped me find new ways to express my ideas with clarity and purpose. 

While reading assigned chapters of books or articles, and talking about them in class I noticed the way others had different opinions and takes on the readings and how it would further develop the flow of the conversations throughout the class period. This allowed me to expand more of my ideas which would be reflected throughout my writing. When doing group led discussions it was interesting coming up with questions to talk about, because while I had my own opinion on the question I was asking, based on the answers provided by my classmates I was able to understand the reading better and see it differently. 

Discussing writing, drafting and revision strategies in class helped me a lot during my writing process because it allowed me to come up with different ways of finalizing my work in order for me to be happy with the final result. As I wrote my papers I found myself reading them out loud more often as well as going to friends for advice on my paper. Reading the Turabian was very helpful because it provided assistance with writing and I noticed myself being stuck in my writing less often. 

When deciding the type of audience I wanted for my writing and how I would go about sharing it, what helped a lot specifically in my Conference paper and Op-Ed was the research. When I organized what I wanted to say I was able to figure out how to say it in a way that would appeal to the audience I was presenting to. In the case of my Op-Ed the audience was my classmates and I had to be able to condense the context of my subject, that being a videogame in a way for those who have never played it to understand. By considering the genre, medium and rhetorical situation I was able to meet my goals as well as the audience’s expectations. 

I developed and engaged in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process when it came to peer reviewing. When reading my classmates’ work I would give a lot of feedback in a constructive way which would help them further elevate their papers. Instead of telling them that there were certain parts of the paper that I didn’t like, I tried telling them what would make the paper better. I also highlighted parts of their papers that I really liked as a means to encourage them. 

When writing my blog post I would consider the multimodal parts of the writing and add pictures within my work that aligned with what I was talking about. During my conference paper presentation I added as little writing as I could and focused more on the visual part of my slides presentation. I did this by making GIF’s which I thought made my presentation more interesting and different. 

All my writing has a clear stance which I talk about consistently throughout the whole paper. Particularly through my Op-Ed I strengthened my argument by typing my evidence directly back to my thesis. For my Community Essay I went into detail about what the horror community and how members of the community can have differing opinions but still have a love for the genre. That shared passion unites them, which defines the community, therefore supporting my central argument.

I used various library resources, and online databases for writing projects such as for my Op-Ed and Conference Paper. On library day I learned how to use the CUNY database which helped me gather the articles I used in my Conference Paper. These articles were helpful in discussing my thesis and supporting my argument.

While using these articles I had to quote and paraphrase a lot of what was being said in the article into my writing. Paraphrasing helped a lot in my In- Class Essay because we only had a limited amount of time in order to write it. I still needed to talk about the book itself and include evidence from it so paraphrasing was a good way to  quickly and effectively explain parts of the text. This helped me stay focused on the thesis while still following the writing prompt. 

Looking back on the work I’ve done this semester, I can see how much I’ve developed as a writer both in how I write and how I think about it. From discussing the various assigned readings, drafting and doing peer review this has helped me become more intentional and thoughtful with my writing. Overall, this class helped me gain more confidence in my writing and gave me the tools in order to keep on improving throughout my time in college.