Marc Siler

R. Mykkanen
Writing 39C
April 6, 2014
Probably like most other students, most of my past writing experience has been within
high school. For my AP Language and Composition class, the main focus of all the writing was
for 3 types of papers: rhetorical analysis, synthesis, and argument. Also, there was a lot of
research involved in my writing experience. At my high school, National History Day (NHD)
had a large presence, and as I completed an NHD project, it involved a paper related to a specific
topic in history. This paper needed both primary and secondary sources, so research was vital to
this project. As well as NHD, I competed in science fair all four years of high school. Each
project had to be accompanied by research in order to fully understand the topics. Ive had a vast
history of conducting research for papers and should be considered a strength of my writing.
However, a main difficulty I have had with writing in the past is ensuring that I have included
effective details in my papers and essays. There has been numerous times where I have received
feedback or comments on my papers that dealt with a lack of details or evidence to back up my
claims. Even as Ive tried to improve this aspect of my writing, it is an area that Ive had trouble
with and can definitely improve. Another type of writing Ive had experience with is writing a
paper related to a book or novel for a specific class. However, in middle school and high school,
I wouldnt enjoy reading because I was basically forced to read for my grade. I would much
rather read because I enjoyed the book instead of reading for a grade. Therefore when I read
enough to fulfill the minimum for a grade I would stop. However, I wouldnt say that I didnt
enjoying reading entirely. Some of my favorite books include the Harry Potter series, A Series of
Unfortunate Events, and the Artemis Fowl series. Apart from these series and a few others, I
generally found other books uninteresting. In this class, there will definitely be a lot of research
involved. And while I believe I am a capable researcher because of my experiences, there is
room for improvement. My skills as a researcher can be refined and hopefully I can become
more effective in hopes of being able to find more extensive and comprehensive sources to use
for this class.
As stated earlier, a goal for this class is to be able to improve my research skills. Also, as
simple and clich as it is, I want to improve my writing. Its an obvious but necessary goal. The
purpose of class is to improve and learn. I know I want to spend more time writing on my papers
because I dont want to worry about having to b-s my writing. Previously, Ive tried to be
concise and succinct. I feel like I havent fully grasped that concept but implement that strategy
in all my papers and essays. A weakness as a writer has been including details and examples.
Being concise and succinct has helped, but being effective with my examples is something I
want to improve. The simplest and easiest way for Writing 39C can prepare my writing is by
improving my capabilities ad a writer.
In this class, we are exploring the topic of healthcare by reading the book Better, by Atul
Gawande. Initially I was curious because Ive never heard of it before. I have zero knowledge,
zero understanding, and zero background of the text. The only thing I heard about it was when a
friend mentioned that it was a really good book. Regardless, I could infer that it revolved with
improvement in the medical field because of my experience in the Science fair. The medical field
is constantly searching for anything to improve research, testing, diagnosing, etc. Im very
excited to read the book, especially since Gawande is very well know in the medical field and a
very credible source in terms of improving healthcare. One reservation I currently have about our
book, is that Gawande states that the text revolves around 3 basic principles, diligence, doing
right, and ingenuity. Improving healthcare and medicine appears as something that takes time
and complexity. Especially since doing right can be difficult, even with the simplest of things.
It will be very interesting to see how Gawande portrays the three principles and explains them.