Writing Development

I have always prided myself on being a solid writer with good spelling and grammar. I do not
think that I changed much in terms of writing style, but there are some specific areas where I
have improved. For example, I did not know that nominalization was to be avoided, and I have
used it in numerous papers over the years as a way to add more words. In fact, many of my
writing problems stem from a need to reach a word count. This class has helped me realize that
it is better to find more content than to add filler words. I also learned how to better analyze
my audience and write for them. This includes adjusting the tone of my language and leaving
out jargon and colloquialisms. I think this class was the most beneficial toward improving my
design skills. I now feel more confident in my ability to format a document and make it look
professional.

Course Goals

I do not remember discussing goals at the beginning of the course, but my goal would have
been to receive a grade of at least a B in the class. Right now, it looks like I will meet this goal
because my current average is a 90. I thought my grade would end up being pretty low after
getting a 75 on the group memo packet. However, I think getting a mediocre grade on the
memo packet served as motivation to put more effort into future assignments. I worked harder
and managed to get an 88 or above on the rest of the assignments. This Portfolio Packet will be
the determining factor of whether I get an A or a B, so hopefully I will do well enough to
maintain an A.

Assignments

I am undoubtedly the proudest of my White Paper packet. I put a lot of time and effort into
researching my topic and picking out the best pieces of information. I spent hours designing my
front page, searching for the perfect images for my figures, and formatting them in the neatest
way possible. Once I was done, I scrolled through with a smile on face because I was so pleased
with how good my paper looked. I actually showed it to one of my friends, and he remarked
that it looked like a textbook, which brings me to my assignment suggestion.

If I could add an assignment, I would add some kind of textbook packet where we create a fake
excerpt of a textbook. Designing my White Paper was one of the most enjoyable parts of the
class, so another assignment involving a lot of design would be my choice. I think it would have
been fun to create 2 or 3 pages of a textbook of a subject of our choice, so long as it related to
our Reaktion book topic. For example, I might choose to create an excerpt from a history
textbook and write about Desert Storm or Ancient Egypt since my topic was desert. This
assignment would be somewhat similar to the White Packet though, so it would probably work
better for a full semester class than for a short summer one.

If I could edit an assignment, I would probably change the visualization packet. Since this was
the first time doing this assignment, there seemed to be a lot of confusion about the details of
the project. I thought it was initially unclear that we were supposed to take the 360 pictures
ourselves. This was the most stressful assignment for me, and I think it would have been better
for me if we had more time to take the pictures, or if we could have used some from the
internet.