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Ryan Lee

Instructor Jung Soo Lee

Writing 39C

1 October 2019

Self Assessment

Writing comes relatively easy to me; I usually can find a way to argue both sides of a

topic, and express my thoughts eloquently in an academic essay. As a writer, I am particularly

passionate about finding the similarities between works of fiction and today's world, such as how

Aldous Huxley's ​Brave New World​ was a fairly accurate prediction of how modern society

would become obsessed with distractions such as televisions and cell phones, all of which would

slowly eat away at people's ability to think for themselves. Despite my belief that I am a good

writer, I know I am only thinking in the context of what I have previously learned. What I am

lacking is the ability to use college-level research to support my ideas in my papers. My aim for

this course is to focus on the skill of writing thought-provoking and persuasive papers using such

college-level research to support my thesis.

My general writing process has been most profoundly influenced by taking AP Language

& Composition and AP Literature & Composition. Both classes helped me better structure my

thoughts in a focused and clear manner. But more importantly, they helped me identify important

aspects of writing, such as rhetorical strategies, the proper way to argue in writing, and how to

identify flaws in an argument. That's where I feel my strengths as a writer show, from my ability

to write papers using strategies I learned in my AP courses. I generally focus on arguing

logically, which will tie into the research I will have to perform to prove my thesis. Alongside
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that aspect, it is important to establish myself as a credible writer, which I would be able to do by

citing research that I would learn to find through this course. Though I have trouble appealing to

a reader's emotion, finding a balance between the emotional and evidence-based aspects of an

argument will prove to be difficult for me, but a welcome challenge.

Despite my strengths, I feel my greatest weakness is that I am unaccustomed to

thoroughly researching my topics and using those pieces of evidence effectively in writing. AP

exams give students passages that are used in writing an argumentative paper, and the courses

did the same thing to prepare me for what the exam would entail, not what college would

demand of me. I have done research in order to write papers, but most of it was news articles or

very surface-level pieces of scientific research. When I research my topics, I focus on how

convincing a source is, and primarily look for scientific evidence or data to prove my point.

Because I believe convincing and extensive evidence forms the backbone of any argument, I aim

to immerse myself in deep and fascinating research in order to improve not only my ability to

write elaborate evidence-based papers, but my resourcefulness in finding proper research and my

ability to think critically about my topics.