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Running Head: Reflective Essay-English for Academic Purpose

Name of Course: English for Academic Purpose
Course Coordinator: Ms. L. Deer
Institution: UWI Open campus
Topic: Reflective Essay
Name of Student: Dane Sinclair
Student ID#: 320032023

Academic writing in the world of a Mathematics major felt like a fish out of water. Having

never been a strong language student, the stakes seemed at times insurmountable. The

journey began with feelings of insecurity and a state of bewilderment as to how to champion

this stallion, English for Academic Purpose. The path ahead was full of research, reading, and

editing. Traversing this path brought the realization that to become a good writer, I must

break the barriers and delve wholeheartedly into this course. I was at the point of

transformation to becoming a good writer. I found that a good writer must research, read,

and pay attention to details.

In the world of a tertiary student, academic writing must involve extensive research in

order to achieve success. Most if not all course that is taken will require some form of

research in the completion of assignments. Research, as I have come to learn requires a lot of

reading and attention to detail. Writing in the high school classroom was surely no

comparison to academic writing. It required being able to determine the rhetoric structure of

articles to analyse and identify the purpose, intended audience, and context within which the

article was written. Furthermore, I had to learn to think critically to analyse the use of

crooked and flawed thinking and the impact it would have on my writing.
Reflective Essay-English for Academic Purpose 2

Having completed the research to find articles that supported my purpose, came the reality

that I little or no mastery of citation and referencing according to APA 6th edition. In prior

courses taken I often fell down as it relates to conformity to APA 6th edition. Having

submitted and received feedback for my first assignment came the bitter reality I needed to

learn APA 6th citation and referencing with a sense of urgency. I had to buckle down to

researching this style of referencing. From the research and suggested reading put forth by

the course coordinator, I reached a point of enlightenment. I was now getting positive

feedback about the use of in-text citation and referencing. Taking the time out to read and

review the given feedback on each assignment proved very useful. The weekly discussions

and collaborative spirit of colleagues within the course were exceptional and precedent to my

development as an academic writer.

In conclusion, English for Academic Purpose is a vital course that all first-year students

should take within their first semester. This course has tremendous benefits to academic

learners that will shape the scope and nature of their writing and researching skills. It can

heighten learners’ ability to conduct research and use APA 6th edition appropriately to carry

out in-text citation and referencing. Additionally, it builds the learners capacity to write and

critique academic literature. The benefits to be gained goes beyond success in a course but

more so the transformation of a novice writer into an exceptional writer. Though I am not

there yet, I have made tremendous strides.