Sara Schuster

ENC1102
Self-assessment

In the beginning of writing my argumentative research paper I found it very difficult to

completely be able to hone-in my topic is to something that was very specific. My topic on “how

having knowledge of medical terminology can help people better protect themselves from the

Covid-19 virus”. After having many students peer review my paper and tips and tricks given by

my professor, I have been able to narrow it down to a communication standpoint. When say

“communication” I mean how medical doctors communicate to patients, how they communicate

with the public, and how they communicate with other doctors. I chose this topic for my research

because I knew that during this class it would be the topic of every other assignment, so I had to

make it something that I was interested in. In high school I was in the health academy at my

school and in every health class we had each year, we learned LOM (language of medicine).

Therefore, Language of medicine is something that I am familiar with so making an

argumentative paper regarding medical terminology and Language of Medicine was something

that wasn’t super difficult for me. The research process was something that I wasn’t used to in

the beginning because, in earlier classes that I have taken we didn’t go through all of the steps

that led us to the final like I did in this class and I also have never gone that in depth into my

topic during any other research that I have done.

After everything that I have done in this class, from the discussion post to the peer-reviews It has

taught me a lot about my own writing and how to improve it so that my assignment get a better

grade and so that I can become a better writer all around. All of the collective work that I have

put into this research project and all the work that I have just done individually for this class

should prove that I actually have bettered myself and have hopefully done well in this course. I

believe that I have achieved the course goals this semester because I have been able to analyze
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ENC1102
Self-assessment

and synthesize complex text in ways that are helpful for my research. This is shown in the

rhetorical analysis assignment portion of my research. In this class alone there is much writing

that being able to engage in inquiry-based writing is something that just happened to come along

with writing a research paper with the elements and steps that we had to go through to get to the

final in this class. So therefore, I feel that I have achieved the goal of engaging in inquiry-based

writing within this course. The research that we have done in this class had to be somehow

connected to the Covid-19 virus pandemic because it the most relevant thing in the world right

now, so finding a topic wasn’t that hard. After reading numerous peoples papers it easy to see

that everyone had found their niche in the topic of Covid-19 and mine happened to be the

medical terminology side of the virus. Because there was so much research to be done with the

assignments given in this class, I feel that I have also been able to interpret my research findings

to produce an argumentative research paper that address a real-world-problems or exigences. I

feel that I had a good topic to write about that could go in many directions and I was able to

gather many aspects of my topic and choose what was best for my paper and what would help

get my point across in the best way possible and I think that I have achieved that in my research

paper.

My goals for this paper is to not only get a good grade on it but to also help myself for the text

assignment so I will already have a guide line and the next assignment will be easier to get done

in time. I also want to be able to educate the people who read my paper because maybe they have

no idea about medical terminology and my paper could possible help them at some point. To me,

just giving one person the knowledge of medical terminology shows me that my paper was

effective and that I really did achieve the learning out comes of my class.
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ENC1102
Self-assessment

Overall I really like the topic that I have written about and it is something that I am passionate

about so the research process wasn’t as horrible and boring as I thought it was going to be and I

still managed to get what I wanted on paper, achieve my personal goals, achieve my learning

outcomes, and still enjoy my topic and In the end I have learned more about myself. I feel that

there is still a lot more techniques that I need to learn to make my writing better, for example

adding more of my own personal text in between evidence to break up the block of evidence and

I need to also make sure to add more direct quotes instead of summarized portions of articles that

fit in my paper.

In my next steps after college, I used to want to go into the medical field so but after careful

consideration I have changed to go into law and the information from this class regarding

research and argumentation can really help me with my career down the road.

Throughout the E-Portfolio you are clearly able to see that in the beginning of the course there

was not much going for my writing and I know that I am not the best writer but the writing

assignment that we have done over the semester have helped be become a better writer. You are

able to see the effort that was put into the draft and the difference in my writing when it comes to

the final. I feel that I was able to make my paper better was because of the help that my fellow

students have me when reviewing my paper. It allowed me to see everything that I missed when

proof-reading my paper ad also showed me ways to better explain my topic. I hope that my E-

portfolio show the quality of my writing and also shows how I have grown as a writer. Within

the portfolio I have posted numerous drafts and assignment that all relate to my final

argumentative research paper and that show the process of how I got to where I am now. I also
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ENC1102
Self-assessment

hope that whoever may come across my portfolio sees how I have put in a lot of time and effort

into making the website presentable and pretty and easy to navigate.

To conclude I have put a lot of work into this class and I am glad to see it all come together and I

feel that I have made a great effort to achieve the learning outcomes or the leaning goals of this

class and I am sure that through my writing and other work including drafts and source lists that

it is clear to see that I have achieved the goals within this class.