Reflective Essay

As I look back at my writing throughout this course, I can definitely see changes in my
writing styles. I think the best improvement that I made in my writing/document skills is when it
comes to properly formatting a writing, so it looks professional. As seen from my earlier writings
in the course that papers were formatted all over the place and didn’t have the professional feel
to them. Another aspect of my writing that I thought improved was understanding the
implications of each writing should be. Before haven taken this course many of my writings
would have been perceived in the same way even if they were meant to convey different
messages to people. I think this developed because I was able to see the various reasons in which
certain papers are written, and this allowed for me to understand how specific papers should be
written when pertaining to certain guidelines and audiences.
My goal for this course was to be able to professionally write a paper on a concept that I
am researching. I feel as though I achieved this goal through this course. Picking out a topic at
the beginning of the course and sticking with it for various types of writings help with this goal
drastically. Having the same concept to research but using it in different ways for each writing
made large improvements in my writing skills. It helped me understand how research
information should be displayed for certain writings and this is something I had no idea about.
The assignment that I am most proud of is my White paper assignment. I’m most proud of this
assignment because it displays the information with a nice flow and the document is one of the
most eye appealing papers that I have written. Also, with it being the longest paper that we had
to write throughout the course I think this paper better highlights my learned writing skills. The
design and layout of the paper allow it to flow so that the reader can easily keep up with the
information that is being provided. Another reason that I’m the proudest over this paper is
because it displays such a variety of information, but in a way, that’s not overwhelming to read.
From everything such as the color, spacing, and formatting really highlight this paper and make
it stand out as compared to my other writings in the course. If I could add any assignment to the
course, it would have been a group research proposal writing. I would’ve like to have seen this
type of writing because it involves working with others to present your research and this is what
most people will face as they begin to write more research reports. Although we did work with
peers in the sense that they would edit our papers I still think an assignment that revolves around
a group setting would be helpful. If I could edit any assignment in this course, it would be the
engagement project. I would mainly change this because some pre-chosen topics are harder to
write about when it comes to having an effect on a marginalized group. I know it was difficult
for me to come up with ideas since my chosen topic was deer, and I couldn’t relate how that
could severely impact a specific group of people.