Grayson Potter

RC 2001-133

Final Self-Assessment

Writing essays has always been my biggest academic insecurity, because it was never

where I excelled. As a biology major, writing was never my strong suit. Over the course of the

semester, I feel my writing has drastically improved. I have always struggled with getting words

transferred from my head onto the paper. Writing is a process that requires trial and error, as well

as lots of editing and revising different material. There are tons of different writing styles,

citation styles, and formatting that is necessary knowledge for success in scholarly writing.

Honing in on APA format this semester was new to me, because I have always written in MLA

format. The concept was not too difficult to grasp, it just takes knowing the material as well as

common mistakes. With every essay, there is growth or new discovery as a writer, and I think the

progress is clear in my writing.

At the beginning of the assess unit, I was very confused. I was having trouble with

grasping the concept of what discourse was and how to even begin discussing it. Before this

course, discourse was never really prevalent in my education. The subject was introduced to me

in my highschool AP Language and Composition class, but it was not discussed further. I

remember finding a topic and creating a thesis statement that completely missed the entire

concept of the essay. We were to discuss discourse within the community of our major and delve

into the language used by scholars in the field. After grasping the concept, I realized that it was

not terribly difficult to discuss the discourse in the scientific community because the views have

drastically changed over the years. The subject chosen for this essay was the change in eugenics

overtime, and discussing how the discourse had evolved along with the practice. The practice of
eugenics has completely transformed from what it used to be, along with the connotation behind

it. Through research and trial and error, it began to get much easier to produce a scholarly paper

on discourse within the scientific community. Taking the time to find strong and credible sources

before drafting was truly beneficial to my writing process. It helped to organize different ideas

regarding discourse, and to weed out any unnecessary information in each source. The most

difficult part of completing this essay for me was the outline. In class I had trouble producing a

sturdy thesis statement, and completing an outline to follow and compliment the thesis. Once I

nailed the thesis statement, drafting and writing the essay became much easier. In my opinion, I

think this essay was a strong subject to start off the course with. The process was broken down

piece by piece, and Professor Brown made sure we understood discourse before allowing us to

draft. This helped improve my writing and drafting skills for the future papers to come.

I was pleased to see that the argue unit was stuck in between the more difficult of the

three subjects. As writers, we were to uncover an issue prevalent within our field of study and

discuss both sides in a rogerian-style argumentative essay. This is something that I have had

practice with before, in my language and composition class in highschool. At the time, I was a

junior, and had no clue where to even begin with the argumen. This time around came with much

more ease. I chose to complete the paper on the environmental impact of electric vehicles, and

are they truthfully better for the environment when comparing information. I think this was my

favorite unit, primarily because I learned new information on electric vehicles. When comparing

an electric vehicle to a conventional vehicle, emissions are about the same when considering the

production and manufacturing processes, as well as the disposal of batteries and such material. I

also thoroughly enjoyed writing this paper because I felt more confidence in my writing than

ever before. There was an opportunity to favor my own bias, as long as it was not evident in the
essay, and backed by evidence. I think argumentative essays are easier to write because the

ability to become a bit personable in your writing is present and not completely frowned upon.

After writing this essay and receiving my grade, I took a look back at a rogerian argument I

completed in highschool. This essay was at least twice as strong as the last. It was a point in my

writing, where I finally felt a bit of security and capability. Writing is a process that can continue

to teach a writer new things through trial and error. To learn how to be a stronger writer, you

simply must keep writing.

The analyze unit was by far the most difficult for me to write over the course of the

semester. At first, I completely missed the entire concept of analysis vs. interpretation. An

analysis is not a reiteration of the material that was just presented. An analysis is not only an

explanation of the information, but an expansion on the meaning that goes much deeper than

itself. As a science major, I am good at math and science because it is facts. I have never been

the best at English because of the analysis required to grasp certain concepts. I felt completely

lost at first when trying to choose a subject that would not bring me too much struggle, because

science is often difficult to analyze. The paper ended up being a comparative analysis showing

the cause and effect between greenhouse gas emissions and the rise in sea level. Finding sources

that did not already analyze the factual information provided at first was a challenge. Many of

the sources explained graphs presented or was already an analytical essay within itself.

Reflecting on the grade I received on this essay, it was the worst of the three papers this semester.

I will say, I did expect that. On the rubric my lowest category was in completion, I received

developing. This is because I did not completely grasp the analysis part of the essay. Including

too much background information in an analytical essay will take away from the actual analysis

of the sources chosen. While I cut out and combine something during the editing and revision
process, I still felt the background information as necessary. Rather than including an overload of

background information, it would have been beneficial to the paper to delve further into the

information provided. Breaking down graphs, charts, and explanations piece by piece will allow

for a more enriching analysis. I think this is where I lacked the most during the unit, and analysis

will be something I pay closer attention to in my future writing.

This course has shown me what I am capable of in my writings both inside and outside of

school. It has taught me how to write more professionally while exploring different formatting

options for my field of study. There were definitely times over the spring semester where I felt

lost in my writing. With the help of Professor Brown and my peers during the revision process, I

was able to find grounding and complete each essay with some level of confidence.

Understanding how to write different types of papers in different styles is important for

communication through scholarly writing, but also in everyday life. These skills will help further

my knowledge and ability to understand important concepts throughout the world and within

different cultures.