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Charikus Brown

Professor Malcolm Campbell

WRDS 1103

02 Dec 2022

Final Reflection

This course has opened my eyes to many different things regarding writing. I never knew

how much went into creating a story or even a research paper. Before this course, I was just

“telling” my thoughts instead of “showing” my audience. My skills and abilities as a writer have

improved dramatically in my opinion. After looking through my daybook and prior assignments

from earlier in the course I see improvement.

Even though I have improved there are aspects of being a good writer that I still struggle

with. What I struggle with is being specific and paying attention to detail. Giving my audience

information without really elaborating on it, is a mistake I have made on my earlier assignments.

I also made that same mistake on my Extended Inquiry Project. The same thing can be said for

being specific and proofreading. I will say these things do not come from a lack of effort because

I have improved these issues over this semester. Looking back at my literacy narrative and

annotated bibliography then comparing it to my EIP I believe that the difference is noticable.

In the different assignments this semester I feel I worked on different aspects of writing.

The extended inquiry project improved my research skills and ability to share my research with

an audience. The questions proposal tested my critical thinking ability and I learned how to form

a proper inquiry question in the process. The literacy narrative was effective at improving my

ability to tell a story. Before the literacy narrative, I thought storytelling was just what it sounded

like telling a story. The literacy narrative showed me that I have to be able to show my audience
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what happened. I learned that I have to hold my audience’s hand and walk them through the story

almost as if they are there in that moment with me.

I believe that my most important work was the extended inquiry project. I say this

because while also completing the EIP I also completed Inquiry and research papers in other

courses. I noticed the quality of my writing has drastically improved. Not only was my writing

quality improved but writing also felt easier. Due to the different activities, we did in class

introductions, conclusions, and everything else in between felt easier. Knowing research papers

will be a significant portion of my academic career, I feel that the EIP was the most important

and beneficial assignment that I completed.

Completing my E-Portfolio is what made me realize I have learned so much over these

past couple of months. When I was reading my completed work to write my reflections I noticed

the difference in the quality of my work over time. Reading my different entries for my daybook

I realized that my writing style did not necessarily change but what did change was the way I

was writing. It was also nice to see how I thought a few months ago and how my thoughts have

changed and what is still similar.

As I have mentioned before throughout this semester I have improved as a writer and I

have noticed the changes in my work. I have already noticed that I have been applying what I

have learned in other areas of my academic career. But most importantly I am not done

improving my skills, I will continue to learn more and improve my writing skills. I truly believe

that this course served as an excellent base to kickstart my journey of becoming a competent

writer.