Dear Reader,
I never really considered myself a good writer. The most times I appreciate writing is in music, film, or poems. Even then sometimes I struggle with my understanding of writing. When I took Writing and Rhetoric this semester, I expected to be bombarded with assignments and papers. I was right. However, even though there was a copious amount of work, the silver lining was that my understanding of writing grew slowly over time. I don’t consider myself the greatest writer, but I have certainly made improvements.

The main skill I got from this class was citing sources. I think this class really helped me refine that aspect of my writing. From citing the sources with parenthetical citations as well as on the works cited page. I think that this is the aspect of my writing that has improved the most over the course of the semester. In fact, that’s the skill I think I applied the most to my other classes. Since most of my classes this semester was writing heavy, I found that skill incredibly useful.

Brainstorming and revising are the two things that I learned from the writing process especially. Before, when I would write, I wouldn’t spend as much time on those aspects of my writing as I would on the actual writing aspect of it. So, it was good for me when I realized just how crucial those steps were to create a meaningful paper. It let me genuinely think about what I was going to write about and then once I began writing, I applied the ideas I had in the brainstorming step to the finished essays. Then afterward, when I had a somewhat finished essay, I would go back and adjust the aspects that needed more polishing. Even though I’ve improved, I still think there are some aspects of my writing that need work. One of those being my clarity when reaching the audience. I try my best with that aspect of my writing, but it still doesn’t reach my desired effect. Another aspect I think I could improve upon is critical reading and analytical thinking, but I’ve improved since the beginning of the semester.

After completion of this course, I feel moderately prepared regarding college writing expectations. This class has already helped me meet college expectations with other college writing assignments so I don’t doubt that it will continue to help me in the future. I think that this class prepared me very well for other college writing assignments. My attitude towards writing remains the same if I write for educational purposes however, if I’m writing for pleasure then I’m more excited to write.