Reflecting on Open Letter Draft

In this blog post I will be discussing my final draft of my Open Letter and the questions posed on pg. 78-79 of Student's Guide for Writing.

The drafts I peer reviewed for this assignment were Sam's and Mira's.

Did you demonstrate the ability to think about your writing and yourself as a writer?
I did demonstrate the ability to think about my writing and myself as a writer. I described myself as heavy planner and the strengths and weaknesses that go along with this definition. I was able to accurately describe my writing process and what I thought was effective and what was not effective. I tried to discuss what went into my writing process and how I managed my time.

Did you provide analysis of your experiences, writing assignments, or concepts you have learned?
I analyzed several different projects and the steps I took to completing them and things I could have differently to improve on them. I heavily reflected on the way I completed assignments and major projects and which ones I thought were good and not so good.

Did you provide concrete examples from your own writing?
I provided several examples from previous blog posts and projects.

Did you explain why you made certain choices and whether those choices were effective?
I explained different choices I made when completing certain assignments. I think I could have been more specific about why I made certain choices instead of some others  however.

Did you use specific terms and concepts related to writing and the writing process?
Yes, I tried to use as many different terms that we learned over the course of the semester and incorporated them into my essay. Some of them were "genre" and "rhetorical strategies" - both things that I learned more about this past semester.

Zereshk. "Evening comes to Tucson." 12/31/07 via Wikipedia. Creative Commons License.

Draft of Open Letter

In this blog post I have linked to my Draft of Open Letter. You can access it by clicking here.

I think this draft sums up all my thoughts I have had and currently have about this past semester in ENGL109H. I tried to write in a formal writing style but not too formal that it sounded stiff. I would love feedback on different and new content ideas that I could add in to strengthen my letter. Also I am curious to know if I should add more links to my works. I'm not sure if I really need to include secondary sources but I would be interested to see if someone disagrees.

Durand, Chloe. "Italy beach." 07/11/15. Creative Commons License.

Reflecting More on My Writing Process

In this post I will be answering the questions below.

1. What were the biggest challenges you faced this semester, overall?
This semester I think the biggest challenge was time management. It was important to really force yourself to set aside a time and just finish the homework assigned for this week. I remember some of the more lengthy blog posts, like this one, required a lot of work and I if I didn't set out enough time aside to do it I don't think I would have been able to accomplish it.

2. What did you learn this semester about your own time management, writing and editorial skills?
I learned that I can work through assignments pretty fast if I just really focus on what I'm doing. Although it does require a lot of energy, if I just use all my energy into finishing the assignment I am able to write blog posts more concisely and efficiently.

3. What do you know about the concept of 'genre'? Explain how understanding this concept is central to being a more effective writer.
I was kind of aware of what genre was before starting this course. However, I really had more time to explore different genres in this course like the Quick Reference Guide which helped me become a better write because I have more awareness about the topic now. I think writing in different styles definitely strengthened my writing skills as well because it forced me to think in different ways and reform my main arguments.

4. What skills from this course might you use and/or develop further in the next few years of college coursework?
Some more skills I might develop later on in college is more editing skills to help during my revision process. I think the revision process is important to be efficient in both the revision and writing process in order to be truly successful.

5. What was your most effective moment from this semester in 109H? 
I think the most effective moment from this semester was writing my Project 3. I think I clearly outlined my project and how I wanted to say it and then got feedback on it. I planned my time wisely and was efficient in my writing process. I especially liked the guidelines for this project and I chose a topic that I was interested in so that helped make it more interesting.

6. What was your least effective moment from this semester in 109H? 
I think my least effective moment was a combination of busy weeks and less time to finish my assignments. It was particularly stressful trying to finish homework by the deadline especially when I was supposed to be somewhere at a certain time. However as the semester went on I was more efficient with planning my time and getting the job done.

Young, Robert. "Palm trees, cook islands." 02/14/08 via Wikipedia. Creative Commons License.

Revising My Writing Process

In this blog post I will be reflecting on my first two blog posts on my blog, titled "My Writing Process" and "Calendar Reflection."

In my first blog post I said I was a heavy planner and a procrastinator. I think that is still technically true now. Although I have been able to outline more of my essays and works based upon the different deadlines each week. I would still say I tend to think about what I'm going to write ahead of time before even writing anything. I also still spend way less time revising than I do if I tried to outline everything and then write multiple rough drafts.

In my second blog post I also think I have stayed the same. I wrote in mine how I would most likely space out my homework time into large chunks and try to finish one thing at a time. I think especially for this class I usually take a day out of the week and just sit down and write out everything at once. I don't usually spread out my work throughout the week.

Mingboaugdea. "Christmas trees in Ocean Terminal, Harbour City, Hong  Kong."
11/2/13 via Wikipedia. Creative Commons License.