John Iannacone

University Writing 1102

Midterm Reflection

1. What is one assignment or activity that has helped you the most? (If none,
please explain your reactions to at least one assignment.)

The questions for the inquiry project helped me the most so far this

semester because I had never done an assignment quite like it. In the past

much of my brainstorming for writing assignments involved me writing a

rough outline, letting it sit for a couple days, and then jumping right into the

paper. In the case of this assignment, it was required that we come up with

a multitude of questions with some that were relevant to our topic while

most were just to get ideas out there. This involved writing a total of forty-

five different questions that ranged from the basics about how to write along

with more complex questions based around things happening in the world

today. I feel that this assignment helped lead me to my chosen topic by

combining multiple questions into one that based around a topic that greatly

interests me.

2. You participated in one informal peer review so far. What was the
experience like, and can you apply anything you learned to future writing
and/or classes?

In my past experiences peer review has helped to some extent but

much of my advice that has benefitted me has come from close friends or

family. The problem that is typically faced is that each person has different

ideas and has a different set of standards based around how an assignment
should be completed. A lot of times this causes issues where you receive

advice from one person but another person feel a completely different way

about the same section. This poses problems because even though you are

receiving constructive criticism that can ultimately be helpful, the advice

received will always tend to vary from person to person. This is why I prefer

to have a single person or a set group of people that I know really well to

revise my work rather than random people.

3. Explain one way you might change your reading or writing practices as
you continue.

One of the things I have always struggled with even at a young age is

in regards to the flow of my papers. Many of times I have really good ideas

but I have trouble portraying those thoughts in a way that catches the

readers attention. This is why when I have an assignment, I try to do it

ahead of time so that I personally have time to reflect on it and am able to

get people I know and trust to review it. For the rest of this semester my

goal is to gain more experience in this aspect of writing to be able to help

myself in the future. My biggest problem faced currently that I need to work

on to better myself, is that I like to do things on my own rather than ask

others for help which is why most of the time I am the only one or one of the

few that reviews my work. By the end of this semester my goal is to have

opened up and more often ask others for advice to grow my writing skills.

4. Explain one way you have contributed to the class.

In class I do my best to pay attention to the topic at hand and am most of

the time an attentive listener to the lecture for the day. I do all the

assignments needed for that class period so that once a topic is brought up I

am able to easily understand and if need be, contribute with my own

thoughts through class discussion. I have always seen myself as more of a

listener than a talker so even if it may seem as though I do not speak up, it is

simply because I am trying to grow my knowledge by hearing what you as

the instructor are saying as well as what feedback my peers around me are

giving back.

5. What is something from your research that surprised you?

As of the moment, there has not been anything in my research that

has greatly surprised me. I chose this topic for my inquiry project because it

was one that I had some basic knowledge of, but that I wanted to grow. My

whole life I have been greatly interested in electronics (both building and

repairing) as well as automotive based work. For my project I chose to focus

on electronics, specifically in regards to Apple products and their

innovation along with upgradability. The only real thing that surprised me

was that Steve Jobs had starting the company himself but due to

unhappiness within the corporate sector of Apple he was fired in the mid

1980s. By the time he returned the company was near bankruptcy from an

array of products that was in need of cuts. Here Steve recreated the

company and restored it to one of the most profitable companies in the

world. Other than this portion of my topic everything else was knowledge I

had already gained that simply needed to be brushed up on.

6. List ten questions or concerns you still have about writing.

What is a preferred website for the e-portfolio; in other words, which

would you like us to use?
In your eyes what aspects make up a great paper?
By the end of the semester will my writing skills have grown?
Is the e-portfolio considered our final for the course like other UWRT
classes?
In our final paper what will you count off the most points for?
How many drafts will be involved before our final paper is due?
What will happen if the page count for the paper is not reached?
Will only minor point be counted off for lower page count or will be fail
the paper?
Do we have to stick to the outline for the paper?
Can we add more sources for the final paper or do we have to stick
with the ones we already have?

7. Create one goal related to class for the second half of your semester.

My goal for the rest of the semester, is to Grow my skills in making my

papers flow more properly. As was stated earlier this is one of my biggest

issues when writing papers or other assignments. Along with that I would

like to work on my grammatical skills. I can recognize where my issues are

in my papers but I would like to get to the point where I no longer make

these basic mistakes. I would also like to take the opportunity of the e-

portfolio project to grow my knowledge of website design to help me later on

in life. This will prove to be beneficial to me in engineering as web based

design is important to portraying a product. These are the three major things

that I would like to work on to become more successful in the writing

process.