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Self-Assessment

Transitioning to college, I was reluctant to sign up for English Composition I, even

though I knew it was required. Writing was never my strongest or fondest skill in the past. I had

been taught relatively the same rules and strategies in my high school years so I did not know

what to expect from this course. To my surprise, it was unlike any English class I had taken

before and it was a class where I have grown greatly. Throughout the semester, numerous

concepts have led to a greater understanding of what constitutes writing. The readings from the

textbooks that made up the class did an excellent job of building upon my knowledge and views

rather than telling me exactly how or what to write or forcing things upon me. Making progress

in the class did not come without struggles. For me, it was not always easy to understand and

retain the knowledge presented. Many of the topics and concepts I had not seen before, making

them difficult to learn. By modifying the way that I took in this information, I was able to not

only become a better writer, but also a better student. After reviewing the four learning outcomes

of ENC1101 that are displayed on pages 3 and 4 of UCF Writes, I was able to identify how I

achieved them.

Students will be able to read and use scholarly texts to support their writing goals.

A major part of the class consists of reading parts of the Writing About Writing and UCF

Writes textbooks. The readings were followed by short discussion post responses associated with

what the reading entailed. Responses were unlike what I had done in any previous class because

instead of answering a straight forward question, we would explain or expand on the topic of the

reading and use evidence to support it. For example, in our first reading response to Nancy
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Sommers I Stand Here Writing we were asked to outline first in your own words, why

Sommers took the issue or "problem" up for this essay. Include a (partial) citation from the

reading to let the reader know what you think the "thesis" of the essay is. Then In paragraph 39,

Sommers writes about being "open to the unexpected." As a writer, would you consider yourself

"open" or "closed" to the unexpected, other voices, perspectives? Justify your position with

evidence (UCF Webcourses). In this response, I had to not only think about the reading itself,

but also reflect on how it applied to me. I believe responses like this were very beneficial

because I was forced to think more deeply on the topic. Rather than scanning the reading for the

answer to a question, I had to find the main idea and understand what the author was explaining.

In past classes, I would rarely read anything that was given to me because no assignments called

for in depth descriptions of readings. My previous perspective was soon changed in English

Composition I. Due to my lack of knowledge on the topics, I realized that I would be unable to

develop responses based off of the little information I knew. This drove me to thoroughly read

each of the assigned readings. Many of the assignments required me to read the section multiple

times to fully understand what was being said. Nonetheless, I was able to improve my methods

of reading and responding to what was read with proper evidence and information by the end of

the semester.

Students will be able to describe and analyze writing processes in order to flexibly adapt

them to support their goals.

I became more aware of writing processes, and specifically my own, after compiling the

three major papers in English Composition I. The writing processes for each paper were not
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identical, but they did contain some similar pieces from one another such as prewriting

techniques and drafts. I also realized that there is a writing process for all types of writing, not

just papers. It applies to everything from essays to notes to texting. Each process will reflect on

that specific type of writing. Previously in high school, I was very careless when it came to

writing things in class such as essays. I did little to improve myself and had bad strategies and

habits because I considered myself a bad writer and wanted nothing to do with it. Most of the

time, I would do little in the prewriting stage. I would carelessly read the assignment and just

begin writing, often procrastinating. This changed once I took English Composition I. I was able

to recognize that writing is a process that takes time and is not always perfect. The assignments

for the three major papers in the class were as follows- paper one: writing a narrative where we

identify a niche and describe our literacy history; paper two: analyzing a discourse community

that I am a part of; paper three: analyzing my writing process for a specific type of writing. Each

of these papers required a great deal of preparation. As opposed to previous years, I chose to

create outlines, discuss the assignments with classmates, and construct the drafts on multiple

days when completing the paper. There were much more steps that went into forming these

papers. Also, in paper three which I titled The Art of Notetaking I identified my writing

process for notetaking in Biology, which provided a whole different point of view than my

writing process for essays. I was able to identify the strategies that I use when writing in a

different setting. Overall, all writing requires a lot of time and effort to construct and I was able

to understand that after taking this class.

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Students will learn how to adapt to different writing contexts they need to address.

Prior to taking this class, I was not aware of how to go about writing in various ways. Over the

course of the semester, we have learned through the curriculum that there are different

circumstances in which to write. For example, paper two was a research style paper, so I was

able to use the IMRAD model (Introduction, Method, Research, Analysis, Discussion), which I

had not used before for any of my writing. It was very helpful because it gave the paper

structure in a more formal tone. Also, we learned about John Swales CARS model. Although I

did not use it in any of my papers, I realized that it is a very effective way of writing. The CARS

model, which stands for create a research space, is where the writer determines things such

as literacy, literacy sponsors, sponsorships, and the function of the sponsorships. This creates a

basis for what is being discussed in the paper. It also gives the reader knowledge on the topic.

Another point that I consider to be one of the more important things that Ive discovered in

English Composition I is that it is okay to say I. Certain times it may be better to shy away

from if the writing is required to be more formal but it should not be considered something

wrong. Many students, including me, were under the impression that saying I in our writing

was completely unacceptable and this was due to how we were taught growing up. I have

learned that it is 100% okay to use because I am just conveying something that I believe in. It

displays my emotions on the subject that I am describing and provides the reader with input.

Altogether, there will be many different types of writing that I will be exposed to, and with the

knowledge gained from this class, I have new insight on how to approach each kind.
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Students will consider how social, rhetorical, and technological contexts shape writing

conceptions, processes, and learning.

One area that became known early on in English Composition I was the concept of

discourse communities. Discourse Communities are endless and are where everything takes

place. Rhetorical situations are associated with these discourse communities and I discovered

this after reading Keith Grant-Davies Rhetorical Concepts and Their Constituents. It opened

my mind to exactly how much is a part of our everyday lives. Rhetorical situations are

composed of the audience, exigence, constraints, and rhetors. Each part can be broken down

into many parts, for example the exigence contains many stases. It was after reading this that I

learned that each situation that I am in is constituted by all of these characteristics. It does not

only apply to writing, which is the context of how we learned it in class. Regardless of what the

situation is, it can always be analyzed. Additionally, each rhetorical situation is open to every

individual interpretation, meaning two people may analyze one rhetorical situation differently.

Knowing this, I can incorporate more information into my writing so that each characteristic is

covered. Likewise, I can better understand the main idea of anything I am reading because I will

be able to identify everything. Knowing all of this information has allowed me to have a better

understanding of not only writing, but all situations in general.

English Composition I has provided me with an abundance of information that has

improved me overall as a student. As a writer, I can now take into account all the aspects

associated with writing that I have learned and use them to my benefit when constructing
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writing in the future. This includes literacy sponsors, conversations, research methods, peer

revision, rhetorical situations, etc. I am also now more aware of what I am reading and writing

during class. It has caused me to pay much more attention to detail, allowing me to write more

effectively because I have a better understanding of the information. Even engaging in this self-

assessment has made me to realize that I have learned much more than I previously thought. I

can say with confidence that I have greatly improved as a writer and as a student from taking

this class.