Kamilla Razhabova.

FIQWS 10108 HA16.

Professor Poe.

21st December 2018.

Throughout my FIQWS 10108 course, I improved my writing enormously by developing a variety of strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing and collaborating.  I remember walking in the class for the first time, thinking that I was a great but slow writer and assuming that I wouldn’t notice any progress in my writing. Subconsciously, I have always been aware of my lack of strategies, especially for drafting and editing because I used to not create multiple drafts and hand in the first draft in my high school. So, after the third class, I realized that it was only the beginning of my journey as a writer.  In order to succeed in this course, I promised myself to meet the course learning outcomes by writing the literacy narrative essay, poetic analysis essay, poetic response, annotated bibliographies and the researched critical analysis essay. I’m going to demonstrate how I’ve not only met the learning objectives, but also engaged in collaborative discussions and met successful individuals.

Firstly, I was assigned to write a narrative essay. I decided to write about how an experience I share with a literary character changed my perspective, comparing it to the literary character’s experience. Before creating an outline for my essay, I explored and analyzed a variety of genres and rhetorical situations in literary texts, such as Superman&Me by Sherman Alexie, in which Alexie shares his inspiring story on how he learned to read at the age of three with a comic book, and Coming into Language by Jimmy Santiago Baco, who shares a heartbreaking story about being an uneducated Hispanic male, who is accused of a murder based on his race. These narratives, posted on the Blackboard along with chapters from The Norton Field Guide to Writing, served as a strong basis for the creation of my own narrative essay. I have successfully written my narrative essay, including vivid details, clearly establishing a purpose and stance and using pathos to emotionally appeal to my audience. Even though I developed strategies for reading and editing, I had a few vivid details that poorly portrayed my connection to a book I’d chosen in my narrative essay.  For example, here is my attempt to write about my experience, using vivid details in my first narrative essay:

 

I have only a few details that don’t clearly illustrate my emotional state at that time. Having revised my narrative essay, I developed strategies for revising and drafting that allowed me to write about how I was emotionally and mentally unstable and connect to my audience.

In the revised essay, I began writing more in the first person perspective, rather than the third person perspective, realizing the importance of self-expression. Thus, the literacy narrative essay allowed me to see how crucial it is to create multiple drafts to produce a well organized final draft.

Secondly, by writing my poetic analysis, I started recognizing and practicing key rhetorical terms, strategies and application of citation conventions. For my poetic analysis assignment, I revised my first response paper, written for FIQWS 10100 course. The goal was to make major improvements in that response paper by adding a secondary source that strengthened my position and recognizing and analyzing rhetorical devices in a poem. By using the chapters on rhetorical situations and elements, classifying/dividing and defining from The Norton Field Guide to Writing and in class discussions, I made many corrections in my response paper, adding a variety of previously unnoticed rhetorical devices that improved the quality of my analysis. Also, other students and I were informed of the MLA format citations in class, so I had no problems with correctly making in-text citations and a “works cited” page. Professor Poe used a sufficient amount of videos and presentations in class, making sure that all students understand how to recognize and use rhetorical terms in writing assignments as well as in public conversations to demonstrate one’s enriched vocabulary. Lastly, writing a self-assessment paper for the poetic analysis was helpful, since I had an opportunity to evaluate my own work and see improvements in my writing.

For another assignment that included poetry, I was required to develop my own creative poetic response. As soon as I heard it, I became anxious and extremely worried because I had perceived myself as a poor poet. I read all chapters that were available on the blackboard, attended all lectures but nothing seemed to lessen my anxiety. During one of those lectures, Professor Poe’s speech on how none of us (students) has to be a professional writer in order to create a piece of art because poetry is art, led to my realization of my own imperfections that could be changed only by myself. Other students and I chose this course to learn and practice our reading, writing, editing, collaborating and drafting skills, rather than to compete with each other. Holding that thought in mind, I began further developing strategies for drafting and editing, eventually creating brilliant poems. Lastly, I was convinced of my infinite potential and creativity. I am enormously grateful to Professor Poe for letting me and other students read our poems in class, getting extra points for the course.

Thirdly, I was assigned to analyze my chosen bibliographies for their credibility and utility in my own paper, which further helped me write my research critical analysis essay. Having read the sources on logical fallacies as well as watched videos on them, posted on the Blackboard by Professor Poe, I successfully analyzed the bibliographies I had chosen. I also learned how to locate research diferrent sources in the library’s databases after having a class in the library, and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness and biases. Before taking this course, I didn’t pay much attention to the credibility and biases of any source, choosing sources that contained the information I needed. However, if a source is not credible, it might be biased, affecting the quality of an argument and misleading the audience. Having learned how to analyze sources in the course, I began choosing carefully sources for other courses.

Since I learned how to locate research sources in the library’s databases and archives and analyze secondary sources, finding new supporting evidence in the CCNY libraries for my researched critical essay was relatively easy. For research critical analysis, I used sources on the MLA format citation, specifically for films, posted on the Blackboard and my peer review group members’ constructive criticism on my rough drafts. I engaged in the collaborative and social aspects of this writing process by reviewing my classmates’ drafts and receiving comments on my own draft. For instance, my classmate Elena suggested the following:

I didn’t realize that my essay lacked a transition between the first paragraph, in which I compare an adaptation of a text and a fanfiction, and the second paragraph that is an introduction to my essay. Thus, having applied Elena’s comments, I significantly changed my essay, improving the structure of it. Peer review groups allowed me to meet smart individuals and make new friends. I also had a chance to evaluate my work through different perspectives. Having completed my researched critical analysis, I learned how to compose texts that integrate my stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, which I applied when I  summarized two texts in my essay, critical analysis, seen through my analysis of social issues in both texts, interpretation that I included after in-text citations, synthesis and argumentation, which is essential if one aims at persuading the audience of his or her “righteousness”. Thus, the researched critical analysis is a combination of all the strategies I’ve developed since the beginning of the course. It is an illustration of my massive progress in this course.

Professor Poe has created a peaceful atmosphere in the class that, in my opinion, largely contributed to my progress. Not only I have met the course learning outcomes, but I also felt safe showing my authentic self in the class. Moreover, by creating my portfolio, I find out how to address a range of audiences with the use of digital technologies. The portfolio reflects my academic and personal growth, visible through the works I’ve written.