Reflections

UWRT-1101-090
Paul Chang

My decision of the daybook entries that I chose to include and refine

was based upon the ones with most interesting topics and also the topics
that required critical thinking to come into play. Over the course of the
semester, the daybook entries provide the development process of my
writing skills and the curriculum that was taught in this course. Being a
reflection of the curriculum and development of writing, the daybook entries
provided also reflected what I was most passionate in responding to and
what intrigued me in the classroom. Process pieces included such as the
This I Believe paper was included because I think that this essay went
through the whole writing process which included peer review. The revision
checklist for the This I Believe paper that was reviewed by a peer helped
me understand my own writing from a different perspective which was very
helpful in the development of my final draft. The comments from my peers
was necessary to understand what I needed to improve on to produce and
finalize a more well-rounded paper. My decision to polish works such as
the ethnography was because it was already a well-written research paper
yet without polishing and the pursuit of perfecting the paper would be a
waste. Being very close to the finish line, I find it crucial to place the last
piece of the puzzle in its rightful position which in this case is fixing
grammatical errors and such so that the final product will be near perfect.

Having enduring upon multiple research papers and projects, I think

that the most important piece of writing that I had produced was the
Ethnography paper. I think that it is the most important is because it
requires the writer to sit in a discourse group and get out of their comfort
zone. As a writer, it is important to convey the situation as accurately as
possible. Observations and first-hand experience is also crucial to rounding
a good writer because it minding your surroundings and describing it onto
paper from what you see is what I imagine a skill that good writer would
possess. The research aspect of the Ethnography project is also an
important factor to the development of a writer. The ethnography requires
primary and secondary research which allows the writer to dig through
different sources of information to find the knowledge needed to include
into the paper to buttress the facts and enhance the accuracy and
legitimacy of the paper. The whole process in which I had to capture the
scene of the Automotive Culture of Charlotte helped me develop myself
as a writer because of all the steps, such as research, that I had to take in
order to have a final product in hand.
The Ethnography being an interesting research paper was just a
few concepts that this class had to offer. Daybook entries differed from
normal research papers such as the Ethnography paper yet both
provoked the critical thinking of myself and the mind of the writer. These
types and genres that we write about in class are on a broad spectrum of
different types of writing that all vary in its relation to the overall subject of
writing but still comes together as an experience and development of
writing skills that makes them not too different. From the discussion of what
came to mind about pop culture to the layout and design of magazines,

these types of projects are very different in their nature. The unique
distinction of these projects however, makes it so that our writing skills
were challenged and tested in various fields and genres. Approaching
these situations were all completely different yet as the different projects
came after one another, I started to develop how to approach various
topics as a writer. I would know how to decide on what I wanted to do and
then how I set that plan into motion, what comes after that depends on the
situation but as a writer, Ive figured out ways of strategizing approaches to
different topics. In the broader view of things, these sets of writing skills in
which I developed all seemed to come together and it is noticeable on the
writings because I have learned from the mistakes and slowly corrected my
ability to approach and conquer all the different topics and genres that are
thrown to you. The difference is how you approach it as the developed
writer that you are through what knowledge you have accumulated.

Strength and weaknesses is what you would view as a writer to see

what you can improve on in the process of becoming more well-rounded.
Being that criticisms worth so much more than compliments, the
weaknesses of my writing jump out at me more because it allows for
improvement and thats what is most important as a writer. Weaknesses
that I notice consistently in my papers are that I tend to forget some
grammatical rules and make the grammatical errors. I forget to site the
sources when I quote phrases so that as a writer I could be plagiarizing. A
huge weakness for me as a writer is that I am way to vague with my
description and wording thus leads to a confusing and awkward sentence
structure and interpretation. I also need a better organization structure so
that there is less repetition and more development. The work cited page

that I create usually needs to be looked over as well to check for common
errors such as alphabetical order and spacing.

These weaknesses in my writing are pointed out by peer reviewers

and the professor after reviewing my paper. I enjoy reading the comments
of my paper because it helps me understand what I need to improve on
and most importantly learn from these mistakes. Although these mistakes
are most likely reoccurring, it makes it easier to spot the trend and pinpoint
the consistent mistake which is what I define the weakness. The learning
from my weaknesses is vital to me as a writer because I can then find out
what Im lacking in and then reinforce my learning positively by
permanently correcting my weakness. Learning from the selected work is
what I value the most because there is actually an underlying trend in my
papers in terms of the grades. My grades on each project sequentially
improves and thats because the lessons learned from papers, beginning
with the This I Believe paper, is slowly but surely helping me understand
weaknesses and help me improve on them.

My thinking has changed since the first day of being a student of this
writing course. The trajectory of my thinking changed after discussing and
learning about what critical thinking is. Although I understood the concept
of this form of thinking, I never could put it into perspective until this writing
course. My thinking has changed over this semester because before
putting it in words, I start with thinking critically about my writing. It helps
me develop a better explanation and helps me develop a good approach to
the certain topic. I have grown as a reader as well as a critical thinker,
being able to write with critical thinking also allows me to read and think

critically about what the author is trying to convey and deeper meanings
behind the face of his or her words. In my writing, you can see that my
development and elaboration has become less shallow and has a deeper
meaning. Compared to my first paper and the papers written in high school,
I think critically about how I will write this and how my audience will read
this. An example of how I am thinking more critically is that in my
ethnography paper I attempt to become part of the discourse community
and seek to understand first then to be understood.

The progression of growth as a writer has improved as of taking this

writing course. My biggest challenge in the course is to readjust my
mindset into that of a writers. The challenge of being able to think critically,
perform extensive research, and write freely is an adjustment that I had to
make in order to allow room for growth. Although there were challenges
faced, I didnt have to take any risks as a writer. The challenges help me
develop as a writer and critical thinker as displayed in daybook entries in
which it required opinions and thoughts on topics that required us to think
critically. Over the course of the semester, I began to write with more
structure and elaboration as well as a better thought process and a critically
thought explanation.