Most Improved Learning Outcome:
#2 Be able to integrate their ideas with those of others using summary, paraphrase, quotation, analysis, and synthesis of relevant sources.
I believe I have improved the most on integrating my ideas with those of the authors and their writing pieces. The two major ways I have been able to improve this learning outcome has been by making my voice my present, and quote sandwiches. Eliminating the stigma around using personal pronouns while also using personal, argumentative, language has greatly helped me integrate my ideas into my writing. Before I was always told to stay away from making academic writing personal, but now I understand that argumentative writing should be personal as it is ultimately me who is trying persuade readers. Secondly, quote sandwiches have really helped me put my ideas in conversation with writing pieces. With a clear introduction and analysis of a quote, I have greatly improved my ability to naturally integrate the ideas of others with my own. This has also helped me outline what I want the reader to specifically see in the quote, and how it directly connects to my argument. Without this focused introduction and analysis of the quote, an excerpt from any piece of writing would feel like an island standing in the middle of the paragraph. This would not only hinder my ability to support an argument with sources, but also hinder my ability to put my voice in conjunction with that of somebody else.
Needs More Attention:
#6 Control sentence-level error (grammar, punctuation, spelling).
When I assess the quality of my work so far this semester, I feel as though my sentence-level writing needs more attention. I feel as though my overall essays have been strong, but that strength has really come from paragraph structures, quote sandwiches, and strong arguments. In other words, I feel as though the greatest writing strength is at the global level. I have noticed however that each individual sentence definitely needs more attention. I often get bogged down in creating these very wordy sentences that can often times be too long. I think this is because I have a lot of ideas that I want to get onto the page, and in doing so I overcomplicate and overload a single sentence. Consequently, paragraphs can lack the impression of flow and can be difficult to read aloud (lack rhythm). I have identified four major ways in which I can improve on this learning outcome. Firstly, reading more will greatly improve my ability to naturally form strong sentences. By experiencing good writing, I’ll be able to get a better sense of how writing should sound, and will then be able to write sentences that feel more natural and sound more clear. Secondly, I think dressing down more sentences will help me create writing that flows nicer. I tend to dress up and complicate words (especially in academic writing), which ultimately hurts my ability to form easy-reading sentences. Thirdly, improving my ability to transition from one sentence to the next with transitioning terms and ideas that flow in a logical order. In other words, breaking up sentences into smaller ideas, that all flow one after the other will help sentences be compact and easier to read. This will help eliminate my problem of really long sentences that are breath-drainers. Lastly, eliminating all the fluff and redundant parts of sentences. I have a weird tendency to repeat myself a lot in sentences. By eliminating all the useless words and ideas in a sentence will also help in shortening them up. I think if I can do all of these better/more, then I will be able to improve this learning outcome by the end of the semester.
