Midterm Reflection (in class)

Mark Lamar

February 15th, 2016

English 1102

Through the first half of this semester of English 1102 my outlook on writing has opened up in several different ways.  The class structure itself is completely new to me and has been a learning experience alone.  However, more than just how the class is designed but the subject matter has surprised me.  Writing about the world around me through more than just words has shown me how creative writing can really be.  Most english classes are based off of writing from secondary research while this class is fueled by students going out to compose primary research themselves and writing about it.  Through this method, a completely unique work is formed every time.  This semester is the first time I have ever done an annotated bibliography or a built environment description.   So far the first three projects have shown me the different formats for different types of writing and how they all come together.  I believe my peers and others who see the work I have done in this class will use it as an example or a guide on how to conduct research and document it.  Writing in a blog is different than anything I’ve ever done for a class and I believe that it has help me become more aware that my writing is open to world once it is on the internet.  Usually in english class a paper is written and emailed directly to the instructor and never published.  Multimodality has helped me bring more life and reality to my writing than ever before because of how organic the assignments are.

The aspect of my writing that I want to improve on is my formality.  I would like to get better in recognizing the formats for different forms of writing and being able to write a bibliography with little to no errors.  I haven’t attempted any extra points activities yet because I have been balancing other coursework although when I get the chance I do plan to schedule a meeting to talk about how I can better devote time to this class.  So far I am pleased with my effort in this class.  I think the Desire 2 Learn Quizzes will be helpful extra credit opportunities for me.

One thing I plan to change about my approach to this class will be the time I allocate to it.  I plan on starting to work on my projects earlier to ensure I give myself enough time to produce the best work I am capable of.  This way I will have an even more accurate measurement of where my writing stands compared to where it should be.  I think working more with the Writers Help 2.0 book will help me be a better writer when it comes to expressing ideas in a way that the reader can understand exactly what I am trying to convey.