Category: General Participation

Information presented to me by this class’ coursework has proven to enhance my style of writing. In the past I have learned that when writing summaries to include commentary and information attained from further research to build on what the author has said. In this class I have learned that summaries should include nothing but a shorter form of what was written, how it was written and what is trying to be portrayed through the words. What I have learned about research and writing for this class is how to properly write an annotated bibliography because in the past I did not cite things properly and summarize the information properly. Writing for the built environment has taught me a lot on reflecting on my environment, which helps build patience and awareness. Sitting and reflecting on what I observed through the course of the hour at the Atlanta beltline made me realize things I have never see before even though I frequently visit the trail. The rhetorical situation for the compositions I have written in this class are as follows: The subject of my compositions have been on built environment and what all it means and how it is represented in and around the city of Atlanta, as a writer I have to compose works which reflect on what I have learned, and the readers must be properly informed by what I have to say but not persuaded to feel any way by my works. The audience we are trying to appeal to are others interested in Atlanta’s built environment and other topics which include history and rhetoric of different places in the city of Atlanta. Writing and composition using a blog is different from past writings I have done because I have to think about how the aesthetic of everything I post and the blog and how it affect the reader and their willingness to even read the article in full or not. Including different types of media enhances the work and engages the reader in multiple ways. Including these media types has definitely opened me to different styles and encourages my use of new strategies to analyze and summarize the media used.

Some of my strengths as a writer during work from this class is definitely how in depth I go when analyzing things. I think learning about intriguing topics such as the city of Atlanta and all its quirks really engages me and makes me strive to be attentive to my work. An aspect of my writing I want to work on is not including my personal opinion on things when it is not asked for and appropriate e.g. my summaries. For extra points I have attended office hours/ study groups which I believe was substantially helpful because for the first few weeks I had no idea how to work anything on this website or how to even access the weekly overview. I am not satisfied with the effort I have put into the class thus far. I feel like online classes are too much for me to handle but there’s a little character trait called perseverance. My workload with other classes is overwhelming me and causing me to focus less and less on this class.

I will change my approach to the remaining reading summaries and more that are due in the future. Based on what I have learned from the previous assignments I need to set reminders that things are due at least 3-4 days in advance to let myself know that things are due so I can work on each assignment in increments instead of all at once. I also need to include more media to enhance the readers and the level of engagement. Extra point activities I will incorporate into my weekly workload are the extra credit materials and submitting more of my pictures and sounds. Adding in these activities will help me improve as a writer because it will reenforce what I have learned from the reading. Overall I believe this reflection was beneficial because it made me ponder on my strengths and weaknesses during this English 1102 course and now I can make changes to better my work.