D#13, HW#1 - WP#4 Cover Letter Draft

I submitted writing project four yesterday in Google documents for the class to review.

Reflective Cover Letter

Dear English 102 Classmates, Professor and Future Self:

The beginning of my journey was quite difficult as I struggled with outcome one. I was battling my topic choice, narrowing my focus of an appropriate audience and diligently trying to determining why I wanted to write about the subject I chose with the writing of deadline two, homework one. Determining a solid research question also proved difficult when working through deadline three, which started with the reading reflection listed under homework one. I also continued to struggle with narrowing my audience within this deadline by starting with only two groups, then broaden that to several groups. I later revised this to one specific group I had not even considered. Finally, in deadline nine, homework one, I felt confident in identifying my purpose, audience, topic and thesis statement. The conclusion resulted in my writing project three submitted during deadline 10, homework two and deadline 12, homework 2.

For outcome two, I was able to start organizing which websites to use for annotated bibliographies with deadline four, homework eight. I started to gain a better understanding of how to organize my time more efficiently with deadline five, homework 10. Deadline nine, homework seven is where I really flourished with my organizing skills. At last, I was able to organize all the information I collected through research using an outline as a guide to develop a logical and coherent paper. This is also evident with writing project three submitted during deadline 10.

Writing, for outcome three, in a consistent voice, tone and diction was difficult for me to grasp with English 102. I had just completed the English 101 course the prior semester, in which I was instructed not to use terms such as ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘you’ within my writing projects. It is apparent I learned this lesson well because I did not use these terms for my writing project one appropriately. I believe I corrected this through writing project three. Grammar and spelling are usually my strongest skills when it comes to writing. However, the main area I can still improve in is the grammar aspect. I tend to use relatively easy words to comprehend and do not push myself to use words that are generally not commonly used on a day to day basis, at least not in my daily life. This is one course outcome I have the opportunity to continue to improve and expand in.

Accomplishing half of the fourth outcome is only as good as the writing that follows it. I had ample opportunities to locate print sources, however, due to family and work life I was unable to utilize the features of the library on campus. Instead I relied primarily with online sources to locate, evaluate and selecting resources that would be used in my writing projects one through three submitted in deadlines 4; 6; 7; 9; 10; and 12. If I could do this course again, this is one course outcome I’d like to have put more effort into. I will also need to explore this avenue further when I have another opportunity with research or papers involved.

Outcome five was definitely a learning experience for me. Improving skills I thought I already possessed was evident through deadline six, homework 11. Referencing writing project three, I believe I achieved this outcome fully.

APA style was determined at the beginning of the class and I was able to achieve outcome six by referencing writing projects one through three. The only concern I have for this course outcome though is that there are many differentiating references in citing sources. I mainly focused on using the handbook as a guideline; however, I did note the troubles I faced through stumbling blocks three and four.

My opinion on feedback for outcome seven is not appealing. Although I am thankful for the feedback I received from fellow classmates, I am concerned that the opportunity to possibly offend or hurt someone’s feelings is too open when there is little monitoring to stem this from happening. I refer specifically to my deadline 10, homework eight. My other concern with feedback is that during a five week course, there is little time to interact with the professor and fellow classmates on a regular basis. This is strictly my own opinion, though others may agree or disagree. The professor of this class was very helpful and responsive when questions were asked. I unfortunately did not list this information within my blog. I have kept my emails and graded writing projects where she has been very instrumental in providing the necessary feedback I could use to further improve my writing skills.

The references I have for outcome eight are the written evaluations I received through peer review and from my instructor via graded work. Unfortunately, I did not include the graded work within my blog. I have the saved documentation though. My writing skills have improved evident through writing project three and peer reviews further added to the fact I rarely have misspellings, which I believe is still my strongest skill when it comes to writing.

The last outcome can be referenced with my blog, draft and final submissions of my writing projects (through Google documents and Turnitin.com,) which will be my testimonial evidence for my generated, formatted and edited writings which demonstrated I used the available technologies appropriately. Also to be included is www.del.ic.ous.com for tagging my sources used with writing projects two through three.

After reviewing all the course outcomes, I feel confident in achieving several of the outcomes such as writing for specific rhetorical contexts; organizing writing to support a central idea; integrating sources; and using appropriate technologies to complete homework and projects. The outcomes requiring further work are using appropriate conventions and locating, evaluating and selecting ‘print’ sources. These two specific areas I intend to rework through spare time to further improve my writing skills and understanding of their concepts.