Abstract

I would not describe myself as a writer, however, the moments in which I do choose to write, I feel like an author. I see writing as having a conversation with your audience. Not only have I enhanced this idea, but I also found new ways to define what writing is throughout the course. By ensuring that I understood each course learning outcome, I was able to use them in each of my assignments. In this semester I also played the role of an editor and edited my own writings, as well as my peers as a way to strengthen my writing skills. Throughout the course, I have enhanced my strengths, turned my weaknesses into strengths, and have found new ways to define writing by successfully completing the course learning abilities.

---

My definition of writing as a conversation between the author and the readers was supported through the general audience and New York Times assignments. The New York Times assignment was to find an article and summarize it. In the second portion, I had to assess the author’s writing. In the first part, I completed the course learning objective that states, “practice using various library sources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects.” I wanted my article to discuss the topic of surgery and strengthen my Internet-use abilities. In the second part, I addressed the fifth learning outcome, “engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond.” I had to analyze the authors writing to see how he addressed the research to the general audience. “Chen not only uses scientific research to support the main argument, but she also uses personal experiences […]Chen depicted this information in a way that was easy to understand the medical jargon.” By discussing the use of personal experiences and defining some definitions that the general audience does not know, I showed how effective she was in depicting the information to her readers. The general audience assignment was to write a paper modeled on the New York Times article and present information in a way that our audience would understand. In this paper, I achieved the third learning outcome, “ negotiate your own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation. My goal was to make my audience feel as if they can relate to my paper and can understand the issue at hand. My introduction was, “Have you given someone advice that you should be taking yourself? Have you helped someone with a problem because you have experienced similar issues? Everyone is guilty of giving advice that they don’t necessarily take themselves.” This was a way for me to grab my audience’s attention to the conversation and ensure that they can relate to the paper. In my paper, I addressed various types of medical professionals, such as psychologists and psychiatrists, therefore it was essential to define the responsibilities of each medical professional. My audience was able to see how each professional played a role in the rhetorical setting that I set in my paper.

Throughout the course, I learned what science writing is and how it combines multiple perspectives and an abundance of information into one paper and presents this information in ways that are still understandable. This ability was shown through the lab report and poster assignments that required my peers and me to collaborate and organize a research project addressing a particular issue in the college community. The group lab report strengthened my ability to “ develop and engage in collaborative and social aspects of writing processes.” Each of us had our own ideas that we wanted to contribute to the project, therefore it was essential that we worked together to find a middle ground. We acknowledged each other’s strengths and remained open-minded to any idea that we had. In this assignment I also addressed my abilities to “enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment.” Our goal in wiring the report was to ensure that it flowed as if there was one author. This required each of us to edit each other’s writing. At times, my partners would point out any errors in my writing or areas that needed my work, allowing me to assess and critique my own work.  We did this by diving the work evenly and then assessing each other’s writing. The report was an eye-opening assignment that showed me how writing creates an open space for various ideas to be implemented, which is what I define as science writing.

Writing is also a way for a person to take on multiple roles, either as a writer, reader, scientists, or an editor. The annotated bibliography assignment allowed me to play the role of an editor. I was required to summarize various articles and assess their reliability and relevance. In my paper, I stated, “The study is reliable because the researchers are experienced and have extensive knowledge in this form of research because they have previously done research related to PTSD or other mental illnesses related to military trauma. The data may contain some bias because it was not self-reported.” This shows my ability to achieve the last learning outcome, “ strengthen your source practices (including evaluating, integrating, quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, analyzing, and citing sources).” I analyzed the article and evaluated its reliability by looking at the authors’ credentials and previous works. When I stated, “The focus of this study was to determine the benefits of using service dogs as a way to treat PTSD or PTSD related symptoms for military veterans,” I was enhancing my summarizing skills and ensured that I was not plagiarizing, but was putting everything into my own words. This assignment also strengthened my citing skills, as I was required to place each citation in CSE name-year format. As seen in my annotated bibliography section on my portfolio, I took notes on the various forms of citations and even provided examples of the correct format. One area in which I did not succeed was in being able to “formulate and articulate a stance through and in your writing.” At the end of my literature review paper where I used the articles from my annotated bibliography to write a report, I had to chance to place my own opinions on the topic. However, I was unable to clearly present my ideas on the topic and should have used evidence to further support my claims. My suggestion that “Research studies should also focus on whether or not service dogs need to be used in addition to other forms of treatment or if it is sufficient enough on its own,” should have been followed by the fact that there is a lack of research in that particular area. This would persuade my readers to support my idea and express interest.

Throughout the semester the way in which I view writing changed, as I have seen the various ways writing can be used. With each assignment, my skills grew and I was able to understand each learning outcome and apply it to my assignments. I gained a new perspective on what science writing is and the importance of each step in the writing process. This class enhanced my abilities and helped me grow as a writer.

---