What do I think?

After taking Writing 2, I have learned information that will always be helpful during my

time at UCSB, and perhaps even beyond university. Before this class, I would often aimlessly

write and follow the generic structure to formulate an essay. My approach to thinking, reading,

and writing has changed greatly, and I am cautious about what I am writing, how I am writing,

and, most importantly, why am I writing. The breakdown of genres within the course of 10

weeks has been extremely meticulous, but for many good reasons. Writing 2 has changed my

approach to reading and writing, taught me about genres, rhetoric, and essay structure.

Discovering what defines a genre through Bickmore’s “GENRE in the WILD” has taught

me that genres have utterance and are typified and recurrent.1 By knowing the definition a genre,

it is now easier for me to distinguish differences between a plethora of genres in order to “read

like a writer” and thoroughly analyze a text.2 The countless conventions and forms of rhetoric

help an author in creating a piece that is strengthened by their writing strategies. It has taught me

that the tone and structure of an article or work is fixated towards a certain purpose and

audience; because of this, many different authors and companies follow a certain structure of

organization and diction depending on the genre they want.3

By taking this writing class, my personal writing style has evolved. Through the journals

during class, I abley expressed myself. The journals helped me really think about the course and

the different concepts we were learning that week. The journals where we would create our own

works or writings especially helped me to express my individuality and creativity because it

1
Lisa Bickmore, Genre in the Wild, ​https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/
2
Mike Bunn, “How to Read Like a Writer”
3
Janet Boyd. “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking).” ​Course Reader​, 5-6.
made me think outside of the box. Rather than staying in the lines with my essays, I was able to

write without the strict limitations that writing styles like MLA format have. My personal writing

style has improved in a sense that my paragraphs flow more smoothly from one idea to another.

The two writing projects that I revised were Writing Project 1 and Writing Project 2. I

selected these two WPs mostly for the reason that they were the 2 out of 3 that had the lowest

grades; however, there is more to that. I realize that there were many aspects that I could

improve on in both WPs. Some specific issues in WP1 included the organization of my essay.

The essay was very choppy and did not smoothly transition from idea to idea. Many of the

sentences of each paragraph did not transition, and the first sentence of the next paragraph would

often abruptly shift to the next idea. In order to fix this issue, I referred back to the Cohesion and

Coherence PDF on GauchoSpace and fixed the sentence accordingly. In addition, the evidence

that I provided was not strong enough to support my claim. To fix this, I narrowed down the

claims that I made and reduced the number of conventions that I was talking about. Afterwards, I

took the conventions I wanted to talk about and supported them with evidence and its analysis.

The type of feedback I found most helpful was the peer-editing sessions we had during class.

Peer-editing gave me another individual’s point of view of my work, which gives more insight

outside of an instructor and myself. The work that I am most proud of in this portfolio is my

ability to create a strong thesis. For each WP, I had a strong thesis; however, I would still like to

improve on my analysis of evidence that I give to support my claim. In order to improve on my

analyzation of evidence, I will make sure that the evidence I provide relates to the thesis and ask

myself “Why am I using this to support my claim? If I cannot find a reason, it is most likely that

I need to replace the evidence I have with another piece that relates to my thesis.
 My improvement as a writer over the past 10 weeks is evident in these projects. Each

project builder and writing project has improved throughout the course, as I notice my essay are

able to flow easily. The strongest features of my writing are my thesis and my flow from one

idea to another. My thesis discusses all of the ideas that I plan to go over in the body paragraphs

of my essay, and the flow of my essays and paragraph transitions have improved as well.

I believe that writing is one of the most important skills that someone can have. Writing

is how we convey information and communicate with others. Writing is found in all disciplines,

such as social studies, science, and even mathematics. Even if there are different languages

around the world, the form of writing is universal, and it is how we learn. Being a strong writer

comes with many benefits and permits a person to express their individuality and knowledge to

others. I will continue my education with everything that I have learned from Writing 2. As a

student aspiring to major in biological psychology, writing will be an important part in my

education. If I ever become involved in research, I will immediately know how to look for

sources on the UCSB library website because of the library module on GauchoSpace. Depending

on the genre, I will constantly think about the way in which I am writing and why I decided to

write it. In this way, I will be able to write more purposefully and even strengthen my paper with

all the genre conventions that I have learned. Having writing skills will help me succeed as a

UCSB student.

As I count down the days until break, I look back at what I have learned in this class.

Even if this was merely a class to satisfy the mandatory GE requirements, I will leave with

valuable information that I will keep for the rest of my academic life. Writing is an important
part of life that is useful in myriad situations, and the creation of a knowledgeable writer is the

creation of an academic scholar.

Lisa Bickmore, Genre in the Wild, ​https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/

Mike Bunn, “How to Read Like a Writer”

Janet Boyd. “Murder! (Rhetorically Speaking).” ​Course Reader,​ 5-6.