Self Evaluation Blog #4

For my last essay I had very few grammatical errors marked on my paper. What I could have done to make the paper flow was use lead-ins for book information. For example instead of writing, "In FFN......", I could put, "Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation describes..." What I learned in this reading and writing process was how to use your sources to back up your thesis. Before I would struggle to find more words or find a different perspectives. But i learned that if you use your sources right then it is easier to prove your case. It is also possible to get carried away with the information from the outside sources so i have to make sure that i put three times more of my input than information in the essay. Throughout all the essays I have learned that grammar is very important to your writing. Whatever you write down and whatever grammar patterns you use the reader is going to reader and that pretty much sets the whole tone and voice for the paper. What i discovered while attending class this semester is that writing and critical thinking is not only limited to something that you do in the classroom. Critical thinking can be applied to everything in life and writing is your way of expressing it. This class has definitely helped me become a better writer and to understand the whole writing process on a different level. This class also helped me in the writing process by showing that there are different sources that you can use for writing besides book in a library or stuff on the Internet. Not only is it easier to write, I learned that writing could be interactive and not just plain and boring like " The Banking Concept."

Self Evaluation Blog #3

Again, for this essay grammar was not a big deal. I did not get any points marked down for grammar. From draft one to draft three I think that the hardest part for me was making sure I made myself clear on my thesis. It helped me a lot because we when over the prompt on class and Beth helped me fill in any holes in my logic. There was not one thing that did not help me on this essay. The workshops were good too because i got to read my thoughts out loud and correct any flaws.
Nothing really changed for me on understanding grammar and how important it is to the reader that you have correct grammar and punctuation. I think now I am at the point where I am comfortable with grammar patterns that I use but now I feel I could take it to the next level to make my writing sound and look more sophisticated.
The lecture that helped me a lot was the one Prof. Roberts did in class on the classic argument. I used the lecture to structure my paper and i definitely made the P.I.E structure more manageable. I learned a lot about the topics of regulation in this learning unit. It opened my eyes to a lot of different issues that are happening in the world. Very interesting.
On this essay I got the worst score out of the whole semester. The main reason I got points taken off was the MLA formatting. I do not think I will ever be able to master MLA but I have improved with each paper. I have also learned what not to do with MLA in each essay I write.