Annessa Young

Professor Peterson

College Composition II WISE

May 3, 2011

Final Self Assessment

A Reflection through College Composition II: Creativity and Improvement

                It was just last semester when I remember sitting down doing the exact same thing I am doing now, reflecting on my accomplishments and experiences in WISE over this past semester. However, the reflection seems to be a bit different because as I look back I find this semester to be more challenging, but, even more enjoyable. This past semester has been more challenging than the last. There were more papers that required more steps, which resulted in more time, and also this semester in WISE English and even in WISE History we had to really engage in our thought process when doing each paper; which is not a awful thing but this semester taught me that I really had to work hard and use my time wisely in order for me to be successful. 

            Furthermore, within the past semester we have had many assignments. However, there are only six assignments that showcase my best work. Throughout these six assignments are three majors and three minors; although, I have much more work that I am accountable for these are what show my progression as a writer meaning that I have shown much improvement from paper to paper and in my creativity. Moreover my grades reflect that. 

            The first major assignment from least to greatest that displays my best work is the Midterm Paper/Slave Narrative. This paper was the most challenging paper of them all because it required much more thinking and it was much more time consuming; there was a prospectus, a two page working draft, and then the final draft. On the prospectus I did not do well, I received a 56%. But on the next step to the assignment which was the two page working draft I improved tremendously and received a 72%. The part I struggled with the most was coming up with the research question. Since the research question prepared us for the thesis and with the thesis being the main idea of the paper all of these major aspects had to connect, and had to be relevant with a valid point. The last step was the final draft which I entitled From Slave to Seamstress: Fighting the Odds in Elizabeth Keckley’s Behind the Scenes, or Thirty years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. With all of the preparation such as the many tutoring sessions with Professor Peterson and the time spent on my own I improved from the first draft to the final draft and received an 80%. The time well spent and the creativity that I put into my paper earned me the success on this paper and my grades did indeed reflect it.

            The second major assignment that deserves second best is the Literary Analysis. The Literary Analysis was not as stressful as all the other major assignments, and I enjoyed it a little more than I did the others as well. It did not take as much time on this assignment as I did on the others, but I still had to think about what I was going to do my analysis on to make my paper significant. I did my Literary Analysis on Amy Tan’s Two Kinds. The best part of my paper was my creativity and how I analyzed my story to make it even more engaging. I showed how Amy Tan used different literary devices to show the similarities of the two women in the story hence the name Two Kinds. I also used Professor Peterson’s office hours as a strategy to help me be successful on this paper, and I was.

            Lastly, the third major assignment that I did the best on was the last major assignment for history, which was the History Research Paper that required citing in CMS. It had to be six pages and since it was in CMS we had to have footnotes. The most challenging part of this assignment was the page requirement, citing everything right, the time it took to do all the steps, and also fulfilling the needs of writing for a History Professor. Since writing for History and English are two different styles of writing it can be difficult to go from one writing style to another. In History, writing is much different because it is writing like a historian. When writing like a historian you have to write as if the reader has no idea as to what you are writing about even though you think they may, which makes it difficult. Also, CMS is a very tedious citing style, and you have to know the difference between a footnote and endnote and then they have to be exact; it makes the paper difficult to write as well. There were four parts to this assignment which included the annotated bibliography, the prospectus, the rough draft, and the final draft. These were all great strategies that helped me in becoming a success for this paper. Each part of the assignment helped me to better my grade in the end. I wrote my paper on The Harlem Renaissance a creative topic that I felt no one would do since it was a history paper. I received an 85% on the annotated bibliography, the prospectus, and the rough draft. I saw no progress in my writing preparation until I revised my rough draft, and made a 90% on the final draft of the Research Paper. My weaknesses on this paper came when I had to do the footnotes and also in writing like a historian.

            In addition to the many major assignments there were three minor assignments that helped in preparation to some of the major assignments, and also blogs that reflected my thoughts. All of these minor assignments showcase my greatest work. The blog about Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia is a blog that I did really well on. I did well on this assignment number one because I felt strongly about his topic: the inferiority of African Americans. Secondly, I did well because I went in detail about what I thought, I gave evidence, and I clearly stated my thoughts, I was concise.   

            The two minor assignments were PowerPoint presentations that helped in preparation for the two major assignments mentioned: the Midterm/Slave Narrative paper, and the History Research Paper. The first PowerPoint presentation was a group presentation explaining our Slave Narrative: Elizabeth Keckley. Although this was a group presentation I did the PowerPoint myself, it was creative and due to the time that I spent on it I made a 92%. The last minor assignment which was also a PowerPoint presentation was the collaborative presentation with the History Research Paper. We were to make a presentation that explained points that we were going to mention in and about our paper. This was the best minor assignment that I did. It was professional and met all requirements, and it possessed originality. I made a 100% on the assignment because of those great qualities.

            Throughout my journey in WISE English I have grown in writing a great deal. My confidence is higher, and when I write I know how to connect the three main aspects of a paper, which are the thesis, title, and the main idea, these are all the crux of a paper and this is what I will take out of this course. I have come to the realization that if you have all of these in a paper everything else will come easy because you then have focus. Moreover, my expectations for this course were met beyond my imagination. I learned more than what I thought I could actually learn. My goal for this class was to make a hard earned A. In the beginning of the semester I slacked but then I pulled myself up and worked hard and as I reflect I can see my hard work has and still is paying off. I believe that even though I have a mid B I can still get an A for the semester. My improvements have really shown in my writing, every paper gets better and my grades reflect it. I know how to connect the thesis to my entire paper, I know how to adhere to the rhetorical situation, I can connect my thoughts well to where my sentences flow, and sentence variation is easier. If I could change anything while on this journey, I would not change anything because everything is a learning experience, and every fork in the road is a way for me to get better; every mistake I made I learned from it and used it to better myself in my writing.