I chose my issue of concern for a few reasons, but those reasons changed as I started writing. I initially wanted to expose (though I wouldn’t be the first) the tobacco company for their slimy practices. However, I did a complete 180 degree turn and realized that the main reason for choosing this topic was that I feel smoking is a personal choice and I get tired of people blaming others for the choices they choose to make. This change happened when I wrote the report. My job was to present facts and I started to question why I was so against a legitimate business. I was going to write my position paper on the question of whether or not tobacco ads influenced people to start smoking. But then I realized that that was a non-issue. First of all, the ads have all but completely been banned, and second of all, nothing would really be accomplished by proving one side or the other. Finally I made the decision to talk about personal choice. I wanted to bring up other examples of companies who have potentially dangerous products so that it would show how these products are in front of us all the time, and I wanted to show how important it is to make wise decisions.
I feel I did fairly well with the report assignment. I am good at seeing both sides of issues, and understanding different perspectives. However, I struggled slightly with the review assignment and even more so with the position paper. Before taking this class I had, of course, heard of writing in genres but I had little to no experience with actually doing it. Everything I have written up to now has been in an academic tone, merely reporting facts with little room for my own voice. I know that this is the reason that I struggled with the two papers that required a voice.
I felt I had kind of gone out on a limb by using a slightly sarcastic tone in my review paper, and I was slightly nervous to have it peer reviewed. Someone in the class commented that she liked the tone I used. This gave me quite a bit of confidence to go further with it. After I wrote my first draft of the review I had a writing session with one of the writing coaches in the student writing center. Again, I thought for sure that my tone would be one of his main critiques. But to my surprise, he made the comment that he didn’t feel it had enough of my tone and voice. As I read back through it I noticed that in several places I had reverted back to the report style of writing that I am so comfortable with. I can clearly see now that this is also what I did throughout the position paper.
It was a challenge for me to write in the position genre but after receiving suggestions on putting more of my voice into the paper I really tried to force myself out of the comfort zone and boldly state some of my opinions. I know that I still need more practice in this area but I feel like the result was a much needed improvement from the first draft.
Another thing I learned in writing all of these papers is that there are different strategies of argument for different types of papers. For example, in the review I noticed that I had much more freedom in expressing my opinions and in using a more sarcastic tone. With the position paper, however, since I was working to get people on my side, I had to be a little less aggressive in my tone, meaning that I couldn’t be as sarcastic and cutting, but rather more enticing.
Finding appropriate sources is something else that I have learned a tremendous amount about in this class. For example, I am a pretty gullible person, and before taking this class I would pretty much believe everything I read and never really thought to check the source. Doing research for these assignments has really opened my eyes to the amount of misinformation there is out there and how important it is to check for a reliable source before eating up the information, or worse, presenting it to people as fact.
Learning proper research strategies along with learning to find my own voice has helped me in conversation with others. First off, I don’t tend to always believe everything others say without first researching it for myself, no matter how credible that person may seem. Secondly, I feel more confident in expressing my opinions and views to others instead of simply staying neutral all the time. Some of the articles that I read out of the textbook seemed outrageous to me, but I was still able to appreciate the fact that the writer had a strong voice and was able to freely express his or her opinion. I also came to realize that it didn’t matter what others thought. After all, it doesn’t hurt the writer any if I disagree with him or her.
Working with other writers has been a huge help to me. When I started working at the Community Writing Center I didn’t like writing in groups and didn’t understand the concept of writing being a collaborative act. The more I write and edit documents, the more I realize how beneficial it is to have different perspectives and opinions when working on a piece. This class proved no exception. My group was able to point out valid points and arguments that I honestly didn’t even see or conceive of. This can only help a piece of writing and it did very much help mine. I also learned something significant while reviewing others’ papers. It can be quite difficult to look past the grammar of a piece and to the heart of the paper. But I know first hand how frustrating it is to get only feedback on grammar. I had to learn the right questions to ask. What is the purpose of this paper? Who is the audience? What is the thesis statement? In turn, these questions helped my own writing, as they were questions I needed to ask, and answer, myself.
To say that I was intimidated by citing sources would be an understatement! Normally I love tedious tasks, however this proved maybe a bit too tedious at first! However, once I learned the format for citing, it wasn’t that difficult, especially because the book gave clear examples. I don’t feel near intimidated by the task of citing sources now, which is a huge relief!
When it’s all said and done, this class has been a tremendous help to me. Putting together my portfolios felt like a big accomplishment to me! It was so great to put together three pieces of writing that I had worked so hard on. The feeling I got from knowing that I had completed a huge task and did the best I could was an awesome feeling. I worked especially hard on the task because I wanted to have a polished piece of writing to put in my resume if needed.
I love to write and the more I do it, the easier it becomes. I especially appreciated receiving helpful critiques as that significantly helped me understand how to improve (sometimes I get far too close to the piece of writing, and it is very difficult at that point to see things in perspective). Another thing that I loved about this class was the fact that it was so short, but not for the reason one would think. I initially was going to take this class in the Fall, simply because I would have more time to enjoy it. I’m glad that I didn’t, in a way, because learning to write quickly is a skill I very much needed. There was also no time for procrastination and that kept me motivated. Writing has become a much more natural task for me; I don’t suffer from “writer’s block” near as often, and as I said earlier, I can write so much more quickly. The thing I am excited about the most, though, is that I feel I have much more confidence in my ability to write in genres other than the academic essay, and I am still fascinated with the concept of how much revision has improved my writing!
