Frederica Andoh
Professor Justine Matias
ENGL 210-Writing for the Sciences
December 13, 2022

End of Semester Summary

My overall experience in this class was very relaxful, studios, and motivated. The class was relaxful because though there were deadlines we had to meet, I feel like we took everything step by step so that we would not have to rush, especially when it came to group projects. It was also studios because I got to learn more about the topics that I chose and analyze texts that were very long. Lastly, it was motivational because the professor encouraged open communication and free thinking with my peers and I to make us feel engaged. My development as a writer for this semester has improved from the beginning to the end. Throughout this course, English 210, not only have I been able to use writings and videos from multiple media, but I understood my strengths and weaknesses when I wrote. However, throughout the course, there were four main concepts that I mastered. The first concept that I have shown complete understanding of is how to use key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of texts. The second was demonstrating an understanding of summarizing, paraphrasing, analyzing, and synthesizing information from a variety of sources in my writing. Thirdly, I can formulate viable research questions and conclusions. Lastly, I can evaluate the work of others, give useful feedback to others on their writing and evaluate and incorporate feedback from others in my own writing. In my essay I will be giving examples of each of these concepts, which I will highlight how they contributed to the growth of my writing throughout the semester.
In this class, I learned how to effectively use key rhetorical concepts through analyzing and composing a variety of texts. One of the assignments that I was effective in doing was the Rhetorical Analysis of advertisement. Though this assignment was small it helped test my knowledge of using rhetorical devices in an advertisement. I found this activity very useful because I start off small and then work onto bigger things. I think the use of my vocabulary developed just a little. I feel a little more comfortable using words that I am not used to but I still catch myself going back to the same vocabulary. My language has been slightly better, especially in one of the papers, we were not allowed to use contractions because it was more of a formal educational writing. I found it just a little bit hard especially when using the word “can’t” instead of cannot. I am so used to writing or even texting in contractions that it is basically a part of my everyday social life. But as I was revising my paper, I fixed all of the errors and now I am better at not using contractions. Our first article we read in class was easy to interpret. While reading, I found some rhetorical devices that I believe the author used in his writing which were appealing to pathos and logos. This reading taught me how softwares was gradually becoming a problem today, which had me questioning a few things. The second reading was a group project about cloning. That reading was actually difficult to understand. I read it twice and on the third try, I began to use context clues and observations to have a better understanding of the text. My group and I then came together to formulate a presentation on the topic based on the reading. My job was to find any rhetorical device and details that I found important to the text. That was easy for me since I annotated while reading. Overall the readings and discussion posts that we used helped me become a better analyzer when it came to reading difficult articles.
During the writing process both my informative review essay and position paper were very similar but yet had different outcomes. When creating the informative review essay, I first created a draft to get an idea of what I would be informing the audience about based on the topic I chose. I then made my cover page that included pictures and the title to grab the audience’s attention. The informative review essay was very simple to me because I had to just inform the audience about anything science related that I would like to discuss. I chose climate change because I was more comfortable and had prior knowledge of it. It was one of the issues I felt like we needed to address everyday because the more we harm the planet, the less we are able to survive. When receiving feedback from my professor, she stated that my work cited page was off. We also did a peer review session where one of my classmates reviewed my essay and provided feedback about what I need to add, delete, or even simplify. This feedback was actually helpful because I got to have a second opinion on my paper just in case. I also gave feedback on a paper to the peer that reviewed my paper. For example, my peer stated that my thesis would be better placed at the end of the introduction. With this, I made sure to go back and place my thesis at the end. For the Position Paper, I started my first draft by starting with the counterargument because I found that part the hardest to do. What made it hard for me was finding an opposing source that was strong for my argument. Once I tried to complete the counter argument, I submitted it for feedback from the Professor. I then moved on to the conclusion because it was the easiest section for me to do so I completed it with no problems. When I received the feedback for the counter argument, I immediately went to fix whatever advice the professor gave me. This made it a lot easier for me to have a better understanding on how I am supposed to formulate the argument. For example, Professor told me that I started a sentence off well but was missing the second half of the sentence in order for it to be complete: “While some might agree with this argument that the benefits of recycling do not outweigh the negative effects in our planet, especially if most people are aware of the issue and that the planet is slowly becoming worse”. I took her advice and made the sentence complete by stating “ Recycling is beneficial for our environment because it helps protect animal habitats, conserve energy, and natural resources; especially if most people are aware of this issue that climate change is slowly becoming worse. For these reasons, many will argue that it is not effective for our environment because it is confusing, and it is time consuming”. When it came down to organizing both papers for the first drafts, I kept the same procedure which was Introduction, Body 1, Body 2, and Conclusion. Overall these two papers really showed me how to expand my writing by using feedback from others and to just let things flow in my paper. My experience with the library database was okay. I pulled sources from the CCNY Database maybe once or twice. It was a little difficult at first but when the librarian came to show us how to navigate the website, it made it a lot easier to use. I also used Google Scholar plenty of times for references because it was much easier for me to find sources.
In Conclusion, the lessons that I learned through this course were one of the greatest I have ever learned in college. I am thankful for Professor Justine Matias for being a great teacher and also providing feedback to me. Thank you for the guidance that was enough to help me grow as a person throughout this semester. When it came to group work, I was 100% committed to bringing my best out for this work and I am happy to say that all that hard work did pay off. I tried something new and I was determined to finish all my assignments despite all the obstacles I faced throughout the semester. I participated a decent amount of times whether it was through the chat or through the microphone or even in groups. I learned how to cite sources the proper way along with making sure that my paper was relevant to the topic that we learned in class. Lastly, I learned how to be a good writer and that it’s okay to take your time and draft all your ideas down before starting a paper. I still struggle with being confident in my writing and a little procrastination but I am proud to say that I have improved on properly citing sources since this was the main problem I had with my papers. Since this is my last English class, this course has enabled me to think critically in terms of reading and selecting articles that really support my writing. The field of study greatly influenced the extent of achieving the course learning objectives, but I still have a few to accomplish. All in all, I have learned a lot and hope to take what I have learned to future classes.

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