Reflection #1 - Self Assessment

My Writing Process:

        Generally, my writing strategies tend to be pretty similar no matter the type of essay or paper I am writing. I always start out with an outline, which is very helpful, because it helps me see all of the information that I am planning on using and helps to guide me as I write, in order to ensure that I do not go off track. Before outlining, I like to research the topic that I am writing about in order to gain a better understanding and make sure that I am truly grasping the material that I am working with. If I am writing a research paper, I like to first figure out a broad idea of what I am researching. I do this because I do not like to restrict myself to certain topics since sometimes the best information is hidden in places that you would not expect. If I am not writing a research paper, and rather answering a prompt, I research anything that is not clear to me, but not in as much detail as I would research if I were writing a research paper. As I research, I make sure to keep track of my sources and include any information that may be helpful in my outline. As I do my first draft, I allow myself to write whatever comes to my mind, even if it is not very coherent. I then go back later to revise my sentences, making my language more academic-sounding, clear, and concise.

        My strategies have definitely improved over time, mostly due to everything I learned in my AP Language class that I took during my junior year of high school. During my freshman and sophomore years, I was not a good writer, mainly due to the fact that I never outlined my writing and I also never wrote more than one draft. For example, during my sophomore year, we had to write an essay about The Great Gatsby, which I did not do good on because I did not write using academic language and did not have a clear idea of what I was writing about, causing my thoughts to appear jumbled. However, a year later in AP Language, I had to write an essay on The Scarlet Letter, and did very well because I had more guidance on how to structure my writing and properly use language. Something that really helped me in that class was writing timed essays. This allowed me to get often practice and feedback on writing, and helped me to gain the ability to write fast and under pressure. We also did many workshops in that class, similar to the Writing Labs we have started doing in Writing 39C, that taught me how to write in a way that was more clear and sharp. During these workshops, I was also able to practice my writing and receive feedback, which really helped me to see what strategies I needed to work more on.

UCI and Me

Although I have not had the opportunity to take Writing 39A or Writing 39B at UCI, I did take AP Language and AP Literature during my junior and senior years of high school. These classes have set up a foundation for me as a writer, and still help me greatly every time I have a writing assignment in any one of my classes. Because of what I have learned in these classes, I now make it a priority to research the topic that I am writing about and make a detailed outline, instead of trying to go in blindly and write with no plan. My AP Language class particularly helped me realize that writing in a way that everyone will understand is very important because every human is unique and thus understands and interprets things differently. My AP Literature class, which was more focused on reading than writing, taught me how to properly cite sources and how to pick sources that are credible and reliable for papers. Getting into the habit of writing in the way that these classes taught me has been very beneficial for me in my other classes at UCI, particularly in Public Health 1, Sociology 1, and Anthropology 20A.

I took Public Health 1 during the fall quarter of 2021, and a large portion of our grade was writing a research paper about a public health problem. I chose to write my paper about COVID-19, and focused on how to solve it and the challenges that the public had to endure because of it. While writing this paper, I found that the things I learned in AP Literature were very helpful, because I immediately knew how to find reliable sources that I could use in my paper and how to cite those sources. I also made sure to generalize my search and not limit myself to one particular topic, which I learned to do in AP Language. I was able to make choices while researching and writing that allowed me to be efficient with my time, while still writing a paper that was rich in information and language. I took Sociology 1 and Anthropology 20A during the Winter quarter of 2022, and I had to write short-answer essays on my midterm and final for both of these classes. I found that my experience with writing timed essays in AP Language helped me to be able to logically gather my thoughts and information in a way that allowed me to clearly write my essays. Because I had experience writing under pressure, I knew what I had to do in order to stay calm and coherently write, which proved to pay off when I got full credit on my essays on all of my midterms and finals. Although I gained writing practice and experience in these classes, I found myself using techniques that I had previously learned, meaning that these classes did not have very much of an influence on my overall writing process.

My Writing Outside of School

In my opinion, the things that I learned in my AP classes have influenced how I write and communicate with others outside of the school setting. Because I have learned how to write more professionally, I am able to be more descriptive and use more advanced language when doing things such as applying for jobs, applying for scholarships, and applying to schools. I also find myself communicating with others in the same way, whether that be in a job interview, while talking to customers at my place of work, or at a volunteer organization. I think that it will be very important for me to carry the things that I have learned with me in my future career as a nurse, because it will be very important that I communicate in a descriptive and professional way with my patients, their families, and my supervisors.

I also tend to find myself using different strategies that I have learned in different situations when interacting with people from my community. I think that I do this because I like to look more adult-like and professional when interacting with people of authority. For example, when applying for the nursing program at UCI, I made sure to do research about the program and make an outline of everything that I wanted to include in my application and essays. Moreover, when applying and interviewing for jobs during the summer of last year, I researched common interview questions and write down potential answers. I also researched the places that I was interviewing for, in order to find out what qualities were important to them, and made sure to mention things pertaining to those qualities in my interviews. In these cases, I used the tactics that I learned in my AP classes in order to appear more professional and credible, so I would get into the nursing program and get a job over the summer. On the other hand, I have also encountered some situations where I did not research, and rather used the language skills that I learned in order to seem more qualified and respectful. These situations often consisted of interacting with adults that I looked up to, whether that be talking to a teacher, emailing a professor, or talking to my manager at work. Because every situation has different contexts and demands, I think that it is very beneficial that I have learned a wide range of skills that help me both in school and in my everyday life.