SELF-ASSESSMENT ESSAY

Before entering this class, I never considered myself a strong writer. I often compared my writing to others and felt like everyone around me sounded smarter, more organized, and more academic than I did. Because of that, writing assignments felt intimidating. However, over the course, my perspective on writing slowly changed. Through all the drafts, revising, and feedback, I started to understand that writing is not about sounding perfect immediately, but about learning how to develop ideas, communicate them clearly, and think more deeply into the topics being discussed.

One skill I am still continuing to develop is moving beyond summary and towards deeper analysis. My professor often encouraged us to think about the “so what?” behind our ideas rather than only describing what was happening. I realized this has been a challenge for me for a long time, even before college, because I tend to focus first on explaining information clearly instead of fully exploring their deeper significance. I feel like I still sometimes catch myself slipping back into summary rather than fully analyzing why certain ideas, behaviors, or experiences mattered in a larger social or rhetorical context.

For our first major essay, we were asked to interview someone about a specific issue, and I chose to write about mental health within the African community. At first, I did not know how to go about the interview or start the essay. My ideas came off too strong in the intro and I initially struggled to maintain a clear focus and fully analyze my informant’s perspective. In my professor/s feedback on my first draft, she pointed out that my essay lacked a “through line” and relied too heavily on describing the interview rather than analyzing its larger significance. Although the professor’s feedback helped me recognize the importance of deeper analysis, this was still one of the hardest parts of writing for me throughout the semester. I realized that I often focused more on explaining information clearly than fully discussing why it mattered in a larger or social context. Becoming aware of this pattern helped me understand my own writing habits more honestly.

On the second major essay about observing an online community, I couldn’t think of a any community I was interested in until I came across the “AmItheAsshole” community on Reddit. A space where people can talk about any conflict going on in their life and users will determine whether or not they are in the wrong. Mapping out my ideas helped me start off this essay and going to the Writing Center also helped me during this process because talking through my ideas with someone else made them feel less overwhelming. I underestimated how important this was because I usually just tried to start writing immediately, even when my ideas were all over the place. A lot of times I had a general idea of what I wanted to say, but I struggled turning those into a focused argument throughout the essay. However, I honestly rushed through a lot of my work due to poor time management. There were times where I know I could have pushed my analysis further or spent more time revising if I planned better.

Overall, this class has helped me grow both as a writer and a thinker. I became more aware the habits that weaken my writing, especially my tendency to rely too much on summary and rush through parts of the writing process. At the same time, I also became more comfortable expressing my ideas and more comfortable with revision, feedback, and experimenting different forms of writing. This class has also helped me realize that writing is a process that takes time and reflection. Before this semester, I mainly viewed writing as something I either could or could not do well, but now I understand that writing improves through patience, revision, and learning from mistakes. Although I still have areas I need to improve, I now approach writing with a better understanding of my strengths, weaknesses, and overall growth throughout the semester.