Friday, July 18, 2008
Final Reflections
To begin our final class, I would like you to reflect on what you’ve learned in the last five weeks about yourself as writer. What insight have you gained into your own writing process? What’s been especially rewarding for you as a writer? What’s been especially challenging? What have you learned about doing research as a college student? What will you take away with you as continue on at DU or move into your next phase of life?
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9 comments:
This class has been really helpful to me because it's been over a year since I was last in college and required to do any serious writing. I think it's been a good way to get back into school, though it has been challenging for me. I've had a hard time getting my head in the right place to write and have spent a lot of time feeling blocked and unable to express any ideas. However, once I get past that I feel like I am able to make good points and say something moderately interesting. I've learned that I like doing all the reading and research and thinking much more than I like the actual writing, so the biggest thing I'm taking with me is continuing to try to force myself to write even if my head isn't in the right place. I do find writing to be rewarding, it's just so hard to make myself do it! I also have to remember to do my best and get it done even if I think I should be doing better.
Last quarter was the quarter that i decided to change my major so in having to do the freshmen writing i have found myself to be quite bad. In my last major writing was not emphasized at all and since becoming a construction management major i found that we have to turn in papers almost every day. It has been rewarding to myself to find that i am capable of writing a couple of pages over night, but it has also been really difficult to use my time wisely. for example i complete forgot about the reflection essay for today's class, but hopefully i can still turn it in.
As i continue at DU and in life, i will be able to use my research knowledge with confidence, when i'm forced to write.
thank you
kyle
One thing in particular that I have noticed about my writing is that I have a hard time getting out of the mind frame of the academic essay or analytical essay. This is something that I feel I have mastered being in my last year of school. These are the types of essays that I have done on a regular basis throughout my college career, and feel most comfortable writing them. However, this course has forced me out of this box a little bit. Writing descriptive pieces was for me a bit difficult because this is something that I haven't done in a very long time. In terms of research, this course has helped me get out and do research instead of depending heavily upon academic sources (articles and books). I'm not sure how all of this will help me in my life after college. Perhaps I will be able to write a better cover letter now when hunting for jobs. There is no question that this course has enriched my life some, getting me out of the classroom, home or work to observe and enjoy Denver.
I really enjoyed getting out of the classroom in this course. I feel like it really allowed me to get out of my typical writing process by going somewhere different. I think that it helped me expand my horizons and come to terms with having to write on the spot my reactions or emotions concerning some object. This is very different from the methodical, slow-paced writing I normally do. I found that these papers have a lot more meaning to me because they are so personal and reflect my attitudes about certain aspects of the world around me. It was hard to find a focus for my mapping project, but once I did, I had a lot of fun with it. It allowed me to explore a place I have lived within close proximity to with but have never fully delved into before. This kind of research was fun and rewarding. I have never really enjoyed excursions before but I really looked forward to getting out and about to interact with the “real world” instead of the classroom. I feel that by being a college student I have lots of opportunities to interact with the world and it is kind of my responsibility to use them wisely. This class has helped me do that thoughtfully and with confidence. I will use the techniques I learned in this class to organize my thoughts better and use better connections throughout my work to make it more cohesive. I also learned to stretch myself beyond a typical format, one that I had applied to almost every written work before this class. I am really glad I took this class and it truly helped me excel in my own writing, something that I am incredibly grateful for and excited about.
Over the last five weeks I have learned a lot about myself as a writer. While at Hamilton College nearly all of the writing worked on was politically orientated as I was a government major. It was not only challenging but interesting to write about subjects that I did not have much prior knowledge about, and I feel that the experience I gained from writing about literature, art, geography will be extremely helpful in whatever career field I choose. The geography portion of the class will most likely be the most helpful for me as I hope to work in the Real Estate industry. The course work leading up to and including the final paper provided a lot of insight into alternative ways of analysing regions/places/cultures/people which could potnentially be helpful in assesing markets. Additionally, the first paper covered an area of writing that I typicaly do not have to think about when working or while taking classes at the business school. The practice and experience I gained through the descriptive writing assignments will be very helpful in creating marketing materials and other related docuemtns for potential properites/regions/cities.
I think this class is pretty helpful. Overall I learned to write a quality paper and knew what is the best way to analyze my paper and how to put those broken pieces together. This is only a 5-week class, so personally for me it is a lot of work need to be done for a short amount of time. But professor is really helpful and I got a good amount of time to just sit face to face and go through my paper. The other cool thing I have learned is how to use database and get some academy resources more effective.
I have certainly gained more confidence as a writer since taking this course. I have enjoyed the different styles of papers we have done. These exercises have challenged me to not only leave my comfort zone as a writer, but to learn some new tactics. I enjoyed the field work we did around Denver, including my independent research done at Wash Park. I feel as though we have used many different types of research. We have gone outside of just searching the library database. The different types of research we have done has opened my mind beyond the library. I am confident that I will take some of those tactics and apply them when I am in a working environment. Overall I have gained skills from this class I lacked before.
Writing has always been a difficult task for me. I struggle getting my ideas on paper and organizing them into a flowing cohesive essay. When it comes to texts, I do not have has much trouble with the analysis as I do with analyzing fieldwork and quantitative research because I have never done this before. In general, I find that I can come up with ideas, organizing everything mentally, but when I attempt to put ideas into words on paper I end up with a mess. This class has provided many opportunities to work through these issues and improve my abilities. Being able to explore the city and get out of the class room was a very rewarding and valuable experience, providing insight and knowledge that can be drown upon not only for future writing, but in life.
Research does not have to only come from other peoples’ data and writings; it can come from personal experience and observations. There are endless resources, places, and ways to gain the information needed to write an effective paper. The knowledge I have acquired when it comes to researching, organizing papers and writing effective transitions will apply to the papers I will have to write for future DU classes as well as anything else I might have to write throughout life.
My own writing process has had a refreshing with the course. Writing and researching within the framework of the course was rewarding, while finding interesting topics was sometimes challenging. I had already learned quite a bit about researching from other courses, but this was a nice refresher. This course helped to focus some aspects of writing and better hone research abilities while refreshing skills.
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