I enjoyed my experience in English 271 this quarter. I felt that by writing so many kinds of essays and articles, I was able to experience writing in many different styles; an experience I've never had in any other English class. On top of that, this class didn't follow the norm of that is seen in most English classes, as it focused more on online writing instead of the traditional “typing and printing out” method.
By practicing online writing, in this case blogging, I feel more prepared to write in the future, be it for online purposes, or just in general.
The first entry, the Wikipedia article, was a little difficult to write. Given that my subject didn't already have a wiki page, I had to gather as much information on my own as possible. Also, I had to make sure not to include any bias in it, or even show that I liked the subject, which also made writing difficult.
There wasn't too much information available on my subject in just one location, so it was rather time consuming to just research it, let alone write about. I also had to filter through the information and determine what information was important to my audience, and what was not.
I also had some technical difficulties at the beginning of the class. I found it difficult to post comments, as some students had not yet allowed other users to post comments. Also, getting all of my classmates linked took awhile since there were some typos and some of my classmates made their blogs later than the majority of the class. It took awhile to get used to posting my work up on a blog, instead of printing it and turning it in as I had in other classes, but eventually I got the hang of it.
The post I enjoyed writing the most was the “Integrating Voice” assignment. I liked writing this one because I was allowed to show more of my own opinion and even possibly some (not so) hidden bias on something that I enjoyed, thus making the writing experience far more enjoyable than writing a standard essay. This was also a relatively new experience for me, as I've never truly gotten to incorporate my voice or opinion in a writing class before. Using this style of writing, I was able to put a voice into my work, making it more relatable to readers and thus, more fun to read.
One of the harder essays to write was the Extended Definition essay. Defining art was difficult, since it is a rather broad subject. Given that art is so difficult to completely define, I probably should have narrowed down my topic and had chosen a type of art to define instead, like classical art or abstract art. Because I did not, I had a wide range to cover, since art in general can be defined or interpreted in many different ways, all of which I probably couldn't even come close to covering in a 750 word essay.
This is also the only essay I would have liked to have spent more time on, and even have had a peer review for it. As mentioned before, I had the most trouble with this one, and it would have helped had we spent more time with it and even had a peer review workshop. Instead, I took advantage of the extra class day to get a little feedback on it, but more would have helped.
Another entry I had some difficulty with was the Classification Essay. I found this one difficult because, like my extended definition essay, my topic was a little too broad and quite difficult to categorize. It somewhat depended on opinion, since there were no “official” categories for my topic, which was the types of cartoons. Since this essay depended on opinion and the audience's experience with cartoons, I had to really rely on the feedback I received in my peer revising group. They truly helped me categorize my topic and helped me be more clear in my writing. They also gave me ideas of some good examples I could use to back up my reasons for the categories I made to organize the cartoons.
The class itself was overall enjoyable. I felt I truly learned everything listed in the course outcomes, and more. I felt that I really grew with this class. Though I may have had some difficulties when I first started, I managed to make it through to the end, and am grateful that I was able to partake in this class.
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