Course Accomplishments:
Reflections on Conquering Course Objectives
I believe that I have effectively meet most, if not all, of the benchmarks laid out in the course syllabus. However, I will be reflecting on the first three objectives, as my goal at the beginning of the session was to master these. Therefore, I feel that I have adequately and effectively used these skills in my writing and can easily employ these proficiencies in other courses and areas of my life. These include understanding communication theory and the roles audiences play in the writing process, applying critical reading and thinking skills to the writing process, and demonstrating an awareness of language as a tool for learning and communication. I am confident that the three papers that I have completed and will be reviewing here display all of these talents.
My first work, “Teenage Girls and Clothes” effectively illustrates my ability to research and apply what I have read into the writing process. I employed many sources for the completed paper and feel as if I adequately weaved all of these readings into a piece that would appeal to a vast audience. Parents and other concerned adults served as the projected audience for this paper and I was careful to concisely define all words that were not common knowledge. As a result, I utilized my awareness for language in that respect in that I knew when to define my terminology and I knew when not to overemphasize words to create a boring or “fluff” type of piece with little style or substance. “Emos. Short for emotional. These teens are into deep feeling and are known by their dress code. Tight black jeans and T-shirts, studded belts and black hair worn long over one eye are sure signs of an emo”. I believe that the finished work contains a great deal of both substance and style and that this work displays all the skills of the first three objectives quite well.
My second piece “Career Paths in Criminal Justice” was cited as not being perfect in sentence structure and overuse of commas. These are both parts of the writing process that I am working to perfect, although I do believe this piece effectively displays the first three objectives for the course. I used my interview skills, in addition to outside resources to demonstrate my proficiency in the second objective of applying reading and thinking to the writing process. I was also conscious of a the projected audience of persons that had an interest in pursuing a career path in the criminal justice field, as well as interested parties in and around criminal justice. Although there was an expressed concern over sentence structure and other parts of the assignment, I believe that I did demonstrate an awareness for language in developing proper interview questions and then transcribing them to the finished product. “In the interview with Sergeant Campbell, he explained how a demonstration of good weapons control was necessary” (Kelly and West Attorneys, 2009).
My third paper, “Bariatric Surgery: Standards of Care”, was a very specific and well researched and resourced piece. The projected audience was a more concentrated group of medical professionals and this piece was written in a very professional manner to suit the readers. “Because bariatric surgery is a relatively new intervention and is becoming more common, the need to develop a standard of care that is satisfactory to both health care providers, patients and other concerned sectors is imperative”. Much research was conducted on this subject and, therefore, this serves as my best work in terms of all three of the course requirement goals. The special language inherent to professional writing was used and the appeal to the projected audience was very well carried out, in my opinion. With the abundance of research used here, the work implies a sense of expertise and confidence that was more lacking in the other two papers. Therefore, not only were the initial goals achieved in this work, but all requirements and mastery of those were evident in this completed assignment.
With the last paper reviewed, especially, I am highly confident that I met benchmarks 4 and 5, as well. In this piece I was able to develop strategies for making independent and critical evaluations of existing, published texts, as well as doing intensive research that critically evaluated the information to produce writing with APA and MLA documentation and I feel as if I properly cited and paraphrased in this manner. Although, I originally set out to meet or exceed the first three course objectives, I remained vigilant in weaving the other objectives, as well. My goal was mastery of the first three while beginning a working knowledge of all other objectives. I feel I am improving on sentence structure, as well as effectively using thesis statements that are expanded on within the body of the works.
In conclusion I am pleased with both my works and the feedback I received on them. I think I have demonstrated mastery of the first three course objectives, as well as confidently working toward mastery of the rest of the objectives. Setting and meeting goals is a part of the writing process, as is the ability to constantly improve when the basic tenets of writer are effectively introduced in a class like this. Writing remains a huge part of all academics and other spheres of life and the earlier on one can grasp the building blocks of correct writing, the more successful a person will be in school and beyond. I am grateful for what I have learned and I am confident in what I have achieved.
