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Robert Steinkraus
Dr. Guenzel
ENC 1101-0114
2 December 2014
Final Assessment Draft
Assessing myself
College level writing is entirely different than that of high school writing. It is important
to understand that in reality there are many types of writing, and all have their strengths and
weaknesses. Not only is it important to realize this, but to have a proficient writing process. After
coming to the realization that writing is not my forte, I feel as though I became more open to
ideas.
The normal five paragraph essay format continuously jammed down the throats of
secondary and post-secondary public school students across the country is not necessarily wrong,
but it is not necessarily right. I was always taught to have an introduction, three body paragraphs,
and a conclusion. At the beginning of the paper it was almost necessary to have a witty hook.
Also the end of each paragraph needed to transition into the beginning of the next paragraph.
Unfortunately, this format I came to eat, breathe, and sleep, was not necessarily the most
efficient. There were many essays such as: Narrative, Expository, Descriptive, Persuasive,
Research, and many more. Each and every type of essay I just listed has a different goal and it is
important to be versatile and able to write different ways to address each format.
Not only did I come to the realization the difference between high school and college
level writing, but that my writing process was not the greatest. Throughout high school I
procrastinated when it came to anything. Preparing for a test, completing assignments, writing an

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essay, or even preparing for an athletic competition. Procrastinating always worked for me, or
that is at least what I thought until a few weeks ago. Even throughout the beginning of my
freshman year first semester at the University of Central Florida I thought I still had it. I was
writing essays the night before the due date, and studying for exams the day of. It began to get
overwhelming, and I started realizing it. I even wrote my third paper in my ENC 1101 class
about procrastination! In the paper I wrote about my writing process for the paper while I was
writing it. There were times where I would write, and my paper is due in less than seven hours.
I tried to convince myself of the facade I was not stressed at all, but I was. This came to my
realization when meeting with my professor after a class I showed up late to due to me sleeping
in. We spoke of how intricate it would actually be to write an essay about the writing process of
the essay while I was writing it. He walked me through it during our meeting, and discussed my
approach to writing this paper. He asked me how efficient writing under stress actually was for
me. I still thought I did well, but when he pointed out my lack of knowledge about the topic, I
could not lie to myself any longer. Procrastination is not a positive thing. My professor was the
first person to actually make me realize regardless of my stubbornness that maybe
procrastination is not my thing.
Throughout ENC 1101 I most definitely furthered my knowledge of the writing process,
and how it is important to understand the writing process and how it can differ basing on context.
There are many different types of essays (contexts) such as: Narrative, Expository, Descriptive,
Persuasive, Research, and many more. Each and every essay requires a different writing process
and this is something I learned in my ENC 1101 course.
Not only did I learn about writing processes and how they differ basing on context, but also
bettered my awareness of the rhetorical situation. A rhetorical situation occurs when an audience,

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and a medium combine through writing or speaking, also known as rhetorical acts. The rhetorical
situation varies greatly on the context, kind of like writing processes towards essays. Someone of
importance could be giving a motivational speech, or a lawyer could be giving his or her opening
statement. Both events require the rhetor to convey a message but both would be comprised of
different factors. One person is trying to motivate and audience, and one person is trying to
convince the audience to see things a certain way. In a sense they are similar due to both being
rhetorical situations conveyed through the medium of speech, but they are indeed different
contexts. This is another skill I acquired in my ENC 1101 class.
Although I learned new skills such as the two stated above, I only bettered the skill of
understanding complex texts. Throughout my senior year of high school we read many forms of
literature that I did not understand, and eventually I became a stronger reader. Although it is a
skill that can always be worked on, my apprehension did not increase much throughout the
course. The reading was not entirely difficult, and I did not struggle much. But in saying that, it
is not like my skills decreased or anything. They only went up, so this course still had a positive
effect on my understanding of complex texts.
Ultimately, I learned how writing processes can vary based on context, increased my
awareness for rhetorical situations, somewhat bettered my understanding of complex texts, but
unfortunately did not grasp the fact of my awareness of the relationship between discourse
conventions, lexis, genres, and their related communities. Writing the second paper was a huge
struggle for me, and somehow in the end I pulled out an A. I was very rocky on the topic and
was convinced that Activity Theory was a group that had a common goal, not much else. When I
wrote my first draft apparently my audience was too general, and I read over the part of the
instructions that wanted me to address college students with the interests of my paper,

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specifically at the University of Central Florida. I ended up fixing my audience, but still did not
necessarily grasp what an activity theory was.
Throughout ENC 1101 I learned quite a bit. The course taught me maybe I am not the
best writer, and I should be open to more ideas. Once I grasped this I was able to write in a more
versatile manner covering a wider spectrum of genres. I was so content with my experience with
my first college writing class, I decided to take the professor for the next level course. In the end
my professor opened my eyes to the many variations of writing, and how to approach each one in
a different but proficient manner.