I do not have the talents of a writer.

I do not know how to write and hold disdain towards

the art. When I write, I have too many thoughts in my mind and have difficulty formulating my

ideas in a fluid, concise, and clear manner. Not only that, but I tend to lose focus on the question

at hand most of the time. Yet, I understand that this ability can be attained and refined into a

useful skill critical in life and throughout my college career. As such, I aim to manifest my

writing skills to greater heights to allow myself to grow intellectually. In order to do so, I began

this quarter with my UWP 1Y course. In the writing course, I developed and enhanced my

abilities as a writer through the various activities, projects, and assignments within the class

curriculum.

From when I was taught how to write and develop academic papers, I would always

tackle the situation head on with no preliminary outline or organization of ideas. It just didnt

feel right to do it any other way. Practically sat down next to my computer, opened Word, and

began writing. While constructing my works, I only aimed to meet the word count and have a

decently sized document in order to satiate my assignments. I was that first draft is the final

draft type of person. Little to no revision was done, and I did not have peer reviews on my work
because I felt it was a waste of time. In the past, this tactic had worked wonders for me, racking

A+s on every piece, so I developed it as a habit of mine. However, that forever changed when I

began college level writing. My mannerism of writing did not make the cut, hence my decision

to take the UWP 1Y course. Through the course, I learned that there is no such thing as a perfect

writing piece and that it is acceptable to construct terrible first drafts as they allow for us to grow

from them. In addition, it emphasized revision and peer reviews to further the possible

improvements that could be made. Now, although still relatively simple, my writing process has

been configured in a way that suits my preference of writing while allowing for improvements to

be made. I read the prompt multiple times to gain an understanding of what is asked, highlight

key information, develop a rough outline or jot down some main ideas I could talk about,

construct my thesis and essay entirely, revise it myself, then have others review to gain a

secondary perspective. This is my general approach on assignments from now on. However, to

accommodate for different audiences and purposes, I adapt to better tackle the situation. For

narratives, I reminisce on my past experiences and apply them in a manner that answers the

prompt or supports the claim of the piece. For research, I scour any source at my disposal to

obtain facts and data to then manufacture connections between the subject at hand and the

information gathered. Although not entirely original, I found that this manner of writing for me

has amplified my abilities as a writer and will allow me to further grow as one.

As for the particular skills I strengthened as a writer, I touched on multiple aspects of

writing throughout the course. In my living picture narrative, I developed my research and

metacognition skills through the application of previous knowledge and developing my work in a

manner in which the audience could follow and understand. In addition, I conducted even more

research through credible sources to better enhance my literacy journey. For my Wikipedia Entry,
I solely focused on the gathering of concrete, factual information and data to support certain

aspects of my Pitchers Elbow project. To create such a credible piece, a ton of research and

revision to best suit the genre of writing and audience. Plus, I formatted my information so that it

would meet the expectations of and benefit the discourse community of Wikipedia. As for the

Podcast project, I explored the cultural significance of quinceaneras through research and

rhetorical knowledge. In other words, I utilized my observations at a specific quinceanera and

strengthened my research question with both the collected observations and secondary conducted

research. In addition, I developed the infrastructure of my piece based on multiple suggestions of

my peers and instructor to allow the audience to better understand my work.

Now, more than ever, I realize that this art I held disdain for is extremely practical and

useful in my development as an educated man. This course has allowed me to develop my

writing into tool in which I plan on using in my future engineering career. Due to it being the

field of engineering, my research abilities will heavily come into play as well as that of revision

so as to not construct faulty designs or mechanical works. In addition, I will be able to construct

lab reports and product summaries with ease.

 Through this class, my skills as a writing reached new heights that I never conceived as

plausible. Not only that, but it showed me how to create decent pieces of writing on my own and

create a process in which is tailored to my tastes. UWP 1Y as well as Prof. Zugnoni have forever

influenced my person and gave me extremely powerful knowledge that I will utilize throughout

my life and career.