Over the course of the Writing for Social Sciences class, I have improved in reading and writing. I have taking opportunities to “practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects,”. There were many factors that helped improve as a reader at school. This class was one of them. I found out about the phone blackboard app this semester. Even though I didn’t find this out through the class material, the class as part of the discovery. The blackboard app makes it much easier to do the readings anywhere. I can do my readings during my commuting time. It is easier to read on the train or bus than at home because there are less distractions. When I’m home, there are many distractions that don’t allow me to do the readings or finish them. With the Blackboard app, I can do some or all of the readings before getting home, when I may be too tired. In addiction, the fact that a lot of the assigned readings I had to do before were not on topics of my interest made it harder for me to read. I was taking a lot of required classes for the school instead of major requirements. So a lot of the readings were long and boring texts. But now things are changing. This semester, most of my classes are part of my major. In these classes, the readings don’t bore me to sleep. The readings are more interesting and I’m more willing to do them. Reading interesting literary works and reading more often in this class has helped in my improvement as a reader. I disliked the readings for school coming into the Writing for Social Sciences class.The readings in this class were way more interesting. The reading were on topics I never read about or even thought about. For example, “Iowa 80” was a very interesting read. It didn’t take long for me to finish it. This was a piece I would read on my free times. It made it easier to read, which allowed me to comprehend it faster. Also, I have improved my reading strategies. Reading is much easier because I’m going in with a purpose now. I’m looking for certain answer or observation instead of just reading to read. The instructions for the reading assignments in this class has helped with that. For the “Iowa 80” reading, the instructions were specific and allowed me to search for concert and abstract details throughout the reading. I was more involved in the class conversations about “Iowa 80” than the Martin Luther King Jr. article. Since the “Iowa 80” article was more interesting, I acquired more from it and had more to say it.
I also improved as a writer in these past few months. The daily writing we do in this class in itself has been booster for my writing. Practice is important for improvement. I have seen progress in “negotiating my own writing goals and audience expectations regarding conventions of genre, medium, and rhetorical situation”. I adjusted my writing approach the same way I changed my reading approach. I’m more clear on my own purpose before I begin writing. The instructions giving for a lot of the writing assignments are not very specific in this class. This has assisted in helping me create my own goals and writing more clearly to meet those goals. At first, the instructions for the self-assessment were not clear. I had to write my way to understanding. I learned that writing is a process. There are many steps you must take to progress your writing. There were many steps to the research/subculture assignment. In addition, I have been reminded on grammar rules. I have learned to write more clearly by focusing on the sentence structures and organization of my writing. I’m now more aware of sentence structures that are important in any type of writing. This class reminded me of what a correct sentence is. So now I’m working to make sure every sentence I write is correct. I tend to forget to check on that when I’m re-reading my work. Also, I have learned to “develop and engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes better”. I didn’t really use many of the feedback and comments I received from my peers on the assignments at the beginning of the semester. But towards the middle of the semester, I began to take the feedback into consideration. I began to actually use and implement the comments in my writing. This collaboration has made my writing improve. I began to be more engaged in the peer review part of the writing process towards the end of the semester. This class has lead me to be more open on others reviewing my work and giving their criticism. I wasn’t very comfortable with that before. But since we often did peer review in this class, I became more comfortable and understanding towards peer review. I was able to “improve in acknowledging mine and others’ range of linguistic differences as resources, and draw on those resources to develop rhetorical sensibility”. I have realized that others writing style and language was different from mine. Before, I had a negative perception towards that idea. I was hesitant towards using others’ linguistic differences as a resource to improve on my writing. Now I have realized that I can use that as a resource. I have taken comments from my peers to help make my writing better. On the interview questions, I used a lot of the feedback I got from my peers. My interview questions changed a lot. There were broad or not specific and my peers help me ask better questions. That’s why the interview questions I had from the beginning are different from the questions I actually asked on the interview. I still need to work on enhancing strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment. When I revise my work, I don’t have a specific purpose. I’m just doing it because it is the right thing to do. I’m just looking for apparent and big errors in my writing. I need to work on paying more attention to smaller errors and how my writing is organized.
My writing became more descriptive and organized throughout the semester. I learned to “engage in genre analysis and multimodal composing to explore effective writing across disciplinary contexts and beyond.” My writing was more detailed with more concrete sentences. I know the difference between abstract sentences and concrete sentences. Concrete sentences can be identified by the five senses while abstract sentences cannot. These different type of sentences are defined by nouns. In the free write on tattoo, these improvements can be seen. I wrote a good visual description of Mike Tyson’s tribal tattoo. I think before it would of been difficult for me to give a better description of this hard describe tattoo. I wrote, “It is black and has two loops with lines coming out of it. There is not much complex shading to the tattoo. It is just dark black color. The tattoo itself is simple. There are multiple lines on the tattoo.” On 2/01 free write of “Where I’m From”, the writing was not descriptive and detailed. I could’ve wrote a lot descriptive and concrete sentences on Niger.
In addition, I have learned and “improved ways to use various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to my writing projects”. I never used the online CCNY library online database before. I’m now able to use the online library and find what I want. I learned how to get specific options and sources. This has helped me with my writing projects like the Field Essay. One of the most useful sources that helped in the field essay and interview process was “American Soccer: History, Culture, Class” book by Reck, Gregory G., and Bruce Allen Dick. I learned background information on my subculture that I didn’t know before. So I was better prepared for the interview and essay. This was all made possible because I leaned how to use the CUNY online library database. I was able to find a source that was specific towards my policy issue and help me backup my claim. I’ve seen progress on my reading and writing skills throughout this semester.
Sources
GPSolo
Vol. 23, No. 5, Do Something (JULY/AUGUST 2006),
American Soccer: History, Culture, Class by Reck, Gregory G., and Bruce Allen Dick Review by: Gabe Logan Source: Journal of Sport History , Vol. 42, No. 3 (Fall 2015), p. 440-0442
International Review of Modern Sociology
Vol. 32, No. 2, Special Issue (Autumn 2006), pp. 181-197 (17 pages)
Recreation, Parks, and Tourism in Public Health
Vol. 1 (2017), pp. 103-114 (12 pages)
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