Unit 4

            The First-Year Writing class greatly helped enrichen my writing skills and a general understanding of good writing. I tackled all of the university’s learning goals through the various assignments. I also improved my writing through analysis of structure, analysis of language, as well as by creating engaging pieces. I will be able to take these new skills with me and apply them not only in school but in every aspect of my life, including the way I market myself in the workforce.
            I went into the class and the introductory self-placement essay feeling almost inadequate with my skills and abilities. I had a similar attitude when it came to peer review as it often felt like I did not have the right to critique the work of others if my writing was lacking. The chapter eight excerpt from Adair Lara’s Naked, Drunk, and Writing also helped me understand that peer reviewers should come from a mutual place of need. With each peer review, I got over this fear and was able to better aid my peers with more specific suggestions. I also realized that this would only help the both of us in the end; their writing has the opportunity to improve, and I gain the insight to change similar parts in my own writing. In the media bias analysis assignment, I suggested that one of my peers should focus their intro paragraph more on the content of the articles they chose, rather than including details about a completely different topic. In doing this, I realized that my own intro paragraph was lacking by taking a far too general approach. I was able to create an intro for my final draft that successfully provides readers with relevant background information. The revision process was one area that aided me in feeling more confident about my skills while also allowing me to focus on applying them properly.
            I also learned that being able to write engaging pieces is an invaluable skill. I honed in on this skill towards the end of the semester in my memoir. In my initial draft, I created a compelling hook. I then debated removing it as it did not contain the essence that I was aiming for in the rest of my paper. In the end, I realized that getting attention from readers was more important than summarizing or outlining the themes at the beginning of this paper. I kept the line, “by the time I was in middle school, I had become an expert at hiding in the center of the action” and immediately jumped to the paragraph that I was considering to include as an introduction to the theme of the paper. This taught me that my instincts are not always accurate and that I should always aim to do what is best for the paper rather than what I am attached to.
            I realized that I struggle with taking all the information I wrote in papers and boiling it down to a concise conclusion that is satisfying and significant. My memoir assignment perfectly exemplifies this. I always have a lot of loose ends throughout my paper that mean a lot to me at the moment but are never elaborated upon at any other moment. Peer review helped me realize what was clear for readers. However, I did a great job of analyzing each instance of this in my final revision process and I was able to cut out any parts that were not absolutely necessary. Things that I really liked that I would have held onto in the past were easy for me to get rid of after taking this course, as I understood that it would significantly improve my writing. For example, I cut a running metaphor that compared my family to worker bees because there was far too much going on to have the reader notice this and understand its significance.
            I was able to perfect my skill of language analysis from high school that I was already proficient with. In the bias in media assignment, I aimed to critique every single word that was used in order to reveal bias. One place that I achieved this where I would likely have glossed over in the past was my analysis of the headlines in each article. I noted the use of the word we in two of the partisan articles and argued that this choice calls on readers to see opposing views as outsiders. I go on to say “by adding this pronoun, it makes the argument slightly more personal to loyal readers of the news outlet, and also fosters a feeling of ‘us versus them’ narrative.” By analyzing nuance at this level, I was able to also incorporate more nuance into my own writing. This is something that I have always struggled with. In the memoir assignment, I framed my writing in a way that alluded to the epiphany I have at the end without being forthright about it throughout the paper. I include the line, “my eyes skim from their atrocities to the brighter whites, yellows, and pinks that lay untouched in desperate patience” referring to the bracelets with darker colors being made by the group of girls. The subtle attributes attached to the different color types and the word choice of “untouched in desperate patience” suggests that I am already emotionally connected to the bracelets and that the bracelets are waiting for me in the same way I am waiting for them. I am now confident in my ability to write with nuance as I have developed this skill through deep language analysis.