Reflection Essay on Student Learning Outcomes
This class has been one of the best though a very long one, which I have learned a lot. The class has helped me in writing different essays, other classes and also helped in growing confidence with every essay writing. I have learned and comprehend almost everything that I have been taught, including the approach to writing an essay instructed for a particular audience. My main goal was to meet the certain student learning outcomes such as demonstrating knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes, developing ideas with appropriate support and attribution, and writing in style appropriate to audience and purpose while taking into consideration the grading focus which is based primarily on the important higher-order writing concepts such as organization, word choice and appropriate point of view in quality essay writing.
Considering the student learning outcome: demonstrating knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes, I have been able to understand how to write different essays both in essays that require individual thoughts and efforts and also the ones that require group work whereby we had to build consensus with other group members before writing group work essays. To show that I have demonstrated knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes, I have understood how to organize an easy in chronological order and even logical order. In chronological order, which has been a very familiar way of organizing ideas involving details in the order of time, from the first to last, I have often been using it in expository easy predominantly when I was directed to describe series of events or an event. I have also understood how to choose transition phrases and words when they present different points of view without complicating my point of argument, especially when I introduce an opposing concept then I rebuttal it in the next sentences. I could achieve this concept by also arguing in a logical order as a framework I used in order to avoid any form of confusion to the reader. Even during collaborative writing, I still preferred my group to organize easy ideas in a logical order framework for the peer reviewers to understand every point before jumping to struggle in understanding the next point. Hence, at the end of this class, I have been able to focus majorly on writing essays for different purposes right from academic to personal, including writing an introduction to argumentation, researching, and even using different writing formats such as MLA documentation among others.
Besides, in order to show that I have been developing ideas with appropriate support and attribution, I have been to organize easy supporting ideas as more focused opinions that strengthen my main ideas. I further ensured that borrowed supporting ideas have a direct and clear connection with my main concepts and sometimes back them up by any evidence or illustrate them using examples. In general, I have been ensuring that any borrowed supporting ideas meant to reinforce my main idea are generally assembled into a single paragraph. Additionally, my attribution when reinforcing my main ideas, I had to use solid based support such as interview responses, credible survey results, research evidence, statistics from census, a clear and relevant analogy, relative anecdote, and counter-arguments which are obvious oppositional concepts refuted logically. By understanding, choosing from, the above list has helped build adequate support for my paragraphs, leading to a thoroughly detailed essay. On the same note, I have been attempting to incorporate at least two or more argument support pieces in my main idea in every body paragraph. It has also imperative for me to evaluate my supporting ideas to make sure they are relevant and clear by using some strategies such as emphasizing my thesis statement. For instance, making sure that every piece of supporting idea in my essay is consistent with the key argument in the thesis statement while also putting into consideration the audience. This aspect has helped me recognize whether the chosen supporting concept is appropriate for a particular audience to sufficiently convincing them, especially in writing a persuasive paper.
Regarding how to ensure my writing style is appropriate to audience and purpose, before writing any easy, either personal or academic one, I initially determined my paper’s main purpose. For example, I have been doing the first thing to try as much as possible to understand whether the paper is expository, persuasive descriptive, or even something different. This aspect has been important for me in making sure that every supporting idea is sufficient and appropriate for each type of easy I decide or instructed to write. To attract the audience’s attention, I have been outlining my paper by providing every topic sentence a particular heading while listing every piece of supporting argument under the related heading. I have then been going to an extend of asking myself whether every topic sentence I have assigned it at least two or more pieces of supporting ideas in order to identify the point in my easy where the support strongest or rather weakest. In that order, I have been in a position to understand what I can do in strengthening the supporting ideas in the weak areas in my easy.
Further, in my writing style, I have also made sure that the supporting sentences in a particular paragraph only develop my main idea stipulated in the thesis statement and present in my topic sentence but not beginning another topic or introducing a new concept. In maintaining my paper’s purpose when writing supporting idea sentences, I ensured that I gave reasons, examples, or descriptions in supporting my topic sentence. In doing all this writing style, I found that everything in a given paragraph supported the prior point I established in the opening sentence by using specific facts from my research and precise examples in enhancing and clarifying my thesis statement relevant to the paper’s purpose.
Ultimately, my main goal to meet specific student learning outcomes that included demonstrating knowledge of individual and collaborative writing processes, developing ideas with appropriate support and attribution, and writing in style appropriate to audience and purpose whereas taking into attention the grading focus grounded mainly on the central higher-order writing concepts including organization, choice of words and appropriate viewpoint in writing standard essays, has been successfully achieved in this class, through appreciating that it is important to research and use my own words when describing a concept and always use multiple sources especially when supporting my main idea through though researching. It has always been important to give my writing style an exceptional structure by using a particularly unique style as decided or instructed, and attribution in easy is highly achieved when I use my own reasoning.