Final Reflection

Overall Semester Reflection

            This semester has been an amazing influence on my writing style.  I have been exposed to so many new forms of writings and objectives that I think I have improved greatly.  The best way to look at how my writing has changed is to look at the original three goals I set for myself at the beginning of the semester.  Those three goals were to practice different ways of gathering, investigating, developing, and presenting information; using methods that were new to me to investigate questions, topics, and ideas; and to use a variety of electronic technologies intentionally to compose my works.

            My first goal was to find a new way to gather, investigate, develop, and present information.  I had originally had specific academic research in mind when I created this goal, hoping this information would help me in senior seminar; however this was not quite the case.  This class me taught me a sort of research.  It has taught me how to look for online sources whenever I am writing a piece that is new to me.  It may be easy for me to think that I can write a restaurant review on my own, but that is not the case.  I needed to go online to find a variety of reviews to look for the accepted format and make sure that I am including the expected information.  The same goes for topics like cover letters, editorials, and so on.  These were all new frontiers for me in the world of writing, and I had to make sure I knew how to write the piece before simply trying to do it on my own.  I also had to learn how to present this information in new ways.  The best example of this was in my presentation of my proposal for the class rubric.  This sort of demonstration was completely new to me.  I was not only trying to convince my audience that my argument was logical and sound, but also trying to sell my ideas to my classmates.  I had to explain what made my rubric important to them and why they should devote a semester to the things that it contained.

            My second goal was to use methods to investigate questions, topics, and ideas.  I learned skills in this area while writing my restaurant review.  I am used to using secondary sources to find information.  Writing my food review required me to find a first-hand source and do my own independent research.  I had to go out and gather information for myself, which was a sort of new experience in its own way.  This way felt very different.  It was my job to collect every possible detail that I would feel was necessary, because if I did not, it was not as simple as going back to the article again.  I would admit that I probably need a little more skill in this area.  I do not think I paid enough attention to all the details.  I had trouble recalling what everyone had later when I was writing the actual piece.  I should have kept notes somewhere during the process.

            My third goal was to use a variety of electronic technologies intentionally to compose my works.  I would not say there is a specific piece that is exemplary of this, but that my entire blog is the embodiment of this lesson.  Before this semester, I had no experience with blogging whatsoever.  I did not even follow a blog before this course.  I have to say that it was an experience.  It is definitely interesting to see a tool that allows people so many different options of sharing.  It is probably one of the more versatile social media tools to which I have been exposed.  I have not decided if I want to continue to use my blog or not.  I think I will definitely for a small amount of time to see how I treat it after it is no longer connected with a class and my content can be less regulated.

            Overall, this course has been rather instructive.  Even though I did not explore my three original goals the way I thought I would, I did still meet them.  I think Advanced Writing has given me a chance to explore myself in ways I did not expect and has given me even more tools to add to my belt as a writer.

            All the assignments I reference can be seen on my blog.

A Reflection on Cover Letters and Resumes

This experience of writing cover letters and resumes was probably one of my greatest lessons of this class.  This sort of writing is completely different from anything else I have ever written before.  I think the most difficult things for me to learn were the lessons of what is important and how to write something that is concise.

            The resume is such an interesting piece to write because it is summing up someone’s lifetime of accomplishments into one page of paper.  Obviously, there is more to a person than what is in their resume, but the resume forces the writer to think about what is most important about them in the professional world.  They need to prioritize what they have done and what their possible employer absolutely needs to know.  It also forces them to quantify everything they have done.  An ambiguous statement means nothing, but supplying actual deeds and facts will give the applicant a better chance at employment.

            I think the hardest thing to do in writing a resume and a cover letter is the concise nature that these items require.  Both documents really must be only a page long, but they must also contain so much.  The writer is forced to really consider his words carefully.  Every word needs to be necessary and needs to contribute to something.  No sentence should be able to be removed without its removal making the work less.

            These two things have made me think about writing so much more.  It really forced me to think about every word choice I made.  I also had to organize all the accomplishments of my college career.