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8/8/2019 Looking Back and Looking Ahead - Final Draft
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Burgert 1
Andrew Burgert
Professor Jan Rieman
ENGL 1103-001
October 26, 2010
Becoming a Better Writer
Writing has always been a difficult proposition for me. Through this class, I hope to
make writing require less effort. With frequent writing assignments, I am being encouraged to
improve my writing skills.
An academic writer writes compositions that are intended for academic purposes. With
the majority of my writing being academic in nature, I am little but an academic writer. I fail to
see the dimensions in academic writing, however, unless they include research, writing, and
publishing. The thoughtful decisions I make now are driven mostly by the prompt (explicit or
implicit) given for the composition in question. The prompts thus far have really inspired me to
contemplate the ideas supporting the topics.
My reading practices to this point have varied little. Some articles were easy to read
straight through. The Blue Sweater was also an easy read. The extent to which I engage with
academic texts varies depending on how complex or verbose the text is. For example, Brandt s
Sponsors of Literacy was not unlike a stainless steel wall of text - polished and smooth, with
no way to get up without a powerful drill whereas Malcolm X s Learning to Read and
Alexie s The Joy of Reading and Writing were a joy to read. Their structures were less
complex, and their themes were interesting and engaging.
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Burgert 2
As for various modes of composition in this course, keeping a log is new for me. I used
this mode in the Writing Log and Observation prompts of the Writing to Explore assignment. In
the past, I have used the outline development, single-draft composition, and daybook entry
methods of composition. I have used examples from a text to support my interpretation of said
text at least once in this course, but I do not believe I have consciously used ideas from
previously consumed texts to interpret others. I have often done research for academic
purposes, but the Inquiry paper will be the first time I do research on an aspect of literacy. In
fact, this course is the first time I have seen literacy used as a primary topic.
Starting with my Sponsors of Literacy-themed paper, I ll Never Not Read Again , I found
writing the paper to be exceptionally difficult. I have worked on bigger papers before, such as
the Graduation Project, but those were over a very long term. I soon discovered the challenge
involved in writing two page papers every week - in addition to other assignments. The peer
workshops reinforced the number of revisions necessary for writing a paper. The daybook
entries at the start of every class period are nothing new I have done similar things in many of
my English classes.
Looking ahead, there is a greater amount of items left to be completed, with greater
work/effort to be expended on each. I have already done six Writing to Explore papers. There
are only four of them left to complete, and on average, I expect them to take the same amount
of work as the previous six. The Inquiry paper, however, seems like it will require significantly
more effort than everything else that has come before it in this course. My current idea for the
Inquiry paper is describing in general the ways and reasons people read. I am concentrating on
reading because I have a stronger affinity towards reading. The portfolio, in addition, will be a
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great expenditure of effort on something that I have never done before returning to and
revising completed papers and then reflecting on them.
Relating to literacy practices, I feel much more comfortable reading than writing.
Writing is challenging, and continues to be challenging - increasingly so, depending on the
length and breadth of the paper. My personal goal would be to make writing an easier and
more productive experience for me. I love this class, how it is run, and the class environment.
It almost makes it worthwhile by itself!