First, I would like to say that I’m glad that I took this course because of the six week program. I think that if I were to take this course during the regular ten week quarters, I think that it would’ve been maybe a little too slow. 

I believe that throughout this course, I have learned more about writing than reading. This is most likely because most of our assignments were based on blogging and a research paper. One of the things that I’ve learned about writing this quarter is that not every English class needs to have formal assignments. The way that I learned this was through all of the blogging assignments. At first, I didn’t really know what blogging was and at first glance I thought it was another formal way of writing. But after the first few assignments, I started to realize that it is much more free writing. I actually started to have fun when writing because I was able to make my argument my own way rather than just listening to what the teacher wants. One of the UWP Learning Outcomes is Metacognition and I think that played a big role in my writing. Ever since I was in high school at Archmere, I have liked to have an outline or blueprint that helps guide me in the right direction when writing a major assignment. As I’m writing a draft, I sometimes change my outline because I think that one focus could be too vague or difficult to write about.  Once I’m done writing my initial draft, I like to look back at my original outline and reflect on what worked and what didn’t work. I think that this is important for any writer because as you write more and more, you start to realize what works and what doesn’t and you start developing a formula that makes it easier for you to write about anything. 

Another thing that I’ve learned about writing feedback from professors is more important than people realize. Peer review and feedback are one of the most important things to do during the writing process. It allows for the writer to have someone check for quality and originality in a paper. In one of the UWP learning outcomes, processes talk about how students will revise their papers based on feedback from peers and instructors. In our UWP class, we used this a lot during our research process as a way of improving the quality of our paper and I think that this benefited me a lot because hearing from both my peers and instructor, I was able to look at any holes in my paper and correct them for the next assignment. As far as what I’ve learned about reading, I was able to learn more about what to look for when researching for sources for my discourse community. Instead of just scanning an article and looking for one sentence to prove my point, I take more time to read about the author and if they’re credible enough. For example, in the annotated bibliography assignment, I took more time to find sources that had a lot of information rather than just a snippet. This would make it easier for me to use these sources for my paper. There are a lot more things that I’ve learned throughout this course but these are the most important ones that I wanted to highlight. 

From what I’ve learned from myself as a writer and reader is that self-reflection and making blueprints are critical for me to create a successful paper. When I first started the research paper assignment, I wanted to pick a topic that I knew would have so much information to find. If I pick a topic that is too specific then sometimes I’ll stretch my argument too far to the point where it becomes uncredible. Outside of English and the classroom, having self-reflection and a blueprint is crucial because it allows me to stay organized and also reflect on things that work or didn’t work. If someone doesn’t reflect on their mistakes then they won’t learn from them and it will lead them in the wrong direction. I would say that my greatest strength after this class is organization. I always pride myself on having a plan because I don’t always like spontaneous plans especially when it comes to academics. If I have a blueprint for how I’m gonna write a paper or study for an exam, I always like to have a plan so that I can be organized when I start the assignment. One thing that I would like to work on as a reader and writer is always double checking. Sometimes when I finish a draft, or at least I think I’m finished, my brain is so drained that I just close my computer. I wake up the next morning realizing that I either didn’t save the file or if I missed a part of the assignment and now I gotta spend more time on the assignment when I should’ve finished it the other night. I should always double check reading articles because sometimes I skim articles or studies that are pages long and I sometimes don’t double check the page number and then I forget which page my evidence was. I will definitely work on this more as time goes on. Some key points that I’ll take away from this class is how to become a better peer reviewer and also continue building big projects, like the research paper, in steps. I think that these were the most important points that I took away from this class because as I continue my academic career, I would like to give others better advice for their work and also not to overdo a certain assignment and build it in baby steps. Not only will this help me in the classroom but also in life in general. Giving other people quality advice will make them build trust in you and they’ll see you as someone who is willing to help out others and not just brushing it off.