Throughout my fall academic semester in my FIQWS class, I have gone through many trials and errors in order to get on step closer to be an efficient academic writer. I have written a handful of essays that could have been better if I have put in a significate amount of time and effort as I have done with my other assignments. However, I did have many great moments as a writer when writing various amounts of my work. The genre varied depending on what types of texts/images I will be using and how I will be presenting them to my audience. My audience stayed constant, it consisted of my fellow scholars Professor Yankwitt, and Professor von Uhl. That also goes the same for my media, I had used Office Word to complete my work and formatted it MLA style so other scholars will have easy access to my work and are familiar with the formatting style.
The first essay I wrote as a college student was a literacy narrative called, “Understanding the Motives behind the Medical Field”. The genre was a literacy narrative and I was discussing what strong emotions have merged within me when examining a specific type of image from Chariot’s, “A Clinical Lesson at the Selpêtrière”. This essay was hard to write since the only evidence I have was an image and my analysis is my emotion. However, that wasn’t enough to stop me from examining the image and tried to write my feelings in a formal way. For instance, I’ve mentioned that I haven’t felt any strong emotions towards the image and tried to rationalize this emotion by stating, “For instance, this image most likely captures a moment around the 1880s. What more should I expect from those times when women weren’t allowed to vote, have freedom of speech, and to put in simpler terms they were being oppressed.” (Lakshmi). I have given a rational inference of what might have been going on in that image. Getting feedback for this piece of work was average, my classmates were getting used to the new environment and we’re trying to get settled in. Also, the idea of the peer review was relevantly new so my classmates tried their best to give me feedback on my format on my essay rather than my ideas since they can’t really argue about how I felt about the image. Overall, this essay opened my eyes to college and how I will be facing different types of assignments that my professor will assign me. Plus, this helps me introduce my opinions in academic writing without coming across as a self-absorbed individual.
Fast-forwarding to my final paper, “Childhood Dreams To Adulthood Reality” I would like to mention that there are some notable changes in my writing style and the way I introduce my ideas and opinions. This paper’s genre is revolved around the topic of creating a research paper. I had to include many concepts of Freud and outside sources to connect them to the story I was investigating, which was Oates’s story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. In my opinion, I didn’t necessarily put in physical time, but I have given a lot of thought on how to present my ideas to my audience in a sufficient way. With the help of my tutor and with the many peer reviews Professor von Uhl has assigned to her class, I believe that this paper was satisfactory. “Both of those psychoanalytic concepts mentioned before introduces a major conflict that Connie is dealing with mid-way into the story; dreams. Connie’s desires are real and cannot be mistaken for anything else, but those desires manifested into nightmares wrapped in disguise” (Lakshmi) I believe this topic sentence I’ve created in order to introduce my main argument is, so far the best statement I’ve made during my time. It transitions from wishful impulses and connects it with Connie’s dreams and fantasies. However my essay still had many mistakes here and there, so compare to the peer reviews in September, this one we have conducted over the past month or so has given me incredible advice. My peers asked many questions about my paper since I was doing a story that only a few scholars have read, which gives me feedback about where and what should I be clearer. In addition, the grammar lessons we have learned in Professor von Uhl’s class increase our knowledge of sentence structure and such. To add on, the presentations I have given based on this paper have also given me great feedback because I could answer those questions in my essay thus meaning readers who will come across my paper won’t be as confused when reading my essay.
Although the fall semester is done and I will be moving on to more challenging classes, this experience has changed me whether I wanted to acknowledge that or not. I understand that when I don’t understand a certain topic we discussed in class, it is best to put away your ego and ask your professor for help and guidance. I also come to realize that grammar will be important to learn in order to become a great academic scholar/writer and, even though it is difficult I will have to take baby steps in my writing, listening to the feedback and comments to better improve my writing a bit in the future assignment. I appreciate this hybrid class and I hope to increase my knowledge of Freud and grammar.
