Reflecting on Writing as a Student in ENGL 458

My name is Alex.

I feel that having practiced writing during the last few months that I have gotten better not only at writing and composing, but that the most important development in my writing journey is my ability to take criticism and direction from others who are present to give helpful input. I still don't know how I would handle a critic who is simply being critical to be mean, but that's not really what we modeled during this semester. As an overall student, I should be stronger. I have a very bad habit of not meeting deadlines, and I most definitely need to get better about that aspect of my work.

I felt coming into this class that my creative work was strong coming in, and I am glad that I had this exercise to sharpen the skills I already had there. Where I feel stronger by a wide margin is in informative writing and communicating nonfiction content. That being said, I would really love a break from researching peer-reviewed articles and scouring the internet for acceptable sources that I can use to compose a supposedly new opinion.

I have never really been a journaling type of person, and I still think that I'm not. I am a person constantly in thought about what I'm doing or supposed to be doing, and journaling always has felt to me like a speed bump to thinking through things. I don't really process my thoughts by writing them out very often. However, of the things we did in this class that I would hold onto, I need to do better about drafting and getting feedback. That aspect really worked for me this semester. I completed a creative project, a nonfiction informative article, and worked on my resume' and cover letter. Aside from that, I had to provide feedback to my classmates on their work, as well.

My engagement with different aspects outside of the journaling was effective and proved to be a solid process of writing. Even our freewrites and prompts in class were useful on account of inspiration and content they gave to me. I plan to apply the process of writing that we've gone through in this course to my professional life by going through recommended steps and determining a path forward to make the best version of what I am being asked to accomplish.

If I had advice for future students in this course, it would be to complete the assignments on time and to the best of your abilities. It will be easier that way, you'll feel less pressed for time, and your grasp of the course content will be stronger. If there are parts that frustrate you, do them anyway and determine their value to you in the long term after completing the course.