WRIT 121 Assessment (Reaction Paper Sample)

Assessment of my Writing Skills Performance Student's Name Institution-Affiliated Date San Jose State University San Jose, CA 95129 (408) 924-5215 01 November 2018 San Jose State University English and Literature Department One Washington Square San Jose, CA 95512 Re: Assessment of my Writing Skills Performance Dr. Evan White I am a student at the San Jose State University who took up WRIT 121 this semester. The main goal for this course was to equip one with writing skills that would enable one to communicate effectively. The specific objectives of the course were to develop research and project development skills and to construct and structure and deliver academic and professional papers and documents. At the beginning of the semester, I was not confident with my grammar, my spelling was off, and my punctuation too was not well coordinated. I also was not sure of the structures and writing formats of different professional documents such as reports, process essays and other important documents such as researched arguments. (Berninger et al. 2017). Before taking the WRIT 121 course, I was a poor writer. At that point, I did not realize it, but as I reflect and review my previous papers to measure the progress I have made by the end of the semester, it is clear how much help I needed t to improve my writing skills. First and foremost, from my previous work, I realized that identifying and addressing the target audience was always difficult which has been demonstrated in the earlier documents such as the researched argument that we worked on in the semester. Also, I did not realize until recently how a poorly structured paper could affect how the reader understands the written work. Most of my earlier papers also reveal that stating the purpose of the work you write is also important because it gives the reader an idea of what to expect in the body of your written work. In the papers where I did not effectively communicate the purpose of my study, even I as the writer find it difficult to flow with the ideas that I documented. The chronological order of ideas is pointless if the purpose of the paper is not clear and precisely documented. WRIT 121 also revealed the importance of remaining in context as you document your ideas. Confusion mainly arises when one writes vague statements to build an argument. As I worked on successfully maintaining context and genre of the written document, one should focus on short and precise sentences instead of longer unclear statements. (Fidalgo & Torrance, 2017) WRIT 121 also enabled me to see and understand the importance of ensuring that your documents adhere to the set structures and formats of their kind. A good example is writing a process paper, a rhetorical analysis or an official letter. From my previous works that required specific structures that I didn't observe, I understood what was repulsive and disinterested the reader even before they began to read. While I am yet to grasp completely every detail of the different structures and designs that are used to present your points in the correct and an appealing format, so far I am much better at meeting the basic requirements of design and presentation. Also, I have learned to critically revise my document to ensure that it is more clear, easy to read, complete and correct (Hall, S. 2017, June). Finally, I was also able to conduct extensive research and demonstrate critical thinking processes in my presented works. Initially, I was unable to evaluate my research sources and filter through what was important for my document and wha...