My Growth Through Writing

Before taking the Writing for Humanities course, I possessed a different view on writing. Writing was always looked at as a burden to me, something you had to get done for the sake of completing the assignment. However, I’ve learned to look at it from a different way. Writing is like a journey with multiple steps. You make mistakes, and sometimes you may even need to rewrite your whole paper, but in the end, you keep on writing and writing until you’ve achieved the perfect result. It’s almost like a form of art because you are creating this paper and delivering this story you have for others to read. Writing has become less of a burden, and more of a coping mechanism for me. Getting in the state of writing allows me to maintain all my focus on this assignment, and away from all the other stressful things life has to offer. 

Throughout this course, I was able to grow as a writer while also demonstrating an understanding of the course learning objectives. I was able to acknowledge linguistic differences and develop rhetorical sensibility through the On Community assignment and in-class discussion. This helped me expand my knowledge of identity and the diverse experiences that can be told through writing. I learned that everyone holds a different meaning on different things, and there is never a wrong answer. Knowing that allowed me to become a stronger writer, as I stopped having that fear of judgement when it comes to writing. When writing, it is also important to recognize the audience you are writing for. I learned that it is important to recognize the diverse group of audience you have. Not everyone will understand your situation the way you see it, and sometimes you’ll need to make some minor tweaks and adjust the tone to allow the diverse audience to see where you’re coming from. I was able to learn this skill through the Community essay assignment, taking into consideration that the word “Community” holds a different meaning for everyone. Additionally, I was able to accept constructive criticism and use the feedback I receive to help myself become a stronger writer through the workshops of the Op-Ed and Conference Paper. I had to change the topic of my conference paper three times, and rewrite multiple drafts. However, I did not allow that to discourage me from achieving the best result. Peer review allowed me to learn that giving up is never an answer, and mistakes will always happen. An idea that may seem perfect at first glance may not be the best for the assignment, and it’s important to accept and acknowledge constructive criticism. The use of the CUNY Commons site helped me develop an understanding of genre analysis and multimodal composing using blog posts. The use of blog posts allowed me to organize my stories and my thoughts effectively and allowed me to have a sense of creativity, as everything about the website reflects only me. In addition to that, I was also able to gain the skills of formulating and articulating a stance through presenting my final Conference Paper assignment. I learned that by establishing a clear argument and thesis statement, it could help structure the rest of your presentation. This assignment also helped me learn research methods that could benefit me for my future college papers. Library Day taught me the use of the CCNY Library site and the use of multiple databases and the importance of the search tool when it comes to researching. It made researching feel like an easy, simple task rather than a chaotic scavenger hunt for an answer. I was also able to learn that research doesn’t necessarily have to 100% relate to the topic you are writing about, but if it could prove your point then that’s all that matters. 

My understanding of writing had evolved throughout this course. When I think of writing, I think of 10-page college papers that’s based off a rubric. The school system had always failed us by making us feel like robots to the classroom. Our papers are strictly graded based off a rubric and no matter how much effort or passion you put into it; the rubric is what determines your grade. However, this course made writing seem more personal, giving you the flexibility to write freely and making it feel like a form of expression instead of something based off a strict grading rubric. This course, being effort-based, allowed me to put my actual passion and authenticity into the work I do, instead of changing myself and my writing just to align with the rubric. The whole idea of “doing it for the grade” was nonexistent for this course, and it allowed me to be as authentic as possible which helped me to become a strong writer. A key moment of this course that shaped the way I think is the Op-Ed assignment. For this assignment, I had to choose a topic I am passionate about. Writing about it allowed me to not only share my thoughts and experiences but also helped me learn more about myself from the simple act of writing. Writing has shaped my identity, built goals for me, and allowed me to organize my thoughts and kind of having an escape from reality. I have discovered so many good things writing could do for your personal life. This course has unlocked a passion for writing I never thought I had before. An example of this that I do in my daily life is journaling. Journaling has helped me break down and organize my thoughts and has become a coping mechanism when it comes to times of hardship.

To conclude, taking a writing course like this not only improved my skills in writing but also allowed me to discover new things about myself as a person. As a new writer, I still have a lot of work to do and it’s important to recognize that not everyone is perfect, and we’re all beginners. Accepting constructive criticism and using it to improve your writing is an important step needed to become a strong writer. Most importantly, owning your voice and authenticity is crucial when it comes to writing a paper for an assignment. I hope to use these skills learned from this course and apply it to not just writing but also other aspects of my life.