Final Product: Midterm Reflection

Reflections from the Midterm (Revised Edition)

It needs to be said and thus I shall write it: writing about myself and my efforts is the most arduous task I can think of.  In January, a long arduous academic paper would stop me dead in my tracks, freezing me in silent panic if I tried to read it. Now, with some serious effort, I manage to work through it, to gain some sort of understanding that I have never achieved before. Over the course of the past weeks within this course I have grown slightly. And while I have had several personal missteps in the semester, I believe on a personal level I am improving my writing skills. This has been a difficult course for me thus far, however, in this reflection, I will address the coursework's reading, writing, main project, and some goals.

The reading, albeit tough and at times quite expansive, has increased my ability to write more difficult pieces, especially after incorporating the Active Reading and Writing primer which has helped more often than not. I recall my first attempts at deciphering a well-researched work, like the Sponsors of Literacy were met with fatigue and frustration. Upon a second and third read, while taking notes, I managed to get some of the main ideas and the author's arguments as well as some tidbits, that I never noticed before.

The writing to explore prompts have been an interesting set of topics to tackle. With these prompts, I have tried new forms of writing, but I have not always met the score I wanted. And while the grade has not always been a critical acclaim, I still have tried more forms and expressions in this format than I have in a long time. Overall, I am beginning to feel comfortable simply writing on any number of surprise topics while has improved my efforts of my class writings -- the daybook entries. The daybook has been an enlightening experience, just allowing a few minutes to merely jot down my thoughts on a given topic. Plinking away at my keyboard, letting the words flow from the pitcher that is my mind, is sometimes a rewarding experience, even if I feel sometimes I may have too much to say and not enough time to type it.

To say that the inquiry project has been a tough chore thus far, is quite frankly an understatement. I have never engaged in such a work in my entire life. The research, which I poured over numerous times, was  the second most challenging area; procrastination, shall always be my mortal foe, charting in at number one, trying to make sure I have enough time to fully pursue a topic. Achieving the course goal of conducting sound research is a daunting task for me. Attempting to cut through the what is relevant to your work and trying to remain as unbiased as one can be, while not attempting to pad your own research is probably a Herculean task even for professional researchers, scientists, and academics.
Lastly, it would be effortless to say that I have a broad goal to improve my writing, thus I have three specific writing goals. According to this assignment, they needed to be divided into difficulty ranks of easy, medium, and hard. That being said here they are -- Easy goal: The ability to be to write verbosely on subjects I am not well-versed on. Medium goal: To make sizable gains in the technical proficiency aspect of writing &to make peace with the contradictory aspects of writing. Hard goal:  To develop the collegiate literacy.

And while this work has been revised, it still might not be my greatest work, however, it is an honest one. And I stand firm in my belief that honest writing should always be demanded.