Jason Thirkell

Professor

ENC 1101

November 30, 2017

Self-Assessment

As a freshman student in ENC 1101, I have written different types of papers, narrative,

and discussion posts throughout the year. In total, I have written 3 major research papers, a

handful of discussion posts, and multiple quick writes done in class. I came into this class with a

good bit of experience, taking honors level English courses throughout high school, but that did

not really matter in this class. The reason that didnt matter is because college professors teach

their students how to write the right way, and that is not to worry about your grammar as much

as you used to. I came into this class with two goals. My first goal for this class was to come out

of it with an A and to really learn how to write more professionally so it could help me in the

future. My other goal for this class was to come out of it a better writer. I wanted to reach this

goal because if I could write more professionally, it would look better for job applications.

My first learning outcome would be what I previously mentioned above, that college

professors teach students how to write the right way. I was always taught, in high school, to write

for grammar purposes, and to really focus on getting all of your commas and apostrophes right,

but so far in college it is the opposite. Ive been taught to write for myself and for my writing

process, I should write using my writing process so I can write the paper to the best of my

abilities. Carol Berkenkotter says it is important that we play close attention the setting in which

the writer composes, the kind of task the writer confronts, and what the writer can tell us of his

own processes (Berkenkotter 832), this means that she believes that writers should write using
their own writing process. For example, my research paper in my senior year was about

Shakespearean tragedies. The paper had to be at least 2500 words in MLA format. When I turned

in my paper, my teacher barely skimmed over the text and just looked for grammar mistakes and

formatting mistakes. By the end of the class period, he gave all of the students in my class their

graded papers back without reading a word. I remember being so upset that I put so much time

and effort into not only the typing the paper, but researching the topic as well, for him to just not

read it. Also, in high school I never had to prepare an outline before I would write my final

paper. Now, before every major paper that Ive written, Ive done an outline beforehand so I can

make sure that Im getting all of my points across in the essay. I personally feel that this has

helped me tremendously when I write my essays and I believe that it helps my grade

significantly. Another thing that I believe has helped me tremendously is the peer review. Peer

review is when fellow classmates review your paper and make comments so that they can help

you receive the best grade possible. In our ENC class we peer review with three other students

and they all make comments on your essay through web courses online. In high school we rarely

did this, but when we did it was not helpful at all. I remember each classmate would make one

word comments or just say Good job! instead of providing detailed comments. They also

would never ask questions about your essay even though asking questions is the number one type

of feedback you can receive in peer review. Peer review, for me, was one of the most helpful

topics we went over in this class. This was because I was able to see my mistakes pointed out by

my fellow classmates, in my first draft, and revise them for the final copy. Another important

learning topic that I found useful was the use of the letter I. All throughout my life I was taught

to never use I in a paper, until I came to college. Now, I am told that it is perfectly okay to use I
in a paper. I was taught that using the letter I makes the paper more personal and allows the

reader to engage in the essay more than before.

My second learning outcome would be discourse and discourse communities. Discourse

is written and spoken communication, but James Paul Gee describes Discourses as ways of

being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes,

and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes (Gee 278). There

are two types of discourse, primary discourse and secondary discourse. Primary discourse is the

one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others. Our primary discourse

constitutes our original and home-based sense of identity (Gee 279). Gee also talked about how

we can become a member of a primary discourse we acquire this primary discourse, not by

overt instruction, but by being a member of a primary socializing group (Gee 279). By member

of a primary socializing group, he means family, clan, or peer group. A secondary discourse is

one that is not home based social institutions out in the public. They are beyond the family and

peer group. We acquire this to the extent that we are given access to these institutions and are

allowed apprenticeships within them (Gee 280). A discourse community is any group of people

who meet a defined set of criteria. Each discourse community interacts and meets in different

ways, but they all share a common goal. There are so many discourse communities out there in

the world, that many people do not even know exist. For example, I am a part of the UCF hockey

team, which is a discourse community, and so many people did not know that UCF had a hockey

team. This concept was identified in my paper two that was written for this class. I talked about

how the UCF hockey community has grown throughout the years, and how it provides a way for

students to interact with fellow hockey players and start to understand the game more so that

they can support us throughout our season. So many people are a part of a discourse community
and they do not even realize it. This goes to show that students are more involved than they

thought they were.

In conclusion, this course has been extremely helpful for myself as a writer. I believe that

this was a perfect transition from high school to college and I couldnt be happier with how this

semester in English went. I completed three major essays, multiple discussion posts, and some

quick writes throughout the duration of the class. I would say that I have accomplished my goal

of becoming a better writer so that it can help me in the future. I am extremely thankful that I

was taught to write for myself and not for grammar, which helps me feel more confident when

going into a major paper.