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Danielle Ali Dayes

Dr. Steffen Guenzel

ENC1101

11 December 2019

Self-Assessment Final Draft

During this semester, my writing skills have definitely expanded into a whole new region.

While enrolled in ENC 1101, I learned several strategies that I will utilize in my future writing.

Throughout the course, we generally analyzed texts that showed us distinctive writing processes.

These writing processes showcased the alternative perspectives that professional writers

published to find relation among other authors. Once I finished reading each perspective, I

gained insight on the way I wrote, which opened the door for my new writing processes. Prior to

this course, my writing process was almost nonexistent. This affected me in my previous papers

because it took me almost three days to write an essay. When I did not have a specific process

that was satisfactory for me, it was difficult staying on track, and I had to steer myself away from

writing off topic. Spending time in this class set forth the opportunity for me to master writing

using rhetorical situations and strengthen my ability to analyze texts.

The first text I analyzed that helped me develop a writing process and impacted my

knowledge on rhetorical situations was “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott. This article made

me feel enhanced as an undeveloped writer who struggled with writing essays. Throughout her

article she made it clear that professional writers always have a horrible first draft no matter how

great their final draft transpires. She further expands on this topic by using the general public’s

idea on successful writers as an example. She explained how to use people’s opinion to make

sure that you can change into a better writer. People often look at them and believe that they sit
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at their desk everyday feeling enthusiastic about writing. But truth is majority of authors struggle

to complete a perfect first draft themselves. Some even acquire three to four drafts before

publishing the preeminent article. Reading this article allowed me to relax and take my writing as

a step by step process. I felt better when writing my essays because I feel Writing was more

stressful when I looked at my topic as a whole instead of just focusing on one section and

separating my ideas. This advice persuaded me to look at writing in smaller increments by

outlining my ideas on a piece of paper.

Additionally, I use to limit myself from writing freely out of fear of being biased by including

my personal background into each essay. Bias is what made me preserve in the end and made me

strive to reach my goal to write better essays. This made it tougher to write because I had to find

alternate ways of explaining a topic without using my prior experiences. According to “All

Writing is Autobiographical” by Donald Murry history is unconsciously being accumulated

within your writings. In his writings he circled through infinite emotions and later used his

stories as a tool to comfort the autobiographies of others. This persuaded me to stop hindering

myself when writing because it made me realize that I have my own way of communicating what

I see to an audience. In this course I got the opportunity to further practice writing an

autobiography. Our first essay was about literacy sponsors that aided my development of

becoming a professional chef. Using prior knowledge and experiences I had to thoroughly

explain my personal process and include those who took part in my growth. This narrative

allowed me to mater autobiographical writing without having to alter my idea on the topic.

Another text that helped me develop a writing process was “Intertextuality and the Discourse

Community” by James Porter. This article explained how authors use different traces and pieces

of texts to create a or define a new discourse. I further used this information in my second essay,
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a rhetorical analysis to explain my Discourse using intertextuality from James Paul Gee’s,

“Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics.” When writing about my discourse community I had to

explain my progress on becoming a professional chef. James Paul Gee believes that a Discourse

is “a sort of identity kit which comes with the directions on how to talk, act, and write to take on

an individual role that people would identify” (Gee 7). Using his ideas on what Discourses

meant, I explained the discourse taking place in my cooking community with his definition. In

my essay I talked about my primary discourse skills and how it helped me learn basic discourse

within my community. This is where I elaborated on the language and communication taking

place in a kitchen daily. Although primary discourses are the original skills you learn growing

up, James Paul Gee’s claims that primary discourse skills cannot be learned from just anyone.

Usually, parents or family members teach you the basic skills needed to commence in your

community. Once you expand and acquire further education from outside sources, he then

defines that as secondary discourses skills. Secondary Discourses were broken down into further

subheadings according to James Paul Gee. He claimed that you could be either a part of a

Dominant Secondary discourse or a Nondominant Secondary Discourse. Depending on your

future plans in your discourse community you will be either using your skills for money, prestige

or just to give back to the public.

The last thing that helped my writing skills expand was developing a writing process.

Developing this process showed me that I was able to take different elements and Prior to this we

did not course we read articles about different writing processes that other authors established for

themselves. Furthermore, I thought it was best to create my own. My writing process is simple,

and it works for me. The process begins with writing freely and happily because of the way I do

it. Anything that comes to my mind will be written or typed. Then after writing my first draft I
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use the ideas to create a second draft. When all the writing is complete, I ask my peers around

me to look over my work before I submit my essay for peer review. After peer review I edit my

work again and incorporate the ideas of my peers. Once I finished editing my work, I would

submit my essay and wait for my professors’ feedback. When the feedback is received, I revise

my essay one more time making an even better third draft and submit my final copy. This writing

process is very effective and helped out the quality of my writing.

In Conclusion, my progression in ENC 1101 has changed my writing process and allowed me

to attain knowledge that I never knew before. When I first started writing, it was very

displeasing. Writing was meant to fulfill a grade requirement and I always had to focus on topics

that never sparked my interest. In this course, writing was taken to a whole other level. Majority

of the prompts were self-reflective and taught me how to apply writing studies to my everyday

life. Not only did these writing studies help me with my writings, they influenced my

progression in ENC 1011 and helped me gain knowledge about the rhetoric process.