Final Self-Assessment: Improving the WISE

Improving the WISE
From stress and procrastination, to determination and achieving, the Clark Atlanta University WISE program has allowed me to enhance my writing technique, approach writing in a new and improved way, as well as incorporate technology into the process, receiving beneficial feedback, suggestions, and the opportunity to make revisions. Furthermore, throughout this semester of CENG 105WS-2 or WISE College Composition, I have gained accessible knowledge as to writing, reading, and improving. Because Composition is directly linked to WISE history, it gave me the advantage of learning to take historical information, and transforming it into academic English essays, questions, and blog entries that adhere to rhetorical situation. Thinking back to the first week of WISE college composition, I remember myself confused as to what the program was, and what it had to offer; however, by the name “WISE”, I knew it would challenge my ability to think and prosper. As I learned what the WISE program was, I became content that the semester would be a lot of hard work. Challenging me to become a better writer, however, is very engaging and beneficial to my future. Because I love to write, this WISE composition class has become one of my favorite classes, transforming what I once perceived as intimidating into a “piece of cake.” From critically reading chapters in a text book, to major writing assignments and small blog entries, this semester of WISE composition has been filled with assignments that greatly contribute to my improvement.

Additionally, the use of convenient technology such as wordpress.com and Insite, as well as Professor Peterson, I have been able to become aware of new techniques that better my performance. Whether I am writing an 8 page research paper, or a paragraph for a blog entry, I am prepared for takeoff. Drafting in stages is a new technique that I have acquired. Consequently, using techniques such as this one, I have been able to eliminate stress and procrastination. More importantly, the WISE composition course has enabled me to revisit and revise major assignments I have completed such as the Arti“factual” Interview Narrative, and the Cultural Analysis Essay. In addition to these two assignments, I have also done three other major writing assignments such as the Midterm Self-Assessment Essay, the Annotated Bibliography, and the Film Critique; all of which make up my WISE composition e-portfolio. Clearly, this semester of WISE composition has been a bit of a challenge, however, it is now obvious that I have grown tremendously as a writer.

The first essay that I composed in WISE composition was the Arti”factual” Interview Narrative. For this essay, it was essential to interview a peer, gather information about an artifact that he or she brought with them to college, and form questions to learn more about that person. Although the process is seemingly easy, the challenge is making the general information connect to the artifact he or she has brought with them to college and the significance of that. Unfamiliar with rhetorical situation, the process was more challenging then I had imagined, and consequently I received a grade that was not too pleasing on my first draft of the arti”factual” narrative. The lack of an artifact to connect with the intended message of the narrative, also contributed to my displeasing grade. Confused and upset with the outcome, I was then able to revise. Looking deeper into the assignment, and analyzing exactly what the rubric asked of me, I was able look at the writing as a developmental process, breaking down all the informative and important aspects of the narrative that related to the artifact, developing paragraphs that adhere to rhetorical situation. Furthermore, wordpress.com allowed me to complete this revision and repost the assignment, as well as receive comments and valuable feedback. Finally, I was able to receive the grade I had strived for, due to the hard work and effort that I applied.

Moreover, another major work I have completed this semester was the Cultural Analysis Essay. Honestly, starting this essay, I was extremely intimidated. Large research papers have always been something that I tried my best to avoid; however, there was no avoiding this essay and meeting my expectations. I have always hated to do research on historical topics, or any topic in which an essay follows. Nervous and annoyed by the work that I soon had to do, I became stressed. However, Professor Peterson taught me a technique in which eliminates all of the worry and intimidation. Drafting in stages allowed me to break down every part of my essay and analyze specific parts of the culture. The culture I chose to analyze was ancient China. Looking at the impact Confucianism had on population and power; I took each of the topics and created paragraphs to support my analysis. Next, I put each of the paragraphs together to form the Cultural Analysis Draft. In addition to this essay, I had also completed the Annotated Bibliography Assignment. Because the Annotated Bibliography was based on ancient China, I used the information from that assignment to support my Cultural Analysis. Drafting for this assignment, it was necessary to have a research question and sources. Clearly, this drafting process eliminated struggle, extra time, and unnecessary work. Also, the Cultural Analysis Essay required citations in Chicago Manual Style; which I had previously done for the Annotated Bibliography as well; therefore, much of the work for this Cultural Analysis was done for me, being that I worked in segments to avoid unnecessary drama. It is obvious that the technology I used served as a helpful source. Learning new and beneficial things in the WISE curriculum, I have been able to grow not only as a writer but as a thinker. Before writing I think critically about what I will write and how I will approach the assignment. More importantly, this composition class has taught me to work in ways that best fit myself, draft in stages, and to just do it; this is what made research papers such as these comfortable for me.

Lastly, the most recent paper I wrote was the Film Critique. This essay was based off of the Film Lara Croft Tomb Raiders. The Critique was solely focused on the film and not the plot of the movie. Looking at the approach director Simon West took on the film, I related that to the credibility of the film. For example, the argument I made was that, director Simon West used gender to capture the attention of the audience and disguise the intensity of the heroic main character. Obviously, this critique does not focus on what went on in the movie, but how the film was put together to be worthy of watching. Incorporating sources to back up my argument, once again, was the challenging part of the essay. However, with the help of technology such as JSTOR and EBSCO the process was a lot easier.

In conclusion, throughout this semester of CENG 105WS-2, I have been able to learn a plethora of new things that improved who I am as a writer, thinker, and a reader. I truly do believe that this WISE program is extremely beneficial as well as an appropriate way to improve multiple skills with the collaboration of courses. Writing the various essays, and smaller blog entries such as the Sundiata blog I have been able to see my improvement, and make others aware of the opportunity the WISE program offers. The Epic of Sundiata assignment has given me the opportunity to learn about my African history and give my opinion as to why I have never heard of this story. Getting my opinion across and commenting on my colleagues blog entries, has helped me a lot. Furthermore, writing major assignments and revising is not the only way to improve. Completing blog entries like the Kieta blog and the Salvation blog, and jotting down epiphanies to fit rhetorical situation, interacting with peers on wordpress.com played an important role on my improvements thus far. However, Professor Peterson has helped me a lot to meet my expectations as well as what the expectations the program has for me. This WISE College Composition course has helped me so much, and I look forward to what the future holds for next semester of CENG 105WS-2.