Kaiyes Bhuiyan
05/10/2020
Writing has always been one of my strongest subjects. However, throughout this past semester, I have learned more about my weaknesses and strengths in writing, especially writing for scientific purposes. I have been able to strengthen my writing skills despite the difficult and unusual nature of this past semester. By incorporating my prior writing knowledge with what I have learned
Throughout the semester the various assignments and Discussion Forums have helped me to better understand my weaknesses in writing. Each assignment brought with it some level of difficulty. Though, for many assignments I have had plenty of experience from earlier class, through the Discussion Forums I was able to learn how to format and adjust my writing for the APA style.
My first assignment in the class was comparatively easier than most of the others. Our first assignment was to write a Formal Letter of Introduction, which was quite self-explanatory. Writing letters has been a part of writing since the first grade, however, with a formal letter I had to learn how to format the letter. The difficulty did not end there, after understanding how to format a formal letter, I had to learn how to express my ideas in a way that would be coherent and relatable to the prompt given. Through the in-class discussions and Discussion Forum on BlackBoard, I was able to find the weaknesses of the letter and strengthen my skills in writing a formal letter.
The next set of assignments was the Scientific Rhetorical Analysis and Scientific Controversy Papers, which were the most difficult assignments for me to complete. Firstly, I have written an abundant amount of Rhetorical Analysis essays throughout high school, however, when presented with one this semester I found myself struggling. This highlighted one of my main problems, retaining information. I am working to combat this by writing more often and writing for different genres. On the other hand, I had never done a paper quite like the Scientific Controversy assignment. The most difficult portions of the paper would have to be finding and citing evidence to both support and refute my arguments, as well as trying to prevent too much of my subjective opinions dictate the direction of the paper. As it was a research paper, I spent countless hours searching for the proper articles to support the multiple arguments that were imperative to my paper. For this, I used the CUNY Library Databases, as well as Google to find articles the would argue each position of the controversy on a professional or personal tone. After this, I found crucial pieces of information and weaved them into the essay.
The Scientific Controversy Paper also helped me to write an APA-formatted paper properly. Having written primarily in the MLA style, learning to write and cite information in the APA-style was difficult for me to do. However, by using the resources given to us in class as well as using the APA template on Word, I was able to adapt my writing to what was required from me in the class.
In between the Scientific Rhetorical Analysis and Controversy papers, there were the NYT Summary assignments. I noticed the most change with my writing in this assignment. Though I am usually a lazy writer, after this assignment I worked to write my pieces diligently and with as much detail as possible. The summary assignments showed me how more is more and can help flesh out an idea and relay a message thoroughly. The following is my first article summary from the class, followed by a final summary for my assignment.
Though there aren’t any major changes between the two pieces, the greater use of direct and indirect quotations help to strengthen the summary. Through these quotations I was able to describe the article while also dissecting it through my own interpretation of it.
Finally came the Virtual Field Studies, which were moderately difficult compared to the other assignments. The second VFS for the infographic was extremely easy for me given my graphic design training, however, the first VFS was almost a foreign language for me. Through this last assignment, I was able to discover a medium through which I could receive the help I needed on a professional level, by asking someone to review my work. I sent my first VFS to my professor to receive notes and suggestions on what I could do to improve my writing, and by doing so I had gotten more than I had asked for. My professor noted to me that I had to work on my grammatical skills. To help with this she provided me with links to resources that could help me better myself as a writer.
The positive critique from my professor aided me in understanding which parts of my VFS were strong and which parts were weak.
For each of the assignments, I used a rhetorical device to help make my writer stronger. For some pieces, I focused on the audience (namely the Virtual Field Studies) to comprehend who I am targeting my writing so that I may be able to appeal to them as necessary. In those pieces, I worked my writing, and design around what would attract the reader and give them enough information without flooding their minds. For the Scientific Controversy and Rhetorical Analysis, I used ethos to increase the credibility of my argument and analyses. By quoting and citing multiple articles I was able to show not only my own knowledge but the knowledge of other scientists and researchers. For the Formal Letter, I used pathos to attract the audience with my personal information and reasoning behind joining the Writing for Sciences class. Finally, for the NYT Summaries, I used amplification to extend and project the importance of both articles and describe them with descriptive language.
Throughout this semester I have learned a copious amount of knowledge that I will carry with me for the rest of my career in the sciences. By adapting my writing style to better fit the APA style, I have learned how to cite and credit sources, and format my writing to reflect the style. I have also learned how to incorporate rhetorical devices to enhance my writing so that I may capture the audience’s attention and in some cases persuade them with my arguments. This semester has been greatly beneficial to my growth as a writer, as evidenced in Figures 1-4. I hope to use the knowledge gained this past semester throughout the rest of my career, and I hope that through practice I will be able to retain and perfect my writing skills.
