Throughout this semester, I do feel as if there were many areas of where I had improved upon in my writing. I’ve never viewed myself as the strongest writer so I always knew there was room where I could improve. Whether that be with citing, finding sources, grammar, or collaboration I knew I could do better. I’ve always thought of my writing as being basic and straightforward, I don’t believe I’ve changed my style all that much with the semester however, I do believe I’m at a better place now then I was before. 

I’ve almost always viewed writing as a very independent task that I had to do. Whenever I’d go to write I’d always isolate myself from everyone else, put on headphones and write away. However I felt like this semester really showed me the more collaborative side of writing. Last semester most of the class was online, so I never had a real connection with anyone in the class. However being put in a cohort and having to peer edit with a group made me connect with people more. The peer reviews this semester actually felt like they meant something and I almost always took my partner’s ideas and worked them into my writing. Which I feel like I never really used to do. This class certainly helped me open up and take as many ideas as others from whoever was around me. Not every idea I was given was great but the majority certainly improved my writing. I tend to write faster than I can think so having people catch on to the many mistakes that I can make certainly helps as I know I can make a lot. Even just through texting I do it. 

I wasn’t the best at finding nor citing sources so I was pretty happy when I found out the first two writing pieces wouldn’t require sources. However, when it came to the final, I needed two. So getting a class dedicated to learning how the CCNY database and how to find scholarly sources took the daunting task and made it much more accessible. Prior to this semester, I never really put much thought into sources other than just a quick Google search. Which I know isn’t the best, but my previous schools never really enforced citing all that much. The furthest I got was putting in quotes. Paraphrasing was never really talked about, nor was summarizing. Which I feel confident in saying I can at least do both decently. Not only did we just use the database as well, but finding a popular source certainly helped as well. I’ve never actually cited a YouTube video before and I plan on doing it more often from now on. I prefer a visual medium, and I’m sure others do, so videos tend to help me understand things much more. 

One of the things I do believe I still have to really improve on is making a stance on my writing. With the researched subculture paper, I do feel as if I didn’t take as hard of a stance as I could’ve. I did most of the research for the paper without having a stance, as I do believe film looks superior to digital, however I haven’t even had much experience with film because of the easy access to digital. Throughout the process of that essay, taking that stance was the last part that I had done and I feel like it shows. 

Another would have to be understanding others’ range of linguistic differences. Both in the observational essay and the subculture position essay, there were some insider phrases that I had used. When I had done peer editing for the observational essay, it was brought to me that my partners didn’t know a few of them. So I tried my best to explain it in my writing however, I’m not sure if I made it clear enough what each phrase was. As I’m an insider in both subcultures I’ve researched upon, I’m aware of what each phrase means. However, I’m not sure which ones I should explain to the reader. 

This semester definitely showed me that there is so much more that I can improve upon and that I can always take my writing to greater places. There are things I will use in future writing pieces, like the three different ways of citing, as well as really depending upon peer reviews. I’ll also continue to work on taking a stance in my writing as well making sure my reader can understand everything I’m writing without them having to be an insider.