Taking FIQWS has been a hassle. When I chose this course I had the expectation that it would be difficult but this has been the most complex course I took out of all my classes. Although FIQWS was complex, I integrated a lot of information in my writing that allowed me to improve significantly from the beginning to the end of the course. I struggled with run on sentences, not being direct with my argument and struggling to find evidence to match with my claim. I used to receive feedback such as me not getting into depth with my ideas, my evidence not connecting with the point I am trying to prove and whether my interpretation was restating the evidence or adding in a new idea. As time progressed I changed my approach when it came to writing and used the feedback in my writing and fixed my bad writing habits. I always have room for growth but these artifacts allowed me to see a complete shift in my writing performance.

Discussion Boards/Peer Review

Discussion Boards allowed me to get connected with my peers and understand a different perspective aside from my own.

Creative Non-Fiction Essay

This was my first essay of the course. Doing this essay, I thought that it was so easy that I took the initiative to finish it weeks before it was due. When I submitted my essay I was so confident in my response I knew I wasn’t getting anything lower than a 5. Receiving my score back really humbled me because I got a 1 and I was missing so much information. I consulted this with my professor and we found ideas to improve my essay. I lacked in naming my topic and I was too focused on being vulnerable about the life only a certain audience could understand me. Overall I learned how to section topics and create claims.

Exploratory Essay

For my exploratory essay I had the idea that I wanted to focus on persona and social media. I had all my factors in place that I wanted to research but the problem was I made my ideas too objective. I focused on how those ideas relate to me compared to the how the ideas matter in general. This made my research biased and I didn’t know how to adjust my writing. Not only was my research subjective, it was also vague. Persona is a broad topic and could mean anything so I decided to focus on self-perception. Writing this exploratory essay was different because I had to make the essay relatable to what the authors are saying and I couldn’t connect it back to my lends. Looking back it’s not as hard as I anticipated. I learned how to create subjective and objective stances.

Mid-Term Self Reflection Essay/ Report on Research In Progress

Both of these essays are reflections of my work. The Self-Reflection Essay targets the issues I faced in my previous essays and what I could’ve done better to improve my work. My Report in Progress was made for me to provide an update on my work with the start of my Research critical analysis and my annotated bibliography from my reading FIQWS class. I named what I was missing in regards to my sources, a source I was unsure about and how the sources I was confident in related to my stance.

RCA

This was one of the toughest essay’s I had to write. I started off by using an outline to section each part of my essay. I was confused whether I was allowed to have a position in my essay so I used my sources to guide me along the way. I knew that my argument would support the negative aspects that social media has on self-perception but I also added that their could be positive aspects too. I enjoyed writing this essay as it taught me how to start outlines whenever I am stuck on what to write about. I also learned that I don’t need to quote my evidence and that I could simply paraphrase it in my own words and connect it back to my claim.

Overall, I am very grateful for this class as I learned different artifacts of writing, different styles, and rhetorical devices that I am able to use to find credibility in the sources I use.