Letsos 1

Liana Letsos

Eugene Riordan

Writing 2

March 18th, 2023

Writing 2 Reflection

Upon reflecting on my writing before and after this quarter, I can confidently say that I

have developed into a more skilled writer, both in terms of my reading and writing abilities.

Through the class structure, I have experienced notable growth in my writing not only in this

class but in all my other classes too. Being a political science major, writing and arguing are

fundamental aspects of the major so having a new perspective on writing has greatly helped my

essays. I specifically found the in-class analyses of weekly course readings, in-class writing

sessions, personal writing projects, and the revision process to be the most effective approaches

for enhancing my writing skills. Despite exceeding my initial expectations, I acknowledge that I

still have a considerable amount of work to do from a technical and grammatical perspective.

Since taking this class, my understanding of writing has broadened, and I now recognize

the range of applications for my writing skills to be applied to. Moreover, I have gained a more

comprehensive understanding of the writing process, recognizing that it encompasses reading,

outlining, brainstorming, and the revision process, rather than just the act of writing itself. The

author, Mike Bunn, introduces the idea of reading like a writer which was one of the most

important tools I learned this quarter. In this tactic, everything you read you critically analyzes as
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if you were to make that decision as a writer. The idea is, “to carefully examine the things you

read, looking at the writing techniques in the text to decide if you might want to adopt similar (or

the same) techniques in your writing” (Bunn, 71). I have applied this idea in my political

philosophy class, when reading different philosophers' works you analyze how different authors

construct their arguments and then determine if you want to follow the same method to your

work. This has also required me to view the reading process more importantly, as I now see it as

a critical aspect of writing. This was especially true in Writing Project 2, the only way you could

translate your article was if you deeply analyzed and understood the project. In addition to that,

you needed to understand the question you were asking. I chose a question surrounding

monolingual ideologies, this required me to deeply understand a topic I had previously known

nothing about. After re-reading Gloria Anzaldúa’s, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, I was able to

gain a more broad understanding of what monolingual ideologies were and how they applied to

the conversation I was writing about. Applying this method, I asked myself core questions like,

“Do you know the author’s purpose for this piece of writing?” and “Do you know who the

intended audience is for this piece of writing?” (Bunn, 76). These are the questions that I was

failing to ask myself before and they reflected in my writing.

One area where I have seen significant strength is in my ability to revise my work. After

reading “Reflection is Critical for Writers’ Development” by Kara Takczak and through the

process of peer review and feedback from my instructor, I have learned to see the process of

revision in a new light and make necessary changes that improve the overall quality of my

writing. Takczak writes, “Reflection allows writers to recall, reframe, and relocate knowledge

and practices; therefore, it must be worked at to be most effectively learned and practiced.”

(Takczak, 2). Before this, I did not revise any of my writing but I started taking the process a lot
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more seriously. For example, in my WP1 project, I received feedback that my work needed to be

longer and that I needed to make my one more satirical. This led me to revise and reorganize my

project, resulting in a more stylized and well-structured piece of writing, and I now consider this

a strength of mine. I have also become more aware of my weaknesses as a writer. I believe one

of my struggles is writing in run-on sentences. While this is still something I very much struggle

with, I am more aware of the issue now. In my WP2 project, I received feedback that my

sentences were long and hard to understand, which prompted me to work on strengthening my

grammatical skills and breaking down my sentences. I addressed this issue by reflecting on it in

my journal and working in groups to create large run-on sentences and then, later on, correct

them.

If I had more time, I would continue to work on WP1 and create more scathing Zillow

ads, particularly in terms of finding and analyzing more sources. I enjoyed this project because it

took one of my interests as the center of the project and allowed me to learn more about the

subject. I also liked the creative freedom we were awarded because it allows for some personal

artistic choices to be emphasized. Overall, this class has created an environment that is easy to

learn in and my understanding of writing and reading has been greatly impacted because of it. I

look forward to applying the skills I have learned in this class to other classes and continuing to

learn more about the writing process as a whole.

Work Cited

Bunn, Mike. “How to Read Like a Writer.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 2,

edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, Anderson, South Carolina, Parlor Press,

2011.

Anzaldúa, Gloria. “How to Tame a Wild Tongue.” Fifty Great Essays, edited by Robert DiYanni,

4th ed., Pearson, 2013, pp. 33-45.

Takczak, Kara. “Reflection is Critical for Writers’ Development.” Naming What We Know:

Threshold Concepts of Writing Studies, Classroom Edition, edited by Linda

Adler-Kassner and Elizabeth Wardle, Logan, Utah State University Press, 2016.