From the beginning of the course, there were goals placed to learn to become a better writer. I enjoy writing a lot and I was glad to seek the opportunity to say that I have improved my writing. I have read other students’ work, newspaper articles, poems, and blog posts. I have also analyzed them to find the author’s ethos for writing what they wrote.

None of my writing was perfect on the first try. I went to workshops with my peers and we collaborated on each other’s papers. We pointed out where we need improvements and with their help, I was able to revise and edit my essays to make them better than before. With my writing, I was introduced to 3 new writing strategies and they were pathos, ethos, and logos. Pathos added emotion to my writing, logos added reasoning with facts and figures. Ethos helped me convince my audience with reasoning to back up my pathos and logos. I have enjoyed using the DDC guideline to write. Keeping it short and simple to keep my audience interested and not lost.

I was able to use what I learned in my narrative essay, summary and analysis essay, and research essay. What I enjoyed about all 3 is they dove deeper into what the car community is. In my narrative essay, I wrote about my childhood. Describing how my childhood was where my love for cars started. And as I grew up I noticed I wanted to be around the automotive world since it gave me a place to express who I was.

My summary and Analysis I was tasked to find an article and to connect it to my narrative essay. But due to Covid-19 a lot of places were closed temporarily. Especially the school library. Thankfully I got a walkthrough on how to navigate the online library to find different sources. One database I used a lot was Academic Search Complete. I was able to find an academic journal that will prove to be helpful for my writing. I was able to bring in my narrative essay and a journal article together. The article is titled, “(Re)civilizing the Young Driver: Technization and Emotive Automobility” written by Karen Lumsden together and brings in a different perspective of the car community and what people go through. Not only did this article show the car enthusiast’s side but also the side of the authorities that wanted to stop this. My research essay was really the first time I have written a paper with more than 4 pages. I was up for the challenge.

My research was about why men use materialistic objects to express themselves and the bad effects it can have on a guy if they are not free from what society expects them to be. Not only did I use sources from the database but I also used the internet to find news articles and blog posts to help with my writing. The writing was long but after I did my outline everything seemed easier since I had written most of it already. I made sure to keep everything simple so it can be easy to read and not lose the reader.

I do have some trouble with keeping my writing organized. I tend to talk about more ideas than is needed in my piece. I guess you can say I get caught up in the moment of writing. I will improve on it. Make my writing easy to read and concise. Another area where I struggled was with my logos. But at times I struggled to add in sources from scientific research or other credible sources. In workshops, I was able to collaborate with Zuzu Murad and Clinton Otuaney who helped me understand logos and how it makes my paper more balanced.

I have practiced breaking down the author’s thought process through their writing. I would search up the author and read a little about them to learn about who they are and see other pieces of their work they have written. I will also take on a cultural aspect of my writing to structure my writing and have the ability to keep my readers attention while reading my paper.