Overall, I feel that
this course has been delightful. Honestly, the thought of having to go through
any sort of writing class has never crossed my mind since I left secondary
school because of the lack of interest in it. Although I am still having
trouble differentiating English terms - like vocab, noun, adverbs and such -
being able to learn writing skills has been enriching.
Through
the course, the lecturer has imparted valuable knowledge on the basics of
academic writing. I remember writing my first paragraph with a semi-formal tone
where half of my paragraph was written in formal language while the other half,
in informal personal recounts. Feedback from my team mates and lecturer on my
writing implied that there are inconsistencies in the tone and unclear topic
sentences. From the feedback given, I realized that a document should be
written with consistent tone and that I can better improve my skills in
phrasing so that my peers are able to easily identify the topic sentences. I
have then incorporated these skills into the final paragraph submission. By
reading paragraphs written by peers
I learnt the importance of presenting
information with clarity; without proper phrasing or sentence structure, the
topic sentences can be hard to identify. This, I say, because I have chanced
upon a few paragraph writings where I cannot seem to identify the topic sentences.
During
the course, we were required to provide feedback to at least two peers and
evaluate on their writings. It a rather interesting experience having to give
feedback in the form of comments for each writing. It was apparent that skills
are involved in giving constructive feedback. I learnt that comments like
"good job" or "well done" does not suffice in suggesting
areas of improvements. In order for one to be able to improve, there is a need
for constructive feedback. It is important not only to receive feedback but
also to give constructive feedback. Many things has to be taken into
consideration. A method in commenting has left a rather deep impression is to
present comments in in a form of a sandwich, metaphorically speaking; where
comments are to start on a positive note, the meat of the matter, per se, then
ending on a positive note,
As a result, I tried
to give comments that are helpful by observing how and what the lecturer
corrects us during lessons. This has equipped me with the skill of giving
feedback that are useful to the audience.
I have enjoyed most
of the lessons except the topic of citations because it is a tedious process of
logging information from the page information was retrieved. But even so, I
have learnt how not to be suspected of plagiarism by rephrasing, using synonyms
or different nouns, vocab or adjectives.
In conclusion, I have
enjoyed this module and would like to know more on other writing techniques,
