Acknowledging other’s linguistic differences in their writing plus mine did make sort of develop a bit of rhetorical sensibility. I saw this because when I receive feedback it’s meant to help me but the part that helps me more is reading other people’s work. I get to see their perspective on the topic which can help me form new ideas or further develop some I wasn’t able to draw out. Plus, the reading discussions during class were extremely helpful towards the whole class because it helped me realize what some things truly mean, and it would help me understand the whole text. For me to be able to write any paper I need to fully comprehend the text I choose to write about so if I can’t understand it then writing simply won’t be possible.  

I wouldn’t say I never really developed multiple strategies but something that I started to use was free writing. I started to spit out the ideas I had in mind for a topic and see if what I wrote was like the question. It would take a little time since I would have different ideas, so I pick the one that’s easier and the one I’m able to write the most about. When peer reviewing and we were given a sheet of paper to further talk about our writing, I would read and follow their suggestions to make my writing better. This is useful since I have been lacking in writing and it’s not the same as before. Reading strategies would be the classroom discussions since that’s where I learn the most. As said before, I benefit from this because it allows me to hear everyone’s perspective on the text but also the professor’s explanation which usually makes me understand the text in its entirety.  

For all the writings I’ve done I’ve tried to get the audience a sense of seriousness and straight to the point. That’s always been the goal, but they weren’t completely met per say. Sometimes I would get sidetracked and talk about the same idea which can get boring and makes the reader a bit confused. No one has told me this, but I already know as I was writing, couldn’t do much to change it since that’s how I function and sometimes sparks new ideas along the way so there’s a pro and a con towards it.  

Collaborative skills are something that I am all aboard for since it helps me further develop my writing skills and makes a piece make sense. Obviously, peer reviews are necessary to improve any writing whether it’s looking for grammar mistakes, making certain pieces sound specific or any general feedback. It’s good but when it comes to research, that’s where things start to get concerning. The thing is that I can only write about it in a universal way. Let me explain, only when writing about a broad question. Like COVID for example, you can write about the infection rates and their correlation with unemployment. It’s specific but broad at the same time, when comparing it to a text with limited sources then it’s an issue. That’s how it’s like to me but research is a bit of a struggle.  

Speaking of struggles, something that I used to struggle with a lot during the beginning of the semester was making a thesis and what to write about. This is something I always struggled with throughout my years of schooling and I’m still not the best student when it comes to making a good thesis but it’s something that can be understood throughout my writing. I would spend most of the duration from when the assignment was given and its due date just coming up with one that sort of makes sense. Which would not give me enough time to go in depth with what I’m writing unless I had some ideas written down. But now I have improved the timing a lot. With the recent assignments I’ve been given, I have been able to come up with a thesis almost instantly or within 2 days at most. It is good since I would also have an idea to write my paper on. Hard part was finding specific pieces of evidence to support my thesis but that’s another situation by itself, either way timing has improved and the paper itself makes sense to an extent. Sure, some parts may be a bit off but nothing like the first paper I have done 

Throughout the course of both writing sections I’ve been trying to put out that I’m “real”. Essentially going straight to the point and letting the audience know what’s up, the whole reason why they are reading what they are reading and the idea of it. Some people go soft giving little glimpse of it at a time, but I go straight into it with the reasoning. This is something that I believe I have gotten a bit better at since I don’t want to waste a lot of people’s time. Still this course has been good to me with writing and developing a few new things that were already mentioned. Will defiantly use the free writes the next time a paper comes up and the different ways to find sources like the CCNY Library website and searching topics like mine and of course, google scholar since it’s made up of scholarly websites.