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1) Expressing Genuine Perspectives, Leading to Diversity

Before entering this class, I was used to getting assignments done according to the instructions.  I was afraid to say what's on my mind regarding the writing prompt given throughout high school. When entering this class in college, I realized that with the amount of writing activities conducted, such as the peer review, and Padlet assignments, it is actually pretty easy. I realized that everyone has different approaches, perspectives, and ways of thinking, which really made me feel okay with expressing my own thoughts. I found that this is a significant finding because it helps the writer move out of their comfort zone and share their personal thoughts and ideas, transforming into a stronger writer! It also made me realize that diversity is KEY.

2) The Significance of Countless Drafts

Before entering this class, I was a writer who thought my work was perfected the first time. I often thought that creating different drafts was not required and wasn't necessary. After conducting writing activities in UWP, I realized that it's the most critical part of writing. During UWP 7Y, we conducted many writing activities including the Elli Workshops consisting of different revised, edited, and final drafts. Within these activities we were told to acknowledge our weaknesses and strengths in order to build our papers stronger and further improved. These workshops really helped me acknowledge that I won't always get it right the first time, and that there's always room for improvement.

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1. I have discovered that annotating is actually beneficial for me. Annotating was something that I dreaded throughout high school as it was always a long and tedious task. However, this class has taught me how to annotate efficiently, through the readings we were assigned to read and annotate. Knowing that annotating is beneficial and helps me retain information, I will no longer dread the task in the future.

2. I have discovered that feedback enables me to become a better writer. All the feedback that I have received throughout the writing workshops we had to complete in this class has helped me improve my writing in some way. In the future, I will never worry about receiving feedback or even criticism because I now understand that it can only make my writing better.

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- Annotations-

The discovery I  made about myself as a writer as the result of annotations is I have accepted changes in my writing when I understand the class material. For example, at the beginning of this course, everyone was assigned to annotate articles my first annotation went as, “ I can totally agree with this first statement because throughout high school, elementary, and junior jr high school. the writing that was taught or the skills of it. Are verily different and were not useful to me as a student in any of those grades.” This made me realize that I was not putting all my effort into my classwork. This was helpful because today I am able to understand my readings and include them as sources in the writing assignments. This awareness helps me continue to develop as a writer by accepting new material and being able to use that information properly in my writing assignments without misunderstanding the source.

-Synthesis Drafts-

Another discovery I made about myself as a writer as a result of the synthesis drafts is I have accepted the change in my writing to bring me as a writer comfort.  For example, In, my first synthesis draft scaled responses were 3.8 out of 5 stars. Where my conversation was too broad with the sources I included.  This made me accept my peer’s feedback and apply their feedback to my writing. My final synthesis draft scaled responses was 4.5 out of 5 stars because I created relationships between all sources and integrated them into my conversation.  This is significant because it allowed me to reflect on my writing and how I was able to improve my synthesis final draft. This awareness helps me continue to keep writing and not give up on my writing even when it is not the best.

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1. One discovery that I recognized as a writer during this quarter is that I’m never afraid of writing things, but sometimes I might feel reluctant to read articles. In fact, the annotations I did this term helped me feel more willing to read since I would have to read these articles so as to take annotations. Moreover, writing literacy journals have helped me feel more comfortable with writing as we write these journals on a regular basis. I consider writing these journals as my continuous output, and I just feel more comfortable with writing after I practice more. More importantly, getting peer feedback, and doing my revision plan helped me with my comfort level of writing. These activities made writing easier for me. I believe that feeling comfortable with writing lots of different things is important to my continued development as a college writer since college writers always need to write a lot of academic papers. I would definitely have a hard time suffering and feeling overwhelmed from this writing if I didn’t feel comfortable writing different things on a regular basis. It’s meaningful to me as I used to enjoy writing before my senior year of high school. However, I started to feel reluctant to write some of my essays during the fall quarter of my senior year. That made me frustrated last year, so I’m grateful that I’m able to write comfortably at this point. Moreover, I feel that revision did make my writing journey easier since I would learn the lesson from those drafts that I revised, and had a general idea of where I need to pay more attention in my new writing.

2. I also found out that it’s easier for me to adapt to challenging tasks since some of our assignments like the HRC charts frightened me a bit when I just knew about it. And I was a bit afraid to do them at first. However, I found out that they turned out to be not that hard after I really did it. And the second attempt is always easier than the first one. I feel that I’m now open to more different assignments and challenging assignments are not intimidating to me. I believe that this is important for me as a college writer who will have a lot more difficult and complicated writing tasks to complete before I graduate. It’s really essential for me to have a peaceful and open-minded mindset to all these assignments, so my life will be a lot easier when I actually focus on my assignments instead of imagining how hard they would be in my mind before really doing them.

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One of the discoveries I made about myself as a writer as a result of UWP7Y is that I am very good at organizing my thoughts and planning out my writing. One exhibit that I have from class that supports this argument is my synthesis paper outline. An outline for the synthesis paper isn’t actually required, yet I wrote one anyway because outlines help organize my thoughts. Even after we wrote our paper, Professor Serviss assigned us to create a “Reverse Outline” for our synthesis paper (using my original outline made this assignment practically free points since I already did all of the critical thinking before I even wrote my paper). The significance of this is that I am able to brainstorm exactly what I want to do before I attempt it. In other words, this is a very useful life skill to possess, as many things require research and brainstorming before attempting the final product.

One of the discoveries I made about myself as a writer as a result of UWP7Y is that I take my sweet time reading and annotating articles. An exhibit from our class may be any of the Perusal activities, where we had to read and annotate a scholarly article about college writing. I noticed that I couldn’t just sit down and start annotating, rather I have to read and understand the article first, then I can read it a second time through, adding annotations as I go. The significance of this is that I have identified the best reading comprehension strategy for myself. If I need to read some information and use it in any remote way, I must read it first, to get a basic understanding of what it’s trying to say. Then, I can read it a second time and start processing that information, be it adding my own annotations, or something else.

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Finding #1
The findings from the literacy journals in UWP 7Y were all due to the fact that they were reflective writing assignments. I feel like through these assignments, specifically literacy journal #5, I have learned about how I write the best, and what setting for my writing works for me. This was a significant assignment for me because it helped me realize what I needed to do for myself in order to be the most successful student that I could be in this class, and it was assigned early in the quarter so it was even more beneficial for me.

Finding #2

Through the horizontal reading charts that were assigned in this class I was able to be much more organized when reading all of the sources we used. This really helped me with keeping the important information all in one place after finishing the readings. This was significant for me because I typically struggle with remembering the ideas from articles that I have read, and this was a skill that I learned through this assignment that helped me not only for this class, but also will help me in the future when I have multiple readings to keep track of.

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One of the findings that I want to highlight is my improvement at giving my peers comments. The synthesis essay draft was where I was able to improve because I had to practice giving comments to several peers. This is important because I will be able to make comments on my own writing in the future and also in other sources.

The second finding that I want to highlight is my improvement in revising my writing. The revision plans from Eli were the most helpful because I had to pick the comments that I found most helpful and make a plan on how exactly I was going to use them to improve my essay. This was a helpful finding because before this I would not make a plan on how I was going to revise my work but now I can see that this helped me a lot and will keep using it.

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1. One of the discoveries I made about myself is that I like to have my work revised and reviewed so that I can complete my essay promptly and make the small adjustments necessary. An exhibit that can be used as a reference is the peer revision workshop done for our synthesis draft. I find this significant because it shows I am willing to accept criticism for my own benefit and I strive to ensure my work is at its best. I think this awareness will help me gain confidence in asking for revision or asking for suggested revisions in my future.

2. Another discovery I have made about myself is that I tend to enjoy the social aspect of writing whether that would be collaboration, peer review, jotting down ideas or annotating. Exhibits that can be used to support this finding include the Yancey Annotations, Literacy History Worksheet & the Literacy Journal entry. I find this significant because I believe I do better in environments where I can socially interact with others and discuss common themes or ideas about the subject and if given the opportunity, lead the discussion. I think this ability of mine to interact and draw ideas is great when considering a future of collective writing or journaling for a professional field.

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I’ve found that before this class, I didn’t know how to explain and elaborate, including incorporating opinion into my writings. The synthesis paper assisted me in improving my elaboration skills and including opinion while writing. It was helpful for me to acknowledge this struggle because I was able to work on fixing it. This awareness in writing will help me develop as a writer because I can continue to focus on my elaboration skills in my later writings.

I’ve found that my reading skills have greatly improved in this class. I now read for a purpose and am able to read in order to improve my writing skills. The horizontal reading chart, along with The Method have helped me develop my reading skills. This is important to know about myself because I feel that before this class, my reading skills have been sub par. Knowing that I have improved my reading skills has also developed my writing and will continue to develop my writing skills in future class assignments.

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One of the findings I have made from my Literacy Self-Study is that I gain inspiration/learn for my writing from collaborating with other classmates/author’s writings. The exhibits which show this would be the revision workshops from the synthesis essay on Eli Review. This is significant because I learned that other classmates and authors have great ideas as well which can help you get thinking about certain topics to put into your own paper.

I realized that writing things down helps me stay on task and assists me with remembering things. For example, the revision plans we made after each peer workshop would help me remember what to do after I received feedback from my classmates which saved me time from rereading all the comments again. Also, reading and analysis help me remember the main points of the papers to make my synthesis paper more easy. This is significant because I will learn to write more comments when ideas come up so I don’t forget them.

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1. Revision- Revision was always something that was a pain to me. Maybe this is because I wasn't taught the right way. In high school, it was always just another annoying process of me having to write my essay over and over again but now I see maybe I wasn't getting the right feedback. I feel like within this UWP 7 class I have learned what actual help and revision looks like, mostly through the use of Eli Review and having a teacher properly teach the students HOW to leave comments.

2.  analyzing texts - analyzing texts has always been something I didn't put too much importance on. I feel as though assignments such as the HRC chart have really been able to help me with this, along with the article annotations. I believe that this is now a very important step because you cannot produce your best writing without a throughout understanding of the information provided. This class has really helped me not only see the importance but to see the benefit within my own writing and style, within a short period of time.

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1. Annotation/comprehension skills

As a result of the required reading with comments, I discovered I can quickly change my bad habit of poor annotation and comprehension through the assignments from UWP 007Y. I noticed when I was completing the last reading assignment that I was understanding the text quicker and connecting with the reading through my complex analysis skills. Being good at annotating is what led to me having a strong synthesis and improving my skills as a writer all around.

2. Organization skills

As a result of the horizontal reading charts, amongst other resources provided by UWP 007Y, I can confidently say I have improved my organization skills when it comes to writing. Through the HRC's and Eli review workshop feedback, I was able to learn how to organize my thoughts in a way that made sense to the reader. This was significant in my development as a writer because in order to connect with your audience. they have to understand what you're saying.

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I think the first finding that I made about myself as a writer as a result of uwp7y is that I can constantly communicate and learn writing skills in this class. I deeply feel that communication is a part of writing. For example, I learned a lot from peer review. The suggestions given by my classmates helped me improve. I had problems with grammar at the beginning. Now I can clear the framework of the article and avoid grammar problems. And synthesis draft, they also gave me a lot of suggestions. So I think my finding is to improve and make progress from communication. This finding helps me know about myself because I have never done an activity like peer review before. It makes me know the importance of communication to writing, and makes me realize that writing is not closed, but also listen to other people's opinions. This finding can help me better inspire inspiration and improve my writing skills.

The second finding I think is to overcome difficulties and adjust my attitude, because sometimes I feel a little sad when I see the shortcomings of my article and don't want to write, because sometimes I work hard but still don't meet the requirements. I will be disappointed because of such things. However, when I see some activity instructions, I become confident again, such as in the method chart activity, I learned how to make connections using different sources and put them together into a complete conversation and provide good assistance for conversation, which will help me a lot and let me have a way to revise my article. This helps me know that I'm not bad at writing, but I just need to overcome bad emotions and need someone to guide me at some time in order to make progress. And such guidance can help me change back to positive, overcome bad emotions, get more inspiration and improve my writing.

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After reading through my analysis of the different activities we have done throughout the class, one trend that I realize about myself as a college writer is my ability to adapt and learn given the situation. For example, after learning the DES strategy I was able to reflect on how and why the techniques were important; realizing that I continued using DES from there onward. The significance was that I was able to put more care and effort to the different strategies, having me ultimately produce better work, and in my continued development as a college writer I will be better prepared and ready to adapt and change as needed in my future writing. Looking at past UWP materials to show this growth, I found that my comments on Eli Review with DES grew as time went on, for a recent example “... I feel that there is not enough explanation for this in order to make it relevant to the overall significance of the argument. ... I would suggest using Yancey's ideas about the relevance of the digital age, specifically how the digital age relates to everyone being able to participate in and create conversations and dialogue. ... I believe relating back to the current status of technology is good for relating and grounding your main argument to the audience."

After reading through my analysis of the different activities we have done throughout the class, one trend that I realized about myself as a college writer was that I am better at giving feedback than I am applying my own advice on my own writing. An example of this is in the synthesis rough draft where I received comments very similar to those I often gave, including comments along the lines of "claims you made throughout the paper were not very effectively followed by significance" or "this piece of text does not make much sense here in terms of organization...it could be better placed here". The significance of this that after realizing that I tend to be better at giving feedback, I can have a more present notion that I should be looking for the feedback (that I would give) in my own writing when doing self-revision.

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Post your two findings from the Canvas assignment. Remember the instructions for that assignment asked you to:

Describe at least TWO findings that you want to highlight in your Literacy Self-Study. Write 3-4 sentence description of each of your TWO findings that includes:

1. The finding or discovery you've made about yourself as a writer as a result of UWP 7Y activities.

2. An exhibit from our class activities that supports that finding. (At least one exhibit per finding.)

3. The significance of that finding. (Why is this a helpful thing for you to know about yourself? How will this awareness of the finding help you continue to develop as a writer?)

Submit your TWO 3-4 sentence descriptions of the TWO findings below. Make each finding its own paragraph.

Then--go through and comment on THREE different people's findings, offering them DES feedback in terms of these THREE elements outlined above (^).

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Finding 1: Mental

The discovery I have found about myself as a writer as a result of the UWP 7Y activities is that my mental state and my feelings at the time directly impact the quality of my writing. One piece of evidence I had was the quality of my writing in my first rough draft of the synthesis paper. Many times throughout the writing process, I was very nervous and too scared to try out new ideas. I was still new to college-level writing and focused solely on getting my ideas down that I completely forgot about the actual goal of the paper. This made me realize that it is important to take care of myself and to ensure that I am better, mentally, before writing. I should try exercise or breaks when things get too rough in order to ensure my writing doesn’t suffer.

Finding 2: Staying Focused

Another discovery that I have found about myself as a writer as a result of the UWP 7Y activities is that I need to keep my ideas collected and stay focused. An example of this is in my second revised draft of the synthesis paper in which I was so focused on adding more “analysis” to the paper due to the feedback that I got that the argument of my paper was harder to find. I realize that due to the many ideas, thoughts, and beliefs swirling around in my head, that it is easy for me to lose focus of the task at hand and write about something that isn’t relevant. This is important because I will obviously lose points and my audience’s attention if I go completely off-topic. It is important as a writer to stay on track and stay consistent with my argument, so I can be aware in the future so I don’t make the same mistakes.

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1. The first finding I would like to discuss is my relationship with writing. I will write about how it changed throughout this quarter. I will use the padlet post I wrote in the second week of class, where I expressed my feelings about writing. I feel like this is an important thing for me to understand to be able to make progress.

2. The second finding I will write about could be peer feedback and workshops. I will explain how I’m getting better at giving feedback and also how I’m learning to use the feedback that I receive. I will compare a comment from the first workshop to one of the latest ones. Since writing will always be collaborative work, this is an important concept to understand.