Final Reflection
Time tears when you enjoy what you are doing with it. That is my full summary of the current quarter that is currently coming to a close. It has been a very productive quarter in my academic life. It is a quarter in which I have learnt a lot both from my instructor and also on my own. Reflecting on where I have come from, I have to rank the essays I have been working on as the best and most enjoyable experiences I have had. It is a bit tricky to pick one as the best or most enjoyable because they were all unique experiences from which I learnt valuable lessons. However, if I must, I would pick the argumentative essay I wrote on whether “Say on Pay" been successful in the U.S.A. I like the challenge that the essay presented. It was more challenging than the rest given the number of research hours that I put into it. Working on the essay expanded my general knowledge as well, and that is very vital for a public speaker. If I had to rate my work on the essay, I would give myself room for improvement. If I do the same essay sometimes later, I am sure I would do a better work even though I am impressed by the efforts I made.
I cannot say that there is any piece of my work that I least liked. This is because I have always given my best in what I do. I give great importance in my assignments and do thorough research on each one of them. However, if pressed harder again to pick one, I would go for the essay on "Media Violence". Not that I did not do well in it, no, I did. My conviction, however tells me that I could perhaps, have done better with more time. This is because it concerned an issue that is in the public domain and researching on it was not very involving.
As an aspiring writer and public speaker, I believe that I am working well towards my goals. I still have a tremendous room for development. I am still far from where I want to be, but I am happy with the progress that I have made this quarter. I understand that this is a progressive process and that I have to be patient with myself as I continue to work hard. I believe that I have succeeded in gathering information on the subjects I have written on quite well although I still give myself room for improvement. I can research well in books, the internet, and other published materials. I know the appropriate sources for materials I need and how to extract the information I need from them. However, as a writer, I believe that I should also improve my interviewing skills since, some of the time it might be the only way of getting information. I need to be a good one on one interviewer and be able to record vital notes during the interview. I am determined to achieve this both with personal efforts and the help of my instructor. My aspiration is to be a person whose work alone describes as a passionate, hardworking professional. I want my work to market me and to inspire other people as well because for me; success is gauged by how many people I am able to inspire.
I have recently been going through my past writings. It helps to know where they are coming from in order to have a clear picture of where they want to go to. That is why I have been revisiting my past work. The difference between my past writing and now is glaring. I am more organized, coherent, and I use vocabulary much better. I have learnt in this class so many things that I did not know before. For example, I know how to conduct research on a subject much easily. I can easily narrow down to the subject of my writing without having to read through chunks of irrelevant material. In addition to that, as much as I can’t say that I could not speak in front of many people before, I can say that I now do speak in front of people more confidently. This class has improved my self-esteem, self-belief and consequently my confidence.
Writing is a process that starts somewhere and ends with the final product which is a well-organized coherent piece of work which should be fun to read and sends the message that it was intended to transmit. My writing process begins with identifying the subject that I want to write about. If the subject is unfamiliar as sometimes may be the case, I usually read extensively on the subject. I research for ideas and note important points. I then decide on the structure of my work and arrange my points accordingly. I emphasize more on the quality of my information that the quantity. I typically write the first draft and then improve on it through reviewing and adding and/removing some information or words. This technique works well for me since it enables me to account for the number of words that I use on different sections of my work.
Finally, a writer should be a good time manager. That is one of the important lessons that I have learnt in this course this quarter. I cannot account for my first two weeks of this quarter properly but after that I have managed to utilize my time really well. I have been more involved in class work, study groups, discussions, and recreational activities. All, these have contributed significantly to my overall performance this quarter. I am particularly happy with the impact of study groups and discussions on my progress. They helped me generate for my research work and I also learnt a lot from every student I interacted with in the groups. Although my performance in this quarter is satisfactory, I intend to push myself further since I have the potential to improve.
