This blog is intended for Dr. Fricke to read as part of my English 2311-005 class Weblog Portfolio assignment. The purpose of this blog is to inform Dr. Fricke of my thoughts and improvements throughout the semester as they pertain to each assignment mentioned below. Under each assignment heading, there is a link to that particular assignment. Below this link is my reflection on the assignment. You can use the “Categories” link on the right to quickly navigate to each assignment’s blog.
Throughout the semester, I have struggled with adjusting my writing style to fit the needs of this class. In every other class I have taken, it has been okay to use longer, more complicated sentences. I have become accustomed to writing this way. I feel like I have come a long way in this aspect. I do not have very much trouble now when writing short, to-the-point sentences. Another thing that I struggled with this semester, was writing the required amount of pages or words while still writing short, clear sentences. I think that this was a problem because I was able to say everything I needed to say using about half of the required space. I feel like the rest of each of my papers was just “filler” material. I think that this extra writing was unnecessary and defeated the purpose of writing short, direct sentences. Since these were my only problems, I do not think that I would do anything differently. The requirements for assignments are not something that I can change.
Now, at the end of the semester, I feel that I have an excellent understanding of the course goals. I think that my written communication skills have improved quite a bit. I am better able to write technical documents without having them be ridiculously boring. I am now able to think about who my audience is and write a memo, report, etc. to that specific audience. If this blog were intended for my peers, I know that I would be able to write much less formally. If it were to my grandparents, it would probably be more formal (my grandfather was an English professor).
In the future, this class will help me when I am in the working world. The assignment that I feel was the most helpful was the Resume and Job Letter assignment, as well as the Thank You Letter. These assignments are the only ones that I felt were relevant to my future career. The one exception would be basic, short memos, but these weren’t really specific assignments. I did not feel like the other assignments were extremely relevant, aside from the fact that we turned them in in memo format and I will probably have to write a lot of e-mails when I have a job.
