Shawna Thompson Self Assessment Essay 2 English 1154 10-27-03 People who have made artistic achievements in the realm of literature hardly every start out as good as they finish. That is what I will keep on telling myself as I go through this class and agonize over my mistakes. However, what the first requirement of this essay requires for me to discuss what I have done well so far. My strong point has been reading comprehension, and even that skill has been honed during this semester. It is becoming easier to understand the writings, and it is now rarer for me to sit back and put what I read in laymen’s terms. I have noticed that I have become more articulate, in speech and writing. With other’s writings and with my own writings, I am learning to express myself in ways that I was unaware of before. Of course, while I do these things well, there are still things that I do not do as good, and these must be focused on.
One new goal that I need to work on is just focusing on the overall flow of my paper. This means paying attention to transitions. I want to edit papers so that the particular paper I write will have a consistent tone. I think my papers are really just hobgoblins of ideas that kind of look the same but are fighting each other.
The other thing I need to work on is my use of personal pronouns. Often, my readers become confused because they have no idea who I am referring to. I know who I am talking about, but I am not writing the paper for me. I need to make it more understandable to my readers. Now these goals are added to the last two goals I had, which was working on grammar and being more concise.
The latter goal has actually moved the farthest. Conceptualizing that goal has made it so that it is always in the back of my mind, and I am constantly wary of it. As for the first one, I still have terrible problems. I think I am going to have to utilize outside resources such as the tutors. As far as my writings are showing, I am not getting the picture.
Even though that goal was not won, I still have learned since the last essay I wrote. Since most of what we did was on our own work due to the conferences and fall break, I mainly learned from our text. The text was focused on morality. All the readings were informative and helped shaped my thoughts in what I think morals are, where they come from, and how we evaluate them. I had integrity redefined, woman’s morality re-examined, the value of the church debated, and light shed on the civil rights struggle. These things have now become a part of my memories and will probably be used in the future, as I plan to participate in debate next semester. This class is intrinsic to all my other classes, as I am required to write for any subject I am in. Part of mastering this class is to attain the learning objectives set down for the class by the instructor.
In the last essay I wrote about assessment, I said that I was doing well with reading other’s texts for ideas and evaluating my own. I still am doing well in that area, and that skill has grown since I wrote that last essay. The objectives concerning peers really hasn’t developed that much since I have not been with them. I do not have a handy excuse for the reason why my papers aren’t any better. They still look like they need heavy revision, and the ideas are not expanded in a careful deliberate manner. I have not grown in this area at all, judging by my last paper. I may have improved in areas like word choice, but as far as transitions or cohesion of ideas, I have major problems. It probably could have been helped if I had peer revision. I did not have the opportunity to for this to be done for me, nor for anyone else. Basically, that is all I can really say about that with peers, with the exception that I feel that if I were to open my mouth during discussions, I would not stop talking.
What really needs to be worked on is structure and grammar, a goal from my last essay. I think that is what I am going to concentrate most of my efforts on because it is a foundation that I do not have; it is hindering me in all other areas.

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What Dr. Watson Had to Say:
I can see in this essay a real effort to construct solid transitions, and to write carefully. There are far fewer unnecessary surface errors than in other writings you have submitted, so again, I see improvement. Your essay is reflective in a productive way—you have pinpointed your weaknesses and understand for the most part what actions you need to take to build strength in those areas (one exception here is how you can improve in editing and revision—you need to understand that that is simply a matter of time and effort. A lot of time and effort at first, but it pays off rather quickly). You have also covered all requirements of the assignment, although your discussion of course objectives was implicit rather than explicit. I would certainly like to see you address this area of the requirements directly in future self-assessment essays. Another thing I think you should reflect upon in future self assessment essays is how you can become more independent as a writer. For instance, how can you develop enough as a writer, and create a writing process/structure for yourself, so that you can (as you will be expected to do in upper division courses) write a lengthy paper that is carefully edited and revised without any time devoted to editing or revision in class? There is one thing that is (glaringly) missing in this essay: a conclusion. The essay just stops--and rather suddenly at that. I would also like to see an improvement in this aspect of future self assessment essays. In general, however, good work. B