write a self assessment

Please compose the following assessment of your writing and research abilities, and your interest in the theme of our course. Write one paragraph in response to each set of questions. Use relevant multimodal evidence. This assessment will facilitate communication with your classmates and with me, and will establish the foundation for your self-reflective work in our course. You do not have to answer more than one question per section. Please feel free to answer as few or as many questions as you wish. Remember to use multimodal evidence where appropriate. When you’re finished, submit the assessment to your ePortfolio.

Part One: Your writing

When did you recognize a successful writing strategy in your own work, and how did you see it, finally, exemplified on the page? Explain, and give your best example. Have you had success with particular organizing or outlining strategies, or other methods or writing? What specific element of Writing 39B (or equivalent course) do you find most valuable or best remember? For instance, thesis development, appealing to an audience, understanding purpose, recognizing tone? Arguments constructed on logos, pathos or ethos? Explain, and give an example. What is an area you do well at in writing, and what is an area you’d like to improve in? What is the relationship between writing and learning, for you? Describe the central strategies of your writing process. When and how did you learn them? How have they changed over time and what experiences (in the WR39 series or elsewhere) have been most influential to you? How do you expect to use them in WR39C? Explain and use examples.

Part Two: Your research

Have you worked on research writing projects in the past? If so, describe your project(s) and perhaps show an example. What would be your dream research job? What is the role of research in your major and/or your future profession? Do you picture yourself as a researcher? If so, how? When you think about research, do you picture reading books, going to the library, reading articles online, interviewing people, doing laboratory research, or something else? Explain. What is the difference between a primary and a secondary source, and what is the importance of knowing the difference between a credible and a questionable secondary source? Have you ever disagreed with something you read in a textbook or other supposedly authoritative source? Would you like to develop ways to argue back? Explain.

Part Three: Your interest in our course theme

What is your background and your general level of knowledge regarding our central text? What are your first impressions of the text? What objections, reservations, anxieties, or questions do you have about our text? What do you think may end up being fascinating, enlightening, edifying, or surprising about the text? What kind of productive debates do you anticipate having with your classmates? What kinds of images, music, movies, artifacts, literature, websites, or other sources would you like to study in relation to our central text? If you could ask the author anything, what would you ask? If you could set up a conversation between the author and any other person, living or dead, who would you choose, and why?