Introductory Reflection
Welcome to my ISUcomm ePortfolio!
A few things you may want to know:
This website will guide you through my works and progress as a student in English 250. The first page (About Me) will tell you a little about myself and my experience with writing and literacy thus far. You can find examples of my written work on the Written Page as well as a revision of my visual rhetorical analysis. For oral presentations, you can find a visual presentation arguing the importance of labels on the Oral Page. I will provide a visual piece used to analyze the components of a piece by Hieronymus Bosch on the Visual Page. I will also elaborate on my progress and experiences from each of these areas. The Electronic page will contain a reflection of my experience with the ePortfolio database. The final page is a reflection blog containing my reflection on the class.
Looking at my progress from the class, I can find both strengths and weaknesses. Written works are a relatively simple task for me, but I have a tendency to close the page as soon as I have completed the word count. Through peer evaluation groups I have observed and benefitted from the constructive criticism to my work. Assignment responses from my professor have also greatly improved my revision process. I have always enjoyed writing and communicating, yet presentations terrified me.
Oral presentation was a part of the course and I was unsure if I could be confident presenting without a script written out word for word. I decided to bring up a few bullet points on a cue card and recited the relevant information beforehand so as to not forget.
Understanding the importance of the components of an argument and the styles in which it can be presented is still a difficult task for me. I understand the appeal of each argument (ethos, pathos, logos) and am able to understand the evidence that supports the argument, but it is difficult for me to identify the purpose. This provided a challenge for me as I wrote papers on rhetorical analysis.
Generating ideas usually comes from my curiosity of a subject and where people stand in relevance to that topic. I like to form my own opinions and have a strong factual support for what I stand for. Writing about topics that interest me motivates me to invest my time in the research. The importance of resource credibility has been something I have disregarded in the past. Knowing facts is not enough, you need to know the right facts that are supported and reliable.
Considering your audience is important when it comes to formality and appearance of your work. When looking to appeal a younger audience, you relate yourself to the work and apply personal experience. The piece can feel more like a conversation open for discussion. Visuals can be very valuable. For an older, more formal audience, you are looking to impress with respect. This audience may consider themselves to have more experience in the area and you will need to hold a strong, fact-backed argument. Facts are important in both cases and the validity is important, but the formality of the presentation of information is considered with audience.
Revisions are a valuable process that I have often swept under the rug. After experiencing peer evaluation and suggestions of revisions of peers outside the class as well as professors, I understand the importance of differentiating a rough draft and a final work. As these evaluations were taking place, I myself looked over the piece and corrected any typos, factual errors and areas where the piece did not flow.
I have realized how much I have improved with evaluating my work. I am now making sure there are no grammatical or factual errors, ensuring the order of information makes sense, relating visuals to written work and focusing on important facts. I often struggle with the flow of my pieces and the detail I apply to each argument. I am focusing on the examples of the arguments I present. During the revision process, I label the main focus of each paragraph to be sure the piece has proper flow and that there are not paragraphs that relate strewn all throughout.
I would really like to grow in my confidence with presentations and communicating my point to an audience. Communication skills are so valuable in every profession and I want that to be a strength I can carry into my career.
I find that I am strongest in written and visual communication. My work is well-versed and I pride myself in my ability to connect ideas to images. Organization is not always my strongest suit but my style tends to flow successfully through the words. I really enjoy group discussions and find myself engaging in a smaller, non-focused setting than presenting my ideas to an audience. I like to receive feedback as I go rather than following the project, though I know that cannot always be the case.
I am challenged through my lack of confidence in a presentation/ interview setting. The internet is a comfortable place for me but I am sometimes unaware of the lack of validity of my sources. Website construction is something I have had experience in before. As technology improves, so does the simplicity of creating a strong, attractive webpage.
I have found summarizing each paragraph by one idea helps to organize the written work. Using notecards helps to counter my self-consciousness when presenting. Double-checking my facts with multiple sources has helped to sort out invalid sources and ensure that I am communicating my information in confidence.