Hello, this is my ISUcomm ePortfolio for English 250. There is a main menu to the right of the page, where you can find my reflections, final papers, oral pieces, and my process of being a writer. They are all split into sections of about me, reflections, oral pieces, visual pieces, revisions, and final reflection.
This essay below is a reflection on my use of WOVE throughout this course:
Writing is a very important part of life and learning, I feel that words are some of the most powerful tools in the world. A person can change another person’s life, opinion, and viewpoint just with the use of certain words. However, it depends on how a person uses their words. WOVE (writing, oral, visual, electronic) is a very good example of how a person can use their words in many different forms that are very effective. This semester has allowed me to exercise my use of WOVE in the best way possible. I feel that I have become a more organized writer, better speaker in presentations, better PowerPoint maker, and increased the ethical use of the internet.
I feel that I have made an improvement in all fields of WOVE. First starting with writing, I love writing, I think that it is one of the most important skills to have in life. However, I have always known that I am not the best writer but have always wanted to improve. In high school I was in the IB diploma program, meaning that I had to write a lot for my IB English class, but I wouldn’t get the grades that I wanted. This really made me feel like a bad writer, however, I kept practicing and practicing and started getting the grades that I wanted. I think that I have improved tremendously since even starting college. I have improved by starting with an outline for every single paper, before I would just start writing, but now I have learned that starting with an outline is way more efficient and results in a better paper. For example, I created an outline for my A4 paper stating my main points and what I wanted to expand on. However, for my A3, I did not create an outline and just started writing, by doing this I missed many main points that were in the requirement. I also improved on the substance of my papers, I feel that during this class I have focused on writing a paper in order to improve, rather than writing a paper because I have to or to get a good grade. I think that with this mindset I have been able to write better papers because I am interested within the topic and writing from my mind rather than just write to write.
I have not only improved on writing but also a good amount on oral areas. Within this class we have had many opportunities to present slideshows, peer review, and have small group discussions. I have never been a confident enough person to stand in front of a class with no anxiety or even talk in smaller group discussions. I suffer with anxiety which makes certain social situations like presentations really hard for me. This skill has been the most challenging for me because of this uneasiness. However, I feel that I have improved a lot especially presenting in front of classmates. For example, when I did my presentation on A4, I felt more confident than I have ever felt during a presentation. I was still really nervous, but I think the fact that I was confident in my paper really helped me feel confident in the presentation. I still could use some improvement during presentations with relaxing, but I feel that I have improved tremendously.
While writing and oral are important parts of this class it is also important to have good skills in PowerPoint slides or any type of visual use. I feel that I have improved in this area by having better PowerPoints not only to look at but understand better. When creating the presentation slides that I used, I really wanted to focus on the perspective on someone who didn’t know my topic well. Therefore, I created PowerPoints that had a good organization of which main points I wanted to hit and then smaller bullet points that proved the main point or expanded on it. This set up made it easier for the viewer to follow and understand, almost as if it was a recipe that showed the steps and final result of my paper. I also focused on putting more pictures than words in the presentation, that way it wasn’t like reading a book, but more like watching a movie. Having someone narrate what was happening in my paper rather than someone just reading it. Visual presentations also connect to the last part of WOVE, which is electronic. I am a computer science major, so I love anything that has to do with electronics or technology. I think that I have really improved on my ethical use of the internet, I will admit that I have been guilty of plagiarism when I was younger and many times non-intentional plagiarism. However, especially when writing the documented essay, this essay really helped me understand how to paraphrase and quote in order to not plagiarize. For example, a lot of my information I got from various sources since they were mostly facts, an example of this is: According to NASA, “In its Fifth Assessment Report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 1,300 independent scientific experts from countries all over the world under the auspices of the United Nations, concluded there’s a more than 95 percent probability that human activities over the past 50 years have warmed our planet” (NASA). This is an example of how I used quoting in order to give credit to the right source.
Throughout the years I’ve been writing, I’ve always wanted to be a really good writer in order to write something that would help or effect someone in a positive matter. When taking this class, I have gotten to exercise my WOVE skills. I feel that I have definitely improved in all the areas of WOVE, by improving my writing by improving substance, becoming more confident in my oral skills, improving the viewing of my PowerPoints, and increasing the ethical use of the internet. Even that some of these areas were more challenging than others, I feel that I have improved a good amount in each field by being more confident in what I’m writing and having the mindset of not just writing to write or to get a good grade. I know that you can only improve from where you are, so I can’t wait to keep improving as I continue to write.