My Reflections
- Mark Wang
- Dec 11, 2025
- 4 min read
As we come to the end of the semester, please feel free to review any of my works on my public blog. I think that they go a long way to showing how I have grown as a writer, so long as you spend the time to read and analyze each individual post.
This semester, as an RWS 100 student, I learned a lot about reading and writing. First, in terms of writing, I learned how to write in several different formats. For example, when I wrote the essay analyzing my chosen discourse community, I wrote it in the format of a research or academic paper, which I had not previously done before. Also, for that same assignment, I learned to research more effectively, identifying whether a source was trustworthy, what type of source it was, and whether it was relevant. This assignment really stood out to me and was invaluable for the future, because, in my career as an engineer, I expect to write many essays similar to that one. However, it also made me realize that drafting, reworking, and finally publishing any sort of writing takes much more time than I thought. First, you have to write down your ideas; trying to go straight into the first draft always ends up with tons of edits as you want to remove or add certain information. Then, you write the first draft. Inevitably, there will be mistakes, especially after a peer reads it and asks you, "What the hell does this mean," even though it makes perfect sense to you. Then finally, you can write up a final essay.
Throughout the semester, we have completed many reading and writing assignments, and they have definitely made me a more confident writer, both because they were good practice and because I received feedback from my peers and my teacher on what to improve. Among my favorite reading or analysis assignments was the one on the “Danger of a Single Story,” which I found very moving and insightful. In that assignment, we analyzed what we thought the author’s argument was, what their individual claims were, and more. On the other hand, one of my favorite writing assignments was probably the Literacy Self-Study essay, because it allowed me to reflect on what has affected my writing, where I think I can still be better, and more.
Beyond just that essay and the essay on discourse communities, there have been lots of opportunities for people and peers to comment on my work, which has also given me a unique perspective on how others view my writing. One commonality, and one strength that I have, is that my writing is very clear and precise, making it easily understandable and with few mistakes. Another strength I think I have is my focus while writing, because I can come up with a pretty good couple of sentences or paragraphs in a very short time. Unfortunately, no one is without weaknesses, including me. According to my peers, my writing can be somewhat bland to read, meaning there might not be enough jokes or casual pieces, and it all just seems extremely factual. As an example, during the Literacy Self-Study peer review session, both of the peers who were looking at my work said that they could easily follow my story, and they were able to realize how I learned how to write, but at the same time, they were both bored by my writing, and they both thought that I should add more of my emotion into my stories, and also add more personal stories.
On top of "bigger" assignments like essays, another big part of the class was writing up blog posts, as well as smaller activities. All of my blog posts are visible from my homepage, and most are also related to the "bigger" assignments that we would end up doing. The blog posts, for me at least, served a similar function to what a draft might do, allowing me to envision a final product while putting to paper what I can come up with at that moment. They also helped me to get outside of my comfort zone, as blog posts need to have pictures, and they need to be less formal than a traditional essay. The activities were more like preparation or practice, where we would write just a few sentences to a paragraph using what we had learned in class that day. Maybe we had just learned how to determine the rhetorical tools used in a paper, then we would practice on a random academic paper.
In the future, I can use what I know and have learned to help me in my career. Currently, I plan to become an aerospace engineer, so my future job will require me to read extensive research and engineering reports and to write my own reports or research papers based on my work. As a class, we have already practiced both of these, at least a little, so I do feel more prepared than before. I can likely use some of my skills to assess the viability of a source’s research by looking at other engineering reports and research, some of which I then may be able to incorporate into my own work. I can likely also use my writing skills to write a proper report or research paper, including grammar, tone, flow, and vocabulary. Fortunately, a typical engineer’s report or research is more or less bland anyway, which fits well with my current writing style.
Regardless of what types of writing or reading I may be expected to encounter during my career, I want to improve all of my reading and writing skills. This includes analyzing the author’s rhetorical devices, identifying the audience, and examining the author's claims and arguments. It also includes being able to write more entertainingly, or at least less blandly, and to argue my own point of view better, as well as continue to use better and better vocabulary. I want to improve all of this because one can never be perfect, so there is always room to improve and be better. I also want to be a more well-rounded reader and writer so that I can be more prepared for any situation or need.
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