Self Assessment:

Hello, my name is Mia Doreen George, and Undergraduate Freshman Media & Communications student at CCNY. My academic goal is to essentially grow as an individual while succeeding as best I can in my classes and anything else I may interact with during my college career. I want to get closer to the future I so vividly imagine for myself, and become who I envision myself becoming, which is a successful, strong, and happy person who is rich in capability. For this first semester, I have achieved this goal, as I have slowly but surely grown as a person and writer, and I have also done well with my grades and assignments. A lot has changed, including my perception of writing. My perception of writing has gone from appreciating writing as a free art form, to now delving deeper into the composition behind it, and differing perspectives; such as how writing may look in the eyes of the readers. This shift is vital in my growth as a writer as well. Overall, this semester, I have grown very much in terms of my writing through my Killer Stories Course, through lessons of composition, research, and story building.

Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias:

Before coming to college, I had been writing for most of my life on my own time. Writing, as an art form had always fascinated me, and had been my way of chosen expression. Upon entering college, I chose the Killer Stories Course out of my past love for shows like ‘Forensic Files’ and pass times like dissecting murder cases with my mom over dinner. When I started taking the Killer Stories Course, I soon realized that my Killer Stories class would help me grow as a writer through how the class broke down different variants of storytelling. I learned an abundance of useful things I’ll be taking forward to build on my writing. Like writing for an audience, keeping the reader even more in mind, organization, thesis writing, how to incorporate different senses and focuses into a written piece, and so on. I also learned the valuable knowledge of working out the CCNY library database to do proper research and know how to utilize said research in my pieces. Below is an example of that in an assignment:

Develop strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing:

I remember for one of our first assignments we were to describe the classroom. This was to build our abilities of building on a setting and more-so turning it into a ‘world’ for the reader, or utilizing literary devices to manipulate the setting and keep the reader thoughtfully engaged as you begin your story. The practice was to detail the room in an interesting and engaging manner using some words and verbal illustrations I may have never thought to use before by developing strategies beforehand on how just to illustrate the same classroom in our own manner. I remember getting good feedback uplifting me, but also helping me realize where my detailing may have gotten unnecessary. This was very helpful in terms of already shaping me to let go of unneeded elements in my writing.

Recognize and practice key rhetorical terms and strategies when engaged in writing situations:

Our Narrative Essay assignment asked for a narrative piece revolving around a death I went through and how it affected me. For our Narrative Essay, the first time submitting I got a lower grade due to me misunderstanding what the assignment was asking of me, and curating a more creative piece that focused more on stylish elements and relied too heavily on imagery. I reviewed my mistake and fixed it and re-submitted it immediately. I cleared up the direction in which the story was going, and focused more on the point. This was a fun assignment because I was more in tune with my growth as a writer, and saw it in real time as I rewrote my piece. Below is my draft:

Explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations:

Our Critical Research Essay was a big assignment we had to do. We had to explore different murderous readings we had done in our Killer Stories discussion class, figure out which reading we wanted to base our essay on, and then use that essay to build a thoughtful commentary on the murder of the story through a literary lens. This assignment was good for critical thought in terms of dissecting the story, building a thesis on it, and offering good, well-thought out analysis. It really pushed me as a writer because I wanted to expand on my original thoughts properly, and struggled a bit with not knowing what to keep or cut.

Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences:

I took many notes during the class in order to gain a better understanding of audiences. As a writer myself, I realized: I wrote more for myself and not an audience. I didn’t see this as a necessarily bad thing, but I understood that I needed to have writing for audiences under my belt for future instances in which I would want to or have to. In this class, I learned how to look at a text from different audiences perspectives and how different people may view one piece. I remember watching a video in class, in which origami was explained to different age groups. This was very helpful for me in terms of building my understanding. We also learned about what audiences may focus on in a text, and engagement, etc. In my photo essay, specifically, I tried to focus on how my audience would visually perceive my work, as well as how they’d take in what they were reading.

Compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation:

In learning how to write my first college thesis, I took a stance on the character the Misfit in Flannery O’Connor’s piece: “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”. This would be crucial to my CRA Essay on it.

Practice systematic application of citation conventions:

I tried my best with citations, although this was one of the parts of the course I struggled with as a first-timer.

Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes:

Finally, I utilized peer review and feedback as means of socially building my writing.

In terms of continuing to grow as a writer, there are many areas I could still work on improving such as dialogue, world building, and getting my point across in one clear shot without adding too much on. In the future, however, I will feel secured knowing I have come a long way and will continue to go further in my writing, as this class has taught me a lot. I plan to apply all the things this class has taught me in my future writing classes, future assignments, and in my college career as I brave on. This class was a very valuable experience that I will work to do justice as I continue working on my writing.

• Mia Doreen George