Growing as a Writer Through Composition for Creative Expression

Over the course of this semester, I have learned and grown a lot as a writer. Not only have my writing skills improved, but I feel as if my confidence has improved tremendously as well. Throughout our discussion board posts, as well as the personal narrative essay, annotated bibliography essay, research essay, I feel I have achieved each of our course learning outcomes successfully. Additionally, I am confident that everything I learned this semester will be applicable in future writing and composition courses.

The first piece of work I created this semester was the personal narrative essay, titled “Writing was Hell,” which I wrote about a short story I composed in eighth grade that completely changed my perspective about writing. My favorite quote from this piece was when I wrote, “I truly felt free when writing this piece, and I realized it was not that writing was not my strong suit, it was that I had never encountered a writing assignment that let me showcase my unique array of skills” (Daly 1). Here you can see how my perspective on writing was changed, which forever changed me as a writer and thinker. Through the personal narrative essay, I felt that I achieved course learning outcomes two and six. Learning outcome two states that students will “recognize the role of language attitudes and standards in empowering, oppressing, and hierarchizing languages and their users, and be open to communicating across different languages and cultures.” I feel I achieved this learning outcome through my personal narrative essay because I was able to look at my upbringing and see how it affected and changed me as a writer. Additionally, I was able to learn about my classmates’ backgrounds and see how their native languages and cultures impacted their writings. It was truly rewarding to see my work and the work of my classmates, despite the difference in backgrounds and cultures. I also feel I achieved learning outcome six, which states that students will “articulate how meaning is created in the arts or communications and how experience is interpreted and conveyed.” In my personal narrative essay, I was able to look at how my experience impacted and changed my writing, and therefore I conveyed that message to my readers. There was also meaning in my writing, which was both personal and important to my readers, which I feel I communicated successfully in my piece.

The next piece I composed this semester was the annotated bibliography essay, titled “How did the Capitalist Views Presented in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown Reflect the Political Climate of Modern-Day America?” As can be interpreted from the title, I composed my annotated bibliography and essay about the American musical Hadestown and looked at how the political views represented reflected the political climate of modern-day America. I looked at four sources that provided evidence on my subject, annotated them, and then reflected on my annotations in the essay portion. A quote that I feel well represents my growth and learning through this piece is, “One thing that I learned about writing with sources from working on this assignment, is that it is important to reflect upon the source once you have completed reading it before you add it to your paper” (Daly 7). In constructing this piece I was able to realize the true importance of analyzing and critiquing your sources before committing them to your research. Not only that, but I also learned the importance of annotating your sources. I had never written an annotated bibliography before this semester, and I learned so much new information as a writer through this assignment. Specifically, I feel that I achieved course learning outcomes one, three, and four. Course learning outcome one states that students will “gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.” In constructing the annotated bibliography portion of this assignment, I was able to gather information from my predicted sources for my research essay. I was also able to interpret the information provided in these sources, as well as assess the information through my annotations within the bibliography. Learning outcome three states that students will “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.” We had a couple of library sessions while writing this piece, which were very informative and helpful for me in learning how to use the library’s databases and locating potential sources. Additionally, I was able to access sources off the internet and use the knowledge I learned during the library sessions to interpret whether they were credible or not. Finally, course learning outcome four states that students will “explore and analyze, in writing and reading, a variety of genres and rhetorical situations.” Through this essay, I was able to learn about annotated bibliographies, which was a genre of writing I had never encountered before. Therefore, I was also able to explore and analyze the different forms of these essays and compose one that I feel well reflects my skills as a writer and thinker. 

The next piece I wrote for this semester was my personal favorite, the research essay, titled, “‘See How the World Could Be, In Spite of the Way That It Is’: How did the Main Themes of Capitalism and Climate Change Presented in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown Reflect the Political and Social Climate of Modern-Day America?” This was my favorite piece that I wrote this semester, and I feel it showcased the wide array of skills that I learned throughout this course, as well as reflected a topic that I was interested in, overall making it a stronger piece. This was the first research essay that I have ever written, and it was a learning experience for me that truly paid off in the end. My favorite quote from this piece was my thesis, “The main themes of capitalism and climate change represented in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown have successfully represented the current political and social climate of America, through the representation of white supremacy, global warming and cooling, worker exploitation, and so much more” (Daly 2). To me, this thesis was jam-packed with information and I was excited to write about and learn for myself the answers to the research question that I presented. Through writing this research essay, I feel I achieved course learning outcome five, which states that students will “compose texts that integrate your stance with appropriate sources using strategies such as summary, critical analysis, interpretation, synthesis, and argumentation.” Throughout this essay, I was able to take a stance on a subject and then integrate my stance with the sources I had selected. I used many different strategies when doing so, the biggest being summary and interpretation. I used the rhetorical précis when summarizing my sources, which was new to me and very helpful. Additionally, I also learned the skill of synthesizing, which was new to me as well. Being able to combine two of my sources and demonstrate how their arguments support each other was key in proving their support of my thesis. I learned so many new skills and tactics in writing the research essay that I will carry with me through the courses to come. 

Lastly, I composed many discussion board posts this semester and I feel I also improved as a writer and achieved course learning outcomes through them as well. My personal favorite and best-written discussion board post was written about Ryan Bunch’s article, “Oz and the Musical.” Throughout my post, I looked at the intended audience, the genre of the piece, the credibility of Ryan Bunch as an author, the purpose, the publication, and lastly what I liked, disliked, and/or learned through reading this piece. This was my seventh and final discussion board post of the semester, and therefore I feel that it best showcased my skills and improvements as a writer. My favorite quote from this post would be when I wrote, “Wicked is my favorite musical of all time, and I enjoyed reading about the long journey this story went on before it came to be the musical I love” (Daly). Bunch’s piece was very interesting and enjoyable to read, and it allowed me to think about some ideas that I was already familiar with in a different way. It was enlightening to write about his piece in my discussion board post. Throughout this discussion board post, as well as all my other discussion board posts I created throughout this semester, I feel I achieved course learning outcomes seven and eight. Learning outcome seven states that students will “identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of a discipline or interdisciplinary field exploring creative expression, including, but not limited to, arts, communications, creative writing, media arts, music, and theater.” In my discussion board posts, I was able to explore different fields of creative expression, the main one being theatre. I was also able to look at the methods these authors used in their pieces about the musicals we were discussing in our topic class. I also feel I achieved course learning outcome eight, which states that students will “analyze how arts from diverse cultures of the past serve as a foundation for those of the present, as well as describe the significance of works of art in the societies that created them.” In writing these discussion board posts, I was able to look at a variety of musicals that come from cultures of the past and therefore serve as a foundation for the articles and journal entries that I wrote my discussion board posts on. In the posts, I was also able to describe and analyze the significance of these works of art in our society today. 

In addition to achieving all of our course learning outcomes this semester, I also learned many new skills as a writer that I will utilize in my future academic career. In the personal narrative essay, I learned the importance of how backgrounds and cultures can affect your writing, and therefore also make each writer unique and different. In learning this, I will be able to continue to look at people’s upbringings before analyzing their pieces, as well as continue to learn about the many different cultures that my peers come from. In the annotated bibliography essay, I learned not only how to construct an annotated bibliography, but also how to analyze and critique my sources. I will be able to use the knowledge of how to write an annotated bibliography in my future courses. Additionally, I will take the knowledge I learned about critiquing my sources with me into future courses when writing another annotated bibliography or research essay. In the research essay, I learned how to write one, as this was my first research essay. I will be able to take the skills I learned about rhetorical précis, synthesizing, and much more into future courses, which will help my future research essays be stronger and more impactful for my readers. 

Through my main essays this semester, as well as the many discussion board posts that I created, I have learned a lot about myself as a writer, and I have grown in skills and confidence. I was able to understand each course learning outcome, and therefore achieve each one throughout my main works of the semester. Additionally, I learned many new writing skills that have improved the quality of my writing tremendously, and I will carry these skills with me through future courses. I am eternally thankful for all of the information I have learned this semester, and I am extremely proud of myself for how much I have grown as a writer.