Final Reflection

Final Reflection on Writing

I always saw myself as an artist. My purpose on earth is to create art,that both identifies and embodies my own individuality. However, that will to self-expression can just as well be resonated through the craft of writing. The EN 151 writing course that I took as part to my BFA in computer animation, taught me to embrace this ideal for any writing project in the near future. Writing this reflection alone would have been torturous for me, if I were myself a couple of months ago. Thus, from my understandings I gained from the course, they have inspired me to become more appreciative and expressive with both my own writing and all writers alike
My favorite draft had to be the process paper. Since I chose the paper's subject matter to be about the process of animation, which relates back to storytelling and art, it really helped me to become an attentive writer with something that I am euphorically passionate about. It also gave me the opportunity to explore more of the underlying writing methods, like structure and organization. Structurally-wise, I written the paper into two halves, where one examined the technical aspects of animation, and the latter to examine the theoretical-artistic side of that. The paper was also helpful in showing me how to utilize the writing principles of ethos, pathos, and logos. Moreover, I now always look back towards those concepts of writing, whenever articulating any thought-evoking formal draft.
The research paper was a bit challenging, given that the thesis was to examine the legacy of an individual, mine being film director, Stanley Kubrick. For me at least, a legacy of anyone can be conceptually abstract, since people have their own views on the merits of any individual. Furthermore, the paper forced me to create my own presumption of Kubrick, based on the research I attained from books and articles from the internet.. I also learned a lot on taking feedback from other people. The writing conferences, where both my peers and writing instructor would meet together, and they would always bring up valuable considerations on ways to strengthen my paper's flow.
Truthfully, the Blink review was rather annoying. This is because the draft was one big compilation of all my short reviews of the book's previous chapters. I didn't really had enough room to explore any other concept, other than just tying together the central tone of book. Also, I didn't exactly enjoy the overall book itself, considering that the book reused previously mentioned concepts that I really had no care for. So writing the critical review was a bit counter repetitive, with both restating previous writings as well as the actual book itself being tonally repetitive.
From the very beginning, I really didn't know what to expect in the class. In years past, I have taken the standard English Literature courses in high school, where we were given regular writing assignments. On that regard, I felt as though I did attained some experience in writing, prior to taking the EN 151 course. But as I began to progressively write for the course, I learned that there were some weaknesses that I had not met yet. In particular, was the timed in-class writing. Before, I was often too preoccupied with planning out my ideas and structuring them in such an ego-perfectionistic way. I was very reluctant on writing right off the bat, cosidering that I'm not the biggest converser in the world. My reluctance took away too much of my own time, both what was being done in and out of class. While I was reluctant, I was yet open to change. I recalled reading the Shitty Notes in the beginning of the semester, and I have to say, that was one inspirational read. Never would I imagined that some of the best writers normally started out with very elementary writing. That aspect is even akin to artists, like myself, where we started from scratch before advancing our drawing skills. In the end, I really feel the in-class writings really forced me to become more loose within both my writing and thinking, which was something that I've never had the privilege in any of my English classes. So whenever I did any classwork like that, the methods I learned from course-load always come back to me, and from there on I just write away by whatever comes to me.
Some of my favorite in class writings were acctually the creative writings. As a storyteller, I always take the thrill out of unleashing my imagination onto the page. Even if the premise itself is outlandish, like an Oreo truck crashing in a highway, I still will be willing to tell a story with my upmost level of creativity. In fact, I was considering on taking Creative Writing as my overload for next semester. As with the homework assignments, those often forced me to analyze the reading, which were usually not of personal interest. However, through my analyses and completion of those homework assignments, I felt I gained a better appreciation for writers as a whole, whom, like myself, want to express some well-held beliefs to the world. In the case of the reading response over approaching the process paper, it was significant to me in the sense that I was able to explore other writing methods by different people. The readings like “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words” and “Between Art and Architecture” really expanded on my comprehension on tone of a formal paper Thus, in all both cases of in-class and homework assignments, it allowed me to structure my own conceptual apprhension under a creative and self-expressionistic light.
As far as looking back at the guidelines and seeing whether I have progressed as a writer, I felt the assignments and procedures that were given to the class provided that self-growth. For instance, the books I found from the school library, for my Kubrick paper, helped me with my handling towards collecting sources. This procedure will probably helped me towards my professional future, where I am in the likelihood to write a report for a project. And because most of the writing assignments offered the free choice over topic, I learned to plan out the paper's structure beforehand, given that the topic choice was not pre-standardized by the course's curriculum. The revisions that I got from my wring instructor on my 2nd draft papers also benefited me in understanding MLA formatting, which is an aspect that should never be ignored when writing any formal paper. Moreover, my writings from the course have revisited those ideals, as firmly stated in the course goals and objectives.
All in all, I grown so much as both a writer and a student from the course. The methods I attained from the in-class writings, as well as the formal draft writings, really helped to expand my comprehension of things. If I were to give any advice to any new coming freshman on what to expect, I would highly suggest them to stick closely to the curriculum. And they should always be open to new approaches and concepts on writing, even if they think otherwise. That what helped me through this rigorous semester, and I have learned so much because of that.