Last Words

It is so crazy to think that this is my last blog post for this class. Spring quarter has been such an amazing journey filled with many ups and downs as well as times of satisfaction and frustration. I learned so much about research and writing and am glad I got the opportunity to share my progress and growth in Writing 39C.

Transformative Learning

I have learned many things about the research process and animal science that have caused me to act differently, think in a new way, and work from a separate set of perspectives compared to before.

In terms of the research process, I had to read many articles in order to create my Advocacy Project as well as my portfolio. This experience allowed me to grow as a researcher and reader. First of all, I learned how to properly "skim" a scientific article instead of having to read twenty pages that may not even be related to my topic. The most important steps to achieve this included mainly reading the abstract and results since they tend to summarize the major aspects of the entire paper. I was able to understand the main intent behind a long research paper by simply spending a few minutes reading three to six paragraphs compared to a whole essay. Due to this, I began to change how I searched for scholarly research articles that I could reference in my Advocacy Project. I even used the "Ask a Librarian" feature to make this process even easier and more useful. As a whole, my growth can be seen in the "Revision Strategies" page of my portfolio.

Furthermore, the content I learned and assignments I had to complete in Writing 39C about animal science allowed me to become a better communicator, collaborator, researcher, reader, writer, and user of digital technology to express myself. Specifically, the SMC Day-by-Day assignment played a huge role with this overall improvement. I was able to successfully "practice researching and gathering knowledge for the Advocacy Project," use "rhetoric in a real-life social media environment," work on "defining problems and making arguments about good solutions," and "learn how to create successful, effective posts in a social media environment." This assignment as well as many others caused me to work from a separate set of perspectives as I began to grow. Therefore, my understanding of the importance of social media and how my voice can have an important role in the field of animal welfare became stronger and more influential.

Problems & A Plan for the Future

As I took a few moments to look back and survey my performance in this course, I realized that I had many accomplishments. Despite this, success does not come without failure or doubts. Thus, I began to notice that there were areas that I did not do as well as I should have or as I would have liked to.

The first thing I struggled with was time. This has always been something I struggled with in writing classes. I frequently spend too much time completing a simple assignment because I want it to be absolutely perfect. I worry that if it is not exceptional, I will receive a poor grade. It does not matter whether the assignment is simple like a blog post or a huge assignment like the Advocacy Project, I always seem to take a longer time completing it then I should. Writing does take work and is not something one can just push aside and cram in one night. However, it should not take the majority of one's time. If it does, a person can get burnt out and may do poorly on future assignments because they have nothing left in them. I need to take my own advice in the future and learn to smell the roses every once in a while. It is not all about being the perfect student, writer, worker, or friend. Instead, it should be more about the journey and what I learned. I can work on this by taking more breaks, whether that is going to the gym or hanging with my friends, as well as accepting the fact that no one is perfect and that it is okay to fail.

Additionally, one important item I wish I learned in Writing 39C and I believe I need to learn more about is how to write a business essay, such as a cover and referral letter. This is because I will frequently have to write these in order to improve my chances of getting a job and moving up the ladder. I understand that this course is a research course and was very useful in that aspect, but I also want to learn to write other essays that will also be beneficial for my future. My dad always talks about a business writing course he took in college that greatly improved his writing. I would also like to take such a course because he is known to be a great writer today and I want to grow in this area as well. Learning how to write a proper research essay may be useful in my future and I am glad I took this course to expand my horizons. However, is it selfish of me to say I want more than just research? Based on this, in my future, I can work on gaining new knowledge by taking business writing classes and continuing to improve my writing skills. This will allow me to reach my goal of becoming an effective writer and communicator.

Although I am done with this course, I am not done with writing or research. I will continue to use the strategies and approaches I learned and apply them to the rest of my life. I am going to miss Writing 39C, but unfortunately everything must end. The important thing is the journey and how I grew as a person, writer, researcher, student, and advocator.