As a film major who hadn’t written many essays outside of film analyses in recent years, I approached this course both nervous and curious to reconnect with academic writing. What I didn’t expect was how writing about topics I had a personal relationship with would change my entire perception of what writing is and can do. This class reminded me that writing is not just about assignments, but about understanding my thinking, embracing the editing process, and learning how to better communicate with others. Through outlining, drafting, collaboration, and reflection, I not only improved my writing skills but also developed more confidence in my writing voice through exploring various learning objectives.
The Community Essay helped me realize how nonlinear my writing process can be, especially when the topic is something I’m passionate about. I explored what it means to identify as an artist and the tensions within the community that doesn’t equally embrace its subdivisions. I struggled to create its structure while expressing myself honestly, but that tension helped me grow. I allowed myself to edit and organize my ideas as I went, not being afraid to adjust my outline to the flow of my writing, revisiting the learning objective of developing self-assessment and editing skills. I also formulated a clear stance, arguing for a more inclusive definition of artistry, while being mindful of rhetorical choices like tone and background context. In revision, I expanded on my sound project experience to ground my reflections more effectively, though I still wonder if I struck the right balance.
The Op-Ed Assignment allowed me to merge my personal interests with research-based writing that is often shared with the public. I examined how the rise of NewJeans reflected a shift in K-pop from identity to marketability. My biggest challenge was controlling the emotional tone while crafting a persuasive, evidence-based argument. Discussing the Baldwin piece was really insightful because of how intentional he was about his word choice and lack of hard statistics that many people seem to give more importance to when crafting a good argument. I practiced integrating sources, refining my thesis placement, and restructuring my paragraphs, meeting multiple learning objectives around genre. Peer feedback was extremely helpful in reorganizing the essay for clarity and deciding on sources to reference. If I had more time, I would add counterarguments and more industry data to give a broader context.
The in-class literary analysis reintroduced me to timed writing and helped me understand how outlining can improve my confidence and structure. I wrote about Machado’s “Eight Bites,” focusing on maternal guilt and inherited shame, and revised to strengthen comparisons to “Mothers” and clarify my thesis. This process deepened my appreciation for analyzing texts and adapting my writing in real time which is key to the learning objectives on rhetorical sensibility and source evaluation. Class discussions also helped me recognize how others’ interpretations can strengthen my own thinking and give me clarity on readings. Through discussing with others, I was able to broaden my thinking.
Finally, my conference paper on The Sawtooth Grin’s Cuddlemonster pushed me to do academic research with my own cultural analysis. I explored the gendered dynamics of grindcore and how this band subverts its norms. Creating the multimodal presentation first helped me visually outline and then translate that structure into stronger transitions and paragraph flow in the written draft. This supported the objectives on genre and multimodal composing. I also practiced source use by comparing academic texts to lyrical analysis, helping me refine my integration and citation skills. This assignment helped me work through the challenges that comes with discussing an already niche topic.
Throughout the semester, my perception of writing shifted from a task to complete into a tool for expression. I now see writing as a form of thinking that is messy at first, but full of potential when I allow myself time to revise and rethink. I’ve learned to embrace outlining, treat peer feedback seriously, and lean into my own voice rather than flattening it. I feel more empowered now seeing writing as a tool to share all the ideas and connections I’ve made inside, but I still find final drafts a bit daunting when considering deadlines. While I still want to work on being less judgemental of my writing during its early phases and research in general, I am now writing from a more experienced perspective. This portfolio reflects work that I hope to continue working on.
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