Executive Summary

Course Reflection Overview

In the Reflection memo included directly following this Executive Summary, I have focused on a
number of details that I have discovered about my writing, and the writing process specifically
this semester:

• Clarity.I got to strengthen my consistency and clarity in writing through making sure I
was following the style guide and assistance from the professor. Feedback helped me to
inconsistencies and rambling, and with conscious effort of those things while I was doing
assignments I was able to begin improving my skills.
• Time Management. I have poor time management which often results in
procrastination. The less time I allowed myself to finish the assignments the more my
documents quality suffered. Towards the end of the semester I realized this, and on my
final design project I got to put the full amount of time and effort into it and it was my
best document I produced for this class.
• Style Guide. The style guide was my greatest resource for this course. Using the style
guide I was able to check my consistency, grammar, and document design. By making
sure my document followed the style guide I had to put more conscious effort into my
documents which helped improve quality.

Contents of My ePortfolio
This semester I am adding my Writing Project and Design Project from ENGL 2100 to my SLCC
ePortfolio. These assignments stretched me in a number of important ways, namely in my ability
to write a document from scratch, follow directions, and focus on design.

Writing Project
Researching, writing concisely, and following the steps to producing the writing project
were useful skills for me to learn, as I will have to do these things in my future jobs in
biology.

Design Project
The design project helped me to style a document in order to make complex instructions
simple to read and follow. As a scientist making complex methods and concepts easier to
understand for others is a critical skill, especially if I ever work as a teacher.

Conclusion
In conclusion, despite my struggles with procrastination I produced high quality documents and
learned many useful skills in this class. Going on I will get to further refine my skills in writing
consistently and concisely, document design, and time management.
To: English 2100 Section 403

From: Sariah VanderVeur

Subject: Class Reflection

Writing Improvements
I think that my writing improved in terms of consistency and conciseness. I typically just write
papers and turn them in, but for every assignment in this class I had to look for inconsistencies
in my writing style and then try to adjust so that the entire document would be cohesive and
professional. The assignments that helped me write more concisely were the memos, writing
project, and design project. Throughout the course of this class I have began phasing out fillers
in my writing for clear and concise statements that are related to the document and I am
beginning to feel much more confident about it.

Learning Process
My learning process was doing the assignments and referencing the style guide, book, and
other resources for guidance. As I was doing the assignments, I would check them with the
style guide as well as other documents of the same type that I was making. How to style the
document was the easiest thing for me to learn and then I focused on my writing style and
conciseness for the rest of the semester which was the most frustrating part but gradually
became less so as I got into the mindset for it.

Skills
Although I have improved with writing more consistently and concisely, I still have a lot of
work to do. My thoughts can be all over the place so it’s difficult to fully decipher and arrange
them but I think the more I write the better it will get. I also need to develop better time
management because I typically procrastinate and then scramble to get it finished, I think that if
I allow myself enough time to calmly work on the assignments I could have produced much
better documents.

Overview
I think that my best work for the course was the design project. The document was easily
readable with its layout and the contents were descriptive yet concise enough for someone
reading it to know what they are doing but not get confused. I also think that the images
provided helped further clarify the instructions so that any student reading the document
would understand what to do. Overall, it was a nice looking document with good content,
likely because I allowed myself as much time and effort as I needed to finish it. I would have
liked to have a lab procedure like mine when I learned how to perform serial dilutions and
plating.

Connections to the Outside World

I think that learning how to gear your writing based on the audience is a useful skill that I can
use in future academics and social interactions. I often forget that not everyone knows what I
know, and it can affect conversations, but if I keep in mind that not everyone is going into
biology that may help. I also think that knowing your audience is important for public figures
so that they can speak to the people in a way that most, if not all, can understand.

Connections to Other Classes

Learning how to write for a specific audience in this class was a useful skill for my Critical
Thinking in Argumentation class because all the arguments we wrote had to be geared towards
a specific audience. Research and projects I have done in my biology and chemistry classes
helped me to understand how to follow a style guide which was useful in this class because
every assignment we did had to follow the style guide. What I’ve learned about writing
concisely and following a style guide will continue to help me as I further my education in the
sciences and one day enter the workforce as a biologist.