Kiara Ramon-Lozano

Dr. Sharity Nelson

ENGL 1302-231

1 May 2024

From Novice to Proficiency: Becoming an Academic Writer

As a college student who is preparing to enter the workforce within the next decade, it is

essential to properly articulate my ideas and opinions across multiple rhetorical situations. In my

English Composition I (ENGL 1301) course last fall, I found my voice as a writer and learned

how to adapt to various rhetorical situations. This spring, I applied my knowledge of rhetoric to

academic genres in English Composition II (ENGL 1302). Throughout this semester, I

completed three academic genres using peer-reviewed articles: an annotated bibliography,

literature review, and researched position paper. This reflection essay will discuss how crafting

the above research genres has expanded my knowledge of academic writing and research.

In this course, I became aware of experimental designs and proper citing practices

through my annotated bibliography. When reading my articles, I noticed terms like

“longitudinal” and “cross-sectional” to describe study design (Yang, et al. 10, Squires, et al.

1295). After taking notes on 10 articles for my annotated bibliography, I learned how study

design relates to researchers’ limitations. For instance, data from longitudinal studies can

accurately depict relationships between variables since participants are evaluated over time; on

the other hand, cross-sectional studies collect data only collected once, so they cannot verify

relationships between variables (Yang, et al. 10). When conducting preliminary research for my

annotated bibliography, Dr. Nelson discussed where to locate bibliographic information in

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scholarly journal articles for MLA in-text and bibliographic citations; additionally, I

refamiliarized myself with referring to a group of three or more authors by using the first

author’s last name, a comma, and “et al.” (Class activity). In this activity, a classmate and I

practiced locating the first author, year published, article title, and journal title (Nelson

“Bibliographic Citation”). In academic research, it is essential to correctly attribute ideas and

conclusions to their respective authors through proper citing practices to help others and oneself

refer to sources used in a writing piece. Lastly, the creation of my annotated bibliography taught

me the significance of peer review in the research publication process. Peer-reviewed articles

have undergone close inspection by a panel topic and subject area experts, which increases

articles’ reliability. Each of these transferable skills and concepts are essential to my success in

future upper-level biology courses. Although STEM fields commonly use APA format, I now

know how to select reliable sources, compose article summaries that address limitations and

experimental design, and properly attribute scholars’ findings through the use of in-text and

bibliographic citations.

When creating the literature review, I learned that the writing process may be linear, but it

is not always that way. In the pre-writing process for this genre, I took a closer look at the 10

articles summarized in my annotated bibliography using the “Articles Analysis Worksheet”

(Nelson). In this assignment, I identified key background information, relevant data, author

claims, and methodology for each article (Nelson “Articles Analysis”). After completing my

pre-writing assignments and moving on to the drafting process, I referred back to this worksheet

and added more information to it as I made connections between my articles. Although it may

seem counterintuitive, adding on to previously-completed work helped me observe the facts that
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I had previously written down and tie them to new ideas for the first draft of my literature review

(Ramon-Lozano “Articles”). This is similar to “freewriting” in ENGL 1302 where I wrote down

all of my thoughts on a given topic, regardless of whether my ideas were complete or

underdeveloped (Ramon-Lozano “Finding”). In ENGL 1301, I also learned how to analyze

various genres and make clear connections between main ideas and evidence (Ramon-Lozano

“Finding”). When moving from worksheets and outlines to my first and final drafts, I gradually

increased my application of analysis skills. My “Articles Analysis Worksheet” was simply a list

of facts, while my “Synthesis Outline” and first and final drafts found commonalities and

distinctions between my articles and connected these patterns to a topic sentence

(Ramon-Lozano). This demonstrates how there is not always a direct path to a final draft when

partaking in the writing process.

The completion of an annotated bibliography and literature review allowed for a fluid

transition to the final research genre: the researched position paper. Nonetheless, I struggled to

prove my argument in my first and final drafts, so I decided to re-revise this genre. When

reviewing the final draft of my position paper, Dr. Nelson recommended that I merge the sections

titled “Smartphone Dependence Among College Students from Different Countries” and

“Smartphone Dependence as an Ineffective Coping Mechanism” as a section called “Smartphone

Dependence: Causing and Caused By Psychological Distress” (Instructor comment

“Relationship with Wellness”). This change allowed me to make clear connections between the

idea that smartphone dependence can result in psychological distress and be a cause of

psychological distress. Furthermore, Dr. Nelson recommended that I change the concluding

sentence of my first body paragraph in my first section to be the introductory sentence for my
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newly-merged section (“Relationship with Wellness” Instructor comment). This sentence acts as

a general overview summarizing the instance of “smartphone overuse and addiction among

university students from various nations;” therefore, this change properly introduces my

sub-claim that a cyclical relationship exists between smartphone overuse and social and

emotional health (Ramon-Lozano “Relationship with Social,” Instructor comment “Relationship

with Wellness). Accepting my instructor’s feedback helped me link my sub-claim to my thesis

statement, thus making my claim more persuasive.

When re-revising my researched position paper, I found it difficult to simultaneously

expand upon my sub-claims and cut down on word count. In the “Final Draft” of my researched

position paper, I was 178 words over the maximum word count parameter of 2,000 words;

however, this draft did not argue a strong claim (Ramon-Lozano). Additionally, I included

somewhat weak proposals in the final section of my final draft in an attempt to make my

argument more compelling (Ramon-Lozano). To overcome this struggle, I attended two office

hours meetings with Dr. Nelson, where we discussed how to improve my final draft.

Additionally, I attended an ACE writing center tutoring session to gain another perspective on

my researched position paper, understand where my claim was unclear to outside audiences, and

find where I can reduce word count. On the other hand, the least challenging aspect of my

re-revision was deciding which evidence to keep in my paper and which evidence to remove

since my sentences sometimes included miniscule details that are not important to researchers’

findings. For instance, I changed a sentence from my first draft that stated how “Yang, et al.

surveyed 874 Chinese undergraduates” to start immediately discussing relevant findings: “ Yang,
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et al.’s investigation [revealed that] Chinese undergraduates with strong support systems…”

(Ramon-Lozano “Relationship with Wellness,” Ramon-Lozano “Relationship with Social”).

In addition to the re-revision of my researched positioned paper, I designed an ePortfolio

website to compile my completed assignments throughout this semester. Given that the audience

of my ePortfolio is the general public and students who plan to take ENGL 1302, the intended

audience for this project is much broader than that of my research genres and reflection

essays–which consists only of my peers and Dr. Nelson. To adapt to this change in audience, I

not only defined the purpose of each research genre, but I also provided characteristics of each

genre. For my annotated bibliography homepage, I described how this genre consists of a citation

that provides readers with key information like the title and author names; I then simplified the

definition of an annotation by describing it as a summary of a source. These easy-to-understand

definitions clarified the key components of the first genre without getting too caught up in

details. In the homepage of my second research genre, I continued this pattern by describing how

literature reviews are in an ‘introduction, body, conclusion’ format but may include section

headings to group information. Finally, my researched position paper homepage described why

authors address counter-arguments and make proposals and described how each of these

characteristics can be applied to this genre. These explanations allowed for me to clarify what

my audience will see in my paper and prevent confusion when they read through my genre.

Within the “Drafting, Revising, & Editing” sections of each genre, I addressed why it is

important to revise the genre in academic settings. Additionally, my “Publishing & Reflection”

section
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The most challenging aspect of this course was by far beginning the research process.

From the multitudes of topics in my“Library Research Packet,” I decided that I would tackle the

proposed relationships between smartphone overuse and social and emotional health in college

students (Ramon-Lozano). This packet taught me how to create a search in the TAMIU Killam

Library databases by using Boolean terms, such as “BUT,” “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” (Nelson

“Library Research”). After the completion of this assignment, I needed to find 20 peer-reviewed

articles about this topic. I became concerned that my topic was too narrow since it took over 2

hours of dedication to find articles related to this exact topic and sift through their abstracts,

introductions, and conclusions. From my 20 refereed sources, I selected the 10 original research

articles that I thought would be most interesting to discuss throughout the semester. Finally, I

used a color-coded highlighting strategy to distinguish between hypotheses (blue), findings that

agree with scholars’ hypothesis (green), findings that are not in line with researchers’ hypothesis

(red), limitations (purple), background information (yellow), and data (pink) across my ten

articles. The challenge of the beginning of the research process was mainly attributed to my lack

of knowledge about the subject area since I was a novice student researcher. This also made it

difficult to paraphrase information. Nonetheless, as I became more familiar with the material, I

was able to understand scholars’ discourse and explain their research in my own words.

On the other hand, the least challenging aspect of this course was by far organizing my

thoughts on current literature and properly formatting citations and research genres. To ensure

that I had easy access to my ten refereed original research articles no matter the device I am

using, I downloaded all of my sources to a OneDrive folder. In terms of my writing process, I

created separate documents for my first, intermediate, and final drafts. Each of these documents
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contains saved comments of self-revision suggestions, questions I had for Dr. Nelson, and peer

and instructor feedback. This allowed me to ensure that each suggestion would be taken into

account to adequately each draft. Lastly, I felt that I have great formatting and citation skills

because my instructor and peers rarely had negative feedback about the set-up of my research

genre.

With each lesson learned and challenge overcome, I have improved my ability to write

academic genres. Prior to this course, I had only heard of annotated bibliographies, literature

reviews, and researched position papers. However, as I progressed through the semester, I not

only learned the significance of each research genre to scholars and others in academic fields, but

I also learned how to select a research topic, find reliable, refereed articles, and complete an

analysis of in-depth literature. The “Articles Analysis Worksheet” in particular was a major

turning point for me in this course. This worksheet taught me how to break down sources to

solely focus on scholars’ most relevant background information, findings, and claims; moreover,

it simplified the process of comparing and contrasting lengthy, fact-dense articles (Nelson). My

newly-acquired ability to synthesize sources has helped me feel more confident in my ability to

participate in academic communities through analysis and writing. Furthermore, this skill has

undoubtedly increased my marketability both during and after college. The research skills I

applied throughout this semester has prepared me for future STEM internships, undergraduate

research, and even career paths.

Although full of challenges, my creation of an annotated bibliography, literature review,

and researched position paper has significantly improved my capacity to engage in scholarly

conversations in both objective and assertive manners. Overall, the extensive amount of time and
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effort I dedicated to this course has been reflected through the personal growth exhibited in my

writing and research processes. Thus, my ENGL 1302 experience shaped me into a better author

and investigator.
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Works Cited

Nelson, Sharity. “Smartphone Dependence in College Students and Its Complex Relationship

with Wellness: Cultivating Healthier Coping Mechanisms” by Kiara Ramon-Lozano. 22

April 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University, instructor comment.

Nelson, Sharity. “ENGL 1302 Articles Analysis Worksheet.” 19 February 2024. ENGL 1302,

Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.

Nelson, Sharity. “Library Research Packet.” 26 January 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Nelson, Sharity. MLA In-Text and Bibliographic Citations Classroom Activity. 19 January 2024.

ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “ENGL 1302 Articles Analysis Worksheet.” 19 February 2024. ENGL

1302, Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “ENGL 1302 Synthesis Outline.” 26 February 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas

A&M International University, homework assignment.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “ENGL 1302 Articles Analysis Worksheet.” 19 February 2024. ENGL

1302, Texas A&M International University, homework assignment.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “Finding My Voice as a Writer.” 5 Dec. 2023. ENGL 1301, Texas A&M

International University, student paper.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “Library Research Packet.” 26 January 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M

International University, homework assignment.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “Smartphone Dependence in College Students and Its Complex

Relationship with Social and Emotional Health: Cultivating Healthier Coping

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Mechanisms.” Re-Revised Draft. 1 May 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International

University.

Ramon-Lozano, Kiara. “Smartphone Dependence in College Students and Its Complex

Relationship with Wellness: Cultivating Healthier Coping Mechanisms.” Final Draft. 14

April 2024. ENGL 1302, Texas A&M International University.

Squires, Lauren R., et al. “Psychological Distress, Emotion Dysregulation, and Coping

Behaviour: a Theoretical Perspective of Problematic Smartphone Use.” International

Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, vol. 19, no. 4, 2021, pp. 1284–1299. Academic

Search Complete, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00224-0.

Yang, Xiaofan, et al. “Perceived Social Support, Depressive Symptoms, Self-Compassion, and

Mobile Phone Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Analysis.” Behavioral Sciences, vol.

13, no. 9, 2023, pp. 1–13. Academic Search Complete,

https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13090769.