Self Assessment
Self Assessment
Self Assessment
Chase Rice
Enc 1102
April 3 2020
Self-Assessment
Introduction
Writing and reading has always been a struggle for me, not in the way that I do not know
how to read texts or how to respond to a prompt, but mentally being able to sit down for a long
period of time and work on a text. In ENC 1101 last semester one thing I really tried to work on
was focusing on a paper for a certain period of time without turning away and getting distracted.
While I struggled with this for a while, and still do a bit, my work has significantly improved in
my opinion and I am glad to have learned so much over the past two semesters even though it
was very difficult. Where my last self-assessment left off, I stated that I had not yet mastered the
course outcomes for ENC 1101, but now I feel that if I have not yet, I am at least very close to
I have become significantly better at this over the past two semesters and I would not say
I have mastered it. This is only because in my opinion to master something you must be near
perfect at it and there are still texts that I struggle with sometimes. However, I am much
improved at it and feel I am very good at analyzing and synthesizing complex texts. To support
this point, I revisited James Porter’s Intertextuality and compared my writing from this semester
and last semester. In the first semester I struggled to understand the piece fully and it showed in
my response “…he discusses his definition of it as well as providing examples from a variety of
sources such as the Declaration of Independence, a Pepsi ad, and a news article.” I then provided
Last Name 2
a quote and restated it because I was not sure how to explain a text I did not fully understand.
This affected me in almost every response that semester and I felt like I was not doing as well as
I could have. This semester I felt much more confident in my responses and my ability to analyze
the text. In my response to the same piece this semester, only a few months later I was able to
understand it much better. I demonstrated my knowledge of it much better this time saying “…he
discusses the concept of all texts being dependent upon and related to each other. This is referred
to as intertextuality, the fragments of past writings and thought that combine to form our own
definitions and papers”. I went beyond re-stating the author and formed my own understanding,
and while I am not a master at this I did significantly better throughout the semester and it shows
I feel that I have a good grasp on this concept as I was able to complete my first in-depth
research paper answering my initial research question and using over twenty sources to learn
about the topic. For me to master this concept I will have to write many more research papers
and learn how to fix the errors I am making in clarity and reasoning. Often time in my papers
when trying to explain something I do not add enough detail because writing is not something I
particularly love to do, so without meaning to I shorten things that need more explanation. This
is something I worked hard to avoid in my research paper and provide a clear well thought out
argument with sound reasoning and supporting evidence. Even though I put forth a lot of effort
towards this I still made errors in that regard and others. In the initial feedback I received there
were a few parts that confused the reader that I had to try and fix but there were not many serious
issues. In the future I think I can write another good research paper as I have learned from my
Last Name 3
mistakes and while I will make others, I can write a well-articulated argument in response to a
question.
Arguments
This is one concept I think that I have mastered, and if not mastered at least close to it. I
have always been a very argumentative person and based my arguments in logic and research.
Since I can remember I have been researching and developing arguments for any possible thing
somebody could say to me because I never wanted to be unprepared to defend myself and my
opinions. This helped greatly in the research paper because even though I am not great at getting
my words onto paper I was able to put an argument forth with evidence to support and come to a
conclusion that is well supported. Something that I can improve upon in this regard is the actual
process of researching. Once I find the information, I am able to find important parts of it to
support or attack a position, but I can get better at finding the exact information I want quickly. If
I can improve this then my research process will become significantly quicker and more
efficient. This is also a part of writing I have always enjoyed because I can learn new