My name is Demetrios Tzanetatos and I am a freshman at City College of New York. I was born in New York however both my parents are from Greece. I was raised in a bilingual household where education was very important. Throughout this first semester I have faced countless challenges in this FIQWS course. During this time of virtual learning it was hard to find the motivation to work hard and concentrate. Many times I have found myself struggling to complete each assignment while making sure the content within is acceptable. Throughout this semester I have developed ways to concentrate and complete my assignments.

 

This FIQWS course included 4 essays: Introduction Essay, Exploratory Essay, Exigence Essay, and Researched Critical Analysis Essay. Each paper was about a topic I chose when doing the Exploratory paper. My topic was how the English language affects immigrants living in the United States. Each essay had a different genre and I needed to figure out new ways to write them. Throughout this course I learned a lot on how to analyze my work and improve my writing decisions when creating drafts. With all the different genres being written I was able to expand my capabilities as a writer. I accomplished this by following the guidelines set by Professor Rodwell on each assignment. Every written assignment in this course required strategies for reading, drafting, collaborating, revising, and editing.

 

The Introduction Essay was the first written assignment of this semester. The purpose of this assignment was to introduce myself as a student to my instructors. The genre of this paper was a professional letter and it only needed to be 1-2 pages. Since it was my first time making a professional letter I was unaware of what the proper format for this assignment looked like. In order to overcome this obstacle I searched up “how to format a professional letter” on Google and received guidance in making a proper letter. After finishing this assignment I received feedback on my work. Professor Rodwell pointed out that there was a lot of repetition in my writing and advised me to go back and find where it happened. For example:

In this example I have noticed I have used a word multiple times in one paragraph causing it to look repetitive. After receiving the Professors feedback I have been very cautious of any possible repetition in my work. A course learning outcome that I addressed during the writing process of this assignment was CLO#1 which mentions exploring a variety of genres. I accomplished this CLO because this letter was in a genre I was not accustomed to which resulted in me exploring different ways to write a professional letter.

 

The Exploratory Essay was a stressful and difficult experience for me. The purpose of this assignment was to write a 5-6 rage research paper on how the English language affects immigrants living in the United States. An important aspect of this paper was to write solely on the research done without any bias opinions. I struggled with this heavily because the topic I chose made it hard for me to write without having an opinion. This paper required a lot of research done through the CCNY database. The writing process for this paper was different to the first. Now us students were put into peer review groups where we reviewed each others best drafts and offered advise on how to improve them. It was in this peer group I realized my exploratory paper has become more of an argumentative essay rather than a research paper.

After getting this feedback I tried to change my writing style so it can resemble the essay prompt rather than what I wrote. A course learning outcome I addressed in this paper were CLO# 6 and CLO#2. CLO#6 mentions locating research sources in the library’s database. I accomplished this by finding a bunch of academic sources in the CCNY database. CLO#2 mentions developing strategies in revising and editing written work. I achieved this by using the feedback I received in the peer group to revise my paper.

 

The Exigence essay was a lot less stressful than the exploratory paper. In the Exigence essay I was writing about how my topic relates to me and my life. Since I come from immigrant parents I wrote about their language journey in the states learning English. This paper did not require and source as it is personal. My experiences also allowed me to write about my language journey. I enjoyed this assignment and received a good grade from it as well. The CLO that I addressed in this assignment was CLO#7 which mentioned integrating your stance in the text. I integrated my stance on the topic by talking about my personal experiences. Another CLO I addressed was CLO#1 because we were again changing our genres. Reflecting back on this assignment I have realized most of the course learning outcomes satisfy this paper.

 

The multimodal presentation was once again an assignment where we were changing the genre. Now I was taking my topic and creating it into a PowerPoint presentation rather than a paper. I am not very good when it comes to creating a PowerPoint however I was eager to overcome this challenge. After a couple hours searching through all the themes and templates available to me I decided to pick on and get started. I did not want to give the exact information I gave in my other papers in this assignment so I did more research and decided to go deeper into my topic. The Course Learning Outcomes I addressed in this assignment was CLO#5 which said “Understand and use print and digital technologies to address a range of audiences.” I accomplished this goal by making a concise and engaging PowerPoint to entice my audience. I did this by applying pictures in my slides and making each slide easy to understand.

 

The RCA paper was the last writing assignment in this course however it was the most important. In this paper I was supposed to delve deeper into the exploratory essay topic, using multiple sources and making an intelligent argument. Unlike the exploratory paper my perspective and opinion had a place in this essay. This paper required me to analyze all the research I have done and interpret what is being said. Before I wrote this paper I needed to make a annotated bibliography on each source I was using. In the annotated bibliography I had to put each source in MLA citation and write summary and how I intend to use the source. Completing this helped me write my RCA because I knew what information I wanted from each article. The Course learning outcome I addressed in this paper was CLO# 8. I achieved this because in order to do this assignment I needed to integrate my stance on the topic and write my analysis.

 

Throughout this first semester I have overcome many challenges involivng my writing. I believe that I have improved greatly from the first day compared to now. My growth as a writer improved  because of my fellow classmates giving me feedback on my work, and Professor Rodwell suggesting ways to better my writing style. During this class I have challenged myself to keep improving no matter the outcome. Reflecting on the course learning outcomes I can full heartedly say that I achieved all of them through the work I have done. The experience I have gotten in this class is something I will value as I know it will help me these next four years.