Reflection Page

Course Reflection

           

As a whole I do believe that my writing has benefited from taking ENC 1102 and having to write an inquiry-based research paper. Writing a complex research paper is something that every college freshmen should have to do because without this course I would have no knowledge of the writing process. In my course reflection I illustrate how I came to understand the objectives of the course and the (sometimes painful) process of this understanding.

Outcome 1: Student will demonstrate an awareness of the dynamic relationship between rhetorical situation, discourse community, genre and inquiry.

            In bettering my understanding of what made up a discourse community and inquiry I was able to expand my views on writing a research paper. Prior to the course I had never heard of the term discourse community and did not fully understand what inquiry meant. In attempting to write research papers in the past it was always difficult to fully engage myself in the paper because my understanding of inquiry consisted of creating a researching question, and finding research, which answered this question.

            My knowledge of inquiry was not inquiry at all, but merely creating a falsified question, which was answered by research I had already found to match this question. I learned throughout the course that in doing inquiry based research, it was vital to find a subject that I was actually interested in, and create a research question that I actually wanted to answer. I stated in my Locating Gaps paper that “Creativity, and the current demand for it sparked my interest which led me to ask the question: How do university students who have been taught in public and private schools perceive their rendering of creativity.” Illustrating my interest in creativity within education, which directed the path of my inquiry based research.

In understanding the term discourse community I was able to better analyze other’s research regarding my research subject. I had never previously considered research to be a conversation, which is exactly what it is. In getting involved in the discourse community I understood ongoing argument concerning creativity in education and found a gap in the conversation.  As I stated in my “Locating Gaps” paper, “In analyzing my findings I contribute to the ongoing conversation regarding creativity within education by addressing how students in public and private schools feel they were prepared to think creatively.” I also realized that within a discourse community it is okay to question research and find flaws, as I stated in my locating gaps paper, “Teachers have a potential biased when rating their students on their levels of creativity and in my research I wanted to fill that gap by gaining the perspective of University Students.”

ENC 1102 made me aware of what inquiry-based research was, and because of it completely changed my perspective of what doing research entailed. I will not lie and say that I now love doing research, but certainly in understanding research as a conversation within a discourse community, it makes it more interesting.

Outcome 3: Students will read, analyze and synthesize complex texts and incorporate multiple kinds of evidence purposely in order to generate and support their writing.

            The literature review was the most challenging aspect of the course and it was because I had never had to analyze in such detail, scholarly articles. Initially I didn’t think I would be able to create a review of literature that would make sense in analyzing the articles because I didn’t know how to read them. I discovered that in questioning and having an investigative viewpoint of research, it is much more effective than dryly reading thousands of articles. In reading the articles I was no longer scanning for facts that I could plug into my research that directly answered my research question, but actually digging in and getting involved in the research.

            I would never have expected that writing my Annotated Bibliography would come so easily and that I would actually get an A on the assignment. Within my annotated bibliography I analyzed scholarly articles such as one entitled A look at creativity in public and private schools in which I stated “The article has great implications for my research because it addressed the same research topic but from a different angle. The study looked at the teachers perspectives on teaching creativity and how it differed form public and private school and I am interested in the perspective of the students.” I effectively analyzed what the researchers did within their research and how I could view it from a different angle.

            The use of different types of source within my research was important because while scholarly articles were extremely insightful, popular articles tend to be more widely read by the public. In using popular articles such as the Forbes article “What is Creativity’s Value-- In Marketing, In Business?” I was able to analyze a popular understanding of the conversation, which contrasted the scholarly debate. I learned in the course that it is important to understand the views of as many people as possible when conducting research in order to get the best perspective on the issue.

            While there is always room for improvement, I feel as though I adequately grasped how to analyze complex readings like scholarly articles, which I demonstrated in my Annotated Bibliography. A new understanding of analysis was the key when creating my annotated bibliography. The use of several types of articles and complex analysis provided me with a better paper in the end.

Outcome 4: Students will produce complex, analytic, persuasive arguments that matter in academic contexts.

            In making an academic claim to base the rest of my research on, I need to find something that would hold my interest for the entire semester. I knew that the claim did not need to be boring and entirely education-based in order to matter within the academic world, but creativity within education, and even further how that contrasted within public and private schools really captured my interest. This claim is bold, and something that would have implications for the future of education if extensively researched.

            In the introduction to my research paper, I explained the significance of my research being “Acknowledging this increased need for creative college graduates, who will later become the driving force in America’s economy, it is important to consider how well creativity is fostered in the education systems.” I knew that in conducting this research, I was not changing the world, but to my surprise, I may actually be onto something. In my introduction I asked my audience “Understanding the increased need for creativity, why would students not try to acquire such skills prior to coming to the university?” which I believe to be a real question we need to address within education.

            My research question (which evolved many times) was: How do publicly and privately educated university students feel they were prepared to think creatively. I believe this question to be a statement which I had no prior knowledge too, except for my own personal opinion on the matter and I was excited to conduct field research which would give me answers.

Outcome 5: Students will develop flexible strategies for revising, editing and proofreading writing.

            Prior to taking ENC 1102 I never created multiple drafts of an assignment prior turning in in. I felt as though this was a failure in regards to my writing abilities and was too stubborn to do it. In creating the inquiry based research paper I quickly saw the benefits in making several drafts of my work before perfecting it. The Interpretive Summary is the assignment that taught me this lesson, and I must admit I was not happy with redrafting it (like a million times.) I see the mistakes now that I made in my first draft in which I stated “Bjorner and Kofoed effectively gathered information through the interviews of the professors which led them to their conclusion.” How were their efforts effective and what was their conclusion? In having to make a new draft I saw these mistakes and corrected them. I now see the benefit of being flexible and willing to edit and redraft. While I was reluctant to do this at first, I quickly saw how rewarding it would be to my work and learned to be a flexible writer.

            When it comes to proofreading, I feel as though I still struggle in that department. When instructed to reread our work and look for error or possible corrections, even in others work, I do not think I do that well.

Overall:

            Gaining understanding of terms like discourse community and inquiry allowed for me to produce a research paper that I was extremely proud of in the end. While the process of redrafting and analyzing scholarly articles may have at times made me want to tear my hair out, these things combined to make my research stronger. My research question remained of interest to me throughout the course of the semester and I hope that my findings were significant to ongoing argument of creativity within education in America.