Self-Assessment Essay

Mike Destefano

ENGL 210

Prof. Rodwell

12/15/25

Prior to taking this course, I never considered myself a confident and deliberate writer. I have generally viewed writing as something I have needed to “slog” my way through as opposed to a process I could control. I have a tendency to be at my best as a student when I fully grasp what I am being asked to do, but I have also recognized that my voice and instincts have been central in helping me explain my thoughts. My approach began to emerge clearly early on as a writer. My writing has been authentic and blunt but at times sparse and rushed, particularly with regard to revision and source work. Nevertheless, throughout the semester, this course has significantly altered my perceptions about writing—not only as an end product but as a dynamic, social, and deliberate process.

Among the most significant paradigm shifts I have experienced as a writer began with understanding how to value linguistic difference as resource instead of problem. My voice as a writer will always be direct and conversational because it reflects my speaking and thinking voice. I have previously been concerned that my voice as a writer may be “too informal” and therefore not sufficiently academic. This class has taught me to be more aware of the diversity of languages and appreciate it as an added value within writing. By reading my peers’ and scholarly writings on various subjects, I have become more conscious about my audience and my writing goals based on audience and purpose.

All semester, I have worked on improving my approaches to reading, writing, revision, editing, and self-assessment. At first, I thought about my writing as a single-stage process, as I would write and then be done with it. Through my experiences with revision and writing about my revision experiences, I have begun viewing revision as an opportunity for growth instead of repair. I have begun learning to effectively read my own writing and appreciate my own work as I analyze it. This will ultimately lead me to be more aware of my own writing tendencies and make me more dedicated towards improving these.

A significant area I experienced growth within involved working with my own writing objectives and audience demands. Beginning with every assignment, I was tasked with considering genre, form, and audience. Whether I worked on completing an analytical essay, a literature-based task, or a multi-media component, I had to consider and address these questions: Who my audience members were, what they wanted, and what I could do. Learning to negotiate my own objectives and audience demands posed some difficulties but offered rewards. I discovered that successful writing involved more than communicating an idea.

My writing experiences in this class were also influenced by collaboration and interactions with my peers. Peer reviews and discussions were very useful because they made my writing experience less lonely. Learning about how my peers tackled similar assignments was very instructive because I would not have been able to learn these insights on my own. Peer reviews also helped me improve my writing skills because it encouraged me to put my thoughts about good writing into practice. All these factors have reinforced that writing as an activity is not a solitary experience.

The class also encouraged me to practice genre analysis and multimodal composing, which have broadened my understanding of what it means to be a writer beyond just completing essays. By examining various genres, I have come to appreciate that what constitutes structure, evidence, and tone varies depending on genre. As I experimented with multimodal composing, I began thinking about ways in which images and various forms of media combine with words to construct meaning. I have begun to appreciate that words are not solely necessary for meaning-making; instead, there are a variety of ways for meaning to be made.

As my writing skills progressed, I grew more confident about making a statement and articulating it. At first, I often summarized sources without engaging with them. However, with practice, I began to learn to locate myself within an ongoing debate and began making statements and backing these statements with evidence. Doing so enabled me to make statements with more intention and meaning. I began seeing an argument as an act of contribution and not aggression.

An important aspect of this development came from engaging with research and source utilization. I have been able to learn and apply knowledge on how to employ online databases and scholarly articles. It was even more vital to learn about source evaluation, as it plays an integral role with regard to relevance and accuracy. Moreover, instead of merely searching for sources, I have been working on enhancing my skills on source utilization, with regard to quoting, paraphrasing, summarizing, synthesizing, and properly citing sources within my work.

Looking back, the reflective work I have done throughout the semester has effectively been a blueprint for my work on this portfolio. All the pieces and reflections have encouraged me to link my writing to my learning outcomes, so I not only understood what I have been writing about but also why. I have tried to get out of my comfort zone and start taking revision more seriously.

First and foremost, I believe that I have developed as a writer from someone who primarily concentrates on completing an assignment into someone who recognizes writing as a living, rhetorical, and reflective process. I believe that I have developed as a result of taking this semester because I have more skills, more confidence, and a better understanding of who I am as a writer.