Welcome to my portfolio for the 2024-25 semester of the Writing for the Sciences class. In this portfolio, I will be including my work throughout this semester along with additional documents that will explain the reasons for my growth throughout the semester. During this semester I learned a lot of new methods, such as using IMRAD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion) in my research reports and implementing CSE citations in my analysis essays. However, in my self-assessment essay, I will be comparing and analyzing key differences in my work from the beginning of the semester to the end. Along with explaining what I learned in my different experiences, this self-assessment will show my development as a writer and thinker through the semester.
Comparing the introduction of my first essay to the introduction of my last, in my first introduction I introduced Franz Lidz’s article with a summary of its key points while trying to set up the actual analysis of how the author engaged readers with scientific findings on Lucy’s running abilities. However, in my last introduction, I started by stating factual context about stress before discussing its connection to health conditions like acne. Compared to my first introduction, which was more descriptive and focused on summarizing an article, my introduction for my literary view has a more academic tone, with clear references to the main subject, stress. Throughout the semester I was able to create many writing goals after reviewing the feedback from my first 3 assignments, such as: making my thesis clearer, and making use of better transitions. In comparing my scholarly article analysis to my general audience paper you can clearly see the efforts made in developing better transitions, with the example of “ Isn’t this study just great?”, a short and sweet introduction to the paragraph explaining the benefits of the study.
Regarding being able to engage and develop in the collaborative and social aspects of the writing process, group work and peer review were great ways to help me build upon my own writing by comparing and analyzing the writing of my peers. For instance, with peer review, not only did the peer review question give me a better understanding of what is expected in my own essays; but also seeing the way my peers analyzed my own work was very helpful when making the final draft. As you can see, in the “additional documents” tab, question 3 and 5, these are both points in my NY Times Analysis that I had to improve on. Because it was hard for the reader to understand, the peer review made me realize that I was missing a few elements, and adding these elements to my final draft overall improved my analysis.
Researching in this class also helped me find better ways to search for scholarly articles, without just having to rely on the CCNY library. From struggling at the beginning of the year to find a single scholarly article, I was able to use not only google scholar but also scientific research publishing to help me find multiple scholarly articles on the same topics. With the New York Times Analysis, I was able to create a free NY Times account, and I never knew that CUNY students had this opportunity before. Along with the use of more sources, I strengthened my use of CSE citations. As you can see in my scholarly article analysis, I didn’t cite any evidence from the article I read, the proper way. You can clearly see the difference in the amount of citations from my scholarly article analysis to my literary review.
Throughout the semester I’ve been able to really see the change in my work from the beginning to the end of the semester. The changes were a result of me understanding the rubrics better while also learning from my past mistakes with my past essays and building upon them. In my first few writing assignments, the New York Times Analysis and Scholarly Article Analysis, I didn’t really pay attention to the feedback until writing my General Audience Paper. Despite my ignorance at the beginning of the year, I still learned a great amount from my time in the Writing for the Sciences class. As I use these new skills in future research papers, I’ll be sure to always look back on my notes from this class.
