Sarah Bickford
9/12/16
Weberling
WR100
Self-Assessment Essay
As a child, I was an avid reader. As I began to explore various types of literature (or as much as I could in the children’s section of the library), my interest in writing began to develop. I was intrigued by the stories I read, and my overactive imagination began to see writing as an outlet for the stories I created. The realization that I could write my own stories was an exciting one and my appreciation for writing began. However, this affair with creative writing, as excited by it as I was at the time, eventually ended. Other interests came to the forefront of my life, and my writing experiences were limited to what was expected at school. Eventually, creative writing became a chore that I still feel I do not have much skill with. As creative writing phased out of my life, my focus shifted to the writing required for school. This was a terrible process, as I hated that type of writing for a long time. However, my sixth grade English teacher genuinely changed my approach as she taught me how to structure writing and brought some of the pleasure that I had lost back into the writing process.
As a writer, I think I think I can usually figure out how I want to format or structure the way I present information, but I would like to be able to do so faster. I also struggle with creating particularly strong, engaging, and interesting introductions and conclusions, so I would like to get better at those. My biggest goal for WR 100 is to be able to confidently create strong introductions. Additionally, I think my writing could overall be stronger in its composition. I think sometimes I want to make my pieces read more easily and interestingly but struggle to do so.
The idea of research is one that I had long imagined as a purely academic pursuit. Through school, I had my fair share of research projects, using computers and books to write papers and present projects. In elementary school, this often was simply a collection of facts to arrange and present on shiny poster board in front of a class. Such projects became increasingly involved. The largest of such projects was in my junior year of high school. Every junior in my school completed a “junior thesis,” a long project related to American history. The subject I chose to explore was the development of a uniquely American style of ballet following World War II. While this was challenging at times, it was a worthwhile experience. I discovered that there had not been much research done on the topic, so I did not have many expert opinions or articles on the subject. This meant that I had to rely heavily on primary sources. Although this was difficult as my classmates had subjects with a wider array of resources, the experience helped me realize the possibilities of research.
Discussing research in class last week also opened my eyes to the myriad ways I use research in my daily life. As a former leader of a community service-based leadership youth group, I had to do a lot of event planning. From fun events to community service events to fundraisers, I now appreciate that the time I spent looking for new activities, comparing fundraiser options, and other such work was actually a form of research.
Overall, as I researcher, I believe I have made tremendous progress but still have much to learn. I think one of my weaknesses is consistently focusing on finding the information I need. I think sometimes when I research, I can get distracted by information that I think could be relevant but in the end does not help me. I would like to get better at being more direct as a researcher.
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