Jessica Mena

Writing 39C

Professor Berghof

Self-Assessment

Throughout college and grad school the type of writing I think that will be required is academic writing. Which we will have to use to write different types of essays, such as analytical essays and research papers. In my past experience with writing classes here at UCI I have learned some of my weakness. First of all writing has never been the most appealing thing to do since I seem to struggle with it. Organizing my ideas seems to be my biggest issue because sometimes I know how I want to start my essay or what to include in my body paragraphs but do not know exactly where it would fit the best in my essay. As a result, that leads my paragraphs not be as developed as they should be. In addition, in writing 39B I learned that creating clear thesis’s is one of my weakness as well because sometimes my thesis might say onething but in reality I want to convey something different.

 When I think about research I picture reading articles online. Also looking for any type of sources, which may include pictures, books, films, etc. that tie up to the research topic. Going to libraries to find these resources is one of the things I expect to be an important part of research as well. In addition, I also think research extends more to just looking for texts but also conducting surveys and interviewing people in regard of the topic or what you want to find out. As in right now I do not picture myself as a researcher but if I do participate in research in the future I would want to do it regarding child development. To do that I want to start doing my own research about the research studies that are being offered in urop.

I do not have a very detailed background knowledge regarding our theme but I do have enough knowledge to know what the Jim Crow Laws were. In regarding with our central text I don’t have a lot of background knowledge either because I have not looked into what the New Jim Crow is but I am hoping to learn more. What I think will surprise me when reading the book will probably be the facts and information that it contains because I myself am not fully informed about the discrimination and racism that African Americans have faced and that are continuing to face. Beside the central text, studying music from the time the Jim Crow laws were passed would be useful to study because we will be able to have more information about how people felt and reacted through music. I believe music is an essential way to study history because you can take a look in what society people were living in. Also studying photographs from the time of the Jim Crow Laws would be as helpful because the body language, facial expressions, and the type of settings that are displayed in the pictures are important since they portray emotions to the viewers that may help them figure of out the circumstances people are going through in that specific time period.