John Daniel Norombaba
Scott Streitfeld
Writing 39C
05 January 2022
Reflective Writing: Introductory Self-Assessment
Hey, I’m John Daniel. A first-year software engineering student. To describe myself, I am outgoing and vivacious, but easily tense up at the thought of speaking. I love to blog onlineLinks to an external site. and within my notes app. At UCI, for ANTHRO 25A: Environmental Injustice, I participated in case studiesLinks to an external site., looking at the relationship between the media and different stakeholders of Kern County. Between sophomore and junior year of high school, enrolled at Bakersfield College I decided to explore the relationship between Russia and the United States. Senior year, I wrote research papers on internet privacy and explored Frankenstein by Mary Shelly, answering why “monsters” exist.
In eighth grade, my English teacher once returned my essay with the note, “You my friend, are a good writer” which encouraged me to put more effort into any writing. Junior year, my English teacher emphasized the need to create a counterargument in any argumentative essay. Bakersfield College allowed me to find academic sources easier through keywords in JSTOR and EBSCOHost and reinforced the importance of outlining and drafting throughout the entire writing process. Words easily flow on a page, like fingers on my keyboard, when I have an idea and direction on a specific topic. I believe having proper and scholarly sources, along with having some sort of plan will allow me to stress less in Writing 39C.
Over the course of the past few years academically writing, I have come to enjoy writing about technology and historical/social issues. Looking at my past work, I try to title with alliteration. Beyond the titles, I acknowledge that there is always room for improvement. For example, in “The US’ Russian-Roulette Relationship”Links to an external site. I failed to address a counterargument, and skimming the paper, a lot of my analysis relied on re-explanation, and did not go as deep as I could. And in a push for nationwide privacy laws in “Addressing the Debacles of DataLinks to an external site.” I felt confident talking about technology’s implications, and addressing the issue at hand because of my interest in technology. However, my counterargument falls short of addressing the opposing side, and appears to simply be cherry-picked; especially now the counterargument is blatantly false per Apple’s new “Do Not Track” featureLinks to an external site. surfacing. I should have put equal thought into the counterargument and the supporting sources. Smaller quirks about my writing annoy me: the appearance of too many commas, the repetitions of certain words, and small grammatical errors I fail to catch because I am against the clock.
As a writer, I want my method of storytelling to evolve, along with deeper analysis that connects beyond my thesis. With the encouragement of multimodal sources, I hope to use elevated sources that enrichen my papers. My biggest downfall may be procrastination, and my chaotic life, but I believe on top of my past experiences, I am prepared for this class. Sure, this class is a capstone for the Writing 30 series, but I see this as a capstone to my past twelve years in academia.