Over the course of English 110, I was required to meet six learning outcomes which represent my progression as a student writer. The process of incorporating these outcomes into my learning helped me strengthen my work, as well as my abilities as a writer. The following are the framework of which these outcomes were formed.

For learning outcome one, I used recursive editing of my writing over the course of a handful of drafts. These drafts were revised by my professor, classmates, and I, who provided helpful comments and criticism. This process helped isolate potential weak points in my work as well as overlooked grammatical or punctuational mistakes.

Learning outcome two involved the implementation of ideas from outside sources. I was able to utilize evidence and concepts from skilled authors in my writing to reinforce my work. This can be seen in my significant writing project, where I include evidence from the New York Times to oppose conservation groups’ agenda on lobstering regulations. I was able to work on my use of paraphrasing, as well as an analysis of authors’ rhetoric while refining this learning outcome.

The third learning outcome shows my ability to be active in my reading. While analyzing texts for my writing, I have to be able to draw information, conclusions, connections, and evidence that can be used to strengthen my agenda being used in essays. The process of taking notes in margins and highlighting key ideas may seem rudimentary, but I have come to find that this is one of the most important processes in writing a successful essay.

For learning outcome four, I worked on being a supportive peer to my classmates during the class’s frequent peer review sessions. Through this experience, I received criticism about my work, and supplied criticism to my peers as I reviewed various pieces of their work. This process helped me in communicating, as well as being able to see my work from another angle.

Learning outcome five demonstrated my ability to document and give respective credit to outside sources that were used in my writing. To avoid plagiarism, MLA citations are needed in my work, such as in-text citations, as well as a work cited page. Although complicated at first glance, English 110 helped me effectively cite my work to MLA standards.

The last learning outcome, six, marked my ability to look introspectively at my writing to identify weaknesses in sentence-level error, as well as writing strategies, such as paraphrasing. Being a successful writer involves being able to admit shortcomings, and I believe English 110 assisted me in my ability to do so.