For this project, we learned about the three different learning styles as well as the two different ways to approach failure. In an essay, we established which learning style and mindset we possessed, then connected the two to each other and presented specific examples from our lives.

Learning Outcome 1

Before this course, I never really considered global revision when looking at revising my essays. I saw revision as the place to look for spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors, rather than considering the entire content of the essay. This course was the first time I was really introduced to the idea of global revision. In my significant showcase project, I demonstrated the use of global revision for the first time.

This screenshot shows the comparison document between my first and final draft of the essay. The text with a pink line through it is text that I removed from my first draft, and the pink text is new stuff that was added to my final draft. This shows just one area of my essay where I removed entire paragraphs and switched them around to be somewhere else. Clearly, such substantial changes do not fall under the classification of “surface-level revision” that I was used to following before this course. I think this specific project was a good example for my growth in this subject because it was the first time I had ever been exposed to it, and I had already made significant changes. I went from not knowing anything at all about global revision, or that it was necessary, to rearranging large portions of my essay. With each following project, I continued to make these drastic changes to my essays. I did also look at surface-level revision. Before the course, I was pretty good at surface-level revision, considering it was all I had ever done. However, through the use of Little Seagull I learned about different local revision tactics. These included learning about unnecessary words and using the search tool in Google Docs to find and replace them.

Learning Outcome 2

Before this course, I usually only had to incorporate information from other sources in the form of a quotation. I remember throughout high school, I was always told to include quotes from other authors as my incorporation of their sources. This course was the first time I was introduced to the practice of including source information through the use of summary and paraphrase. Previously, I had known about these tools, but I didn’t really ever get the opportunity to use them. In this significant writing piece, I demonstrated the use of all three ways to incorporate source information. This was also the first time that I was introduced to the idea of building connections between two different sources. Throughout high school, I was always told that source information should merely serve as support to my claims. I was told to incorporate it wherever it could fit as evidence to my claims. I was never introduced to the idea of making text-to-text connections until this course.

The screenshot above, from the final draft of my essay, shows both of these new concepts in effect. I connected information from two different sources using two different methods (paraphrase and quotation). Although I have definitely developed some new skills in this area, I have not mastered it. Even with my last project of the course, I do not feel that I sufficiently used outside source information. For continued development into this learning objective, I need to improve on my analysis of source information as well as my connections between sources. I meet the standards when it comes to text-to-self connections, since that is something I have practiced throughout my entire academic career. However, with text-to-text connections, I am not as successful. I need to continue to work on this area in order to meet the standards for this learning objective.

Learning Outcomes 5&6

In this project, I demonstrated the application of MLA-style to my essay. I followed the formatting guidelines which include the use of Times New Roman in size 12 font, double-spaced lines, and headers on each page with my last name. MLA is the style I used all throughout high school, so I feel like I had already pretty much mastered this learning objective. However, I did learn new citation techniques for different types of sources, through the use of Little Seagull. The screenshot shown above (in Learning Outcome 2) shows my ability to correctly cite information from different types of sources (a book as well as a video). I also applied the correct style to my citation page, which is shown below.