Alyssa's Writing Self-Assessment

Over the course of this semester, my writing has certainly improved. Back in January, I noted that my main weakness was my inability to really sit down and put words on the page in a timely manner before the due date. While I definitely still struggled with that aspect of the writing process, I was more focused this semester on making it less of a struggle. The thing that helped me the most to overcome this weakness was writing down what my primary claim was for each paper. This gave me a clear direction to take my ideas, and made it easier for me to make an outline and talk about the most important parts of my argument with the help of specific sources that supported what I was saying. In this last paper especially, I feel that my ideas were more clearly outlined because I had a clear thesis statement, making it possible for me to start the essay with a better sense of direction and organization. 

Though I made considerable progress in focusing my ideas and hence in making it easier for me to find the motivation to start writing, I found that I still have other areas to improve upon in the writing process. In particular, I saw that I have the tendency to write long, flowing sentences without a break in between to let my reader take a mental breath of air. This is a challenge that I’ve been aware of, but it hadn’t been quite so obvious to me as when I was editing this final paper. I had to cut out several sections to make my paragraphs more comprehensible and concise. 

One of the  most enjoyable parts about researching and writing the final paper for this class for me was learning how to use the resources available to us through the BYU library, as well as through the other non-scholarly sources on the internet. I loved finding books on obscure aspects of Anglo-Saxon society that enriched my understanding of how the text I analyzed fit in to the community, and it was a true blessing to find the full performance of a play that related directly to the subjects I focused on. It was really fun to read and watch other people’s interpretations and reactions to the literature I was studying, especially when the people talking about it were just including it in their regular discourse. 

Something that I really think helped me to formulate my ideas about the texts I analyzed in the final paper was just talking about it with my friends and family. Even though I already had the ideas in my head, it helped to explain them to someone else and get their feedback and perspective. It also made me feel like I wasn’t just writing for the sake of writing, but that someone out there might have genuine interest in what I was writing about. Their support and enthusiasm made me get even more excited about my paper so that it felt less like an assignment for a class and more like a personal project that I wanted to invest in.