Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Reading through everyone else's second reflection letters was very interesting. It was intriguing learning about the struggles of other members of the class, and learning how they are similar or different from my own. I was definitely not the only one struggling with organization, which seemed to be a common problem in many reflection papers. TheIceCreamMan stated the week organization of his paper as his major problem, which was the same as mine. I believe this is a mojor issue for me, and maybe others, because it was a part of our writing that was not focused on and criticized in high school english classes. I don't know if this was true for others, but it was definitely true for me. Maybe it is a more advanced form of critiquing. I am also still struggling with basic grammar, however. I'm not alone in this either. Jessica stated the problems she was having with grammar, but was proud of her improvement, and “getting rid of bad habits.” I wish I could say I was making the same improvements grammar-wise, but I'm not sure that I am. I was more with the IceCreamMan on the grammar front, who seems to be experiencing similar frustrations with grammar as I am. No matter how much I try, I still end up messing up a lot. While the quality of the classes may be improving as they deal with more advanced problems like organization and clarity of ideas, basic grammar problems remain an issue. Another seemingly more complicated issue in writing came up in my peer's writing that forunately I did not have a problem with.

Multiple classmates stated a problem that I could not relate to, which was a problem with writing about themselves. I have always enjoyed writing about experiences I've had, and find it much easier than other forms of writing. Dan stated that it was “very difficult for him to write about himself,” and the Flying Scotsman discussed how it was easier for him to write in a tone that was much different to how he really was as a person. I have always been a very personable writer, and my personality has always showed itself in my writing. Almost everyone also discussed their issues with not being able to rewrite very well. I always thought rewrites were annoying, but so far all of them have improved my grade, so I always dealt with them. Seeing everyone else's issue with them, along with Steph's comments back to them about how rewriting can actually help them, helps me really realize how important and necessary rewriting really is. This will help me next time I'm rewriting a paper, since I now have a greater realization of how necessary of a process it truly is. Nick's statement that “revisions and more revisions are essential” sums it up nicely. It was not the problems of my classmates that motivated me to become a better writer, however. It was the successes.

Reading about the success's of my peers motivates me much more than reading about the negatives. I am a very motivated person, in general, and I like to think that I'm good at things. I want to be the best at things that I am doing. Reading about successes of my peers makes me want to ensure that I feel that success also, and if I must do things to improve my writing to reach these levels of success, than I want too. Reading about Dave's feelings of pride about his unit 2 paper, along with Steph's agreeance with it made me want to have a paper like that also. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Dave is so proud of his paper, and that he wrote one so good, this just motivates me to write something I can feel a sense of pride of. I may have done this with unit 4, but we shall see. Reading about Anners improving a whole letter grade, and Adam gaining clarity about his writing made me want to experience these same successes. My classmates experiencing these successes emphasizes the fact that if they can improve their writing significantly, so can I. The main motivation I get from my peers is reading about their successes, because of my desire to be as good, if not better, than them.

On a completely unrelated note about other people's unit 2 reflection letters; People with usernames on the wiki that weren't their real names writing letters to themselves REALLY confused me at first. I had no idea what was going on at first, but, thankfully, my brain was finally able to put two and two together by the third one I read.