Metacognitive Essay

Shi Qi Qin
Writing 2
Mr. Speiser
Metacognitive Essay
I have been taking writing courses all the way from 3A till Writing 2, but I have
learned and improved the most until this quarter. As a freshman last year, my motto is the
same as other freshmen, who believed I will have a lot more sleep if I do not have
writing class(Sommers & Saltz). Because English is my second language, I was not a
good writer when I was in high school, and I hated writing for its frustrating process and
complicated grammar structure. Therefore, coming into UCSB knowing that I would
have to take writing course for six quarters really give me a headache. However, I change
my mind after I take Writing 2. Taking this class, I am not only learning technical skills,
such as correcting grammar, forming conclusive thesis statement, coming up the so
what for each paper, having transactions, providing evidence, using quotation, and
writing topic sentences; but I also am inspired to think more deeply into why I am taking
writing courses and how I can apply what I learned to other classes or even beyond my
college career. For instance, I had no idea what genre is before I came to the class, but
now I understand how genres utilize different rhetoric in their respective discourse
community. Overall, I improved a lot as a reader, reviser, and writer throughout this
quarter.
In the beginning of the course, I know my weakness are forming ideas and
coming up with evidences to support my argument that ties my paper together. Therefore,

my main goal coming into Writing 2 is to overcome my weakness and improve my

elaboration skill to college level.
I walked in to this class with difficulties of forming thesis and organizing my
ideas, but I am now improved a lot with it. When I got WP1 assignment prompt, I had no
idea what genres are and what I should write about. Mr. Speisers office hour helped me
understand the requirements and begin my brainstorming process. I did not appreciate the
splitting project builder at the beginning, and I thought it was a wasting time. But,
because it was required, I had to do it. Surprisingly, the split project builder actually
helped me to first draw all my ideas down and helped my develop a stronger thesis for
my subject during a longer period of time. I used to brainstorm one or two days before
the project was due, which usually led to me sitting in front of my desk for two, three
hours and had no single useful ideas down on my paper. After I understand how useful
the project builder is, I applied it to my second and third essay. Eventually, through the
practice of splitting project builder, I immediately wrote down significant ideas from the
project builder as I began working on my final Project, I did not procrastinate like I used
to. I found that comparing to me sitting on the table and writing nothing down, the split
project builder helps me to brainstorm ideas effectively and more time efficiently.
Besides my ideas gathering stagnant, another challenge for me as a writer is to
form argument that ties to my paper together and provide evidences that support my
arguments. When I revised my WP1, I found out that my thesis did not stay consistent.
So, I changed my thesis In newspaper, both headlines and editorial journals convey
different genre convention to carry the message of presidential election. However, readers
should look for news from different source about presidential election before they are

persuaded by the information provided in newspapers and avoid manipulation from

publishers biased information to In newspapers, both headlines and editorial sections
convey different genres that carry the message of the presidential election. However,
readers should look beyond headlines to avoid misleading by the exaggerated content,
and they should look for information from multiples news sources about the presidential
election to prevent manipulation by publishers, the revised thesis convey my message of
what I want them to pay attention to each genre more directly. I revised my WP2 thesis as
well in order to make it concise but conclusive. Consistency was not the only problem,
the other challenge is that I did not have topic sentences for body paragraphs that connect
and summarize my arguments and body paragraphs. Thus, I decided to revised each topic
sentence for all of my body paragraphs, and I try to connect them with my arguments in
both WP1 and WP2. Furthermore, I did not know how to use quote efficiently before I
read Annoying way people use quotes. It said that writers should have a introduction
before you quotes as well as explain it in a way relate to your arguments (Bunn). In my
original WP1, I just insert quotes in order to fulfill the requirements. When I revised it, I
added my explanation and connected it to my arguments.
Through Writing 2, the course does not only inspire me to become a better writer,
but it also provides me professional tips in terms of how a writer could do to improve
certain writing skills. Personally, the splitting project builders and Annoying way people
use quotes are two significant texts that elevate my capability to form basic ideas for my
essay and elaborate on my quotes. However, looking into the world of writing, I still have
many weaknesses to improve and discover. Fortunately, Writing 2 is a building block for

me, and based on my improvements as a idea collectors and source organizer, I am

excited to look into further development as a writer in English.

Works Cited
Bunn, Mike. "How to Read like a Writer." Writing Spaces (2011): n. pag. Web.
808.0427--dc22
Qin, Shiqi. Read Beyond What Newspapers Have for You. 9 September, 2016.
Qin, Shiqi. Financial Crisis Takes More Than Two Valleys. 12 November, 2016.
Sommers, Nancy, and Laura Saltz. "The Novice as Expert: Writing the Freshman Year."
College Composition and Communication 56.1 (2004): 124. Web.