Blog 5

Throughout this semester I have learned how to properly analyze sources and integrate evidence into my paper. I was never asked in an English class before to analyze my sources. I was always taught to just add evidence/facts and throw a citation at the end. After taking this class I have improved my writing a lot, my writing has become stronger because of knowing how to properly integrate evidence. I still find it extremely hard to start off my papers, but once I get the ball rolling it doesn’t stop. The library days helped me out the most, finding credible secondary sources was always a problem for me but the databases available here at Temple help out a lot. I learned that having scholarly sources greatly improves your papers and gives you more to work with. When writing my first two papers I realized that I have to take the revision process more seriously. At the time I had a lot to learn about writing and those papers were evident of it. I learned a lot from the workshops and conferences. My group helped me figure out what I needed to elaborate on more and where my paper didn’t make sense. From meeting with you in conferences I realized that my writing skills were not as terrible as I thought. There were areas where I needed improvement but I was heading in the right direction. My third paper showed my progress with synthesizing my sources into my paper and connecting them with my thesis. This process helped me out a lot when it came to writing my final paper. We were required to use many outside sources to back up our thesis. Without learning how to properly synthesize and integrate citations with my thesis, my paper would have been a sloppy mess of ideas thrown together with no real connection. I believe I have learned a lot from this course and will use what I have learned to better my writing for future courses.