A Reflection on AWD

Over the course of the last 5 weeks I have learned a great deal about different types of writing and how they are used in the various topics of study from which we all come. Getting used to writing essays every week was difficult at first especially coming from co-op where I produced very little written or long-term work. However I think that starting with the thin slicing assignment before diving in to close reading and analysis helped me to transition back to writing in a formal academic environment. Combined with the deep and extensive discussions in class, this type of curriculum has helped to motivate me and keep me interested in the subject matter.
The thin-slicing assignment was an especially unique idea which forced me to think in a way I wasn’t really used to doing. Most writing I have done over the course of my academic career has involved a very clear prompt of what to write about and what the goal of the paper was. While this assignment did ask for very specific factors to consider, it was a rather daunting task at first because it was hard to see anything of value when looking at very technical and frankly boring sounding journal article titles. However, after discussing my basic ideas and hearing what other classmates were doing, it became easier to figure out what the assignment was looking for. Peer reviewing and group discussion of the assignments has continued to help with the other assignments in this class as they provide a more concrete understanding of otherwise nebulous assignments.
Switching to close reading and analysis after this initial assignment made things a bit easier because close reading and building theses off of the analysis is something I have done frequently in the business school and in other English classes. It did in some ways build upon the first assignment because it required us to take many small realizations we could make through a close reading and combine them to see the broader picture. It also helped that we were familiar with journals and the style of writing involved in them because of the thin slicing assignment, so it was easier to find lots of things to talk about for this second assignment.
The abstract assignment was especially interesting because it required us to not only synthesize thought processes and writing styles from two different disciplines, but also to produce a very short writing sample. My partner and I spent extensive amounts of time revising and discussing each sentence of the abstract and frequently found ourselves quibbling over each word in an attempt to find the most concise, yet thorough way to express our point. This greatly developed my ability to understand language and the ways it is employed in writing because finding better ways to say things requires true understanding of whatever is being said.
Finally, I think the most rewarding part of this class has been the in class discussion and Q&A sessions following presentations. These have really shown me how important it is to get outside perspectives on our work because everyone seems to have something material and beneficial to contribute to each other’s writing which greatly improves the overall quality of the work produced.