Midterm Essay

Matthew Benton
UWRT 1103-009
9/30/15

Since I started taking UWRT 1103 here at UNC Charlotte, I have learned a lot
about my strengths and weaknesses in my writing. Even though I have completed
numerous writing assignments throughout my high school career, I have not had to
dig deep into writing techniques and had to inquire the way I have been doing here
in college. I do have to say that I am enjoying the style of writing that I have been
assigned so far in UWRT 1103 a lot more than the writing assignments from high
school. I am pleased that my newly discovered strengths outweigh the weaknesses
in my writing. I hope to build upon them and become an even stronger writer by the
end of this semester. Out of the 10 Key Concepts, I feel pretty comfortable with
the majority of them but I could definitely use some practice with a few of them.
One part of my writing that I am striving in lately is getting out of my comfort
zone. I was certainly not accustom to writing personal pieces of writing, and I
initially thought that I would really dislike it. But as I started writing them, I
surprisingly began to enjoy it. It became easy for me come up with quality content
that I was okay with sharing to group in class the next day. I have never really
wanted to share any piece of my writing with anybody else because I was afraid of
being judged and criticized. But after the first peer workshop, I used the
constructive criticism to my advantage and improved my writing. It is also nice to
hear other people say that my paper was well written or telling me that they were
engaged throughout the entire paper. Little things like that boosts my confidence
and allows me to be more open in sharing personal writings.

Another technique I am getting the hang of is inquiring on an independent

level. Before this year, the only way I could brainstorm was if I did it in a group. I
have wasted so must time just sitting down and thinking of ideas to write about.
This was especially bad when I was taking timed essays and tests. But with the help
of peer workshopping and independent research, I am able to come up with better
ideas a whole lot faster. Without that, I wouldnt have been able to come up with
this inquiry question: Because of the continuing advancement in technology, at
what point would golf clubs and golf clubs be so advanced that golf would become
too easy? (Blog assignment 3).
Perhaps the most improvement Ive had since starting this class has been my
critical reading. Before, I used to just point out spelling and grammatical errors
when reviewing another piece of writing. Now I am able to recognize others use of
rhetoric, imagery, etc. I feel confident in giving back constructive criticism that will
help aid people in improving their writings. The peer workshop that we did in class
really did help me out especially in the aspect of critical reading. The book Who
Says? By Holdstein and Aquiline also helped me better understand the concept of
critical reading. It is something that will stick with me for the rest of my college
career and especially in the job world.
Even though I have discovered many strengths in my writing, there are still
weaknesses within. But I am proud to say that I have not encountered anything so
far that has completely stumped me. One thing I have not quite adjusted to is
recognizing multi-modality in writings. I often have to refer to the multi-modality
chart (home page on the course syllabus) when I need help with it. I tend to
struggle with distinguishing the difference between the gestural mode and the
linguistic mode. I also have trouble telling the difference between the visual mode

and the spatial mode. I sometimes over think which ones belong with certain pieces
of writing and end up confusing myself. Im sure Ill become more familiar with
multi-modality by the end of the semester but for now there is a lot of room for
improvement. Another struggle I have encountered is taking responsibility for my
own learning. This has been an issue across all of my courses, not just UWRT 1103.
Throughout my career as a student up until college, I was used to being told exactly
what do and how to do it. But in college a lot of work and studying is done outside
of class. This is something I need to get comfortable with in order to be successful in
college.
My goal by the end of the semester is to overcome my writing weaknesses
and become more confident and comfortable in my writing capabilities. I just need
to practice and adjust to all of the Key Concepts and make it a habit to use them
throughout my writings and throughout all of my classes that I will take during
college. I will not only use these concepts in the classroom, but I will do my best to
incorporate them into the real world after graduation.