Gaining Critical Thinking Skills
The completion of the English 102 course has allowed me to gain writing and reading skills that I did not have at the beginning of the semester. In particular, I now understand and can apply critical writing and reading skills. Critical thinking is a fundamental skill I gained in this course, which will help me to solve problems and make judgments (Permana et al., 2019).
I learned that the ability to think critically involves analyzing a problem by breaking it down into its most basic parts. In addition, critical thinking involves investigating the accuracy of claims, statements, and information that we hear. From the readings in this course, I now understand that critical thinking skills are essential because they help establish the accuracy of the statements and information that we encounter daily. As a writer, I have evolved from someone who strived to understand situations at face value to a skeptic who is ready to engage and determine the veracity of a claim. Consequently, I can now do critical reviews and any other writing or reading that requires me to think and apply creative thinking skills.
Writing for Different Audiences
Another skill that I have gained in this course is the ability to write for different audiences. In particular, when writing to different audiences, it is critical to understand their informational needs and whether they require formal or informal communication. The first thing to know when writing is to determine who the audience is and what level of information they require. As a student, most of the writing I engage with is almost exclusively academic.
However, academic writing takes different forms depending on the course and other factors. For example, one course may require me to write a persuasive essay, while another requires an argumentative essay. While these two generally take the same form, an argumentative essay would require me to argue a claim without taking a position. In contrast, a persuasive essay would require me to take a position and defend it with evidence from past studies.
Purpose Influences Writing Style
Additionally, writing is generally influenced by the purpose for which one engages in it. When writing to a particular audience, one must determine the purpose for which they are writing. The purpose of my writing is to demonstrate my understanding of a certain concept of mastery of a specific topic. In such cases, my writing is formal, and I intend to score the highest grades possible by demonstrating to the instructor that I understand a concept and that I can explain it coherently in formal and academic language.
The Role of Research in Writing
One of the fundamental lessons I learned in this course is the role of primary and secondary research in my writing. Primary and secondary research must support any of my claims. From what I understood in this course unless I am doing experimental research backed by data collected through scientific means, all other writings incorporate primary and secondary research. This idea is that while my writing may bring a new perspective to the topic, it requires input from previous research to be credible.
However, using primary or secondary research should not involve summarizing these sources and presenting the work as mine. On the contrary, research should be incorporated into academic work to support any claims I make. In addition, any part incorporated into my scholarly work must be cited, and a reference must be included on the last page of the assignment.
Further, direct quotes or paraphrasing of primary and secondary sources are the recommended methods of incorporating research into any of my academic work. The impact of research on my written text is significant because it provides evidence for claims I make while writing. Consequently, primary and secondary research is integrated into my writing as evidence of the claims I make in the essay.
Applying Skills to Future Academic and Professional Life
Given where I am headed in my academic work, I would like to remember critical thinking, reading, and writing skills gained in English 102. This course has equipped me with basic and advanced skills in writing that will be helpful to me academically and professionally. In particular, critical thinking skills will be helpful in my life because they will enable me to critically analyze professional and academic problems and come up with the best solutions. I will also be involved in a lot of academic writing throughout my studies. Thus, the skills gained in this course have equipped me with the skills to explain my ideas on specific concepts in a manner that will prompt high scores in my academics.
The research skills gained in this course will also be essential in my professional and academic life. Academically, I will be required to write multiple essays, reports, articles, a thesis, a dissertation, and other types of academic writing throughout my education life. Thus, to complete my education, the research skills I gained in this course will play a central role. Finally, critical reading will help me professionally and academically because I will now be able to dissect written text in a way I could not before the beginning of the semester. For example, I will be able to read journal articles, identify research gaps, and propose ways to fill them.
Reference
Permana, T. I., Hindun, I., Rofi’ah, N. L., & Azizah, A. S. (2019). Critical thinking skills: The academic ability, mastering concepts, and analytical skills of undergraduate students. JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia), 5(1), 1–8. Web.