Course Reflection

Looking back on the course as a whole, I have noticed that my writing skills have become better overall, and I improved upon the skills that have given me trouble in the past. One such skill is close reading. Before this course, I had very little experience close reading argumentative texts like the ones we examined in the New Humanities Reader. I always associated close reading with classical literature such as novels and especially poetry. Starting off, this was rather difficult for me to do, but now I feel as though I am able to effectively close read any kind of argumentative text. Coupled with my experiences close reading literature, I believe that now I have a complete skill-set to close read and analyze any kind of text. I have also learned to make more precise, specific arguments. At the start if this course, I only had experience creating arguments with non-argumentative texts, and even those arguments were at times too broad. Through writing the papers for this course, I have learned to make very specific arguments and use specific examples to support those arguments. I have learned to narrow down my focus in each paragraph and make careful and defined statements. Overall, this course has taught me to work with argumentative texts and apply the skills I gained from working with literature to argumentative texts. Going forward, I believe this will be a great skill for me to have as reading, analyzing, and commenting on argumentative texts are skill that apply to many fields of study, including fields that I am looking into.