Self Assesment Proposal - Essay Example

Self-Assessment Since the beginning of this semester, I had to write three different types of paper in order to be assessed on my writing skills. The first paper, which I was assessed was Evaluative Annotated Bibliography, in this paper I had to choose ten sources concerning my topic and then summarize and evaluate each source. The second paper, which I was assessed was Position or Proposal Essay where I had to write an argumentative essay, in this paper I chose the position essay because my topic was supporting both sides.

The last paper, which I will be assessed in this semester, is the Self-Assessment essay; besides these three papers, I will also be submitting one page essay every week, whereby in every essay I will be selecting a specific topic and write about it. I have encountered difficulties when writing these papers; for example, starting with the argumentative paper, I had trouble in coming up with a clear thesis statement that easily attracts my audiences and expresses the objective of the essay. However, this has really changed in time after being assessed several times in this semester I have realized my mistakes and now I am in a position to write a good thesis statement, which attracts the reader and makes the paper interesting.

Besides my weaknesses of having a good thesis statement I have strengths in coming up with strong points to support my argument; for example when I connoted that, “Neutral selection is able to fish out animals that are unadoptable to the environment”. Therefore, by evaluating my arguments, I would state it was a strong argument essay, since in my writing I corrected my qualified thesis after informing the background of the issue, and then used three reasons to support my thesis. After that, I explained each reason in an independent paragraph, and highlighted counterarguments of the issue and responded to their claims.

Finally, I addressed my conclusion very well by restatement my thesis and main ideas and asked for an action to solve the problem. Most of my ideas refer to logics, therefore I appeal to logos in my writings. Furthermore, I consider the quotes I utilized in my writing, as one of my strength points because they supported my reasons when I required to use the exact words from the source, I quoted and addressed them in the appropriate sections in the essay to back my arguments. When using quotes, I outlined the context and its analysis; for instance, when I mentioned “Each year, from September to May over 20,000 dolphins are killed in Japan”; therefore, I analyzed it by saying that killing dolphins will lead to their extinction.

In writing an annotated bibliography essay, I encountered various challenges especially in selecting good and verifiable sources, which related to the topic. I also had trouble introducing my annotations since I could only start with phrases like “This article states”. I also had a hard time trying to summarize and evaluate the sources, but then I tried to focus on choosing good sources and using the best three or four sources for my paper. Despite the fact that I have had some weaknesses writing an annotated bibliography paper, I always cite my sources very well and am aware of all the citation styles.

Through my effort and willingness to learn I am certain that, my writing skills of an annotated bibliography paper have increased; though it is not a very strong paper, I am proud of the improvements I am making compared to my writing in the past. On the other hand, in all the papers that I have been assessed, my main weakness points are usually grammar and vocabulary. Whenever I try to express something, I use the wrong words selection that leads to the wrong expression; moreover, I have had issues with punctuations, sometimes I find that I have used a comma where it is not necessary, this is because I have not been going through my work.

Therefore, I have learnt that in order to eliminate these mistakes, I have to proofread my work several times, and have also noted that I always do my assignments in a hurry hence end up having careless mistakes such as instead of using the word “therefore” I end up using the word “so”. However, my overall writing performance have improved much more than it was and I believe that I will be doing much more better after being assessed on this self-assessment essay, which I believe I have written to my level best.