Margaret Atwood once said, “if I waited for perfection, I would never write a word.

Through the course of this semester, RWS 1302 has helped me gain so much as an academic

writer. My genre analysis, group literature review, and group documentary each helped me

further develop my academic writing skills in three ways: research, group efficiency, and

formatting.

First, research is vital in any topic given or sought after. Through my assigned readings

and experience with my personal topic in my genre analysis, it is of essence to have a well-

developed topic. This is because the research phase is critical, and it will be hard to find good

evidence and formulate good research questions with a topic too narrow or too broad. As I

continue on with my academic and professional career, I will continue to have to construct and

provide research projects. This class helped lay the foundation to continue to build on.

Second, group efficiency, it is critical to be able to be a team player and value others

ideas that you work with. I know group work can tend to be the most dreaded work in any aspect

of life, but it is something we cannot escape. Most of us will continue in careers where we will

have to work and collaborate with others. This is vital because I truly believe no one is

successful all on their own. There have been people who have supported and collaborated with

us in a variety of ways to help us be successful. This class being online provided a little more of

a challenge for my group and I, especially because we all have different obligations in our lives.

The biggest thing I took away from this was communication; we all communicated very well and

have had a tremendous amount of respect for one another.

Lastly, formatting, this was my biggest challenge. As I quoted in the beginning, I would

not be in college if I waited to be a perfect writer. Luckily, we have the UTEP writing center and

various amounts of resources for formatting. Through the course of this semester, my formatting
improved greatly. I was taking COMM 1311 in accordance with this class and I can see the

improvement in my APA formatting, including the help from the writing lab.

In conclusion, this class has help me develop more as an academic writer and leaves me

with a foundation to continue to build on. If we all were perfect at something, there would be no

need to learn it. Therefore, no need for any higher-level education. Through research, group

work, and formatting, I gained so much that will help me throughout my academic and

professional career.