Writing Self-Assessment

Making good use of the writing process enables us to accomplish two things:

1. Extend our thinking

2. Communicate and share our ideas with readers

The goal of this exercise is that in evaluating your writing process you further develop your skills as a thoughtful reader of your own writing and thus identify areas on which to focus attention as you write and revise in the future.

First, to help you evaluate your success regarding the overall writing process, please read over the following list and consider your effectiveness in these areas. Please then rate yourself on a scale from 1 - 10, with 1 representing an item in which you struggled and 10 meaning you had no problems at all in this area. (4 points)

Developing a project:

Understanding the assignment

Discovering or refining a topic

Constructing a thesis

Researching the topic

Synthesizing and integrating research

Developing ideas

Supporting ideas

Organizing ideas

Clarifying ideas

Mechanical/grammatical points of writing:

Transitions (between paragraphs or sentences)

Sentence structure (run-on's, comma splices, fragments, etc.)

Paragraph structure (unity, topic sentences, etc.)

Integrating quotations

Capitalization
Word usage (accuracy)
Verb usage (verb tense, subject-verb agreement, passive voice, etc.)
Pronoun usage (pronoun-antecedent agreement, consistent POV, etc.)
Punctuation
Spelling

Stylistic points of writing:
Voice/tone
Diction
Conciseness/wordiness
In-text citations/reference page format (APA)

Secondly, please address the following questions concerning your writing process for completing the Course Project. Please be sure to explain your answers in detail, with at least 4-5 sentences. (6 points each)

1. As you reread the paper you wrote for this class, what strikes you as the strengths of your writing?

2. If you had an opportunity to revise the paper, what revisions would you make to strengthen it?

3. Think back on the process you used to write this paper. Briefly describe your process (e.g., how you prepared, what part you wrote first, how you revised)

4. How does your process with this assignment compare to other writing you've done?

5. What kind of feedback did you receive on your writing, from Smarthinking, the Professor, or your peers? Were there any reoccurring points from these various sources?

6. Overall, did you agree with the feedback that you received and how might you use these thoughts in the future, either on other assignments or in your career?