Dear Michelle, Throughout this course, I have written three main essays: a literacy narrative, a Wikipedia article, and a podcast. I have also written countless reflections and Learning Blogs in which I discussed things from what I have learned to plans for revision. While writing these assignments and reading the assigned readings, I have learned a plethora of things about my writing process, research, and metacognition. These skills will be used throughout my life. I learned a lot about the writing process in this class, and I have changed my way of writing because of it. Before learning about the writing process in this class, my way of writing consisted of procrastinating, more procrastinating, and then finally sitting down to contemplate the assignment before me. I was always very intimidated by assignments, and that usually led to me putting them off until I absolutely had to do them. Once the piece had been written, I would usually only revise it once myself and then would turn it in, eager to get it off my hands. However, I have learned in this class how important the writing process is. I took the advice Anne Lamott wrote in her essay “Shitty First Drafts” to heart. I now get started on assignments as soon as possible, because I don’t put pressure on myself to writing amazing first drafts. This has helped me manage my time better. Because of the Living Picture Narrative, I also place much more emphasis on the revision process. I got so much helpful feedback from my peers about my living picture narrative, and their comments improved my essay. Because of this, I have realized how important getting other people’s opinion on your work is. Often times, they see what you don’t. Peer reviewers can help you with issues like structure and word variety. My ability to research was strengthened by the assignments I have written. The Wikipedia article challenged us to find a topic that wasn’t on Wikipedia. We had to write about the topic in detail, citing sources we used. Through this, I learned where to find academic sources. I had never had to use academic journals before, so I learned a lot about where to find them and how they are different from articles online. I learned a lot about the importance of citing sources. It is immensely important to give credit to people from whom you have used research. This insures that you don’t get accused of plagiarism. I was sloppy with citation in the first draft of my Wikipedia article because I had no idea how important it was. I also learned a lot about performing research myself. Before the podcast project, I had never had to observe people. I learned how important privacy is and how to go about giving people their privacy. I also strengthened my metacognitive skills. In this class, we had to do a lot of reflecting about our work. All of the learning blogs and reflections after each essay forced us to really ponder why we wrote what we did and what we learned from it. I typically don’t enjoy reflecting on work after it is done, but these assignments were a nice way to think about my work and how it was formed. Also, peer review allowed me to reflect on the work I had done. Looking at other people’s work helps me to be more introspective about whether or not I wrote to the best of my abilities. It helped to see what others had written compared to what I had written. I will be able to transfer the new skills I have learned into future classes and, eventually, a job. Classes might require me to write long essays, through which I can apply the skills I have learned like “shitty first drafts,” paragraph structure, and the importance of peer review. Jobs might also require me to write reviews or summaries of work I am doing. I will be able to write these confidently. I have learned a lot in this class, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to take it and learn as much as possible about writing. I will take what I have learned with me on future endeavors, be it classes or jobs. Sincerly, Carly Smith