ES1102 has been an enriching learning journey for me since I
enrolled in NUS. Taking this module has allowed me to improve my writing skills
in terms of content, language, structure and reading.
Before attending this module, I did not understand the proper
structure and language to writing an academic essay (e.g. problem solution
essay). My writings consisted of only factual information that were directly
found in articles and were not analyzed and supported with evidence and
explanations. Common grammatical errors were made without the actual knowledge
that they were mistakes.
With the aid of this module, I have recapped the basics of
the English language, learned the commonly made mistakes as well as to extract
important information from reading materials. It has also sparked critical
thinking in myself, which allows me to gather information from readings, to
analyze the information and to incorporate my opinions in-depth into the
information. I found a new knowledge in citation of sources in academic writing,
one that I did not have prior knowledge in.
In the few remaining weeks left in the semester, I will like
to strengthen my writing in terms of expressing my opinions in academic
writings. I have learned how to analyze the information and input my opinions
to the inferences. However, I believed that I can improve on better critical
thinking skills to display my opinions in a stronger argumentation with
supported evidences. My weak point is that writing an explanation and writing
an opinion were sometimes similar, which misled readers with difficulty to
differentiate between the two.
As I reflected through the comments given for the summary
and reader response essays, I feel that they were very constructive and helped
to incite me to thinking deeper into the points that I had written. In my
essays, I have the habit of using words that only hinted at the topic but not
directed to the points. The comments helped to direct myself back to the focus
of the topic. I was satisfied with the grades that I had received for both
essays, as personally the difference in both scores had reflected on the time
and effort input.
While this is the first time that I have received feedbacks
in both audio and visual format, I strongly agree that it is beneficial to my
learning process. The visual feedback provided as a brief comment to the points
while the audio feedback assisted as an in depth explanation to the comments.
It also allows me to pause and play to edit the points one after another. I
believed that this implementation can be used in other similar modules for an
enriching and interesting learning.
